ECI 306 Middle Years Reading: Getting Graphic

Graphic Nonfiction Review: Cesar Chavez

   
     Our graphic nonfiction book is titled Cesar Chavez: Fighting for Farmworkers by Eric Braun.  In this graphic novel, the life of Cesar Chavez is depicted. Chavez realized at an early age, due to his family's conditions, that farmworkers were being treated unfairly. Therefore, as he grew older, he decided that he wanted to change the conditions of the farmworkers. He did this by organizing farmworkers into a union called UFW (United Farmworkers). In the end, UFW boycotted products such as grapes and his efforts succeeded in giving farmworkers better working conditions and more pay.
   
     In the back of this novel, there is a glossary that contains vocabulary words used throughout the text. Also, there is a timeline of Chavez's life. These two tools are beneficial to the reader, because they give extra background knowledge that would help the reader understand the text. The artwork is colorful and eye-catching. However, there are weaknesses in this book. The text seems too elementary and there is not enough detail included.
   
     Although this book seems too young for middle school students, it could still potentially be integrated into the classroom. In the 8th grade social studies curriculum, North Carolina is studied in depth. Since NC is an agricultural state, it would be interesting to learn about Chavez and how his work out west has influenced North Carolina today. This could be used in one or more lessons as a supplemental reading and could be relevant for one or two classes--you could probably not stretch it out further unless you used it with additional materials.  In our opinion, students would probably find this text interesting, and it would be easy for them to read.

     Our recommendation to preservice teachers is to use this text if it fits into the curriculum, because Chavez is a very interesting and influential man whose impact on labor in this country should be part of what our students know about U.S. history.

-- Sarah Edwards and Caroline Baum, Spring 2008

 

Posted at 11:33PM Sep 29, 2008 by Sarah Edwardsse in Graphic Nonfiction Reviews  |  Comments[0]

Graphic Nonfiction Review

I chose to read Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad by Micheal Martin  illustrated by Dave Hoover and Bill Anderson.  Overall, this book would be helpful in an 8th grade social studies class when teaching my students about the contribution of slavery to the NC economy. This would allow me to show my students the effects of slavery on the lives of the enslaved, a piece all too often left out of the history books or in small quantities when it is present.

1.Summary: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Rail Road is the true story of one young slave girl and her journey to Pennsylvania in search of freedom. The story opens with little bit about Harriet Tubman's life as a young slave girl. Then the author tells the story of how Tubman is hit in the head with a heavy iron weight, by a slave owner trying to stop one of his own slaves from running away. While working in the fields one day, Tubman is told that she will be sold off in an auction, thus she decides to run to freedom leaving behind her husband and other family. After reaching freedom, on what came to be known as the Underground Railroad, Tubman finds a job and works for a while until she hears that her niece will soon be sold off. She then decided to travel back down south to rescue them. After making this journey successfully, Tubman travels back down south many more times bringing several more families to the freedom of the north on the Underground Railroad.  At the end of her journey, Tubman was responsible for helping over 300 slaves escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

This graphic nonfiction book uses comic strip like art and images with action to tell the story of a fugitive slave woman and her journey to free herself and others who had been bound by the institution of slavery in the south.

2.  Strengths: This graphic nonfiction text tells the story of the Underground Railroad with out the potential to bore students to death. This text discusses the fugitive slave laws, the underground railroad, slave stations and other key elements of the slavery experience without the dry reading my students associate with textbook reading.

3.Weaknesses: I do not believe that there are any weaknesses to be mentioned in this text.

4.Content Area Connections: This would be a great book to use as a supplement when teaching slavery and the causes of the Civil War. I could use this book, accompanied by other literature on former slaves like Fredrick Douglas and have the students take an inside look at the torment of the institution of slavery and how it contributed to the onset of the Civil War. An eight-grade social studies classroom would be a perfect place for this text.

5. Enhancing Content: This book does a good job of bringing up some of the issues with the institution of slavery which contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War in the south including direct references to: slavery, fugitive slave laws, rewards for runaways, and the onset of the civil war. Of course this text alone would not be sufficient because it does not go in depth enough, however it does touch on all of these areas. Seeing that eight grade social studies is the history of NC and that NC was a slave state and that some of the slaves who utilized the Underground Railroad were from NC, this text could be well integrated.

6.How middle school students will respond: I believe that middle schoolers will take well to this reading, seeing that it is a step above the traditional textbook format. Middle schoolers like picture and this book had a lot of them. Presenting the information in this form gives the students a chance to see what they are reading about, which is usually helpful to most middle schoolers. This book presents the information in a low intimidation-high participation way by providing a limited number of words for the students to have to read and a very simple middle school vocabulary.

7. Recommendation: I would definitely recommend this book to pre-service and in-service teachers. Its a text that can be used as supplementary and it is a simple way to present the issue of slavery to middle schoolers in a format that is easy for them to identify with. It has simple vocabulary and a small amount of reading. This book will aid the linguistic learner and the visual learner alike in their understanding of the institution of slavery, in the years prior to the civil war. I definitely encourage middle school teachers everywhere to pick up a copy of this book!!!

Posted at 11:28PM Sep 29, 2008 by Michelle Rena Harris in Graphic Nonfiction Reviews  |  Comments[0]