Students need to undertake wide literature review from readings relevant to their syllabuses; the quality and quantity of materials read determines a student’s/learner’s academic success or failure. When tutors are choosing the materials to use or recommend to their students, they need to be sensitive on personal attributes, personalities, perceptions, and social life elements like hobbies/interests, life experiences, and skill level.
Barbara Foorman, of the University of Texas, observes that there is close relationship between how children are prepared to be a readers at early age and the interests of readings they develop in future, the scholar says, “88 percent of students who were poor readers in first grade were poor readers in fourth grade” (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2000, 9).
When reviewing an article by Phil Hunsberger called “Where am I? A all for connectedness in literacy” published in the journal of “Reading Research quarterly,” I agreed with the writer right from the onset when he suggested that for learning to occur the students need to have close connection with the materials they are reading. The writer emphasized that connectedness is imperative for students; when students appreciate and connect with the materials they are getting information their learning and understanding level are boosted resulting to quality learning and understanding (Hunsberger, 2007). When teaching military people, low socioeconomic status, and single families I am sensitive of the kind of materials I use as I understand the need for students to connect with the materials used.
After this week’s research and information studies I have established three texts that are complimentary texts and fall into the middle of the semiotic and linguistic matrix; all the three texts fall in the informational side of the matrix.
The nature of human beings is that they are ready and willing to learn and read interesting materials that focuses on areas that they have high interests; with the notion in mind, I will be using three texts that will tie into the social studies unit lesson on the State of Texas and Texas Folklore. One of strength that the materials have is that they hold the phrase “everything is bigger and better in Texas”; with such common background, I will discuss the topic and address emerging issues effectively.
The main area of interest in all the texts are context clues, vocabulary, identifying the plot, conflict, climax, main idea, summarizing, and sequencing; all the parameters will be addressed to offer an insight understanding of the case.
The text, The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie de Paola is a folklore story which focuses on Indian culture and tells about how the bluebonnets came to be. The story is centered on a little girl named She-Who-Is-Alone who parted with her only possession, a doll her mother made her, and became a great hero in her tribe the story suggest that the girl threw the doll into fire as a ritual to please the gods of rain, after the ritual the rain began to fall and beautiful blue flowers grew.
The second text that I will use is The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush written by Tomie de Paola; it is an Indian folklore that rhymes with current topics on Texas. The story is focused on an young boy called Little Gopher who according to the tradition was not fit enough to become a warrior. Despite the shortcoming the boy focused on being what he can best be an artist; he created beautiful sunsets and the brushes he left behind took root and sprouted into many flowers.
The third text under review is called The Day Pecos Bill Rode Old Twister , it was written by S.E. Schlosser; the folktale has much similarity with Texas folk tales during the cowboy days. The material has even some Texas phrases like “You’ve heard about Pecos Bill, the Texas Wrangler who was as tall as a two story house and as strong as an ox” (Doepker & Ortlieb, 2011).
Tutors should not limit their work on selecting the materials; it is important to have an in-depth understanding of the objectives and goals they need to accomplish by a certain piece of work. Some materials may be interesting to read but if they fail to add value on the readers’ life, they are good not read. With the folklores I choose I wish to develop an in-depth understanding to my students on literature and cultural history. According to Doepper & Ontlieb, 201, students need to be motivated to read, they say, “The students must have motivation to read and write and it is up to the educators to provide literacy experiences that tap into their emotions (Doepper & Ontlieb, 2011).
In modern computerized world, children are getting access to the Internet at early ages; they also seem to have their role models limited to their parents. Using the folklore will provide them with a balanced literacy program spiced with some entertainment. As a tutor I believe that using folklore is rewarding to students and will facilitate fast development of knowledge and talent development.
References
Doepker, G. M., & Ortlieb, E. (2011). Preserving Adolescent Readership through Interest and Motivation. International Journal of Education, 3(1), 1-7. Web.
Hunsberger, P. (2007). Where am I? A all for connectedness in literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 42(30, 420-424.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000). Emergent and early literacy workshop: Current status and research directions. Bethesda, MD: National Institute of Health. Web.