Jarul Book Awards is a celebration of Indian Literature. Jarul Book Award is a pride of India designed to honor the best in Children’s Indian Literature. A Children’s Choice Award, empowering children to read, voice their choice and select the best one based on criteria that students will need to consider.
Empower your students, give them a voice for their choice. To participate click here. Nominated Titles are:
Titles for review were:
Dharmarajan, Geeta, and Srivi. Run Ranga! Run! Katha, 2014.Print.
What is a good digital story? I used to think that using a digital tool to create a story becomes a digital story. That’s not true! I learned from my Digital Storyteller Guru – Bernajean Porter, that “When a story making is finished, it should be remembered for its soul, not for the bells and whistles of technology tools.” ~ Bernajean Porter, 2004.
Digital stories exist in our world in many different forms. Digital stories are used in advertisements to sell products, impact society through public service messages, inform consumers about something and also used during elections to win votes. Presentations, often include a story to create an impact on our audience. They add meaning and stir the soul. Movie making is an expression of digital stories. Children can tell stories that are persuasive, or have a public message to bring about change or simply share their personal experiences. This adds rigor to storytelling.
So, how does one create a good digital story?
One needs to learn the craft of storyboarding, voice, music, and images to create your very own digital story. Check out the difference between media-making and digital storytelling by Bernajean Porter. It’s more than just technology tools added to the images. Check out the different Types of Communication to add rigor to your digital stories and go beyond book reviews and translate them into book trailers or stories that explain a math concept or explain a historical event. It’s time to nudge ourselves and students and go beyond regurgitating facts.
“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” —Brandon Sanderson, Fantasy and Science fiction writer.
It is through stories, we build a child’s imagination, deepen thinking and help them navigate the world around us. Librarians are storytellers. There are so many stories to be told and read. Let’s use them appropriately and help students question the world and communities around them. Instead of simply memorizing, retelling or regurgitating the information we want to inculcate curiosity and reflection. As adults, we can open up possibilities to help children kindle their mind by nudging them to question, critically evaluate, investigate, critique and get inspired by them. Human beings love stories, both the old and the young – think of the time when your curiosity was piqued! It must have been a story that touched your heart and mind.
So, when you grab a book to read to the children, make sure the stories generate thinking.
5 keys to keep in mind when reading aloud to children:
Select stories that would help children think critically and reflect on the stories. (How is the character similar or different from you? What if it was your experience, how would you change it? If there is a problem in the story – pause and ask – How would you solve the problem? What are some other ways to solve the problem?)
Select stories with a voice, that share experiences of other cultures, sects, and belief systems, so that children appreciate the variety of cultures, ethnicity and simultaneously respect them. (Ask how is the character’s belief different from yours? How is their culture similar and different? What might you do to create an understanding of their roles? How can we learn and respect different cultures and ethnicity?)
Stories expressed with emotion and authenticity help them think of ways to solve social, economic or environmental problems. (Ask children – How might the character be feeling in the given situation? What can the character do to solve the problem? What might be some of the changes you can do save the situation? What are some problems in the world? How can they be addressed? How can we be empowered to help our world?)
Connect stories of the past with the present – get students to ask questions like Why? Why not? If? How could? When should? and How come? How has it changed over time? Why is it necessary to change? How can we help it become better? What will it look like now?
Stories that have information, building curiosity around the way the world works. Information books about technology, engineering, robotics, countries, currencies, forests, wildlife are some areas that we can discuss. (Ask how inventions have changed the way we live our lives? What might be the future trends? Look at the timelines and make predictions)
Stories are a diving board for cognitive growth. Think about a story that you still remember, they were told with emotions and sincerity. Such stories create a longer connect and have a lasting impact. Stories that resonate and touch the heart and mind of the child are stories they will remember. Let’s take this opportunity to instill in their mind the ability to contribute and make a difference to themselves and others.
Have You Ever Thanked a Tree by Shyamala Shanmugasundaram
India is a country of a million tales, grandmother tales, old wives tales, thousands of animal tales and mythology, legends, and many more stories and in many dialects. Stories always absorb every human being. In fact, in a rblog post by Hemang Mehta, he says, what we share on social media is usually stories or sayings that touch our hearts. What touches our hearts, helps us remember and learn.
Reading aloud stories open the windows of our hearts and minds in the land of mystery and magic and possibility of ideas and dreams. Through read-aloud sessions, children discover passions and ways to express themselves. And, through stories, we can teach grammar, life lessons, pique interest in sciences, math, arts, technology, and biography. Why shouldn’t we include this in our regular life with our children and teach them through stories?
Reading aloud means becoming a storyteller, imbibing the content, using your voice and heart to tell the story. It opens the window into the world of magic, and enormous possibilities. You can read both fiction and nonfiction, magazines and even news articles.
Reading aloud must be meaningful and intentional. Being intentional creates a culture of listening and helps listeners look deeper into the elements of writing in good pieces of literature. Interactive read aloud sessions have 6 strands according to Linda Hoyt. Each of these elements can be taught through a picture book.
Comprehension: This strand utilizes prior knowledge and asks questions to support summarizations and allow students to distinguish real from make beliefs. Terms such as main ideas, causes and effect, analyse and evaluate that commonly appear in standards of comprehension can be taught
Story Elements: This strand includes identifying events in a plot sequence, author’s purpose, tracking character development, statement of theme and examining structural elements such as climax, setting, problem/solution and role of the narrator (we must understand each of these terms before we teach them to our students)
Vocabulary/Literary Language: Through this strand, we can help students observe the power of precise vocabulary, appreciate rhythm, rhyme onomatopoeia, alliteration and literary language and to understand the meanings of unfamiliar words through contextual cues, transition words and multiple meanings in the texts (Again, it’s important for us to learn about these terms that build literary language)
Literary elements and devices: Literary elements such as point of view, foreshadowing, repetition and exaggeration, getting at the heart of the authors’ studies of text to understand author’s vision. Simile, metaphors and personification are some of the literary devices. (These definitions can be googled and applied when the adult holds the picture book in their hand)
Genre: Fiction, nonfiction fairy tale, drama, science fiction and so on – each has their particular structure. Exploring this with the students helps students learn what to expect from each genre (Identifying and differentiating these genres help us have deeper conversation with our students)
Engaging students with reading aloud times naturally lends itself to students to write while exploring different ideas. organization of text, voice, convention and so on. They begin to mirror and appreciate different writers’ styles.
oice Award, empowering children to read, voice their choice and select the best one based on criteria that students will need to consider.
