EDRG 4433 Blog #2 Part 2: Circular Stories

Well, since I didn't have the updated syllabus printed off, my previous blog was only about chapter 4 from our book, so now I will address the questions given to us in class today =)

Circular stories are fantastic!! My personal defination of a circular story is one where a noun, for example a mouse, pic, moose, etc., is given any particular object and giving them this object leads to other events that are all attached and it keeps going in a round pattern. The main character always wants more and is never satisfied! However the main point is that at the end of the story, your character ends up with the same object that was first given to him or her. The story that we read in class today, If You Give A Pig A Pancake is a great example of a circular story. Laura Numeroff is an increduble author who has written a handful of these circular stories including If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, If You Give A Moose A Muffin.....and the list continues. These are books that I already own and I do read them to my students and they have so much fun with them! I plan on having these available for the children in my future classroom to enjoy on their own, and to do curriculum with them as well. Children LOVE to read these stories, and they are the type of book that are easy to get the children involved in. We saw firsthand in class today how Dr. Harris got every single one of us involved right at the get go with the bubbles. Children have a blast reading these stories, and that is EXACTLY the response that we need from our kids whenever it comes to literature.

If a child, or adult, doesn't think reading is fun or enjoyable then they just flat out will not want to read at all. This is exactly what, as educators, we need to help stop! As a future teacher I value reading, and think so highly of it and plan on doing my best at making reading fun for my future students. First things first, if you expext your students to have fun reading and want to do it, then YOU have to be enthusiastic about literature. I plan to show good reading habbits, and whenever it comes to language arts time in class, get the children excited! The first step I am going to do in making that happen is by getting them up out of their seats and getting them involved in the story. Just like today, before we were even introduced to the lesson, Dr. Harris had us blowing bubbles and that was FUN! We as students didn't know that is was connected to a book that we were about to read, we just knew we were having fun! We can do this by bringing toys or objects that are connected to the book that the children can play with before we even begin to read. I also am going to make a promise never to just pass out a piece of literature to the students and tell them the reading assignment and go sit at my desk. That will not work! We have to show good reading habits! Other things like stopping throughout the story for illustration breaks, predictions, feedback, etc. are going to make the children stay involved in the story and help them to better comprehend what is being read. These are just a few things to start off with making reading fun, and as I become more experienced my list will grow and grow!