MGRP Chapter 5 Character and 7 Arts and Seedfolks

 As I was reading through both of these chapters which, I know are  meant to help us use MGRP as a teaching tool in our classrooms,  I can’t help but try and envision how I will use such things as character and the arts in my genre pieces. 

Chapter 7, Character:

“Good characters are central to good writing. They are also central to our multigenre research reports”.  How might I reinvent this idea to make spelling instruction into a character to more easily capture our research in different genre pieces?    Hmmmm…capturing the essence of spelling instruction.  This should be interesting.  An important point about character seems to be that characters should reveal themselves through action and dialogue rather than depending upon description. 

Chapter 5, Arts

“The doers and observers both discover something about the further reaches of being human”. That seems like a tall order for any genre but I can see how it might work with some of the arts, especially drama.  Important points made about using the arts in MGRPs seem to be not only how the arts evoke emotion, but also how “they can help children express their ideas in ways that tap alternative thinking processes”.  I appreciated the point made that the arts “aren’t about the security of a correct answer, but rather a jack of all trades emotional brain that has a quick multiple inventive solutions to most problems”. I can see how this can be a scary reality for some students, especially those that are used to having a clear, correct, expected answer.  “This freedom of expression empowers children and forces then to think for them”. How exciting!!

Seedfolks

I actually read the entire Seedfolks book before checking the syllabus to see that we were to read assigned chapters.  Hoping I haven’t totally blown the lesson for Monday night, I enjoyed the book and even took mini notes on each character as I went through so that I could refer to my list and know who was who as I went along.  My assigned chapter happened to be the last character, and as such, I had already read the rest of the book before getting there.  I took special care to try and find how Florence was revealed to us through dialogue and action rather than description as was discussed in the character chapter of MGRP.  I hope I chose the right quotes to bring with me to class.