Chapter 10

Read out Loud is a fun way to read to the kids. You engage your students in an interesting book and then they will become intrigued. When reading out loud you face the book toward the students while reading the book to them. Take some breaks while reading by asking the students questions or having them pair up with each other to talk about what they've read. This is a good way to teach the kids and to get them to remember what they've read. I've recently been reading out loud to my four year old daughter for her and for me to get some practice. She enjoys the read out loud and tries to participate with the reading. She enjoys them so much she practically makes me read every book.

Chapter 9

Nonfiction books are very good when you need to get the correct information. It carries so much information that children can consume. It gives you photographs, maps, diagrams, different kinds of writings, biographies, etc. You could use these books to teach your students and give them the knowledge they need. You could find many nonfiction books to discuss topics in class for subjects such as Science and Social Studies. Some kids don't really find nonfiction books to their liking, but there are some books that can be very enlightening to the children.

Chapter 6

Traditional literature is a wonderful way to read to everyone not just a certain group. It involves different types of culture and race. This will show a child a fun way to read another culture, but at the same time learn the values of this culture. It isn't your ordinary reading; it is a fairy tale, fantasy, myth, etc. It opens up your way of thinking and it takes you to a different world. Traditional literature also uses some realistic ideas, but it is put into an animated way in stories. The elements of literature include the plot, the setting, the characterization, the style, the theme, the motifs, and the variants.

Chapter 7

Picture books are a fun way to read books especially to the children. The pictures tell the story, so it gives the children more ways to discuss the story. It also gives a good writing lesson, because there is so much to write about. A picture book usually holds up to 32 pages. It needs both the writing and the art to come together. Sometimes it is an author and illustrator that work together or just the author that does both. For picture books, you and the children look at the front cover, the title, the author, the illustrator (if any), the back cover, and you read the description of the book. You read each page and show them the picture. The colors of the book will give you some insight of what the book is going to be. If you see dark colors then you know it is going to be night or just dark. If they are light colors, it is going to be pleasant and calm. Lines also give an idea of the story, it shows emotion or mood. Picture books are great way to use to keep a child interested in books.

Chapter 5

Poetry has always been difficult for me to engage in. It's not so easy to get into poetry, since some of the poetry is hard to understand. Poetry can be fun to read, but it can also be complicated. Poetry consists of five different elements; sound, rhyme, rhythm, and figurative language. The sound is a powerful tool that makes a poetry come alive, rhyme is a stanza or quadrant, rhythm is cadence, and figurative language is a simile or onomatopoeia. Poetry includes works from various cultures, it considers the interests of the children, and it uses different kinds of formats to make it more interesting. Poetry gets more responses from children, because it does not give children parameters. It makes for a good discussion and good writing. I remember when I was a kid reading poems from the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. I think everybody read this book. The book held many poems of many different types of subjects. Some of the poems were very easy, some were hard, some rhymed, and some didn't. Poems come in many ways.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 discusses reading comprehension. When reading, kids as well as everyone need to comprehend what they read. The more reading you do the more information you gather. This helps to open up your vocabulary, knowledge, and helps you to understand things quicker. In other cases, it is much more difficult to comprehend what you have read if a person does not read. Instead of enjoying their reading, they will try so hard to figure something out which destroys the purpose of reading. As a teacher, we should be able to give some kind of help that would get the kids to learn to love reading and to get them to learn what they are reading. Teachers must get to know their students and see what they are interested in to understand them, so they can give them the proper material. If you have a child reading something that he/she has never seen then they will not understand that particular reading. They must experience something to understand what they are reading. The goal is to make reading a big part of the students life, because it will give students more of an advantage.

Chapters 1 and 2

Some of the things I learned in the Chapters were very helpful. I learned that by reading books, kids will be able to use these skills in more ways than one. Not only are they using it for reading, but it could help them with other subjects such as fine arts, social studies, mathematics, etc. Also, teachers should be able to understand that all kids are capable of learning not only certain ones. Kids will have a better response if the teacher is fair to each and everyone. If some children are not learning, then we need to understand and figure out a way to teach these students. Educators are role models and should definitely enjoy reading. Reading is an important tool for the kids, the more literature you give them the more knowledge they acquire. Making it fun and allowing the children to pick their own books or their own projects will be significant to them. They will enjoy reading what they picked out and it will cover the curriculum. Reading is an essential tool and could open the doors to many opportunities. The kids will get so much out of reading.

As a teacher, learning about different cultures is a good way to understand the students in the classroom. Different cultures believe in different ideas. When you discover what the students are about, you will be able to give them the correct material to help them learn. Students from other cultures can not make the change to our culture or beliefs by themselves, especially in just one day. They need help from the school and from the teachers to get them through it. We should not just focus on the American kids, but we should also focus on the other kids as well.