Chapter 14

I think allowing the children to be authors is a great idea. It allows the children to have somthing to go back and read that they have created. I think the children like it when they all contribute to a story and they collaborate or they write their own stories and it gets published. I feel that children should feel like their work is important. If they write something and see it in the class library, they feel like they have contributed and their work was important enough to be read by the rest of the class. I think if the children are comfortable with their work, they can read their story to the class that they wrote and then put it in a center or the library for others to re-read. I think that if the children know their work will be published for their class to read as well as classes to come then they will want to do an extra special job to impress their fellow writers.

Chapter 13

Literature circles are something I am not to familiar with. If I am not mistaken, I think they are groups of students working on the same book and they read it at a designated part of the day. They work on projects as a group and they discuss the book as a group. I think this is where you can have a person who keeps track of the plot, a person who comes up with a new ending to the story, a person who keep the characters strait, and so on. This is a good way to have the children work together. It allows the children to have autonomy about what they discuss in the classroom and it also allows for the to children to have ownership in what they are learning and what they have to do in their groups.

Chapter 12

Wow, this chapter makes me feel broke. It said that we should have this awesome library for our class. As a teacher starting out, I feel this may be difficult to achieve. But as the years go on, I do hope to have an extensive library of books that the children would like to read. I want independent reading to just happen. I do not want to have to "force" the children to independently read. I hope that my classroom will be an exciting one and the children find lots of books they enjoy reading. I hope that I have to ask my students to put the books down so they can listen to my lecture. so often the children are not excited about reading. I want the children to have a say in what they read in the classroom. I want a variety for the children to read as well as multiple copies so they can read with a partner and they can collaborate.

Chapter 11

I never knew that guided reading was set up to make the children feel successful reading at their own level. I always thought that the children felt like they were behind and that is why they were in guided reading. I always thought that if a child was in guided reading and not on the level that the high kids were at that they would know and understand they were not as good at reading.
This chapter said the exact opposite. It said that if guided reading is done right, you can make a child feel like a successful reader. It said that that is the ultimate goal. Shared reading should do the same. It should be joyous and collaborative. It should be at the child's level. Guided reading should never be grouped in permanent groups. The children should move freely through the groups as they progress. It is the hopes of all teachers that a child does not digress.

Chapter 10

This chapter talkes about how important it is to read aloud. This is not talking about the children though. It is talking about the teacher. As a teacher, it is important to read aloud to the children. By doing this, you are modeling to the children what good readers sound like. Make sure before you read out loud to the children that you have read the book to yourself first and are familiar with the text. You do not want to pick up a book that you have never read and it is not appropriate for the children or you can not read it. By doing this, you are increasing the chance of the children being interested in reading.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9 is about nonfiction. This is the real stuff. The elements consist of format, visual information, access features, accuracy, and style. These elements are different from the ones discussed in chapter 8 of fiction. Different examples are concept books, informational pictures, photographic essays, survey books, and the life cycle. This is just a hand full of them. There are many more. Some guidelines that you want to look at are accuracy of the text, the content and style, organization, illustrations, features, format, and awards. It is my opinion that you do not have to have an award to tell the truth.

Chapter 8

This chapter is about all the different forms of fiction. This chapter talks about the elements such as plot, characterization, theme, setting, style, point of view. Most of these types of writings are not real. Some of the writing contains real events but the characters are not real or it is really exaggerated. Just because it is fiction does not mean that it can not ever happen.