I want to piggyback Leslie's sentiments! I recently finished Kimberly Hill Campbell's new book titled "Less is More - Teaching Literature with Short Texts - Grades 6 - 12" It is a goldmine!
I found her book to be reflective, validating and full of new ideas. Her writing style displays warmth, conversation and professionalism. You will feel as though the two of you are sitting down, enjoying a cup of coffee/tea and discussing the passion of reading, learning and young people. Kimberly truly does what is best for her students. Her book is full of resources, lesson ideas, strategies, real things and experiences that have worked within her classroom. This is a book that you will pull off the shelf when you begin to ask yourself questions such as " I want to teach foreshadowing, but I am not sure what piece of text to use to bring forth the skill or how I want to teach it?" This was my exact question and so I went to her text. This is the lesson I planned and implemented. I love using short text! As a teacher of ELL students, they need things scaffolded, broken down and extensive background building. Short texts provide multiple rereadings and a chance to dig deeper. I looked at Kimberly's list and chose the story "Charlie" by Shirley Jackson. I had recalled enjoying the story myself, but it had been a long time. I knew my students would enjoy the story. We discussed foreshadowing and I used Kimberly's definition of "It's like the secret between the author and me." We discussed movies and stories that they thought had foreshadowing. After reading her book, one of the things I felt encouraged to do more of was to read the story to my students first. Sometimes I get so hung up on having them muddle their way through it, that I don't choose to do this. Kimberly inspired me to back up and do more of it. I provided students with post it notes and asked them to reread and look for the foreshadowing. They marked in the story where they felt the author leaked out the secret. Most of my students struggled with this because being ELL's they are "literal" readers and this is a difficult skill. I then took Kimberly's advice and partnered my students up and had them work together. Some partners chose to reread AGAIN! The more they reread the deeper the comprehension. They also shared many stories themselves of being in Kdg and grade 1 and telling lots of funny stories at home. I wasn't going to give up and tell my students the foreshadowing secrets, so in their partners, I encouraged them to look at the dialogue between Laurie, the main character and his parents. They came up with several different answers of foreshadowing and could support why they chose them. I found it intriguing that they wanted me to tell them if they were right or wrong. I was also able to tie foreshadowing with inferencing because you have to have some background to pick up the secrets and clues and you need to make inferences to find the foreshadowing. I highly recommend Kimberly's book. You will be encouraged to use the many short text resources she provides and the many lesson ideas that focus on the reading strategies that students need to be deeper readers and good writers! I love this book! My students loved the story Charlie by Shirley Jackson. I was able to find the audio version online free at http://www.miettecast.com/authors/jackson-shirley Donna ESL teacher Hatfield, PA _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
