Escamilla Reads

Chapter 11: Realistic Fiction SUMMARY: Realistic fiction is considered contemporary and modern. It is believable, meaning the characters, settings, and events can occur in real life/world situations. There are certain criteria when evaluating realistic fiction. The first piece of criteria is checking if the story's elements are consistent with the real world today's children live in. Examples of this includes speech, behavior, and gender and cultural qualities; therefore, it is important for stereotypes to be avoided. The second evaluation piece for realistic fiction is checking to see if the theme happens naturally. It is also wise to keep in mind that there is usually more than one theme in these type of texts. Finally, the third piece of criteria is noticing how the story's topic/subject matters to young readers. During modern times, realistic fiction tends to tackle tougher topics (i.e. death loss, sex orientation, etc.). REFLECTION: I have noticed that realistic fi...

Chapter 6: The Development of Adolescents SUMMARY: Adolescents go through different developments throughout their life. These development aspects include intellectual, moral, developmental, physical, and reader. Let's start with physical transition. Everybody develops at a different rate when it comes to skin, growth, etc. Everyone goes through a puberty change, in which children start questioning whether they are normal or not. Moving on to intellectual development, Piaget has a theory that kids begin with a mindset that is limited to concrete concepts but is later transitioned to a more abstract one (usually at age ten). In developmental stages, Havighurst's theory explains that adolescents learn to get along with their peers, attempt to build relationships with the opposite sex, work for pay, change relationships with parents, find a vacation, develop morals and values, adapt to physical bodies, and define gender roles. These aspects are all difficult and are in no specif...

Chapter 1: Why Do We Share Literature For Children? SUMMARY: There are many reasons on why we should share literature for children. The first reason is simply the fact that reading is fun to do! As human beings, we tend to engage in things we find interesting and fun to do. Reading can be classified under this category if children realize that it's okay to judge a book by its cover, for they should find something they know they will enjoy. The second reason is that literature helps acquisition of language and language development. Examples of this includes the "1,000 Books Before Kindergarten" initiative and having children read every day for at least twenty minutes. Next, literature develops empathy. As people read, it is common for them to start developing some feelings towards the characters and their situations. Finally, it supports lifelong readers in many ways, including reading autobiographically, for similar and aesthetic experiences, and for philosophical specul...