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Resources -
Powerpoint
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 14 January 2013 00:00 |
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Last Updated on Monday, 14 January 2013 07:13 |
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Common Core -
Intermediate
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Written by Jay Peteranetz
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Friday, 11 January 2013 00:00 |
Berglund, cites third grade as critical for the future success of young readers. At this level in the Common Core State Standards, students are asked to “distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters”. Students are asked to read more than one text by the same author and talk about the characters over the course of a series. The students must also recount fables, myths, and folktales from diverse cultures. With these CCSS expectations in mind, this is the ideal level when superheroes should be introduced to students. Many of today’s superheroes are based on heroes from Greek mythology. One of the best examples is Superman.
Superman is an alien from another world raised on earth. He would be indestructible but for a single weakness: kryptonite. His story is a modern retelling of Achilles, the Greek hero. Achilles was born to a nymph who later dipped him in a bath to make him indestructible. The nymph held him by the heel to dip him that heel became the only vulnerable spot on his body. Many other modern-day heroes can be traced to the myths, lore, and folktales from many different cultures.
 A three-chapter story called, Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever, also from Toon-Books, fits these same themes at this reading level.
Mona and Joey, the main characters, are brother and sister who are constantly fighting. When given the costume, and one each of the two superpowers, of the town’s great superhero, they learn that teamwork saves the day.
As with the books previously mentioned, there is a moral: teamwork gets results. Mo and Jo uses a simple panel grid with a few exceptions, including a new type of panel, the inset panels. An inset panel is a panel that is inside the borders of another panel. Insets are generally used to show a different subject at the same moment in time. They are used to show reactions from both Mo and Jo during a large action moment. For example, when Mo and Jo first see the loose balloon, their separate reactions are inset in the panel to show their individual reactions at that specific moment (Mo and Jo, 21).
In addition to the strong moral about teamwork, there are many discussion points in this book that relate to the Common Core State Standards, particularly 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9. The noted Standards can be used as a guide in open discussion with students to enhance their comprehension of this text. (Please see Appendix B page 12 for a list of the Common Core Standards for Grade 3 students.) Since a number of superheroes are simply modern versions of the heroes of ancient myths, folktales, and fables, becoming aware of how the superhero mythos is structured at this age is important.
Reading Standards for Literature Grade 3:
1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
2. Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text
3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
5. Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza;
describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.
6. Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
7. Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).
8. (Not applicable to literature)
9. Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).
10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
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Last Updated on Friday, 11 January 2013 18:29 |
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Blog -
News and Links
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 10 January 2013 11:52 |
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I'm still here. I'm just knee deep in grades and being a parent.
I also have been teaching from a cart this year and it is taking a lot time to reinvent myself. This is time I used to spend on this website. Jay has sent me two articles for Comics and Common Core and they will be up soon as well as some new comics resources I've developed.
Thank you for your patience.
Stay tuned. . .
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Common Core -
Primary
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 15 November 2012 00:00 |
 For second grade, the Common Core Standards for reading become more specific and detailed. For example, CCSS 1 for Kindergarten says, “(a) sk and answer questions about key details in a text”. The first grade CCSS 1 for 1st Grade states “(a) sk and answer questions about key details in a text”. For second grade, CCSS 1 requires the use of “who, what, when, why, where, and how questions”. The books selected enable teachers to develop such questions. Eleanor Davis has written and illustrated the comic, Stinky, which provides the basis for asking a range of questions.
The story is presented in three simple chapters:
1. Stinky lives in a swamp and his sidekick is a toad named Wartbelly whom is pulled around in a red wagon (CCSS 1) and Stinky meets a child.
2. the conflict that ensues
3. the child forgives Stinky and they become friends ( CCSS 3, 5 and 6).
Obviously, as a comic, Standard 7 is met because the illustrations give understanding to the characters, setting, and plot. The book is a story about tolerance, misunderstanding, and racism -- large topics for a second-grade student, but presented in a manner that is appropriate for children in second grade ( CCSS 10).
Davis is the first sequential artist introduced to break the simple tier structure and explore the possibilities of page layout and panel shapes. Most of her panels are the standard rectangular shape, but she breaks this standard in very specific ways. For example, when Stinky declares his fear of human children, the panel is wobbly and wavy, and a different color palette is used. These two elements combined indicate Stinky’s dream or thought. It’s this ability to express such concepts within the medium of comics and sequential art that makes comics useful to the development of early readers. The integration of the words and pictures and how they are juxtaposed are unique to sequential art and the comic medium.
Davis also uses variations in the appearance of the text. She changes the boldness, size, and color of the text to indicate different volumes, emphases, and emotions. Each indicates a different way the word is said when read aloud and allows students to see how emotion is expressed so they might gain a better understanding of the story. Davis also varies the word balloons. She uses different shapes to show confidence, anger, fear, whispering, uncertainty, and surprise. For example, when Stinky falls down the “bottomless pit”, he yells “HELP!” In fact, he yells it so loud, it’s not in a word balloon, and it’s bright red. The lack of word balloon indicates volume, and the color indicates fear. She uses the ideas of text as art and text integrated into art to convey emotion.
Stinky is an excellent example of the complexity of sequential art. It also shows how a comic can take complex and mature ideas such as intolerance, fear, and racism and make them into a story that can be understood by and discussed with seven- and eight-year-old students. Most students will be entertained simply by the story of a monster in a swamp, and others will mainly enjoy the drawings. But every student will enjoy discussing some aspect of the story of Stinky and the boy. Whether it’s the drawings, the story, the colors, or the design, each element adds a level of understanding to the story as well a different discussion point that relates to the Common Core Standards for this level.
Reading Standards for Literature Grade 2:
1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
2. Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
3. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
4. Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
5. Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
6. Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
8. (Not applicable to literature)
9. Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 03 November 2012 11:45 |
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