Sara Catalano
Dr. Norman
ED 2510
November 21, 2014
Title: Amazing Faces
Author: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrator: Chris Soentpiet
Genre: Poetry
Age Recommendation: 3-4th grade
Published: 2010
This book contains detailed illustrations with a diverse poem on every page. The poems describe a hardship or something special about different cultures all over the world. Ranging from the goals of a karate kid to wondering where dreams come from, each stanza is an intriguing read and makes this book an automatic page turner!
I will use this book in my classroom as a read aloud at first, but then turn it into an opportunity for them to learn more about the different types of poems. After reading these poems out loud to my class, I will ask my students what their favorite kind of poem was. For example, they could choose from: rhyming verses, poems for two voices, free verse, “I am . . .” poems or bilingual. I will advise my students to use their favorite poem in this book as a model and write their own poem of that kind.
A teaching strategy that I will consider while using this book with my own class is mentioned in Chapter 11 of Tompkins’. Because these poems include information about various cultures, I will have to consider the racial differences of my students. According to Tompkins (2013), “Poems often mean different things to students because they approach the poem with individual background knowledge and past experiences” (p.336). Therefore, I will ask my students to draw a poem from the book that represents their culture, something family related or even something they participate in during their daily life. The illustrations that come along with these poems are beautiful, so my students should have no problem coming up with one on their own. Also, it should be interesting to learn more about their personal lives outside of the classroom.
Bibligraphy:
Tompkins, G.E. (2013) Language Arts: Patterns of Practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Teaching with Children's Literature 