Abstract of Paper to be Presented at Accio 2005
'Looking Beyond the Words'
Robyn Steggles
Normanhurst West Primary School, Sydney, Australia
I decided to give this paper the above title because in a classroom situation once who have read the books to the children, or they have read them to themselves, so much of the work associated with the literature is looking beyond the words. As is so common in all classrooms, be they in Australia, U.K. or America, so many good things happen that we never plan for and we can never make happen again. This scenario prompted me to try and change that. Everything in my paper has happened to me and being able to tap into a piece of literature, that the children can so readily relate to, to give children strategies to deal with issues in their lives is fantastic.
I ask the question about the literature; 'What themes, issues, ideals, morals or values are children being exposed to, often without them realizing, and being made to think about and unconsciously digest? Sometimes esoteric ideas such as bullying, friendship, integrity, loyalty and even jealousy.'
These are the issues that I discuss from a viewpoint of giving children the necessary strategies to deal with these issues in their own lives using the experiences of Harry, Hermione, Ron and others as stimulus and starting points for improving the quality of our teaching and enhancing the lives of our children.
I then focus on ways to involve reluctant readers not in classroom activities but in ways to get them to be part of the wonderful world of this literature. It is so disheartening to hear a child say they haven't read the books because they're too hard and then watch the child be left out of the discussions, games and fun that the other children are experiencing.
The words in the books are the power of the phenomenon, the movies, as enjoyable as they are, are just a small window into the world of Harry Potter.
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