Week 1 Articles

"Aren't These Books for Little Kids?" by Linda Billman
Like Jenna, I initially believed that middle schoolers were too old to be reading picture books. Those kinds of books are only for elementary kids! However, with their visual engagement, easy readability, and short length, picture books are being integrated more and more in the middle grades. I think they provide a more entertaining alternative to the textbook, which helps students better remember its content. I also agree with Billman that picture books especially help students who struggle with reading and ESOL students understand the information. There is definitely a stigma about picture books, but the more teachers integrate them into the middle grades curriculum, the more likely people will realize they are appropriate outside of an elementary school.

"A Middle School Teachers Guide for Selecting Picture Books" 
by Bill Costello and Nancy Kolodziej
While I am trying to shed the stigma that picture books are only for young children, I still wonder what an appropriate middle school-level picture book looks like. This article was useful because it provided guidelines for teachers when selecting a picture book for adolescents. Like other forms of literature, these books may contain abstract ideas, high levels of vocabulary, and insight into the world around us. I also liked how the article gave specific guidelines for each content area. As an education major, I often hear my professors ask us to incorporate different types of materials, but they rarely provide explicit guidelines to how to appropriately select the material. This does a great job of answering my many questions on how to choose and use picture books in a middle school classroom.