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dr melissa comer factors affecting teens choices much like adults teens choose yal for various and sundry reasons the books as discussed previously must be authentic in their subject matter language and characters beyond this influences on reading interests can be summarized as follows gender males are more inflexible in their choices meaning females will read books that have predominantly male characters and boy topics while males will not read books that deal primarily with girl topics age chronological age more than mental age affects choice younger teens want to read about characters a year or more older they are they will not read books that have younger characters content interest in subject matter more than literary merit of the book affects choice teens read what they like not necessarily because of writer style or critical analysis culture personal cultural influences affect choice teens want to read about familiar places and hear their dialect spoken reader response journal aesthetic in a reader response journal sometimes referred to as a double entry journal students write responses to specific quotes taken from the text typically the journal is a t-chart with the quote on the left-hand side of the chart and the response on the right-hand side the quotes included on the chart stem from two sources teacher or reader selected or a combination of both quote 1 taken from belle prater s boy can t you hear your calling woodrow i teased him you re a natural-born teacher you make learning fun 1 response sample like the speaker i feel that teachers should be natural-born educators this is reflected in the way they interact with their students and their curriculums learners intuitively know if a teacher is good or bad interested or disinterested coming full circle is something i can identify with i ve always been told life does this you begin in one place influenced by circumstances and depart it only to ultimately find yourself back where you started it s ever revolving and recursive the only thing we can hope is that we learn from the process 2 once again we had come full circle back to his mama and i knew it was a thing that gnawed at him all the time and wormed its way into everything he said and did 2.

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dr melissa comer inquiry i-chart chart efferent an inquiry chart i-chart developed by hoffman 1992 serves to cultivate critical thinking and reading about a given topic learners explore what they know about a subject matter and then conduct research from multiple sources to learn more through the implementation of an i-chart investigators both students and teachers are able to evaluate the information they locate as valid or flawed i-chart example based on the setting appalachia of belle prater s boy write what you already know about this area in the first row in the following rows list sources you used to find new information and record what you learned under each question appalachia what knowledge do i have about this area geographic location spans the appalachian mountains southern portion of usa ky tn va wv nc eastern central pa cultural patterns strong faith in a higher power sense of pride neighborlines s strong sense of community language patterns speakers use double negatives language is stigmatized deep-voiced native it s all about the people http news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005 05/0502_050502_twang.html http www.arc.gov/index.do?nodeid=1886 http www.arc.gov/index.do?nodeid=603 sample strategies and methodologies based on white s 1998 belle prater s boy pre-reading activities anticipation guide agree disagree for each statement below place a under the appropriate column 1 dealing with life s problems is best addressed by avoiding them 2 fitting in with the group is very important 3 what you see on the surface is usually all there is explanation concerning response preview-predict-confirm chart word predictions based on the cover what words do you think may appear in the book appeared in text yes please appropriate response no mama belle prater boy friends

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dr melissa comer during reading activities students fold 8.5 by-11 paper into fourths for each ¼ they list information discovered during reading literature maps setting coal station virginia characters woodrow prater gypsy leemaster theme things are not what they always seem to be on the surface questions i have where is belle prater why is gypsy so upset with her step-father contrast chart students record contrasting information discovered during reading reasons why gypsy should ask woodrow about belle s disappearance 1 belle is gypsy s aunt 2 gypsy is concerned 3 gypsy can help woodrow find her reasons why gypsy should not ask woodrow about belle s disappearance 1 gypsy doesn t really know belle or woodrow 2 gypsy is just curious and nosy 3 gypsy has her own problems and issues post reading activities polar opposites students analyze characters by rating them on specific personality dimensions woodrow was happy homesick intelligent sad content dim-witted

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literary report card students analyze characters by assigning grades on specific characteristics coal station elementary school student woodrow g ­ good area intelligence s ­ satisfactory n ­ needs improvement grade a comments woodrow was very smart both booksense and common sense he was nice to most but he did let buzz sit on chiggers woodrow told great jokes he could see but had to wear glasses kindness a humor eyesight a c for more ideas concerning pre during and post reading strategies please visit the websites below http theliterarylink.com/belle_lessons.html http www.sjsu.edu/faculty/patten/teaching.html http falcon.jmu.edu ramseyil/ruthwhite.htm http www.middleweb.com/currstrategies.html

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