Purpose for Imaginative Literature

Aggle, Carolyn S., Charles A. Walker, and Patricia Newcomb. "Journal of Theory Construction and Testing." Using Imaginative Literature in Clinical Courses to Improve Student Outcomes 10.1 (2006): 6-10. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.

Aggle has a very unique idea on why imaginative literature should be taught. The authors believe students who tend to be more scientific lack compassion. Lacking compassion can prove to be detrimental in some professions. Nurses, for example need to care for their patients and need to be sympathetic. Nursing majors are in charge of taking care of patients but think too scientifically. The compassion the nurses lack can be taught through imaginative literature. The authors believe if nurses were required to read imaginative literature they would identify with patients and other people’s situations, and thus become better nurses. Imaginative literature can be used as a tool on how to improve different areas of certain occupations.


Beierl, Barbara H. The Sympathetic Imagination and the Human Animal Bond: Fostering Empathy through Reading Imaginative Literature 21.3 (2008): 213-20. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Mar. 2010

Beierl says through reading imaginative literature the bond between animals and people is strengthened. Animals are often depicted in imaginative literature as in Black Beauty. The horse is given human characteristics and people can identify with their situations. The reader projects himself onto the main character whether the main character is a human or an animal. Readers can therefore go through the realm of emotions, and one of those emotions is often sympathy.

Through stories whose main characters are animals, readers can empathize with animals. Imaginative literature can strengthen the bond between man and animals. Imaginative literature can make people learn how animals should be treated, and the human/animal bond can be strengthened.


Fallin, Jana R. "Musical Educators." Children's Literature as a Springboard for Music 81.5 (1995): 24-27. JSTOR. Web. 29 Mar. 2010.


Fallin's book shows educators that imaginative learning can be used to inspire music. It is a common notion that most filmmakers want to be musicians, but in this piece, Fallin, is suggesting that writers want to be musicians or vice-versa. The author suggest the two forms of art share similar qualities and if one reads children’s/ imaginative literature it can inspire music.

Music contains composition and story telling, just as literature contains rhythm and beats. Reading Where the Wild Things Are can inspire story telling and pacing. While he also mentions songs often being the inspiration to literature. Fallin is telling the world that educators are missing out on the opportunity to teach children about literature as well as inspire them musically.


Glasser, William A. "Academic Exchange." The Unteaching of Literature:We Murder to DIssect (2003): 25-29. Gale CENGAGE Learning. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.

Glasser speaks of how many students do not understand how to read a novel. They are told to read novels by adults who already enjoy literature. When most students are assigned a book they dread the experience because they do not understand why they should be reading these novels. Teachers have drilled the idea of analyzing literature into their heads. Analyzing literature takes all the fun out of reading, and subsequently they have a bad experience. William Glasser believes students need to allow their minds to enter the book. Reading imaginative literature should be experienced. If the reader lives vicarioulsly through the book, the student can fully grasp the text.

Imaginative literature allows readers to learn how to read. It allows readers to learn how to get drawn into a text. Imaginative literature is a fundimental building block for reading.




Huck, Charlotte S. "Literature as the Content of Reading." Epnet. EBSCO, 2001. Web. 29 Mar. 2010.

Huck suggests that children should read imaginative literature because it helps children become readers. Children are interested in story telling at an early age. Thus it is more likely for a child to be captivated by an imaginative story. When children are taught to read with imaginative literature they hear stories they can relate to. The stories they read are the stories going through their mind or stories they wish they could hear.

Relating to the stories makes the process of reading more enjoyable. If the children are enjoying reading they are more likely to pick up another book. While the children are reading imaginative literature they are learning various reading techniques in which prepare them for other forms of literature. Charlotte Huck believes imaginative literature should be used as a building block for children.


Sanders, Joe. "The Critical Reader in Children's Metafiction." The Lion and the Unicorn 33.3 (2009): 349-59. Project Muse. Web. 29 Mar. 2010.

The Critical Reader in Children’s Metafiction looks at children’s literature in two different ways. One is the apparent subversive quality most children’s literature contains, and the other is children’s literature offers a critical read. The critical read is the crucial part to this text. When a story is read critically different layers of the story are analyzed. The story can be about any subject, but if read critically the reader can begin to question and delve deeper into the text. If there is a story about women the reader can begin to question feminine roles. Joe Sanders does not believe this form of literature is an outline for life, but is a way to question the meaning of roles.

Sequencing and Scaffolding Assignments

Applebaum, Peter. Children’s Books for Grown-UP Teachers: Reading and Writing Curriculum Theory. New York: Routledge, 2008.

This book is not one of the main sources, but it is very interesting and somewhat related to what our project is about. This book is about a curriculum theory in which the teachers stop reading children’s literature as teachers, with the idea of planning a curriculum, and instead read the books for fun and let the ideas for curriculum follow.

Unlike other sources I have read on this subject, the author is putting emphasis on the imagination and thinking and experiencing as a child would when reading these books. The author says it is important to look at popular culture and children’s and young adult’s books that students may be reading outside of class. This can help to generate discussions that the students can relate to by comparing them to books read in class.We picked this book for the bibliography because it would be a great book for any aspiring elementary English teacher to read.

Coody, Betty and David Nelson. Teaching Elementary Language Arts: A Literature Approach. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 1982.

This book goes in-depth into teaching English at the elementary level. It talks about the best ways to engage a class and how to teach reading and writing skills. For the purpose of this assignment, we focused on chapter 2, Planning Instruction and Evaluating the Plan: A Look at the Language Arts Unit Plan. This chapter talks about the elements of the unit plan: Brief Description, Major Concept, Goals, Teaching Objectives, List of Materials, List of References, Motivating Questions, Learning Experiences, Projects and Activities, Culminating Activities, and Evaluation.

This chapter breaks down and summarizes each of these elements and gives a sample unit plan for Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. The main argument of this chapter is that evaluation is the most important element in the unit plan. It emphasizes the evaluation of both the teacher and the students, and gives examples of how one can obtain these evaluations. This chapter also describes how in creating lesson plans, English teachers can relate the literature they are reading to curriculum of other subjects like social studies, science, art, and math.

Myers, Julia and Cathy Burnett. Teaching English 3-11. New York: Continuum, 2004
This book is great how-to guide for English teachers at the elementary or secondary level. Like other books, it is a generalization of how to improve your skills as an English teacher, and it also contains several chapters on curriculum setting and planning to teach English. It talks about preparing to teach English and how to create the most effective plan for teaching your students.

The main argument for this book is that teachers should take into consideration curriculum requirements set down by higher education programs, but first and foremost should think about and evaluate the learning needs of the students. It comments a lot on the importance of group work and discussion from the children. The book mentions that teachers should facilitate open discussion and not ask questions hoping to get a specific answer, as this could potentially stifle discussion. The authors of this book also believe in imaginative and creative ways of teaching by using popular culture and technology. While the old idea is to stay away from these things, this author argues that since children are familiar with these things they can be used as an aid in learning about a particular novel.

Gorelik, Kimberly. "But What Do You Want Us To Do? The Internet as Scaffolding." ERIC full text. (2000): p1-pp9. Print.

Author Kimberley Gorelik discusses how a middle school language arts teacher relates how she used the Internet to scaffold students’ learning. The argument presented in this article is that children need to shift from standardized testing mode to a more independent style of thinking. Gorelik discusses a method created by a middle school teacher that attempts to make assignments clearer through the use of the Internet. The teacher wanted to teach the students to be independent, and did so by scaffolding them through an Internet based website. The Internet site listed homework assignments, web links, and a message board to post questions and answers. This way, the children were able to work on assignments without much guided information from the teacher, but at the same time could be used as a scaffold through the internet website. The page was finished in one week and the teacher logged on each night at the same time to answer any student questions that were emailed to her. Students expressed their appreciation. Here, author Kimberly Gorelik is building on the importance of scaffolding assignments in children’s literature. This is just one example of how teachers are transforming their classrooms to create a higher learning environment for their students.

Ma, Guoping. "Sequencing In Literature Instruction." ERIC Full Text. (1998): p1-pp37. Print.
Sequencing is an important component of the merging theory for the teaching and learning of literature. Literature is a wonderful yet intimidating subject for the study of sequencing strategies on both the curriculum and course level. There are many forms of literature instruction that involve such sequencing strategies as chronology, theme, genre, subject, and author. Author of the article, Guoping Ma, argues that sequencing is an important component of the emerging theory for the teaching and learning of literature. Ma goes on to discuss how literature is used to foster children’s linguistic growth and aid in the development of vocabulary amongst students.
The author goes on to explain the importance of sequencing the instruction according to the intrinsic nature of literature. In other words, instruction should be sequenced along the lines of recurrent and timeless themes, patterns, genres, and conventions to reveal to children the coherence of literature. The author is arguing in this article that when sequenced in this way, literature instruction will heighten children’s awareness of the connections among literary works so that they will treat each individual work as an integral part in the world of literature.

Murphy, P. K., Lee Ann M. Delli, and Maeghan N. Edwards. "The Good Teacher and Good Teaching: Comparing Beliefs of Second-Grade Students, Preservice Teachers, and Inservice Teachers." The Journal of Experiemental Education 72.2 (2004): 69-92. Jstor. Web. 21 Mar. 2010. .

Looking into an unusual source to help cultivate the understanding of the importance of creating, sequencing, and scaffolding assignments for children’s English teachers, this article provides insightful ideas about the role model figure teachers play for their students through every aspect of their teaching. It is in this article that the obvious, yet not always thought about idea that every teacher has at one point been a student themselves is realized. After reading and discussing this article it is not surprising that the question of how teachers are able to strengthen their own teaching techniques, viewpoints and perspectives from their own experiences as a student. At the same time, this can pose as a difficult obstacle for some teachers as any particular past experience may surface and negatively influence their teaching duties.

Murphy, Delli and Edwards sought advice and answers from second-grade students on what their beliefs of a “good teacher” meant. While many have argued that for teachers to be effective they must “possess and exhibit competency in content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge” (73), this article attempts to prove that, from a young student’s perspective, being nice and understanding defines ‘good teachers.’ It is from this realization that teachers must become aware that in order to be successful with their main audience (i.e. their students), they must be willing to display gentle human characteristics in order to gain approval as well as the possibility of acquiring higher success rates among students as they do not feel threatened. While the article does acknowledge that the “participants are telling us more how they feel about themselves and their environment and less about what they know” (78), it demonstrates the importance of all roles a teacher must play within the classroom to gather wholehearted success among their students. This article proves that it is not simply the creation, sequencing and scaffolding of assignments that results in student success but also the presence of non-judgmental, understanding, approachable individuals as teachers that will create teaching environments, in all aspects, that children can grow in.

Myers, Julia and Cathy Burnett. Teaching English 3-11. New York: Continuum, 2004.


This book is great how-to guide for English teachers at the elementary or secondary level. Like other books, it is a generalization of how to improve your skills as an English teacher, and it also contains several chapters on curriculum setting and planning to teach English. It talks about preparing to teach English and how to create the most effective plan for teaching your students.

The main argument for this book is that teachers should take into consideration curriculum requirements set down by higher education programs, but first and foremost should think about and evaluate the learning needs of the students. It comments a lot on the importance of group work and discussion from the children. The book mentions that teachers should facilitate open discussion and not ask questions hoping to get a specific answer, as this could potentially stifle discussion. The authors of this book also believe in imaginative and creative ways of teaching by using popular culture and technology. While the old idea is to stay away from these things, this author argues that since children are familiar with these things they can be used as an aid in learning about a particular novel.

Categorizing & Defining Children's Literature

Bradford, Karleen. “Do You Want to Write for Children?” Writer 103.10 (1990): 22-26. Web. 22 Mar. 2010.
This article makes an argument about what type of books draw children in. It also explains what children look for in the books they read. It talks about the guidelines that are defining characteristics of all children’s literature such as, plot, characters, setting, etc. It also explains that although most people believe that writing a children’s book would be essentially easier than an adult novel, the writer must actually take many seemingly trivial things into consideration. It focuses on the fact that in order for children’s books to be successful, they must touch the child’s senses. Overall, the article summarizes what the writer must keep in mind when writing for children.

Hunt, Peter. “Defining Children’s Literature.” Only Connect: Readings on Children’s Literature. 3rd ed. Ed. Sheila Egoff, et al. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1996. 2-17. Print.

Children’s literature critic Peter Hunt is perhaps one of the most prolific scholars in this subject, and has written or edited many of the articles and books in this relatively young area of criticism. In this essay, Hunt discusses the issues he believes all critics and scholars of children’s literature must address before they can adequately define a book as “children’s literature.” He begins this process by talking about the ways in which an adult might read children’s literature, which are: “as if they were peer-texts,” “on behalf of a child” to recommend or censor for a personal or professional capacity, “with an eye to discussing it with other adults,” or to “surrender to the book on its own terms,” which Hunt views as the closest way of reading like a child might. However, the bulk of the essay is spent in defining “literature,” “the child,” and finally “children’s literature. This process of defining both terms separately before bringing them back together seems to be a fairly common practice amongst scholars in this field. On the first term, that of “literature,” Hunt discusses the ways in which other critics have defined it, either by its features, cultural norms, or according to the uses of the text by the individual, ultimately concludes that literature is a value-term and whatever the readers choose to make of it.

Besides the obvious physical and emotional differences between children and adults, Hunt finds that children also greatly differ in how they see the world and issues like death because of their lack of world experience. Likewise, the actual childhood of one child often differs greatly from person to person, depending on the generation they grow up in, racial identity, and place where they are raised. Thus, just as literature is a very unstable concept, so is that of the child reading that same literature. Ultimately, Hunt finds we must define children’s literature in terms of its implied reader and how that reader will be using the text.

Jones, Katharine. “Getting Rid of Children’s Literature.” The Lion and the Unicorn 30 (2006): 287–315. Web. 21 Mar. 2010.
Jones begins with asking what makes a book children’s literature. Jones criticizes A.S. Byatt’s article on Harry Potter in the New York Times by saying that Byatt’s idea that the children themselves are what makes literature “children’s literature” and that if adults read the same books that they are “childish.” She also writes that Byatt is trying to define children’s literature by saying children’s literature is divided into two categories, one being childish children’s literature and the other children’s literature that is not childish.
Jones continues on to question the term “children’s literature.” She writes that children’s literature from 1960 to 1985 was either defined as “child-centered” or “book-centered.” This concept is one that compares the way that much of adult literature is defined. Jones analyzes the way that many critics approach the definition of children’s literature and finds that while many of them make valid points, they all essentially fall into the issue of “what is children’s literature?” Many of the examples she provides focus on the idea that children’s literature is that which is read by children, but the argument arises that what if adults read the novel and get equal enjoyment from it?
Another option for defining the term is focusing on the “real child” and “fictional children,” both of which separate the novels by the characters and their realism. This idea of “fictional children” is often talked about in the discourse on children’s literature, as many critics, such as Perry Nodelman, differentiate between real children, with various backgrounds and experiences, and the “imagined” child audience of children’s literature. After her criticism of the many different definitions and categories of children’s literature, Jones comes to the conclusion that children’s literature should be renamed “child literature” because it can avoid many of the challenges faced with the term “children” and that it still keeps the critical discourse.

Lesnik-Oberstein, Karin. “Essentials: What is Children’s Literature? What is Childhood?” Understanding Children’s Literature: Key Essays From the International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Ed. Peter Hunt. London: Routledge, 1999. 15-29. Print.
Lesnik-Oberstein states early on in this essay that one of the main reasons critics want to define children’s literature is because they want to be able to say which children’s books are “good for” children—a process that becomes complicated when they don’t know which books qualify as “children’s literature,” and which ones don’t. The author also notes at several points what other critics like Peter Hunt (the editor of this anthology) and Jacqueline Rose have discussed—the fact that children are constructions of their backgrounds and environments, and are not an audience that is set in stone. Lesnik-Oberstein then presents the idea of some critics that you can tell whether or not a book is meant for children, because of the way the author writes “down” to their intended audience. However, she follows this by quotations from several beloved children’s authors, most of whom state that they in no way write down to their readers, but instead strive to do their best writing because a child reader demands just as much as an adult—if not more—from the books they read.
Lesnik-Oberstein goes on to say that the first step many critics take, is to differentiate the “literature” from those books with a didactic purpose. “Literature,” she discusses, is not necessarily meant to make a child smarter, but is instead supposed to have “amusement and inherent appeal.” The rest of the essay is spent in large part by discussing the idea that children’s literature is often talked about by critics as if the child was “in the book.” This is the idea that either the book itself (as far as content, pacing, etc) is reflective of the way a child experiences life, or that it follows the same norms of format and content as an adult book. Lesnik-Oberstein concludes her essay without really giving a definitive answer as to how critics should define children’s literature, but she does say that they must keep in mind the idea that each child experiences childhood differently, and perhaps as a result, there is no consistent way to define children’s literature.
Nikolajeva, Maria. “World Literature for Children.” Children’s Literature Comes of Age: Toward a New Aesthetic. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996. 13-37. Print.
Nikolajeva’s “World Literature for Children” focuses on the worldviews of children’s literature. Many Americans make the assumption that literature for children is the same around the world. Literature is a reflection of culture; values, morals, and traditions are mirrored in the works that are produced for children. Children’s literature is seeing a decrease in works created around the world and translated and shared with the rest of the literary community. Nikolajeva’s work touches on the cornerstone works of literature in the American society such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Charlotte’s Web. Basically, the book reveals the similarities and differences in children’s literature around the world.

Nodelman, Perry. “Defining Children’s Literature.” Children’s Literature 8 (1980): (184-190). Web. 21 Mar. 2010.
Nodelman, quoting critic Roger Sale, opens his article by stating that “everyone knows what children’s literature is until asked to define it,” a sentiment expressed by many critics. Nodelman then chooses to focus his idea and criticism of others’ categorization of children’s literature on fantasy. He says that children’s literature describes circumstances and the “world” of the novel in a way that children are able to relate to. He argues that while the formats of most children’s novels are based on the structure of fairy tales, they also include parts of the real world so the child does not become completely numb to reality. He also refers to the timeframe of when works were written. He says that much of children’s literature in the past has focused primarily on a fantasy level with very few “real world” events, while now, more authors believe that they must include realistic circumstances with a little bit of fantasy thrown in.

Nodelman also argues that while it is nearly impossible to classify or define children’s literature, it is common for teachers to focus strictly on what books they are fond of, without choosing them for learning purposes. Nodelman writes that the classification of children’s literature is far too vague because of the immense topics and writing styles that are covered under the definition of “children’s literature.”

Roxburgh, Stephen, et al. “Defining a Good Children’s Book.” Theory Into Practice 21.4 (1982): 262-267. Web. 22 Mar. 2010.
This article focuses on four critics’ opinions on what makes a good children’s book. The first critic, Roxburgh, asks the question, “Why define what makes children’s books at all?” He states that by defining them, guidelines are being set which must be followed in order to be considered a children’s book. He also explains that this limits the potential of writers, by forcing them to follow a particular pattern. Another critic, Zolotow argues that children’s books are very similar to adults except for the “voice.” She also states that children’s books tend to make a child feel less lonely by drawing them closer to understanding themselves because of what they have read. She defines a good children’s book to be one that sends the child on a journey to discover themselves and better understand the world.

The third critic, L’Engle, interprets that one cannot define a book, or its characteristics as good or bad. She says that each book is unique and cannot be determined as what is bad vs. good, thus she says she could not fathom constructing a definition for what makes a “good” children’s book. Finally, the fourth author, Kruse, explains a case study that is going to be carried out regarding children’s books. Children will read an assortment of books and determine if they liked them and what exactly they liked about them in order to present more evidence on the parallels of “good” children’s books.

Temple, Charles, et al. “Children’s Books in Children’s Hand.” Children’s Books in Children’s Hands. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998. 4-27. Print.
Children’s Books in Children’s Hands is a textbook-type work that gives insight to what children’s literature means. Many of the other articles I read discussed how there isn’t really a good definition that accurately depicts children’s lit. However, this article gives a broad definition stating that children’s literature is anything read by or to children. This makes it the largest category of literature in existence. There are also books that were intended for adults that slip through the cracks and are enjoyed by children as well, such as Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

Heuristics for Reading and Interpreting Literature

Ahara, Katsuko. "Teacher-centered and Child-centered Pedagogical Approaches in Teaching Children's Literature." Education 115.3: 7+. Web. 21 Mar. 2010. . Katsuko Ahara’s article explores two different types of teaching methods that yield different results. The first, the teacher-centered method, focuses on a one-way transmission of knowledge in which the teacher is the “all-knowing sage” who passes on all values that the students need to learn. This method relies heavily on quantitative and qualitative results, causing the students to spend more time memorizing and less time really learning and exploring the material. Conversely, the child-centered approach has the teacher act as an active participant who explores and learns as the children do. This method is supposed to nurture the child’s methods of thinking, encourages diverse experiences, and connects to the individual needs of the child. However, quantitative and qualitative results are a bit harder to ascertain in this situation. Still, Ahara encourages teachers instructing students in literature to adopt the child-centered method.
Ahara’s observations tie in well with Appleman and Morgan’s ideas about students exploring beyond the one-dimensional or mainstream ideologies presented in classrooms. All three encourage teachers to allow students to pull from a multitude of sources in order to better understand the material and make social and cultural connections. The child-centered method allows students to explore more and go beyond the print.

Appleman, Deborah. Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents. New York: Teachers College, 2009. Print. In this text, Deborah Appleman explores the nature of secondary education and how teachers are getting their students involved in reading. Appleman suggests that teachers bring a variety of lenses to a changing classroom dynamic; after all, the “classics” have changed somewhat, the students have evolved, and their responses to the material have undergone a major reconstruction too. Students are no longer entering college with the skill sets that allow them to analyze texts, and Appleman expresses her view of what the problem is as well as her suggestions for solutions.
A major point that Appleman addresses in this text is the need for multiple perspectives in the classroom. This need extends beyond just the students themselves; it also pertains to the material covered in the English courses. Appleman stresses that teachers should have students read books from authors with different points of view on the same situation (either cultural or historical) in order to expand the students’ way of looking at a single text. They must understand the ideologies at play in order to fully digest the literature. This idea of multiple perspectives can be found in some of the other annotated sources.

DeHass, Alyssa Gonzalez. “Facilitating Parent Involvement: Reflecting on Effective Teacher Education.” Teaching & Learning 19.2 (Spring, 2005): 57-76. Print. This journal article discusses the role that home involvement plays in a child’s education and development. Children are sent to school to learn but it is expected that parents help their children and further their progress outside of school. The importance of family involvement is widely recognized in the United States and there have been measures to increase parents’ participation in their children’s education. However, the implementation of these measures is lacking.
Alyssa Gonzalez DeHass addresses this problem in detail and offers a few reasonable solutions. Research shows that family-involvement is lowest in minority homes and when the child undergoes adolescence. DeHass discusses strategies and benefits of parental involvement in education. She touches on specific problem areas including adolescence, culturally diverse families and general communication barriers between parents and students. From the teacher’s perspective, DeHass offers instructional methodology. She believes that this training should start in pre-service teaching preparation and should be carried out through in-service staff development. DeHass makes the claim the both the roles of the teacher and the parent are crucial in the development of a child’s education.
Freebody, Peter; Gilbert, Pam; Luke, Allen. “Reading Positions and Practices in the Classroom.”Curriculum Inquiry 21.4 (Dec 1991): 435–457. Web. 20 Mar 2010. . The authors of this article believe that daily classroom interaction around texts plays a key role in the shaping of what counts as knowledge and competence for students. They also believe that what students learn in reading and literature lessons can be described as a schema for what counts as mature adult literacy, as a model for what counts as valid, appropriate, and institutionally sanctioned ways of reading for school. In this century, reading has become a solitary activity. Reading aloud in a classroom setting, particularly in primary grades, is important for young children and helps develop their confidence, mind, and appreciation for reading. Classroom activities about reading material can also foster an appreciation for reading and build knowledge about new subjects. Students, whether in their first or last year of school, are learning and continuously relearning with teachers in classrooms their sense of what reading entails. In situations in which students read several texts simultaneously in the course of a lesson or theme they can be asked to read a particular text with fresh background knowledge. They can relate their particular text to other texts they have read and find the key similarities and differences between the texts. The authors feel that daily classroom interaction around text plays a key role in the shaping of what counts as knowledge and competence for students.

Guillaume, Andrea M.“Learning with Text in the Primary Grades.”The Reading Teacher 51.6 (Mar 1998): 476–486. Web. 20 Mar 2010.20201949>. This article, by Andrea Guillaume, provides a rationale for learning with text experiences for primary grade-children, lists general approaches for these experiences, and gives a sample lesson that incorporates the approaches. A primary grade content area library should include textbooks, fiction with content information and other kinds of print, including newspapers, interactive software and magazines written for children. Guillaume believes that there are ten main ideas that reflect the literature on content area reading and writing.
Guillaume details these ideas as follows: 1. Access to literature and prior knowledge; some strategies for accessing and building upon prior knowledge include visuals, manipulatives and multimedia presentations, sharing experiences with students from diverse backgrounds, writing experiences, and linking prior knowledge to new concepts and ideas. 2. Provide hands on experience prior to reading; this can be done through arts and crafts, science activities, and film viewing. 3. Read aloud. Hearing a teacher or parent’s enthusiastic reading of a story can greatly influence a child’s listening skills, vocabulary, and appreciation for the text. 4. Read for a purpose. When children set meaningful purposes for their reading, their motivation and work abilities will increase. 5. Provide access to content area material. It is important to have works of fiction in a classroom, but works of nonfiction and other reading materials such as newspapers and magazines are also important. 6. Encourage cognitive and aesthetic responses. An example of a cognitive response to reading is a bookmaking activity, in which students write books after studying such subject material as earthquakes, sharks, and their local community. As aesthetic responses, students can choreograph a dance, or compose poetry about something they have read or studied. 7. Encourage discussion. Forms of discussion, including peer discussion, can build upon students’ prior knowledge to enhance their reading experiences. 8. Connect reading and writing. Classroom writing experiences can foster curiosity and promote confidence in one’s writing abilities. 9. Use general strategies or heuristics. An example of a heuristic is Manzo’s Listen Read Discuss (LRD). During LRD students: Listen to the teacher discuss the content, Read content text aided by the background experience of the teacher’s words, and Discuss the content. 10. Use pre, during, and post reading activities. For a pre-reading activity, the teacher can share a personal story relating to the content of the book about to be read. A during reading activity could include taking notes during the reading. A post reading activity could include a writing activity about the student’s thoughts on what was read. When teachers encourage reading in their classrooms they provide a meaningful context for reading instruction, help their students develop lifelong skills for gaining information, encourage comprehension, the exploration of big ideas and connections among ideas, and nurture their students quest to know and to seek answers to their questions.

Kreber, Carolin. “Developing the Scholarship of Teaching Through Transformative Learning.” Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 6.1 (Aug 2006): 88-109. Print. This article focuses on the role of the teacher and his or her personal development. The author, Carolin Kreber, states that teaching is a profession guided by citizenship. She believes that teachers must constantly be seeking knowledge and maintaining a desire to learn more. This is a process one seeks on his or her own, but is also enriched through support from colleagues and peer-reviews. Kreger focuses on types of learning and types of reflection, both of which are unique to an individual. She defines the three types of learning as instrumental, communicative and emancipatory. She poses the question “Why is reflection on teaching and learning valuable?” and answers this questions through her research and opinions in the article. She develops these types of learning and reflection, gives specific examples of each, and details some strategies of implementation. In this article, Kreber claims that the scholarship of teaching and learning needs to be broadened by conceptualizations of professionalism. She defines reflection as informed by knowledge gained through personal experience and/or through formal inquiry that faculty conduct themselves or read about. Kreber challenges teachers to remain engaged in learning and remember the true intent of their profession.
Morgan, Hani. "Using Read-Alouds with Culturally Sensitive Children’s Books: A Strategy That Can Lead to Tolerance and Improved Reading Skills." Reading Improvement 46.1: 3-8. Web. 21 Mar. 2010. tcu.edu/ehost/>. In this article, Hani Morgan addresses the question of bringing culturally sensitive material into the classroom, especially for younger children. Morgan suggests a number of ways to tackle the issue of introducing this type of reading to children in order to teach them tolerance from an early age and shape the foundation of a more understanding future. Morgan’s tactics center on the idea of a read-aloud, in which the students – at any age – can not only improve their vocabulary and engage their attention, but also dissect culturally sensitive material with an adult to facilitate any troublesome or uncomfortable circumstances that should arise.
The ideas presented by Morgan tie in nicely with Appleman’s opinions about teaching and can be applied to any age group of students. Appleman suggests presenting multiple perspectives in the classroom – and bringing in literature that glorify both hunter and lion – and Morgan has a way to implement those ideas, especially when dealing with sensitive material. If teachers combine the two proposals together in the classroom, then a wide range of perspectives could be introduced and analyzed. The overall effect would be a well-rounded and well-read generation that has confidence and tolerance when dealing with differences beyond the walls of the school.

Teaching Difficult or Ambiguous Works

Focusing Literature Discussion Groups on Comprehension Strategies
Berne, Jennifer I.; Clark, Kathleen F. “Focusing Literature Discussion Groups on Comprehension Strategies.” Reading Teacher, v62 n1 p74-79 Sep 2008.
Berne and Clark focus on the group discussion aspect of children’s literature strategies. By letting students discuss difficult works with their peers they learn to be open to other ideas about a subject, often ideas they did not think of on their own. Berne and Clark point out that prior knowledge is also key in discussion topics. Children often equate different experiences with their own due to a lack of knowledge about a certain time period or its respective social norms.
One example Berne and Clark focus on is the ability of a child to know the difference between fiction, non-fiction, and historical fiction. Several times they are asked if they believe if a certain story is true or could actually happen. Most of the time students exhibit hesitancy in acknowledging facts that are either extremely unsettling or obscure.
Teaching Religious Diversity Through Children's Literature
Green, Connie, and Sandra Oldendorf. “Teaching Religious Diversity Through Children’s Literature.” Childhood Education. Summer 2005.
Green and Oldendorf focus on the increasing diversity within schools, especially religious diversity. One of the most important lessons children learn during schooling is the vast differences between values, beliefs, and morals found within different culture within the United States. The article goes through the many ways teachers can integrate the differing beliefs of the classmates into their curriculum. Alienation by other members of the class is one of the main issues teachers encounter in our current society. To combat this issue, reading children's novels that focus on the cultural heritage of different religions helps children to understand how others view life. Green and Oldendorf specify that this particular approach is only possible if the teacher is open to the ideas of others. Though many would say they are able to not discriminate against religions they do not believe in, they are more apt to discredit the beliefs of others when given their own perspective.
Teaching Reading
Metzger, Margaret. "Teaching Reading." Phi Delta Kappan 80.3 (1998): 240. Professional Development Collection. EBSCO. Web. 20 Mar. 2010.
This article discusses methods to develop skills to comprehend a difficult piece of writing.
Teaching students to read well and making students love to read are two different things. Often, students view reading as a passive activity in which you automatically “get it” or you don’t, and several consider themselves poor readers because they don’t realize people read on many levels and at different speeds. Many students have problems applying general reading strategies to every piece of literature (like point of view and following a plot). Mrs. Metzger attempts to use a modified version of Socratic Seminars to achieve a goal of every student learning reading strategies for understanding difficult texts. Socratic Seminars are based on the work of Mortimer Adler and Dennis Gray. These seminars focus on understanding reading of a short piece of writing through noncompetitive discussion. In addition to group discussions, she focused on how the students read as well as what they were reading. This way they were able to understand how the problem is solved (how a student came up with a response).
To develop comprehension skills, students must be able to read a book and abstract from the details and plot to a general and appropriate statement about meaning and theme. Therefore, to better reach this goal, Mrs. Metzger implemented reading the passage aloud three times, one group discussing, the other group summarizing the important parts of the discussion, and then the entire class articulating the methods used to reach their understandings. The last implementation of articulating methods (as a class) of how individuals reached their understanding was her most significant addition to the Socratic Seminar, which ultimately allowed her to attain her goal of developing comprehension strategies. She also allowed students to take turns leading discussions while she stepped back, and with time students’ comprehension improved as they developed general comprehension skills that allowed them to do the difficult tasks of abstracting, generalizing, and concluding.
Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature
Prater, Mary Anne, Tina Taylor Dyches, and Marissa Johnstun “Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature." Intervention in School and Clinic. 42.1, 2006.
Prater, Dyches, and Johnstun focus more on younger children and their ability to communicate about disabilities through the components of children’s literature. They focus on characterization, illustrations, and textual context and style. There is a certain amount of hesitation when discussing disabilities with children of a certain age, but the authors stress the importance of broaching the subject through a highly relatable character. Through the use of independent, peer paired, and student/teacher paired reading children may become better acquainted with the works and understand them. Following the readings, the authors encourage a discussion time for the children to ask any questions that trouble them or clear up any type of unusual things they encountered while reading. Finally the authors make note of introducing younger classrooms to the idea that the human race is extremely diverse and therefore not all are on the same level.
Indeterminate Texts, Responsive Readers, and the Idea of Difficulty in Literature Learning. Purves, Alan C., and Albany, NY. Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature. “Indeterminate Texts, Responsive Readers, and the Idea of Difficulty in Literature Learning.” Report Series 4.1. 1990. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 20 Mar. 2010.
The study of literature is here divided into three parts: literature as knowledge, derived from the text itself as well as biographical, historical, critical, theoretical, or cultural knowledge surrounding the text; literature as reading and writing, a reflection of current pedagogical practices that encourage students and teachers to view texts as raw materials for demonstrating proficiency in language arts skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening); and literature as the development of habits, preferences, or taste, where literature is valued for its aesthetic qualities. This article argues that knowledge and language arts skills are currently favored by our educational systems dependence on standardized tests, and that the aesthetic could be integrated into this system by phrasing questions about literary value not as questions of personal opinion, but as arguable aesthetic positions that students can learn to defend. All texts are indeterminate in the sense that significance is formed by the act of reading, writing, and speaking about literature, therefore it is the community of readers that ultimately determines the difficulty of any specific text.
The ATOS[TM] Readability Formula for Books and How It Compares to Other Formulas. School Renaissance Inst., Inc., Madison, WI. "The ATOS[TM] Readability Formula for Books and How It Compares to Other Formulas. Report." (2000): ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 20 Mar. 2010.
The (Advantage-TASA Open Standard) Readability Formula for Books is a formula that attempts to match students to works of literature within their zone of proximal development (ZPD), the range in which a student can make the greatest gains. Readability formulas analyze texts based on semantic and syntactic difficulty, assigning texts with shorter average words and sentence lengths to lower grade levels and texts with longer average words and sentence lengths to higher grade levels, either using a grade-level scale or a number scale that correlates to age or grade-level. The ATOS Readability Formula for Books uses a grade-level scale for ease of teacher, parent, and student use, and open standard, meaning that the formula used for free by educators and applied to any text, rather than to a set of texts specific to the formula. While measures of ZPD are an important starting place for educators (especially with the growing use of computerized reading programs like Accelerated Reader), they are designed to measure readability or difficulty, rather than appropriateness, and should not be used as an educator’s only guide in determining what text is appropriate for any given student.

Purpose and Practice of Writing in Literature Classroom

Topic?

Applebee, Arthur N., et al. "Discussion-Based Approaches to Developing Understanding: Classroom Instruction and Student Performance in Middle and High School English." American Educational Research Journal 40.3 (2003): 685-730. Print.

In this article, the authors focus on the importance of discussion-based approaches in teaching for in-depth understanding. This study points out important practices in classroom discussions, such as teachers using discussions to develop understanding rather than just testing what students know and a teacher’s use of discussion to examine multiple perspectives, that help students understand texts in a better way.

The study itself was fairly complex and used numerous mathematical equations to determine results. Although amounts of open discussion did not vary significantly from middle school to high school, amounts of discussion did vary between higher-level classes and regular level classes. The study suggests that it is important for teachers to ask more open-ended questions as opposed to trivia type questions that only have right or wrong answers and instead encourage multiple interpretations. Also, the subject of uptake was discussed in that it is important for teachers to use uptake to build upon student’s answers instead of simply moving from question to question.

Bangert-Drowns, Robert L., Marlene M. Hurley, and Barbara Wilkinson. "The Effects of School-Based Writing-to-Learn Interventions on Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis." Review of Educational Research 74.1 (2004): 29-58. Print.

In this article, the authors analyze the effects of writing on a student’s ability to understand the reading material. Before the article’s study is explained, other research is referenced that goes back and forth as to the impact on learning that writing assignment have.

After conducting a study as to the effects of writing on student’s learning, the authors determined that there was a fairly consistent positive achievement effect attributed to writing assignments, although the outcomes were relatively small. The study also found that grade level, minutes per writing assignment and the presence of prompts also had an effect on positive achievements. The study concludes that although writing can be expected to enhance learning in academic settings, it is not a potent magic

Johnson, Nancy J., Cyndi Giorgis, Annamarie Bonomo, Abby Franklin, Janine King, and Pam Pottle. "Literature and Writing." Reading Teacher 53 (1999): 234-43. ERIC. Web. 26 Mar. 2010. .

The article I read was “Literature and Writing” by Eileen Tway. It talks about the importance of having child to teacher and child to child interactions. When having a child to teacher interaction about writing, it is always important that the teacher has appropriate questions to ask the student. An example could be “What did you mean here” or “What happened after that?” (Tway, 2). These examples will help the student with organization and clarity of his or her writing. Also other questioning skills include: accepting feeling, praising or encouraging, and accepting or using ideas of students. Accepting feelings is very important because many children will put their “innermost thoughts and feelings” into their writings. The teacher must then be able to add comments that don’t just say “good”, but that really shows the student that the teacher cares. Praising or encouraging is a positive reinforcement to a students reading or writing skills. A teacher should be specific, so that the students get helpful feedback. The last one is accepting or using ideas of students, this is when students will have interactions with others. All of these “behaviors mentioned are more indirect”, which means that the students think that the teachers are more pleasant, friendly, and kind. Having child to child interactions is very important because they can learn a lot from each other.

Eileen Tway is building on from other critics on this subject by including them into her own paper. Every time she states something about discussions with a teacher or student she always has a quote that she adds to support her argument.

Nystrand, Martin. "Research on the Role of Classroom Discourse As It Affects Reading Comprehension." Research in the Teaching of English 40.4 (2006): 392-404. Print.

The article, “Research on the Role of Classroom Discourse As it Affects Reading Comprehension,” reviews several studies that show the positive effects of dialogical teaching. The review begins by noting that educational research has lacked in the past so that standard pedagogical practices that didn’t result in better reading comprehension. The studies reviewed in this article point out that preplanned lesson plans with thought-out questions and anticipated answers only serve as gauges the understanding of a few students. The studies, which span several perspectives including congnitive, sociocognitive, sociocultural, and dialogic, also provide approaches to discussion and small-group work that benefit reading comprehension.

Nystrand, Martin. "Taking Risks, Negotiating Relationships: One Teacher's Transition toward a Dialogic Classroom." Research in the Teaching of English 36 (2001): 249-79. Print.

In the article “Taking Risks, Negotiating Relationships: One Teacher’s Transition toward a Dialogic Classroom,” authors Julie Nelson Christopher and Martin Nystrand present a study of classroom discussion within a largely Hispanic Midwestern high school. The study is introduced with evidence on the lacking amount of discussion within American schools. Despite this, studies show that dialogically organized lesson plans have strong positive effects on learning. The case study looks at Kathy Smith, a teacher striving towards more effective teaching strategies. Although Kathy is interested in incorporating more dialogically centered teachings, she is inhibited by strict state mandated curriculum. The study showed by using authentic questions, follow-up questions, and stressing or displaying appreciation or validation for student responses all shaped her class into a more discussion oriented and therefore more thoughtful environment.

Nystrand, Martin. "Written Text as Social Interaction." Theory into Practice XXIII.3 (2001): 198-205. Print.

The purpose of this article is to demostrait the importance of writing based on it’s correlation with discussion. Nystrand explains that when readers understand a text, an exchange of meaning has taken place. Students can better articulate their ideas in discussion when they can articulate an idea through writing. Since writers cannot sit with their audience and explain things that may be unclear to the reader, they must strive to be complete in their work. Practicing this enables students to talk about literature in more complete ways as their initial thoughts on a piece evolve through their writing. These ideas are demonstrated though a case study presented within the article.

Annotated Bibliography Groups

Teaching difficult or ambiguous works
Aimee Hunter, Whitney Vincent, Lauren Least


Purpose and practice of writing / discussing literature
Analisa Garcia, Landon Dinnon, Stephanie Schuepbach


Creating, sequencing and scaffolding assignments
Stephanie Allen, Emily Carter, Andrea Edmundson


Purposes and rationales for reading imaginative literature
Marcus Bahena & Charmaine Vorhees


Heuristics of reading and interpretation
Lauren Power, Nicole Zschiesche, Megan Westoreland, Allison Bailiff


Categorizing or defining children’s literature
Andi Dean, Callie Mason, Carli McEntire, Sarah Livingston