Course LSSL 5385 Ch. 6 - 10 Reading blog

Chapter 6:
I have been taking a course at Sam Houston State University in Texas.  My assignment this week is to describe the chapters for study.  Ch. 6 focuses on the development of adolescents.  The information in this section is mainly about child development theorist and children develop.  Through out this chapter I have connected the theorist ideas to children and their reading habits and feeling about different subject matters.  All children develop at different stages and develop at different rates.  I agree a great deal with Havinghurst who describes how children get along with peers, relationships, careers, morals, and physical bodies.  I agree with these concepts and know that children also read based on these things and some read based on Kohlbergs theories of reward and civil disobedience.

 I also was newly introduced to the Birthday Cake Method that theorizes empathy, delight, biographical, Vicarious, philosophical expectations and ascetics and how it has to do with development.  I believe my favorite it the Cake Method because children reading loves series, read for beauty, live lives through experiences and expectations. and just read for unconscious delight.

Ch. 7:
In chapter seven the literary terms are covered and explained in depth.  It distinguishes between Literary Devices, Literary Forms, Literary Elements, and Additional Vocabulary.  The reading of tthis chapter express that there were so many terms that are used to create a literary piece.  The message of the story appears to be one of the most important parts of the theme and not just the main idea.

It has been an extremely long time since I have taken an English class and covered the elements needed to write and create a well written piece of literature.  Theme of a book and what it is and what it is not was also covered by the authors and I was throughly engrossed.  I did not realize the rules of stating a theme for a book or story.   The theme must be explained in a full sentence and does not necessarily have only a singular theme.

Ch. 8:
Chapter 8 was a list of Awards and Lists.  There were 28 different awards listed to Young Adult Literature.  They include the main ones that most would know, for example; Non-fiction, Graphic Novel, Audio books, Paperback, Poetry, Historical Fiction, Mystery and most popular.  I was unaware of some of the others; Self Relation, Diverse Worlds, Disability Experience, and Non-Fiction for gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.

I am please to say that most of these awards and list are created to encourage children and young adults to read.  There is a vast range of awards given in all subjects areas.  I was only aware of about half of these awards and look forward to researching them further.

Ch. 9:
The first line of Poetry states "Poetry is not a genre.  It is a form that literature can take" .  These is an exceptional statement because poetry does take many different forms.  For this lesson we were given various poetry pieces to include, "Sick" by Shel Silverstein , "Every Time I Climb a Tree" by David McCord and Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout "Would Not Take The Garbage Out".

I agree with the author that I think sometimes that we dissect poetry so much that we loose the joy of reading it.  As the author also writes in the criteria for poetry, we should enjoy and use poetry to increase vocabulary, express feelings, experience imagery through the words and the subjects should touch people with meaning or just for the love of reading.

Ch. 10
The last chapter was my favorite which is Historical Fiction.  The criteria used for evaluating fiction is to tell a story about the past, facts should be accurate, values of the times expressed, social setting, and be relatable to the reader.  The readers can live vicariously through through the words of the author/writer.

My most enjoyable feature is the stories and books are told in a believable way.  Some people see them as boring but I see the imagery and am intrigued with living in another time and place.  The character come to life in my mind and children can research the places even if the story is fiction most of the places are real.