“The Time Warp Trio: The Not-So-Jolly Roger” Book Review

 I loved this book. The author gave great description throughout the entire book. For example, during the battle between the pirate ship and the British ship was so descriptive that I could actually picture it in my mind. At the end when the boys backs are up against the wall and Blackbeard is about to shoot one of them kept me in suspense, I just knew that one of them were dead. However, I would have thought twice about hanging out with Fred, he was a little troublemaker. This book has intrigues me so much, that I am wanting to buy the entire series. I believe the book to be creative and I believe that students would enjoy reading them.

“Internet Workshop and Blog Publishing: Meeting Student (and Teacher)Learning Needs to Achieve Best Practice in the 21st Century Social Studies Classroom” Review

This article was actually helpful to me,  for my unit that I am doing with my class this semester is about WWII. This article gave me some great ideas to use for my unit, such as creating an activity for the students to do by investigating websites. I am planning on looking on the websites listed in the test to see if I can find information that I can use in my unit. I agree that technology needs to be integrated into teacher’s curriculum because today’s students rely a great deal on technology for many reasons and it is up to teachers to show students the right way to find reliable, enough information. I found this article to offer great ways of integrating technology into the curriculum, the students learn how to investigate websites for information, learn how to assess a website for accuracy, and how to write proficiently to share their work to the world. As mentioned before, this article did offer me fresh ideas of what to do in my unit and I enjoyed the text as well.

“Swashbuckling Adventures on the High Seas: Classroom Activities for a Unit on Pirates” Review

This article intrigued me, just by reading the article I wanted to be participating in the lesson. I found the Double-Entry Diaries to be a great idea, because I know that when I read a text I find quotes that stand out to, however, I usually highlight or make notes beside the quotes. The Engaging with the Books was interesting, but a little confusing. I found it confusing by knowing when to make the transition from read aloud with teacher to silent reading, to group reading, and group discussion, because not all students are on the same reading level so some would reach a point in the text before others. I love the Individual Research idea, this helps students to broaden their horizons, develop their critical thinking, and makes it interesting because it about pirates, pirates are always fun to learn about. The Data Retrieval Chart is also a great idea because it helps students use critical thinking while learning the content from the texts. Overall, great article.

“Pirates in Historical Fiction and Nonfiction: A Twin-Text Unit of Study” Review

I found this article highly interesting. I love how the classroom was set up to set the mood of the article right as the students entered the room. The piratical “artifacts” were an awesome idea, the fact that the students had different texts to pull information was great. I liked the “Pirate Notebook” as well, I found it to be helpful for the students to keep track of what they know, what they want to know, and what they have learned. Plus, the dictionary in the back of the notebook was good because there are several words that pirates used that you do not hear now days, for example booty (treasure), land lover (prefers land over sea), etc. The part where students view different materials to gain information (DVDs, fiction/non-fiction books, etc) and guided by questions given by the teacher was clever, because this will show students different point of views about pirates. Overall, great article.

“Integrating Instructional-Level Social Studies Trade Books for Struggling Readers in Upper Elementary Grades” Review

This article was interesting to read. While I was reading it, I was reminded of the days I was in school and I had classmates in my class that were low-level readers. I always felt sorry for them when the teacher called on them to read because they always struggled reading the text and it was almost as if the teacher was making fun of them when they did read, I know the other students did. I liked how this article points out how a teacher can incorporate other readings to lower-level readers and still receive the information that is needed for the subject. The teacher that I am with this semester has her students reading a book to enhance their knowledge about history for social studies. When she assigns chapters for them to read, she asks questions about what they have read to check their comprehension of the text, this led me to a question, if a teacher was to assign different texts to read to different leveled readers how do you go about checking their comprehension? Do you ask questions in class anyways like my teacher or a different strategy? I believe this article to be a handy tool in the future because incorporating literature into social studies is a great way to cover a lot of information in an appropriate yet sufficient way. For example, I am doing my unit for Dr. Marks on WW II, which has a lot of information about it, I am planning to hit the highlights of the war itself, but I want to focus on home life in the US, which I am going to incorporate the book “Blue” that we read for Dr. Groce as a read aloud for the class. I cannot wait. I also enjoyed how this article provides a list of texts that can be incorporated into the curriculum and that the texts are in different levels for readers.

History of a Name Mini-Lesson

Writer’s Notebook: History of a Name-Mini-Lesson

Dr. Beth M. Frye

• Begin the lesson with an exploration of names: the importance of names, how names connect us to our families and historical, cultural or ethnic stories connected to our names.
• Explore different literary excerpts and focus on the following:
  • What does the author tell us about names in this piece?
  • How/why are the names important?
  • How did the character get his/her name? What are stories connected to the name?
  • Are there any cultural markers connected to the name? If so, how do they shape the story?
  • How does the character feel about his/her name? How does the author write about this? Do these feelings change with time?
  • Does the passage reveal how the name shapes the character’s identity? Explain.
  • How does the author use voice: child’s voice, adult-lookin-back-in-time voice, adolescent’s voice, third-person omniscient, etc.
  • Does the author use writer’s craft and vocabulary effectively? How?

Literary Models:

Primary

• • Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
  • Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry (Ch. 2 pp. 11-21)
  • My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits
  • The First Thing My Mama Told Me by Susan Marie Swanson

Elementary and Middle Grades

• • Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (pp. 13 & 14)
  • Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (pp. 41-44)
  • Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan (pp. 1-6)
  • Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell (pp. 150-164)
  • 42 Miles by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (pp. 2 & 3)
  • The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (p. 25)
  • Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (pp. 3-5)
  • From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun (pp. 2 & 3) and Locomotion (p. 21) by Jacqueline Woodson

High School

• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (pp. 10 & 11)
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (pp. 59-61)

Discussion and Writing

• After reading excerpts, students should jot down connections to their own life experiences.
• Check out this web site http://www.behindthename.com/ and write about what you learned; also, be sure to find out any familial information regarding your name. Enjoy! Check this out: http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/search/
• Complete the Name Chart [adapted from Kirby and Kirby's (2007) New Directions in Teaching Memoir] Write down your first, middle, and last name along with other names you have been called or nicknames. Also, think about any epithets you have been called. Then jot down any memories, connections, information or feelings associated with each name.
• Think about the following as you jot down information you can recall about each part of your name:
  • Who named you? Why did they name you that?
  • Does your name have a significant meaning?
  • How does your name connect to family members?
  • What are some of the names that you almost had? Why didn’t those names work?
  • What are some names that you wish you would have been called? Did you ever change your name?
  • What have been benefits of your name? Trouble with your name?
  • Nicknames?
  • What are the names you have chosen to accept? What are names that have hurt you that you have chosen to NOT to accept?

  Name Chart

Complete notebook entry (History of your name); begin your journey as a writer! Draft your Name Piece.

“My names are given to me, but they are also names that I choose to take. And the choosing makes all the difference.”          Sahara (p. 160)

“Love That Poetry” Review

This article made me think of “Love That Dog.” The different procedure taken in this article to get the students interested in writing poetry are the same ways that Jack’s teacher used. I liked how the article helps the students understand how you do not have to rhyme in a poem. I am not much of a poetry writer, never have been, however, the way the article explained how to write a poem, I might be able to write one. I guess we all will see how great of a poet we are very soon in class.

History of my name….

Janet is a Medieval English form of Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of Johannes. It became the most feminine form of John in the 17th century. A few famous people bearing my name or forms of my name is Janet Gaynor (an actress), Jane Austen (writer), and Jane Goodall (primatologist). I even have had a hurricane named after me. My name was most popular between 1930 and 1970. There are 584,531 people who have my first name, ranking us at 89th place in the most popular names. There are 218,125 people who have my last name, ranking us at 113th place for most popular last name. A few famous people who have my last name is: Baird Wallace, Ben Wallace, Gerald Wallace, Marcia Wallace, Randall Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Rusty Wallace and Stephen Wallace. Interesting enough, there are 413 people who have both my first and last name.

I know where I got my name from, my grandmother Wallace. She had gotten pregnant once, with a little girl, and she had lost her, so when my mother got pregnant it was like a dream come true. Mom agreed to the name and that is how I became Janet Lynn Wallace and the apple of my grandmother’s eye. There might be several people in this world with either my first, last, or both, but because of the reason behind my name, I AM ONE OF A KIND! Also, my family has completed extensive research on my family backgrounds on my mother and father side, there are several ethnicities: German, Irish, Scottish, and Native American (Cherokee).

My Inspirations…..

My Marriage

 

My Children (value of money)

“All the Small Poems and Fourteen More” Book Review

All of these poems were interesting, it is always cool to view ordinary things by reading people’s writings. Worth gave great description in her poems. A few that stood out to me was, “Fireworks, Skeletons, Tractor. Lawnmower, and Fleas.” The way that she descibe each object was incredible, it was like you could actually see the items at work. There were some that I found hard to follow, I do not know if it was the way she worded the descriptions or what, but I just had a hard time understanding them. However, I did enjoy reading this book.