Sunday, May 2, 2010

Final Blog Reflection

After completing my blogging for this class, I felt that there were so many benefits that resulted. Not only did I get a chance to explore children's literature and get a good idea of what kinds of literature I would like in my own classroom but I got an experience of a critical look at children's lit. I feel like I have a better grasp on how to use children's literature in my class. I had never given much thought to how I would tackle some tough topics that may come up in various books but now that's at the forefront of my mind. Now when I open a book, I think about how I can use this is my classroom, how it may benefit my students and if I feel comfortable and appropriate using it in my classroom. Not only have I learned about the professional use of children's books but I also appreciate them for my own entertainment. Reading all of these picture books for this class has made me learn a lot about myself and what I expect to find in a book written for children. It has also let me experience some of the books that I experienced as a child which I also really enjoyed. It gave me an excuse to get to read all of my childhood favorites. Overall, the benefits from this class are numerous. The biggest impact for me was how I feel like I am prepared to choose books to bring into my classroom. Before I took this class, I'm not sure that I would have chosen books as critically as I will now. This class benefited not only me but my future students as well.

Come to the Great World: Poems From Around the Globe


Come to the Great World is a book of poems from around the globe. This is a great book for a multicultural aspect. Not only are there great representations of poems from different places around the world but there are also great drawings to go with each culture as well. It would be a very interesting book to use in the classroom and to see if there were any differences or similarities between the poems from different places. It's a great way to show students that kids are kids, no matter where they are from. It's also a great book to use teaching poetry because the poems are written by children so they are easy to read and to relate to. I know as a student, I was bored by poetry. I think that if I was given poetry written by kids like me that I would have enjoyed it a little more.

Celebration Song


Celebration Song by James Berry is a beautiful book of the celebration of the birth of Jesus. This is a different kind of story for me personally, because the birth of Jesus is set against a Caribbean background instead of the traditional story. The illustrations are bright and gorgeous and really go along with the Caribbean background of the story. The lines of the poems are written along on flags and banners across the page which adds to the flow of the story. I could see this book of poetry coming across as being controversial. For one thing Jesus is born as a Caribbean native. Many people would find this hard to believe. Also, the traditional story of Bethlehem has now been replaced by a new backdrop. Being a Catholic, this book doesn't offend me at all, but I could see how some people could find issue.