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*

New Lit Peer Reflection

I decided to reflect on Amanda and Emily’s “E-Pals” New Literacies Project. I have never heard of E-Pals before and I thought that their presentation was very informative and easy to understand. I thought that their project was very appealing, interesting, and extremely accessibly- I thought it was great how they gave characteristics of the E-Pal program as well as a step by step process (with highlighted red boxes… which made it even easier!) on how to navigate through the actual website. I thought that exploring digital literacy through E-Pals was a perfect idea. I think it excels all criteria for digital literacy. I think that this program would be very effective, because it has all of the same benefits as the standard “pen-pals” but it is even better because it adds the technology aspect. Through this project, I learned about digital literacy, which is literacy for the 21st century~ it has all qualities of traditional literacy but it is in the form of blogs, emails, and writing workshops. I learned a lot about the technology, because E-Pals is something I wasn’t familiar with, so the entire presentation was new knowledge to me.
Overall, from this project I have learned that using emails and blogs, something that has become part of my everyday life, can be a very beneficial way of teaching and exploring literacy. I also think that it has showed me through technology, you and your students can communicate with students throughout the world, without having to wait for an actual letter in the mail. This is great for Language Arts because it takes literacy outside of the classroom. It is also beneficial for the students because it gives them knowledge that they can take home with them and use for the rest of their lives.
I do have one question about E-Pals though~ is there a screening process or something that can tell that it’s a real class? I just want to make sure that there isn’t some creep that is corresponding with the students, pretending to be a student.


~Nicole Lendo

New Lit Reflection

Nicole Lendo

I believe that my understanding of literacy has grown exponentially. I feel that now I am aware of so many literacies (in depth) that are just as important as reading and writing literacy, but are often overlooked. I feel like I started this class believing that one could be literate in reading and writing (kind of) and then these literacies had components such as various concepts and comprehension (see concept map). As the class continued, I realized that there are more literacies than just reading and writing, such as cultural literacy, social literacy, economic literacy, environmental literacy, historical literacy, etc. I think that learning about these new literacies has changed my view on language arts because it has made the spectrum of language arts so much broader, encompassing so many other things aside from books and journals. I feel like you can still complete the language arts benchmarks and standards while incorporating all of these other types of literacies on top of reading and writing. After completing this new literacies project and observing my peers’ projects as well, I have learned a number of new technologies that can be used to teach these various literacies.
At first I wanted to do social literacy, but cultural literacy was just as interesting, so I (along with my group members) decided to explore cultural literacy using interactive maps. We wanted to do something that would be beneficial for our peers, so we decided to create an interactive map of beginning teachers’ salaries and average teaching salaries from various places in the US. This technology could also be used though in all of elementary school, from K to 5. I believe that in early elementary school, the teacher could use this to create a map about herself, create maps about her students (where they are from, where the school is, etc.), or create maps to show students different parts of the world (the students could even pick the places and the teacher could map out where they are). I think in upper elementary, students will be able to create map on their own, as early as 3rd grade. They could create their own autobiographical map, create maps that they can use to study countries, cities, capitals, etc. for social studies, or create maps to map out the places they would like to go. Students could create a map as a class, mapping our different cities and then writing their favorite facts about their own designated city. By using these interactive maps, cultural literacy is achieved because you will build and see a connection between the cultural aspects of each location and where it is on the map. By using an interactive map, you can browse from place to place with ease, which enables quick comparisons among locations and cultures, as well as developing the classroom community by building on the cultural literacy among the students in the class.
I think that providing effective literacy instruction means that you are providing your students with a vast amount of literacies and showing them various ways (like the different technologies we researched) to explore these literacies. I think it is important for teachers to set up their students with the tools and knowledge that will make them successful, regarding all types of literacy and I think that the new technologies can aide them in doing so. I think that the only support learners would need, would be a brief introduction that described how to use interactive maps. Students need to know the basics of operating a computer as well as knowledge of the locations that they would like to map out. This process would also include describing how to click on the place you would like and note where the dialog box is, and that it about it.
Overall, I think that this technology is extremely easy to use so it will be beneficial for the teacher to use, the students to use, and for the class to observe while it is being used. I personally don’t like maps or directions or anything like that, because I am TERRIBLE at reading them- however, this technology was very easy for me to use and it was actually fun. I hope that the students will feel that same way, excited to use the interactive maps, regardless of how they feel about maps, directions, or Social Studies in general. Although this could be used and focused on in Social Studies, Language Arts would also be prevalent in every aspect of the map because as you pick your places on the map, you can include a write up of each place, write stories about the places, poems, or really anything.

Notebook: Literacy

Nicole Lendo
3/12/08
TE 402-Lit

Notebook: Ideas and Examples of Fluency


Fluency is the ability to read quickly and with expression. Students must also be able to recognize words automatically. Tompkins stated that fluent readers have more cognitive resources available. Fluency has several components, including reading, phonics, strategies, vocabulary, and comprehension, literature, writing, and spelling. All of these components combined can increase reading speed as well as word recognition. Two of the most important aspects that I learned about fluency, is that it is a combination of instruction and experience and that non-fluency isn’t permanent. I think the latter is extremely important, because it shows that your fluency can be improved with the right practice.
Aside from reading fluency, children can also be fluent in a number of other things, including writing, speaking, and comprehension. I feel that fluent writers can write the alphabet with ease and can spell rather well. Fluent speakers are able to communicate well, using proper words and proper grammar. I think that there can also be comprehension fluency, which would include students who are able to use higher order thinking on a regular basis.
In my placement, I have seen reading speed improved by repeated vocabulary, as well as enhanced word recognition through mini lessons. I have also seen prosody through choral readings. I have also seen fluency in my classroom through word walls (common words and student names) and high frequency words throughout the classroom. Finally, through our class readings, I have also noticed that students using phonic analysis as well as syllabic analysis.
Overall, I have learned numerous new ideas about literacy as well as seen various examples throughout my placement. Although I focused most on reading literacy, this was just because I observe this most in my classroom.


Source: Tompkins, Chapter 5

Autism and Tompkins Chapter 6

Well, first of all I read Tompkins Chapter 6 for this week even though we are not discussing it until next week. The focus of this chapter was teaching students new vocabulary. I believe the best way to do this is through reading, reading, and more reading. I think that I really get this aspect from my mom. She is a really big supporter of reading, especially for younger children to learn new words. Reading is a great way to learn new vocabulary. The words are usually in a context such that the child can figure out the meaning of the word. When a child cannot figure out the meaning, there are many ways that they can do so. They can ask a parent, a teacher, a friend, or even consult a dictionary, which I recommend as a last resort. When students learn a new word from reading, they get to see that word used in a meaningful way, and will therefore learn how to use that word for themselves. I absolutely disliked learning new words from definitions while I was in school. Learning by definition or copying definitions from the dictionary gave me no context in which to use the word. So, I usually learned a new word and its meaning, and by this I mean I could state its definition, but never learned to use that word as an active part of my vocabulary. There are many opportunities in the classroom to allow students to read. I think that there is no excuse for students not to get ample reading time during the day in the classroom. This reading does not always have to be independent or story based, but can be with partners, the teacher reading aloud, and through reading informational texts. What is most important is that students get plenty of opportunities to read and be read to and to explore or discuss words that are currently not part of their vocabulary.
Secondly, I really enjoyed this past Thursday. I learned a great deal about Autism and how students with Autism can be incorporated into main stream classrooms. I really liked the different strategies given for behavioral approaches. I also like how these behavioral approaches can include the whole class so the child with Autism is not singled out, which will only produce more of a sense with the class that this one child is different than the rest. We, as teachers, need to work our hardest to ensure that all of the children in our classroom see each other as equals.

Until Next Time
*Lisa*

GO GREEN, GO WHITE, GO STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Literacies

The new technology that my partner and I chose to use was that of graphic organizers. Graphic organizers can take many forms as seen in our presentation of this new technology. The concept of graphic organizers is not new as graphic organizers have been around for many many years. However, graphic organizers have been reinvented. Instead of the traditional pen and paper graphic organizers, graphic organizers can now be done on the computer and have become interactive. My partner and I were not able to explore graphic organizers online or easily on the computer because the downloads cost money, but we were able to make our own through the use of power point. This might not be the most effective way as it took much patience to use and to make, and it was frustrating trying to use power point. However, there are more effective and easy to use programs available. While the idea of graphic organizers was not new to me, using them on the computer was. Being able to make a graphic organizer online or on the computer brings a whole new meaning to the word organized. Many times, at least when I was younger, when making graphic organizers I would erase or start the organizer over many times. With a computer, this can be done with a click of the button. Another possibility for graphic organizers is to do them as a whole class to organize class ideas. This can be done with the use of a smart board. There are endless possibilities for ways to organize one thoughts, and this became easier with graphic organizers.
The knowledge needed in order to use graphic organizers is that of knowing how to read, write, use a computer, and to know how to use the graphic organizer. The students in my field placement are only learning to begin to read and write. They do know to read and decode some words, but for the most part, reading is a long process for them still. They are also learning how to write. Even though the students are just beginning to read and write, they use graphic organizers a lot in their class. The graphic organizer takes the form a concept map most times or a web and is often made by the teacher with a marker and paper. But, graphic organizers made on the computer can be used in this classroom if the proper technologies were available to this classroom. If the teacher had access to a smart board or a large projection screen to project the computer screen for the whole class to see, the teacher and students can work together to create their own classroom graphic organizers. Since the students are so young, pictures can be used along words so that students will remember what the graphic organizer is representing, and since there will still be text on the organizer, students will still have the opportunity to practice their reading skills.
In terms of my concept of literacy, it has grown greatly since I have been in TE 402. While in TE 301 I learned that literacy is just not learning how to read and write but also to be able to communicate, but in 402, my concept of literacy has greatly expanded. My concept of literacy has now expanded from reading, writing, and communicating, to that of obtaining skills and knowledge in any area that will allow a person to become successful. This could include literacy in certain types of technology, science literacy, math literacy, cultural literacy, religious literacy, music literacy etc. The concept of literacy in endless. In order to foster the development of literacy in the classroom, we as teachers need to be open to these types of literacy. Of course, we need to still teach the basics of literacy such as reading, writing, and communicating, but we can do this in the context of the new literacies such as technology, cultural, etc.

Until next time,
*Lisa*

New Literacy Reflection-Cultural Literacy

When we first started this experiment I felt that literacy was many things but my definition did not include any of the new literacy’s we were to learn about. I knew that culture played a role in instruction of Literacy however it was not on my sheet. I feel that after this project I have a greater understanding for what Cultural Literacy is, how it could potentially affect my teaching, and how detrimental it would be to a student if you did not understand/ know about Cultural Literacy. I gained his understanding by researching Cultural Literacy for the New Literacies experiment, and also by so of the readings/ discussion we have done in class. We have read a few articles on ELL students and their classroom experience involving literacy and the classroom discussions we had on those articles really helped me to think about what I would like to do to teach ELL students in my classroom, and this is how I came up with what I was going to do for the New Literacies Project.
For my project I decided to make a web page for future teachers that explains what Cultural Literacy is, how it may affect your classroom, and what some cultural norms of specific cultural groups are. The thought I do this is that future teachers will then understand what cultural literacy is and beginning thinking about how they would set up their classroom community/ teaching to respect the cultural norms of all students. I choose to create a web page because I thought I could be a useful tool for teachers everywhere to be able to access this information.
This Technology was new to me I had never before made a web page. However, I found the Google page creator to be a very helpful tool. It was very easy to pick the layout and background and then just add my information to the site. If you are using this site you need to have a google email address and password, which I already have, but to get one you just go to gmail.com and set one up. This email address becomes the beginning of the URL or link to your page once you publish your page. I was very worried that when I got done the site would not look professional and to “homemade” Looking. However, I was very happy with how it turned out it looks professional it is helpful. I really liked this project because it made me use a tool I had not yet used.
In thinking about how I could use this technology in my classroom I thought back to experiences my 1st grade students have had. I remembered them going to the library computer lab at the school and the librarian used a smart board to help them walk through the process of signing on finding their page and using it to go to reading games. I thought this was very interesting because I had never seen such young kids using the Internet. To use this technology I believe students need to have at least an Idea of how to do it (i.e. having watched someone do it). I also believe that students need to already have some computer knowledge such as some keyboarding and using a mouse for scrolling, clicking, double clicking and just simple navigation around the screen with it. It would also be very helpful to a student to be able to read so that they can follow the prompts given by the computer (i.e. Type user name and password then click enter). In creating a page a student would also need to be able to type/ write, therefore needing an understanding of keyboarding, spelling, and grammar. I don’t think that in first grade students would be able to find and view web pages on their own let alone build their own without help. I do think that allowing students in older grades to do this would be lots of fun. We talked a lot about book clubs and how cool would it be fore different groups to read different books and think about their roles while reading then make a web page about the book discussing the plot, vocab, characters, questions that occurred while reading all of the roles that hey had while reading and then to share them with each other and the class. I think that a lesson like this would be very helpful to students today who use the internet so often because it would allow them to see how web sites are made make there own and see what web sites can be used for. Very powerful stuff and very important to our technology age.

March 13th Blog

Since our noteblog was about Thompkins Chapter 5, Developing Fluent Readers, I decided to write about the article I chose to read for this week, “Schema: Thinking Aloud-Showing Kids How” by Miller. Not only did I find this article very interesting to read, but I found that it was extremely helpful regarding my lesson plans and mini-lessons. I feel that this article is very beneficial for teachers of younger grades to read. I enjoyed how the article was written- it kind of went step by step, describing aspects teaching using your students’ schema and prior knowledge. I really thought that the first and second step were the most important. The first step is that “authenticity matters”- It is important that the books and activities that are shared with the kids are real and meaningful. I feel that the kids know when the teacher is just making it up or winging it. The second statement is “Use precise language”- I think it is important to use repetitive language so the students can catch on (and so the ESL students can consistently follow what is going on). It is also important that you use the language that the students should be using- this type of modeling will be beneficial for the students’ responses during discussion. It is also important to ask the students “why”- they may be making connections within the book that aren’t apparent to the teacher, so instead of just writing them off, have them explain their understanding. Most importantly, the teacher states the objectives before the lesson starts- I believe that this is very helpful for the students because it shows them exactly what is expected of them. Overall, I think that teaching using schema is a very effective way to teach. I think it is helpful for the students to connect their current knowledge with their old knowledge, as well as connecting things across texts.

If you didn't read this article and are in a lower el class I would recommend it!

-Nicole Lendo

Tompkins Chapter 5

What I found to be most interesting about this chapter is the section about Reading Fluency. Reading fluency consists of being able to read at a reasonable speed (100 words per minute for elementary students), recognizing words, and reading with expression. I think that the most important aspect of reading comprehenion is that of using expression when reading. I just had a recent experience in my field placement where a little girl asked me to listen to her read, so I did. She can read really fast. She was really pleased with herself, and I was impressed. I asked her if she could read with expression. She looked at me with such a serious expression and asked what is expression. I told her that reading with expression is reading with our emotions. I asked her to remember that when her teacher is reading Junie B. Jones, that when Junie B. is happy, the teacher reads with excitement, and that when Junie B. is mad, she reads with a tone of anger. The little girl looked at me funny, but she gave it a try anyway. She was able to read with expression, but only after she made herself slow down. It is only when students are forced to slow down and think about what it is that they are reading, that they will be able to comprehend what it is that they are reading. Reading at a good pace is a reasonable expectation because it should not take a student an hour to read a ten page book, since that would be frustrating for the student, but at the same time, the students should read at a pace that allows them to think about what it is that they are reading.

Until next time,
*Lisa*

Gibbons 5

In order to post on something different, I am going to write about Gibbons chapter 5. The focus of this chapter was to help ELL's comprehend what it is that they reading. The key factor of comprehension when reading in English is that the student knows how to read and comprehend in their own language. When students know how to read in their own langauge, the strategies that they use to read and comprehend what they are reading often come into play when reading in English. Another key factor in comprehension is that of knowing the cuture. I feel that this is one of the greatest factors in reading comprehension. When students do not understand the culture they are living in, they are going to have trouble reading texts that come from that culture. In order to help facilitate reading comprehension for ELL's who do not have a firm grasp on the American culture, students can be paired up with a buddy. This buddy can help to explain to the ELL certain aspects of the culture they are living in. It would be most beneficial to the ELL if he or she were paired with a buddy during reading. When reading together, the buddy can make cultural concepts more clear for the ELL, and thereby make reading comprehension easier as well.

Until next time,
*Lisa*
Sorry this was sooooo late :(

Response to tompkins chapter 2( 2-21-08 readings)

After reading chapter 2 of the Tompkins text I notice that My CT uses a lot of the stratagies used in this text. One of which was the Buddy reading. When they read from their level book boxes they are allowed and sometimes encouraged to read with their table partners. Like the Text sates Students are often able to work together to figure out unfamiliar words. I have seen my students actually stop at a word and try to sound it out to together. I think it makes this reading time more fun and less stressful. I think it is a good strategy to use. I have also seen my CT use the Shared Reading Strategy with them. Most of the times she will read the book to the students or have one of us do it, but sometimes she finds really great voice recording of the books. I did not used to like books on tape and I am not a proponent of using them as the only source of shared reading because students are not learning about concepts of print if you are just holding up a book and turning a page when the tape makes a sound. However, some of the tapes my CT has used in the class really brings the characters to life and I think that as a facilitator while you are using the tape you can follow the words along in the book with your finger to help your students see what the person is reading. Make sure to point to the cover when they read the title and to the author when they read the author. Promoting concept of print skills. I would also stop the tape from time to time and ask your students probing questions to enhance the activity. When it comes to writing I have seen them free writing a lot where they just sit down and write whatever they want and I have seen them respond to a prompt. But, I have not seen them revise or edit there writing. However, yesterday while I was doing some filling for my CT she said don’t file those yet they are rough drafts so maybe they have started learning more about the writing process. I think this chapter does a good job of showing you what the steps of the process are and what are so different strategies you can use to teach it. I also think it was helpful that Judy showed up the Compendium in the back of the book. I think it will be useful when I look back on when I plan future lessons.
-Tasha

2/28/08 Blog

I think that book club is a reading group, where all of the students read the same book at the same rate and time. Periodically throughout the book, the group discusses what is going on within the story. Comprehension is taught in book club, because each student discusses what went on in the text, what could happen next, characters, etc. The students learn comprehension through discussion and sharing of ideas. Knowledge of text facilitates comprehension, because there are many contextual clues that you can get from the text, outside of the actual sentences. I think that when students use literary devices and such, their comprehension really increases.
There are a variety of ways to teach language arts with literature. Teachers can read aloud, have students read aloud, read individually, read as groups, etc. They can also access differently too, through book reports, discussions, essays, plays, etc. I think that using literature in a variety of ways helps diverse learners. I think this is the case because each teaching style caters to a different diverse learning style- therefore by mixing it up and teaching using different approaches; it enables students’ needs to be met. I think that students who struggle with reading should be taught the context clues and literary devices- although this doesn’t help them with the actual words and sentences, it will help them with overall reading comprehension.

-Nicki Lendo

2/21/08 Blog

After today’s reading, I realized that there is much more that goes into reading then one really thinks about. I guess I never really thought about how much goes into reading comprehension and how there are different reader profiles. I found the reader profiles interesting. From the text, I learned that I am a literalist and sometimes a quiz contestant. Overall, I think that when I am reading for school (basically throughout my entire schooling) I will go back to where the answer is in the text, even if I remember it or not, and then write the answer as it was literally stated in the book. It may not be word for word, but it is close. I would say I am also a quiz contestant though at the same time. I think this because a lot of time I connect whatever I am reading to personal stories or things that I have heard of and then I will answer based on my other experiences. This kind of sounds like the definition to quiz contestants, “provide answers that are logically correct but disconnected from the text” (p. 121). I feel that most of the kids I read with respond like left fielders or authors. Many of the students either say whatever they think, regardless if it is connected or not, or they completely make up their own story all together. I wonder if their profile will change as they grow older and become more advanced readers?

I am concerned about my lesson plan because I still have yet to meet with my teacher, due to snow days and president’s day. I have some ideas, but I am feeling pretty lost.


-Nicki

2/14/08 Blog

After taking the digital quiz, I realize that I know a lot about technology, however, there is still so much that I don’t know. I feel that I am in between a digital native and an immigrant. I wouldn’t consider myself an immigrant, because I grew up with technology and am very good at using the things that I know how to do. I wouldn’t consider myself completely native though, because there are still so many things that I don’t know how to do. According to Tompkins (p.84) emergent literacy is the perspective on how children become literate. I feel like this connects to my digital literacy, because you become more and more literate the more and more exposed you are to that particular thing.

I really enjoyed the Marcus: Gifted and Challenging article. I found many similarities between Marcus and my younger brother, who was also diagnosed with ADD and ADHD while in elementary school. I thought that this article gave me an insight into something I never could understand with my younger brother- his frustration about school. I couldn’t understand it, because he was so smart, genius on IQ charts. The article taught me that it was frustrating because his motor skills aren’t developed enough and fast enough to produce all of the information that is going on in his head during writing. This makes so much sense to me now, seeing how frustrated my brother was in school. I think it is so important as future teachers that we read and learn about things like this and ways to help students like this, otherwise they just fall through the cracks. I believe that is what happened with my brother- he could never sit still, had a hard time focusing, pretty standard ADHD characteristics- however instead of helping him, his teachers just yelled at him for always moving around and never completing his word on time. This of course made him instantly hate school and this attitude carried with him throughout his entire schooling. I’m happy to say that he just graduated high school (one semester early), but it certainly wasn’t easy and if his teachers would have even done anything similar to Marcus’ teachers, it would have made a big difference.

After looking at my GLCE’s, I feel that they do guide instructional choices to an extent- I feel that teachers feel that they need to accomplish the expectations, however, it’s hard to do because your actual classroom can never really be that scheduled- I mean that some activities take longer than others, sometimes you want to spend more or less time on certain things, etc. I think that all instruction needs to be differentiated to an extent. I feel that students are so different now (from each other- ESL, learning disabilities, different levels of reading, writing, etc), that lesson plans have to be modified to accompany all students’ learning styles. I don’t necessary even think that they need to be modified that much, however, a little modification is usually necessary.

~Sorry this is late~ I'm still catching up from being sick!

-Nicki Lendo

Response to Tompkins Chapter 1 (2-14-08 readings)

After reading these chapter one thing sounds throughout my head "Teachers are spending to much time teaching literacy". I guess I feel this way because I see how literacy is involved in every subject however, in my classroom placements in my time here I have seen very little of the "other" subjects. For example on page 10 in the Tompkins text it shows a teacher working on literacy only with reading and writing from 8:50 to 1:30 and there is only one two hour break from 10:50- 12:50. I cannot imagine doing this in a classroom though I think the techniques this teacher uses are great what she is filling this time with could be shorter. I look at the first grade classroom I am in now and I see how much focus is put into writing time and reading times. I find myself thinking how easy it would be if writing time was spent instead of free writing, or writing to some writing prompt, used through out the day, throughout lessons. After allowing the students to observe a science demonstration or being read part of a science topic I think this would be a great time to integrate literacy. I would now have my students go back to their seats and think about what they saw or heard and write about it. They could write how they thought it happened, or using descriptive words descriptive words describe what they observed. All of this applies directly to what literacy is. I guess my main question is not why spend any time teaching literacy because I do believe that some time should be spent, but why are we spend some much time and short cutting the” other " subjects which could and in my book should be tied into literacy?
-Tasha

Reading Comprehension

Reading through Tompkins chapter 7 brought to my consciousness the processes that I go through in to order to comprehend the text that I am reading. I will admit that I do not frequently do all of these all of time, which I do not think to be possible to do anyway, however, when reading through texts, the strategy that I employ almost everytime is that of connecting. I am always connecting everything that I read to my life in someway. When reading texts about teaching, I am picturing my future teaching career and relating what I read to my future. When I read for pleasure, such as reading novels, I connect what I am reading to events that have happened in my past, pretending that I am a character in the book, or relating the characters in the book to my friends and family. When reading a novel or reading aethestically, I almost always viualize what it is that I am reading. Visualization helps the story come alive and to make reading more interesting. I do predict, identify big ideas, and monitor my own comprehension sometimes as I read. As mentioned in Tompkins, monintoring my comprehension comes to the forefront of my mind when I realize that I do not understand something that I am reading. I very infrequently evaluate what it is that I have read. I also infrequently question by asking myself literal and inferential questions about the text that I am reading. This is something that I feel like I need to work on a lot. It is when one questions what they are reading and answers those questions through the text that the text becomes the most comprehensible that it can be. In the future, I need to work into my comprehension strategies that ability to be able to ask myself questions about the text in order to create a better understanding of what it is that I am reading.

Until next time
*Lisa*

NLCB, Phonemic Awareness and Book Clubs~

I think that NCLB influences language arts curriculum greatly. I think it really puts emphasis on younger elementary teachers because I feel like it is their job to build a foundation for the students’ future education. According to NCLB, it is the district’s responsibility to teach 100% proficiency in twelve years. I feel like in order for the latter years to be effective, the beginning years must cover all basic areas of literacy. Although this seems like it is a good and easy idea, I feel like this is where more students fall behind in school- they never get a good solid foundation in reading and writing, which leaves them nothing to build on as their go through schooling, so it is like they are not given a chance from the start. Due to these factors, I feel that it is imperative to teach language arts at the most basic level as early as possible in a child’s schooling.

I think that there are a variety of teaching approaches that can help children develop phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling. A few things that I have witnessed in my placement are segmenting words into sounds, and substituting sounds to make new words. The students learn different letters individually that have a character, song, and poster that go with them. For instance, Sammy the Seal represents S- he has a song that tells all of the thing Sammy does and then has a poster that goes with these activities~ all of these things start with S, like swim, sand, socks, etc. The students then raise their hands and say any S words that they know. After this is done and they are written on the board, the children as a class say the words sound by sound until they figure out the word~ they also do a hand motion to capture each letter- I think that this is effective because it shows the kids that the sounds of the letters combined create the word. My CT then picks letters that they have already learned and then part of a word on the board. They kids then individually choose different letter sounds to change the word. For example, the word on the board will be “at” and the kids have the option of adding S, P, M, C, etc. Overall, I feel this is a great way for students to be interactive with literacy, while learning phonemic awareness.

I feel that book clubs are a great thing that can bring students together by building a community from sharing opinions and ideas. I feel like each student brings new literacies to the classroom, whether it is their language, culture, home life, etc- I think that all of these things effect how one’s opinion on certain stories, books, and novels. By having book clubs, it allows students to tap into their personal literacy, whatever it may be, and then share it with the group. This supports language learning in the sense that it promotes using and sharing personal vocabulary as well as promoting reading and sharing connections with the story.

~Have a great weekend~

-nicki

NCLB and Book Clubs

While No Child Left Behind seems like a good plan of action for todays teachers and students, the reality is, is that this plan is really not a plan at all. While the plan itself has a great name, No Child Left Behind, that everybody would like to see happen, the plan has been a big flop and a hinderance to the education of many students. Of course, as well all already know, especially as future teachers, it has seemed that the hatred of NCLB has been ingrained into our minds. While NCLB was intended to have all students prosper in the classrooms, it has stifled the learning of many, most of which are the students who are not "mainstream" students, thus putting them at a greater disadvantage at getting ahead in society. Because teachers have to have their students meet certain standards, or achieve high on standardized tests, teachers are limited in their ability to create lessons that accomodate all students or spend an adequate amount of time teaching students the content that is important to success in school and in life. One area in particular is that of Language Arts. I feel like teachers must race through the curriculum in order to meet the benchmarks and to "teach" the students what they must know for these tests. What happens in the process is that students do get left behind, and in the long run the schools must pay for this by not receiving the aid that they need in order to provide students with a better education. The students that really concern me are those that are learning English as a second language. These students, and others as well, may need more time to learn how to read and write in a second language, or in a language that they are already fluent in, than the time restricted NCLB Act allows. For most students, the process of learning how to read and write will begin with phonics and learning the relationship between written and spoken langauge, or the letter sound correspondence. For students who come to the U.S. and enter third grade, for example, or higher, have already missed out on the opportunity to learn how to read and write English through phonics, which is usually taught in kindergarten through second grade. What are teachers to do about these students? The teachers cannot slow down the pace of the whole class or else the majority of students will not learn enough to do well on standardized tests, yet at the same time, they must slow down in order to accomodate those who are learning at a slower pace. What results is an attempt to educate students at a pace that is unreasonably fast and an education system that fails many students. Overall, the NCLB Act influences Language Arts, as well as all other subject matters, in a way that is unacceptable. If students do not learn how to read and write, how will they succeed outside of school? The answer is that they probably won't.
On the brighter side, I really enjoyed going to Mrs. Sturk's class on Monday and getting the opportunity to see a book club in action. I think, that as a teacher I will frequently implement book club style teaching of literature. I really had fun seeing and being part of the book club. In my group, there was a girl who had recently moved to the U.S. I think that she moved to the U.S. on Jan. 8th of this year. From what I saw, she does not know English very well, but she knows enough to get by. I think the book club will be very beneficial to her. Not only will she learn English through reading the book, she will hear Enlgish often from the peers in her group, and she will learn how English can be interpreted in many ways as her group talks about the many meanings of the books that they discuss. Overall, I do not see any downside of doing bookclubs. When students are paired together, they are sure to learn something new. Each student has his or her own ideas, ways of speaking, and ways of interpreting the things that they read. I think that each student in the classroom will become more knowledgeable about literature and language in general as they have discusions with their peers as well as the teacher.


Until Next Time,
*Lisa*

ELL students in the class room (post for January 31 readings)

Sorry this is just now getting posted guys I thought I posted it but I looked on here and it wasn't so if it is posted twice on yours please let me know.
During our discussion in class and through our reading I learned many things about ELL students. Many things I already knew but one thing came up that really got me thinking. While watching the Ivan cases the classroom teacher addresses many facts she knows about the different cultures in the world. Judy later discussed this a little more talking about needing to know about cultures because students can come from the same place but be from different sides of issues or even wars this could effect your classroom community. Well I was thinking about all this and it really got me thinking of something sally told our class last semester. She told us that once you become a teacher you are always a teacher that you will no longer plan vacations for the pure fact of just going to relaxing in the sun but you should (in between relaxing in the sun) ,do activities that will allow you more experience with something you teach (like visiting the holocust memorial center in DC), or picking up interesting shells and rocks to use as props. My SME teacher Jane told us how she has picked up road kill to have stuffed to use in her classroom as props. How does this tie into ELL students you may be wondering? Well as Judy talked about her family and all the cultural things she has learned from them I could not help but think what a valuable resource. It just shows that as a teacher anything you can learn makes you a better teacher. As teachers we will need to up to date on world affairs and current political climates, along with gathering as many resources on different cultures that we can.

Choral Reading

I really liked doing the choral reading that was done in class last week. It was interesting to see how the poem had different meanings when it was read differently. I suppose I never really realized that this would have an impact on the meaning of a piece of writing, but it does. I think choral reading is helpful to the students for a variety of reasons. I feel like the repetitiveness of the process is a good way of recycling the vocabulary- this is very helpful for Second Language Learners because it exposes them to new vocabulary and then reuses it (as the poem is repeated) so it eventually becomes instilled into the Second Language Learns memory. I think this style of reading also allows students to have the opportunity to ask what words mean if they do not understand them- I think by repeating the poem more the once, it gives the students more room to think about the words they do not understand and ask about them (because they are given more time to think about the words and more time to ask about them in between readings, it will enable the students to understand the vocabulary better). I also think this type of reading helps all of the students with comprehension. The various styles of choral reading give the students a chance to express their different ideas about what they thought the poem means. This also shows Second Language Learners that words/sentences/statements can have different meanings and that there isn’t always one right answer.

Overall, I feel like choral reading is a very good experience for the teacher and the students- I think it allows classroom interaction as well as promoting a better classroom community and environment.

-Nicki Lendo

Second Language Learners in the Classroom/ Choral Reading

As I was reading chapter 2 of Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning, I came to realize how important it is for students who are Second Language Learners to fully participate in conversations in the classroom. It is a typical notion that those who immerse themselves in a second language learn that language much faster than if they were just to study that language in a classroom setting. Often teachers take this notion too seriously. They feel that Second Languages Learner in their classrooms should be able to pick up English with minimal effort just by listening to other students and themselves talk. However, Second Language Learners need to talk in order to fully come to learn English and all of its properties. Second Language Learners will begin to talk fluently in conversational settings way before they will be able to read and understand the English used in classrooms and on standardized tests. When students talk with their classmates who are more proficient in English than they are they will begin to hear discrepancies in the words and language style that they use compared to the words and language styles that their classmates use. By becoming aware of these discrepancies, Second Language Learners will eventually come to use the standardized English used in the classrooms. Too often, teachers fail to call on Second Language Learners to answer questions or participate in discussions because they do not speak English proficiently. However, the students will learn best when they are forced to use what they are learning. As an example, I learn more about a certain topic when I must teach it to someone else or use it.
In my classroom, I see that when the students who are learning English as their second language are called on or are asked to explain something, they think more about what they are going to say before they say it. They are processing in their minds how to communicate their ideas in the best English possible.
The choral reading that we participated in during class on Jan. 24th was very interesting to me. First, I found it interesting that as a group, we all read the passage in the same way, pausing and beginning at the same time. Although I like this idea, I feel as though it took away from the meaning of the piece. I think that people would have read the passage differently if they were to have read it by themselves. When the passage is read differently, with emphasis on different words and phrases, the whole passage can take on new meanings. I also found it interesting how many different interpretations were taken from that one passage. It helped to ingrain in my mind, even more, the importance of discussions as they reveal things to people that they may never have thought of.

Until Next Time
*Lisa *

Response Centered talk in my Placement

I think that the main type of talk showing up in my classroom placement is the I-R-E (initiate-respond-evaluate) or recitation type talked about in the Almasi reading. In general after reading a story to the class the teacher will ask a question wait for an answer either except that answer or ask for other answers and then move on.
I think that for a Response-centered talk to take place in my classroom placement a few different things should be done first. First, I would explain to the students what Response-centered talk is. Basically explaining that they will be discussing a book in groups and that they should maybe think of some questions about the story they would like to talk about in group, talk about how many different ways they can talk about a book (i.e. what they like/ disliked about the book, what they did not understand in the book, and their questions). I would also like to tell them to try and support their response to the text therefore providing the why to their response (i.e. I didn’t like when she did this because….). I think I would also really stress that there are no wrong answers everyone’s view of the reading is just as important as everyone else’s. I think that it would be very important for the class to establish norms for this type of discussion.
I think this is important because when I think of implementing this type of talk in my placement I think of all the broken friendships that could happen do to one friend disagreeing with another’s reading of the text. I could also see members being to afraid to participate for fear of not having the “right” reading of the text or being grouped with a stronger personality and just adapting their read to fit that students instead of challenging that persons view. I can think of a few students in my classroom I would like to watch for this in particular because I have seen them dominate a group discussion in the past and have even used threats to get others to agree with them (i.e. well if you don’t think this then we can’t be friends). Another student that comes to mind always believes she is right and will stop at nothing to prove it and even when proven wrong never fully agrees. There are a few students in my room on the opposite end of the spectrum who are emotionally fragile and I could see them having their opinion contested and them crying or not even participating for fear of being seen as dumb. I think that by just aware of these personality types and watching out for this behavior will allow me as a teacher to better facilitate groups containing these personalities. I think that a lot of this can be stopped by helping students to develop group norms to ensure that one person does not dominate or get left out.
-Tasha

After reading the articles, I came across a lot of information that I agreed with regarding literacy and discussions, as well as some information that I wasn’t so sure about because it never pertained to any of my schooling. I really liked how the Almasi article discussed the difference between discussion and recitation. Based on this article as well as my own experiences, I feel that discussions are much more beneficial to students. From my own experience, I feel like students get much more involved in discussion if they are able to respond to each other’s responses and voicing their own opinions, instead of just answering a teacher’s questions. I also like discussions because students are more interactive and the idea of discussion is more authentic then just question and answer. Regarding assessment, although the book said that recitation is a good way of assessing the students, I feel like discussion is just as good of a method. I think that a teacher can assess whether students understand the information regardless of the method of discussion. I also think discussion is much more beneficial for ESL students, because it gives them the opportunities to ask questions, say what they feel, question their own understanding, etc. I think during a question and answer session, ESL students could easily be overlooked, because they could just not be called on- I feel like they would be more likely to talk in a discussion. Discussion also gives the students a chance to explain alternative interpretations- this also gives students a chance to express their creativity and own personal experiences and ideas. Regarding the bullets on page 59, I am not sure how much I agree with the idea that the response-centered talks much require careful planning. I think that some of the best discussions are the ones that are not planned.

Since I am in kindergarten, I don’t usually see this formal discussion- I feel like the most effective discussions I am experience are when I one on one talk to a student. I feel the kids have an easier way discussing their own ideas when it is just one on one because they are able to get all of their thoughts out and your know that they aren’t piggybacking on their peers’ ideas. I also think that this will be helpful diverse learners engage in language arts. I think that the one on one experience will also raise their self esteem as well as answer any questions that the students have. I have two ESL students in my class- one student is fully capable of having group discussions and such completely on her own. My other student though, requires a lot of scaffolding. I feel that he needs to be prompted in order to have discussions. I also think this scaffolding sets up the vocabulary and such that he uses in the conversation. As the year continues though, I think this scaffolding is happening less and less and he is becoming more independent with his conversations.

In Langer’s article, I like the idea of envisionment- I like how it is a thing that always changes, along with your ideas, thoughts, and feelings about your current reading. I was confused about the steps on page 69 though- I’m not sure if students go through the steps progressively or if the students are put into groups for each step or something like that. I am curious as to how it would work for either way.

Nicole Lendo

Literary Discussions in the Classroom

While reading through the various articles for this week, they reminded me of how important literary discussions are in the classroom. I remember being read to often throughout elementary school and reading a lot on my own. Unfortunately, the typical activity/ assessment that followed was what Almasi called recitations. My teachers would ask simple questions that required the class to recount the events in the book we had just read. Never do I remember diving deeper into books to uncover or explore multiple interpretations. Although I don't recall experiencing discussions in elementary school, discussions and multiple interpretations were the main focus of one of my high school classes. This class was called Novels. The class consisted of reading six novels throughout the semester and analyzing them for further interpretations than just what the text said. I used to struggle finding multiple interpretations of these books as I read them, however, through class discussion I was able to hear what other students thought. As the class discussed their ideas I could understand where their interpretations were coming from. Through these discussions and listening to other students, I learned what to look for while I was reading that would help me find alternate meanings of the books. By the end of the semester I learned how to analyze books. Therefore, through this class, I came to realize how important discussions are especially when focusing on reading.
With that said, I will focus on my field placement. I am in a kindergarten classroom where much of the time is spent on literacy, including phonics, writing short stories, centers, and reading to the whole class. While not much time is allotted for discussion of the books that are read, I feel that the CT presents a recitation and response- centered discussion. Recently, the CT has been reading a book about Junie B. Jones. Throughout the book, Junie explores the possibility of what the tooth fairy does with all of the teeth she collects. After reading a chapter out of the book, the CT will ask the students to think about how Junie feels, whether or not they agree with what Junie thinks, and ways that they can relate to the story. In this way, the teacher presents a response- centered discussion by having the students think beyond what is written in the text. However, much of the discussion is teacher centered with the CT asking all of the questions and calling on students to answer. After being in this classroom for more than a semester now, I feel like I know the students very well. Overall, the class may need some prompting from the teacher to get the discussion started, and may need some guidance about what to discuss and guidance to stay on one topic until that topic is talked through, but most of the students in the class love to talk and tell their opinion. I think that if a full response-centered discussion were used with this class, the students would learn much from their peers including the multiple perspectives of the story that are sure to come out, as well as the ways that other students are thinking about the story.
At least three quarters of the class would do great with a response-centered discussion, while the other quarter may not understand the story and be able to give input into the discussion, or may be to shy to readily give input. However, for the shy students, as mentioned by McGee, teacher interaction in the discussion by calling on these students to answer will help to alleviate the non-participation. For those students who may not understand the story, I feel that when they listen in on the conversation, they will gain much insight from their peers about how to think about books and what is read to them. As the students listen more and more to the discussion of their peers, they will hopefully apply the strategies that their classmates do when listening to the stories and use these strategies to be able to understand what is read to them. I think that response-centered discussion benefits everyone in the classroom in some way or another.

Until next time,
Lisa :)

woo!

I'm just posting to make sure it works~~

thanks lisa!