• Home
  • Resources
    • Classroom Tools
    • Games
    • Media
    • Research
    • Online Resources
  • Community
    • News
    • Organizations
  • Brain Based Learning
    • Testing
    • The Power of Feedback
    • Rewards - Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic
    • Stress and Learning
    • Meditation
    • School and Sleep
    • Brain Based Learning - Videos
  • About Us
    • What Is Joyful Learning?
    • What Is The Joyful Learning Network?
    • FAQ
    • Archives
Joyful Learning Network

Fantasy literature and its relevance to today's youth, particularly girls

7/23/2012

0 Comments

 
Fantasy, fairy tales, happy endings:
Teachers find success in NEH program led by Harvard scholar
Edward Mason, Harvard Gazette, July 23, 2012

"Nicole Guillen, a high school teacher at the Alliance Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science School in Los Angeles, said the fantasy of Lewis Carroll or “Peter Pan” read by older generations may not be as relevant to today’s students as the violence depicted in modern literature.

"“They’re growing up where gangs are part of everyday life,” Guillen said. “In some communities, what kids see is very real and it’s a horrifying type of reality, and that’s why they like seeing it in a book: I don’t have a Wonderland or a Neverland, but I do have this reality.”

"Elizabeth Gray, who teaches at an alternative East Brooklyn, N.Y., high school, countered that escapism is an important part of fantasy literature.

"“I teach a lot of gangs; I’m not sure they always want to read about gangs,” she said. “They might prefer to read about Neverland. I wonder if [“Hunger Games”] is too close to home?”

"Lauren Bielefeld, a ninth-grade reading teacher from Fountain Valley High School in Orange County, Calif., said fantasy literature tests moral compasses.

"“Kids like to imagine what kind of kid they would become,” Bielefeld said. “I can hear my kids do that with ‘Lord of the Flies’ and with ‘Hunger Games.’”"
0 Comments

Summer Reading

6/5/2012

0 Comments

 
"What Will You and Your Children Read This Summer?"
KJ Dell'Antonia, New York Times, June 6, 2012
 
"What’s your summer reading plan, and what’s the plan for your children? Two of my four have summer reading time charts from school. Will this be another year when I determine that every evening at X time will be “quiet reading time,” only to have it endlessly thwarted by things like impromptu s’mores and meteor showers? (And how can that really be bad?) I want them to read. They (mostly) want to read. But oh, we have a terrible time with those charts. 
"... Does 20 minutes a day of easily tracked reading fit into every family’s day except ours? They do read, but how many 6-year-olds pay attention to where and for how long? Me, I’ve never exactly understood why they (or, more relevantly, I) should. I prefer the rising third grader’s option: a space to list all the books she reads, along with “one thing you liked” and “one thing you didn’t.” "
0 Comments

Comic Books in the Classroom!

1/11/2012

0 Comments

 
"Using Graphic Novels and Comics in the Classroom"
Andrew Miller, Edutopia, January 11, 2012

"Here are some specific strategies to ponder as you select a graphic novel or comic to read, or as you consider how students might create their own. Thinking about them will help you focus your purpose in your instruction. All of them are useful, as long as the purpose is clear to the teacher and the learner.
...
"1) A Tool to Differentiate Instruction
"Graphic novels and comics can be a great way to differentiate instruction for learners in terms of reading and also in terms of assessment. 
...
"3) Assess Student Learning
"PBL calls for the creation of authentic products that are useful and credible to the group. You can have students create comics or graphic novels, or components of them, as a useful formative assessment tool to check for understanding of important content. If used as a summative assessment, the comic could be made to combat bullying, such as the suggestion Suzie Boss made in an earlier post. Make the graphic novel or comic a product that students create to meet a need. Don't just make it a regurgitation of knowledge. Instead, give it an authentic purpose.
...
"There are many other purposes for graphic novels in the classroom, from looking at different cultures and backgrounds to utilizing technology in authentic ways. Just make sure you select the graphic novel or comic with a clear purpose in mind. Perhaps you have multiple purposes, as there are many instructionally sound purposes out there."

"I will leave you with some favorite graphic novels and comics that I've used in my classroom! Trust me, I have read plenty more than this list!

  • "Persepolis, a memoir of a girl growing up during the Islamic revolution in Iran, was recently made into a motion picture.
  • "Maus, a top favorite for many, explores themes of the Holocaust through a memoir characterized by mice and cats.
  • "American Born Chinese is the tale of three characters: Jin Wang, the only Chinese-American in the neighborhood; Chin-Kee, the ultimate Chinese stereotype; and the Monkey King, ancient fable character."

0 Comments

    Joyful News

    News from around the web ... ordered in date of original publication, so you can see what's most recent on this page, or select by a specific category below. Let us know if a great news story comes across your screen!

    Picture

    Archives

    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    July 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    February 2009

    Categories

    All
    Arts
    Assessment
    Books
    Capitalism
    Character
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Creativity
    Curiosity
    Degrees
    Differentiation
    Drama
    England
    Expectations
    Failure
    Farm
    Financial Satisfaction
    Flexibility
    Focus
    Friendship
    Games
    Gifted
    Girls
    G.N.H.
    Grades
    Grants
    Graphic Novels
    Gratitude
    Growth
    Happiness
    Happiness Index
    Health
    Independence
    Innovation
    Job Security
    Joy
    Language Arts
    Learning
    Math
    Middle School
    Montessori
    Motivation
    Music
    Olympics
    Online
    Optimism
    Parenting
    Perserverance
    Play
    Post Secondary
    Post-secondary
    Reading
    Recess
    Research
    Safety
    School Climate
    Schools
    Science
    Self-control
    Social Safety Net
    Social Studies
    Stem
    Studying
    Success
    Summer
    Teaching
    Teamwork
    Technology
    Testing
    U.N.
    Waldorf
    Well Being
    Well-being
    Work
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.