Hello everyone!<\/p>\n
I hope you are having a nice week!\u00a0This week, we focused on our reading of Freewater<\/em> and the presence of economic and civic concepts in literature. From our class slides, economics is defined as \u201cthe study of how societies use scarce resources to meet the needs and wants of its population,\u201d and civics is defined as \u201cthe study of the rights and obligations of citizens in communities.\u201d Within this conversation about economics and civics and how they are represented in Freewater<\/em>, we also discussed the meaning and parameters of democracy. For example, although we call the U.S. a democracy, it would be more accurate to say that it is a republic with democratic practices and principles. Furthermore, we engaged in some very interesting discussions in which we questioned the importance of economic concepts in literature, the significance of historical fiction, and what Freewater<\/em> serves to teach students.<\/p>\n One of my biggest takeaways was our conversation about if and how we would use Freewater<\/em> in the classroom. There were varying responses to the use of Freewater<\/em> in the classroom spanning from how much preparation students need to read it, if it is an appropriate book, and in what way teachers should present the book. It was interesting to hear everyone\u2019s preferred method of introducing the material either through class read-aloud, individual reading, or reading groups. Personally, I believe Freewater<\/em> is the type of book that would be best used in the classroom with ample student preparation for the harmful language and disturbing images they may witness throughout reading. With this in mind, I feel like the group or communal read of this type of book could be overwhelming and emotionally jarring for some students; therefore, this is the type of book that I would assign as a take-home read that we prepare each day before the assigned chapter and reflect the day following.<\/p>\n My second biggest takeaway was a quote that Dr. Stohr-Hunt recited from one of her friends, which reads: \u201cEvery book is an economic book because every book has choices.\u201d This idea really stood out to me because it made me completely rethink the books I read throughout my childhood and how moments of economics and civics are present. The book that first came to mind for me was The Giving Tree.<\/em> Although it is pretty obviously giving commentary on the importance of unconditional giving and selflessness, there are a lot more economic moments than I thought. Throughout the book, there are examples of every single economic concept we discussed in class. Choices, needs, wants, demands, barter, and so much more are omnipresent through the boy\u2019s dealings with the giving tree. Now knowing that we can find concepts of economics and civics in all books, what is one book from your childhood that you can now identify these concepts in? How has this new concept impacted your understanding of this childhood book? Why is it important to identify these moments of economics and civics in classroom books?<\/p>\n I look forward to reading your responses! See you next week!<\/p>\n -Hillery Wynn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello everyone! I hope you are having a nice week!\u00a0This week, we focused on our reading of Freewater and the presence of economic and civic concepts in literature. From our class slides, economics is defined as \u201cthe study of how … Continue reading