Wordless Picture Book Project

“A wordless book offers a different kind of an experience from one with text, for both the author and the reader. There is no author’s voice telling the story. Each viewer reads the book in his or her own way. The reader is an integral part of the storytelling process…As the author of a wordless book, I don’t have to concern myself about whether the reader’s interpretation of each and every detail is the same as mine. My own view has no more, and no less, validity than that of any other viewer. Since my intent was for the book, as a whole, to make people laugh, all that matters is that the pictures are funny…I’m always delighted when teachers and librarians tell me about the ways they use wordless books. These books have become springboards for all kinds of writing, bookmaking and even drama classes. Teachers of English as a second language tell me that wordless books are particularly useful in helping students express their thoughts in English. The students aren’t inhibited by the burden of having to translate literally. That kind of interaction between books and children is very exciting. To know that my own pictures may be inspiring imaginations with the same wonder I felt as a child is a very satisfying feeling.”

From David Wiesner’s 1992 Caldecott Medal Acceptance Speech for his book Tuesday

You are invited to journey through Wordless Picture Books! Please design a plan for teaching, viewing, reading, and writing wordless picture books in your classroom. You will need to design and carry out this assignment. You will present your plan and your impressions to our class on April 25.

Please be sure to include the following as you design and implement this assignment:

·         Identify the population with whom you will be working: struggling reader(s), ELL student(s), beginning reader(s), heterogeneous classroom, etc. Also, identify the representative cultural backgrounds of the students and their grade level.

·         Identify the participation structure: whole group, small group, pairs, individual

·         Identify the books you will be using including title and illustrator or creator.

·         Identify your purpose of instruction: why will you be reading wordless picture books with this population?

Is your goal…

v      to help students see themselves as readers/writers

v      to develop fluency in reading

v      to assist children in writing complete descriptive sentences

v      to encourage students to develop longer, more creative, and descriptive stories

v      to carefully examine story elements or characterization

v      to provide a springboard to writing for those students who have “nothing to write about” or for those struggling writers

v      to enhance vocabulary

v      to stimulate oral and written communication and social interaction

v      to foster problem-solving skills

v      to promote critical thinking, creativity, etc.

·         In addition, you may observe how this synchronization of reading and writing enhances  students’ word choice, elaboration of ideas, adaptation of ideas (from books to their own writing), motivation to read and write, and has an impact upon students’ understanding of author’s craft, style, and genre.

·         Discuss your plan for instruction: what will you and your students do? Consider your role (the teacher’s role) and the role of the students. Develop and explain the sequence of activities—for example, if you are working with a small group or whole class, you may do something similar to Gitelman (1990) and with your students: read, view, and discuss a book, then you and your students create the “text” for the story. Next, students read and revise their own page of text and illustrate it, and finally the students record their story on audiotape. The class book is shared and read with some other population, maybe another class or a group of visitors. Then students may work in pairs and complete this process with another book and finally, write a book individually. Your plan, of course, will be more specific. Remember the sharing and publishing components of this process become critical. This is just an example of the sequence! Please know you are not limited to this plan…it is simply an example!

·         Discuss the projected results? What do you hope to accomplish? What do you predict will occur with students reading and writing as a result of this project? How will you evaluate the impact on student learning? Be sure to include questions, a plan or a rubric that you will use to evaluate the impact on student learning.

·         Interview a student or a few students if possible and tape- record their answers. (See questions below). Then transcribe their answers and type these up. Look for a pattern that the data reveals or anything you find interesting! Be ready to share!

·         OR ask students to respond to the following questions:

1.      Have you ever looked at a wordless picture book before? Tell me about it. What’s your opinion of this kind of book?

2.      Explain how you feel about reading and writing wordless picture books.

3.      Did the illustrations (pictures) help you to write the words to the story? How so?

4.      What was your favorite part of writing the words to the wordless picture book?

5.      Was there anything about this project you didn’t enjoy?

6.      Would you like to write the words to another wordless picture book? Why or why not?

7.      What was your favorite part of this entire wordless book activity?

8.      Do you think you will try to write and illustrate your own picture book now? Explain.

·         Discuss the impact on student learning or the results of the project. Did your students’ writing improve? How so? Are the results different from what you projected? How so? Will you continue to use wordless picture books? How will you obtain them?

·         If possible, take digital photos of your students composing, sharing, and/or publishing their wordless picture books. We will share our projects on our last class meeting!

This assignment is worth 55 points.