Animal Legends Annotated Bibliography

In the video about Animal legends: Integrating art with writing teacher, Mrs. Courtney Currie, introduced a new lesson plan about the natives surrounding the student’s place of residence. The theoretical frameworks used in the video are the interactive theory and the sociolinguistic theory. This interactive theory “identifies both bottom-up and top-down processes that occur simultaneously and that may compensate for one another”(Handsfield, 2016, p.35). The top-down process begins by using previous knowledge to influence what readers are perceiving. However, the bottom-up process begins by using novel information to assist in the comprehension of the item. Ultimately the new information will be the learning tool rather than previous knowledge.

Before Mrs. Currie started any of the activities she made sure that she first introduced all new material to the students. In this case she introduced the native symbols and artwork. She then continued her lesson by giving meaning to the new information. Next she gave the students examples of how to incorporate the symbols with the lessons so that the students are able to attach meaning to the novel material. To reiterate the instructions she then showed the students past student artwork so the students are able to attach more meaning to the new lesson plan. A second technique Mrs. Currie uses is open discussions. By using the open discussion technique students are free to ask any questions they have and they are able to share their own information with their

I believe that using the Schema theory is the only way to truly be effective in reaching all students. The teacher had a plan that involved the students participating in a word find, to put together words that they new. The students then decided what they felt that they knew about the subject and through an open class discussion explained that to their teacher. This discussion allowed the teacher to gage whether or not the students really knew the information. She then started going through words and provided them with the correct pronunciation of each word and a fact about the word. She then helped the students to apply it to their own lives so that they are able to conceptualize it. They are able to then understand a larger text because she has provided them with background education. This is based on the schema theory that states that as children learn, they build individualized representations (Hansfield,2016,p.47). The teacher has actually built the representation for the students, however her giving them something to actually apply it to something in their lives allows them to conceptualize it