More Strategies with Longer Works [8:18]

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About

This lesson provides more strategies that we can use with kids who are just becoming fluent readers.

Transcript

Another approach that I really like to use, is again sort of an old fashioned idea. It's a Book Report idea which is not that popular with kids. But this spin on it really is, and it's an idea I grabbed from a teacher. She called it the Brown Bag Report, and I just love that, I think that's so catchy and alliterative. So basically here's what you do: if there is a moment where you need students to report on books they've read, perhaps everyone has chosen a different novel to read for a grading period, and they need to demonstrate that they have read it which is sometimes an essential component of our assessment, then rather than simply have them write out a report or stand up and give a report, a way that is more meaningful and sort of playful, is to have them do this Brown Bag Book Report where, for the book they've read, they gather a handful of objects, maybe four or five objects that are related to the story that they've read in some way, and this does not require them buying anything, it shouldn't be an expensive exercise.

In fact, some kids will just make the object. So for example, I have a demonstration Brown Bag Book Report that I use quite often, it's for an older book, a book by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor called Shiloh. And she's written several sequels now. But the book's about a dog and a boy. And the dog is abused. And so the boy kidnaps the dog and keeps him away from the owner. And so I have a dog leash in my brown bag, I have a dog toy, I have a hunting magazine because the abusive owner is a hunter and that magazine is important to him. I have an empty food container because the boy has to squirrel away food to feed the dog, despite his parents' objection.

And so I have a variety of actual physical objects that are related to the story in some way. I put them in a brown paper sack. Then as I'm telling about the book Shiloh, I pull each object out of the bag, as a prop, if you will, that underscores what it is I just said about the book. And that is such a great tactile, kinesthetic way to get kids to think about their books because they are so into touching. That's still a big way of how they learned through ages eight, nine, ten. So here are objects to touch.

Then it also a comforting tool if you will. So as you hold up your dog leash or your hunting magazine, the rest of the class, the rest of the group, is looking at those objects instead of you. So you feel a little less self-conscious and a little bit more focused on the story. It's just a great practical approach to talking about books. And what I found as a side benefit is that it's very motivating for other readers. So when kids do a Brown Bag Book Report, they're a little bit more comfortable talking about their book but they get other fellow students excited about reading the book that they've just presented. So that's nice, most book reports people just want to get through and sit down and be done with that. But in this case, we're selling books to one another in a very motivating, book-talking way. And then if you want, you can use those props and brown bags as a display in the library or classroom. You can have the books sit there with the brown bag and with some props that go with it to further motivate kids to say, I wonder what that book's about. It's just a very practical simple strategy that I find really fun.

Another activity for sharing novels with older kids is to link with media. Particularly with audio books and film based on books written for kids. And this may seem like cheating to some adults. But all the research is very clear when kids listen to an unabridged audio book, they really get it, they really internalize the story, even if you just play an excerpt for a whole group. To hear a book read aloud by a professional narrator, it's just a really powerful experience. And for students who may have some learning disabilities or language learning issues, listening to a book read out loud is a great alternative for them to have a level playing field with the rest of the class and experience the whole novel and know it and be able to talk about it and critique it along with everyone else.

The same with the film adaptation. Not quite as literary because you don't have all the language of the story there. But quite a lot of children's novels have been adapted into film. And that can be a great way to do a little compare and contrast activity too with kids and talk about, which did you like better the book or the movie, and why? Invariably kids like the book better and will find there's a lot more meat there, a lot more that they imagined and visualized than they found in the movie. So that's kind of fun, really showcases the beauty of books. And librarians all tell us that when a film based on the book is out, there is a run on the book. Kids want to read the book, they want that experience again and a richer experience in reading it than just viewing it.

Activities

Brown Bag Book Report

Context:

This lesson outlines two approaches for engaging students with the content of novels: Brown Bag Book Reports and integration of media. Brown Bag Book Reports are simple but powerful extension activities for comprehension and reflection at the conclusion of a novel. Students select four or five meaningful objects from a story to present to their class or group in a brief oral presentation. They must think carefully about the events and characters in the book in order to select relevant items. The physical items become a visual aid within the oral presentation, offering reminders to the presenter and possibly diminishing the child's worries about being the focus of classmates' eyes.

Instructions:

Vardell illustrates the Brown Bag Book Report strategy with Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Shiloh. For this exercise, you will build an example lesson for a grade level that you teach, including standards and curricular alignment.

1. Select a grade level and scenario for the students' reading of a novel, e.g., individual novels, small groups, or class reading; co-taught lesson or librarian-taught class.

2. Identify the relevant curricular standards, including English Language Arts and AASL Standards. Here are some examples using Grade 4.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts	CC.4.SL.4 Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace
AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner (2007 edition)	3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively.
Source: American Association of School Librarians. Crosswalk of the Common Core Standards and the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. 2011. http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards/crosswalk

3. With these standards and curricula in mind, write a lesson plan for the "introduction day" or day 1 of a Brown Bag Book Report activity. The lesson plan should include a new example to model expectations, objective(s), prompts or other discussions to help students think about items for their bags (more on this in #5 below), and assessment(s) (more on this in #6 below).

4. Create a graphic organizer, set of discussion prompts, and/or other tools for helping students select items for their brown bags. The tools should equip students to mine their stories for strong moments or character qualities to represent with their objects, and prepare them to explain their objects and reasoning to their peers in an oral presentation.

5. Develop an example Brown Bag Book Report to use in modeling this lesson for students. Using the tool(s) you built for #4 above, prepare to share your selection process in a think-aloud for students.

6. Construct an assessment for this lesson. Consider planning for a class-developed assessment, whereby students identify look-fors and criteria for assessing work, accompanied by a checklist or rubric that they can use to self-assess and provide peer feedback.

Entry ID: 2122878

Additional Resources

Bibliography.

About the Author

Sylvia Vardell is Professor Emerita of literature for children and young adults in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University. She has authored or co-authored more than 100 published articles, more than 25 book chapters and given more than 150 presentations at national and international conferences. She is the author of Children's Literature in Action: A Librarian's Guide, Poetry Aloud Here!, The Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists, Poetry People, and co-edits many poetry anthologies for young people with collaborator and poet Janet Wong.

Select Citation Style:

MLA Citation

Vardell, Sylvia M. "Children's Literature Strategies. More Strategies with Longer Works [8:18]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, May 2017, schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2063936?learningModuleId=2063931&topicCenterId=2247903.

Chicago Citation

Vardell, Sylvia M. "Children's Literature Strategies. More Strategies with Longer Works [8:18]." School Library Connection video. May 2017. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2063936?learningModuleId=2063931&topicCenterId=2247903.

APA Citation

Vardell, S. M. (2017, May). Children's literature strategies. More strategies with longer works [8:18] [Video]. School Library Connection. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2063936?learningModuleId=2063931&topicCenterId=2247903

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2063936?learningModuleId=2063931&topicCenterId=2247903

Entry ID: 2063936