The Turtle Project Literature and Writing: Breaking Out of Reading Shells

Breaking Out of Reading Shells Shells of Assistive Technology Shells of Failure As A Tool Shells of Generalization Shells of Independence Shells of My Students' Favorite Books Shells of Teacher Responses Shells of a Blog Shells of Help for Online Learners Shells of Reading and Learning Quotes Shells of a Guestbook Shells of Graphic Organizers Shells of Books I Read Shells of Article Reflections Shells of Reading Strategies Shells of What Students Like or Don't Like About Reading Shells of Helpful Reading Websites Shells of Reading, Teaching and Learning Poetry Shells of Writing Shells of Student Comments on Twilight and Other Books Shells of My Life As A Reader Shells of More Reading Quotes Shells of Dyslexia Shells of Thoughts on Reading Shells of Turtle Poems Shells of Turtle Games and Activities Shells of What Makes a Good Reader Shells of Teaching Shells of Turtle Stories and Lessons Shells of Reading Help Shells of Social Issues Shells of Counseling Shells of Remediation Shells of Twilight Shells of Educational Turtle Games Shells of Vocabulary Shells of Memory/Test Taking Strategies Shells of Spelling Shells of Turtle Stories Shells of More Turtle Poems Shells of How Twilight is the New Harry Potter Shells of Twilight Lesson Plans and Ideas Shells of My Reading/Teaching Improvement Plan Shells of Vampires Shells of Shells

This Site Focuses On Literature of Students and Writing for those I Teach Online

...IT seems that one time down south, long ago, Coyote ate Turtle. When he did, all the ponds and streams dried up, because Turtle was the keeper of the water.

The animals went to Coyote and begged him to bring Turtle back.

Coyote thought about this and then brought Turtle back up. But Turtle was all in pieces and the animals had to put him back together again.

It was not that easy, either. Before he was eaten, Turtle had plates of solid black, white, red or yellow color. But the pieces coughed up by Coyote were so small that they could not be put back together in the same way.

So the animals did the best they could, and Turtle became a beautiful mosaic, each plate shining with tiny shards of all the different colors.

And it worked! Turtle came back to life.  And when he did, the water came back, too.

—Adapted by John Stokes

This story is a blend of traditional tale and contemporary dream which was inspirational to me in the formation of this website for the Turtle Project for UW Stevens Point.   Hidden within the story, symbolized by the 13 plates of the turtle's shell, is the idea that no one culture 'has it all,' that everyone was given a piece of the whole and that we must bring the pieces back together to complete the picture of who we are as a human family and what our purpose here on the earth truly entails.

For my project I am focusing on the areas of Independence, Social Issues, Counseling, Remediation, Generalization, Assistive Technology as well as Failure as a Tool and the relation of these shells of the turtle and their relevance to reading.  I will take a look at struggling and reluctant readers, review the literature that is out there, and compile ways to help them.  Also I will speak with my online students, those who struggle as well as those who do not, along with teachers and readers.  I hope to be able to find clues as to how to improve my instructional practices in the area of reading in order to better assist my students and to discover some secrets to why some students like reading, while others do not.  All of the shells will hopefully lead me to the place where I will be able to put all of the pieces together so that students no longer need to hide in their own shells, but rather, can have a better chance at winning or at least be in the running for the reading race.

I just started reading the Twilight series, and after reading that my professor and students in my class also started reading it, I was inspired to incorporate this into my project for my class based on the Turtle Project.

So far I have really enjoyed reading Twilight, and really am anxious to see the movie.  I have already thought of some ideas of how I can use the book with my students in the classroom.

I read that someone wrote on my class discussion board that there is an interpretation book written by Edward from Twilight. Students could write their own versions of this and other stories in order to learn about point of view and to help them better understand the written word of literature.

I decided to focus on why students like certain books, how teachers know or choose books to engage their students, and how to better help students to like literature when I am teaching.  I have found so far that students like the following books, and these are books that seem to come up time and time again:  Twilight, Goosebumps, The Cat in the Hat, and Harry Potter.  Other than that so far I have discovered that students have their own interests, rather it be roping, magic or vampires.  It has been interesting to see what books my students like.

In my studies for the Turtle Project I also have asked students what got them interested in reading, or what made them not so interested.  This was a question suggested by my professor, and I can see its great value.  Just asking students what books they like is not enough.  This question about what got them interested or what made them stray from reading really gets to the place where some answers can be drawn as far as how to reach struggling readers, and as I have been interviewing and asking students this question they have been really opening up and telling me their deepest thoughts about their personal reading journeys.

What Constitutes Good Reading for Our Students?

Good reading does a number of things.  It is important to have reading material that introduces new vocabulary words so that your student can learn them and be exposed to an array of words.  Students also should be introduced to a variety of genres.  Reading in different genres can be difficult for some students, and going over with your students how to read certain types of material and how they differ from each other is very helpful and will help your students long into the future.  Always have a variety of reading materials available.

Make sure that reading material is free from stereotypes and include books that are multi-cultural.  Have students from another country?  Supply plenty of books that will engage this student, but also will introduce the new lands or cultures to your other students.  This is crucial.  Spend a lot of time contemplating the books you choose for your classroom.

In order to help your students become good readers it is important that they read often and also of course that they enjoy reading.  Help your students to see reading as a positive experience.  Good readers will read titles, headings and captions.  Indexes and title pages also will be read.  Teach your students about scanning, skimming, and phonics.  All aspects of reading are important and will help your students.

So many reading strategies exist that it is not really possible to know or use all of them.  Teachers should choose what proven, credible research relies on and what has worked in the past.  New research comes out daily in the area of reading, but sometimes the old, tried and true ways can work best.  We never stop learning about reading, and there is always more to learn.  New strategies are available and it is best for teachers to keep an open mind and try new ideas, but also use their own best judgement when doing so.  What works best is what works with your own individual students.  They dictate the path you take down the reading road.

Teachers should use the reading strategies that fit the particular needs of their students.  It is always good to use a variety of strategies.  What does not work for one student may work for another, and what works for one may not work for another student. 

Always start lessons out by activating the prior knowledge of your student.  Also make the learning interesting, purposeful and relevant.  When students know and understand why they are learning something knew and how they will use and need this new information in the future, they will care more about the lesson and they will do better.  Relate all lessons always to the lives of your students.  When students have something to relate the lesson to it will be easier for them to understand and relate to it.

One good reading strategy is List, Group, Label.  In this strategy you have the students make lists and put the items into different categories.  Then they label the items in the categories.  This helps them to see things in groups so that they can distinguish where they belong.  There are many other similar helpful reading strategies that can be helpful for students as well.

Graphic organizers are helpful for students because they provide a visual for students to see, but also because they put items into groups where they belong.  This helps to eliminate the complexity often involved in certain assignments or stories the students may confront.  Students also can and should be involved in creating their own organizers.  When students are able to demonstrate that they posess the ability to create their own organizers this shows that they really understand the material.  The same is true with creating rubrics, and students should be involved in developing these as well.

Reading and writing go together.  They help each other.  If a student needs help with reading he or she also may need help with writing.  Writing reflects how we think.  Work on both reading and writing with students.  ELL students can benefit from dictation exercises.  Even though we currently have spell check, spelling, too is important.  A balanced literacy approach is best.  Phonics are important and should be a part of all literacy learning.

Findings

In my study I have found that most of my students do like to read although there are some that do not.  Of those students who do like reading, the most popular books have been Twilight, Harry Potter and Goosebumps.  Other than the most popular books students said they liked other books, and these were books that often were not duplicated as being a favorite among other students.  A few students stated they did not like books, but they read magazines or comic books.  Reading apparently is a big activity in which many students are involved.  The bulk of students surveyed indicated that they favored books that offered a series.

Reading Seems Here to Stay, Or Is It?

What is the future of reading and is reading here to stay?  This is a good question, in this day and age, to ponder.  Will the future hold libraries still, or will they all be in the Internet, if they, indeed, exist at all?  So far much of academic study has had literature and libraries as its focus.  But that does not mean that things will not change in the future.  How this will affect education, learning and our very lives is certainly worth the contemplation.

I predict that the future of reading is going to be live writing, similar to blogs, but the story will be written in an instant are people read it.  We are a society where we want instant gratification and I predict that such type of writing will fill this need.  No longer will we have the patience to wait months for new books or series to come out. 

What is it about Twilight, Harry Potter or other series that students seem to love?  For one thing, it is the media and how the series is advertised.  It is the movies that go with the books, and it is hearing from other students who have read the books.  All of these things culminate to entice students to read certain books and series.  Some students commented that they did not read certain books because they were out in the media too much and the students felt therefore that these particular books were overhyped.  I had difficulty understanding the concept about that, but apparently some students just were sick of hearing about certain series such as Twilight, something quite a number of students expressed.  It seems that with these students there is a certain need to be individualized in their reading choices, and they want to veer away from reading the exact same books that other students are involved in reading.  Can we blame them?