For me this chapter was very important because many students lack comprehension. I believe that it depends on how the teacher teaches the lesson for the students to understand or not. Teachers can’t just assume that all the students will get the lesson. He/she have to realize that different students learn with different strategies and if he/she needs to go a little bit beyond for the student to comprehend they have to.
There are many effective ways of teaching , and it does take time. The textbook stated “ It takes time to show kids how, but it is time well spent.” Teachers need to be patient and creative to get the students full understanding. For me the gradual release of responsibility is extremely important. If the instructor starts out by modeling and slowing allow the students to become more independent by the end of this process they will understand the concept and will be able to work at a higher level by themselves.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Textbooks and trade books
I used to always think that teachers had to follow exactly the lessons on the textbooks. I used to think that the students had to learn exactly the information on the textbooks. However as I got older I realized that using different texts increases the quality of the lesson. I see textbooks as boring books with a plenty of information that I may not even need. Textbooks sometimes also make it hard for the students to understand the lesson and it is even harder for them to make connections.
Trade books are of great importance in a class. Students need to have available to them, to help them understand the lesson and for them to also familiarize themselves with different types of texts. As a teacher I want to be able to provide to my students these sources. That is why I am already starting to build my class library. I collect all different types of books and different types of texts to use in my classroom.
Trade books are of great importance in a class. Students need to have available to them, to help them understand the lesson and for them to also familiarize themselves with different types of texts. As a teacher I want to be able to provide to my students these sources. That is why I am already starting to build my class library. I collect all different types of books and different types of texts to use in my classroom.
Learning About Manson: A collaborative lesson with a struggling reader
I thought this article was very interesting. I had never heard of the strategy that they used to help a student that has a hard time reading. Mason’s teacher worked collaboratively with other teachers in the school to help him with his reading struggles. Instead of only his teacher working with him, they created a team. All of the teachers worked with him and after observing and working with Manson they would discuss and come up with a way to help him. I thought it was interesting because she was able to get different perspective and different ideas. I just found the whole idea a little confusing because they all observe him on the same day. I would rather have each teacher work with the student on different days and then meet up to come up with a strategy.
Chapter 8
I really enjoyed chapter 8 because I think that many students when reading don’t fully understand the text being read. Students have to learn that while reading thy have to be processing their brain. It is essential for the students to learn how to question, predict, and make assumptions while they are reading. The book states that “questions are the master key to understanding.” When finding the answers to these questions, the students will have a different and more evolved comprehension of what was just read.
Students have to be taught to think before the reading, for example making predictions. During the reading, stop and think about what was read and continue to make predictions of what will come next. After reading check if they still have questions and if so look back and try to find the answers. With this they will have a full understanding of the text.
Students have to be taught to think before the reading, for example making predictions. During the reading, stop and think about what was read and continue to make predictions of what will come next. After reading check if they still have questions and if so look back and try to find the answers. With this they will have a full understanding of the text.
Reading and writing connection
Teaching reading and writing is not an easy process, but like I said it is a process and it does take time. I think that reading and writing go hand in hand. It is impossible to teach one without the other. Students who read more become more familiarized with good vocabulary and good writing and so tend to write better. As an adolescent I used to barely read books and that had a negative effect on my writing. I always had a hard time writing and making my writing a good writing.
Teachers have to find a way to motivate the students. Maybe instead of asking them to read a certain book, allow them to choose a book of their interest, because that will motivate into reading it. Also if the students are not a fan of books they can read a magazine or other types of texts. Another option would be to allow the students to choose the topic in which they will write about. Sometimes when a topic is provided the student might not connect to the topic and end up not writing well about it.
Teachers have to find a way to motivate the students. Maybe instead of asking them to read a certain book, allow them to choose a book of their interest, because that will motivate into reading it. Also if the students are not a fan of books they can read a magazine or other types of texts. Another option would be to allow the students to choose the topic in which they will write about. Sometimes when a topic is provided the student might not connect to the topic and end up not writing well about it.
Reading Post #6
After doing the Jigsaw activity in class, I wanted to read the whole article, Learning About Mason:A Collaborative Lesson With a Struggling Reader by Catherine Compton-Lilly. I have never heard about a collaborative lesson, and it seems to be a positive approach to help struggling readers. I think that it is important to build good relationships with other teachers in your school to form a network. Within this network, you can go to someone for advice and ask questions. I feel that this is very beneficial because you have teachers on all different expertise levels with different types of training. With having these various perspectives, you can have many options for teaching strategies. This information is essential for us as new teachers.
In the article Mason was the student that was struggling with reading. His teacher saw that he had a lot of dependence on prompt words to solve a sentence and he had an inability to remember words in writing. His teacher decided to have a collaborative lesson with four other teachers. After the process of observing and collaborating, they came to a teaching strategy that would work for Mason.
I really like this collaborative lesson idea, but it left me questioning certain aspects of the process. When there are multiple teachers observing the classroom and going in and out, wouldn't this be stressful for the students? What if the one targeted student found out it was them that was being observed, how would that make them feel? Lastly, how can the school allow four teachers to miss their class and sit in on another class? Overall, I feel like this strategy is very beneficial, but there is alot involved with it. I also wonder how often this strategy is used due to the complex nature of it.
In the article Mason was the student that was struggling with reading. His teacher saw that he had a lot of dependence on prompt words to solve a sentence and he had an inability to remember words in writing. His teacher decided to have a collaborative lesson with four other teachers. After the process of observing and collaborating, they came to a teaching strategy that would work for Mason.
I really like this collaborative lesson idea, but it left me questioning certain aspects of the process. When there are multiple teachers observing the classroom and going in and out, wouldn't this be stressful for the students? What if the one targeted student found out it was them that was being observed, how would that make them feel? Lastly, how can the school allow four teachers to miss their class and sit in on another class? Overall, I feel like this strategy is very beneficial, but there is alot involved with it. I also wonder how often this strategy is used due to the complex nature of it.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
"Reading to learn article"
Students usually prefer to read story books, which are fiction books. We would most likely see a child with a storybook rather than a magazine, newspaper, or other form of non-fiction text. This article is about how when we read to learn we usually think of non-fiction texts. I believe that students usually prefer fiction books because of the way that they are written. Story books are usually written in a way that catches the student’s attention. Most often the students choose only based on the cover, so just by providing an interesting illustration it will catch the student’s attention.
Story books are also easier for students to make connections. Things that happen in these books are typically things that happen to most children. This will make the students find it more interesting. I also think that students aren’t as familiar to the way non-fiction is presented. Many non-fiction texts aren’t interesting when you first look at it. A newspaper for instance would not have an interesting enough picture to catch a child’s attention.
An advice I would make would be for teachers to make non-fiction texts available to their students. Include in their library non-fiction materials for the students to familiarize themselves with it. Also to choose wisely because there are non-fiction books that have interesting illustrations and that can be motivating, instead of a page that just has an extreme amount of facts.
Story books are also easier for students to make connections. Things that happen in these books are typically things that happen to most children. This will make the students find it more interesting. I also think that students aren’t as familiar to the way non-fiction is presented. Many non-fiction texts aren’t interesting when you first look at it. A newspaper for instance would not have an interesting enough picture to catch a child’s attention.
An advice I would make would be for teachers to make non-fiction texts available to their students. Include in their library non-fiction materials for the students to familiarize themselves with it. Also to choose wisely because there are non-fiction books that have interesting illustrations and that can be motivating, instead of a page that just has an extreme amount of facts.
Reading Post #5
Out of all the readings for this semester, For an Effective Reading Program, written by Dr. Marlow Ediger was the most valuable to me. I found my self strongly agreeing to all of the points brought up in the article. I feel like student motivation is integral to successful learning and teaching. I know from personal experience that if I am not motivated, or feel that I am doing something without a purpose, I am not going to do it. On the other hand, if I am interested in something I pursue it and become a perfectionist. This self motivation provides many opportunities for authentic and active engagement. I believe that in order for students to remain motivated, they need to be and feel successful. Part of this is staying within the zone of proximal development, and not making reading programs too simple or too complex. Successful programs need to be flexible in order to fit the needs of students on all different learning levels.
I really like the part of this article that talked about controlling your classroom versus managing it. I like the phrase, "managing the classroom." The word "manage," to me, means "to work with." A teacher that always has a quiet classroom is not always the "best" teacher, and the classroom is not always the most successful one. I feel like teachers have this thought instilled in their heads. The "control," of the classroom should NOT be a measurement of the quality of the teacher. In my future classroom I do not want to be the controller of it, but rather be viewed on the same level as the students. I want to ask them questions and for them to ask me questions in a class conversation. I want to guide their learning experience with my knowledge, but not be viewed as a controlling authority figure. I want our classroom to be relaxed and creative, but yet respectful. I do not want my classroom to be silent, but then again will the people that control me think that i am a bad teacher? I feel like many teachers struggle with this question and decide to play it safe with their quiet and controlled classrooms.
I really like the part of this article that talked about controlling your classroom versus managing it. I like the phrase, "managing the classroom." The word "manage," to me, means "to work with." A teacher that always has a quiet classroom is not always the "best" teacher, and the classroom is not always the most successful one. I feel like teachers have this thought instilled in their heads. The "control," of the classroom should NOT be a measurement of the quality of the teacher. In my future classroom I do not want to be the controller of it, but rather be viewed on the same level as the students. I want to ask them questions and for them to ask me questions in a class conversation. I want to guide their learning experience with my knowledge, but not be viewed as a controlling authority figure. I want our classroom to be relaxed and creative, but yet respectful. I do not want my classroom to be silent, but then again will the people that control me think that i am a bad teacher? I feel like many teachers struggle with this question and decide to play it safe with their quiet and controlled classrooms.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Reading Assignment #6 Literature in the Classroom
This article was about Cecilia and Julia, two bilingual teachers that responded to children's questions about literature. I liked the article and enjoyed seeing how experienced teachers like Cecilia and Julia answered some of these tough questions. The first questions asked the two teachers how they went about picking out books for their classrooms. They stated that the books had to be able to raise questions within a child's mind and that it makes them feel included. I feel that in order to read a book and finish it with a bunch of questions in your mind you would have had to have some sort of prior interest. I believe that keeping your bookshelves stocked various types of fun and interesting books will keep kids reading much longer than usual.
I felt that Julia had a great response when she was asked about how she prepares for implementing literature into her classroom. She stated that it was important to come to class prepared. As the teacher, you must read the book before your kids and develop questions to help provoke their critical thinking. If you don't read the book before you read it to your kids it can turn out to be very bland and not engaging at all. This really struck home with me because during winter break last year I was subbing for a 4th grade class whose teacher was going to be out for a week. I subbed the whole week and during the first two days, we had finished the book that the teacher had left for us. I decided to pick up a random book from the bookshelf in my house that appeared to be grade level appropriate. When I started reading however, the book was not a good fit for the class. It contained A LOT of words the kids did not know, and had too many vulgar words. During our reading time after lunch, I reading the book, struggling as I tried to make up words on the spot to substitute for the curse word, and stopping to explain what a particular word meant nearly after every sentence.
One of the last questions addressed how to deal with a mono-lingual student that speaks a language other than English if you as the teacher only speak English. The two teachers responded that it was important to let the child talk and express themselves to you even if it's not in a language they understand. They mentioned that it's sometimes easy to tell what a child is asking you based on their body language. Soon enough, you'll start to remember some key phrases that the child uses over and over and can begin to teach them how to say these phrases in English. Personally, I think it's extremely important to keep an open mind when dealing with ESL learners and make use of any resource you can.
Reading Assignment #5 Including Students with Special Needs in Writing Workshops
After reading this article I was impressed by how the teacher Nancy was able to incorporate changes in her classroom to no longer make students with special needs fall academically behind or be socially isolated. I particularly liked how she kept a record for one-on-one formal conferences that all the students had with the teacher on a regular basis. I thought that this was a great idea because it doesn't single anybody out in the classroom. Oftentimes when you are in a classroom with a few struggling learners you'll consistently see the teacher calling over a select few children. Before you know it, rumors are being spread about that child not being able to keep up. In an atmosphere like that, it isn't hard for a child to be socially isolated. However, in a classroom where the teacher is attending to every student on a regular basis and students never felt like they were being singled out.
I enjoyed reading about the way Nancy was able to help Michelle become a better writing. I've always believed that seating arrangements made a big difference in the classroom but feel that it matters most when it comes to writing. In the article, Michelle was encouraged by her classmate, Alyson, to "just write the way you talk. Don't worry about anything." Even though Michelle was struggling I feel that Nancy made the correct decision by sitting back and trying to let Michelle overcome her obstacles.
Although I stated that I agreed with the way Nancy handled Michelle's writing situation, I think that it would be tough for new teachers to do something similar. New teachers are surely to be under a lot more stress than Nancy. I don't know if I'd be comfortable with letting Michelle try and work out her problems if I felt that she was really struggling. What if she never worked out her problems? Then I would feel as if I just wasted two weeks. Aside from that, how would an administrator view me in my first few years if I told them I was letting Michelle have time to play with her word, get out her frustration, and reach a comfortable place in the classroom. I'm not sure if every district would be lenient on a matter like this.
I felt like one of the more important things that Nancy did was encourage her students to take risks. I remember being a young writer myself and purposely avoid words that I may have liked to use because I was unsure of how to spell them. Most of my teachers throughout my elementary school career would take off for spelling mistakes so I would make sure to only use words I was sure I could spell right. This resulted in my writing consisted of many simple fragments. I think it's important to take risks and let your students know it's okay to be a little messy.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Reading Post 4
HOT Blogging: A framework for Blogging to promote Higher Order Thinking
Lisa Zawilinski discusses in her article the new trends of literacy on the internet that can be used in classrooms. I was really interested in this article because I feel that blogging is something that I will see in my student teaching experiences and use it someday in my classroom. I have seen the rise of the blogging trend in my college classes as well. I can remember when I first was introduced to blogging, I did not like it because it seemed impersonal to me. However, now there are so many blogging sites that are designed to give more personality to your writings. I feel that if blogging is to be used as a literacy tool in the classroom, a site that allows creativity to the blogs should be chosen. If students are going to be motivated to write, they need to feel comfortable and able to be themselves in their writings. It also makes it more interesting for the readers because they can see who the writer truly is.
"Classroom blogs bridge the ever-widening gap between out-of-school literacies and in-school literacies." I feel that this is the strongest statement in the article. As we discussed in class, technology and specifically social networking sometimes is viewed negatively in classrooms. I feel that as teachers, we can show how this type of technology can be used in a positive way. I feel that if students become aware of the correlation between in-school literacies and out-of-school literacies it makes the information learned inside the classroom more authentic. I also feel that the students may become more motivated because they have a real audience. With this being the situation, they may put more time and effort into their writings and view it more importantly.
I like the acronym for HOT blogging (Higher Order Thinking). I feel like blogging subconsciously makes us use a higher order of thinking. Blogging not only gives us a real audience, but many different perspectives, critical thinking opportunities, and problem solving activities. As a future teacher, I want to master the steps of creating a successful HOT blog in my classroom.
Lisa Zawilinski discusses in her article the new trends of literacy on the internet that can be used in classrooms. I was really interested in this article because I feel that blogging is something that I will see in my student teaching experiences and use it someday in my classroom. I have seen the rise of the blogging trend in my college classes as well. I can remember when I first was introduced to blogging, I did not like it because it seemed impersonal to me. However, now there are so many blogging sites that are designed to give more personality to your writings. I feel that if blogging is to be used as a literacy tool in the classroom, a site that allows creativity to the blogs should be chosen. If students are going to be motivated to write, they need to feel comfortable and able to be themselves in their writings. It also makes it more interesting for the readers because they can see who the writer truly is.
"Classroom blogs bridge the ever-widening gap between out-of-school literacies and in-school literacies." I feel that this is the strongest statement in the article. As we discussed in class, technology and specifically social networking sometimes is viewed negatively in classrooms. I feel that as teachers, we can show how this type of technology can be used in a positive way. I feel that if students become aware of the correlation between in-school literacies and out-of-school literacies it makes the information learned inside the classroom more authentic. I also feel that the students may become more motivated because they have a real audience. With this being the situation, they may put more time and effort into their writings and view it more importantly.
I like the acronym for HOT blogging (Higher Order Thinking). I feel like blogging subconsciously makes us use a higher order of thinking. Blogging not only gives us a real audience, but many different perspectives, critical thinking opportunities, and problem solving activities. As a future teacher, I want to master the steps of creating a successful HOT blog in my classroom.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Chapter 10: Determining importance in text: The nonfiction connection
This chapter caught my attention because the first thing I thought about was: hm how do we, as teachers, emphasize the importance of nonfiction text to our students when they can not seem to find this type of text interesting. Give a student a library filled with nonfictional books and texts, and only one fictional book and they will most likely pick that fiction-text. why? Because it is more appealing to them, more interesting, more relate-able maybe? Well, chapter 10 explains the exact features that some nonfictional texts include in order to make these readings easier for them. Some of these features include: fonts, effects, such as titles, headings, boldface, colorful print, italics, bullets, captions, labels, signal words and phrases (in fact, in conclusion, most important, therefore, on the other hand, and more. These texts also often have illustrations and photographs which catch the eyes of the students. As the chapter mentions, trade books are filled with colorful pictures. Moreover, diagrams, cut-aways, overlays, tables, graphs and charts all help students interpret the information through different formats and for many, these are easier to understand rather than just looking at plain text. I know for my fourth grade students, the new books that they love to read are those "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" books and the reason why is because it does have so many illustrations in them and activities, puzzles, games, and journal sections that they get to fill out as they read along.
Now that we know how to get students to interpret nonfiction text better, how do we help students apply it and record their information. Well, chapter 10 mentions the idea of an FQR -- Facts, Questions, and Response "think sheet". According to chapter 10, the fact column will focus on what the child learned or important facts that were already prior knowledge. The questions column will highlight things that caused confusion during reading or information that the students had trouble understanding. And finally, the response section will be used as a reflection section where the students will record connections to other texts, or personal experiences. This break up is extremely effective; we actually use this in my classroom. It helps students organize their thoughts and ideas into sensible categories: what they know and important facts, any questions raised, and connections to real life. This strategy also helps students stay on task without being repetitive or boring. The students get a chance to explore the same content in three different ways. Making a text more appealing and easier to interpret will allow students to apply nonfictional text easier into larger ideas and conclusions.
Now that we know how to get students to interpret nonfiction text better, how do we help students apply it and record their information. Well, chapter 10 mentions the idea of an FQR -- Facts, Questions, and Response "think sheet". According to chapter 10, the fact column will focus on what the child learned or important facts that were already prior knowledge. The questions column will highlight things that caused confusion during reading or information that the students had trouble understanding. And finally, the response section will be used as a reflection section where the students will record connections to other texts, or personal experiences. This break up is extremely effective; we actually use this in my classroom. It helps students organize their thoughts and ideas into sensible categories: what they know and important facts, any questions raised, and connections to real life. This strategy also helps students stay on task without being repetitive or boring. The students get a chance to explore the same content in three different ways. Making a text more appealing and easier to interpret will allow students to apply nonfictional text easier into larger ideas and conclusions.
Chapter 8: Questioning While Reading
Chapter 8 was, overall, a really helpful and interesting chapter as far as working with answering and asking questions in the classroom. I think every teacher has the fear of not being able to answer one of his/her students' questions. Not only that, but also, as students, everyone always has questions, so how does a teacher provided a comfortable enough environment so that both the teacher and student has an understood relationship of unlimited questions and answer vocabulary?These are all thoughts that came to mind before I dug into this chapter.
This chapter emphasized the fact that questioning helps the learner clear any confusions he/she may have and help him/her understand things that are foreign; this points is crucial, especially in an inclusive classroom. If a student does not ask questions, how will the teacher ever know if they are confused or lost. This reminds me of a time that one of my students was confused about teh assignment and we were about 10 minutes into the assignment and i was busy working with another student on his writing prompt. I turn to look at the desk next to me and Cassandra is sitting there staring into space, without a word on her paper. I walked over to her and she explained to me that she did not know what to write. It is times like these where you wished you would have addressed the students who were confused first, I asked her why she did not raise her hand and ask me what she had to do and she said that she was in the bathroom and when she came back everyone was already working on their writing. Situations like this can be easily prevented when there is an open atmosphere for asking questions in a classroom. Cassandra could have easily asked one of her classmates what the assignment was or raised her hand to ask the teacher, but there was obviously something stopping her from doing so.
Which brings me to my next point that Harvey mentioned in chapter 8, in order to create this comfortable atmosphere of asking questions, students would be encouraged to record and ask questions before, during and after reading. This, I'm sure, does not only apply to reading, but to all subjects, assignments and lessons. As the chapter portrays in its own manner, teachers should always encourage questions and deepening the thought of everything having meaning and purpose. Teacher should demonstrate questioning in the classroom in order for their students to have something to model. An strategy used to expands students thinking and questioning is question webs: where students put a question in the middle of the web, and they stem answers off of it from different sources in order to get all types of varied perspectives. These question webs causes students to think deeper. This strategy is extremely effective, along with other strategies mentioned in chapter 8, like reading to answer a question or reading with a question oin mind. In my fourth grade classroom we always emphasize to the students if you are reading a reading prompt, chapter or story that already comes with questions to answer after, always read the questions first. Why? because then you know what to focus on in the sorry and it already outlines the important points of the text. All of these strategies can easily be implemented in the classroom, and can make a huge difference in literacy component aspects.
This chapter emphasized the fact that questioning helps the learner clear any confusions he/she may have and help him/her understand things that are foreign; this points is crucial, especially in an inclusive classroom. If a student does not ask questions, how will the teacher ever know if they are confused or lost. This reminds me of a time that one of my students was confused about teh assignment and we were about 10 minutes into the assignment and i was busy working with another student on his writing prompt. I turn to look at the desk next to me and Cassandra is sitting there staring into space, without a word on her paper. I walked over to her and she explained to me that she did not know what to write. It is times like these where you wished you would have addressed the students who were confused first, I asked her why she did not raise her hand and ask me what she had to do and she said that she was in the bathroom and when she came back everyone was already working on their writing. Situations like this can be easily prevented when there is an open atmosphere for asking questions in a classroom. Cassandra could have easily asked one of her classmates what the assignment was or raised her hand to ask the teacher, but there was obviously something stopping her from doing so.
Which brings me to my next point that Harvey mentioned in chapter 8, in order to create this comfortable atmosphere of asking questions, students would be encouraged to record and ask questions before, during and after reading. This, I'm sure, does not only apply to reading, but to all subjects, assignments and lessons. As the chapter portrays in its own manner, teachers should always encourage questions and deepening the thought of everything having meaning and purpose. Teacher should demonstrate questioning in the classroom in order for their students to have something to model. An strategy used to expands students thinking and questioning is question webs: where students put a question in the middle of the web, and they stem answers off of it from different sources in order to get all types of varied perspectives. These question webs causes students to think deeper. This strategy is extremely effective, along with other strategies mentioned in chapter 8, like reading to answer a question or reading with a question oin mind. In my fourth grade classroom we always emphasize to the students if you are reading a reading prompt, chapter or story that already comes with questions to answer after, always read the questions first. Why? because then you know what to focus on in the sorry and it already outlines the important points of the text. All of these strategies can easily be implemented in the classroom, and can make a huge difference in literacy component aspects.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Reading Post 3
Reading and Writing Connections
" If reading and writing are to be communicative then the reader needs to read with the sense of the writer and the writer needs to write with the sense of the reader."
- Timothy Shanahan
I do not think that these two subjects should be taught separately. Even though reading develops before writing, both subjects can be used to strengthen each other. I think that teachers should highlight the relationship between reading and writing for their students. If students are aware of the importance of this relationship, I feel like they can more easily understand reading and writing.
I strongly agree with the part of the article that discusses the mechanics and processes of both reading and writing. It is integral that teachers view the reading and writing process as a developmental one. If we are going to teach students that reading and writing are gradual processes, we have to translate this in the classroom through positive teaching. Also, I believe that in order to show children the steps through these processes, they have to be motivated. Motivation comes from interest and self-drive, therefore students should be reading and writing about what they want.
Journals are a great classroom activity, but I feel like the direction of the writing within them need to be given with an intentional purpose. For example, I believe that a journal activity should go beyond writing about how your day is going to something that is more opinionated. By writing about strongly opinionated subjects students will have many ideas in their heads that they want to get down on the paper. Opinionated pieces of writing also shows students that writing allows us to express ourselves to readers, ultimately showing the close relationship and importance of reading and writing.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Reading Post 2
Chapter 9 of the text, Strategies that Work, interested me because I personally have always been a visual learner. I enjoy when books create images in my head as I read. I feel that visualizing is very powerful because everyone may have the same ideas from the book, but the images in our heads differ from one another. Visualizing and inferring are two strategies that are essential to becoming an active reader. I believe that in order for students to be able to visualize and infer, they need sufficient background knowledge. For example, if you are at an inner city school and are going to introduce a book to your students about farms, some of them may not even know what a farm is. If students don't have any information to recall about something, then how are they going to picture it in their heads and make inferences? This goes for teaching any subject, not just reading and writing.
The chapter discusses the use of descriptive words to help students make visualizations and inferences. I feel that it is important to introduce students to descriptive words with the help of physical objects. For example, as a lesson you could introduce size words to your students (tiny, small, average, large, huge, humongous, etc.). With these words you could show them objects to help them visualize the words when reading them in the text. After reading this chapter, I came up with this lesson idea because I started to think about struggling readers. If they are given enough background knowledge to create pictures in their heads,
then they can make predictions and ultimately be engaged in the text.
I believe that teaching children to ask questions during reading in order to make predictions is not only an important reading strategy, but a life skill. We are teaching students to make an educated guess of what will happen next in a situation. This can be applied to cause and effect relationships in life. For example, If Sarah refuses to study for her quiz, then it can be predicted that she will get a bad grade. From these small examples, students can be taught to question life situations and consider the consequences. As you can see, this reading strategy is essential to reading and writing, but also goes far beyond the books.
The chapter discusses the use of descriptive words to help students make visualizations and inferences. I feel that it is important to introduce students to descriptive words with the help of physical objects. For example, as a lesson you could introduce size words to your students (tiny, small, average, large, huge, humongous, etc.). With these words you could show them objects to help them visualize the words when reading them in the text. After reading this chapter, I came up with this lesson idea because I started to think about struggling readers. If they are given enough background knowledge to create pictures in their heads,
then they can make predictions and ultimately be engaged in the text.
I believe that teaching children to ask questions during reading in order to make predictions is not only an important reading strategy, but a life skill. We are teaching students to make an educated guess of what will happen next in a situation. This can be applied to cause and effect relationships in life. For example, If Sarah refuses to study for her quiz, then it can be predicted that she will get a bad grade. From these small examples, students can be taught to question life situations and consider the consequences. As you can see, this reading strategy is essential to reading and writing, but also goes far beyond the books.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Reading Post 1
CHAPTER 3: Using Textbooks and Trade Books for Content Area Instruction by Alverman, Swafford, & Mentero (2004)
Before reading, Using Textbooks and Trade Books for Content Area Instruction, I had limited awareness of using trade books in the classroom. It seems that we always hear about how difficult it is the read textbooks, how the material is usually outdated, and the concept coverage is watered-down and meaningless. Growing up, history was one of my worst subjects and out of all the history teachers that I have had, there is only one that stood out. I can remember mostly everything that I learned in that fourth grade classroom. This teacher used books and resources other than just a textbook. We did have a textbook, but rarely used it. My teacher used multiple trade books for each unit that we explored. These books were full of amazing facts and fascinating images.
I feel that it is very important to use both textbooks and trade books in the classroom for any subject. Before reading this article I had a couple of questions come into my head. As a teacher, how would you choose which trade books to use in your classroom? By limiting the use of the assigned textbook and replacing it with other resources, could a teacher get into trouble with the school? When choosing a trade book to use in the classroom it has to be of high quality. The article said to look for trade books that have won awards such as the Caldecott Award and the Hans Christian Award. Finding out about the author may also be helpful in choosing trade books. We can find this information in the preface or the afterward of the book. As teachers, if we are going to be using sources other than the assigned textbook we should be positive that these trade books have credible authors and are of the highest quality for our students. I feel that teachers can get in trouble with the school if research to find good trade books is ignored.
I found it interesting that the article stated that the population of trade books has grown and the quality of them has increased. Why is this? Maybe statistics and studies are showing that they are improving the education of our children. Trade books offer a wide range of reading levels, majority are up-to-date, help struggling readers understand the content, expose children to different text structures, have appealing formats, and build background knowledge. As a future teacher, I want to start to collect and buy high quality trade books to use in my classroom. I want to provide my students with opportunities to learn about class material through both textbooks and trade books.
Before reading, Using Textbooks and Trade Books for Content Area Instruction, I had limited awareness of using trade books in the classroom. It seems that we always hear about how difficult it is the read textbooks, how the material is usually outdated, and the concept coverage is watered-down and meaningless. Growing up, history was one of my worst subjects and out of all the history teachers that I have had, there is only one that stood out. I can remember mostly everything that I learned in that fourth grade classroom. This teacher used books and resources other than just a textbook. We did have a textbook, but rarely used it. My teacher used multiple trade books for each unit that we explored. These books were full of amazing facts and fascinating images.
I feel that it is very important to use both textbooks and trade books in the classroom for any subject. Before reading this article I had a couple of questions come into my head. As a teacher, how would you choose which trade books to use in your classroom? By limiting the use of the assigned textbook and replacing it with other resources, could a teacher get into trouble with the school? When choosing a trade book to use in the classroom it has to be of high quality. The article said to look for trade books that have won awards such as the Caldecott Award and the Hans Christian Award. Finding out about the author may also be helpful in choosing trade books. We can find this information in the preface or the afterward of the book. As teachers, if we are going to be using sources other than the assigned textbook we should be positive that these trade books have credible authors and are of the highest quality for our students. I feel that teachers can get in trouble with the school if research to find good trade books is ignored.
I found it interesting that the article stated that the population of trade books has grown and the quality of them has increased. Why is this? Maybe statistics and studies are showing that they are improving the education of our children. Trade books offer a wide range of reading levels, majority are up-to-date, help struggling readers understand the content, expose children to different text structures, have appealing formats, and build background knowledge. As a future teacher, I want to start to collect and buy high quality trade books to use in my classroom. I want to provide my students with opportunities to learn about class material through both textbooks and trade books.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Classroom Asessment (Blog#4)
This text focuses on different types of assessment and explores a different perspective of classroom assessments. This chapter addresses teacher-based strategies, assessment as inquiry and test-based strategies, all being different forms of assessments. The chapter also highlights the themes of assessment which is what will be my focus of discussion in this blog post. There are three themes of classroom assessments: notion of assessment as inquiry, development, and progress monitoring.
Notion of assessment as inquiry refers to the idea of a teacher becoming a researcher and making adjustments according to her students. The chapter says something along the lines of, "it is easy to come up with a test that all the students will fail; it is more difficult to find ways to discover what students are capable of." This means that the teacher has to get to know his/her students and make adjustments according to their needs and what level they are currently placed at. I believe that this approach may be if not THE, one of the, most important ideologies that an educator should follow. If a teacher never gets to know her students and their individual needs, he/she will never know if they are understanding or learning anything at all. If a teacher is unaware of a child's needs and learning level, it is literally like trying to teach a dog how to meow. You are teaching the wrong thing to the wrong person. This concept is crucial to a teacher's career; it can honestly make or break a teacher and IF it is followed and practiced it can change students' lives forever.
The next theme of assessment is undoubtedly interlocked with the first; development varies and not only only by age or grade, but by each and every individual. The average class varies in student development; they are likely to span two or more years. This means that as a fourth grade teacher, you may have a student in your classroom that is at a second grade level and another student that is at a fifth or sixth grade level. Regardless, you have to make adjustments to meet both their needs. That is what being a teacher is all about; you are not catering to a fourth grade class; you are catering to a class filled with all types of fourth graders, whether it be different races, ages, cultures, developmental levels, special needs, ELL. YOU still need to fit each and every one of their needs. This thought alone is overwhelming and quite intimidating, but very well doable and, therefore, exciting.
The third theme is progress monitoring; this too is intertwined with knowing your students individually. A teacher should keep records for each student in class, whether it is written-down grades, mental notes/observations, anecdotal notes, portfolios, etc. A teacher should have some type of record for each one of his/her students demonstrating their progress throughout the year. Every teacher approaches this in a different way, but no matter what is done this monitoring of progress HAS to be done. If a teacher is not keeping track of his/her students' progress he/she is not doing his/her job. That is the whole point of teaching, so that these children move forward in their academic life and grow as individuals of our society.
All of these themes of assessment are points that teachers, should not only consider, but live by basically. These points are crucial to be a successful educator and they need to be done in order to be and stay effective. Overall, I found this chapter to be extremely informative and helpful.
Notion of assessment as inquiry refers to the idea of a teacher becoming a researcher and making adjustments according to her students. The chapter says something along the lines of, "it is easy to come up with a test that all the students will fail; it is more difficult to find ways to discover what students are capable of." This means that the teacher has to get to know his/her students and make adjustments according to their needs and what level they are currently placed at. I believe that this approach may be if not THE, one of the, most important ideologies that an educator should follow. If a teacher never gets to know her students and their individual needs, he/she will never know if they are understanding or learning anything at all. If a teacher is unaware of a child's needs and learning level, it is literally like trying to teach a dog how to meow. You are teaching the wrong thing to the wrong person. This concept is crucial to a teacher's career; it can honestly make or break a teacher and IF it is followed and practiced it can change students' lives forever.
The next theme of assessment is undoubtedly interlocked with the first; development varies and not only only by age or grade, but by each and every individual. The average class varies in student development; they are likely to span two or more years. This means that as a fourth grade teacher, you may have a student in your classroom that is at a second grade level and another student that is at a fifth or sixth grade level. Regardless, you have to make adjustments to meet both their needs. That is what being a teacher is all about; you are not catering to a fourth grade class; you are catering to a class filled with all types of fourth graders, whether it be different races, ages, cultures, developmental levels, special needs, ELL. YOU still need to fit each and every one of their needs. This thought alone is overwhelming and quite intimidating, but very well doable and, therefore, exciting.
The third theme is progress monitoring; this too is intertwined with knowing your students individually. A teacher should keep records for each student in class, whether it is written-down grades, mental notes/observations, anecdotal notes, portfolios, etc. A teacher should have some type of record for each one of his/her students demonstrating their progress throughout the year. Every teacher approaches this in a different way, but no matter what is done this monitoring of progress HAS to be done. If a teacher is not keeping track of his/her students' progress he/she is not doing his/her job. That is the whole point of teaching, so that these children move forward in their academic life and grow as individuals of our society.
All of these themes of assessment are points that teachers, should not only consider, but live by basically. These points are crucial to be a successful educator and they need to be done in order to be and stay effective. Overall, I found this chapter to be extremely informative and helpful.
Chapter 6 - Reading To Learn
This chapter was very intrigueing and raised some excellent points about reading. The main point that this chapter, Reading to Learn, is addressing is the false idea that story books are more interesting than informational texts are. This chapter mentions that story books are only more intriguing to children because they are exposed to this type of text way before they are every exposed to informational text (newspaper, textbooks, magazines, etc.) They are familiar with story books because maybe mom or dad read them bedtime stories, or their nanny/babysitter or child care or preschool caregiver read them story books. BUT what if, this chapter questions, what if children were exposed to more magazines and other informational texts at an early age, would they be more attracted to them throughout their academic years growing up?A study of first grade classrooms revealed that we only spend around 3.6 minutes on informational text a day. How many hours are in a school day? 6...and we are spending less than four minutes of those six hours exposing our students to informational text. Not only does this limit their interests in text, but this also causes them to be unfamiliar and uncomfortable with this type of text.
Many people see informational or nonfiction texts only as being textbooks, newspapers, encyclopedias, atlas', dictionaries, etc. However, that is coming to a change; publishing companies are working together to make informational texts more child-friendly. They are beginning to create informational texts that are big books with larger text, more captions and more pictures. In addition, more schools are getting document cameras to project news/magazine articles and other documents to share with the class.
As mentioned in chapter six, today's nonfiction texts are filled with text features such as charts, pictures, captions, maps, tables, diagrams, and glossaries. These text features are extremely helpful to students in order for them to understand the text that is being read. These charts, diagrams, maps and photographs really help visual learners to understand that content that is being taught; rather than just roaming their eyes off to somewhere else in the classroom they can focus their eyes on the pictures and other features in the text. In addition to features such as sidebars, headlines, diagrams and captions there are also structures in order for readers to better understand concepts. Structures such as cause and effect, problem and solution, compare and contrast, concept and definition, etc. help students obtain content in a different perspective. These text structures help students locate key points by often beginning with key phrases and signal words such as: for example, in conclusion, in summary, etc. Text structure serve almost as a guide or outline for students in information texts.
This chapter pinpoints great points in reading with elementary grade level students, or any students for that matter. The text even mentions that some of the methods mentioned above are lifetimes skills that students will take onto their college years and use them for reading. These concepts are skills that help students tremendously with their reading and comprehension improvement.
Many people see informational or nonfiction texts only as being textbooks, newspapers, encyclopedias, atlas', dictionaries, etc. However, that is coming to a change; publishing companies are working together to make informational texts more child-friendly. They are beginning to create informational texts that are big books with larger text, more captions and more pictures. In addition, more schools are getting document cameras to project news/magazine articles and other documents to share with the class.
As mentioned in chapter six, today's nonfiction texts are filled with text features such as charts, pictures, captions, maps, tables, diagrams, and glossaries. These text features are extremely helpful to students in order for them to understand the text that is being read. These charts, diagrams, maps and photographs really help visual learners to understand that content that is being taught; rather than just roaming their eyes off to somewhere else in the classroom they can focus their eyes on the pictures and other features in the text. In addition to features such as sidebars, headlines, diagrams and captions there are also structures in order for readers to better understand concepts. Structures such as cause and effect, problem and solution, compare and contrast, concept and definition, etc. help students obtain content in a different perspective. These text structures help students locate key points by often beginning with key phrases and signal words such as: for example, in conclusion, in summary, etc. Text structure serve almost as a guide or outline for students in information texts.
This chapter pinpoints great points in reading with elementary grade level students, or any students for that matter. The text even mentions that some of the methods mentioned above are lifetimes skills that students will take onto their college years and use them for reading. These concepts are skills that help students tremendously with their reading and comprehension improvement.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Reading Assignment 6: Independent Writing and Whole-Class Sharing
Chapter 4 from A Classroom Teacher’s Guide to Struggling Writers is about independent writing and whole-class sharing. It provides suggestions on what students do and what teachers do. Independent writing requires significant blocks of time in order to assure writing development. This is especially true for struggling writers because they tend to spend extra time on things like spelling and grammar and less time on the actual writing. One of the suggestions that the book states, that I greatly believe in, is that “students are far more likely to work with a piece of writing if they have some personal investment in the topics of their writing” (pg 50). During my time in school, I recall more often than not, being forced to write about a particular topic or about a book that I didn’t even want to read in the first place. This makes the writing process so much more difficult and uninteresting. The only book reports that I remember writing were the ones where I got to choose the book, because I picked something that I related with. When I am student teaching, I see so much of this personal writing going on. In my first grade classroom, the children have journals that they choose what to write about. The students love it and are constantly writing about what they did over the summer or over the weekend, their legos, their favorite movie, their friends and so forth. They also are making “How to” books, in which they are writing how to do things of their choice such as how to make a paper airplane, how to make your bed, how to draw a pirate ship, etc. They choose each topic and by the end of the year they will have a book of all the ones they wrote over the months.
The book also stresses the importance of teachers working with struggling writers individually and in small groups while the students are working independently. This is a great time to do so because it allows them to address the specific needs of specific children without making it overly obvious. The teacher can float around the room, checking in with children and seeing how their writing is coming along, or hold writing conferences. One sentence from the book really stood out to me. It states, “It takes time to learn to conduct effective writing conferences” (pg 58). This is good advice because it reminds teachers not to get discourage if things don’t always work out as planned. The most important thing is that you assess what you did and try to fix it for the next time. I think it is also crucial to remember that each student differs from the next and a strategy you used with one might not work for the next.
The last thing I took away from this chapter was the idea for an author’s chair. I have never heard of this before and I think it is an amazing idea. I think that oral presentations are crucial in every grade level and I feel that by having them come up to the “author’s chair” it makes each student feel more special. The book also talks about the importance of teaching children how to respond supportively to students in the Author’s Chair. This is essential because the “author” needs to feel safe while presenting their work or else they will be discouraged and not want to present the next time. Constructive criticism does help improve writing but it can be hard to hear at times. Therefore it is up to the teacher to model this and teach the students how to provide comments and feedback correctly and in a beneficial way.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Reading Assignment 4: Reading-Writing Connections
The article, Reading-Writing Connections, is generally based on the relationship between reading and writing. I have always thought that it was strange the way reading and writing were taught separately from each other. In my school that I am student teaching at, the class has reading in the morning and writing at the very end of the day. Whenever they write, they are writing about something totally irrelevant to what they are reading and when they read, they are reading about something they will never write about. I agree completely with the article that states that children should be invited to write about what they are reading and read about what they are writing.
The article detailed ways in which we can create environments for reading and writing. It suggested that teachers should encourage students to write about things that are relevant to their interests and needs. Even though the article states that children rarely are at a loss for what to write, I have to disagree. My brother has always struggled with writing and coming up with a topic to write about. I feel strongly that not everyone in your class is going to be able to say “Oh! I know what I want to write!” Some of the children are going to have to sit there a long time and think about what exactly they would like to write about. Thinking now about a possible solution to a problem like this I’ve come up with an idea. Perhaps the teacher could create an “idea bucket” in the classroom. Encourage students to write on a small piece of paper and dump any extra ideas they have into the idea bucket. Whenever a child can’t think of an idea for writing, tell them that they could go up to the idea bucket and pick out one of their classmate’s ideas. I would reward students that frequently contribute ideas to the bucket.
Out of all the things I did during my time in elementary school, the thing I remember most has to be my pen pal. I recall being thrilled every time the letters came. I would rip mine open and read it faster than anything else and then immediately pick up my pen and start writing back. I feel that having a pen pal is one of the best occasions to connect both reading and writing. I believe that the use of a pen pal can and should be used significantly more than it is now. Theoretically, why couldn’t students have a pen pal for every single grade in elementary school? I personally feel that it would be nothing but beneficial to students overall reading and writing skills.
Buddy journals and dialogue journals are excellent ways to have students connect reading and writing skills. If your class is doing dialogue journals, it is important to keep in mind that you are purely trying to scaffold reading-writing interactions through informal conversation. The article encourages students to write in their journals everyday. As a teacher, I’m somewhat skeptical to whether or not something like this is plausible. I feel like there wouldn’t be enough time for the teacher to have an ongoing written conversation every night with 25 students. Did anyone else feel the same way? Perhaps students could write for a whole week and then the teacher could respond at the end of the week?
I always struggled with the idea of editing when I was in elementary school. I would always be racing through a writing assignment just so I could be like, “Yes! Finally done!” The article teaches us to steer away from this and consider that drafting, revising, and editing are all part of the writing process and should be taught together. I feel that schools are getting better in the ways that they incorporate the different stages of writing. In my classroom where I’m student teaching, I observed students spending a whole period just on editing and revising their papers.
Reading Assignment 3: Chapter 5
Chapter 5 of the text, Strategies that Work, hit home for me. I can recall numerous times throughout my primary educational career where I was force to read something in particular. I was hardly ever given a choice on what I had to read, whether it was for summer reading, book reports, or even free time. I remember specifically that in 3rd grade I was forced to read the current class book and wasn’t allow to go grab one of the books about baseball, even if I had already finished the class book! In chapter 5 the authors explain the power literacy holds when it related to the lives and concerns of those who read it. I couldn’t agree more.
In the beginning part of the chapter we are told as future teachers to thinking about how short texts can move us. We should be reading newspapers, magazines, poems, travel books and any thing else that has words on it. If a piece moves us, we should save it, think about why it moved us, and try and find a way to incorporate it into a lesson in the future. When collecting a short text though it is importance to consider the purpose, audience, genre, topic, and writing quality. Not all short text pieces that you think are wonderful are going to be good for 3rd graders.
The text goes on to say that when choosing short text for comprehension instruction it is important to pick something that your students will be able to activate and connect background knowledge to. When you read about topics you already have prior knowledge to, it is more likely that you will connect new information to what you already know in order to come to a fuller understanding. I believe that this is especially true. When I was in elementary school I always wanted to read about things that I was currently involved in. Going back to my 3rd grade example, I wanted to read the book about baseball because I played baseball and it was interesting to me. As a teacher, it’s important for us to help children find books that are interesting, not too challenging, and not too easy. We are looking to introduce children to their “just right” books.
Picture books are an interesting topic that is also discussed within this chapter. Personally, I have little experience with using picture books, both during my elementary school years and as a college student. However, I believe that they have great potential for getting through to children that may be reluctant readers or linguistically diverse learners.
I think that picture books are viewed to be solely for younger children. Reading over this chapter, I feel that I would be able to incorporate them into an upper elementary classroom setting. I believe that older kids would have a blast trying to come up with an explanation for what is going on. I can picture a 5th grade class where picture books have the students intrigued and excited.
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