Artifact 5

Artifact # 4: Beginning Reading & Writing

Artifact Five: These artifacts contain a collection of books listed by genre and award level. It also contains an author study on Kevin Henkes.

Context: These artifacts were developed in RE 5140, Advanced Children's Literature. My first assignment in this course was to create a collection of book critiques. I created two collections, the first was Award Winning Critiques and the second was Literary Genre Critiques. This assignment allowed me to extend my knowledge of children's literature by allowing me to explore authors and genres for a variety of grade levels. I refer to my collection of critiques to provide my third grade students with the best possible literature. I have designed and implemented a Novel Study from my collection of critiques with my third grade students. I used the novel, The Watson's Go to Birminghman-1963 as my core text during a unit on the Civil Rights Movement. My collection of literature critiques was a great reference to help me choose a topic for my Novel Study. I view my collection of literature critiques as a very valuable resource in my classroom. An additional assignment during this course was to choose a children's author/illustrator to research and present my study of the author in an interesting and creative format to my classmates. I chose to present my Author Study by using the Microsoft Power Point software. Through the use of this software, I presented an in-depth, fun, and factual presentation on the children's author, Kevin Henkes. This author study on Kevin Henkes has been used with one of my former kindergarten classes to compare and contrast characters within his books, to sequence and retell the events in his stories, and to address issues such as feelings and attitudes. The author study on Kevin Henkes is also a very valuable tool within my classroom.

Alignment:

Standard A: Instructional Expertise This standard reflects the use of technology within the classroom to create a love of reading while studying the exploring an author's style of writing. It also shows my understanding of the importance of selecting the best possible literature to enhance student learning.

Standard B: Knowledge of Learners This shows how technology combined with art can be used to appeal to the different learning styles among students.

Standard C: Research This standard indicates the use of research in educational literature to enhance student achievement.

Standard D: Content Knowledge This demonstrates the most recent content knowledge available to educators. The knowledge is used and applied across the disciplines to foster student learning.