Sharing Literature with Children - Essay Example

Sharing Literature with Children Storytelling activates children’s imaginations while they learn about so many things just by sitting on their places and listening to their teacher read the story. Children’s literature offers a treasure trove of knowledge and skills, ready for the taking. Immersing children in literature and ensuring their enjoyment in involving their creative and critical thinking skills may be a challenge for teachers. As Calkins (1997) states, “Reading is about creating worlds with words. The only way to read with fluency and expressiveness is to read closely hooked into the unfolding meaning of the text. It is very important, therefore, that we do everything possible to support the mind work of reading.” (p. 159). “Bo Møhl and May Schack have also examined the various functions of children’s literature. In their view it should be entertaining, didactic, informative, and therapeutic, and it should help the child grow and develop. A children’s book should also strengthen the child’s feelings of empathy and identification.” (qtd. from Oittinen, 2000, p. 65). Stories that depict various issues that relate to the children’s life situation help them deal with “threats to their well-being positively and successfully can release their coping skills” (Honig, 2000, p.47). Giorgins & Glazer (2008) suggest some tips in choosing stories to be read to young children. Those with simple word phrasing, strong beginnings and satisfying endings capture and hold children’s attention. Preschool aged children enjoy stories with whimsical plots and repetitive words that they can easily predict and follow. Children aged six and older can tolerate stories with a little violence because they are aware that it is only make believe. They can already distinguish reality from fantasy. Teachers use different strategies in engaging children in literature. The most common is the outright read-aloud of stories to them. Militante (2006) identifies 3 read aloud styles: Interactional, Performance and Co-Constructive. These strategies describe various behaviors observed from teachers as storytellers. The following have been proven effective in storytelling with children. With the Interactional Storytelling strategy, teachers read and discuss stories with their students, keeping them involved in the reading process. This style included limited talk, group recall of text that is predictable, recall of recently read text and more discussion about the organization of the text. The Performance Storytelling style simply has the teacher reading from the text in a way he or she interprets it, as if performing it for the children. It does not encourage discussions or interactions between the students and the stories. However, the teachers’ theatrical skills make the storytelling captivating, with changing facial expressions and corresponding voices for different characters. Finally, the Co-Constructive Storytelling style combines both discussions of the text and enjoyment of the reading. It entails considerable talk during the reading and limited talk before and after the reading of the story. The purpose of this strategy is to make children understand the context of the story and extract children’s views on the plot. It also encourages children to relate some events in the story to their experiences. To facilitate children’s comprehension of the story, teachers must involve them in meaning-centered interactions. This includes previewing of the story and briefing during the reading interactions (Barrentine, 1996). Teachers may preview a book by discussing the title, the front cover, the characters, the author’s other works and predicting outcomes of the story. In doing so, the students’ prior knowledge is activated and they become actively involved in the process. During the reading of the story, the teacher may request brief discussions about the characters, differing perspectives, feelings generated, character dialogue, connections, altering predictions, etc. However, Harker (1988) cautions that too much interaction during the reading can inhibit the aesthetic nature of the book. When the talk during read alouds drifts away from the story itself, the students’ comprehension is reduced, but when talks draw upon the students’ personal experiences, it builds story relevance. Group interactions during stories allow students to discover various aspects of the text that they might not notice when they read on their own. In classrooms, storytelling and shared reading sessions must be encouraged. This is when a group of children come together with a teacher to read a story from a big storybook, with a teacher facilitating it and guiding them through the print Fountas & Pinnell, (1996). This way, the process of reading the text and comprehending the story is jointly done by the group. Shared reading provides many opportunities for incidental learning about the way written language works (Militante, 2006). Shared reading provides readers a good support system. Readers can help each other as they read the text. They can work and read as a group or team to solve problems that they may encounter as they read the text. They can work on meaning of words that they cannot understand and even share their opinion with concepts found in the book. A lot of conversation may take place as they read and they can share their thoughts and experience. The teacher draws the children into the text. She asks questions about the story and begins conversations for children to become active participants. Personally, I believe being an effective storyteller involves motivation to share knowledge and values to children using stories as vehicles for teaching and learning. If one has strong passion to engage children in meaningful literature, it enables him or her to animate the story accordingly, making it very interesting to children. Using various voices, facial expressions and body movements, and inviting children to participate in some parts of the story keeps their attention. Processing the story after it has been read ensures comprehension of the plot and learning of the values from the story. Relating it to their experiences makes it more relevant and meaningful for them so it earns the story memory retention in the children. In addition to this, I also believe that being able to appreciate and experience literature is one of the best gifts we can give children. Storytelling is one way to engage them in literature because it activates children’s imaginations while they learn about so many other things. It brings them to different worlds…… without leaving their seats! References Barrentine, S.J. (1996). Engaging with reading through interactive read-alouds. Reading Teacher, 50 (1), 36-43. Calkins, L. (1997) Raising Lifelong Learners, A Parents’ Guide. MA: Perseus Books. Fountas, I. C. and Pinnell, G. S. (1996). Guided Reading, Good First Teaching for All Children. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Giorgins, C. & Glazer, J. (2008). Literature for Young Children: Supporting Emergent Literacy Ages 0-8 (6th edition). Boston: Pearson, Educational, Inc. Harker, J.O. (1988). Contrasting the context of two story-reading lessons: A prepositional analysis. In J.L. Green and J.O. Harker (Eds.), Multiple perspective analysis of classroom discourse (pp. 49-70). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Honig, A.S. (2000) “Promoting Creativity in Young Children.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Board of Advisors for Scholastic, Inc. (New York, NY, May 19, 2000). Militante, D.A.K. (2006) Read Aloud verses Shared Reading: The Effects on Vocabulary Acquisition, Comprehension, and Fluency, Paper presented for a Master of Arts Degree in Reading Specialization, Kean University April, 2006 Oittinen, R., (2000) Chapter 4: Children’s Literature and Literature for Children, Translating for Children, 61-71 Read More