Chapter 8 in Tompkins really made me think of the children’s literature class that we had to take. I really enjoy getting the chance to see books from each kind of genre and to be able to make the comparisons. Truthfully I felt like that was one of the things that felt missing from this class. I wanted to know more about the literature that is being used in my classmate’s classrooms.
I noticed a pattern in this chapter. In almost every chapter there is a pink box that is labeled Nurturing English Learners. It then asks a question regarding the chapter topic and English learners, What I have noticed is the commonalities in the answers. Almost all the questions are answered by the most basic point which is to teach English learners lie the rest of your class with more support. They might require more help but the concepts that are important to the rest of the class are also important to the English Learners.
The chapter showed the features of text. My CT was teaching text features to the class and he gave each student a checklist that contained the common features of non-fiction text. It included things like headings, bold print, photos, diagrams, maps, and captions. The kids then had to go though a non-fiction book and make tally marks on their sheet for the items they found. They really enjoyed showing us all the tally marks they were able to make