Christine A. Elmore
When I was in fifth grade, my teacher read to us Jack London's short story,
To Build A Fire
. I was shocked by the cruel nature of that Arctic environment that mercilessly defeated the man but not the dog, which was saved by his instinctive respect for the extreme cold and knowledge of its dangers. I quickly turned to a biography of the author, eager to find out what experiences in London's life might have given him such fine–tuned familiarity with the harsh features of a Yukon winter and such a keen understanding of dogs, their nature and responses to man. Several biographies revealed the answers. It is clear that in Jack London's case his life–experiences served as a rich resource of ideas for his stories.
Biography is particularly appealing to children when the life of a person is told using an engaging storytelling approach rather than simply presenting a collection of facts as do informational texts. Biographies of celebrated authors can inspire young readers because they can envision themselves tapping into their own life–experiences and crafting, through canvas and pen, their own stories. And what do children know better than their own lives and those of the loved ones that nurture them?
For my unit, I will draw upon three award–winning authors/illustrators of popular children's picture–books: Cynthia Rylant, Mem Fox and Ezra Jack Keats. Simplified biographies and interviews with these writers abound on–line (i.e., http://teacher.scholastic.com/read/all–about–authors.htm) and in local public libraries. Conducting an author study in my classroom will be an ideal and practicable way to celebrate each author and investigate his/her work. The two major questions we will explore in my unit will be: Where does an author or illustrator get the ideas for his/her stories? How do they integrate their life experiences into their books? The carefully selected picture–books in this unit will allow my students to discover their own personal landscape.
My students will keep a Reader's Response Notebook in which they will record reactions to the stories read aloud to them. This assignment will encourage young learners to think more deeply about the story and to relate it to their own lives. Such an activity promotes forming opinions, judging values and developing critical thinking skills. After writing their responses they will pair up to share and discuss them. Below are some of the sentence starters they will choose from:
-
Something I noticed about the book/character/author was ______________
-
I liked the idea that _________________________
-
I know someone like __________________________
-
I wonder _________________
-
It was, or was not fair when _______________________
-
If I were __________, I would _________________
-
I have a prediction about ______________________
-
I like the way the author ________________________
-
This reminds me of ____________________
-
If I could talk to the character, I would tell him/her______________________
-
I would/would not recommend this book to others because____________________
-
Something that surprised me in the story was ____________________
-
My favorite part of the story was_______________. This is because ____________
-
The message the author is trying to tell us is _______________
-
A question I would like to ask the author is ______________________
I am a first–grade teacher at Davis Street Arts & Academics Interdistrict Magnet School. The self–contained class of students to whom I will be teaching this unit are a heterogeneous group with varying abilities within the 5–to–7–year–old age range. Although I have designed this unit with them in mind, I am confident that it could easily be adapted for use by teachers in other primary and intermediate grades as well.
This curriculum unit will be interdisciplinary in scope, incorporating reading, writing and art. My students will work in both small and large group settings on the activities included in it. The unit lessons will be taught four times a week for a period of 40 minutes over a 3–month period. I plan to divide my curriculum unit into six sections:
-
Section 1: From Inspiration to Published Story
-
Section 2: Why Author Studies?
-
Section 3: Cynthia Rylant
-
Section 4: Mem Fox
-
Section 5: Ezra Jack Keats
-
Section 6: Telling Your Own Story
