STANDARD COURSE OF STUDY

LANGUAGE ARTS :: 2004 :: APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D

Content of a Reading and Literature Program K-12*

A balanced reading and literature program requires that students experience a variety of literary forms and genres. The pages that follow suggest many opportunities for helping students gain independence in reading for aesthetic and personal response, for information, and for critical analysis and evaluation.

 

FICTION
Picture Books (Mother Goose, ABC and counting books, concept books, wordless books, pattern books, easy-to-read books)
Distinguishing Features Comments
  • Plots are simple, fast-paced, predictable.
  • Characters and their actions appeal to young children.
  • Illustrations contribute to story line.
  • Rhyme, repetition, refrain encourage reading aloud.
  • Story and language appeal to sense of humor through word play, nonsense, surprise, exaggeration.
  • Illustrations encourage participation through naming, pointing, seeking.
 Picture books provide pleasure for beginning readers, familiarize them with the language of books, and enhance understanding of concepts and abstract ideas. Picture books can also be used with advanced readers to introduce story structure, allegory, characterization, or the effects of certain literary devices.
Traditional Literature
Folktales
  • Time and place are generic (e.g., "Once upon a time in a faraway castle...")
  • Stories are not intended to be accepted as true.
  • Plots use predictable motifs (ogres, magic, supernatural helpers, quests).
  • Story line is frequently a series of recurring actions.
  • Characters are one-dimensional.
 Traditional literature continues the oral tradition and reveals the values and beliefs of a culture. It provides opportunities for discussing human problems and solutions, morals and values, and contributions of different cultures to our own society. Folklore is a natural source of material for storytelling, creative dramatics, creative writing, and artistic interpretation.
Myths
  • Stories are seen as true in the represented society.
  • Plots are usually associated with theology or ritual.
  • Accounts frequently explain natural phenomena.
 
Fables
  • Tales concern human conduct with moralistic overtones.
  • Animals exhibit human qualities and behaviors.
  
Legends
  • Plots record deeds of past heroes.
  • Stories are presented as true.
  • Stories are usually secular and associated with wars and victories.
  
Epic literature
  • Long narratives detail the adventures of a single heroic figure.
  • The center of action revolves around the relationship between the heroic figure and the gods.
  • The main character symbolizes the ideal characteristics of greatness.
  • Many were originally written as poetry or songs.
  • Language is lyrical, stately, and rich with images.
  
Fantasy and science fiction
  • Characters or settings depart from what is realistic or expected.
  • The author makes the impossible believable through logical framework and consistency, characters' acceptance of the fanciful, and use of appropriate language.
  • Characters include humanized animals, good and evil stereotypes, eccentrics, heroes and heroines with magical powers, or extraterrestrial beings.
  • Plots may reflect a heroic battle for the common good (high fantasy) or adventures of real characters in an enhanced setting (light fantasy).
  • Science fiction relies on hypothesized scientific advancements and raises questions about the future of humanity.
 Reading fantasy nurtures the imagination and can help young students come to grips with the differences between reality and truth. For older students, fantasy and science fiction can be useful vehicles for examining issues related to human survival in an uncertain future. Well-written fantasy provides exemplars of well-constructed plots, convincing characterization, universal themes, and evocative language.
Realistic fiction
  • Content addresses aspects of coping with life (peer relationships, death, identity, family problems, handicapping conditions, courage, survival).
  • Plots, settings, and characters reflect those found in real life.
  • Endings are not always happy, but reality is frequently relieved by wit and humor.
 Realistic fiction that is honest and authentic evokes feelings of personal identifications with the story characters and allows students to discover that their experiences, needs, and emotions are not unique.

Realistic fiction can help students gain insight into their own feelings as well as understand the feelings of others. It can also allow students to try on roles and rehearse possible future experiences. Realistic fiction can stimulate discussion and provide "a way in" to other kinds of reading for reluctant readers.
Historical fiction
  • Stories are grounded in history but not restricted by it.
  • The historical setting is an authentic and integral part of the story.
  • Characters' actions, dia- logue, beliefs, and values are true to the historical period.
  • Themes include loyalty, friendship, courage, and the conflict between good and evil.
 Books and stories of historical fiction can make the past more vivid and interesting to students. They can supplement content-area textbooks at all grade levels, providing knowledge about the people, beliefs, hardships, and events of a particular historical period. Historical fiction helps students to discover their own heritage as well as to see and judge the events of the past.
Mystery
  • Tightly woven plots have elements of suspense, danger, or intrigue.
  • Plots are fast-paced and frequently involve foreshadowing or flashback.
 The best mysteries have well-drawn characters and well-structured plots. Students enjoy reading them and can improve their problem- solving skills, reading rate, reading for details, and vocabulary development through this traditional form.
DRAMA
  • The plot is carried by the dialogue.
  • The number of characters is limited.
  • Description and narration are infrequently used.
  • Structure is well-defined, with segments clearly divided by acts or scenes.
  • The play's ending marks the resolution of the conflict.
 Plays appeal to young students for their immediacy and brevity. Their use provides clear illustration of story structure, allows for participation by several students at a time, and encourages dramatic interpretation of other genres.

For all students, the challenge to write a play would underscore the uniqueness of this literary form, in which the plot, theme, and characterization are carried by the dialogue.

 

NONFICTION
Informational books and articles
  • Information is factual and may be supported by detailed descriptions, examples, definitions, or quotations from authorities.
  • Mode of presentation may be expository, narrative, or descriptive.
  • Content may include history and geography, science and nature, hobbies and crafts, experiments, discoveries, and how things work.
  • Organization follows a logical pattern and may include textual aids (e.g., table of contents, chapter headings, marginal notes).
  • Illustrations clarify text and add authenticity.
 Informational books and articles are excellent resources for reading, writing, or hands-on activities on topics of interest. They are frequently superior to textbooks in that they may provide sharper focus, present more specialized information, or more clearly reveal the author's point of view. They are an effective vehicle for teaching organizational patterns such as cause-effect, comparison-contrast, time order, or sequence. At all levels, informational material provides provocative content for discussion, from how kittens grow to Shakespeare's England.
Biography
  • Subjects include explorers; political heroes and heroines; and achievers in literature, science, sports, the arts, and other disciplines.
  • Effectiveness depends on accuracy, authenticity, and an appealing narrative style.
 Reading about the achievements of others may help students to see history as the lives and events of real people and to appreciate the contributions of all cultures. For adolescents, biographies may help to increase their own aspirations and provide role models for their own lives. They also serve as a useful vehicle for studying bias, fact vs. opinion, and characterization.
Books of true experience
  • Content relates to specific episodes or events from a person's life over a limited time span.
  • Author may be the central figure or an objective narrator.
 Books of true experience provide an in-depth look at a contemporary or historical event or a series of related events. Students will broaden their understanding of those events and situations by seeing them in their cultural and historical context as well as by observing the effects of those events on a number of people.
Essays, journals, letters, and personal accounts
  • Content is based upon or adapted from original documents in diary, letter, or essay form.
 Documentary records on such diverse topics as slavery, life in 12th-century England, or songs of the American Revolution provide excellent supplements to historical fiction or resources for creative dramatics.
Historical documents and speeches
  • Official statements of social and political significance may include information about the author and setting of each document.
 Reproductions of original documents help students discover the language and style of early writers as well as provide clues to the lifestyles and attitudes of people in an earlier time.

Contemporary speeches may be used as a source of information about political and social issues, as a basis of comparison with the language and concerns of the past, and as a vehicle for the study of persuasion.
Newspapers and news magazines
  • Writing style is simple and direct.
  • Current events are reported accurately and objectively.
  • Organization is based on who, what, when, where, why, how.
  • Vocabulary is functional.
  • Content provides something for every student: news, editorial, comics, new discoveries in science, real math problems, etc.
 Newspapers and news magazines are adult media, thereby providing motivation for reluctant readers. The best news stories are models of conciseness and clear writing; the best editorials are models for teaching students to write for a particular audience and purpose. Newspapers are practical, flexible, inexpensive supplements to an English language arts curriculum.

 

POETRY
Ballads
  • Poems give the effect of a song; are told with dramatic flair; usually focus on a single incident; frequently use dialogue, refrain, and repetition.
  • Content usually deals with heroic deeds, love, tragedy, feuds.
 Ballads continue the oral tradition and are an excellent source of material for dramatization.
Narrative
  • Verses tell a story.
  • Action is fast; plot develops rapidly and is usually related in chronological order.
  • Humor is frequently employed.
 Story poems are among students' favorite poetic forms. For this reason, they provide an excellent way of capturing students' interest in poetry.
Lyric
  • Poems are rhythmic and melodic, evoking images and inspiring memorization.
  • Content is usually personal or descriptive.
 Lyric poems are frequently the first poems students want to memorize because of their rhythm, beauty of language, and reflection of a poet's personal response to a topic.
Sonnet
  • Verses usually contain 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with an elaborate rhyme scheme.
 Sonnets are long enough to allow for development of thought, yet they require precision in language and form. For this reason, sonnets provide excellent examples of disciplined use of rhyme, rhythm, and imagery.
Free Verse
  • Poem depends upon rhythm and cadence, rather than rhyme, for its effect.
 The lack of rhyme and less predictable meter of free verse make this form a good introduction to the question "What is poetry?" Students are frequently surprised to learn that rhyme is not a requirement of poetry.
Patterned Poetry Limerick
  • Verses have five lines with first, second, and fifth lines rhyming; third and fourth lines are shorter and rhyme with each other.
  • Content is usually humorous, with last line ending in a surprise twist.
  • Form consists of 17 syllables within 3 lines (5-7-5).
  • Content relates to mood or feelings evoked by nature or the seasons.
 Asking students to write their own patterned poetry encourages word play and challenges them to create rhyme and rhythm in a structured format. Both the reading and the writing of patterned poetry demand discipline. Writing it requires searching for the perfect word to express the desired image. Reading it requires constructing inferences to recreate the poem's meaning. Many students enjoy composing patterned poetry in pairs or teams.
Cinquain
  • Structure may follow a 2-4- 6-8-2 syllable pattern or may follow a simpler form using words per line in a 1- 2-3-4-1 pattern.
  
Diamante
  • Structure follows a diamond shape of seven lines, as follows: one noun, two adjectives, three participles, four related nouns or a phrase of four words, three participles, two adjectives, one noun.
  
Tanka
  • Structure follows a 5-7-5-7- 7 syllable pattern.
  
Concrete Poems
  • The message of the poem is revealed through the choice and arrangement of words on the page.
 Reading and writing concrete poems can help students to appreciate the importance of putting meaning before structure and can aid visual imagery, encourage creative thinking, and make abstract ideas more immediate and tangible. This poetic form is also fun to create at the computer.

* The information in this chart is adapted from the following:
D. Norton. Through the Eyes of a Child. Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1983.
C. Huck. Children's Literature in the Elementary School. Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1982.
B. Cullinan. Literature and the Child. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1981.

 

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