ecl310MLEISH

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When searching #picturebooks on websites such as Instagram and Facebook, the results differed from Tumblr. There were more people positing photos of their favourite books, or photos of themselves or others reading books. The hashtag is a good way to find the footstep of what you are looking for in regards to class work. It is not a viable or reliable source, as some times the hashtags could take you astray. They are also not viable as they are not a form that could be verified. It is something that could take the form of Wiki, but would not be a students only source of information. It could work as the basis of information, but students would have to do more extensive research to back up and justify. 

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When I searched #picturebooks, I was surprised that I hardly recognised any of the books being displayed. Once I looked deeper in to the search, I found a college student promoting their illustrations for a class. I found it intriguing that they took a concept known as Wulf-monath, and instead of making it about wolves who go to the village to feed on the villagers; instead they manipulated the story to make a happier and more inviting picture book. They changed it so that the wolf would instead come to the village to go on adventures with a little girl. It was interesting the way this student changed a story so they could manipulate the illustrations to be more attractive.

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The video I chose to develop a front loading lesson for was ‘Learn a Dhurga greeting.’ This video could lead to a range of informative and engaging lessons. To begin with a front loading lesson, the teacher could show the video as an introductory to Aboriginal culture; looking closer at greetings or gestures that are culturally accepted in certain communities. Because it is so short, it could be combined or linked to other videos, depicting other gestures such as ‘goodbye’. The type of video teaches students how to accept and be respectful towards the culture of others that are in their communities. This particular lesson could lead to books that contain the ways in which the Aboriginal communities live and act towards each other, in which students can link and compare their own lifestyles with. 

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> The transparent food creates silence in the cold night; with no strength and our hollow stomachs, we died. 

> The world quickly discard what it doesn’t wish to believe. 

> A front loading activity I would attempt is asking students what will happen int he book based on the cover; the title, imagery etc. This could be interesting for this specific text, as the front cover does not necessarily depict the horror that will unfold. The teacher could write students opinions on the board, so they are visible while reading the text. This is so that students can return to what they originally believed, and how they’re opinions have altered after reading. This will emphasise to students the power of the cover of a book. 

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Something that I found interesting while on placement is the students self portraits. What I found intriguing about this display, is that it gives students a visual on how they can change over time at school. As the students are in grade 1/2, it’s important that learning is guided and celebrated. Exhibiting the portraits allows students to experience a sense of accomplishment. They draw them at the beginning of the year, possibly depicting how they see themselves - what they enjoy, what they look like etc. They can then reflect over the year and how they have changed; how their interests have altered, how they now see themselves, what they have learnt, how they have changed themselves. I found this interesting, because it’s such a great way to get young learners to visually perceive themselves, recognising how they change over time. it’s a way in which they can feel accomplished in their learning, as well as their personal wellbeing.

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The main texts that i read this week and made meaning from are; - Read a novel - Me before you  - Facebook messages - Emails  - Newspaper  - Cloud Deakin - Assignments  - Letters (Bills) - Scoreboards in netball - Information manuals for a school camp - Recipe - Text messages The most common source of texts that I gain meaning from are text messages, facebook, and current novels that I am reading. I also keep up to date with Cloud Deakin and Uni work.

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To begin, I would get the students to share either as a class or to a partner what they think about the front cover. Their ideas on what the title means, the pictures, maybe even the use of colours. Questions the teacher could ask to prompt the students could be; - What do you think the title means, what is seeming ‘me’? - What do the tentacles represent? - Is the car driving away from the tentacles? Why? They could then use these ideas in a mind map, to plan their ideas. This could then lead to a writing task, where the students could then write the first little part or chapter of the book; what they think is going to happen next based on their predictions of the cover. This can be a prediction task, as well as a writing task, getting the students to display their understanding of prediction as well as writing skills. This can be done as an individual, or a collaborative task. The students could then refer back to these mind maps and short chapters to see how well their predictions linked to the story line.  As an extension task, the students could get to half way through the story, and write a short paragraph or so on what they think will happen at the end of the story, and the same could be done at the end of the book. 

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When I was in primary school, we would have books read to us constantly in class and in library. In library, we would have novels read to us that would continue over a number of weeks. The teacher would read chapters at a time, and the suspense was endearing to a group of young students. The teacher would always choose books that were exciting and mysterious, with my favourite always being the ‘Tashi’ series, which were filled with magic and adventures. Even after library, students would search for these books to borrow.