Today I am going to share an interview that I conducted recently with a local teacher. This teacher presides over a third-grade classroom in a private Catholic elementary school in the area. She has been teaching for over fifteen years and has a great deal of experience in the classroom. She has also been fortunate enough to have taught in two different states which has broadened her perspectives in teaching in general.
During the interview, I used the questions that my group had come up with during the week and I found them to be great introductions into important topics. We discussed the importance of interactive/online picture books and while she said that she doesn't use them nearly as much in third-grade as she did in kindergarten, she does like to use them for her ESL learners as they seem to be much more engaged when participating in motions while reading at the same time. When I asked her about virtual learning and if she noticed students struggling to read and engage in books online, she talked about a great program that the school introduced to the students in the Spring when the school first went to virtual learning. The program is called Epic! This is an online virtual library for students to use anytime, anywhere. One of the benefits for young readers is the option to have many books read to you instead of reading them on your own. (Epic! Creations, Inc., n.d.).
She also discussed her love of graphic novels and how motivating they are for her third-grade students. She talked about the level of difficulty and how some may be a bit high for some of her students, but that they are more willing to try them and work hard to read them through because of the pictures and illustrations. Overall, she said that while having to quarantine was most definitely not ideal, it did open her and the school up to new ideas and ways of teaching in and out of the classroom. She made great points on today's trends and these important trends today can be found everywhere, you can find 100 of the best graphic novels of all time, here. (Reedsy Ltd., 2020).
One book in particular that the entire third-grade reads at her school is, "Charlotte's Web" and while they weren't able to be in the classroom together, she was still able to read this classic story over zoom with her students. She talked about how well she was able to bond with her students over this book even though they weren't able to be together in person and how it still means so much to her. You can find the book here. (Goodreads, Inc., 2020).
When teachers of any grade level are considering what books to include in their classroom library, I am positive that they are considering all of the trends that are out there today. There are more options for students today than ever before. Students can read books 100% online and never actually hold it in their hands, or they can pick up a classic from a teacher's classroom library. These trends are important but thankfully, they don't completely take away from the traditional.
References
Epic! Creations, Inc.. (n.d.). epic!. https://www.getepic.com/educators
Goodreads, Inc.. (2020). goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24178.Charlotte_s_Web
Reedsy Ltd.. (2020). The 100 Best Graphic Novels of All Time. https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/best-graphic-novels