Realization of Children's Literature in the Classroom

Implementing Children’s Literature in All Classroom Settings

Teachers are instructed from administration to teach “the classics” which is understandable, it is easier to teach what has been taught for several years then bring something new into the classroom. Why are these books we are forced to teach classics any ways? As a teacher, in an inner- city setting it is hard to keep my students interest in literature especially when they do not understand what they are reading. After reading Just So Stories and The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling it was easy to decide to supplement my required curriculum with the stories in these books. The excitement from reading these two books was immediate and everlasting from my students. It was rewarding to have students come up with alternative endings of the tales in Just So Stories and hold meaningful conversations about the text. Children’s Literature can only have a beneficial effect on any classroom whether it is a secondary classroom or even a college setting; The effects of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories and The Jungle Book can only positive as well.

It was a sad truth when my students informed me that they have never read The Jungle Book this was a story that my mother would read to us over and over and that we still quote from until this day. The truth was that my students were hardly read to at all as children. As a reader of children’s literature it is certain that a person would be performing a disservice to themselves if they did not take the time to enjoy the stories Rudyard Kipling. The Jungle Book tales are very enjoyable, amazing tales that contain animals that can speak, and teach moral lessons. The Jungle Book does not only serve the purpose of enjoyment, it also can be used as a wonderful teaching tool in a secondary English classroom. Amazingly, at the secondary level students still struggle with many literary elements. One of the literary elements that students struggle with is theme. It is easy and almost mindless to have a teacher show students a movie and then ask the students what the theme of the movie was. Although this practice may be considered mindless it is a simple and effective method to teach students the literary element theme. Instead of running to the comfort of a movie to show students theme teachers could easy demonstrate the literary element theme by using children’s literature. There are many underlying themes in Kipling’s The Jungle Book. This book can surely be used in a secondary classroom. The theme of new imperialism is relevant in this story. All students would need to find this theme is a bit of history of Europe which would be great to teach a cross curriculum unit with another subject teacher like History. Kipling portrays the dark-skinned people in his book, like Mowgli as being bought up by a