Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Historical Fiction

About the Genre

  • A story written to portray a time period or convey information about a specific time period or a historical event
  • The event is usually 30 years in the past
  • In this genre, setting is the most important element of the story
  • Because the author is writing about a specific time period, the information about that time in history must be authentic and accurate
  • In order to do this, the author must do research prior to writing
  • The characters can either be imaginary or real people that lived
  • The plot events can also be real or made up
  • Any fictional aspects of the story have to be presented authentically so that it is perceived that they could actually happen
  • Information gathered from: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson404/HistoricalFictionDefn.pdf
Use in the Classroom
  • Historical fiction enhances the social studies curriculum
  • It catches students' curiosity
  • Reading historical fiction as a class evens the playing ground.  This means that some students come into the discussion knowing a lot about the topic and others come in with very little background knowledge about the topic.  Reading historical fiction provides academic equity because it can be compared to other historical fiction texts that everyone has read.  This gives everyone an equal opportunity to participate in the conversation.
  • Reading historical fiction promotes multiple perspectives.  It is important for students to gain perspectives from a variety of people when discussing a certain event in history.  
  • It helps teachers to integrate social studies across the curriculum
  • Information gathered from: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/why-how-i-teach-historical-fiction

Book Lists

I, Too, Am America by Langston Hughes

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (2012)
  • ISBN-10: 1442420081
Grade Level
  • Lexile Measure: 390L
  • Interest Level: Grades K-3
  • ATOS: NA
  • Text Complexity: K
Themes
  • African American
  • Civil Rights
  • Overcoming Hardships
Qualities of Writing
  • The poetic form of the book is very well written
  • Because of the few words, the illustrations play a large role in the comprehension of the book
  • It is a very inspirational book that explains the promise of equality
  • Coretta Scott King illustrator award winner in 2013
Difficult Components of the Book
  • Like I said, there are few words so the students have to infer what the author means most of the time
  • Because of the poetic form, there is a lot of room for opinion about what the author means
  • The students would have to have some background knowledge of slavery/civil rights in order for them to fully understand the text 

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Reference Information

  • Publisher: Square Fish; Reprint edition (2013)
  • ISBN-10: 1250010233
Grade Level 
  • Lexile Measure: 920L
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 6
  • Interest Level: Grades 6-9
  • ATOS Book Level: 5.7
  • Text Complexity Grade Band: 4-5
Themes
  • Death, Grief, Loss
  • Family Life
  • Communities and Ways of Life
  • Family Discipline
  • History
Qualities of Writing
  • Gantos does a really good job a implementing historical pieces into the story through newspaper articles and through casual conversation between the characters
  • There is a good mix between comedy and mystery
  • The writing helps the reader have a good view about history because of the values that Miss Volker and Jack had in the story
Difficult Components of the Book
  • The students may have troubles picking up on the fictional historical pieces of the text
  • The book has a very slow start, so readers who are easily disengaged in a text may struggle pushing through
  • This historical fiction book is not about one particular time in history, but rather it touches on many events without ever going in depth with any.  Therefore, students who don't really love history are not going to remember these historical facts.  It is fun to read one and realize that you have heard about it and know more than what is said in the text, but as far as new information, it probably won't be remembered just from reading this book. 

Resources


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Friday, September 13, 2013

Tales, Legends, & Fables

Tales, Legends, & Fables

Criteria for Quality & Selection:
  • Brief symbolic narratives in verse or prose that show moral codes in a way that may be exaggerated
  • These may include oral traditions of tales and legends of a certain people group, or magical creatures
  • Fractured Fairy Tale: A re-working of a traditional fairy tale that retains familiar elements such as characters and plot, but alters the story in unexpected ways, often with a contemporary "spin" or ironic twist."
  • Fairy Tales:
    • Make believe
    • Happens long ago
    • Has magic
    • Happily ever after
    • Has an evil person
  • Folktales: a story that has been told for a long time by a group of people
  • Fables:
    • Involves talking animals
    • Teaches a lesson
    • Usually short
    • 2-3 characters
  • Legends combine a real even or a real person's life story with an exaggeration and heroic actions
http://jayateslpjjupm.blogspot.com/2011/04/using-folktalesfablesmyths-or-legends.html)
Use in the Classroom
  • Fables are good to use in the classroom because they involve moral values in the story.  It is important to teach the moral value before reading the story.  It is also beneficial to discuss any personal experience that the students might have to the particular moral before starting.  
  • I like the idea of rewriting well-known fairy tales or even writing alternate endings to the story
  • Using this genre in the classroom lends itself to drama and theater exercises, so I might try to strategically combine these two areas 
  • I also like this genre, because when the students get older this genre sometimes disappears from their reading but it is fun to bring them back into it
  • There are also a lot of variations to the same story, some of the most beneficial are those that look at the same story from the view point of different cultures

Book List

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer


Reference Information
  • Publisher: Emily Bestler Book/Atria/Simon Puls; Reprint Edition (2013)
  • ISBN-10: 1451635818
Grade Level
  • Lexile Measure: 770L
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 7
  • Interest Level: 9-12
  • ATOS Book Level: 4.9
  • Text Complexity Grade Band: 2-3
Themes
  • High School
  • Magic/Supernatural
  • Romantic Relationships
  • Princes and Princesses
  • Love
Qualities of Writing
  • The use of the three different perspectives in the story.  It switches from Delilah being in first person (who is living in the "real world") to Oliver being first person (who is living in the fairy tale story).  Then, it also mixes in the actual fairy tale story that Delilah is reading and that Oliver is a character in.  Even though this sounds complicated, Picoult does a really good job of keeping the transitions clear (usually they change by chapter).  I also thought it was interesting that each point of view had the text printed in a different color.  This also kept it clear who was in first person. 
Difficult Components of the Book
  • In the paragraph above, I discussed the switch in perspective.  This could be difficult for some students, but I think that at the high school level, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.  Especially because of the way that Picoult organizes the text.  
  • It might be helpful for students to read completely through just the fairy tale story in the text that way they don't have to read it randomly in chunks.  This is something that might lesson stress for some readers who like to know clearly what is going on.  

The Three Pigs  by David Wiesner

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/three-pigs

 Reference Information
  • Publisher: Clarion Books (2011)
  • ISBN-10: 9780618007011
Grade Level
  • Lexile Measure: NA
  • Grade Level Equivalent: 2.8
  • ATOS Level: 2.3
  • Text Complexity Grade Span: 
Themes:
  • Cleverness
  • Creativity & Imagination
  • Just Rewards
  • Responsibility
Qualities of Writing
  • I like how the author tells the story from a narrative perspective but also includes speech bubbles.  This really brings the characters to life.
  • The illustrations also work very well with the writing to make the story really engaging.

Difficult Components of the Book
  • The students have to have prior knowledge of the other fairy tales that are involved with the story in order to fully appreciate the text.  
  • The students have to use their imagination in order to understand the book especially when considering how different this book is compared to traditional narrative texts.

Resources






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