I am reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of  a Wimpy Kid Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney. I really enjoyed the series! I thought it was very funny and pretty sarcastic. I think Kinney portrayed a middle school boy perfectly. Greg Heffley is pretty awkward in the social scene and is never sticking to one thing. He’s all over the place and is constantly moving on to the next best thing. I really love reading or “watching” his friendship with Rowley. I think Kinney did a great job developing that relationship and I think it really connects well with middle school boys. I love the illustrations in the book! I think it helps with imagining the story and also sets the tone meaning it’s definitely more of an informal way to write, but I think it’s great! Greg’s relationship with is brother is another relationship I think Kinney did a great job on developing. Although I’m an only child, I think the image the author presents is (probably) spot on to other relationships between siblings. My only major critique of the book is I wish we were given dates instead of days. I find that I sometimes get lost in time and get confused with where we are in terms of the weeks/months/seasons. Providing dates would help me visualize the book a lot and would help me keep things in sequence.  I think a student who is afraid to read or claimed they didn’t like to read would really enjoy this series! It’s light and funny and very easy to follow! I think these students would feel very accomplished after reading books from this series too because they are very meaty and have a lot of pages. This series would also be great for a student who needs to be reminded that reading is fun and books can be funny! It’s important for us as teachers to recognize when our students start to become burnt out or start to see reading as a chore and I think this series is a great remedy for that! The pictures are also great for a student who needs help visualizing the story.

If you were to google Diary of  a Wimpy Kid lesson plans, you could find a lot of resources! There are many teachers using this book as mentor texts and also just using to book to create activities.

http://www.wimpykid.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WimpyKid-SeriesTeachingGuide.pdf

This is a great resource! It provides many handouts and great prompts that get your students to dig deeper and analyze the text/characters. It also discusses journaling and gives you ideas for how to incorporate that into your classroom. It also provides you with what CCSS are covered with these activities and gives ideas for differentiating instruction (which is AWESOME).

http://www.puffinvirtuallylive.co.uk/WK_LESSON%20PLANS%202014C.pdf

This resource is also really great! It gets the students working with the author and also has them making their own comic strips. It also provides all the templates needed to complete the activities!

Teachers Resources

This website is really awesome! It provides the teacher with a ton of resources and lessons plans. It even has resources that help teachers with reluctant readers and how using Diary of a Wimpy Kid could be useful! You could even have your students join the Wimpy Kid Club (with parent permission of course)!

I could use a lot of these resources in my classroom. They all have creative and fun ideas that will keep students engaged and interested. I really liked that these resources provided templates and even some direction with how to lead and/or teach the activity. I would love to have my students great their own “journal” that they used weekly! It’s a great way to get students comfortable with writing and is a great connection to the story. I think this book is a great one to use for read alouds since it’s funny and easy to follow!

I really enjoyed reading Miller’s text! I love the way she writes, it’s very easy to understand and has opened my eyes to different practices of literacy. Teaching reading is extremely important and many of the practices she discusses are things I would’ve never thought about using in my classroom.

I thought it was interesting that she pointed out that our students also have busy lives. We seem to underestimate what pressures our students deal with on a day to day basis. Many students participate in extra-curricular activities and those all come with demands of their own. Spending 8 hours a day at school, attending football or softball practice, or piano lessons, or robotic club, there is a lot going on in their lives. To expect that our students will read at 30 minutes a day at home is unrealistic. Many students don’t feel like they have the time and are so exhausted by the time they get to their homework that reading for pleasure isn’t something that sounds relaxing to them. Miller had a great point when she was talking about our expectations of our students at extra-curricular practices versus our students reading practices. We expect our children and students to perform well and spend most of their time practicing their instrument or football plays, but we don’t expect them to practice their reading skills. If we put as much emphasis on practicing reading as we did practicing their sports skills, there would be a huge difference in their abilities.

I also liked the community she creates in her classroom. Not only does she have her students spend time doing independent reading, she creates an environment where they live like readers. They discuss their books, trade books with each other, sharing observations, and recommend books to their peers. It’s a great way to engage her students in reading and creates a safe and comfortable environment for her students to read at their level. Her students are able to read a book without having to make a book report or diorama, or take a test on the details of the story. I think her practices are refreshing and very different from what was taught when I was in elementary school. It has definitely changed my ideas of how to teach reading in my classroom. Her conferences are also something I want to bring into my classroom one day. Meeting with each student after observing them is a great way to see where your students are with their reading, as well as establishing a relationship of trust and respect with each of your students. Students are also able to talk about their struggles or challenges without feeling embarrassed and share their accomplishments with you. I think it’s really important as a teacher to know who your students are and understand what their strengths and weaknesses are. It’s also a great way to see if your students are fake reading or really doing their work (which is always important!).

In terms of teaching reading, I really want to instill the love of learning in my students. As early as I can with my students, I want them to love learning and love to read. I want to give them choices of what to read, but I’m concerned about how to connect all of what my students are reading to the content and standards I want them to learn. I want to create a comfortable and safe environment for my students to read and feel like they can read at whatever level they are at (and that it is okay to read what you can). I want to try to get away from the traditional ways of teaching reading and find ways to spark the interest of reading for all of my students in ways that work for them.

Hello fellow English 341 students! My name is Jenny Wasson and I’m a junior here at Chico State. I’m in ITEC (Integrated Teacher Education Core) so I’m majoring in liberal studies with a minor in special education. I would really love to teach 3rd grade, I love that age and the material taught in that grade as well. I chose to go in to teaching because of my mom. She’s been teaching for 31 years and has taught 2nd grade for 20+ years. I grew up in her classroom, so it only seemed fitting that I would follow in her footsteps. I’m originally from Sacramento, Elk Grove to be exact, and fell in love with Chico when I came to tour the campus. I plan on going into the credential program here, but do not plan on teaching in Chico.

 

There is no fairy godmother, nor a lustful father.

There is no ring to fit, just a golden shoe.

There is no magic the tress, or in the bones buried deeply.

Her face does not go unrecognized by the man who means so much.

Just a girl in the cinders who’s trying to work though the mush.

What story am I?