Field Experience Reflection

1.    How many hours did you complete?

For this course,  I completed six hours and forty minutes of field experience.  
2.    In a short paragraph or bulleted list, how did you spend your time?

I interviewed my school’s library media specialist and I implemented (then revised) a KTIP lesson plan which focused on literacy. As I prepared for a new school year, I analyzed and reflected upon my instructional practices, my curriculum and content resources with focus on theories of teaching and learning shared in this course.  I created three book talks which I shared with a local public library for a summer reading event. Furthermore, I attended professional development trainings on differentiated instruction, engagement, and literacy within content areas. Finally, I also attended a regular school board meeting in July at which I heard several discussions about curriculum and instruction concerns.

3.    How did the experience help you to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard? (be sure to name the standard)
Specifically, implementing and reflecting upon a KTIP lesson plan has strengthened my instructional practices with regard to Kentucky Teacher Standard 2.   In order to properly create and teach this lesson,  I have to know my content and my students,  develop significant objectives, use appropriate instructional strategies, and plan activities that address student needs and learning levels.

4. Talk a little about one thing you learned because of this field experience.
As a result of the technology requirements for this course,  I was able to create and present book-talks at a local library during a summer reading event.  I have been using book-talks and book trailers in my classroom since school started. I also plan to create an interactive display which will help students when choosing a book to read in my classroom or in our media center.  Book-talks are such powerful tools for literacy because these short little commercials are engaging and informative.  Students need such help when trying to find the next great book to read.

Informational/Non-fiction Reflection: Four Perfect Pebbles

Perl, L. & Lazan, M.B. (1996). Four perfect pebbles: A Holocaust story. New York: Avon Books.  

“If she could find four perfect pebbles of almost exactly the same size and shape, it meant that her family would remain whole. Mama and Papa and she and Albert would survive Bergen-Belsen. The four of them might even survive the Nazis’ attempt to destroy every last Jew in Europe.”

         I discovered this book a few years ago while researching Jewish experiences during the Holocaust for a primary source project in a History of Austria class.   As with several other sources,  I included it in a lengthy annotated bibliography and promptly forgot about it when I completed the course.  This summer, as I prepared units of study for my sixth grade students,  I decided to focus on themes of characters overcoming adversity and the resilience of hope; another search of children’s literature helped me to re-discover this writing.  While the authors focus on specific historical events in Marian B. Lazan’s life,  Lazan shares her emotions and revelations about those events, thus making this novel more of a memoir than an autobiography of her life.  This is more than just expository writing to relay facts because Mrs. Lazan shares her first-hand experiences of historically significant events; she tells a history of her life within the frame of the Holocaust. 
          Marian Blumenthal Lazan and her family were trapped in Nazi Germany during World War II.  Planning to escape to Holland as Hitler closes his fists on the Jewish citizens of Germany,  the Blumenthals are faced with devastating challenges and setbacks which keep them trapped within the borders of Hitler’s country.  Although it is non-fiction, this selection is rife with conflict.  Marian’s family struggles to maintain contact as they are moved from camp to camp; they battle hunger, illness, freezing temperatures, utter degradation, and loneliness as well as Hitler’s plan to exterminate all Jews in his quest for domination. 
          As you would expect, Mrs. Lazan tells her life’s story chronologically from her childhood to her liberation from a Nazi extermination camp and then her life after the camps; however, with the help of Lila Perl, she also recalls memories through flashbacks  which is an element of fiction sometimes found in memoirs.  For example, she tells the story of making soup while sitting in a crowded cabin in a prisoner’s camp. As her mother works over the boiling soup, Marian describes how she recalled another time of making soup that was quite different than sitting hunched over a small metal can of boiling water and rotting vegetables.  Likewise, her ten-year old determination to find four, perfect pebbles in the prison camp’s yard is heart-rending and sad; each pebble represents a member of her family.  If  Marian has those four pebbles, then her family will stay together.  Such vivid details, in addition to photographs from Marian’s family albums,  provides the reader with a well-written account of the harrowing experiences of life as a Jewish citizen and prisoner during the Holocaust and the resilient hope of a survivor’s story.   For more information about Marian B. Lazan, please visit her website at http://www.fourperfectpebbles.com/.

          Because of the historical significance of the Holocaust,  this novel clearly falls into the category of high interest reading within informational literature.  Students are curious about the life experiences, the violence of war, and the survivors of this time period.  However, I would caution against allowing younger children to read this novel because of the graphic nature of the photographs and some of Lazan’s detailed descriptions of violent events.   

            Curriculum Connections:  This autobiography could be read in a Social Studies class as a primary source during a study of World War II, Hitler’s rise to power, and the Holocaust.  Likewise, in a Writing class,  an excerpt of Four Perfect Pebbles could be used as an anchor text when studying the nuances and structures of biography, autobiography, and memoirs.

          Big Questions:  Even though we are members of different communities, can we find similarities in our life stories?  How are we all challenged by adversity? What does hope mean to you?

Historical Fiction Book Talk: Sounder

Armstrong, W.H. (1969). Sounder. New York: HarperCollins.

Please enjoy a booktalk on my historical fiction selection. Click here for audio

      My name is Sounder. You can hear my voice all through the woods when I get a coon or possum caught up in wild grapevines or an old persimmon tree.  My redbone hound voice carries on until I catch another scent.  The boy says, "There ain’t no dog like Sounder.”  I reckon he is right. Being a sharecropper’s dog is a hard life…little food, cold nights, lots of hunting. Times get even harder when the men come with guns and take away the boy’s father. No more long hunts in the cold, windy woods.  No more calloused hands on my neck and whispers of “good Sounder, good Sounder” after a hunt. I chased after the boy’s father, I got hurt and I couldn’t find him.  If I don’t have my voice, life won’t be the same at the cabin with the boy.  Read my story and find out what happens to me, the boy, and the boy’s father in Sounder by William H. Armstrong.

My Reading Log: The List

            I admit it; I am a bookworm.  I enjoy reading...no, devouring books.   If I sit next to some unsuspecting stranger at a doctor's office and they are reading a paperback,  I find subtle ways to get a glimpse of the cover.  Have I read it?  Nope. Add it to my potential menu.  I despise book covers and electronic reading tools only because it's difficult to see what you are reading. Wait, sometimes, that's a good thing! 
             If someone asks, "Hey! Have you read this?"  I feel small butterflies in my stomach at the mere hint of something new to read. When I don't make time to read,  I feel like my brain is withering away like a neglected tomato on a dying vine.  I love to share reading experiences with others.  Fiction, magazines, nonfiction, poetry, dramas, young adult, old adult, almanacs...I'll read anything!  I also want to ask questions about what you've been reading.  Have you read any good books lately? 
           Here is a list of books I've read this summer as an assignment for my Young Adult and Children's Literature class.  This is, by no means, the list of everything I have read.  I have, however, read some new choices based on suggestions from my professor and my classmates' blogs. I revisited some favorites from my own childhood.  I even grabbed a book recommended by a six year old while visiting the public library!   

I. Non-fiction/Informational

1) Nimmo, B. & Scott, D. (2000). Rachel’s tears.  Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

2)Pelzer, Dave. (1995). A child called “It.” Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications.

3) Frank, A. (1993). Diary of a young girl. New York: Bantam Books.

4) Perl, L. & Lazan, M.B. (1996). Four perfect pebbles: A holocaust story. New York: Avon Books.  

II. Poetry

1)     Hesse, K. (2001). Witness. New York: Scholastic.

2)     Hesse, K. (1997) . Out of the dust. New York: Scholastic.

3)     Creech, S. (2004). Heartbeat. New York: Scholastic.

4)     Sones, S. (2001). What my mother doesn’t know.  New York: Simon Pulse.

5)     San Souci, R.D.  (2000).  Cinderella skeleton. New York: Harcourt.  

III. Modern Fantasy

1)     Levine, G.C. (1997). Ella Enchanted. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.  

2)     Huxley, A. (1932). Brave new world. New York: Perennial Classics.

3)     Keyes, D. (1959). Flowers for Algernon. New York: Bantam.

4)     Yolen, J. (1988). The devil’s arithmetic. New York: Viking.

5)     DuPrau, J. (2003). The city of Ember.  New York: Random House.

6)     King-Smith, D. (1982). Pigs might fly: A novel. New York: Viking Press.

7)     Bacigalupi, P. (2012). The drowned cities. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

8)     Oppel. K. (2004). Airborn. New York: EOS.

IV. Historical Fiction

1) Armstrong, W. (1969).  Sounder. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

2) James, H. (1898). Turn of the screw. New York: MacMillan Company.
3) Crane, S. (1983). Red badge of courage. New York: Puffin Books.

4) Boyne, J. (2004). Boy in the striped pajamas. New York: Random House.

5) Lowry, L. (1989). Number the stars. New York: Yearling Books.  

6) Hunt, I.  Across five Aprils. New York: Berkley Books.

7) Cushman. K. (1994). Catherine called Birdy. New York: Harper Trophy.

8) Taylor. M.D. (1976). Roll of thunder, hear my cry. New York: Penguin.  

V. Traditional

1) Chase, R. (1943). The Jack tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

2) Brooke, W.J. (1994). Teller of tales. New York: Harper Trophy.

3) Averbeck, J. (2013). The market bowl. Massachusetts: Charlesbridge Publishing.

4) Schlitz, L.A. (2007). The bearskinner: A tale of the brothers Grimm. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.  

VI. Realistic Fiction

1)     Barkley, B. (2007). Dream Factory. New York: Dutton Books.

2)     Creech, S. (1994). Walk two moons. New York: Harper Collins.

3)     Paulsen, Gary. (1987) . Hatchet. New York: Puffin Books.

4)     Paulsen, Gary. (1984). Tracker. New York: Scholastic.

5)     Peck, R. (1998). Long way from Chicago. New York: Dial.

6)     Erskine, K. (2010) Mockingbird. New York: Scholastic.

7)     Lord, C. (2006). Rules. New York: Scholastic.

8)     Kidd. S.M. (2003). The secret life of bees. New York: PenguinGroup Inc.

 

VII. Picture Books

1) Young, E. (1992). Seven blind mice.  New York: Scholastic.

2) Silverstein, S. (1964). The giving tree. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

3) Wolf, A. (1989). True story of the three little pigs. New York: Penguin Books.  

4) Winter, J. (1988). Follow the drinking gourd. New York: Dragonfly Books.

5)Bunting, E. (2002). The bones of Fred McFee. New York: Harcourt.
6) Locker, T. (1984). Where the river begins. New York: Puffin Books.

7) Moulton, M.K. (2003). Twisted sistahs. Wisconsin: Lang Books. 

Realistic Fiction Book Trailer: The Secret Life of Bees

 Kidd, S.M. (2003). The Secret life of bees. New York: PenguinGroupInc.        

          While I have created and edited Powerpoints during many late night planning sessions as an educator,  I must admit that I have not used Windows MovieMaker 2.6 until this summer's Young Adult & Children's Literature class.  I found this to be an interesting, yet nervewracking, experience for a technologically-challenged, impatient person who wants to get those slides timed perfectly.   With practice, I can utilize this quick tool to make my ho-hum presentations into be-dazzled wonders of instructional mayhem and magic.    

Please enjoy my attempt at a booktrailer for Sue Monk Kidd's critically-acclaimed coming of age story called The Secret Life of Bees.