Shades of Meaning by Santman

Reading:

Santman, D., (1938) Shades of Meaning:Comprehension and Interpretation in Middle School: Portsmouth: Heinemann


I have been reading Shades of Meaning by Santman and really reflecting on my own reading and the reading that is going on in my sixth grade classroom. I have also stacked up the books and articles from our LLSS 528 class and realized that I have changed. As I prepare to do my research on illustrations and text in children's literature, I know that I have changed. My sixth grade ladies are reading Romeo and Juliet with passion and enthusiasm...Yes Shakespeare! My boys are listening to A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines and reading finishing The Count of Monte Cristo. I struggle with Twain and Orwell as our next adventure and accept that I have changed in these past few months. 


Santman talks about patterns of misreading in chapter three, as I think deeply about reading being an end instead of a beginning. I know that I have to get back to my personal reading. I know I need to enjoy reading and writing again and break the patterns. I find myself reflecting more. Reflecting on every aspect of the reading process. From reading to assessment. From listening to discussion. I want to enjoy Romeo and Juliet with my students so that we all have an interaction with the text and the story.


Note: I know hat this is not the formal blogging process but I also know that something is going on with me and the reading process. I also know that I really want to understand what it is and not let these opportunities pass me by.

Write Again! Right Again!

Reading: Writing for the Soul by Jerry B. Jenkins

Instruction and Advice from an Extraordinary Writing Life (2006)

As I look at the reading from Sipe and the conference this weekend. I realize that we cannot judge a book by its cover or an analysis by its title. II often want to put thing in nice analytical boxes. However, intertextual, performative and transparent mean much more to me. Reader response means that it is really about the students (reader’s) response and not my experience, it is about making good book choices and thinking through how the reader is responding and not what I want them to interpret.

Maria Nichols refers to it as purposeful talk, “As students’ abilities with purposeful talk grow, it is quite easy to begin taking their competence for granted, forgetting that newly formed behaviors are not yet habits; they require consistent nudging and nurturing to truly take hold.” I am at the place where I really want to raise my expectations and understanding of my student’s responses and gently nudge hem along the pathway and journey of quality reading.

Carrie talks about the Collective Voices Conference, in both her blog and learning log, both she and I walked away from the conference not only wanting to expand our reading but write our memoirs. I am fascinated with children’s books and literature and want to offer a more “transparent” perspective the writing process. In simpler I want the opportunity to become one with text again.  This has been a great week in regards to reading and creative writing. I want to have a voice with students and learners outside of classroom. I want to write again. That alone makes the conference and this class worth the price of admission. 

I know that right now it is right again to write again. This time I want to write from my soul.

Literature as Exploration - Rosenblatt Straight from the Horse's Mouth

Reading:

Rosenblatt, L., (1938) Literature as Exploration: New York MLA
Rosenblatt, L., (1978) The Reader, the Text, the Poem: Carbondale and Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Press
Williams-Garcia, R., (2010) One Crazy Summer: New York HarperCollins


Having read a plethora of excerpts in our readings and online discussions about Louise Rosenblatt. I felt that it was time for me to go straight to the horse's mouth and see what Rosenblatt has to say about Rosenblatt (a pun). I am reading both Literature as Exploration and The Reader, the Text, the Poem and I feel that both texts (another pun) as meaning and poetry and the reader have so much to offer us as students and lifelong learners. Rosenblatt's legacy is respected by followers and critics alike. Quotes like, "the interchange of ideas the student will be led to compare the reactions of both students and the teachers" from Literature as Exploration or the "Poem as Event" is key to having a fundamental stance on reading, learning and education. Going straight to the poet's mouth will allow a more vibrant and dynamic understanding of her writings and legacy. There is a 50-year span between literature as exploration and the transactional theory of the literary work. My hope is that I can go beyond the ideas and excerpts of others and contribute a fraction of what Rosenblatt as hero really means to the world of literature.


Notes: As I introduce One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia and incorporate both the in-class reading experience and the audiobook, I realize that I am focusing on the story and stepping to the sideline so that I can can observe my students and punctuating my passion for the reading experience. More importantly as many of my peers in our class with Professor Sung have noted, "I can listen" to my students in more ways than one. Please Get Rosenblatt for yourself and explore a real connection with text and the literature experience
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MBR Hear That Trumpet Sound - One Crazy Summer

Read:

Noe. J.,  Johnson, N (1999) Getting Started with Literature Circles. Christopher-Gordon Publisher, Massachusetts

Williams-Garcia, R., (2010) One Crazy Summer: New York HarperCollins

Reason for reading: Reading Noe and Johnson has had a specific influence on my reading for entertainment. I use to read 5-10 books a week and had to structure my reading more toward academic because of my coursework. Recently, I began scheduling time for reading for myself the same way I do for my literature students. The adjustment has been wonderful. At the heart of this revival has been One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams –Garcia. Noe and Johnson talk about what is worth worry about and what is worth letting go. (p.32) A lot of my personal writing involves some type of time travel. I take my characters through time to connect with emotional or dramatic points of their past to inform their future. One Crazy Summer took me on such a journey.

After our family relocated to Oakland California (2908 Harper Street) My three brothers and I were forced to engage hippies, the Black Panther movement and the death of our national icons, King, X and Kennedy our promised saviors. My father was a minister at the time and I read many a leaflet and pamphlet of propaganda during those crazy years and then quietly found my own voice at Golden Gate Park where my Uncle Russell Lacey played golf and the park became my platform.

“Hear that trumpet sound?

 Change is coming round and round.

 Round that corner fast,

 Snap this frozen place and twist that Golden Gate.

 Hear that trumpet sound?

 No it won’t rain around here,

 But the wind will blow and blow that trumpet sound.

 Yes, hear that trumpet sound.

The journey Delphine. Vonetta and Fern take to California from New York "One Crazy Summer, allows me to hear "that trumpet sound" once again. 

MBR: Reading Interpretation as a Function of Identity

Reading

Holland, Norman N. "Reading and Identity: a Psychoanalytic Revolution." Twentieth Century Literary Theory: a Reader. Ed. K. M. Newton. London: Macmillan, 1997. 204-209.

Reason for reading: After our group discussion last week it was important to discern the idea that a poem, book or story could have multiple meanings and that interpretation was based on the readers emotional or experiential connection to the text. Rosenblatt was key for me, in being able to better understand writers such as Poe, Shakespeare, Frost and others from a broader perspective and really interact with the text and better share with my students. I believe that we do look at text through the lens of our identity. However, there is more involved within the interaction as noted by Iser, Poulet  and Fish.

Note: This article was of particular interest since it was referenced in Tomkins. The notion of interpretation as a relationship to identity or better noted as a “function of identity”. Holland in this article uses a lot of Freudian terminology to support his theories and be critical of others in the field of reader-response theory.

Holland, Norman N. "Reading and Identity: a Psychoanalytic Revolution." Twentieth Century Literary Theory: a Reader. Ed. K. M. Newton. London: Macmillan, 1997. 204-209.


Also important to note that I am reading Ernest Hemingway's Under Kilimanjaro and Carver a Life of Poems by Marilyn Nelson for entertainment. (It's about time)

My Five Selections for Literature Circles and Encouraging Dialogue

1.  The Giving Tree

Author:  Shel Silverstein Publisher:  Harper and Row, 1964.

Summary and Criteria for Selection: The Giving Tree is a wonderful story about a relationship between a young boy and a tree. The tree provides the boy with what he thinks he wants. I want to use this story in literature circles to get students to ask themselves questions about what they want and at what expense do we get our way. Using The Giving Tree in a literature circle allows for meaningful discussion about giving, sharing and friendship. 

2.  Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

Author:  Mem Fox Publisher:  Kane/Miller Publishers, 1995.

Summary and Criteria for Selection: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge is a little boy who lives next door to an "old people’s home."  He is a friend with all of the residents, but his favorite is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper and he helps her find her memory.  The story helps students to discuss ageism and Alzheimer’s Disease. Relationship to literature circle: Understanding prior knowledge is one of the most valuable assets that they bring to the classroom.

3.  My First Garden

Author: Tomeki Bogacki Publisher:  Frances Foster Books

Summary and Criteria for Selection: This is a wonderful account of a man remembering a garden he created when he was a boy. At the same time his own son is starting his first garden. The book is a metaphor about growing, heritage and renewal. The book My First Garden also gives me the opportunity to ask students questions about how they choose books and discuss the value of literature circles and diversity.

4.  Book Title: Jazz on Saturday Night

Author: Leo and Diane Dillon Publisher:  The Blue Sky Press

Summary and Criteria for Selection: A cultural look at jazz and music from Duke Ellington to Miles Davis. The book Jazz on Saturday Night allows me to share my music experiences and nurture a sense of wonder and imagination.

5.  Book Title: All the Colors of the Earth

Author: Sheila Hamanaka Publisher:  Morrow Junior Books

Summary and Criteria for Selection: A story of diversity and culture and I really enjoy the connection between the illustration and the text. My hope is that I can help students make connections between the text they read and feel they can be a part of the story. As I reread the story I feel that the use of nature and animals is profound and students can embrace the words with a lesson about how do you see yourself and how do you connect with the text? 

Mindful Branch Reading

(To Read)    9/12/11

• Roen, D., & Karolides, N. (January 01, 2005). Louise Rosenblatt: A Life in Literacy. The Alan Review, 32, 3, 59-61.

• Author: Karolides,  (as cited by Tomkins)

• Note: Trying to understand and review the impact that Rosenblatt has had on both reading and literature is daunting. She is referenced so much in the reading. 
• Reason for reading: I want to really utilize LLSS 528 to understand and learn about the giants of reading from both a critical and transactional stance or discourse. The richness of literature is not just reading a book.