Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover

I told the kids that this was what I learned in Ravenna and illustrated it with comparative pictures of the simple outsides and ornate insides of a church and a mausoleum. We looked at the mosaics up close and then far away before retiring to a craft room in the local library to create our own.

How do you hold the interest of a mixed group of preschool- through adult-aged listeners? I had 15-20 minutes to convey the essence of Italy and its culture in a fascinating enough fashion to keep five year olds from hyperactive wall climbing, pre-adolescents from disdainful dozing, and adults from chatting in whispers about the weather. Mine was the first presentation of the summer reading program, One World…Many Stories. It wasn’t perfect, but it sufficed, and I enjoyed being able to share it.

After we explored a tiny bit of “the Boot,” the kids made mosaics with foam tiles. I’m pretty sure this is the part they will remember the most, which validates that week it took to cut 1328 three-eighths-inch squares. Then we sampled some finger foods that I’d gotten at a nearby import store. Although a little vino, cappuccino, and squid might have been more authentic, I settled for some ricotta-filled cannelloni, lemon cookies, candies, spumoni gelato that had very little resemblance to its frozen namesake, and breadsticks.

As always, I learned a little something from the experience. Besides the reminders that more is still not better and that kids comprehend much more than they get credit for, I also came to appreciate that teaching has given me a new perspective. Whether it is old experiences or new, I am seeing life through a new lens, constantly thinking about how it could be used in a classroom. I can’t wait to apply this perspective on another trip.

My Daddy, My Pal

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I love you.

What 'Cha Readin'?

Welp! I just finished my last assignment and have another two graduate credits under my belt. The courses I’ve been taking this year for a reading endorsement have been very enjoyable, thanks to the instructors and the reading material. I really like taking online courses. Although, they require a lot of self-motivation and technical problems could potentially wreak havoc, I have had some understanding instructors that know how to make it all work.

This term I took a course that had us reading a truckload of children’s literature, from pre-school through young adult levels. Besides getting acquainted with what is out there, we also learned what to watch for in quality and culturally authentic authorship, and how to match books to children’s development levels rather than just using the book’s reading level as a guide. It was enlightening to have some substantial guidelines to help discriminate between books that are nice reads versus books that actually fit a child’s cognitive, psychosocial, moral development level and nudge growth in those areas as well. We also discussed censoring and banned and challenged books, which is scary for teachers and librarians to think about.

Stimulating as it is to take these courses, it is also nice to finish one up. I’ve been able to start reading and writing for fun again, hence the new blog entry, but I think I will continue to intersperse more children’s literature in with my own choices. I was quite impressed with some of what’s out there for kids. Besides using them for read-alouds to the whole class or for students to read individually, much of it also lends itself well for curriculum lessons. I just hope I can somehow retain everything I’ve learned. My memory these days closely resembles a sieve.