Juli Kendall's Weekly
Reading/Writing Workshop Journal
A MiddleWeb Listserv Project
Members of the MiddleWeb Discussion List and other interested teachers
are joining together to explore the Writing Workshop and other ideas about
supporting young adolescent writers and readers. Juli Kendall, a reading-writing
teacher/coach in Long Beach, California, is helping moderate the discussion.
Juli also posts a weekly journal entry from her reading/writing classroom.
This year, Juli will focus on her efforts to integrate subject matter into
her reading and writing workshop approach. In her first
journal of the year, she explains the rationale behind this move and
some of her thinking about how she hopes to accomplish this goal.
Find out more about our project at our Reading/Writing
Workshop homepage. You'll find Juli's background article here.
Links to many of the tools created by Juli and her colleagues are embedded
in these journals. Most often, when you click on them, a PDF file will begin
to download. You'll find a list of the downloads here.
If you'd like to join the daily discussion that parallels Juli's Journals,
find out how here.
2003-04 Reading/Writing
Workshop Journal
Week #16
Using Informational Text
for Literature Study and Book Clubs
That book. Who could forget that book? In the cool, dark of the library,
in the shade of a tree, as a refuge on the beach during a sunny vacation,
or downloaded as mp3s and listened to on an Ipod as you cross the Arctic
Circle, books fill our lives. Drawing on our memories and tugging on our
emotions, books make us aware of our humanity and our connections to each
other. So given the opportunity to have a conversation about a good book,
who wouldn't jump at the chance?
As our third unit of study this year, we're using informational text for
literature study and book clubs. And kids are jumping at the chance to talk
about the books they are reading.
On page 252 in Guiding Readers and Writers by Fontas and Pinnell,
there's a great explanation of literature study.
What is Literature Study?
Literature study is known by many other names, including literature circles,
literature clubs, lit clubs, book clubs, and readers'
circles. You may want to adopt one of these "user friendly"
labels. We like the word study because it conveys precisely what
takes place: a focused examination of a text. Whatever the label, it refers
to an instructional approach that involves these key elements:
--Reading and thinking about works of literature.
--Collaborating with others to reflect on, analyze, and criticize literature.
--Developing and sharing aesthetic responses to literature.
--Extending understanding through talk and/or writing
So we are selecting, reading, and thinking about leveled informational text
in science. Then we'll collaborate with others who have read the same text
to reflect on, analyze, and criticize the informational books. Next, we
will develop and share our aesthetic (artistic) responses to the books in
small groups. Finally, we'll extend our understanding through talk and/or
writing about the texts with the goal in mind of building content literacy
in science.
This time our exploration of literature is all about how kids who are not
reading at grade level participate using informational text. The other journal
I wrote about book clubs and literature study focused on fiction. (See Reading
Workshop Journal #31.) This time we're focused on
content literacy in science, so we're using informational text.
To find out about prior knowledge and organize our thinking about literature
study, we start with a KWL chart. This chart has three columns where we
list what we know about literature study, some of the questions we have
and, ultimately, what we learn by doing a literature study. It's very informative
to read the background information the kids bring with them about literature
study.
What we know about literature study
Rodrigo -- "It is when it helps you understand more about your
reading."
John -- "Literature is what is in the book."
Alejandra -- "You study to get answers out of magazines and books."
Jonathan -- "Literature study is a group. Literature is books. When
we study, we want to get better and smarter.
Yaritza -- "It's like when we read."
Some of the questions we have about literature study
John -- "How long has there been literature?"
Rodrigo -- "Who invented literature?"
Edgar -- "What does literature study mean?"
Yaritza -- "Who invented the word, 'literature'?"<close>
For our focus on informational books in science, I select books at a variety
of reading levels to give kids a choice of content and level of difficulty.
I want them to become more independent in their ability to find a "just
right" informational book.
Books we're using for Literature Study
(levels from middle of 3rd grade to middle of 4th grade)
Level N
What am I Made of by David Bennett
Level O
Whales by Kevin Boon
Mountain Gorillas with text and photographs by Julie Connal
A Dinosaur Named Sue, The Find of the Century by Fay Robinson with
the Science Team of the Field Museum
Dinosaurs, A Magic Tree House Research Guide by Will and Mary Pope
Osborne
Level P
Hurricanes! Wild Weather by Lorraine Jean Hopping
The Magic School Bus, Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
Five Brave Explorers, Great Black Heroes by Wade Hudson
One Day in the Alpine Forest by Jean Craighead George
One Day in the Desert by Jean Craighead George
One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest by Jean Craighead George
One Day in the Woods by Jean Craighead George
Level Q
Adventures of the Shark Lady, Eugenie Clark Around the World by Ann
McGovern
Finding the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard
Interestingly, different classes choose to read different books. One class
picks books about skeletal structure and animals. Another class decides
to read about the Titanic, while The Magic Schoolhouse Books, based on a
TV show, are popular with the third class. Giving kids a choice (letting
them choose their own books) is a window into how they think about reading.
I get so much information by following their leads. Because they get to
choose, they are also much more motivated.
As our adventures with literature study using informational text in science
are beginning, I'm wondering how everything will turn out. Will we be able
to sustain a conversation about the books? Will the kids be interested in
responding aesthetically (artistically) to the texts? How well will they
be able to dialogue about the science content?
Only time will tell.
SEE Juli's Curriculum Map for Content
Literacy - Unit Three
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