Developing Literary Enjoyment Chapter 9b

To make life long readers: Provide many opportunities to read, listen to, and discuss stories. Oral reading to students: –Increases knowledge of language patterns and vocabulary and introduces children to genres of literature they might not otherwise encounter. –Child involvement including predicting and filling in blanks is the most influential factor.

Oral reading to students Eye contact between teacher and student. Use expression Use a variety of voices for different characters. Readers who point to meaningful words and pictures are more effective. Knowing the story leads to more convincing oral reading.

Oral reading to students Picture books which are large enough for everyone to see are best. Grouping the students so everyone can see and hear works best. Better oral readers make rhymes apparent, emphasize unusual words, stress repetition. The best readers prepare before hand and ask predicting questions.

Recreational reading groups Reading widely and frequently helps reinforce reading skills. SSR and Recreational reading help to encourage practice with reading. Divide the students into 3 circles. Have them read silently for 30 minutes. Then each student in the circle tells about what he/she has read. Model with one group before you begin. Pair readers so that one student could ask another a word.

Discussion circles can be grouped by topic Example: Egyptian mummies. Students discuss author’s development of the story elements and what they liked or didn’t like about this development. Example: Personification. Use picture books, poetry, novels with the common characteristics. Discuss the use of personification and the symbolism attached.

Other topics: Humorous literature, poetry, animal stories, science fiction, specific authors. Good teaching tips and lists are found in Norton’s Through the Eyes of a Child

Reading Skills taught with literature Predictable books- lead the child by the hand to predict language and plot structure. Vocabulary study with literature involves semantic maps. Read the first of several repetitions. By the 3rd repetition, have the students finish the sentence.Reading the story several times and let each child read a page orally. Make phrase cards and match them to pictures.

Vocabulary development Reading vocabularies use richer, more colorful words than speaking vocabularies. Picture books with many details invite discussion using specific word choice. Mitsumasa Anno writes adult picture books with literary, historical, and geographical details. Topic searches are presented.

Vocabulary development and literature. Vocabulary webs are appropriate for any age level and may be used with books read orally or silently.

Web the characters, setting, plot, conflict and theme. Plot structures: Stories have a beginning, middle, and end. P.398 –External conflict: Characters and conflict are introduced at the beginning of the story. The conflict increases until the climax. Finally the resolution ends the conflict. –Person vs. self conflict: Character is introduced with an inner conflict. The climax makes the character realize the problem and accepts it and then is at peace.

Modeling Literary Analysis Teacher is specific rather than vague. Inferring characterization, identifying theme and discussing about symbolism and allusions. The teacher reads the text, asks a question, answers the question, gives evidence that supports the answer and then tells the reasoning process used to acquire the answer.

Analysis: Step 2: the teacher reads the text, asks the question, answers the question and then asks the students to give evidence. A discussion explores the reasoning. Next step: the teacher asks the students the questions, etc. Last step: the student completes the process independently. This approach works when the author uses figurative language, complex characterizations, etc.

Discussion Strategies that encourage students to respond to and interact with literature are especially effective. Showing the thought processes used to analyze the plot, characters, and setting is also effective.