We had a very busy class today! We started off by reading an article about why it is important to read to older students. This was particularly meaningful to me as my practicum is taking place in an upper elementary class. When I visited on Thursday I actually experienced a read aloud. It took place during the first 10 minutes of the students’ lunch break. They are in the middle of reading a book about a group of young immigrants who are trying to get to the UK via a boat. Its a powerful story and extremely relevant in this day.
The next activity we did involved looking closely at the New BC Curriculum, specifically the section on Language Arts. I really enjoyed looking at a list of books that were popular for different age groups. I recognized many of the titles and was nostalgic about all the reading I did in school. I was surprised to see that so many of the books, both for the intermediate and primary levels, were also popular when I was a student. Some of my favourites on the list included:
- Intermediate
- Harry Potter – JK Rowling
- Silverwing – Kenneth Oppel
- Hatchet – Gary Paulson
- The sky is falling – Kit Person
- A wrinkle in time – L’Engle
- Primary
- The Lorax – Dr Suess
- Where the wild things are – Maurice Sendak
- love you forever – Robert Munch
- The giving tree – Shel Silverstein
- Chrysanthemum – Kevin Henkes
Finally, we had some time to give peer feedback for our assignment 1 projects. I was in a group with three others who had such interesting and diverse literacies. They were on wake boarding, half-marathon running and painting. Its amazing to think that within one class of 30 adults we possess so many different literacies. This made me think of the 27 students in my own practicum class who surely have as many interests, hobbies and talents. I think its important to be mindful of this when lesson planning. Its important to include books and read alouds on a variety of topics. Moreover, you can use the students themselves as invaluable resources to help teach!
