Instructional Model Post

My instructional model is Reading and writing in the content area. It is hard to define because it encompasses so much. But, basically it is teaching Reading and writing when teaching other subject areas. It is tied to balanced literacy because if done right you should still be teaching everything about literacy while teaching the other subject through this method. However, that in its self is the downfall of this method. Teachers who use this method find it hard to balance literacy learning and content area learning and usually end up sacrificing one for the other. I think this is a great model that if used correctly could work. I do not think it should be used in place of a language arts only directed curriculum but along with it. Since lately we are moving toward spending more and more time on literacy it almost seems as if you would have to use this instructional model in some way to even cover the other subjects. As I said before you can spend your time during literacy time talking specifically about grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and so forth then have the students apply this knowledge when working on a writing piece for a history assignment. This ensures that they are not missing those key components to literacy and are using literacy in a fun, meaningful, purposeful way. While researching this instructional model I read of a teacher you used it for a specific purpose in her room that was really interesting. She used content area reading and writing to help her students look at and examine social, cultural, and behavioral issues in their classroom and community. This was a first grade class but the students were amazing. She had them reading books about gangs, and segregation and they were having in depth meaningful conversations around the choices in the books and she always made sure to get them to tie it into what was going on around them in the world. Not only was this teacher using this instructional model for meaningful, purposeful learning, but also she was teaching culturally relevant content to her students, Along with creating if not change itself then the hope of social change in her students. It was quite profound. The article is on page 306 in the course pack called From “Answers to Questions: A Beginning Teacher Learns to Teach for Social Justice.” Read it!
-Tasha

teaching philospohy and curriculum

I think a teacher’s choices and philosophy makes huge impacts on how they plan their classroom and curriculum. It is up to the teacher whether to teach traditionally or in a more contemporary and inventive way, using new pedagogy. This decision obviously impacts the classroom from the get go. The way the teacher runs a classroom also affects the students immensely, in respect to how they learn. It is up to the teacher, what teaching styles they use and what methods or strategies they adhere to. Personally, I feel that in order to make a classroom the best that it can possible be, a teacher needs to incorporate a little bit of everything. For instance, in my classroom I would like to use apply Gardner’s styles of learning, Krashen’s theory, desuggestopedia, etc. I also think it is important to have a balance between teacher centered instruction and student centered instruction. Regardless of the teacher’s philosophy, I think that they should model as often as possible and use manipulatives when appropriate. I found that both of these things are beneficial to all students, regardless if they are ELL’s, or have any learning disabilities. Overall, I believe that a teacher should adapt their teaching style to their classroom and their students~ This means that as a teacher you need to be flexible, because you must keep your students’ interests first- if this means teaching more inventively or more traditionally, you must adapt. I also think that a teacher’s attitude has a lot to do with their teaching style~ students can pick up on this attitude, so regardless of how you teach, I think that it is important that you are passionate about it.

-n lendo

Response to Autism Speaker

I really liked this class session. While working at the day care I work at I have had the chance to work with three students that fall in different areas of the autism disorder spectrum. I really learned a lot about autism as well from my 301 class because we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about it. I thought it was really interesting that they do not know what causes it but in some cases it has been linked to vaccines. Weird huh? I really like this guy because he was trying to talk about behavior management with one of the students that I had at my center he behavior was out of control. I talked about him a little in class about how his full time teacher set up a sticker reward system for him and it was working until it started to be use a different way. Instead of giving him stickers for being good people began taking away his stickers when he was acting out. This would usually send him into a rage and then it was out of control and no one could reel him back in. In fact for some reason he responded to me a little better than most of the teachers so at times my director would go get me from a room a have me sit with him. I don't know why this worked I think it is because I knew a little about what autism was and I tried not to get upset at his behavior and his teacher he had all day had been dealing with it all day and so was at her breaking point and I was coming in fresh. I really wish he would have talked more about prevention techniques and how to deal with violent/ aggressive behavior toward ones self and others. This little boy at my center got sent home many times for being violent toward other students and his teachers. The speaker did say when I asked him about this that an ounce of prevention is worth way more than and ounce of reaction. Which I thought was true but I really don't feel that the rules we made in class would have worked with him no matter how much you "caught him being good" I don't think he would have made the connection of that behavior as being good and another behavior as being bad. However, I thought those rules and plan of what the rules should look like if followed was a great thing for any other class and I plan on using them in my class room. I also like when he talked about peer groups I think it was great that he talked about having specific agendas on the tables students will be working at so they can look at to see what they are supposed to do first, second , third, etc.. I like the fact that he talked about using pictures on it i think this would be helpful in the classroom I am in now because they are in first grade and still struggling to read. All in all I thought he was helpful but I wish he could of told us more about what to do if a behavior wasn't prevented and needed reaction how should we react in certain situations.
-Tasha

Reading and Writing Workshops

What I like about reading and writing workshops are that they take the students away from their desks, they get them moving around the room, and they give them many choices. Reading and Writing workshops are at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of literary development. On one end, the reading and writing workshops are student centered, while the more traditional teaching of literacy focusses on teacher centered teaching. There are still many teachers that feel as though they are the ultimate source of knowledge, and that students must absorb what the teachers teach. However, students learn better when they learn on their own and given the tools that they need to learn on their own. This is another reason that I like reading and writing workshops. They give the students the tools they need and teach the students what they need to know through mini-lessons, and then give students the opportunities to apply what they are learning to real contextx through the activities in the workshops. Some feel that students won't learn through the workshops because there is less formal instruction, but the students will learn the most when they are given the opportunity to use what they have learned through the mini-lessons. Reading and writing workshops contain the conditions that Cambourne believes to be the cocndions necessary for students to learn. Cambourne says that these conditions are immersion, demonstration, engagement, expectiations, responsiblilty, approximations, employment, responses, and opportinities for transformations, discussions, reflections, and application. Overall, there is no reason not to use reading and writing workshops in your classroom.

Until next time,
*Lisa*

Tompkins Chapter 6- Expanding Students' Knowledge on Words

I actually really enjoyed reading chapter 6, especially about Mrs. Sanom’s Word Wizards Club- I thought that she used great ideas to enhance her students’ vocabulary, such as the word a day costumes (I thought that was perfect) and the vocabulary parade. I think too often teachers just tell students to look in the dictionary to find out what a word means- not only does this discourage students from learning new words (because of the process) but it also discourages them from asking the teacher, which can be a negative aspect if they stop being curious about new words all together. Overall, I have seen many of the examples that were discussed in this chapter throughout my schooling, various placements, and work. In all of the places, I have seen word walls- In the younger classrooms, these word walls consist of students’ names and frequently used words, while in the older classrooms, the word walls consist of high frequency words as well as vocabulary words. I have also seen hangman played at both levels- in the early grades it is usually a 3 to 4 letter word and the main goal is that the students make logical guesses regarding their letters, while at the older levels it usually can be any word. I have also seen KWL charts in the older classes, but they don’t really seem effective, because I feel like we never go back and find out what the students want to know.
Something I found very interesting was that “unfamiliar words are not equally hard or easy to learn; the degree of difficulty depends on what students already know about the word (p.190). I just thought this was a great thing to find out, especially if you are teaching vocabulary. I also found Graves’ 4 possible situations for unfamiliar words helpful as well as the 4 degrees of word knowledge. I think that both of these taught me that exposure is so important for students regarding vocabulary. Students can’t just see a word once and know what it means- they must see it, say it, read it, write it, learn about it, all numerous times before they seriously learn it.
I believe that it is so important for teachers to give students the skills and strategies to learn new vocabulary and read when they come across things they don’t know. For instance, context clues and the strategies (on page 194) are crucial, especially for ESL students. I think that ESL students (especially) struggle with new vocabulary, so if they can learn the word by using these strategies they will be much more successful. I think that ESL students also really struggle with idioms and multiple meaning words. I feel like the students just don’t see enough/aren’t exposed to these types of words enough, which leaves them lost and confused when they come across them.
Overall, I think that Mrs. Sanom had great ideas about how to teach vocabulary through her club. I also think that vocabulary can be taught through word posters, word maps, word sorts, and word chains (p. 212). I believe that vocabulary is a crucial part to students knowledge and I feel that exposure is the key factor for their learning.

-Nicki lendo

Autism Speaker Response

I really enjoyed the speaker and presentation on Autism~ I thought it was both interesting and extremely beneficial. I liked how Josh incorporated group work and such within the presentation. I also found it very helpful that he gave us tips that would be helpful while teaching autistic children as well as teaching mainstream children. I also found it so helpful that he gave us tips that would support inclusion, such as peer work~ Overall, I feel like I will be able to use the information that Josh presented in my current placement as well as my future teacher jobs.

Currently, I have a couple of students who should be placed somewhere on the autism spectrum, however, their parents refuse to get them the tests that they need, to determine exactly what is going on. It is very difficult for my CT, because there is only so much she can do for these students, one student in particular- V~ he has trouble with the alphabet, letter/sound recognition, letter recognition, etc. My CT has spent the entire year teaching him how to write his name and the sound and name of each letter that makes up him name. Although he has made great progress, he still needs so much more work and attention then my teacher can give him. I think it is important that he stays in a mainstream class, I just think that he needs extra help, because as of how, he is extremely behind, even for being in kindergarten.

Overall, I feel that my past CT’s have used many of the methods that Josh discussed. I think that it is so important that future teachers learn about autism since it is so prevalent in society today and since it is being recognized so much more than in the past. I wish that we would have speakers like this more often because I feel that these are very relevant issues that often get overlooked due to time constraints and content and such.

~Nicki Lendo

Basal Reading Programs

My very first impression of Basal Reading Programs were that these programs are absolutely ridiculous. I have looked through one of these programs and discovered that in order to teach using one of these, the teacher definitely does not need a four year degree in Education. At first, these programs seemed demeaning to me as a future teacher. Can I not think of my own questions? Must I be told what to ask my students? The programs are set up so that anyone can use this program to "teach" students how to read. However, after reading Tompkins, my opinion of the program has changed. So, now that I am done complaining about the program, I will move on to what I have learned.
The first and most important thing to remember is that a Basal Reading Program should not be the only reading program implemented in the classroom. One highlight of the program is that it gives teachers books that are grade-level appropriate, or where most students should be in terms of reading. However, students do not often fit with the grade-level they are in. Many are below, many are above, and some fit academically with the grade level. Teachers will need to provide different reading experiences for their students based on their needs. Students with a lower capacity to read will need books suited for their level of reading, as with those who are above the grade-level expectations for reading For students who are at grade-level in terms of reading, they should be provided with many types of books as well to help them to increase their experiences with different types of genres, writing styles, and to help increase their fluency. I do like how the Basal program offers instruction for teaching students the skills and strategies that are necessary to become fluent readers. These skills and strategies include predicting, questioning, and evaluating, all of which lead to a deeper understanding of what is being read.
The down side of Basal Reading Programs is that they have a set schedule to go by, when to read, what books to read. The whole program is very systematic. Students are NOT systematic. In order to make a program like this work in a real classroom, the teacher will need to incorporate it in a way that meets the needs of all of his or her students. The Basal Reading Program is probably something that I will use someday as part of the school curriculum, but I will make sure to be very cautious in the usage.

Until Next Time
*Lisa*