“I think hope is just about the best thing a person can have.” – Hope Was Here
If you have any questions regarding our presentation, feel free to contact us: ☆ Amy Bender – [email protected] ☆ Nancy Kalush – [email protected] ☆ Melissa Leisner – [email protected]
Student Activities Our students completed the following activities with their Joan Bauer books: ☆ Doodle Journal – These are fun and creative journals that enable students to interact with their book! We used these in class during our Joan Bauer read alouds so that the students could respond and react to the story. You can set these up in many different ways, depending on what you want to emphasize with a novel. Each of us used these in slightly different ways: . 5th graders – Worked with visualizing and determining importance as they listened to Stand Tall. . 6th graders – Worked with the strategy of predicting, as well as doodling, while they listened to Peeled. . 7th graders – Wrote or drew any connections they made, or key story details they identified, as they listened to Hope Was Here. . 8th graders - Worked on visualizing as they sketched while listening to Rules of the Road.
☆ Author Study – This project allows students to learn about an author on a deeper level. They read numerous books by the author and look for common elements across the various books. Once they complete their author study, students present their findings to their peers and teach others why they should get to know that author! Example presentation formats include: . Create a PowerPoint that is visually appealing (with color/graphics) . Create a scrapbook . Create a tri-fold poster
☆ Mindmap – This is a visual representation that uses a blend of words and images to showcase various book concepts. Mindmaps start with one central idea and then other, more specific ideas branch out from the central image. See the following website: www.text2mindmap.com
☆ Glogster – Students can use this website to create a collage of important events, words, and elements from a book. www.glogster.com ☆ Facebook Profile – This project allows students to create a Facebook profile page for a character from a book. The profile gives readers a clear understanding of the chosen character. The profile can include likes, dislikes, reactions to various plot events, etc. You can Google “farcebook” to find Facebook templates, and some versions of Microsoft Word have a template built in as well.
☆ Book Trailer – Like movie trailers, the purpose of this short video is to create a commercial that persuades viewers to read the book. Students should incorporate important book details and graphics to advertise their book.
☆ Graffiti Wall – This is a place for students to write their thoughts/reactions to a book. It’s a creative way for students to get book recommendations from their peers! Use large paper and hang it on the wall to create the graffiti wall. Some ways in which you can organize the graffiti wall are: . What you liked about the book . Lessons you learned from the book . Why others should read the book . What type of reader would enjoy that book
☆ Blog – This is a web-based log where the teacher can post questions for the students to respond to as a way of reflecting on their reading. It’s a great way to engage all students, even the shy ones, with class discussions! It also a great way to bring technology into your classroom! www.classpress.com Your students can respond to a blog in many ways; here are some ideas: . Connections they made to the book . Comprehension checks . Reflections on themes/lessons learned . Predictions about what will happen later in the book
☆ Wordle – This is an online tool that allows students to create “word clouds” on any given text or topic. Students can customize the font, layout, and color of their wordle. www.wordle.net Wordles can be structured in different ways, such as: . Character based . Theme based . Draw connections across books from the same author . Key word summary
☆ End of Book Collage – This is a visual summary of a book. Students fill the paper with colorful images, words, and phrases that reflect the book’s content. Again, the collage can be set up in various ways, such as: . Key plot events from the book . Major conflicts throughout the book . Character interactions within the book . Overall literary element reflection Relevant Reads Joan Bauer leaves students thinking long after finishing one of her books because of the many powerful messages she infuses into her stories. Here are a few examples:
Hope Was Here: ☆ “You’ve got to love yourself with all your shortcomings, and you’ve got to love the world, no matter how bad it gets.” ☆ “One person can make a difference, two can lift a burden, and more than that can start a revolution.” ☆ “You know what I’ve found out about disappointments? I think that if we face them down, they can become our strengths.” ☆ “That’s about the best thing a kid can have in life—somebody out there fighting for them.”
Rules of the Road: ☆ “Love the person, hate the bad things they do. Sometimes loving from far off is a whole lot easier than eyeball to eyeball.” ☆ “If you set your mind and heart toward a healthy way of living and thinking, you’ll find a way to climb out of the biggest pit life throws your way.” ☆ “You know the thing about hope, it sneaks up behind you when you’re sure everything’s in the toilet, and starts whispering to you that maybe, just maybe, things could turn around.” ☆ “You never know where the road’s going to take you. I think sometimes it’s less important that you get to your destination than the side trips you take along the way.”
Stand Tall ☆ “House was a word he’d always taken for granted. He knew there was a big difference between a house and a home.” ☆ “I’ll tell you something about empty places. They don’t get filled in right away. You’ve got to look at them straight on, see what’s still standing. Concentrate on what you’ve got as much as you can.” ☆ “You can’t measure the loss of a human life. It’s all the things a person was, all their dreams, all the people who loved them, all they hoped to be and could give back to the world.” ☆ “Loss helps you reach for gain. Death helps you celebrate life. War helps you work for peace. A flood makes you glad you’re still standing. And a tall boy can stop the wind so a candle of hope can burn bright.”
Peeled ☆ “A fierce desire can get you a long way in this world.” ☆ “Anything is possible when you have a true heart.” ☆ “It’s a funny thing how fear grows. It moves like a virus, infecting person after person.” ☆ “There are things in the world that are greater than we know.”
Thwonk: ☆ “Love that embraces the entire person is a monumental gift that takes time to grow!” ☆ “You must listen to the things that you try to ignore.”
Sticks: ☆ “Disappointment. When you look it in the face, admit how much it hurts, when you can forgive the people involved, including yourself, you can move on.” ☆ “Courage rarely comes without fear. Courage rises above fear and makes people more than they think they can be.”
Backwater: ☆ “A family history can’t just be about the people we understand.” ☆ “Sometimes our weaknesses can become our greatest strengths.”
Close to Famous: ☆ “Let me tell you something about sad days. They’re just part of life, but the best thing you can do on the happy days, or on the sad ones, is to do what you do best with everything you’ve got.” ☆ “My teacher told me some people come naturally to reading and others have to work twice as hard. There’s nothing wrong with having a different way of learning. What’s wrong is when people blame you for it.”
Squashed: ☆ “A life without goals is a life without direction.” ☆ “I look forward to each day with anticipation and love for all humanity.”
Best Foot Forward: ☆ “We don’t know how much longer we’ll have on this earth, so we’d better let people know we love them now.” ☆ “My father always told me that in this world we’re going to make a truckload of mistakes, but the best mistake we can ever make is to err on the side of mercy.”