Chapter 6-10 in Literacy Moves On

In chapter 6, Evans is discussing how Beanie Babies created a whole new culture for marketing, advertisement, the youth market, and so many different things. Beanie Babies fit the consumer market perfectly at the time, and hit the right target market. The lessons in this chapter allowed for children to see that they have control over the market, and that they are societies future consumers. The class also discussed how the Ty market of beanie babies had such great marketing techniques, and money making tactics. This lesson helps children see how they can discuss and respond to important issues that are actually happening. In chapter 7, Evans mentions how there is not one specific way to "do" critical literacy. It is a combination of discussing experiences, problems, languages and history. Through critical literacy, children need to learn how to make the texts that they produce have the desired effects in and on the world. When children are experts of their topic, they are much more efficient in the discussions and tasks at hand. One way to do this is to create "place-based" activities in the literacy curriculum, and this can deal with issues going on around them. Similar activities are discussed in Chapter 8, through Curiosity Kits, which were designed to motivate readers and to encourage wider participation in reading at home. I think this is a great idea, and would be effective in any school system. Parents are always wanting to be involved, and this would be a great way to bring home and school life together. These help them explore meanings in their own individual way. Chapter 9 discussed the role of reading fantasies in the classroom. This gives students freedom to map out their own stories and use their creativity to do whatever they want. Fantasies have many different qualities than other genres, and analyzing fantasies could help develop the readers and writers in your classroom. As teachers, we need to create a exciting environment to welcome our students to reading.