Teachers are responsible for selecting and presenting quality books in various genres within their classrooms

Genre Study Log: Realistic or Historical Fiction Assignment Instructions

Overview

Teachers are responsible for selecting and presenting quality books in various genres within their classrooms. This assignment will provide you with a scaffold to assist you in organizing your thoughts so that you can assess your developing understandings of the literature with which you are interacting. For this genre study log assignment, you will investigate three books in the realistic or historical fiction genre.

Instructions

For this Genre Study Log Assignment, the candidate will select and read three quality children’s or adolescent books in the realistic or historical fiction genre. All elementary and special education candidates must select books for PreK-5^th grade and middle school candidates select books 5^th – 8^th grade.

This genre study log will include these parts:

1. Book Title and Author
2. Book Level: Choose a leveling system (Lexile, guided reading, DRA, grade level, etc.) and list out the book level.
3. VA SOL or Common Core Standard: List out a standard (and sub-standard, if included) that you could teach using the book.
4. Summary Response: Literature summaries should include plot details, descriptions of main characters, mentions of major conflicts, brief descriptions of the resolutions of these conflicts, and a sentence on the theme of the novel. Write the summary using your own words. This section should include 100-150 words.
5. Personal Response: Write your personal response to the events, characters, and themes in the story. These responses should indicate your connection to the story, noting similarities and differences to your own life through the use of personal examples and references to the story. This section should include 100-150 words.
6. Pedagogical Response: In preparing this response, consideration should be given to the following questions:

• For whom would this book be appropriate? Does it have universal appeal? If not, what kind of student (e.g., gender, age, reading ability) would find this book of interest? Why?
• What benefits might one of your students derive from reading this book? What are the important ideas/concepts to be gained from reading this selection?
• Are there facets of the text that will require explanation if students are to understand and interpret them? How might you build knowledge in these areas before reading?
• With which characters are students most likely to identify? Least likely to identify? Why? Will they need help in understanding any of the characters’ motives or actions?
• Are there any aspects of language, structure, or style that need to be understood in order to facilitate comprehension and interpretation?
• How can this selection be related to students’ experiences, interests, and concerns?
• To what particular curricular goals and objectives does the book lend itself? How might the book be used to meet these goals and objectives?
• Are any aspects of the book potentially objectionable (e.g., language, tone, theme)? If so, what provisions might be made for handling these concerns?
• This section should include 100-150 words.

7. Explanation and Sample Activity: What type of student activity could you use with the chosen books and genres? Be sure it connects back to the chosen SOL/Common Core standard you listed. Write a brief (50 words) description of the activity and insert a sample picture of the activity. You do not need to create this yourself, but can use a teaching website to locate an appropriate, classroom ready activity.
8. References: Include a reference page formatted in current APA format.

Use the provided template entitled Genre Study Log Template. Please note: the same template is used for each genre study log assignment.