Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Several Different Wonder Related Clips

Wonder Book Trailer

                                                                                   

Talking with R.J. Palacio 

I Am August Pullman

Activities you can do:
- Worksheet: ___________ Is Wonderful  
   Because...
- Bullying prevention discussion

What Can CRF Do for Children?

How will this genre enrich students’ experiences?

• Around 4th grade many students’ reading preferences change from fairy tales and fantasies to stories about children their own age.

• When kids are young they often do not have the vocabulary to accurately express what they are feeling and feel limited in their abilities to feel understood. reading about their situation helps them describe the problem and express how they are feeling.

Why might this genre appeal to children?

• Gives them the chance to understand a situation or issue they are dealing with or a peer.

• Gives them the chance to rehearse or think through how they would respond in a similar situation.

Look through the books on your tables and pull out situations in them that may be common cause for fear/anxiety in children. 

How could suggesting this title help them?

Why Contemporary Realistic Fiction?

Why is this genre important? 
(128-9 Children’s Literature Briefly)

• This genre is about “my life”, my world. Realistic fiction confirms our own membership in the human race.

• The importance of identifying with one’s own life is a reason children’s books have protagonists.

• Helps students develop empathy 

(128-9 Children’s Literature Briefly)

• “At its core, a good realistic fiction novel is about people, their problems, and their challenges...An author writing about a gang in an urban setting has a responsibility to use appropriate words, slang, phrases, and dialects.” --  Students can see that the problems they believe to be only plaguing them are actually more common and can help them come up with a solution. (http://www.education.com/reference/article/characteristics-good-realistic-fiction/)

Why do you need to be familiar with it as a teacher?

• It is considered the most popular genre, so being familiar with it will help when you suggest titles to students.

• It will help the relationship with students and teachers. Students go through all different situations and this genre introduces a bunch of similar situations to what they are dealing with. (Teaching children’s lit. in an era of standards p.288)

• It is relevant to current events.

• It helps connect students learning to standards. 
• By using activities like creating a timeline, character scrapbook, and letter/diary writing will satisfy standards and explore the elements of this genre. 

• Gives students the option of reading something that they can personally identify with will help them be more interested in the topic and in the process motivate them to read.

How can it be used in the classroom?

• This genre can be used in the classroom when reading a book that relates to the lives of the students.

• Explain how some things may seem like “they only happen to them,” but are actually very relatable.

• Can include various titles in your classroom library as independent reads or read alouds (depending on the content)

• Can be used to incorporate authentic literacy experiences into the classroom.

• Popular CRF authors include: Jerry Spinelli, Beverely Cleary, Judy Blume

Judy Blume

Evolution of the Genre

- Realistic fiction has been around since people have been telling stories.

- Contemporary is in the name, and what was current yesterday will be different from what is current tomorrow... 
For example:

Little Women was written in the 1860s and  
depicts what life was like for women 
during that time. Was considered CRF, not 
anymore.

The Last of the Mohicans takes place 
on the frontier in the 1820s. It was  
realistic for the time, but is not 
considered CRF today.

                

Changes in content...
- Before CRF stories mainly centered around friendships and school experiences.

- Now we see CRF stories covering topics that were previously taboo
- death, divorce, drugs/alcohol, single parent and same 
sex parent homes, mental and physical illnesses and 
disabilities, poverty, religious/cultural diversity

Controversy...

- There has been controversy in the past with allowing kids access to this genre. 

- Adults sometimes believe that the content in these titles is too much or the topic is too mature for the age group--that they are too realistic.

Definition and Explanation of CRF

Contemporary Realistic Fiction (CRF):

What is CRF? -Takes place in modern day (contemporary); a situation or problem an elementary student could have (realistic); fictional story

-Themes range from simple plots such as the kid on the bus said I have nice shoes, being a picky eater, or going on vacation to more serious topics including divorce, drug/alcohol addiction, anxiety, nontraditional family structures. Anything that could happen to a child.

What is not CRF? -Talking animal stories are not considered CRF

-Anything that could not happen in real life cannot happen in CRF

Understanding Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Anticipatory Set

What do you think of when you hear...

1. Tell a short story or come up with an idea for a story that you think would be contemporary realistic fiction.

2. Share your story with your table.

3. Do you think this is Contemporary Realistic

Fiction? Or Realistic Fiction? Or Fiction?

4. Why?

5. Share your thoughts.