Picture Books: Creating a Picture of Success in Older Students
Though commonly only viewed as learning materials for younger elementary-age students, picture books are an innovative and exciting teaching tool for older
elementary-age students, too. In fact, picture books can even assist middle and high school students on their respective roads to success. By going “back to the basics,”
as Maybeth, a 3rd grader in Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt did, young and old readers alike will again be struck with the delight and sheer power that picture books
contain. These books help readers affectively—giving them pleasurable experiences with reading and boosting their self-concept; these books help readers culturally and
socially—giving them examples of different ethnicities and personalities and those particular ways of life; and these books also help readers cognitively—giving them
needed reading experiences that will lead to more successes in the future. Voigt’s example, though perhaps not the intentional theme of her book, is very clear: the
implementation of picture books into a curriculum will have enormous effects on students of any age.
In the article, “Look again: Picture books are more than pictures,” Martha Belden outlines four general areas of self-concept that are spoken to by picture
books. First, picture books help students develop an awareness of their bodies. Books dealing with body language, such as Face Talk, Hand Talk, Body Talk by Sue
Castle (1977), and books dealing with kinesthetics, such as Look What I Can Do (1971) by Jose Aruego, illustrate some of the body’s abilities. Belden claims, “The
way a child learns what the body can do shapes his or her feelings, attitudes, and values about him- or herself” (1985, p. 58). Becoming aware of their own bodies will
be the beginning (and perhaps the core) of some students’ future self-concepts. These same picture books also teach students to be content with who they are. Though
their bodies may not be perfect, students can be assured that everyone experiences insecurities. In One Dragon to Another (1976), a caterpillar wants to be a dragon
and blow smoke rings, but finds that he can only fly (a disappointing loss).
Bordo, Susan. "Beauty (Re)discovers the male body." Bordo, Susan. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Ninth Edition. Bedford/St.Martin's, 2011. 189-233.
During the time period between the 1850s and 1950s, Japan underwent massive changes politically, economically, and socially. Acknowledging the failure of isolation, Japan imitated the West in an attempt to modernize, however, still retaining its own identity. A reorganized and more centralized government allowed Japan to industrialize in half the time it took the nations of Western Europe. Industrialization provided Japan with the tools needed to transform itself from a half civilized and “backwards” society during isolation, to a dominating superpower during WWII.
... rights with the westerns. Japan has been extremely productive throughout planning a good commercial, capitalist state in western models. But any time Japan tried to employ the lessons mastered from Western European imperialism, the western countries responded adversely. In this way Japan's chief handicap had moved into the western dominated world late. Colonialism and the racist ideology were being entrenched throughout western countries permitting a good "upstart,” nonwhite region to get into the particular race for natural resources and other market segments as an equal. A lot of the uncertainty between the western and Japan stemmed coming from Japan's feeling associated with alienation in the western, which was using different standards in dealing with Western European places in comparison with how it would with a nation that has a rising Asian power like Japan.
Whalley, J. (2009) ‘Texts and Pictures: A History’ in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University, pp.299-310
After the Industrial Revolution, many people saw that structure and organization can actually benefit the society. Therefore, people began to question if the societies of America can also be reformed through that process too. Furthermore, a group of people, named the Reformers believed that through diligence and order, the societies of America can be made to perfection. Therefore, during a period of time known as the Antebellum period, the United States went through a series of changes. The views and ideals of the society began to change between the people of the society. There were many successes and failures in the political and social reform movements during that period. More specifically, abolition and temperance were considered as a
Ever since I was a child, I've never liked reading. Every time I was told to read, I would just sleep or do something else instead. In "A Love Affair with Books" by Bernadete Piassa tells a story about her passion for reading books. Piassa demonstrates how reading books has influenced her life. Reading her story has given me a different perspective on books. It has showed me that not only are they words written on paper, they are also feelings and expressions.
This book serves to teach readers about the varieties of cultures, social
Reading stories with children introduces them to the complex nature of language and helps them in acquiring important language skills. However, the type of books read to children contributes to the depth of their learning. Picture books are not only books with pictures but also a world on its own. When you start to read a book you find interesting, the time flies and you seems to be in a different world. If I as a teacher can help and support my pupils to love books, my mission will be
Reading a book is a great entertainment, but more importantly, it gives you more knowledge to learn. In a short story entitled “Superman and me” by Sherman Alexie, he discussed how it’s like to be in a minority, or an Indian in a non-Indian world, and how reading helped him get through it. Growing up, his father influenced him into reading books. Due to this he started to teach himself how to read and gained more knowledge. Though he is smart, it was hard for him to be noticed, “Indian children were expected to be stupid,” because of this he worked hard and proved the majority what he is capable of. Alexie’s passion in reading had helped himself and his fellow man rise against all the discrimination and be accepted by
Although violent video games are thought to encourage real world violence, they actually help to prevent it. I am focusing on violent video games and how they affect juveniles because I feel that this issue needs to be looked at in the criminal justice community. It is an unnecessary distraction to blame the actions of a disturbed youth on a form of entertainment that has been used by millions of people without incident. A review article published in The Psychiatric Quarterly found that many studies which claim to indicate an increase in aggression due to video games are, in fact, biased! Once the bias is taken into account, the studies no longer find any correlation between youths who play violent video games and youths who demonstate aggression and violent behavior. (Ferguson, 2014)
During the 19th century, European countries were implementing a new form of imperialism on many areas. Through this process these European countries gained a lot of power. Some of the areas that were affected from imperialism form the European countries was Asia especially was China and Japan. Asia was a huge area for imperialism, but both China and Asia were very appealing areas to colonize. Both countries reacted differently towards western imperialism, which would change their fates regarding foreign relations and the future of their nation. Japan accepted imperialism and it led them to become a world power and China was against the Western ways and therefore being used by Europe. In this paper I will discuss why China and Japan experienced different fates in the age of imperialism.
Hsiao, C. (2010). Enhancing children 's artistic and creative thinking and drawing performance through appreciating picture books. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 29(2), 143-152. doi:10.1111/j.1476-8070.2010.01642.x
My point is that children have extremely vivid imaginations and they like to have an image of what they are thinking on a page. If an illustrator can capture one of their thoughts on a page they have done an extraordinary task. Authors have a way of jumpstarting a child’s imagination and the illustrator brings it to fruition. Picture books are so important to children’s cognitive development. I still love reading picture books, I often think about how fun it is going to be to be able to read picture books to not only my own children someday but my students.
Currently, I find myself to use pictures to comprehend new information even a child as well. When I was learning about World War II in middle school, I discovered that the images of the war were very intriguing than reading a textbook in social studies class. In the book, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, this piece of literature included so much history that had been tied into the novel displaying comic strips of what Satrapi imagined from her childhood, what had really happened and the life the people in Iran experienced in times of war. Not only the Iran-Iraq War has images that depict the tragic event, but the Holocaust can be taught through pictures as well. War and human cruelty in an image reveals a thousand words much more superior than
Merchant, G. & Thomas, H. (2012). Picture Books for the Literacy Hour: Activities for Primary