Final Relfection

When reflecting on my experience in Children's Lit and what I have learned I have nothing but positive thoughts. At first I struggled with finding quality literature for children because they are so many books out there. I was just grabbing books off the shelf and reading them. Now when I am looking for books that I find valuable I ask myself a few questions.

Some of these questions are:

*Does this book have the following literary elements: plot? characterization, setting, style, theme and point of view

*If they book does have the previous elements, is it written in the form of a compelling story that is appropriate for the target audience?

Other things I now consider in assessing books I pay close attention to a few other aspects:

*How can this story be used in the classroom?

*Does the story have illustrations that will engage the reader and help the reader to find meaning when reading.

Children's Lit has also introduced me to the idea of using different genres of books in my curriculum. I appreciated working on the genre project and listening to the presentations given by my classmates. I really enjoyed looking at the controversial books we were required to read and blog about as well. I felt that I really learned that children's books are more than pictures with text to entertain kids as they are going to sleep at night. They are the most important tool in classrooms.

I appreciated that were required to read both picture books and novels because although I don't plan to teach older grades, I am glad I have read a few books that I could use in my classrooms if I did.

Overall, this was an amazing class that I learned a lot from. The text set alone taught me how to incorporate a genre or topic and create an idea for curriculum around it! I really enjoyed Children's Lit and I think it is one of the most valuable classes I have taken in my undergrad so far!