LRC 480/580: Children's Literature in the Classroom Section 7 Fall 2003 Facilitator: Judi Moreillon

The goal of this project is to celebrate the diversity of our literacy experience. Sharing our personal experiences with literacy will help us build our classroom community. Reflecting on our own and each other's literacy histories will help us understand the wide-range of experiences and world views our students will bring into our classrooms.

You will create a literacy timeline. Your timeline should span from birth to the age of the students you plan to teach. (For most of my career I have taught in elementary schools so my timeline goes from birth to age eleven.) Bring your timeline to share in small groups on September 4th. These are some questions that will help you create your literacy timeline:

• What memories do you have about stories, books, and/or reading as a child and/or as an adolescent? (These memories can be from home, school, libraries, scouting, religious institutions, or other literacy places.)
• Who are the people who made a difference in your early literacy experiences?
• Besides books, what other media played a part in your early literacy (oral storytelling, TV, movies...)?
• Are there specific story/book/movie titles or genres (such as poetry, science fiction, fantasy) that stand out in your recollections?
  

A one-page draft of your Heritage Poem is due on September 11th. We will share our poems in small groups and partner edit them in class on the 11th. Your final poem is due on September 18th. We will publish these in a class book. I'll ask for one or two volunteers to create a cover for our book. (This is one of our class jobs.) You're invited to illustrate your contribution with a photograph(s) and/or drawings but remember, copies will be made in black and white.

Click here to see my sample timeline and Heritage Poem. Click here to view the 6 Traits Rubric for this assignment.

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