Outrageous Not Overboard

So I was in my reading class and my professor is a beliver in "outrageous" teaching. Now by outrageous he means stepping out of your comfort box and doing something out of the ordinary to reach the students. One of the things that my professor explained this year is that "outrageous" doesn't necessarily have to mean overboard. The picture to your left is of a lesson that I did with a field study classroom. I did an interactive write aloud that I had seen in my college class. What I did with them is tell them that they would be "reporters" for the school. They each had a press pass that was either clipped to them or worn around the neck. Afterwards some of the students asked the chosen child (sitting next to me) questions and we wrote a story based off of the questions asked.

This I have learned is a logical "outrageous" lesson. It would make sense to kindergarten students that the "press" part would connect to asking questions. A reporter askes questions. I also did another lesson in this field study. I begged and pleaded with my teacher to do a Dr. Seuss lesson. I would be in school when his birthday rolled around. I just thought doing the activites that I found on his website would be fun.

Truthfully yeah they were fun. But there really wasn't a purpose behind the lesson. It was a lesson for the sake of it. And my "outrageous" teaching was bascially me pretending to be the cat in the hat while I read to them. I managed to keep "character" the entire time. But really was the lesson that outrageous or was it just me wanting an excuse to be silly?

Banned Books

I first heard about banning of books when I was in high school. I learned about the copy of "Little Red Riding Hood" that got banned because of an unmarked bottle that could be wine and it promoted underage drinking. Ask a child what that bottle could be and they might smile and tell you it's soda.

Last year in my social studies class I had to teach a lesson based on the concept of contraversial issues. I quickly thought about what I could teach a 5th grade classroom without imprinting my own beliefs on them. My thought was to read a banned book...that doesn't happen in the "district" I was pretending to teach from. My thought was that the class would be able to tell me what the "issue" might be after reading the book. Why would someone have a problem reading it or having it be read to a child.

As a teacher if it is a possibility to bring this up in a classroom I think I definiatly would. I wouldn't just have this as this is a banned book and we should read them all week. That isn't very educational or benifical. My plan would be to have the students look at a banned book...read it then research on line where the book is banned. Also why it is banned. Then there could be a classroom discussion on what we discovered online. My question is how do I approach this as part of the cirriculum considering that this is the start of the school year?

The Classics

I called Nonsuch Books in Saco today to see if they had a copy of Where the Wild Things Are. I was really impressed, usually when I go to that store I have trouble finding books there. Usually I get the line..."It's not in stock but we can order it for you." If that was the case I could easily go amazon myself and order it (maybe even get it for a penny used).

What impressed me though was when I walked back to the kids section of the book store was the appearance. The first thing was the fact that alot of the shelving was at child level, a younger shopper would be able to reach it. Other things that impressed me were, there was an associate there to answer questions if needed. There were also tables and chairs so that if they wanted to sit and look at the book before they purchased it. It was a pleasant surprise to number one find the book (I looked for a Dr. Seuss book last year and they didn't carry it) and number two walk into an area that encouraged reading.

The other part of this post that I wanted to talk about was the "classics". I purchased re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is one of my favorite movies. I even remember being Snow White in my nursery school play. I started watching it a few nights ago, and again it got me thinking. I never actually realized how "violent" older fairy tales can be. Let's look at Snow White, in the Disney version the queen wants to kill her, first by the huntsman's hand then as the old lady with the apple. Actually in another version of Snow White that I have read/seen the queen tries to suffocate Snow White by way of a "magical" ribbon that she uses as a belt.

This leaves me with a question...as an educator what do I do? I am one of those people that is a stickler for the original. But what or how much do you show/expose to the children. I would be the one to show the orginal text, there is always a richness about it that I would not want to hold back on the children. I also know that there would be several "hoops" to jump through in some cases. To me it would be worth it, I would want my children to be able to see the orginal story. (In Snow White the dwarfs are actually named after the days of the week not the disney names) Do you think it would be worth it?

I don't wanna be a stupid girl!

While in my undergrad at USM, I did a project called "Avoiding the Stupid Girl" syndrome. This video had just come out and it got me thinking.



Although Pink was making "fun" of the girls who got famous for being stupid. This video got me thinking. Why is it that there are plenty of "smart" guys for boys to look up to, but the ratio of smart:stupid girls is severely skewed. In my project there would be a list of women that girls would have to research and present to the class. I would probably do this during a health class right about 5th-7th grade. Reality stars like Heidi Montage-Pratt and Megan Hauserman make looking dumb look good. As much as I hate to say this (because she is EVERYWHERE) I would rather see them model themselves after the Miley Cyrus' of the world. But even then there is a part of me as a future teacher and parent wondering when she will "break away" from the Disney machine and want to be more of a "bad girl". Isn't it more important to teach girls to be strong...independent woment, not some trophy wife for a future husband?

Shopping at Walmart

I have been planning a lesson for my field study planned around the book "Where the Wild Things Are". Yes, I did plan this because of the fact that the movie is coming out. While in my travels today I stopped at Walmart. I decided to take a look to see if the book was there.

My first stop was over to the "book" section. I saw a majority of magazines and new releases...no children's books. After talking to a manager I made my way to the toy section.

I was very dissappointed at what I saw. Yes, there were the standard Berenstain Bear books and Lil Critter. Also there were the guided reading books on a spindle, but I almost cried when I looked down the asile.

The children's books were everywhere. Granted it was in a toy section but still, it didn't look very inviting or encouraging to children. What was worse for me was the fact that I had someone look at me and say "I'm not surprised...children are more interested in video games and tv/movies." A friend of our family didn't even know who The Hungry Caterpillar was.

This got me thinking...when do we stop encouraging our children to read? I have children in my life that come running to me with a book the second I walk in the door. When do parents stop reading to their children and start letting the electronic babysitter's take over?

And for myself as a teacher, I look back at the books I read in school. I always felt forced to do it. The only class I remember reading what I wanted was in Maguire's sophmore reading class. I loved it. What I loved and what needs to be brought back is the desire to read. Somewhere between 4th grade and middle school reading became forced and undesired for me. I don't want to be the teacher that does that to my students.

Your Baby Can Read?

I have seen the commercials for the longest time...at 9 months your baby will read. Your child will be able to read books like Charolett's Web by the age of 5. I actually even have a friend that purchased the program for her son. As I watched the infomercial (insomnia hit my house) I noticed that the start was nothing more than flashing a card to the child. They are not saying anything verbally but showing the skill visually. A card being held up reading nose then the child showing nose.

It's supposed to be this "innovative" techinique. Kids hear..then see then put it all together. My question is this. Ok so they can repeat what they are seeing/hearing. But are they "getting" what they are reading. In my reading class with Dan Rothermel at UNE we are talking about reading being more than just words on a page. Cool great a 5 year old can read a chapter book. But are they really understanding what it is saying?

Also...what about the "old" days (c'mon I'm not even 30 yet) when parent's or whoever was with the child would read to him/her? I walk in the door at my brother's house to my niece grabbing one of her books and coming over to me. My friend's daughter (who's grandma is a librarian) would rather I read to her because she interacts with me. To me that is the strongest way teach children to learn to read is to read to them.