Session 4 RR&D
PostModern Picture Books
Multi-Genre Research
Date: Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:22
pm
Author: Dyer, Kellie
<[email protected]>
Subject: The Postmodern
Picture Book: A New Subgenre
The Postmodern Picture Book:
A New Subgenre.Language Arts, Bette P Goldstone and Linda D
LabboSummary:Postmodern picture books are a new genre of literature according
to the author’s of “The Postmodern Picture Book: A New Subgenre.” “Postmodernism
is a term that describes theoretical and fundamental changes in attitudes,
styles, and academic disciplines that emerged in Western culture after World
War II. It rejects canons and universal truths of earlier 20th century
movements, philosophies, and artistic traditions, and in their place inserts
anarchy, fragmentation, chance, play, and ant-authoritarianism.” Three common
characteristics of the genre is nonlinearity of the story line, irony, exposure
to the creation of the book. Many examples are given in this article. A few are
as follows: “The Three Little Pigs” by David Wiesner, “In Time to Get Out of
the Bath, Shirly” by John Burningham, “The Armadillo from Amarillo by Lynne
Cherry, “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg, and “The Stinky Cheese Man
by Scieszka and Smith. There are several more examples given in the
article. It was predetermined
that postmodern picture books were considered too difficult for children in the
elementary schools to comprehend. This idea has now been re-thought. All that
is needed is some instruction on how the texts work. A common factor these
books contain is there may be more than one narrator, the characters may
actually change who they are speaking to (characters in story, then audience),
there may also be two stories going on at once. This gives the reader the
choice of which story they wish to follow. Readers may also be presented with a
story told from multiple perspectives. “Just as postmodern picture books reveal
the secrets of authoring illustrating a text, we also should reveal the special
structures and stances of this unique subgenre to our students. This will
promote successful text interaction, and, in turn, provide confidence for
readers to venture into new reading challenges.”Connection:I was familiar with
some of the books mentioned in the article, but I have never read them to my
class. I never realized they were so complicated, I guess. The reason I chose
this article was because I had never heard of the postmodern picture book. I
wanted to find out what it was. After reading the article I decided to purchase
some of the books mentioned to see if I can connect what the authors were
saying with reality. I plan on implementing these into my class if I feel they
will be appropriate.Discussion:Is this a new term for you also? Have you dealt
with these books in the classroom? What were your results? Did students find
these books more difficult than some or was a difference even noticed?
Date: Wed Sep 22, 2004 3:36
am
Author: Gentry, Pamela
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: The Postmodern
Picture Book: A New Subgenre
This is a new term to me,
too, and I also was curious about what it meant. Thanks for reviewing this
article for us. I'm familiar with many of the books you mention, and had not
thought of them as a genre before. I just thought of them as books that are
little bit weird but intriguing ...or just plain fun ... books to read together
with children to engage them in critical thinking...books that really make them
think ... books to explore point of view. Giving this group of books the genre
title of Postmodern Picture books makes sense to me...but is it helpful?
Date: Thu Sep 23, 2004 7:09
pm
Author: Barney, Katherine
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: The Postmodern
Picture Book: A New Subgenre
Postmodern Picture Books,
Hmmm, I wonder if students will be tested on that term?!!! Well I absolutely
love those books. I buy them whenever I see them. I like to do a unit of
reading fairy tales and then comparing the postmodern books to them. Then I
have my students write their own versions postmodern version of a fairy. I
usually call them twisted fairy tales (a name from a book with that title). The
movie Shrek fits into that genre also. I've had fourth and fifth graders do
this with pretty good success. Second graders can do it with an older writing
partner or with a cloze form of a fairy tale. That is where they plug in their
own characters and events to a pre-written format. Kids just love it. I think
this is appropriate for middle school age also. kat
Date: Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:07
am
Author: Gentry, Pamela
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: The Postmodern
Picture Book: A New Subgenre
What fun! I want to hide in
your pocket and come to your class some day. Thanks for sharing.You've given me
an idea for a school-wide theme of the month. What fun it would be to do
Twisted Fairy Tales, have the kids work across grade levels to write a play/skit.
Put on the play and then have the kids declare their favorites...or just
celebrate the fun. A school I'm associated with is always looking for new ideas
like this.
Current Forum: Session 4:
Journal Articles Discussion
Date: Thu Sep 23, 2004 5:51
pm
Author: Dyer, Kellie
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: The Postmodern
Picture Book: A New Subgenre
It wasn't very helpful to
me. I guess giving these books a category is helpful, but I would not tell my
class of 3rd graders, "OK, today we are going to read a postmodern picture
book." They would be lost already! I did order some of these books to take
a closer look at them. So we will see how it goes.
Date: Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:34
pm
Author: Barney, Katherine
<[email protected]>
Subject: Multigenre Research
Article 1: Allen, C &
Swistak (2004) Multigenre Research: The Power of Choice and Interpretation .
Language Arts 81:3Summary:The authors explain how they created a multi-genre
research project to inspire elementary children to write with purpose and passion.
Students conduct research and instead of writing traditional research paper,
they write in a range of creative genres. Allen formed a partnership between
their university pre-service teachers and Swistak’s fifth grade classes. The
pre-service teachers served as mentors to 5th graders as they planned,
researched, created, and presented their projects. Students organized notebooks
into three sections. The first section is for information on different genres
for students to learn about and choose from. The second is for rough drafts.
The third section is a folder to store information and resources from the
Internet, notes, etc. The students and mentors noticed that the presentations
that were most effective and interesting were the ones that had a personal significance.Connection:I
enjoyed reading this article because I would have loved being given the
opportunity to learn in this format. I like to plan similar projects for my
students as much as possible. For example, when studying Famous Black American
Leaders my fourth grade students were given a menu of choices to select from.
They could create a poster, a brochure, a book, dress as the person, etc. They
were required to answer a basic list of facts and questions about the person.
For students who are capable I encouraged them to generate their own questions
(very difficult for many students). I have learned to include as many different
products and genres in my group instruction to prepare students for a spring
project that includes many of the things in my example above. I currently teach
second grade and I am preparing my students in same manner with age appropriate
products.Discussion:I would like to hear how others have included multi-genre
activities into their classrooms. I am always looking for new or better ways to
engage my students.
Date: Wed Sep 22, 2004 10:31
pm
Author: Gentry, Pamela
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Multigenre
Research
Kat- I like your idea of
offering a menu of responses to their reading, choice is always good! and allows
for different learning preferences. I also appreciated you giving them a list
of things that needed to be included in their presentation. I've found this
really helps stretch the kids beyond the minimum and engages them in some extra
problem solving. Being specific about expectations really helps! Finally, I'm
thinking about the "question asking" issue. As you are working with
2nd graders, I can understand that they may not be too good at coming up with
their own questions. But I've noticed that even middle schoolers still struggle
sometimes. At that level, they are capable, but maybe haven't been challenged?
I wonder if it would be good to consciously include regular bits of
"question asking skills development" in our instruction?
Date: Wed Sep 22, 2004 10:34
pm
Author: Gentry, Pamela
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Multigenre
Research
Kat-I have ANOTHER question
...How did this teacher ensure that her students actually accessed and USED
different genre's for the research? Was it through the modeling of the
pre-service teachers? How would one do this without the resource of extra hands
and ears and eyes? You may be noticing that there is a theme to my questions!
My classroom experience is with middleschoolers, and the students that drive me
mad are those that always look for the path of least effort ... school is a
game :-)
Date: Thu Sep 23, 2004 6:49
pm
Author: Barney, Katherine
<[email protected]>
Subject: Pam Re: Multigenre
Research
Hi,In the article the
co-authors worked together. One was the University Professor and the other was
the 5th grade teacher. The professor apparently joined her pre-service teachers
at the weekly mentor meeting at the 5th grade school. This gave the authors an
advantage over a single teacher. I definitely think elementary level students
would need a mentor to help them put together a quality presentation. Perhaps
students could work with a partner to share the workload and bounce ideas back
and forth. The teacher would play the role of facilitator. This would also work
well for gifted or highly capable students. They could put together a
presentation on a topic the rest of the class is studying as an alternative
assignment. In response to your comment about teaching students how to question
I strongly support that as an important higher level thinking skill to include
at every age level. kat
Date: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:13
pm
Author: Gentry, Pamela
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Pam Re:
Multigenre Research
Hi Kat-I especially like
your suggestion of offering multi-genre assignments to gifted students. It is
the kind of assignment that would certainly engage their thinking in a way that
is wanting to be engaged. Pairing students would also work ... and now that I
think of it, another grouping idea would be to make groups of say, four and
have each group do a different genre. They could then present their findings
and perspective to the class - which would have the opportunity to evaluate the
differences and similarities as a group .... perhaps finalizing in a class
report. Would this work at the second grade level?
Date: Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:58
pm
Author: Degroot, Katherine
<[email protected]>
Subject: Jones: Books for
struggling readers
Katherine DeGrootREAD
5325Session 4Article Review #2Books for struggling and reluctant readersPatrick
Jones. Voices From the Middle. Urbana: Dec 2001. Vol. 9, Iss. 2; p.
67Summary:Jones writes to teachers that are interested in helping their
struggling readers to get a handle on reading. He suggests that part of their
struggle is that they have not found a book that allows them to see reading as
a valuable part of their lives. The author lists many books that will help
struggling or reluctant readers.Connection:My first teaching job was for
struggling readers in junior high. They were very aware that they could not
read as well as their peers and that they were sent to a “special” room to
learn to read. The books I was provided with were low ability level, but also
low interest for 12 year olds. I struggled to find literature that was ability
appropriate for these students, but not demeaning. Discussion:If you teach
junior high or high school, are you limited to certain texts? Within district
assigned curriculum, are novels a part of that? Or do you get to pick out
books? How do you assign easier books to the lower readers? Or are they in
leveled classrooms in secondary schools?
Date: Wed Sep 22, 2004 10:23
pm
Author: Gentry, Pamela
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Jones: Books
for struggling readers
Finding books that are high
interest but low level for this age group and older is the biggest challenge,
in teaching struggling readers I think. I'll have to look up the article and
get the authors' list. I'd like to hear more about books that you found your
students enjoyed ... as a matter of fact, it would be nice if we could just
create our own little suggested reading list right here. I know I, for one, am
always collecting titles for this group.I'll start. Some books that I've used
successfully are:Articles from Encyclopedia Britanica's Childcraft Series.
These are interesting and varied in length. A very reasonalbe "bite"
of reading for struggling readers. Written at approximately the 3rd-4th grade
level. Childcraft books can be found at used book sales very
reasonably.Scholastic Books has a couple of series that are specifically
written for this age group and ability level. I don't recall any specific
titles, just check their catalogue. Obviously, these books are not
"real" literature. However, even our Best Practices book (chapt 9)
noted that decodable reading is important at the beginning levels in order to
give practice.Also, I've successfully used an approach called "Phonographix"
by McGuiness & McGuiness (also available in a book for parents titled
"Reading Reflex") with younger struggling readers. It focuses on
building phonemic awareness and decoding/encoding skills with a quick shift to
real books. Problem for older kids is that the materials are really baby-ish in
appearance. I ran into a guy who has developed lessons using this program for
older kids and he sent me some copies of his materials ... they are in the
bowels of my computer somewhere. I can find them if anyone is interested.Over to
you (and others)
Date: Sat Sep 25, 2004 4:05
pm
Author: Degroot, Katherine
<[email protected]>
Subject: Back to Pamela
I teach 1st grade, so lucky
for me, the interest level and ability level are closely related. My brief
encounter with Junior High readers was a struggle for me, becasue I did not
succeed in finding high interest, low level books.Thank you for your
suggestions. I may pass it on to our EL tutoring groups in the upper
grades.Katherine
************************8
Date: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:07
pm
Author: Gentry, Pamela
<[email protected]>
Subject: To All: Great Reads
for Adolescents
Several of the articles in
this session mention specific books enjoyed by adolescents. I bet you guys know
of others! In talking with a couple of other students, it seemed like a good
idea to set a single thread where we can post our favorite books for adolescents.
Let's see what we can come up with.It would be helpful if you give the title,
author, and maybe a short sentence about what is liked about the book. Also
note whether fiction or non-fiction.I bet we'll have a great booklist in a
couple of days.
To Katharine DeGroot
Date: Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:49
pm
Author: Gentry, Pamela
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Chance: Beyond
Silverstein
Hey Katherine- this was a
topic very worth pursuing. I wish we had more time. I've used some downloaded
ideas from ... Petrusky (I think)check his website. If I remember right, he
talks about "how to write poetry". I've also explored meter with my
middle school students by discussing Rap - had them write and perform a Rap
response to the book "A Wrinkle in Time"...There is also a fun book
of poems about school by Dakos called "If you're not here, please raise
your hand" ... one hilarious poem is called "They don't do Math in
Texas" which can generate some good discussion about point of view. Could
even be used as a frame/model for generating more poetry....Have you heard of
something called "Slam"? It is a new modern form of poetry generated
in the inner city community, I think. Usually very politically/socially
charged. I don't know if any of it is actually published. It is usually
performed/verbal, I think. Could be really good with adolescents.