How can high-quality literature be used to increase motivation and empower young children?

One of the reasons I chose the NLGL program was because I love the way reading can positively change lives.  Reading stirs emotions and encourages you to ponder a new perspective.  Reading can change your thinking, increase vocabulary and influence imagination. Reading opens your eyes to places and experiences outside of your own. As an educator who works with young children, I wanted to know how I could use literature to change the lives of my students.  For this reason, I chose to address the question: How can teachers use high-quality literature to increase motivation and empower young children?  High-quality children's literature is a well-structured text that engages the reader with creative use of language and leaves space for imagination and interpretation.  I broke my question into four categories: literature for inquiry, literature for engagement, literature for empowerment and literature for inspiration.

          Through my work in this program, I have found that high-quality literature can be used to spark change in young children.  When using literature to motivate students, inquiry-based learning using non-fiction texts can strengthen problem-solving and critical thinking skills.  Engaging students through forms of active learning, such as reciprocal teaching and questioning, motivates young children to think beyond surface level information.  Literature can be used to engage students by connecting what they have read in the book to what is in their head and their heart.  Empowering students through literature gives them a platform to share their voices.  Choosing high-quality culturally responsive texts acknowledges students’ cultures and supports their cultural context. Using literature to empower students through project-based learning grounded in global issues or social justice topics encourages children to seek opportunities to better themselves and the world they live in.