Diary of a Wimpy Kid Part 2
I still enjoyed reading this half off the book. I think that the cartoons add to the humor of the stories. I also think that many kids can relate to parts of the book such making a Christmas wish list and not getting what you asked for. Bullying was still an issue in this book. Greg was not nice to his friend. You should not let your friends take the blame for something you did. I also think that teachers would have to discuss this with the class because some students might get the wrong impression about middle school.
At the same time I know why they are so popular with students and why they want to read them. I think I could use parts of this story to discuss buying and why we should not behave like the people in the book. This book is at a higher reading level then my students are allowed to read right now but they all know abut them.
Taking parts of the book and having the students lead discussions based on small parts of the book supported by the pictures could be a way to touch on the issue of bullying while also exposing them to more difficult text then most are used to reading. Overall I really enjoyed the story and would look forward to seeing what happens in the rest of the books. They are humorous and enjoyable for many ages. I would recommend this book to some older students that were having difficulty finding interesting books to read. This may even get them interested in reading more often since there are so many books in the series.
I like your idea of having student lead discussion on different issues in the book. The pictures do add to the story, and I can see why students love this book.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this book as a whole would be inappropriate for many younger elementary school students due to its length and difficulty. I like your idea of taking sections of the book and discussing topics in those specific passages. I think it is around 3rd grade where bullying starts getting discussed in classrooms and I think using a section of this book (maybe where the high school students force Rowley to eat the cheese) could introduce the topic in an interesting way.
ReplyDeleteYour idea of using the illustrations to support discussions is great. You could start with a "What's wrong with this picture?" discussion. This book certainly has plenty of examples of bad behavior!
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the cartoons - especially Greg's thank you notes.
I'm surprised that your 3rd graders aren't allowed to read these books - does that ban just apply to read-aloud? I can't imagine telling a kid they can't read a book because it's too hard... Shouldn't that be up to the kid to decide?