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!