Big books or Picture Books can be used at any stage of learning.

Primary Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Picture books can help middle school and high school readers build background knowledge and visual literacy, and they are also deeply engaging. The range of topics presented in picture books, in the hands of skilled storytellers and artists provides many opportunities to explore different paths for learning and getting excited about reading and information.

One of the most overlooked resources for engaging middle grade and teen readers is the picture book. Many educators, librarians, and parents believe once readers leave the elementary grades, they should leave picture books behind. Topics and the contents of some of today’s picture books suggests otherwise.

How to Use a Picture Book in the Classroom

Today’s middle grade and teen readers have grown up in a highly visual environment and have an affinity for the combination of text and image. Further, the skill of visual literacy is an important one that can enhance the ability to interact with information and story. In addition to contributing to skill building, picture books are useful tools for introducing complex ideas and concepts.

The endless range of subject matter presented in picture books, in the hands of skilled storytellers and artists provides many opportunities to explore different paths for learning and getting excited about reading and information.

Philosophy

Picture Books are a great way to look at the Philosophical concepts that arise in the story. If you want to conduct a deeper reflection, use the Community of Inquiry strategy.

There are many Australian authors and Picture Books with amazing concepts and topics to investigage.

To see the extensive list - look below under resources to see Potts Point Book Shop listing.

Philosophy [Community of Inquiry], the Question Quadrant,  and "The Little Refugee"

Primary Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability
Australian Curriculum Cross Curriculum Priorities: Asian Priority

Philosophy

Cooperative Learning Activity

The following activity is an example of a Community of Inquiry using Anh Do's Picture Book: The Little Refugee. (This activity can also be found at the Community of Inquiry page)

 Teacher Instructions:

1. Get the students to form a circle with their chairs or directly on the floor. Everyone is to be in the circle. Read "The Little Refugee" by Anh and Suzanne Do by asking the students to take turns to read out loud each paragraph.  

OR

You could listen to the YouTube Video

The Little Refugee by Anh Do & Suzanne Do
https://youtu.be/yShmK_PhE0s?si=gu1FTDiZtbfPaozo

2. Set up a Question Quadrant on the floor or on a whiteboard:

3. Get the students, in pairs, to come up with 4 questions - one for each quadrant. The questions for thinking are the hardest to come up with – but that is what we are aiming for. Example: What is Hope?

4. List all the questions on the board and put the students' names next to their question.

5. Ask the students to think about grouping the questions - the ones that are the same or similar - together.

6. Start the discussion with the most asked question.

7. Make sure the students follow the rules of Philosophy in Schools:

• Only one person speaks at a time
• Pay attention to the person who is speaking
• Give other people a chance to speak
• Build upon other people's ideas
• No put-downs (Source: Phil Cam)

8. Discussion should involve students in critical, creative and caring thinking:

9. Provide Closure: Example: Get the students to reflect in their journals a time when they felt lonely.

10. Leave the questions on the board or copy them so that the other unanswered questions can be used in the next lessons.

How to Start Creating a Picture Book

Creating Class Big Books enables whole class or smaller learning groups to participate in the reading process, the joint construction of the big book text and drawing of the concepts within.  

Students can create their own ideas, or rewrite some of their favourite literature and predictable books. Each student is able to contribute to a page. In doing this, students are practising many important reading, writing and drawing strategies.

You can use a wide variety of materials to make your own big books. Large poster size cardboard is useful for the pages. Make sure you laminate the covers to protect them from "wear and tear".

Big Books can be bound in different ways. Sometimes using plastic binding and the school binding machine works well. Alternatively, coloured duct tape is effective. Another binding method involves punching holes in the cardboard pages and using curtain rings to bind them together.

You can also use photo albums, sheet protectors, poster-board, felt, scrapbooks and paper plates to make your big books. It is fun to try different types of books, so that students don't get bored with the same old thing! You can also make your books in different sizes and shapes.

Process for creating big books:

• Ensure that there is teacher and student clarity on the purpose, context, generic structure and formatting of the big book.

•  Exhibit a repertoire of big books for students’ perusal and discussion

•  Scaffold written text and discuss a repertoire of possible illustrations

•  Use sentence starters or some type of text support for all learners

•  Assist students to make decisions on the design of their page or pages of the big book.

•  Have students complete a first draft.

•  After consultation students complete their final draft.

•  Assemble the big book.

•  Read big book to the whole class or learning groups.

•  Use the big book for further learning.

Other activities using The Littlest Refugee as stimulus material. Local Copy Word doc

Resources

Although the book can be read from an early age, the concepts are universal and can be used accordingly.

"The Rabbits" by John Marsden & Shaun Tan

Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Ethical Understanding

Australian Curriculum Cross Curriculum Priorities: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

John Marsden and Shaun Tan's The Rabbits [1998] is a particular example for teachers to use with students in Years 11 - 12 and in conjunction with The Conversation and its commentary on the Opera "The Rabbits". This opera shows how a picture book can be extended to Music and Drama classes as well as Australian History, English, RE, Ethics, Philosophy, and, Indigenous Studies.

This big book can also be used as a Philosophical Community of Inquiry.

The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan
https://youtu.be/T128Y-0h6Wk?si=b2R8eyyAp5Ob0LwB

The Conversation 6 October 2015

Get the students to read "The Rabbits" and using a Community of Inquiry set up a Question Quadrant on the floor or on a whiteboard:

3. Get the students, in pairs, to come up with 4 questions - one for each quadrant. The questions for thinking are the hardest to come up with – but that is what we are aiming for.

4. List all the questions on the board and put the students' names next to their question.

5. Ask the students to think about grouping the questions - the ones that are the same or similar - together.

6. Start the discussion with the most asked question.