CHOOSE TO READ OHIO 2010 GRANT EVALUATION FORMS1
UD Students’ Evaluation Form – EDT 350Teaching Reading with Literature (3rd & 4th year undergraduate students) comments
1)What are significant strengths of “Trouble Don’t Last” as a classroom book selection?
Use for multiple ages/students/reading levels/abilities
Great for showing point of view of what it was like to experience slavery & an attempt to gain freedom
It’s set in a real place & allows for a bit of a geography lesson.
It follows along real places and so you can bring in geography.
The historical accuracy & research that went into writing
She gave us a helpful study guide & it is a fun & interesting way to teach students about slavery.
Great for teaching elements of figurative language like similes & metaphors
Historical fiction
Good example of historical fiction – Although the main characters are fictional, they are based off of real characters.
Great example of historic fiction—one of the best I’ve read. Allows students to ‘walk in a slave boys’ shoes and get a glimpse of what his life was like.
Strong sample of realistic fiction
Teaching students about the history of slavery
Tastefully portraying a journey to freedom and the struggles it took to achieve that freedom
First person details, easy to read, interesting subject
Deals with slavery and racial issues
It is a good selection for students that enjoy reading about slavery and that time period.
If I am teaching in Ohio, it is a good way to inspire interest for the classroom, since a majority of the book takes place in Ohio.
It was exciting.
[You can experience the story] through eyes of a young slave.
It brings history into the curriculum while being interesting.
There are many ways activities could be used in a classroom.
It depicts a part of history that is important to know. It could help teach a lesson on the Underground Railroad and what the slaves went through.
Significant strengths of this book are to teach slavery and the Underground Railroad.
Portrays a lot of history about slavery and brings it to life for the students.
The study guide that was given.
The study guides
Study guides; easy to follow historical facts
Using the study guide; it also teaches about history
--age of Samuel (similar age to kids in a classroom)
--good history and entertaining storyline
2)Were you surprised by the sixth, seventh, or eighth graders responses to this title? Why or why not? – Student Interns only
3)What lessons and/or strategies did you glean from Shelley Pearsall’s presentations?
DioramasBook TrailsPoster presentations
Student mural depicting main parts of the story
That you can use realistic fiction in the classroom to demonstrate ideas about different subjects.
I enjoyed learning about an author’s writing process.
Learned the hard work that goes into writing a book.
Writing a book takes a lot of research, a lot of hard work, and a lot of drafts.
How long it takes to write, edit, and publish
How long it actually takes to write a book
Historical research for the story
Importance of research; following the research so that the facts can create a situation in which a story presents itself.
How much of the journey she went on to write the book
Different ways you can teach things from the book
Process of putting a book together
Process of publishing a book
Backstory of the book and the inspiration for it
She (the author) explained her thinking when writing the book and also explained her writing process.
…so much time & research goes into writing.
…you can bring in copies of letters (coded) from prior slaves.
…how she starts the writing process.
The strategies of actually making/writing a book, going to the places, writing 6-7 drafts!
Strategies/process of writing a book including drafts, research, etc….
How she made story boards
Storyboards that she made
She wanted kids to enjoy her book and learn from it, not just be tested on it.
Just the different projects that you can do with a book like that
Her descriptions & application to classroom such as story map
That you can use picture collages and maps to explain understanding
4) Choose five words to describe your visit to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. – Student Interns only
5)List one or two personal lessons you have learned from this experience.
How the author came up with the idea for the book
How hard it is to write a book and all the research required to write a book
“If I write a book, it will take months if not years and multiple drafts.”
You can learn a lot more about the background of a story from the author.
Stay strong, even when life is hard.
Don’t give up.
Never give up; work hard
Never give up, try new things
Never give up—nothing is too far out of reach.
Never give up; work hard
Never give up & always do what you believe is right
Students should read books for pleasure; when it becomes work, the student loses interest.
It takes much work to write a book.
Patience
It takes many drafts to get a story published.
--It takes a lot of patience/work to write a book.
--It’s important to put yourself in situations that mirror what your characters go through.
Literature still has the power to impact children
Bringing the author in to speak really helped make the novel more real.
Writing a book is a long process
Writing a book takes a lot of research
Historical fiction books are a good tool for the classroom because it teaches history and brings a fictional element.
NA
Getting children involved in creative ways like making them draw the map of the slave’s journey is very useful!
--types of activities to do in class with your students
…it is exciting to learn about the lives and experiences of authors.
Mrs. Pearsall was a teacher and ended up writing books which is really cool.
Picture collages
6)Provide suggestions that might improve future author events.
Invite the whole campus to get a bigger turnout
Emphasize importance of reading the book before going to the speaker presentation
Make sure people read the book
Have the speaker talk for a longer period of time to go into more detail about the process and parts of the book.
Provide a longer time frame, so questions don’t get cut off.
Longer time for questions
Make the presentations longer
More times available/longer
More available time; make it longer if possible
Event great. No suggestions.
None, it was great
More interactive.
More interaction with audience !! : - )
None – I enjoyed it a lot.
None. It was good.
Better advertisement.
NA
UD Students’ Evaluation Form – EDT 425 Middle School Principles & Practices (3rd and 4th year undergraduate students) comments
1)What are significant strengths of “Trouble Don’t Last” as a classroom book selection?
It would be great to use during the study of the Civil War. The literature & history teacher could plan to do these lessons at the same time.
This book offers insight to a different side of this historical event. It brought further depth & knowledge into a big topic.
This book gives an interesting perspective of slavery and the Underground Railroad. It could be used in integration between a social studies classroom and a language arts classroom.
This is a fictional book but has a lot of history in it. This book could be used for integrative curriculum between reading and history as well as cross curricular.
The historical fiction aspect of learning of the past in a fictional first-person account. The fact that the boy was an adolescent will appeal to that age group.
It is an interesting story that really provides detail on the trials of slaves traveling on the Underground Railroad. Linkable to both language arts and history courses.
It is a historical fiction book and I would use it during black history month or on a section about the underground railroad.
It was a great historical fiction piece for a social studies class. You can center an entire unit around this book because it offers so many historical teaching opportunities.
--tells a different type of slavery story
--could be used in Lit. or social studies
--character was relatable to student
--Gives a historical account of the Underground Railroad. The names are made up, but the details are accurate.
--Allows students to feel like they are in the book experiencing the events.
It can be read by many grade levels and the topics are applicable for all age groups.
It reflects on the history, has relatable characters; it has a variety of supplementary material to go along with it.
It reflects on history & has supplementary material to go along with it as well as relatable characters.
It reflects a historical lesson and the main character was a young adolescent, so the character was relatable. There is also a lot of supplementary material to accompany the lesson.
It is historically accurate, comes from a MS age point of view so it’s relatable.
It is well written and has a lot of factual info that kids can still have fun with.
--interesting, accurate
--not a typical book on the Underground Railroad
--good b/c from a child’s perspective
Tells about the topic in a different way. The character is relatable to middle school students.
Main character was middle school age – easily relatable. It can relate to many other sources.
Book was very well researched, a lot of historically accurate info for a historical fiction book. Also students could relate to book b/c juvenile protagonist.
Wonderful historical fiction that gives the reader vivid pictures of a journey on the Underground Railroad. It is from the perspective of a young male which can help students make connections to their own emotions of a journey into unknown territory.
The book is historically accurate and based off of events that actually occurred. The book was from the perspective of a character that is not usually a main character.
It shows an important cultural aspect, and it could lead to classroom discussion on human and civil rights.
Specifically addressed standards with book
--Specifically addressed content standards
This book could be used to standards that she already had aligned.
--A lot of good research
2)Were you surprised by the sixth, seventh, or eighth graders responses to this title? Why or why not? – Student Interns only
3)What lessons and/or strategies did you glean from Shelley Pearsall’s presentations?
That writing a book is a ton of work and a ton of preparation. Once the book is then written there is so much you can do with it.
That it takes a long time to write a book and it’s a long thought process.
It is important to do hands on research, constantly reread and revise. I also learned a variety of creative and insightful activities.
The importance of doing hands on research, always reread & revise, and use a variety of creative activities.
It is important to do hands on research and be open to constant revision, as was evident in her drafts. I also learned to use a creative approach to reinforce the information.
How to do good research, examples of historical documents to use in a lesson, how to make using this book creative with quilting, shadow boxes, book boxes, etc. in a lesson plan
I learned a lot about writing, the use of different voices, and writing for a certain audience. These are strategies I hope to teach my future students.
She explained the process of writing a book and gave advice to people who are considering writing in the future. She explained how she used her book in correlation with a couple different projects. The visuals used were very interesting.
--She gave us the handout.
--use with Underground Railroad
--how she brought in visuals
--take first hand information to classroom
--It is important to do research before writing a novel.
--It is important to have unique activities for students to work on while reading a novel.
I liked how she wanted the students to respond with something other than a written review or summary. Instead she asked themto do projects, like something visual to display.
I enjoyed how she explained the process of writing/creating a story. I also didn’t realize how many rough drafts are written.
How important good literature is in the classroom and she gave us a number of ideas that we could use in our classroom that go along with “Trouble Don’t Last”.
Provided us with a variety of handouts, lesson ideas, history, ties to characters, and many real life documents/stories. VERY HELPFUL!
--the handout on activities & questions was good—suggestions for teachers
--also, I really enjoyed the letters she passed out during the presentation
Having documents from that time to show us on the power point—great visuals.
--using primary documents with the book
--integrating it to other classes
She showed many different activities.
There is a book on math. The books can be used as a starter for large projects and be used as part of an integrative curriculum.
the projects that she showed us gave me some good ideas on how to make an assignment out of a book. Her examples seemed like the students really enjoyed the book.
Book report examples—dioramas, quilt, pop-up visual. The components in the book, events that happened, feelings of the characters, personality and character traits of the time.
--important to do hands-on research to gain real knowledge on a subject matter
--constant rereading & revising are necessary
--creative activities reinforce learning
--Student projects personal stories (reliving the time)
Shelley gave actual documents & questions on how to relate the book to your classroom & how to go about using it in the classroom.
Journals, classroom discussions, models of scenes from the book, comparing to other resources, making connections from prior knowledge.
The author was able to provide a handout about how she would use the book but also gave [other] handouts. She talked about how she wrote the book & the strategies she used to write. My students could use them.
4) Choose five words to describe your visit to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. – Student Interns only
5)List one or two personal lessons you have learned from this experience.
I learned a lot of strategies, and about the process of writing.
I learned that it is important to think about the perspective of others and connect history to society today.
Interesting stories (fiction & nonfiction) can be made through connecting our students/their interests into real history.
--You can integrate subjects when using a book.
--Used good stories.
The interesting connections can be made w/in our student through history, real life, & fiction stories on historical events.
--It helps students to relate to the text if you show real examples of events that occur in the text. She showed us many real examples.
--Creating visual connections to text really helps students visualize a novel.
--Getting the students interested in the characters within the book help the students understand.
That creating visual connections to the text helps student really understand a novel. A map of characters really helps student, especially IS students, follow and understand the story.
Personally, I learned the importance of “never settling”. I must always realize how crucial it is to revise and edit my writing.
I learned how much these presentations can contribute to professional growth.
I got to see what it took for her to write her book and feel the emotions she invested in her characters.
--Writing a book requires an enormous amount of time and effort. She struggled w/ the plot a few times, but stayed w/ it and created a wonderful story.
I learned the process to make a book and how she did the work to make it.
The amount of work it takes to write a great children’s novel and how to use literature to spur student’s interests on a topic.
I was able to see how one book could be incorporated into multiple subject areas, potentially allowing for an integrative themed unit.
As an author, what the experiences are that you go through and how you incorporate things in your book as you go along.
The struggle that the character goes through appeals to students because they can or cannot relate.
--using books that have the main character as a similar age of the students reading it is a good idea.
The importance of choosing books to read within the classroom.
I learned that when choosing a book for a classroom, looking at the characters is very important. This book had a very relatable main character, which I think helped her students.
It is important to use materials students can relate to and are interested in.
- using a book that has the main character at the similar age of the students is beneficial
- learned new ways to use books & primary sources
You will be most successful doing something you love.
Research is important for any professions.
Passion makes the final product stronger.
If you’re going to do something, put your all into it.
--She did a lot of research and had a lot of experience with the info she wrote about.
--Passion and enthusiasm makes everything better.
Just because you go to school for one thing and start out in one career doesn’t mean you have to stay there. And something doesn’t have to have personally happened for it to still be important.
That she was very into what she wrote and did lots of first hand experience.
Classroom libraries are crucial and boys LOVE historical fiction and non-fiction.