Context
As part of a fulfillment for my RE4030 class in the Fall 2005 semester, I created a multi-text study with the books A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck and Franklin D. Roosevelt by Karen Spies.  This multi-text study focuses on a novel set in 1937 about an adolescent city girl who is forced to move away from home and go live with her grandmother in a rural area.  The non-fiction book that was chosen to go along with it is a biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt's life, as he was the president during the time period in which the novel was set. 

In creating the multi-text study, I attempted to focus the lesson activities on reading and writing in order to help fifth graders better understand the elements of good literature and how to find them.  I also focused on student responses to their reading so as to make the novel a more personal experience for the students.  In reading the biography of FDR's life, students will gain insight into the time period of the Depression and the economic, social, and political changes that were taking place.

Impact
The multi-text study can be used to address multiple English Language Arts and Social Studies standards for fifth grade.  For example, in working with these texts, fifth graders will study a number of economic concepts that deal with the crash of the stock market, as well as learn about a time period in American history that was changed by involvement in a war.  To address Language Arts goals, students will be engaged in a number of activities that help them develop their sense of reading fluency, as well as understand elements of literature such as word choice, figurative language, plot, etc. (2.04).  Students are also practicing active listening skills (2.09) and are thinking critically about the text (3.01).

Alignment

• Standard 1
  Indicator 5:  In order to help students become better readers, I understand that I have to teach reading by getting students to interact with the text and relate it to something they already know.  Students must then readjust what they know and apply the new information they are learning from the text.  My understanding of this indicator is demonstrated through my use of personal responses in the novel study because students will relate what they are familiar with to what they are experiencing in the literature.
  Indicator 6:  As a teacher, I understand the need for personal and social growth, which can be facilitated with literature as the vehicle.  If students are experiencing literature that expands their ways of thinking , then they are experiencing this social growth.

• Standard 7
  Indicator 4: In designing this multi-text study, I chose to incorporate multiple approaches to reading, writing, and interacting with the text.  Examples of this are group, individual, and whole class work.  Another example of me using a variety of strategies can be seen in the final project,where students may choose the project they would like to complete.

• Standard 8
  Indicator 2:  In assigning multiple ways to interact with text, I am encouraging students to monitor their own reading.  Very few activities in this unit include direct instruction, rather students are interacting with each other and themselves to monitor what they are reading.  Assigning homework, writing prompts, worksheets, etc. all encourage student to think for themselves and take charge of their own comprehension.

• NETS-T II-A
  This standard was met in the multi-text study because I designed an internet workshop to meet the needs of students who prefer to learn and find information on their own.  In participating in the internet workshop, students will find information and synthesize the most important points from what they find.  This allows all learners to find information that interests them relating to the topic of study. 

• NETS-T II-C
  In designing the internet workshop for the multi-text study, I had to find resources that were developmentally appropriate and related to the study so that the students would have resources to use in their research.  This demonstrates my ability to identify and evaluate resources for accuracy and suitability for my students.