Learning to Write

Learning to write is hard for me to remember. I remember the early years of learning how to form letters using workbooks and coloring assignments, and I remember learning how to write in cursive in the second grade. But the writing process is another story, I don’t ever remember learning how to put sentences together, what to include, and how to tie them together. In upper elementary school and middle school, I know we learned how to write essays and how to improve our paragraphs, but before that I do not remember specific instruction on how to write. I do not see much writing instruction while I am at my placement. Most of the time is spent focusing on reading comprehension and fluency or spelling. I would be interested to find out how students develop their writing schools, and what most programs are lacking (instruction wise) currently.

Language Arts Lesson Plan

I taught my language arts lesson plan on the book The Diggers. Originally I was planning on using the book Tar Beach, but after input from my C.T. decided on The Diggers. What was interesting about this book is that it begins as a story about things that dig; animals, people, and machines. But then develops into a story about a man and a goal he has. It was interesting to get input from the students about what they liked about the story as well as their predictions. After our discussion I had the students fill out sheets that asked them to tell one thing that happened in the beginning of the story, one thing that happened in the middle of the story, one thing that happened at the end of the story, as well as their favorite part of the story. It was hard to get the second graders to ask questions and have a strong discussion, but looking at their work really helped me see who understood and paid attention to the story. It was also a helpful assessment for seeing their writing skills. I was a little surprised to see that second graders were still having trouble making complete sentences. I saw many answers without capital letters or punctuation. All in all I think that the lesson was successful. The students had to remember the story, discuss what they thought, and recall information in order to write about the story.

Study Student and Literacy

I have been seeing unusual behavior from my study student lately. It seems that her reading fluency is getting worse as the year goes on. My C.T. has noticed this as well, and is not sure what exactly is causing it. The student might be held back this year so that she can improve her literacy skills. I do not know what the right choice would be, but as of now she loves school and is one of the students who actually does all of their work. I find her reading books for outside of class during free time, and taking an interest in reading and writing. So I wonder how is it that her reading skills seem to be getting worse? Have any of you had any experiences like this?

Language Arts Lesson

Renee and I had successfully completed our language arts lesson on The Snowy Day. It was a great experience for the students to relate their own experiences of snow day to the story of the book. During our lesson, I was surprised to know how well students could generate questions; especially, when it was their first time coming up with a question on their own based on the reading we did together, The Snowy Day. The CT was surprised as well in hearing all the great questions from the students. Moreover, the students who were listening to the question paid full attention and even raised their hands to answer their classmate’s question. These behaviors are favored and expected from students when the CT asks students with questions. Students forming questions suited very well to our lesson since we had prepared questions from the book to ask the students for enhancing comprehension of the text. The transition of having students ask questions after ours, it became somewhat easier for the students to come up on their own.

Students also worked on three-part story as an assessment after reading The Snowy Day as a class in which they did drawings and a little bit of writing about a story of activities they do during snow days similar to what Peter does in the book. Students were able to work on this assessment without a problem since it was a familiar activity they usually did in class with the CT. However, there were many stories of same drawings on all three pages or less details drawn to tell what the story of their snow day was about. Through assessments, I realized how students still needed to work on expanding their vocabularies for writing and including details for the drawings.

Overall, I felt good about how much the students have progressed since the beginning of the year.

Learning to Write

I can barely remember how I learned to write, but I do remember there were many tracing and reading. In elementary school (back in Korea), we had notebooks where letters were lightly written for students to trace over in practice of neat handwritings and directionality of each letters. In addition, there were journals to be written over the weekends with drawings explaining how I spent my weekend; and “neat handwriting” and “book report” competitions for each grade where everyone had to mandatorily participate. In order to win and be acknowledged, we had to read many books and practice creative writings outside of school to grab the readers’ attentions since I had to compete against 250 students in our grade. Competitions were a big deal for the parents and the school; hence it could not be ignored but practiced. Therefore, I don’t remember having an exciting moment of learning to read and write when I started learning to write.

When I began to learn English and was asked to write (end of 6th grade), it was the hardest experience in my school years. I had trouble reading in English in which led to challenges in writing. Grammatically, my sentences did not make sense and I could not get my thoughts expressed due to limited vocabularies. Gradually, writing skills developed and is still being developed due to engaging and fun activities introduced in American schools compared to my experiences in Korean elementary school. However, writing is still one of my biggest challenges.

Self Reflection Journal Entry

Over the course of the semester, our blogging group has touched on discipline of children quite a bit and been able to bounce ideas off of one another about how to implement that aspect into our classroom. In conjunction with that, we have spent a lot of time talking about how to generate a genuine, learning-filled discussion outside of the recitation-type that we know so well. In addition, we have spent ample time on how our experiences relate to how we teach and what that means for our future classrooms. It is an enlightening topic to address because we will be faced with a very real classroom next year, in which we have to come up with ideas and balance what we know in our heads with what is before us in the room.

The group does a really great job of challenging one another on certain aspects of the topics on which we’ve written; indeed, it is not uncommon for us to specifically identify a question or challenge for the other peers and give them something to really chew on. I am never disappointed in not being challenged with this group, and I take what my fellow teachers have to say to heart. I, too, try to make it a point to challenge deep thinking and further connections in the ideas being discussed because I really do care about expanding the knowledge of my peers.

Overall, I think that our group greatly benefited from the blog and would reward us with an A for all of our hard work and genuine comments that result in genuine learning.

Tompkins Chapter 2: Reading and Writing Processes

Reading and writing are genuinely related in which a development in reading can also lead to development in writing and vice versa. Hence, it is important for teachers to introduce appropriate processes for both reading and writing as mentioned in the chapter. Also a nice chart on page 66 demonstrates the comparison of the two and how similar they are within different stages. Reading and writing contains several stages of processes in which students can effectively comprehend texts and creatively write. Moreover, the stages have bullet points explaining what needs to be understood by the students to become fluent readers and writers.

The students in the kindergarten classrooms are always reading and writing. Books our CT reads to the class are not always new, there are more times when she reads a same book for several days and works around a book in doing activities. Having students do activities and assessments on a book, they experience more reading and writing related to a single topic in which develops their comprehension and creativity in coming up with more ideas for writing. In addition, the CT’s strategies of working around a book relates to some of the different stages that are listed on Tompkin’s chapter on pages 43 and 52 but in level of kindergarteners.

Tompkins Chapter 7: Knowledge of Words

I have wondered what words were supposed to be up on the word wall, but reading this chapter answered some of my questions regarding which words should be studied and recognized for the students. I believe reading is a great tool of interacting students with unfamiliar words. Hence, a list of unknown words should be listed on the word wall as a class, and use them to go back and understand when more of the same words shows up in other readings or is needed for spelling when used in writings. It is important for the teachers to explicitly teach the meaning and usage of the unknown words since there may be students (perhaps, English language learning students) needing more explanations and examples compared to other students. Moreover, new learned words should be repeated several times for internal learning on meanings of words for the students to truly own them.

It is important to learn words chosen by the teachers when reading, but it is also important for students to be able to recognize unknown words when reading and decide to look them up rather than skip them. Continuous exercise of word learning strategies (using text clues, analyzing word parts, and checking a dictionary) will support students’ word consciousness by developing their vocabularies.

Tompkins Ch 7

Man, whew. That was my first reaction to this chapter. I remember learning spelling words in grade school and how difficult it was to remember all the different meanings to words, and reading this chapter brought back that exhaustion. Being in a first grade class I have seen this being such a struggle for the students. I talked to my CT about some of the ways she approaches this challenge. She told me a huge key is to introduce each meaning and word at a separate time. For example, introducing two and to and too the kids learn better and understand when they are introduced one week at a time. Having them work with each word for a full week alone helps cement it and they learn it. However, there will still be confusion and at times you have to deal with it numerous times. Being in lower grades also, it is often that you will get hung up on the Unknow Word and Initial Recognition. The biggest goal is to help them get as close to the Parital Word Knowledge as possible. Being in upper elementary next year, I will make sure to keep in mind the struggles can transfer up to the higher grades as well. Just another reason to keep this book close next year and beyond =)

Tompkins Ch 2

The Reading and Writing Process is so vital and I sometimes feel overwhelmed when I think about teaching it, but this chapter as well my project helped alleviate some of the stress. A really great part of the chapter was the portion about Online Publication Sites. I think that this is a great way to get students confident and comfortable with their writing. When I was in grade school the local paper would publish Kids Korner which was all local elementary school kids' writing. Everyone loved seeing their writing in the paper, and I rememeber it forcing us to also take great pride and make sure we had little to no errors in our writing.

I have tried to work with my study student on writing and showing him different ways to spell words he doesn't know. The case for not just him but all the students in my class, they just ask myself or CT. I have ran into problems with the process of sounding the word out with him because he struggles so badly with letter sounds. When we work together, we work on the very basic phonetic awareness and I try to sprinkle writing in when I can. He is a great artist so I encourage him to draw first and then write. Another technique that I use is have him write what he can and just spell how he would, then go back and have him read aloud to me what he wrote and write it down and then go back and show him the words he struggles with.

April 6 - Tompkins, Chapter 2, Teaching the Reading and Writing Processes

Prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing strategies are all incorporated into the writing process as different steps to developing a written piece of literature. Tompkins p. 61 explains the incorporation like this: “students use these writing strategies purposefully as they draft and refine their writing.” Skills that are used include content, word, sentence, grammar, and mechanical. These may be applied in think-alouds and reflected in rubrics provided by the administrator.

The writing process is a fabulous tool for effective teaching of reading and writing because it incorporates Tompkins’s principles 3-8: creating a community of learners (by feedback from teacher and peer), adopting a balanced approach to instruction (by focusing on each step of the writing process), scaffolding students’ reading and writing (each grade level can apply more polished pieces of writing than the others as specific content goals are outlined in each level), organizing for literacy instruction (the steps are so easy to follow!), linking instruction and assessment (rubrics are essential), and partnering teachers with parents (by encouraging them to take part in the writing process and be interested in the final product of the literacy).

Some of the strengths of the process include that it is very intricate, many adaptations can be made to meet the needs of any group of students, and tons of reading and writing aspects are touched upon and mastered. Weaknesses, though, include that it is extremely time-consuming for one project. Students may also get tired or bored of the same content being discussed over and over.

March 30 - Tompkins, Chapter 7, Expanding Students’ Knowledge of Words & My Study Student

I love the concept of incidental word learning; I think that understanding it is a huge step to how we as teachers can form realistic expectations for our students and use it in a classroom. Encouraging students to read on their own time and at their own levels by setting time aside in school is also so beneficial in their development of language as well as a classroom community. When my 5th graders Drop Everything And Read, for example, I take note of who is reading what, and then ask them about it later so that they can get excited about what they are reading and practice comprehension simultaneously.Specifically, my study student’s thirst for stories and knowledge enable him to have the motivation to continue reading. I see it daily as he talks unabashedly about his books and what he is learning, and I can see it play out in the classroom because he is a more mature 10-year-old and does indeed have a larger vocabulary.

This topic also reminds me of the video we watched in class about the teacher who had a year-long project called the “word wall.” The concept was used to help younger students with recognizing words, and created a sense of pride in how much they had learned since the beginning of the year (it was something very tangible to see). Not only did the word wall consist of new words, though, they were words that the students worked on weekly and could recognize through repetition and mastery. I would love to incorporate something to that affect in a classroom one day.

Learing to Write

I actually vividly remember learning to read and write when I was in elementary school. I used to get frustrated and embarrassed when we had our book groups (even though my mother was one of the volunteers) because my dyslexia worked so that it took me forever to decode words. I had to learn to read by site rather than decoding much faster than the rest of my peers. Beyond that, though, writing was quite fun for me. Before I knew script or letters, I would make-believe that I was a teacher, writing on a tiny chalkboard (scribbles), teaching my dolls. While in school, I remember having the hardest time with some letters – Y’s and K’s were always backwards, and I could never remember which side of the page to start with (dyslexia, again).

I remember the first long-story I wrote, though. In Mrs. Wernholm’s class in 4th grade, our assignment was to go through the writing process – come up with an idea about a story (our topic had to be animals and myths), write a rough draft, edit someone else’s paper, re-write our own, then draw pictures representing the story and bind the final product in book-form. My story was called, “How the Leopard Got Its Spots.” Something happened where paint got dumped on one leopard, and the rest of his friends wanted to be like him, too.

Language Arts Lesson

I taught my lesson the other day and was SO SURPRISED at the outcome of the discussion and the things the students had to say. I’m used to a classroom without any boundaries – kids getting up and walking out of class when they feel like it, refusing to do class work, fights breaking out, cigarettes being found, suspensions given out – but not this day. I took over their normal reading time, which is usually comprised of reading a story from a textbook silently, then out loud as a class – tedious and boring when it’s the routine every single day. I chose to read a book called “Feathers and Fools,” a fable about two groups of birds who declare war on each other and ultimately leave the habitat desolated, only because of fear and ignorance of the other group. The students were riveted by the story when I read it out loud, and attentive and responsive when I asked them to discuss certain factors of the story. I was able to relate the book to personal life in asking them if they had ever acted wrongly out of fear – to which they admitted! – and then we brainstormed as a class what we could learn from the lesson and how we could implement it in our own lives.

The facilitation part of the lesson did not go as smoothly as I wanted it to - I was hoping for a genuine discussion, with students responding to each other, but they had never experienced that sort of group-talk, so they usually waited for me to evaluate each idea and statement, at which point I had to call on the next raised-hand. I felt really great about the discussion in general, though, and I think it was a huge step in reading and comprehension.

Study Student and Comprehension

My study student is so far behind that comprehension is very difficult to get at. He is so used to not knowing how to solve a problem or get an answer that"I don't know" is his answer for everything, even when he does know. I have seen that if you stay away from the worksheet questions and try to create some that are catered specifically to him that there is some, albeit not much, progress shown.

Being so far behind, the books we read together are simple books that are three to four word sentences on a page. These are hard books to test comprehension on, and ask questions so I have tried to quiz him on the books that he listens to. This also provides a challenge because he is so used to throwing the I don't know card, he uses it all the time. I have seemed to be able to get him to talk about the books that he really enjoys, but it is hard to continuously use those books, as they are not of great substance.

Early Writing Lessons

The biggest memory I have of learning how to write, is the lined paper that had the the dots in the middle of each line to teach me how far to go up for lower case and upper case letters. I also remember writing my name 100 times for practice in first grade. I also remember in kindergarten coloring letter people and making simple words with them. My most prominent memory of learning to write would consist of journals in second grade. We had to keep a daily journal, and funny enough I found it a couple of years ago and it provided a great laugh. I think that daily journals are a great tool for a multitude of reasons, such as students expressing themselves, practice of writing, and also learning how to put thoughts together in a well thought out plan.

I know for my students, daily journals will be a staple in the classroom, but I suppose nowadays blogs are the way to go.

Language Arts Lesson

For my Language Arts Lesson I used the great book Puff and the Magic Dragon. The students weren't familiar with it, which made me feel old, but was good too because they were excited and interested throughout the book. They asked many great questions, and we had a great talk about what exactly imagination was and how we use it. The activity portion of my lesson was a writing prompt titled My Adventure With Puff. The kids loved this and wrote some funny and entertaining stories. There were also heart warming stories, such as one girl who would ride Puff to Texas to see the family she never sees anymore. I also had drawing paper ready for the students who got stuck with their writing or finished early. These pictures were great. I am going to put them all together and make a "Mrs. Strouse's First Graders Puff Story" for their classroom.

Comprehension with study student

During small group readings I have been focusing on comprehension questions at the end. I have noticed that a lot of my students like to read the stories, but they only focus on the part that they are reading. While it is important to be able to read your part, it is also important to get the bigger meaning of the text. There are comprehension questions at the end, but I found it more engaging to ask questions of my own.

I started asking my own questions, and found that it was more successful. Students knew that I was going to call on them randomly, so they had to pay attention to the whole story. I also found that if we just had a free conversation about it after, I could see what the students comprehended and then ask questions going off of what they couldn't remember.

Learning to write

When I was thinking about how I learned to write, the first thing that came to my mind was learning cursive. I don't really remember that much about learning how to write print. I remember writing lots and lots of worksheets. Writing the cursive letters over and over again until I had it right. I remember writing out sentences and using cursive to write my name. I remember learning that it was important to write your name in cursive because that was called a signature.

When it came time learning to write stories, I remember learning to draw a picture first, and then start to write the story. I remember I had a hard time starting to write because I was and still am a horrible speller! I can recall having a picture making it easier to think of things to say. These struggles might have been overcome by being told that spelling didn't matter, it was more important to get the ideas out.

Language Arts Lesson

My language arts lesson that I did was on the book "The Empty Pot". This book took place in China and was about young children and their journey to become Emperor. The Emperor gave each child a seed and told them that the next Emperor would be who ever had the biggest and more beautiful flower. However the Emperor had cooked all of the seeds so none of them grew. But other children switched their seeds and brought back a flower, all expect Ping. Ping demonstrated integrity and honesty and became the next Emperor. After I read this book with my students I had them talk about why it is important to be honest. I had them think of times when they did something and didn't want to tell the truth, but then they did. I had them talk about how it made them feel and if they would tell the truth again. I had them brainstorm different situations where you would tell the truth and why it was important.

My class had never had a class discussion before so there was a lot of facilitation from me, but I think it was a success. The children were really into the book, and took away the message from the book and the lesson.

Comprehension Process

In chapter 8 of Tompkins it talked about facilitating student's comprehension. It listed a few strategies: activating background knowledge, connecting, determining importance, drawing inferences, evaluating, monitoring, predicting, questioning, repairing, setting a purpose, summarizing, and, visualizing. One of the strategies I find to be the most helpful for myself and for students is activating background knowledge. Students often bring what they know to what they are learning. If they are able to relate something to something they have already learned or done then there is more likely to be a connection. The chapter states "the more background knowledge and prior experiences readers have about a topic, the more likely they are to successfully comprehend what they're reading. This will help students fill in the gaps of what they are missing. Making connections also helps students see how how subjects in school can relate to things of their interest.

-Jen

Self-Assessment Noteblog Entry

Over the course of the semester, these blogs have been... well... for lack of a better word, taxing. While blogging about the readings themselves and connecting them to my own experiences has been worthwhile and helpful, I find the organization of the blog quite unorganized. I have trouble keeping up when we are supposed to blog and on what; to that affect, the blog assignment itself is somewhat ambiguous.

As for the quality of my own blogs, however, I believe that I have put much thought into each and every one of the write-ups I do, connecting them to my field experiences and looking for ways to put what I learn here into practice. Specifically, my thoughts and responses to others' blogs has changed the most over time. I am now learning how to question and challenge my peers, as well as provide relative examples to their thoughts, rather than simply agree and restate their ideas. For these reason, I think that I should receive an "A" on this blogging assignment. I do not take it lightly, as I truly believe that our work in the field is the greatest experience that we have in learning how to teach (books and articles can only go so far...).

Tompkins Chapter 6

Fluency begins with high frequency words then continuously develops as children’s word bank expands through practicing word recognition via guided readings and various creative activities generated by the teachers that are listed on page 193 and 194 of the text. The components of fluency involves “accuracy, reading speed, and prosody” (page 208), and by reading fluently, the readers can comprehend and speed read through various texts during their educational years. Hence, fluency seems important for students to begin practicing in order to enhance their reading speed and comprehension of the different levels of texts.

There is more to fluency than just reading; writing fluency is also essential in literacy. It almost seems logical to think that being fluent in reading, a student can fluently write, I also believe it is chronological, but there are different developmental processes in writing fluency. Writing involves understanding to decode a word specifically involving irregularities in which becomes more challenging compared to learning reading fluency.

I have yet observed reading or writing fluency in the placement since the kindergarteners are now learning the syllables and sounding out the letters. Even though they have yet completely learned to read, the kindergarteners are also learning to write in which seems to help by relating to what they are currently learning in literacy. I believe their practices are going to lead these students into becoming fluent readers and writers.

Tompkins Chapter 9 Facilitating Comprehension

Tompkins depicts various text factors for different genres in the chapter. The detailed factors for each genres, there is much to learn myself in literature. Moreover, I would like to point out the chart they provide on page 305, which involves different graphic organizers that are suitable to use according to different patterns of text structures.

One of the structures I would like to mention is the ‘Elements of Story Structure’ where it focuses on the beginning-middle-end of a story. I have facilitated this structure in my literacy lesson in the kindergarten classroom. Surprisingly, the students did extremely well in coming up with a story on their own concerning the beginning, middle, and end. Obviously, the drawings explained the most of their stories but the available word lines provided on the paper certainly gave them a chance to try writing using the word wall in the classroom. The step-by-step process of learning about the text seems to give great value for students to inherently comprehend the diverse texts that are valued in education.

New Literacy Project – Reflection

When the New Literacy Project was introduced to us in the classroom, numerous questions arose in my mind concerning the types of new literacies and new technologies. There were various programs we could use in presenting our new literacy in which lots of exploring were needed to be done. Furthermore, this project was a chance to get familiarized using new technology and learning new literacy.

I chose scrapblog to present my New Literacy Project after exploring and listening to peers’ opinions on the ease of its usage. I experienced the simple and easy ways in creating a scrapblog including short steps and basic ways of uploading pictures. Moreover, there are available free themes already designed for not so creative scrapbloggers like myself. However, if more decorative stickers, backgrounds, and frames are desired, it is not too expensive to purchase them. Scrapblog is a perfect technology to use in creating a memorable presentation for the classroom to create as a whole and observe after completing them.

My reasons for choosing scrapblog are my all time interest in making scrapbooks. I have always been creating scrapbooks for special occasions and it always took a long time to create as to all the cutting, decorating, and putting them together. I have never heard about scrapblog until it was introduced in the class to us for this project and I’m glad it did since now, it made my scrapbooking time a lot shorter and more productive. I can share so much with the students through this program and the time consumption is a lot less than scrapbook. It is a great source to create and share with the students in the classroom as well as in keeping and creating one for yourself apart from school.

For my New Literacy Project, I chose emotional literacy as the new literacy I wanted to explore and learn. My placement in the kindergarten classroom, I observe numerous emotional struggles and conflicts within peers in which some of the students have difficult times controlling angers in which they burst out crying for not getting what they want. Further with emotional literacy, I chose a specific part of emotional literacy, motivation. I wanted to emphasize the importance in students’ motivation to do work and accomplishing assignments and be engaged in doing assigned tasks for internal learning.

Other than all the positive aspects of this project, I had some struggles in doing the New Literacy Project. When creating a scrapblog, the site did not have a full description on how to start a scrapblog in which I had to ask a friend (Heather) who already had experiences with scrapblog. She instructed me on what I should click to find free scrapblog creator and the steps I needed to follow in completing one. However, the scrapblog itself is not difficult to complete once you know where the links are listed since it directs you back to the scrapblog you were creating when logged into your account. In addition to some of the struggles in creating a scrapblog, I was not sure on the specifics of emotional literacy as I was never introduced to the topic. Therefore, I had to do some research in understanding the purpose of teaching emotional literacy towards the students. Overall, the New Literacy Project supported me in introducing me to a new method of how I can incorporate technology into teaching literacy to the students, and I am for sure planning to use scrapblog to enhance students’ learning in a classroom someday.

Weinstein Chapter 7 Motivation

My kindergarten classroom is full of enthusiastically motivated students who crave for teacher’s attentions. Unfortunately, not all students are motivated in doing activities and learning new materials. This one particular student is absent most of the times and rarely participates in the discussion even though our CT calls him several times to express her care of all students. Even though this student dislikes the force of doing assignments, he tries his best to complete one when one of the TE 402 student sits next to him and explains slowly. This way, I thought he liked the attention of having one of us sit next to him in completing an assignment. However, there are moments when he drops everything and does the total opposite of getting the assignment done when we are next to him.
I have no clue where his behaviors are coming from or whether he still has the motivation to learn and complete what are assigned in the classroom.

I have observed that lower grades are more motivated in class participation where as grade level rises, the students’ motivation decreases. The motivation equation of expectancy x value is a delicate equation in which the teachers will need to continuously monitor in the classroom. Teacher’s compliments and positive attitudes in students’ works encourages students’ motivation and this is what I wish to continue practicing in my field placements, hoping it truly supports all students in level of their motivation.

Self Assessment Midterm

For me, the blog has been helpful, but I find myself interacting and communicating more with the people in class during actual class time. I have enjoyed though reading different perspectives and also found it beneficial to reflect on the readings and think about what I read and try to make the connections and write them out. I really think about what I post because I feel that it is a way to peer communicate and I know how much I benefit from other's post, I want them to learn from mine as well.

I have seen my thinking really changed from the class and others points of view. Have it been through the New Literacy Project and opening my eyes to a whole new way of teaching, or many helpful tips from the Tompkins reading, all of this together has added to my teacher tool box. I really think that I am gathering a bunch of new ideas and hearing from my peers certain techniques they have tried and either succeed or failed with. It has been a great learning experience so far.

The noteblog is a great tool to just say how I feel and what I think in a comfortable setting and get feedback from my peers. It is also helpful being on a blog, that I can go back and refer to it as many times as I need it.

I have to admit the New Literacies Project has to be one of the most beneficial assingments I have done in my four years of TE. I am not the most tech savvy and yet I learned and feel so comfortable with a whole slew of new tools to use. And with having the blog, I can read about others that were different from mine, and if I have a questions, post one, and have confidence that someone who knows what to do will answer it for me.

Learning from others has always been something I have tried to do in whatever setting I am in, and it is no different when it comes to this class. The only thing I wish is that we had access to all the blogs because I know how much I have learned from Yoon, Jen, Kelly, and Kristin that I can only imagine what everyone else has to offer.

I think that overall I have gotten so much out of this blog and I only hope that others have learned what I have, and at this point I would say I have earned a grade of an A-. I know that there were a few times in which I was confused and didn't post on time, but I made sure to go back and make those up.

Tompkins 6

Tompkins 6- Fluency
Developing Fluent Readers and Writers.

This chapter was particularly interesting to me because when I think of fluency I automatically think of reading. I always leave out writing, and feel that many of my teachers in the past did as well. When I look at my own literacy skills, I know that my reading fluency is excellent, but I do not think as highly of my writing skills. I do not know if it is because I never learned to be a fluent writer, or if it is simply because writing requires coming up with new ideas.

This is not something I see often in the classroom. I am in a second grade classroom and rarely see students creating their own writing work. A fair amount of the time the students are simply copying down ideas that were written on the board. If students do create their own work, it is usually only two or three sentences long. How can we teach students to be fluent readers AND writers?

Motivation

Motivation, how do you do it? This is one of the biggest problems I see in the classroom. Scare tactics and external motivation only go so far. How do we make students want to learn? How do we create value in learning? This is something that is easy for us as college students to understand, but how do we convince small children that focusing and learning really does matter? This reading took me back to the expectancy x value framework we learned about during TE 301. How can we show students that the effort they put in will payoff in the end? I decided to pull out my literary reference project I created last year to see what I thought about it at the time. What I wrote about the model was; expectancy(does the student expect to be successful) x value (why is it valuable for the student to complete the task?) I think that this is an excellent representation of how motivation actually works. Even when I want to try new things or push myself, I must first believe I can accomplish the task. If I am down on myself from the beginning then it almost is not worth trying. But once again HOW do we teach our students to believe they can be sucessful. As for value, teaching young students the value of education is often difficult. This is often covered up with grades, stickers, and staying out of trouble. These things might be enough for awhile, but eventually students will have to understand the real reason it is important to accomplish the task at hand.

Comprehension strategies

This chapter brought up many good points on the importance of teaching comprehension strategies to students. Without comprehension skills, decoding and fluency mean nothing. Being able to read the words without picking up the meaning defeats the purpose of reading at all. Until a student comprehends what they read, they are not learning from the material they read. This is a chapter I would like to refer back to while I am teaching literacy.
In my current classroom I have noticed that the majority of the students have decent fluency and comprehension skills. I would like to know more about how they were taught, and how students in general learn to go from decoding to comprehension.

Weinstein Chapter 7

This chapter will be one that I refer back to a lot I think. Motivating students to learn is such a refined skill, and one that I feel only comes from learning what doesn't work. I have such a hard time getting some of my first graders motivated, especially the low achieving ones. I really enjoyed reading the Provide Opportunities for Success. When it comes to low achievers this is so often the case, they do work that is too hard so they give up. But if we as teachers can give them work that is level appropriate to avoid their frustration. If they feel they can do something the next time something is hard, they are more likely to work instead of quit right off the back.

I also liked how they discussed trying to get the students to see the correlation between effort and outcome. Progress reports seem to be a great way to keep this up. I think that if we as teachers don't provide any feedback, then this is more difficult, and I think the more feedback the better. I know from personal experience that it is so hard to know if my effort is paying any divends without getting any feedback.

Chapter 6 Tompkins

This chapter took me back to TE 301, and all the material we covered in class. The biggest thing that jumped out to me in this chapter was on page 201 with Visual Learning Software. As we move towards a new way of teaching and learning I find myself at times dragging my feet in regards to the new technologies. But talking to my students and exploring the different advances I see that it will be a useful and benefical tool for not only my students but myself as well. I do think that there need to be some balance of 21st-century technology as they put it in the readings, and the traditional sense of learning. Although as I type this blog, I find myself questioning why I feel that way. People say that imagination and creativeness has declined, but I think that it has taken shape in new ways. It is so vital for us never to forget that we are going to be teaching in a society that is ever changing and we as teacher's really don't have the luxury to drag our feet. Something that comes up in my placement is in regards to first graders and fluency. I looked at the list of characteristics of Dysfluent readers on page 208. I went through the list and it was interesting to have it seem like a personal handbook for the students in my placement that struggle with reading. There is a group of five students who are very behind and a specialist comes in several times a week to work with them. I had the chance to sit and learn some of the tools that she uses to help them and it was great! A big think she stressed to me was they need to hear and act out the sounds in the word and then blend them together. I even went through a lesson with the kids and acted out all the things they had to do which really was an eye opening experience!

Tompkins Chapter 9

I know that I must have said this a lot already, but I love this book. My favorite aspect of this book has to be all the charts in it. Each chart takes main points and highlights what it is we as teachers should either look for or how to use what is discussed in the readings. I really took a lot away from the Assessing Students' Knowledge of Text Factors portion at the end of the of the chapter. I liked having example of different ways to get at what our students learn. I love how they present mulitple examples because it is important that we keep that in mind,

I have seen a lot of the example in my placement similar to The Five Expository Text Structures. I never really understood why we would make Comparison charts until I saw it being done in my class. This is a great tool to get the students engaged in readings. They love looking for differences and I see them listening more intently and actively.

On page 301, the Narrative Devices are a great explanation of each and really help clarify what it is we should be looking for when we use that terminology in our classrooms. On page 300, I bookmarked because I admit sometimes still get confused on Point of View and this really helped me. Like I said earlier I really love reading this book and will use it so much when I teach.

Developing Fluent Readers and Writers

Scaffolding in teaching students to read makes perfect sense; children understand word-to-word reading, and then, as they recognize more and more high-fluency words, then begin to use syllabic and morphemic analysis of unfamiliar words. This poses one question: does the lack of reading comprehension in my classroom result from not enough reading in earlier grades, as Tompkins submits? Indeed, “children become fluent readers through a combination of instruction and lots of reading experience,” (p.188) so where is the disconnect that happens in low-fluency readers like the ones that make up half of my at-risk class? Evidence shows that support from home greatly influences a student’s ability to read fluently, but how do we as teachers compensate for homes that do not spend time on this crucial step? Motivating a student to read, too, is another factor; we can pick out all of the exciting books, but the students have to have home support to really keep them motivated outside the classroom, don’t they?

As for some of the low-fluency students in my classroom, I feel that it would be worthwhile to take them aside and really work on word recognition (introducing words in context, having children chant and clap words, having children practice reading and writing particular words) and would greatly increase their confidence and ability to read aloud in class.

Facilitating Students' Comprehension: Text Factors

March 16

Talk about a detailed chapter – Tompkins’s chapter 9 goes into intricate depth about text factors (narrative genres, story elements, and narrative devices), informational book text factors (nonfiction genres, expository text structures, and nonfiction features), and poetic text factors (book formats, poetic forms, and poetic devices). What particularly interested me, however, was the thought that as teachers teach students about the text factors, the students’ comprehension of the text as a whole increases (p. 311). After considering the thought longer, however, it makes sense that spending time on these factors leads to a better understanding of literacy because these steps are showing children the many different ways to look at their books. It’s as if they give them a new set of eyes to look through when reading a piece of literature – sharper eyes.

In my own experience in the classroom, it seems as if the students merely read to read and fail to truly grasp the meaning behind their literature. We give them a social studies assignment, consisting of reading a 3-page chapter and answering questions at the end of it, and they cannot focus long enough to truly understand and respond. To take Tompkins’s advice, I think it would be a great idea to use think-alouds to “help students internalize the information and apply it when they’re reading and writing.” (p.312)

Motivation: A Teacher's Problem.

February 23 – Weinstein 7

I found this particular chapter on Enhancing Students’ motivation extremely interesting and practical for my classroom. I could relate to the chapter as soon as it opened up with a student teacher’s sentiments about her unmotivated 5th graders, and found one point in particular especially intriguing: “motivation is an acquired disposition amenable to change. It can also be situation to specific, varying with the nature of the particular activity. According to this… perspective, teachers are responsible for trying to stimulate students’ engagement in learning activities.” (p.202) I suppose I had always realized that this was the nature of motivation, but failed to put that perspective into practice when dealing with my “unmotivated” 5th graders. I sounded a lot like the opening student teacher, complaining about how I could threaten them with calling parents, taking away recess, or using any other bit of leverage I could find to make them understand the importance of taking school seriously. To realize that students’ motivation lies in my hands, though, and to put that to action, is almost a foreign concept to me. How can I take steps to implementing that? Does expectancy x value framework really work?

Comprehension

In my classroom I rarely see comprehension tasks given. Every Monday when I am there we split into reading groups and I am in charge of one group. We read small texts out of a book that it at their reading level. At the end of each text there are comprehension questions. There are about 5. Usually the students answer them at a bare minimum. The students are not excited to answer the questions and depending on the group it is only a few students that answer these questions. I think this is because when the class reads any books in general my CT asks for 3 comments or questions after the book and they do not have to relate to any comprehension. I think because of this the students do not feel that in small groups they have to answer comprehension questions. I think the students are comprehending the text it is just they are never pushed to answer the questions that they do not think it is important to pay attention to important plot details. From our class discussions I think my class could benefit from using the different comprehension strategies. Things that I think would be useful would be as simple as having one student from the group tell one thing that they remember from the text and having each student say something different. This would help the students remember parts as well as hear from other students. Then I think my CT or another teacher should ask additional questions about comprehension and call on students even if they are not raising their hand to see what they are thinking.

new literacies project

The New Literacy that I have picked to investigate is emotional literacy. Emotional literacy consists of recognizing your individual feelings as well as recognizing others feelings and emotions. Part of that literacy is to be able to communicate those feelings in a productive manner. It is important to be able to relay your emotions and recognize those of others to be able to get support and to understand. It is important to be aware of all the different emotions that one can have. Being able to express how you feel is so important to build relationships. It is also a tool that can be used for ESL learners. Emotions are universal and something that everyone everywhere can recognize. Even if you don’t speak the same language or have the same culture emotions are still the same throughout.


The technology that I decided to use is through a Wiki. Throughout TE 401 and 402 we have been exposed to and used wikis. Before this year the only time I had heard the word Wiki was in relation to Wikepedia on the internet. By exploring a Wiki I am exploring a part of technology that is becoming more and more relevant in today's society. Wiki's are a useful space to put a lot of information in a easily accessible space. Unlike a file folder or a drawer this Wiki makes it easy to store a lot of information.


What I need to be successful is exploration is to be able to have some time in class as well as out of class to work on it. I would like to be able to converse with my peers and be able to ask questions to make sure that I am on the right track.

comprehension

What I got out of today’s readings were that it is important when making a lesson to have questions that will prompt student’s comprehension. One technique that I got from the Tompkins chapter was to have a chart of text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self. I think making these connections is important because even I read books and just “read” the words. There are a lot of strategies that can help with comprehension. On page 261 on Tompkins there is a chart of various methods you can use to help students with comprehension. In my placement one of the methods that I have seen a lot is having a set of comprehension questions at the end of the book that they read. There are so many strategies that can be used and I don’t think my CT does a good job of implementing more strategies. When the students are asked their questions they seem to give one word or use minimal effort to answer the question. I struggle with this because when I try to get them to expand they don’t understand because my CT does not have them expand on comprehension questions. Some strategies that I think the students would benefit from would be to activate background knowledge, connect, determine, summarize, and determine importance.

jen

USEing comprehension strategies

I think one of the most important points brought up in this particular chapter of Tompkins' is summed up in the review box on page 283: teachers teach students how to use comprehension strategies and skills. This is crucial; in fact, I would say that it is the foundation on which all literacy should be based. If a student does not know how to comprehend what he/she is reading, skills MUST be taught to the student AND utilized by the student as a next step. It starts at teaching students how to read words, follows through teaching them how to comprehend, and does not stop until the student fully understands the text that they are reading. Otherwise, reading is of no worth.

In my classroom, most of the students know how to read with a fair amount of ease (how sad it is that I can only say "most" -- some STILL struggle with basic reading in 5th grade!), yet a vast majority of them do not comprehend what they are reading. It is a familiar practice in the classroom that texts are read once silently by oneself, then out-loud by alternating classmates, yet as soon as questions are assigned to the reading, hands shoot up all over the room, accompanied by fits of "I need helllllp!" and "I don't understsannnnd!" It is quite possibly the most frustrating thing.

I feel that if I could get the students to not only understand comprehension strategies but actually use them on their own motivation, they would be much more self-sufficient in assignments and reading in general. It's just a task to actually get them to that point.

Text-to-Self Comprehension

Chapter 8 from Tompkins emphasizes the importance in students’ reading comprehension strategies. From the twelve comprehension strategies, I value the importance in connecting comprehension strategy. In my kindergarten classroom, the students are still learning to read in which the CT has to read the text out loud for them. The CT reads the story couple times with the class before she asks the students to make connections. The process takes more than a day, and by reading the same story repeatedly to the students, they are able to inherently comprehend the story. Sometimes, the students memorize the entire story from numerous repetitions in which some of the students find it boring to read a same story over and over again. However, I believe the habit of reading a story repeatedly helps students with comprehension since the more you read, the more things you realize from the story.

When the CT decides to transfer students’ comprehension of the text into creating their own story through text-to-self connection, the CT asks the students to pay special attentions to a specific moment that she had previously depicted from the text when she planned her lesson. Most of the times, the specific moment chosen by the CT has to do with students’ daily experiences. Through this activity, the CT can make observations on the process of students’ comprehension level along with their writing and visualization skills from the created stories.

Renee and I have planned our literacy lesson plan in having students make text-to-self connection on a chosen text by the CT. Hope students can still make connections when we plan to read only once through the entire text.

Comprehension

I really enjoyed reading this chapter. Comprehension is really what reading is all about, and I think that as teachers it is imperative that we monitor to ensure our students are understanding what they are reading. Being in a first grade classroom, I observe every time I go read with some of the students that don't often understand what they read. I liked how in chapter 8 there are several tables throughout and they really provide a lot of good strategies as well explain them in great detail. I really like the strategy of repairing. I think that evey chance we can take to put the children in control of their learning, the more likely they are to respond to the task. Repairing puts the reader in control and has them figure out what they are struggling with. I really think this is so much better than having us the teacher try and figure out where our studetns are getting confused. I also really like Setting a Purpose. If we have our students set the guidelines for what they want to learn, chances are they will be more motivated because they are striving for what it is they want to know. Overall I really see this chapter being a huge help when it comes to teaching Comprehension and really spells out different ways we can teach our students

Talk Talk

Being in a first grade classroom it is difficult because most classroom discussions are simply blurt out. In Chapter 2 it talked about how collaborative efforts among students can produce better answers, but to me, this is something that wouldn't work for younger kids. Whenever the students in my class work together the only thing that gets accomplished is the class gets off task. I do however, see the benefits of this in older grades. I loved the idea of after giving instructions, have one of the students recite them and write them on the board. This helps the students have one of their peers explain to their classmates and then it might be easier for them to understand.

I also think that the Teacher Guided Reporting could be a helpful tool to put in the teacher toolbox. I think that by doing this it helps mapout how you want a discussion to go, yet with the commentary column gives the flexibility to tinker to what the student needs.

Being in a first grade class, I have observed that the teacher tries to get all the students involved, but this can lead to a slew of headaches. As hard as you try to keep the students on track, there are always a handful of students who raise their hands to tell you what they did the past weekend. This is extremely hard to deal with because it easily takes the whole class off track. This also leads to only the students we know traditionally have the correct answer on more often. There has to be a balance of how to handle this, but I do fully understand how difficult it would be to combat this tendency, even though it it completely necessary.

Talk Talk Talk

Discourse in my 5th grade classroom usually takes one of two forms:
The first is slightly trivial, taking the form of bickering and full-out arguing between students and students or students and teacher, but I do include it as a form of discourse because it takes up a massive amount of daily time. In fact, I would guesstimate that a good 70% of verbal interaction between everyone in the classroom is in the form of a complaint or argument. I therefore think it should be considered when evaluating the type of talk and learning that goes on in the room.

The second is presented in the proverbial IRE recitation style (Inquiry by the teacher, Response by the student, Evaluation by the teacher). Unfortunately, for both my boredom level and the attention span of the children, classroom discussion is seldom practiced. It is quite the shame that most children get reprimanded with talking out of turn more than they are encouraged to speak their reactions to course material. On the other hand, however, I understand the teacher's dilemma in maintaining control of her 33 10-year-olds.

My questions still remains: how on earth do we lead a discussion, interact with students on the minimum, and still maintain a learning atmosphere that never deviates from the desired topic?

Different Types of Talk

I have observed various forms of talk in my classroom. Every morning my CT or one of the 402 students reads a book to the class. After the book is read students have the opportunity to ask a question or say a comment. The students are allowed to say whatever they want and my CT does not facilitate any discussion questions herself.

Another type of talk I have observed is when the students do their morning journal on Monday's they brainstorm ideas as a class and my CT writes them on the board. This helps students who may have a hard time remembering what they did the previous week. This also lets those students who actively always want to participate to have a productive way to participate in class.

There are a few students in the class that have a problem with blurting out. These students need to be scaffold on how to participate productively in a conversation. There are also a few students who are ESL learners. You can not tell by listening to some of them speak but it is more evident in reading.

Types of Talk

What types of talk are you seeing in your classroom? What scaffolding is needed for response-centered talk to take place? Are there students in your classroom who need particular types of scaffolding?

I am in a second grade classroom at Averill Elementary, and I see many of the 'types of talk' described in the Gibbons reading. Most commonly, I see the IRE model of classroom discussion. The reading suggests that IRE might not be the most sucessful way for students to pick up language, but my CT addresses some of these issues including allowing students to input more on the given topic. When she asks questions, she allows all of the students who want to answer an opportunity to give their opinion. She doesn't immediately give them feedback, she allows them to explore their thoughts and build off of what the other students have shared.

Another talk type that gibbons suggests using is group work. This is not something I have seen a lot of during my placement, but the advantages mentioned seem worth while. I want to plan my lessons around the idea of having the students work in groups. Some of the benefits include; hearing more language, interacting with other students, the language that is used is contextualized, and students are exposed to different uses of language.

Type of Talk

There are minimal discussions present in our kindergarten classroom. However, I have observed CT ask questions regarding comprehension of the book in form of recitation than discussion, which the differences are mentioned in Almasi’s reading, “A New View of Discussion.” I understand why CT is only providing simple answer questions, and that is due to the importance in practicing to understand the concepts of comprehension before the students can lead their own opinionated discussions in a classroom.

Not all students think the same and have the same answers to the given questions in which some of the students need in depth instructional scaffolds for equivalent understandings of the texts. In our kindergarten classroom, students are eager to answer all the questions asked whether they know the answer or not. When the students don’t have the correct answers to the questions of the readings, the teacher still provides extra time for them to rethink about the text and the question so they can make connections themselves. However, not all students can do the thinking alone in which the teacher asks sub-questions that can lead students to think again within the primary question.

Diversity in the Classroom

Take 2: Is anyone else having issues making posts?

The question of how to introduce diverse cultures and ideas has come up in almost all of my teacher education courses. What is the most beneficial way to include diversity in the classroom, and what is the best way for students to learn about others as well as share their unique differences? According to the reading, open discussions might be one of the most beneficial ways to learn about your students. By allowing students to express their opinions and talk about their lives, both the teacher and the other students are getting a glimpse into the life of the student. If the teacher allows the students to hold the discussion without interjecting ideas, they will learn more about their students and the way they think.
I think another great way to bring diversity into the classroom would be allowing each student to give a presentation about themselves, their intersts, and their culture. This could include, music, food, traditions, and introducing family members. As a teacher I hope to open my students minds, and teach them that diversity is a good thing, and each one of them is unique and brings something to the table.

Discussion Diversity

The Almasi article brought up a lot of interesting ideas and perspective that I feel is much needed in the realm of education. I have experienced many class discussions on texts that the teacher guides the classroom and almost shoots down perspectives that are different from their own. There are times that the teacher seemed to have the answer book in front of them and and if the answers or ideas that were presented by the teacher, then they were wrong. This is so sad. Often times we will have children from many different backgrounds in our classes and it is imperative that we are receptive to thier thoughts and ideas.

My concern may be, how do we stimulate younger children on a book. I think that it is so important to have classroom discussions on books, but too often I have observed in my first grade class that the students very easily get off task and talk about irrelevant information. This is very trying, yet how do we suppress thier thoughts and keep them on task at the same time? There has to be a balance because having the children talk about their own lives helps them connect the text to their own lives, but it can be very distracting from the task on hand.

I think that Yoon made a great point about how it is important for the teacher to come up with questions that scaffold their diverse thoughts into class discussion. I think that this is a great way to keep kids on track, by having the kids' questions lead the talks. Too often the questions bore the children and are not engaging. If we can get the students engaged and comfortable in classroom discussions, our whole class environment will be better.

Diversity

In a classroom, students are present with values of diverse cultures and perspectives in which the process of getting to know their diverse thoughts becomes a challenge to teachers. This is because, the teachers take the role of deriving diverse thoughts from the students into the classroom discussions for the class to learn and appreciate different viewpoints. After reading Almasi’s article, “A New View of Discussion,” I was surprised to understand how students engage in discussions with diverse perspectives from their own experiences. Moreover, their varieties of unique experiences and viewpoints of the text create an informative discussion with new ideas from well written questions.

Teachers require welcoming the value of diversity among students and developing a classroom environment where diverse viewpoints are valued and learned. However, it is a challenge as teachers to go through the process of getting to know these diverse students, and utilize their values in learning. Therefore, teachers need to develop discussions among students in having them to talk about their diverse thoughts into the classroom environment respectfully. It is also important as teachers to come up with questions that can scaffold students’ diverse thoughts into the discussions.

Diversity

One way to get to know your students and the diversity in the classroom is to set up various discussions in the class about various topics. In the Almasi article about discussion it talks about the various methods of using discussion and how it can get students to participate. I think mixing up large class discussions and small group discussion that you sit in as a teacher will make you more aware of the diversity in the classroom. This discussion could be based on academic topics or topics that are more personal where you get to explore the issues of the students. In my CT's classroom (1st grade) she has a student of the week every week. And that student gets to bring in a poster with pictures from their family and the things the like to do. A bunch of the students are from different cultures and it gives not only the teacher a chance to get to know the diversity in the classroom but also the students.

Diversity

Before reading the Almasi article entitled "A New View of Discussion," I would answer the question of diversity in a very generic way; I could learn about the diversity in my classroom by simply getting to know the students and learning about their lives outside of school (family, hobbies, activities, etc.). What I would have failed to mention, however, would be exactly how that process would take place - the questions still stands: how would I get to know the students to this extent? Almasi's article on how discussions between students and teacher (or rather, students and students) serves to answer this particular "how" question. The author suggests that as "participants gather in a social context to exchange thoughts, new understandings and meanings may emerge as participants interact with one another." (p. 91) In other words, when an authentic discussion takes place within a classroom (authentic meaning no IRE methods or recitation, of course), children will learn in an authentic way, propelling their own discussions by minimal direct interaction with the teacher.

The benefit here to me, then, is that I can figure out how my students are thinking through listening to their discussion and even view how their diverse backgrounds impact their learning. It is as if they learn right before my eyes in their own ways; indeed, I would submit that seeing how a child learns (based on diverse thought processes and backgrounds) is the basis for truly getting to know them as a whole.

Digital Native

I went into this quiz thinking I would know what most of the terms meant, but I was surprised that I hadn't even heard of a couple. Namely; modding and smart mobs. Even after reading about these two technologies I am still not sure exactly what they are for. I would still consider myself to be part of the digital generation. As technology improves I am constantly trying to keep up with the changing times. I found this quiz interesting because it made me realize that I still need to look into technologies I would not normally associate myself with.

Digital Natives

When I first glanced at the title, "Digital Natives Quiz," I knew I was going to fail it. This is because I never think of myself as a digital person and I'm definitely not good with computers. However, I was surprised to know more terms than I did not from the quiz; and I believe the high technology world we live in had me unconsciously apply new programs like the wiki, blog, and IM into my world.

There is a well-known video called, "Shift Happens," and this video tells the audience on how fast the world is developing within technology and education. In just few years, almost all schools are going to be teaching based on programs installed in technologies. Moreover, digital literacy will emerge as more electronic than paper books increase. This will create teachers to find new ways in teaching literacy towards digital students with new materials. Even today, we are using wiki and blog to develop our literacy in which there will be more and more ways to learn in a digital world.

Digital Native Quiz

I was pretty nervous to take this quiz, because I don't think of myself as "tech savvy". This quiz was going to be just a confirmation of how bad I am with technology, but strangley enough I knew a fair share of the answers. I think that sometimes I get overwhelmed with how vast and expansive that technology has became. Although I have grown up using computers in school and in my home, I never was one to spend hours on end at the computer. I took a basic class on power point and excel in 8th grade, but other than that I would say I just played around and taught myself the basics. So I would have to say that myself personally, I would think of myself as a first generation native. By that I mean I know the basics and a few advance parts of technology but overall, I know there is a lot of room for improvement. I took CEP 416 last summer online and that helped me immensly, but I am not fluent enough yet to be able to do all the stuff online without occasionally looking up how to do something. I think that is why I don't consider myself to be a native in technology.

Quiz Talk

Refreshingly, after taking the quiz about digital knowledge, I could define the majority of the terms. Indeed, I found out what Instant Messaging was as soon as I jumped into middle school - it was quite the rage among adolescents, and I hogged the computer every chance I caught to talk to all of my adoring friends. Blogging was easy enough to understand when I jumped on that bandwagon too. I was even fortunate enough to have a good number of dorky guy friends that love to play Massive Multi-player Online Games (enough so that I am fairly competent in the area).

At the same time, however, I am not the expert I'd like to be concerning digital talk. I had never heard of modding before at all - and am still unsure about what, exactly, it is. It's weird to think, though, that the kids we teach will already know exactly what all of this is -- and more. It's almost intimidating!

digital natives quiz

When I took the digital native quiz I was surprised on how many terms I knew. There were a few that I had never heard of. I think I was familiar with some of the terms because of when I grew up in society today. I would have to say that growing up I learned to type by AIM or chatting online to friends. Growing up with texting, AIM, facebook, google, and just the internet in general I feel has made me more of a native then my parents or grandparents.

NoteBlog 1

A goal of mine this semester is to try and learn more from my fellow classmates when it comes to successful and unsuccessful teaching practices. I think that we are all such a great tool for one another and sometimes we forget to use each other.
I also would like to find ways to engage young readers who complain about reading. I have observed this as a major problem in classrooms, finding creative, fun ways to engage our students and get them excited about reading. Hopefully this class will provide ways to determine appropriate books for the different reading levels and ways to use them.
Being able to understand myself as a learner is a challenge that I am excited about. I think that for me to be the best teacher that I can be this is imperative. If I don't understand how I learn personally, I don't belive that I can effectively teach others.

Over the course of last semster, I really got to see my students as learners of science and social studies. I was able to see their literacy skills in action, but did not get a lot of time to work with them and assess their abilities. This semester I hope to use what I have learned from past semesters and build upon it in order to get the students interested in reading and writing. TE 301 focused a lot on how students learn concepts and what they need to know, but I am hoping to learn now what works and what the proven methods for teaching literacy are. Last semster I had two technology related courses, and now realize how important it is to use what is available in order to teach students.

One goal I have for myself this semester is to see how I can teach in new ways using the technology that is available to the students. I want to develop lesson plans that address each type of learner, and find new ways to interest and engage the students while learning about reading and writing. Because I am placed in a lower income area, I know that many of the students do not have the most up-to-date technologies at home or even at school. I hope this will teach me to be creative and appreciate and use what is available.

Semester Goals

After spending an entire semester immersed in my low-income school district, I have learned what it is like to be challenged – really, truly challenged – as a teacher. I have students (these are 5th graders) whose life experiences at 10 years old surpass most 50-year-olds I know, let alone my own, consisting of only 21 years. In some cases, students have seen death in a brutal way and have experienced hardship after hardship in their short lives; it’s no wonder that they can hardly find the motivation to perform in academics.

As far as personal goals for the semester go in teaching literacy, I would love to instill a sense of hope in these children, accompanying a passion for knowledge that can only be quenched through reading and searching. It’s intimidating working in a classroom where you have thirty-three kids at vast ends of the reading and comprehension spectrum – I would therefore set a goal for myself this semester to learn how to connect to each student’s needs in this area since I realize that these differences in levels of competency are the norm rather than the exception. I want to learn more ways to make reading exciting, easy, and relevant to each individual – and I can’t wait to do it!

Noteblog One

My goals for the course are to become a good learner and acquire literacy and technology skills I lack for my prospective students. I am not a good writer or a technology dependent person, but throughout this course, I hope to attain knowledge and develop into a valuable resource towards students. Moreover, I wish to obtain various methods instructing literacy in a classroom where diverse backgrounds and levels of students are present.

There are increasing numbers of students with English language learners in an urban setting, and I believe the numbers are going to continuously increase. I want to prepare for the increasing number of students who lack in English literacy and as well for the students with English as their first language. Literacy is essential for students due to its interrelation with other subjects (science, mathematics, social studies, and etc.) in classrooms and daily lives. Towards students with different learning-styles, various methods and resources must be available in a classroom. Thus, I would like to “bloom” to a teacher who is prepared for any possible circumstances and a dependable resource for the students. Hopefully, my experience as an English language learner and various methods acquired from this course aides me in getting prepared for the teaching years that are ahead.

Yoon

NoteBlog1

After reading the syllabus some of the goals I have for myself for the semester are to be able to pick the most age appropriate text to put in my classroom for the students. I feel like my reading and writing skills are average and I want to learn how to best support the students in my classroom and make sure that they learn to the best of their abilities.

I want to also make literacy fun and engaging and incorporate other activities into reading and writing. Often times I think adults can underestimate children and their eagerness to learn or what they already know. I think it is important to let children explore and be creative at first so you as a teacher can see their abilities in a less formal way. I think it is important to develop a literacy curriculum that supports different types of learners. Every student learns and achieves success in a different way. I want to use this course to learn multiple ways to address different literacy topics to support my classroom in the future. I also think that it is important to have a positive attitude when presenting your students with literacy because if they see you excited they are more likely to be excited about exploring literacy.

I would like to use this course to aid my preparation for the future by learning multiple things to include in your classroom that deal with literacy. I think having a variety of activities and topics to introduce to the students keeps their interest and makes it more exciting and engaging for them to learn.

Jen