Literature Talk and Literacy Fact

Literature Talk
Recommended Nonfiction Book (APA citation):
Tretheway, N. (2010). Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Athens, GA:
University of Georgia Press.
Brief Summary (2-5 sentences): This novel is a combination narrative/poetry book about the
authors experiences living through hurricane Katrina. It contains a biographical background
about the author along with a selection of her poems from a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize for
poetry. It uses imagery to capture the reader along with the devastating event of hurricane
Katrina. The neatest fact about this novel is it is broken down into parts/sections to make
reading easy to understand switching from narrative to poetry.

Recommendations for the English Classroom (a bulleted list):

Have students link a line from one of the poems to a passage in the narrative section.

Students can read aloud the poems and decide which types of images are being displayed.

The teacher can hook them in by giving facts or showing videos of the hurricane.

Relate how the setting is in the Gulf Coast to where the students live, (if teaching in
Corpus Christi or near the areas).

Ask students to write their own biographical narratives about a storm or natural disaster
they lived in or have heard about.

Have the students write their own poems about nature or natural disasters of their choice.

Teacher can make groups of students and have them do a close reading about certain
passages: imagery, themes etc.

Ask students if they have ever been to New Orleans or if a family member has and
discuss.

Since the novel is broken down into parts, students can be placed into groups and after
reading their part they can present/ teach it to the class.

[Barbie Krause]
Teaching Reading in the Secondary School

Literacy Fact
Source: Owens, L. (2015). Emerging literacy: Why start at birth? International Journal of
Childbirth Education, 30(4), 34-37.
Prins, E., Monnat, S., Clymer, C., & Toso, B. W. (2015). How is health related to literacy,
numeracy, and technological related problem solving skills among U.S. adults. Journal
for Research and Practice for Adult Literacy, Practice for Basic Foundation, 4(3), 22-42.
Fact: Literacy and health have be linked together (Pirns 22). In this article, they discuss how
there is a relationship between good health and proficient Literacy in adults (Pirns 22). The
Program for the Assessment of Adult Competencies, (P.A.A.C.), completed a study in which they
were able to link adults in good health with: literacy, numeracy, problem-solving skills, higher
education, and parents education (Pirns 1). This article discusses how Literacy provides a
person with a better knowledge of good health also. It states, Literacy capabilities have many
implications on health, including the ability to read, understand, and draw conclusions from
health-related information. Literacy is understanding, evaluating, using, and engaging with
written text to participate in society, to achieve ones goals, and to develop ones knowledge and
potential (Pirns 24). Things that make a person satisfied and promote good well-being such as:
higher income, access to health insurance, living in safe neighborhoods, access to social network,
and affording a healthy lifestyle such as diet and exercise, shows how Literacy can promote good
health in adults (Pirns 23).
Emerging literacy is described in the next article as, to describe skills and knowledge
that children develop before they begin to read and write (Owens 34). This article talks about
how reading to an infant is critical in their language development (Owens 34). She also talks
about how emergent literacy is critical to a childs normal development (Owens 34). So literacy
is important not only for adults but for infants. Programs like pre-school and kindergarten are
offered and parents need to take their children to ensure they have a preparation for school
(Owens 35).

[Barbie Krause]
Teaching Reading in the Secondary School

[Barbie Krause]
Teaching Reading in the Secondary School