Final Reflection

This class has been a really great experience and I cannot wait to take what I have learned into my future classroom. I plan to use a variety of different books in my classroom in order to discuss difficult issues. I think that it is a really great way to break the barrier when issues arise that are tough to discuss. I loved being able to see all of the different styles that authors use in order to interest and educate children in their books. I loved doing in class activities and discussions because it was good to see that so many people have a variety of different opinions on particular issues. This is something that I think is very important to remember in a classroom because all children come from a variety of different backgrounds and have so many opinions. Teachers need to remember to not let their own opinion overlook the opinions of their students. I also really like that you brought up the "no TV" week in school because I do agree that television can be very educational and many children use TV as a form of entertainment when parents are gone. Sometime, I got frustrated that I had to blog each week, but in the end it really opened my eyes to explore a variety of books that are great and at times not so great. I think the biggest thing that I will take from this class is the text sets. I hope to use everyone's text sets throughout the year. It is such a great idea to teach a unit by including books as a great introduction and resource for students to look through. I really enjoyed this class and your enthusiasm for wanting us to explore the world of books.

My Song is Beautiful

All of the poems throughout this book teach that it is important to be proud of who you are, what you look like and where you came from. All of the poems are very different but talk about the same things. They teach children that in fact all kids have many similarities amongst all of their differences. The pictures are great because they do not go together, some look like actual photographs, some like paintings and some very animated. All of these differences are brought together by the poems that include people who are happy with being themselves. My favorite poem in this book is called Me, and is from the voice of a little girl stating all of the imperfections about herself. Then at the end she says that she is very lovely. This is a great way to teach students that children come in all shapes and sizes although everyone looks different on the outside, they are each wonderful no matter what. I also really like the poem called, I know someone. It includes many different kids stating funny things that they can do individually and in the end they say that they can all do those things. This teaches kids that many of the things that they do that they think are very unusual are actually similar to what others can do. A great activity to do with this poem would be to have each student write down something that they think they have in common with all the other students and something they think is very unusual. Then, the teacher could read them off at random and the kids can raise their hands if it applies to them. This can show kids that other students actually have similar interests and abilities that surprise them.

Noisy Poems

I think that this book is a great way to bring poetry alive in the classroom. One of my main focuses is to bring in differentiated learning to my classroom. I think that this could help with bring drama in and allowing for kids to play with voice. They could get with partners or groups and read the poems aloud. Students could decide how they want to deliver the poems just like we did in our class. They could include sound effects exchange loud and soft voices or even rap them. They could even sing them or we could sing them as a class. These poems are all really fun and I think that this would be a good way to get children excited about poetry. I love that these poems are not very educational and are just there for the fun of poetry. The poem called The Yak really has no meaning to it and is just a bunch of funny sounding words. I think that kids would just love this and laugh and try to memorize this just so they can say it throughout the day. Everything in this book is really silly and all of the pictures are very jumbled and fun. This is a great way to bring some fun into a poetry unit.

Days to Celebrate

This is another great poetry book to have in the classroom year-round. It has poetry for all of the months of the year and the important dates and holidays. I think that it would be great to read poetry from this book on each date that is included. The dates include many important birth dates of different people that many elementary classes would benefit from learning about. For example, on January 15th, the class could be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and read the poem about him from this book. The teacher could allow students to take turns having the chance to read one of the poems aloud to the class on each day. There is so much diversity throughout this book. It celebrates Chinese New Year's which is something that the teacher should at least mention because some students might also celebrate that. There is also a whole calender of important birthdays in each month and it includes what is celebrated during that month, like women's history month and National poetry month. One of my favorite poems, Casey at the Bat is also included in the month of August for the birth date of the poet. I really like the poem that is included for Halloween because it sounds really creepy. I thought it was strange that the book included poems for every holiday, except for Christmas. I wonder if it is because it would make it religious. The last poem is really fun because it talks about the year coming to the end and the words are going downward the whole time and then all of a sudden they pop back up and say "Happy New Year". This book is a great way to include poetry in the classroom throughout the year.

Come to the Great World

The very first poem in this book is a really great introduction piece. It talks about all of the differences that there are between children and how we all come from different backgrounds. This would be great to read aloud to the class in order to discuss diversity and the importance of not judging each other. The book goes on to include poetry about all the different places around the world and what they are like. I love this because it is a fun way to open up our kids eyes to seeing new things and understanding other people's backgrounds. I love that each poem does not state where in the world it is from until you read where the author is from at the bottom. This leaves the poem to interpretation as to where the poem is talking about. I think that a lot of students would be surprised to learn where each poem is from because some of them sound so much like America. This can also show students that a lot of places that they think are very different from their home, actually have many similarities. The pictures throughout the book are very bright and powerful and give a great image of different places and customs and people around the world. The author also includes some poems that deal with racism and poverty issues. I think that this is a great way to include the topic in class without being too blunt. Many teachers feel very uncomfortable with discussing these topics and I think that poetry is something that can really help break this barrier.

Eric Carle's Animals Animals

This book is full of such a large variety of animals. The pictures are great and intriguing to the eye. This would be a really good teaching book for talking about animals or poetry or even both. It would be great to ask students to write a poem about their favorite animal and draw inspiration from this book.
I really like that Carle uses poetry from many different sources and not just his own. This can teach children that poetry is everywhere and anyone can write it. This also can teach students to appreciate other people's poetry and not just their own. Another great thing to do with this, would be to have students search for their favorite poem, write it out and draw a picture to go with it. I also like that this book has all different types of poetry. This is good for kids to see because they need to know that there is not one right form of writing poetry and it can come in many different shapes.
This is a book that I would love to have in my future classroom. I would refer to maybe a poem a day out of it just to let my students listen to poetry in a fun way. I think that a lot of time, kids do not like poetry because it is put into one single unit and they are on poetry overload for 2 weeks time. Teachers should refer to poetry regularly and give a wide range of how it can be done. We should not just teach haikus or lunes. I would recommend this book to be in every elementary classroom!

The year of Impossible Goodbyes

This is the story of a 10 year old girl names Sookan, living in North Korea during World War II when it was occupied by the Japanese. Her family ran a sock factory. When the war ends, the family thinks that they are free until they hear that the Russians are threatening to take over. In order to escape, her, her mother and her younger brother, Inchun take a journey to South Korea. Along the way they get separated from their mother. After a few terrible weeks, they make it to the South.

I really did not enjoy this book as much as the other but I feel like it may have been because I read that one first. I felt like I was really able to get to know each of the characters and feel the emotions that each of them went through. Sookan was so strong throughout the journey and there were some parts that were very hard for me to read. The fact that this book consisted of many real parts of the author's life only further created that emotional attachment. It was hard to believe that two young kids could be so mature and have to go through so much all by themselves.

I think that this book would be good to teach along with So Far From the Bamboo Grove because it has a different viewpoint of the war. It would be great to let kids see two sides of an issue. This could help them to understand that not everything that happens in war is black and white. Although we feel like we are hurting the bad guys for a legitimate reason, those people being hurt have real emotions and lives just like us. I think that this would be hard to do with kids under 5th grade, but it definitely needs to be addressed in upper elementary.