Thursday, August 12, 2010
Group A Reader Response Discussion
Please make a plan as to how you might share this book with the rest of the class. To what does the book lend itslelf? How can you develop a feasible and engaging group share:PoemsCharacter websPerson on the Street InterviewDifferent Endings: ABC book (electronic format?)Act out a dramatic scene from the bookPlease respond to each other's entries on how to share this book.
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Before reading this book, I had heard about the Loch Ness monster, but never really thought twice about whether or not it existed. The second I started reading this book, I was hooked and could not put it down. I was so intrigued and engaged while reading that I was disappointed when I was finished. Now that I have read the book, I am so much more interested in researching the Loch Ness monster and I found myself searching the internet for any information about this creature and whether or not it truly exists. After reading the chapters in our textbook, I learned that deciding whether or not a book is considered "good" truly depends on the reader's taste; it can possess qualities that make it a "good" book but the reader has to feel it in the gut in order to decide if the book is "good." Upon finishing this book I felt it in my gut and feel that most middle school children would enjoy this book as well.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason that I enjoyed this book so much was because of Flitcroft's prologue. I was instantly hooked and just wanted to keep reading. In sharing this book with the class, I would read the prologue aloud and have a group share on their responses. Students would share their thoughts and feelings regarding the prologue. We would discuss the following questions:
1. What was your immediate feeling after reading the prologue?
2. What did you predict would happen to Vanessa?
3. How did Flitcroft use the prologue to engage the reader? Give some specific examples.
I think that the prologue in a book is essential and has the potential to really grab a reader from the beginning just as this book did. Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors and she always uses prologues in her books and many of my favorites have started with a fantastic prologue. While sharing this book with the rest of the class, I think having small groups work together to re-write the prologue would be a great way to facilitate discussion about the book since everyone has already read it. It gives the opportunity to talk about events that happened in the book and Flitcroft's writing style to re-write a prologue that will instantly engage a reader.
I also think that each character played a very distinct role in this book and they were all important to the story in some way. Another way to develop a feasible and engaging group share would be to have students take on the role of the individual characters and discuss their importance in the book and how they each contributed to the outcome of the story. Designing character webs would be a great way to support ideas on why each character was relevant.
There are so many ways to share this book and it is easy to have discussions about it because there are so many issues it addresses.
Ugh! Just typed an entire comment and it got erased!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, while introducing silent reading this week, I used Loch Ness to model my thinking as a reader using post-its. In sharing my thoughts with them, students were hooked immediately. They begged me to read aloud some to them, which I obliged. Students then had a great debate about what the voice was that the girl was hearing in the cave (monster, God, conscience, her mother, etc). It really got them into it and it wasn't even the focus of the lesson!
I think whatever you do with this book is going to hook students!
Jenna, I love that you used this with second graders! I too believe the idea of a monster would hook any child really of any age. I suspect that there could be a really great discussion with older children about the relatonship between Vanessa and Lee and why there is so much tension even though they have so many things in common, from the loss of parents at an early age to both of them having similar experiences with the monster.
ReplyDeleteI too, shared the book this week with my students. While modeling what good independent reading looks like, I took out my copy of Loch Ness, complete with many post-it's and shared my experience as a reader of the book.
ReplyDeleteI admit, that I did not have much interest in this creature previous to reading this book, but after reading the book, I, like Amelia, found myself busy with researching the topic on the Internet for an extended amount of time. It's fascinating that so much research and speculation is out there regarding this unknown creature. Many people's lives are greatly centered around if this creature does or doesn't exist by the web pages they create, research they conduct or speeches they prepare. Now I too, WANT an answer!
Another idea of how to share this book would be to have children listen to the author's description of the monster and then recreate it using different art materials and then using descriptive language describe their monster (similar to Empowering Writers).
ReplyDeleteJenna ... I really liked how you asked students who they thought was talking to Vanessa when she was in the water. There are opportunities for your students to choose with no right answer. I also enjoyed this book because it seems practical that you can use it at any grade level. As a read aloud or silent reading. This book also gives many choices for discussions age appropriate. Amelia, since you teach k, you could have your students draw a picture of what they thought Nessie looked like and make a fake newspaper clipping, while Jenna in the second grade, you could have your students be put in Vanessa's shoes. I really enjoyed this book and there are many reading activites to further extend it in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThese are all great ideas. I think Hillary's ideas of having student's recreate Nessie using descriptive language is wonderful for children. I remember we talked about this in last semesters class, having student's create something using different modalities. I was thinking of ways to incorporate this book into my kindergarten class and I liked Lindsay's idea of having my kids create a newspaper clipping of what they think Nessie looked like. I also think students (in any grade) could design a wanted poster of Nessie and determine rewards and such for sighters. I also think students would enjoy rewriting the ending to the story. It would be interesting to see what they would have wanted to happen.
ReplyDeleteLike many of us have said, this book would (surprisingly!) be great to use in the K-2 classroom. When I started reading this book I was unsure how a chapter book geared toward upper elementary would help me in my own classroom but the way that this book is written, there are so many activities!!
ReplyDeleteLike Amelia had said, this prologue is a great hook for kids. I also LOVED the quick snippits of the sightings of people at the start of each chapter. The way that Flitcroft has written this book is entirely engaging, and as an adult I found myself wanting to keep reading!
Since I teach a 1/2 combination class I would love to use this in my own classroom. We do a lot of pairings with 1st and 2nd graders to play on each child's strengths and weaknesses. I would have the 2nd graders write a report on a "sighting" using lots of description and the first grader create the illustration/photograph! Students would love this activity especially because it is a "monster"!
I would love to know what people think about Vanessa eating the moss to glow and gain strength. Did you find it too far fetched, or believable? I really found it irritating that the author would suggest something like that in a book in which she is trying to get the reader to believe in something that is questionable. I found this part of the book to be so unbelievable that it took away from me trying to figure out if I though Nessie was fact or fiction.
ReplyDeleteOops, I posted before I asked how all of you thought you might get around this with your students. Would you even address it? I think as a whole group I would have the children do a think, pair, share with the group about what they thought about it. I would also have the children use their descriptive language to describe what it looked like, smelled like, tasted like, what it sounded like when they touched it, and what it felt like.
ReplyDeleteHillary - I thought the description of the moss was great. I could really picture the cave and how the girl's body reacted to eating it, but as you sad, it did deter from wether the book could be fact or fiction. That part of the story took away some believeability for me as well, but I can also see that without that part Rebecca would not have been able to meet Nessie. I'm torn on this part as well.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of using the Nessie description as part of studying elaborative detail and then having students draw it. I think i will definitely do that this year since my students were so into the story!
I also thought that the moss-eating was strange. It was a great descriptive section and would be good to use with students when working on visualizing, but I agree with Hillary in that this section made it harder to believe in Nessie.
ReplyDeleteThe district that I work in is implementing the first year of Reader's Workshop across grade levels K-5. Later in the year, in mid March, is when I will be introducing the science fiction genre to my students. I was thinking of using Loch Ness to compliment this unit. This book would be great as a interactive read-aloud text and we could use the text as a common story to refer to as we discover the elements of science fiction. I know that students will make connectond to the book because the main character is close to their age and some common themes in the book are loss, sibling rivalry, travel, questioning.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to hearing Loch Ness, students are also asked to choose a science fiction book of their own and work on projects. Despite reading different books, we could use Loch Ness as the one common story that my students all know when using terms specific to science fiction. ex. philosophy
Hilary - As much as I do believe in Nessie, the moss eating did seem far fetched for me as well. It took away the believeability. I imagined a mermaid like girl swimming in the water and to me is a little fake. But Jean did an amazing job describing Vanessa's experience throughout the water.
ReplyDeleteJennifer - I think using the Loch Ness as introducing science fiction genre to your students is a great idea! I think they would love the book and enjoy it as much as we did.
I think that moss eating and the glowing contributed to the magic of the book. It may be unbelievable to some but it all comes down to how far you want to go with your imagination. Would this book be considered realistic fiction? Flitcfroft used great descriptive language in describing Vanessa's experience with Nessie underwater and I think that it would make children want to believe it more. Kathryn-my school also has a 1/2 combined class and I recommended this book to them to use as a read aloud. I love your idea of having the two grades work together to create a common project.
ReplyDeleteAmelia, you make a very good point. Using your imagination is key while reading this book. I know for me I often take things very literally and that can not be the case in this book because the logistics of Vanessa's fall just would not make sense. As soon as it is put into a dream/imagination perspective, it is easy to slip into that world where glowing skin and talking to cryptids COULD exist.
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