Reflection for Reading and Responding to Children's Literature

Reading and Responding to Children's Literature is a great course, and it has helped me explore various types of literature. Without this course my knowledge of the variety of books and uses for these books would be very limited. I never knew the impact that children's literature has on writing. In my reading and language arts methods I have learned that books can be used to get students writing, and can help prompt a writing piece. The more students read the better they become at writing. Reading various types of books exposes students to the various types of writing. In reading and responding to children's literature we explored the various genres. I had never thought that children's literature could be incorporated into the other subjects in school, but after the genre study I can't see myself limiting literature to a single subject. For example, using children's literature, whether in book form or on an interactive computer game, can help make a social studies lesson more interesting. It helps the students get involved with the material. I also never thought that literature wasn't just in a book, but can be found on the web. Until this course I hadn't thought much about incorporating technology as a media for students to read and interact with. This course has helped me explore the various opportunities that children's literature offers.
I think that one of the discussions that changed my view of children's literature was the one where we defined what a child was. In this discussion the class defined children as carefree, innocent, energetic, sponges, curious, fun, sweet, and the list goes on. After creating this list we realized that we had put children in a box. But in actuality children are like adults. There are various types of kids who have different interests. While some children might like fairy tales others might like thrilling mysteries. As a teacher we have to know and understand the various types of books out there to help spark each individual student's interest in reading. This class helped me explore various types of books, and understand the importance of continuing to explore children's literature in the future.
Another thing I found interesting was the discussion about controversial books. I thought the class discussion about controversial books was particularly interesting because there was a variety of opinions about which books could be read in the classroom. I think that some books were understandably controversial because their content didn't have an important meaning or a use in the classroom. While other books, although considered controversial, contain content that help spark important class discussions.
Overall I think this is a wonderful class, and it has helped expand my knowledge of children's literature.