If you have ever taken a look through some literature books, you have probably noticed that, like most books, they cannot all be classified into one category. There are a variety of types and purposes for literature. Also, as with any genre, some books in literature are higher quality than others. For my classroom and for my instruction, I do not select just any book to use. I select all books that I present my students with intent to help them reach one of my instructional goals.
In evaluating literature, I look for a variety of elements. One element I evaluate in literature is the visual aspect. This is a natural inclination for me because art has always been a big part of my life. Before I taught language arts, I was an art teacher. However, you do not have to be an art aficionado to evaluate the visual elements in a book. You must be able to look at what the illustrations do to enhance or tell the story. The colors and illustrations can help shape the visualizations that students make about the story. When my students read chapter books, they are on their own to make those visualizations and sometimes that is OK. However, there are times when I want the illustrations to shape their thinking.
There are many books where the story is partially or mostly told through the pictures. One such book is Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. The full page, colored pictures in this book are so beautiful that the words of the story may not be the first thing you notice. I love the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words because what it is really saying is that in one picture, there are so many stories. For my students, I like the opportunity for a picture to let their mind make inferences about the story. They can read the words, but ...
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...ature is, “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s quote really says a lot about what literature can do to connect us to the human experience. I always tell my students that we write to change. That means we read to change too. Someone who penned what we read wanted us to change. To change ourselves and our ideas. To know that we are connected to this world in which we live. Because reading literature can make such a powerful impact on human development, we must as teachers carefully select the books we use and find the purpose for which we read them. The students will do the rest. Let their minds run wild with their thoughts and the literature will do more than change them, it will come alive in them.
When one actually close-reads a small segment one realizes the large amount of information that can be said about just that segment. In this case it was only four pages from Fun Home, and each page seemed to have a life of its own. Page 14 touched upon the relationship between Bruce Bechdel and his family, while page fifteen gave insights into the father-daughter relationship. Then pages 16 and 17 dealt with hidden truths and the creation of false appearances. Then there were the the literary and graphical devices: the extensive use of line, the use of gray shading, stretched panels vs. compact panels, interdependent word-picture relationships, etc. the clear illustrations and relatively simple prose made the process a bit easier, but that opinion may have been different if the process involved close-reading the whole book.
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
By using words such as “mediocre,” and other words, Prose shows that in her own reasoning, the literature is not so much literature, but a waste of time that is taking attention away from actual good books that have content will instill a love for reading. Prose destroys the idea that the books provided to the students in the educational system should be deemed best sellers because she explains that the only reason this books are so well know, is because of the fact that they are forced down the throats of innocent teenagers. She also explains that teenagers are incapable of reading such stories because of the “overuse” of metaphors, and that we cannot read line for line books. If we cannot read a book line for line, than what should we
...Literature. Vol.1. Ed. Rossi, Patricia. Addison Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. New York: Copyright 1999. 2655-57.
for, the ability for the reader to imagine and visualize the story, allowing the reader to
Adolescent literature will always be challenged, as long as there are children in this world. This may be a hot topic to touch debate about whether which books are appropriate to be used in the academic environment. Though, the purpose of these debatable senses is to provide the best and proper education for young adults to maturity. Developing the best literature for young adults requires team work and trials that will improve the value of a text decided among parents, students, and teachers. Again, the selection of these adolescent literatures is to promote maturation that would prepare your kids and my kids for the reality and future situations in their lives.
Prose has noticed through her experience that college students are unable to read even the basic pieces of literature. Some are also “incapable of doing the close line-by-line reading necessary to disclose the most basic information.” This is due to the little concentration and focus on the writing of a book. These students are also the ones who loathe literature. The students are quick to make judgements about books and their character because they have been taught that in high school. This is taught to them through reading questions asking about the student’s opinion on a certain character or even the author. This diverts their minds totally from learning about literature to learning about how to judge a character or story.
The idea of literature being an important aspect of life has always been greatly prevalent in my upbringing. This notion that I supported was spurred on at the cause of my obstinate parents insisting upon my reading of two books a week to benefit my vocabulary and to develop the articulate thought process of a skilled reader. As a young child, my biggest influences were my parents’ passionate and persuasive ideas regarding the correlation between
By appreciating literature, one not only receives a wonderful story but is also given the chance to grow with the characters and learn
From reading Alice in Wonderland to now, I have grown to appreciate literature much more. At the beginning of the year, I read purely because it was assigned for me to read, and I only read for important events and story plots. When reading Alice in Wonderland for the first time, I missed everything that Lewis Carroll was trying to convey to the reader. I had no idea that he had written Alice in Wonderland with the intention of preparing children for the real world. I thought it was just a story full of random events and nonsense, but after my realization of a deeper meaning, I grew to appreciate his efforts. From then on from Beowulf to the Fairie Queene, I have learned to see literary works as more than just stories but a...
gives the reader the actual visual of what has been read. Both paintings and text share the
The visual description of a text is the perfect way to wrap the reader’s senses into the story.
Strategies for Critical Reading Preview the Essay: Think about the essay’s title, opening paragraph, and topic sentence. Previewing is used for college reading and helps the reader to focus on key issues. Write in the margin: Forecast issues, and pose questions. Be an active reader of the book. Mark queries to energize classroom discussion.
Literature has many purposes, and opens doors to unique worlds. Through Literature, we discover ourselves and world time and again.
“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become,” said C.S. Lewis, noted author. This quote, to me, is the most appropriate description of the importance of literature in our lives. Literature reminds us of stories, epics, sacred scriptures and classical works of the ancient and modern times, in which the book To Kill a Mockingbird clearly does. Literature is defined as the body of written works of a language, period or culture, produced by scholars and researchers, specialized in a given field. Why is literature important? Well, let’s see as stated in the quotation by C.S. Lewis, literature not only describes reality but also adds to it. Yes, literature is not merely a depiction of reality; it is rather a value-addition. Literary works are portrayals of the thinking patterns and social norms prevalent in society. They are an illustration of the different facets of common man's life. Literary works serve as a food for thought and a tonic for imagination and creativity. Exposing an individual to good literary works, is equivalent to providing him/her with the finest of educational opportunities. On the other hand, the lack of exposure to literary works is equal to depriving an individual from an opportunity to grow as an individual. To Kill a Mockingbird provides its readers with the ‘finest of educational opportunities’ and that is why it is an important literary work. Harper Lee’s book is a powerful literary work because of the following literary devices employed: Setting, Allegory, and point of view. However before one can dissect the devices used, one must h...