“For children, as for everyone, language is the primary instrument for making sense of the world and a primary way to connect with others. While language is a powerful means of communicating, it goes beyond the mere sharing of ideas and information. Language evokes histories, emotions, values, issues, knowledge, and inventions. It is what we share and what sets us apart, one from another.”New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards. Language Arts Literacy: New Jersey Department of Education, 1996″First and foremost, we need stories that jar the soul. We need stories that bring us inside the human condition and inside ourselves. We need stories that allow us to learn life’s enduring lessons and to move beyond ourselves.” I suspect that in the “moving beyond” one’s self, a kind of empathy results. At such times, we come to know another’s feelings, beliefs, outlooks, or condition. In returning to the self, we can then apply and extend what we have learned.”Jenkins, Carol Brennan. The Allure of Authors: Author Studies in the Elementary Classroom: Heinemann, 1999.

Standards
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