Out of all of the student's in my kindergarten class, I would have to say that Rebecca is struggling most when it comes to reading and writing. By this time in the year, students should be reading at a level 12 according to the DRA's. This means that they should be able to read a short story, with a sentence on each page. Rebecca struggles to even recognize the letters in the alphabet. During field last week, I watched Rebecca during all of the literacy activities to try to see how (and how much) she is participating. What I realized is that every time the students are asked to do a literacy activity, they are in groups. In the morning, my CT reads a story and asks a morning message about it. During this time, the students are in a whole group at the rug. Rebecca never raises her hand to participate in the morning message. When they sing their ABC's, Rebecca looks embarrassed and does not sing along. This made me think... do I ever see Rebecca participating in front of a group?
After Mr. C reads the daily story he sends the kids into their centers. Here, they work in front of or with other students to complete literacy activities. When they go to work more closely with grandma, they are still in their center groups. Mr. C will sometimes pull kids to work with, but again, they are together.
To get a better understanding of Rebecca, I pulled her aside to talk about reading and writing one on one. I asked her if she liked to read. She said no. She also said she didn't like to write. The whole time, Rebecca looked away. I wondered why I had never noticed how shy Rebecca was before and it hit me. I never really noticed Rebecca. It is the loud, excited, and outgoing kids that catch your attention. It takes effort to really pay attention to the students who are shy and afraid to participate in front of others. I wonder if Rebecca would be more engaged with literacy if she had the opportunity to learn one on one with her teacher? But with a class of 31, I do not see many chances for that type of learning. So what else can I do?
Reading the Gibbons chapter made me think about the importance of group work. Rebecca could really benefit from working with her peers, and instead of solely focusing on how she may improve with individual attention, I think it's important to consider helping her become more comfortable in the classroom community.
Several activities stood out to me in the chapters. First, having students interview each other and fill out questionaires (although simple- putting a one word answer to a question about the other student) about their classmates would be a great way for Rebecca to get to know the other kids. There are many group activities throughout the day, but Rebecca is never challenged to participate. The students are supposed to, but expectations are not enforced. Having this activity would allow all students to learn about each other, and would challenge Rebecca to talk to and in front of others.
I really liked the Hot Seat activity, but I think it may be too complex for kindergarten. Instead, I think that if Mr. C had name sticks or some other random calling method, Rebecca would have to participate in discussion and morning message responses. She doesn't participate but knows she will never have to. If a name is called, Rebecca will get used to sharing just like everyone else. Learning to work with her peers will help build literacy skills that will hopefully translate to improved reading and writing.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Struggling Students
Kepler is a student in my class who always surprises me. He knows so much knowledge about the world because he travels so much throughout the year. His mother is a professional writer and he loves telling me all the things she writes about. He probably knows every type of train and his high vocabulary surprises me every time I am in the classroom. However, Kepler has so many ideas in his little head that struggles to convey his thoughts through writing. Whenever the students in my class are assigned to write in their journals, he always takes so long to come up with something to write about that he only has about one sentence on his paper when the rest of the students are moving on to the next activity. He is always in need of a teacher to talk him through his writing so he can come up with ideas to write about. Even when he knows what he wants to write, he writes very slowly, thinking about the spelling of every word. Kepler loves to read and always has a book to recommend to me!
Paris is another student in my class that struggles with conveying her thoughts through writing. However, she has many problems trying to understand what they are asking of her to write about. She is low-achieving in almost every subject and needs extra assistance on her assignments. Paris likes to read aloud to me, yet she skips over many words and does not read with much expression. Paris depends a lot on her peers to help her through her writing assignments, asking them what they are writing about and copying off their ideas. Paris never hesitates to ask for help.
Alan is another student in my classroom who does not like reading or writing. Whenever he is assigned either one he goofs around and distracts his peers. In order to get him to beginning writing a teacher has to sit down with him and get him started. He has an attitude like he does not care about what he is working on and the teacher basically ends up giving Alan all his ideas for his writing assignments because he never can come up with ideas on his own. I think teachers just get frustrated with him and he has learned that they will eventually help him through his entire assignments so he does not have to try on his own. Alan is an EI student and always has a parapro with him. When Alan is reading he seems to just look at the picture and not the text itself. He can read, but not very fluently and often asks how to say many of the words because he does not try to sound them out on his own.
If I was working with Alan on comprehension I would like to use the “Hot Seat” activity in the Gibbons text. Alan loves to be the center of attention and loves to make his peers laugh. Since he has trouble figuring out what he can write on paper, I believe this activity would allow him to convey his thoughts while talking to his peers through a fun activity. In this activity Alan would portray a character in from a book and then answer questions from his peers pretending to be a specific character. Alan would love to do this activity and it would allow him to shine, along with using his comprehension skills to act like the character in the story.
If I was working with Paris on being able to comprehend what she is reading along with learning from her peers rather than copying from them I would use the activity “I’m Thinking of” in the Gibbons text. This activity would allow Paris to work in a group, something she is comfortable doing, and however, it would allow her to be able to come up with her own ideas so she would not be tempted to copy off her peers. She will be able to use her previous knowledge and turn it into a game where her peers will try to guess what she is describing. This activity will also allow Paris to gain knowledge from her peers because they will be modeling for her when it is their turn.
If I was working on conveying Kepler’s thoughts on paper I would use the activity, “Journal Writing” from the Gibbons text. This is simple writing practice that will get Kepler into the routine of writing after every assignment. The more writing, the faster he will get with putting his thoughts into words on paper and keeping up with the rest of his class. This journal activity asks the question, “What did I learn.” Even though this may seem very tedious to Kepler, it allows the teacher to see not only the improvement in Kepler’s writing over time, but also it will be a good assessment for the teacher to see if Kepler understands what he is reading, and not just moving slow through his writing.
Paris is another student in my class that struggles with conveying her thoughts through writing. However, she has many problems trying to understand what they are asking of her to write about. She is low-achieving in almost every subject and needs extra assistance on her assignments. Paris likes to read aloud to me, yet she skips over many words and does not read with much expression. Paris depends a lot on her peers to help her through her writing assignments, asking them what they are writing about and copying off their ideas. Paris never hesitates to ask for help.
Alan is another student in my classroom who does not like reading or writing. Whenever he is assigned either one he goofs around and distracts his peers. In order to get him to beginning writing a teacher has to sit down with him and get him started. He has an attitude like he does not care about what he is working on and the teacher basically ends up giving Alan all his ideas for his writing assignments because he never can come up with ideas on his own. I think teachers just get frustrated with him and he has learned that they will eventually help him through his entire assignments so he does not have to try on his own. Alan is an EI student and always has a parapro with him. When Alan is reading he seems to just look at the picture and not the text itself. He can read, but not very fluently and often asks how to say many of the words because he does not try to sound them out on his own.
If I was working with Alan on comprehension I would like to use the “Hot Seat” activity in the Gibbons text. Alan loves to be the center of attention and loves to make his peers laugh. Since he has trouble figuring out what he can write on paper, I believe this activity would allow him to convey his thoughts while talking to his peers through a fun activity. In this activity Alan would portray a character in from a book and then answer questions from his peers pretending to be a specific character. Alan would love to do this activity and it would allow him to shine, along with using his comprehension skills to act like the character in the story.
If I was working with Paris on being able to comprehend what she is reading along with learning from her peers rather than copying from them I would use the activity “I’m Thinking of” in the Gibbons text. This activity would allow Paris to work in a group, something she is comfortable doing, and however, it would allow her to be able to come up with her own ideas so she would not be tempted to copy off her peers. She will be able to use her previous knowledge and turn it into a game where her peers will try to guess what she is describing. This activity will also allow Paris to gain knowledge from her peers because they will be modeling for her when it is their turn.
If I was working on conveying Kepler’s thoughts on paper I would use the activity, “Journal Writing” from the Gibbons text. This is simple writing practice that will get Kepler into the routine of writing after every assignment. The more writing, the faster he will get with putting his thoughts into words on paper and keeping up with the rest of his class. This journal activity asks the question, “What did I learn.” Even though this may seem very tedious to Kepler, it allows the teacher to see not only the improvement in Kepler’s writing over time, but also it will be a good assessment for the teacher to see if Kepler understands what he is reading, and not just moving slow through his writing.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Weekly Blog
In my class we have a lot of students who are struggling to write at grade level. The students are pretty much all over the map and range from a 2nd grade writing level to a 6th grade writing level. This makes teaching quite difficult because you do not want to create hard assignments that the majority of the class can not finish but you do not want the upper edge class to be bored.
What I like to do is give the students an open-ended question that can have a multitude of answers; for instance, what would you do if you moved into the White House. This way the students who are above grade level writing can write as much as they want and be as specific as they want to be. Meanwhile the students who are struggling have a simple question where they can work on their writing and outlines. When we begin writing I try to go around and make sure that the struggling readers are working on an outline to get their ideas from their heads to the paper. I find that the majority of the problems that my students have stem when the students go to transcribe their thoughts onto the paper. I have also found that the students who excel with their writing and in other subjects some times have problems with transferring their thoughts onto the paper.
Another technique that I believe is very important for 4th and 5th graders is building their proofreading skills. The Tompkins article stats that a beginning writer should start to proofread their compositions in order to build a strong argument and make sure they are conveying the proper message. I have found that a lot of times students will not answer the question rather they will start answering the question and than go off into a tangent without knowing it. The major differences between the beginning reader and the fluent reader category is the student’s ability to be proficient in the proofreading and grammar areas, so I believe we should start them early.
One student however baffles me with how much knowledge he has and how he can connect complex ideas to other ideas. This student can tell you what anti-matter is and he can tell you the reasons why WWI happened. However this student cannot transfer the thoughts in his head to paper to save his life. The always complains about writing and how he never likes to write about his life because it is boring. He often says that he enjoys writing about fantasy but when he gets that opportunity he will only write one paragraph if that. He often wants to read me what he wrote but I always tell him that I need to read his paper, trying to get him to proofread it before he gives it to me to read. If you guys have any suggestions on how to develop his transfer ideas let me know!
What I like to do is give the students an open-ended question that can have a multitude of answers; for instance, what would you do if you moved into the White House. This way the students who are above grade level writing can write as much as they want and be as specific as they want to be. Meanwhile the students who are struggling have a simple question where they can work on their writing and outlines. When we begin writing I try to go around and make sure that the struggling readers are working on an outline to get their ideas from their heads to the paper. I find that the majority of the problems that my students have stem when the students go to transcribe their thoughts onto the paper. I have also found that the students who excel with their writing and in other subjects some times have problems with transferring their thoughts onto the paper.
Another technique that I believe is very important for 4th and 5th graders is building their proofreading skills. The Tompkins article stats that a beginning writer should start to proofread their compositions in order to build a strong argument and make sure they are conveying the proper message. I have found that a lot of times students will not answer the question rather they will start answering the question and than go off into a tangent without knowing it. The major differences between the beginning reader and the fluent reader category is the student’s ability to be proficient in the proofreading and grammar areas, so I believe we should start them early.
One student however baffles me with how much knowledge he has and how he can connect complex ideas to other ideas. This student can tell you what anti-matter is and he can tell you the reasons why WWI happened. However this student cannot transfer the thoughts in his head to paper to save his life. The always complains about writing and how he never likes to write about his life because it is boring. He often says that he enjoys writing about fantasy but when he gets that opportunity he will only write one paragraph if that. He often wants to read me what he wrote but I always tell him that I need to read his paper, trying to get him to proofread it before he gives it to me to read. If you guys have any suggestions on how to develop his transfer ideas let me know!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Issues with Phonics
There is one boy in my class who struggles with phonics, specifically with segmenting and blending to form words. He knows his letter sounds but is unable to separate words out into their individual phonemes and then blend them together when we read a story. He does know some sight words but still struggles with many of these as well. Right now he spends his time practicing reading but I feel that he may need to back up a step or at least spend more time with just practicing how to put words together through segmenting and blending. He could really benefit from some one-on-one help.
The main concept that he needs work with then before he can move forward towards reading is probably getting some practice with segmenting and blending words. The first activity I might try with him is just focusing on beginning sounds by providing him with a word and asking him to just give me the beginning sound or the first sound he hears in that word. Then I would ask him for the middle sound and then finally the last sound. (I would make these short words such as cat, log, red, bin, etc). After that we would practice putting the word together to form a whole word. We would practice these together and then I would ask him to try a few on his own.
A second activity I might try would be one similar to the phonological awareness activities we did in class today, blending phonemes into real words. I would say the different phonemes of a word (i.e. /d/ /o/ /g/) and then ask him to tell me what the word is. Along with this activity I would include having him segment the words that I say (i.e. I give him the word “not” and he replies /n/ /o/ /t/). This would help him get some practice with segmenting and blending orally before looking at an actual word on paper and trying it on his own.
A third activity I would want to do with him would then be to do some practice with putting letters together to form words as well as rhyming. I would cut out squares that had different letters on each square. I would then segment a word out loud and ask him to find the corresponding letters to the sounds and put them together to then discover the word. For example, if I said /r/ /a/ /g/, he would have to find the letter that corresponds with each sound and put them together, then look at the word himself and blend in order to come up with the word. I would make it so that some words would have similar beginning sounds and others would have similar ending sounds (i.e. doing “rat” and “rag”, or “hat” and “sat”). This would help him start to form a better idea of how words are put together and that many words are very similar and only vary but a single letter or sound.
Through all of this I feel it would be important to just move slowly. I feel that he is being rushed through a lot of the work and is failing to grasp concepts but the rest of the class continues to move forward while he falls further and further behind. Through activities such as these I feel he could gain some valuable insight into phonics and other aspects of phonemic awareness that would be really helpful for him. In addition to these types of one-on-one activities, in whole group discussion I would spend time incorporating other activities for beginning readers as is mentioned on p. 97 of the Tompkins book, like reading charts of poems and songs using choral reading. I think that had activities such as these been incorporated into daily learning right from the start of his education then this student may not have had as many issues as he currently faces.
The main concept that he needs work with then before he can move forward towards reading is probably getting some practice with segmenting and blending words. The first activity I might try with him is just focusing on beginning sounds by providing him with a word and asking him to just give me the beginning sound or the first sound he hears in that word. Then I would ask him for the middle sound and then finally the last sound. (I would make these short words such as cat, log, red, bin, etc). After that we would practice putting the word together to form a whole word. We would practice these together and then I would ask him to try a few on his own.
A second activity I might try would be one similar to the phonological awareness activities we did in class today, blending phonemes into real words. I would say the different phonemes of a word (i.e. /d/ /o/ /g/) and then ask him to tell me what the word is. Along with this activity I would include having him segment the words that I say (i.e. I give him the word “not” and he replies /n/ /o/ /t/). This would help him get some practice with segmenting and blending orally before looking at an actual word on paper and trying it on his own.
A third activity I would want to do with him would then be to do some practice with putting letters together to form words as well as rhyming. I would cut out squares that had different letters on each square. I would then segment a word out loud and ask him to find the corresponding letters to the sounds and put them together to then discover the word. For example, if I said /r/ /a/ /g/, he would have to find the letter that corresponds with each sound and put them together, then look at the word himself and blend in order to come up with the word. I would make it so that some words would have similar beginning sounds and others would have similar ending sounds (i.e. doing “rat” and “rag”, or “hat” and “sat”). This would help him start to form a better idea of how words are put together and that many words are very similar and only vary but a single letter or sound.
Through all of this I feel it would be important to just move slowly. I feel that he is being rushed through a lot of the work and is failing to grasp concepts but the rest of the class continues to move forward while he falls further and further behind. Through activities such as these I feel he could gain some valuable insight into phonics and other aspects of phonemic awareness that would be really helpful for him. In addition to these types of one-on-one activities, in whole group discussion I would spend time incorporating other activities for beginning readers as is mentioned on p. 97 of the Tompkins book, like reading charts of poems and songs using choral reading. I think that had activities such as these been incorporated into daily learning right from the start of his education then this student may not have had as many issues as he currently faces.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Elementary Discussions
In the Triplett article I read for our class jigsaw reading I learned different ways on how I can incorporate discussion into an elementary classroom. Before reading this article I thought it would be way too difficult to incorporate discussions into a classroom at the elementary level. Triplett stated, “Elementary students can have discussions that promote higher order thinking. When topics are related to children developing identities, including race, gender, and class.” Triplett also stated later in the article that, “Students reported in interviews that book discussions were the most important aspect of their motivation and comprehension.” These two statements taught me that it is very necessary that teachers involve elementary students in discussion at an early age to aid in their comprehension and open doors for students to relate what they are reading to their everyday lives.
Monday in class we also talked about recitations and discussions which also made me think about incorporating them into my classrooms. I really liked how we talked about how discussions made students aware that there are multiple answers to questions, and how both recitations and discussions are a good way to balance comprehension. We talked about how it is necessary to have multiple ways of assessment for variety and balance. Above all, I remember someone in class brought up wait time. This made me think about my current placement. During my social studies and science lessons I taught for 401, my teacher always gave me wonderful feedback. For both lessons she told me I need to improve on my wait time. She said I asked wonderful questions but I did not allow enough wait time so that all the students had time to think about what I was asking them. I feel that this component is very necessary in a classroom because every learner is different. Every learner comprehends knowledge at different levels, and we as teachers need to acknowledge this and allow enough time for students to think about the question they are being asked. If a teacher allows enough wait time, then the students will be able to have a more fruitful discussion because hopefully every student will be able to contribute.
I am excited for our Language Arts lesson because we will be able to have a discussion with our students. In science we were able to have a mini discussion with a small group of students. Through that discussion I learned that it is hard for a teacher to prepare for what will come up during the discussion so it is important for teachers not to over-prepare and allow students to bring up what is on their mind.
Monday in class we also talked about recitations and discussions which also made me think about incorporating them into my classrooms. I really liked how we talked about how discussions made students aware that there are multiple answers to questions, and how both recitations and discussions are a good way to balance comprehension. We talked about how it is necessary to have multiple ways of assessment for variety and balance. Above all, I remember someone in class brought up wait time. This made me think about my current placement. During my social studies and science lessons I taught for 401, my teacher always gave me wonderful feedback. For both lessons she told me I need to improve on my wait time. She said I asked wonderful questions but I did not allow enough wait time so that all the students had time to think about what I was asking them. I feel that this component is very necessary in a classroom because every learner is different. Every learner comprehends knowledge at different levels, and we as teachers need to acknowledge this and allow enough time for students to think about the question they are being asked. If a teacher allows enough wait time, then the students will be able to have a more fruitful discussion because hopefully every student will be able to contribute.
I am excited for our Language Arts lesson because we will be able to have a discussion with our students. In science we were able to have a mini discussion with a small group of students. Through that discussion I learned that it is hard for a teacher to prepare for what will come up during the discussion so it is important for teachers not to over-prepare and allow students to bring up what is on their mind.
kids say the darndest things...
I have always imagined myself to be the type of teacher that incorporated discussion into the classroom whenever possible. I loved the classes (although there were very few of them) that allowed students to think out loud and bounce ideas off of their peers. To me, this is one of the best ways to learn. I must admit, though, that the idea of students becoming comfortable in a discussion and expressing their ideas can be a little bit scary. Not because I am afraid of what they will say, exactly, but because I have learned the importance of keeping students on task and focused throughout a lesson. From my experience in field over the past couple of years, I have seen how excited students get during a discussion. They are able to share their own experiences and make connections to their life outside of the classroom more freely when they are discussing a topic rather than being spoken to about a topic. However, students (especially in the lower grades) tend to get off task and go on rather long tangents when they become more comfortable speaking. Personally, I think that a lot of good ideas come from these "tangents", and as a facilitator of discussion, a teacher must help to point out the ideas within a student's response and help others to make connections to what their peers are saying. However, kids do say "the darndest things", and maintaining a balance between allowing students to discuss and keeping them on track is a challenge that I think will take a great deal of practice... and patience.
Reading Chapter Ten of Weinstein's Elementary Classroom Management really helped me to feel less anxious about facilitating discussions. What I found most helpful is the practical tips that were outlined for both recitations and discussions. I think that the portion on discussion tips is really relevant for lower elementary classrooms. I do not remember having any type of discussion until high school, so I want to make sure this is incorporated at an earlier age. One of the teachers mentioned in the text points out that "it takes time to learn how to participate in a discussion, and it's not easy to break out of the teacher-dominated interaction pattern so characteristic of classrooms". I think that if we start teaching students how to have an effective discussion earlier, they will be able to engage in this type of learning for a longer amount of time, which will help make meaningful connections before a high school setting.
The tips in the chapter make this seem possible. First, it mentions carefully planning a discussion question. Giving the students a jumping off point is critical to good discussion. Careful planning allows for creating subquestions in case students need a little more prompting later on in the discussion. I like how the text also points out that you should not give answers to the question if students seem stuck, and instead invite the students to tell anything they know about the question, or what it means to them. Finally, I think it is important to remember not to comment after the first student's contribution, and instead give proper wait time, which is something we discussed a lot in class. Allowing students time to think is very important and will result in better quality responses. Colleen also pointed out in class that younger students probably just need more wait time while participating in discussion. I am glad she pointed that out because I had the mindset that younger students wouldn't be able to have a meaningful discussion because they seem to be unable to make connections to what their peers are saying. I never considered the amount of wait time they are being given, and I am interested to see what happens when you allow them more time to really think about what is being said.
Reading Chapter Ten of Weinstein's Elementary Classroom Management really helped me to feel less anxious about facilitating discussions. What I found most helpful is the practical tips that were outlined for both recitations and discussions. I think that the portion on discussion tips is really relevant for lower elementary classrooms. I do not remember having any type of discussion until high school, so I want to make sure this is incorporated at an earlier age. One of the teachers mentioned in the text points out that "it takes time to learn how to participate in a discussion, and it's not easy to break out of the teacher-dominated interaction pattern so characteristic of classrooms". I think that if we start teaching students how to have an effective discussion earlier, they will be able to engage in this type of learning for a longer amount of time, which will help make meaningful connections before a high school setting.
The tips in the chapter make this seem possible. First, it mentions carefully planning a discussion question. Giving the students a jumping off point is critical to good discussion. Careful planning allows for creating subquestions in case students need a little more prompting later on in the discussion. I like how the text also points out that you should not give answers to the question if students seem stuck, and instead invite the students to tell anything they know about the question, or what it means to them. Finally, I think it is important to remember not to comment after the first student's contribution, and instead give proper wait time, which is something we discussed a lot in class. Allowing students time to think is very important and will result in better quality responses. Colleen also pointed out in class that younger students probably just need more wait time while participating in discussion. I am glad she pointed that out because I had the mindset that younger students wouldn't be able to have a meaningful discussion because they seem to be unable to make connections to what their peers are saying. I never considered the amount of wait time they are being given, and I am interested to see what happens when you allow them more time to really think about what is being said.
Monday, February 9, 2009
WAR
A discussion to me is a conversation where the students respond to a prompt and than the students shape the conversation. I led a discussion the other day in my 4th/5th grade classroom on the topics of; was war the best solution to WWI and WII?
Before I gave the students the prompt I set some of the ground rules that the students must follow in order to be involved in the discussion and to remain in the discussion. I told them that in order to participate in the discussion they had to have completed their homework from the day before (since the prompt came from the homework) and that they must follow the rules that we establish.
I told the students that they must raise their hand if they want to talk and when another student stopped talking I would point at them and they could respond. We have had some issues with students just talking over other students so I figured that would be a solid approach.
I wanted to do this discussion because it seemed that the students really wanted to talk about their different perspectives with the group but the teacher did not really allow them time to do so. McGee states, “In a group, readers share their own understandings and significant insights and must convince others of the value of their insights.” I believe that this type of skill is a necessity for survival and success in this modern day and age. In high school, college, and the job world you will not be judged for the most part about the facts you know but on how you can apply those facts and make the best possible decision.
So we started the discussion and the students talked about how the war was “going to happen” because of the events that took place. Rather than answering the question the students took it to a different level and talked about the type of things that you could go to war for. They came up with “Ideas, if people are hurting other people, and if someone bad was doing something really bad” but what we shouldn’t go to war over was “Land”
They created the discussion all on their own and everyone was really engaged in the discussion.
Before I thought about doing the discussion I had to know several things about the students as learners. I had to know how the students work with other students in a discussion type setting. I also had to know if the students could handle the discussion topic which was about the touchy subject of war.
Before I gave the students the prompt I set some of the ground rules that the students must follow in order to be involved in the discussion and to remain in the discussion. I told them that in order to participate in the discussion they had to have completed their homework from the day before (since the prompt came from the homework) and that they must follow the rules that we establish.
I told the students that they must raise their hand if they want to talk and when another student stopped talking I would point at them and they could respond. We have had some issues with students just talking over other students so I figured that would be a solid approach.
I wanted to do this discussion because it seemed that the students really wanted to talk about their different perspectives with the group but the teacher did not really allow them time to do so. McGee states, “In a group, readers share their own understandings and significant insights and must convince others of the value of their insights.” I believe that this type of skill is a necessity for survival and success in this modern day and age. In high school, college, and the job world you will not be judged for the most part about the facts you know but on how you can apply those facts and make the best possible decision.
So we started the discussion and the students talked about how the war was “going to happen” because of the events that took place. Rather than answering the question the students took it to a different level and talked about the type of things that you could go to war for. They came up with “Ideas, if people are hurting other people, and if someone bad was doing something really bad” but what we shouldn’t go to war over was “Land”
They created the discussion all on their own and everyone was really engaged in the discussion.
Before I thought about doing the discussion I had to know several things about the students as learners. I had to know how the students work with other students in a discussion type setting. I also had to know if the students could handle the discussion topic which was about the touchy subject of war.
Be Patient
The main types of talk I see occurring in my first grade classroom are I-R-E and book talks. Usually I-R-E is used during math lessons because the teacher is more focused on looking for a right or wrong answer, and book talks occur while we read from the students’ language arts textbooks when the teacher is looking to make connections to readers’ emotions and outside experiences. The book talks though, generally include my CT as the facilitator and inquirer while the students make the responses—sometimes my CT evaluates but she usually just allows students to answer or share without making any judgments. Unfortunately, really deep and meaningful discussions do not take place all that often though because, like the Triplett article stated, most book discussions are being abandoned due to the lack of time in the district’s curriculum—they are more focused on phonics first and comprehension second (64). I feel that my CT tries to incorporate discussion when she can, but there is a lot of pressure from her principal to bring students’ reading levels up and to spend more time on actually being able to read the text rather than discuss what they are reading about. I find this unfortunate because I feel that right now some of the kids are not motivated to learn how to read, but if they spent time discussing and connecting their readings to things that they find interesting in their lives then I feel their motivation and subsequently their learning would increase immensely.
In order for the children in my classroom to begin having these different ‘talks’ though, I feel that quite a bit of scaffolding would be needed. I liked the suggestions that people brought up in class today about modeling what a good or bad discussion would look like or even starting off by practicing discussions in small groups before moving to whole-class discussions. I think the main thing that I would see the students in my classroom having trouble with would be staying focused and on-topic. It would be important to remind them to stay on task and perhaps even having a central question or theme written on the board to remind them while we discussed. In addition, I feel like my students would need to be taught to listen to one another. Right now they are very self-focused and tend only to worry about their own thoughts or ideas. Therefore, modeling and explicit direction of building off of each other’s ideas would be very important. I think it is really important to remember though that students who have great discussions did not learn these skills overnight. It took time and patience from both themselves and their teachers in order to really understand and learn how to have a meaningful discussion, so I hope that we are able to keep that in mind and not get frustrated as we attempt to initiate discussion and talk in our own classrooms. Be patient...
In order for the children in my classroom to begin having these different ‘talks’ though, I feel that quite a bit of scaffolding would be needed. I liked the suggestions that people brought up in class today about modeling what a good or bad discussion would look like or even starting off by practicing discussions in small groups before moving to whole-class discussions. I think the main thing that I would see the students in my classroom having trouble with would be staying focused and on-topic. It would be important to remind them to stay on task and perhaps even having a central question or theme written on the board to remind them while we discussed. In addition, I feel like my students would need to be taught to listen to one another. Right now they are very self-focused and tend only to worry about their own thoughts or ideas. Therefore, modeling and explicit direction of building off of each other’s ideas would be very important. I think it is really important to remember though that students who have great discussions did not learn these skills overnight. It took time and patience from both themselves and their teachers in order to really understand and learn how to have a meaningful discussion, so I hope that we are able to keep that in mind and not get frustrated as we attempt to initiate discussion and talk in our own classrooms. Be patient...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
students are people too
In the Ladson-Billings article there is a statement that reads, “When students are treated as competent they are likely to demonstrate competence” I believe this statement sums up my theory on how to treat children in the classroom in order to discover diversity among them.
I believe that the best way to get to know your students is to talk to them as adults and have meaningful conversations with your students whenever you can. A lot of kids will open up to a teacher once the feel that the teacher has respect for them and if they trust the teacher. You can build this trust and respect by treating your students like they are human rather than as an object that we call students. I do not believe that there is a set strategy out there that can explain the best way to get to know your students so you have to tailor your discussions to each child in your classroom. Once you have found out what your children enjoy and the kind of lives they lead you can expand on those principles to find out about the different experiences that each students has had. Diversity comes from the experiences that each individual has so in order to bring diversity into the classroom you have to give the children viable avenues to express themselves. (Writing, reading, stories, and group talks ECT)
It is important to get to know your students from multiple perspectives because as humans we are not 1 dimensional objects. Whenever we make a decision about anything there are hundreds of external and internal forces that influence that decision. If a student decides not to do his/her math homework and the only thing you know about that student is that he/she is not strong in math and you can easily write that off as the reason; however, if you know that he/she has no parental support, does not experience math in daily life, and the countless other factors you can create an environment where that student can become successful in math.
I believe that the best way to get to know your students is to talk to them as adults and have meaningful conversations with your students whenever you can. A lot of kids will open up to a teacher once the feel that the teacher has respect for them and if they trust the teacher. You can build this trust and respect by treating your students like they are human rather than as an object that we call students. I do not believe that there is a set strategy out there that can explain the best way to get to know your students so you have to tailor your discussions to each child in your classroom. Once you have found out what your children enjoy and the kind of lives they lead you can expand on those principles to find out about the different experiences that each students has had. Diversity comes from the experiences that each individual has so in order to bring diversity into the classroom you have to give the children viable avenues to express themselves. (Writing, reading, stories, and group talks ECT)
It is important to get to know your students from multiple perspectives because as humans we are not 1 dimensional objects. Whenever we make a decision about anything there are hundreds of external and internal forces that influence that decision. If a student decides not to do his/her math homework and the only thing you know about that student is that he/she is not strong in math and you can easily write that off as the reason; however, if you know that he/she has no parental support, does not experience math in daily life, and the countless other factors you can create an environment where that student can become successful in math.
piaget is dead...
A lot of things stuck out to me while reading this week's articles. But the one thing that really seemed to hit home was a quote from a teacher in the Lapp article. The teacher said, "Sometimes we have to learn that the textbook gives us good method [and] good theories, but Piaget is dead. Freud is dead... these are kids of the 21st century".
I seemed to keep this quote in the back of my mind throughout the rest of the reading, as well as our classroom discussion on Monday. We are taught methods and theories as a way to understand our students and their learning process. We are asked to think about what it means to be in an urban area and how environment affects our students. Naturally, we want to use the method and theory to explain our students, and often think of what we learn in class as an end-all, or a sort of quick fix to the challenges we may face in the future. What I have realized, though, is that in order to truly look at my students from multiple perspectives, I cannot always or only rely on what I have read in textbooks.
First, I want to say that learning these methods and theories have not been bad in any way. In fact, the knowledge we have gained through all of our courses is a great tool. But it is simply not everything we will need to teach, relate to, help, and learn from our students. I thought it was interesting how Tim said that we immediately think of negative aspects of urban areas because that is what is drilled into us from the start. I think this is true. I learned in another one of my classes that as people, we often like to think of things in a "glass half full" way, with a positive lens over things. This is known as the "Pollyanna Effect", which I think is true for the most part. Because of this innate tendency to look at everything positively, when we are introduced to something negative, it sticks. This is why negative media sells, and perhaps why we only typically see "bad" news on television, and why we cannot get past the negative aspects of living in an urban area. However, this does not mean that we should not be paying careful attention to the negatives, and really thinking about their causes, and their effects. I am a firm believer that in order to change the cause of something negative, it is first imperative to recognize the effect. Talking about the effects of poverty, adult responsibility, inadequate resources, etc. is the first step to making a difference. How can we change anything if we don't analyze it as it exists? The Lapp article also touched on this, saying that one of the greatest challenges for practicing teachers had to do with "recognizing the impact of the urban context on teaching and learning in the classroom". Thankfully, our program is allowing us to do that now. Although full realization will not occur until we are experiencing it, we are at least thinking and talking about what is going on. We will be that much closer to understanding the diversity in our classrooms.
However, as I am writing this, I am still thinking back to the first quote mentioned. To really look at my classroom from multiple perspectives I will have to be able to relate to each one of my students, get to know them and what they are going through, and learn from them. The only way to reach that level is to look at every child as an individual. Piaget's theories will be helpful at times, but we can't simply apply them to every child. We can't use Freud's theories to explain every student's actions. People change, situations change, and no two student's backgrounds will be identical. We have to take what we know and expand on it, and use our student's experiences and life situations to grow as teachers, and to help every individual student learn.
I seemed to keep this quote in the back of my mind throughout the rest of the reading, as well as our classroom discussion on Monday. We are taught methods and theories as a way to understand our students and their learning process. We are asked to think about what it means to be in an urban area and how environment affects our students. Naturally, we want to use the method and theory to explain our students, and often think of what we learn in class as an end-all, or a sort of quick fix to the challenges we may face in the future. What I have realized, though, is that in order to truly look at my students from multiple perspectives, I cannot always or only rely on what I have read in textbooks.
First, I want to say that learning these methods and theories have not been bad in any way. In fact, the knowledge we have gained through all of our courses is a great tool. But it is simply not everything we will need to teach, relate to, help, and learn from our students. I thought it was interesting how Tim said that we immediately think of negative aspects of urban areas because that is what is drilled into us from the start. I think this is true. I learned in another one of my classes that as people, we often like to think of things in a "glass half full" way, with a positive lens over things. This is known as the "Pollyanna Effect", which I think is true for the most part. Because of this innate tendency to look at everything positively, when we are introduced to something negative, it sticks. This is why negative media sells, and perhaps why we only typically see "bad" news on television, and why we cannot get past the negative aspects of living in an urban area. However, this does not mean that we should not be paying careful attention to the negatives, and really thinking about their causes, and their effects. I am a firm believer that in order to change the cause of something negative, it is first imperative to recognize the effect. Talking about the effects of poverty, adult responsibility, inadequate resources, etc. is the first step to making a difference. How can we change anything if we don't analyze it as it exists? The Lapp article also touched on this, saying that one of the greatest challenges for practicing teachers had to do with "recognizing the impact of the urban context on teaching and learning in the classroom". Thankfully, our program is allowing us to do that now. Although full realization will not occur until we are experiencing it, we are at least thinking and talking about what is going on. We will be that much closer to understanding the diversity in our classrooms.
However, as I am writing this, I am still thinking back to the first quote mentioned. To really look at my classroom from multiple perspectives I will have to be able to relate to each one of my students, get to know them and what they are going through, and learn from them. The only way to reach that level is to look at every child as an individual. Piaget's theories will be helpful at times, but we can't simply apply them to every child. We can't use Freud's theories to explain every student's actions. People change, situations change, and no two student's backgrounds will be identical. We have to take what we know and expand on it, and use our student's experiences and life situations to grow as teachers, and to help every individual student learn.
Multiple Perspectives
In Ladson-Billings article titled, “The Dream Keepers” She states, “Students whose educational, economic, social, political, and cultural features are most tenuous are helped to become intellectual leaders in the classroom.” As a teacher it is our job to insure that all of our students feel comfortable and safe in their classroom community so they can reach their potential in the classroom. I believe as a teacher you could do many things to learn about the diversity in your classroom to really get to know your students while having your students get to know their classmates. You could attempt to get to know your students’ parents. You could send notes home, call homes, or even set up meetings with them to get to know who the students are going home to at night time. You could have your students introduce themselves in a journal, an informal peer to peer interview where they present to the class the interview, or even just setting up a time where you can meet at lunch with your students for a one on one interview and have informal conversation finding out anything you want about that particular student. You could also have an international day where you invite your students and their parents in to share a piece about their culture with the rest of the class.
Before a teacher considers doing any of this I think it is important for teachers to consider who the students are. If you are teaching the younger grades it would be harder for the students to convey their thoughts through writing so it would be easier to incorporate show and tell into the classroom schedule. Writing assignments in the younger grades could even be as simple as them writing a sentence about themselves and drawing a picture. In the older grades they could do more creative writing about themselves through a classroom biography book. If it is too hard to get parental support, having an international day would probably be very hard to get participation. Therefore, a teacher could just have show and tell in the classroom where the students bring in something to shares with the class about their culture.
On top of getting to know your students culturally, in class on Monday February 2nd, I realized that on top of getting to know your students culturally, it is also very important to get to know your students strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. If a student struggles in a certain subject or multiple subjects, there may be a lack of intervention services for that particular student in you classroom with special needs if the teacher does not take appropriate action. It is our jobs as teachers to respond early and make as many accommodations as we can in the General Ed classroom. It is also important that the General Ed teacher collaborates with the Special Education teacher to get new ideas for modifications for the student who is struggling by using inclusion methods as much as possible/appropriate. Finally, this would also be a good opportunity for teachers to meet with the struggling students’ parents so that the teacher can go over the goals they have for the student as well as finding out the parents’ goals for the student.
Before a teacher considers doing any of this I think it is important for teachers to consider who the students are. If you are teaching the younger grades it would be harder for the students to convey their thoughts through writing so it would be easier to incorporate show and tell into the classroom schedule. Writing assignments in the younger grades could even be as simple as them writing a sentence about themselves and drawing a picture. In the older grades they could do more creative writing about themselves through a classroom biography book. If it is too hard to get parental support, having an international day would probably be very hard to get participation. Therefore, a teacher could just have show and tell in the classroom where the students bring in something to shares with the class about their culture.
On top of getting to know your students culturally, in class on Monday February 2nd, I realized that on top of getting to know your students culturally, it is also very important to get to know your students strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. If a student struggles in a certain subject or multiple subjects, there may be a lack of intervention services for that particular student in you classroom with special needs if the teacher does not take appropriate action. It is our jobs as teachers to respond early and make as many accommodations as we can in the General Ed classroom. It is also important that the General Ed teacher collaborates with the Special Education teacher to get new ideas for modifications for the student who is struggling by using inclusion methods as much as possible/appropriate. Finally, this would also be a good opportunity for teachers to meet with the struggling students’ parents so that the teacher can go over the goals they have for the student as well as finding out the parents’ goals for the student.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Multiple Perspectives
For me, I have always felt that in order to have a productive and enriching learning environment in your classroom, it is important to know the students who make up that learning environment. After reading the Lapp article, it reinforced this idea, which Lapp highlighted as a “Need for Deep-Level Cultural Understandings” which closely related to the ability to manage your classroom (Lapp 2004).
I think there are a variety of ways though, that teachers can begin and continue to know their students but many of these strategies depend upon the age and performance level of students. For example, younger grades may have a hard time filling out a questionnaire and would need some verbal interaction with the teacher or be given art materials in order to convey some information about themselves. Another strategy would be to invite parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles into the classroom to talk about different students' cultural backgrounds so that not only do you as the teacher have a better understanding of that student, but so does that students' peers or even the student himself. I do not feel though that this information must necessarily always be directly given from the students. Simply by watching the way that students interact with one another or how they deal with different situations that arise in the classroom can tell you something about that student. I also think that a teacher can learn a lot about his/her students through their writing. By giving students prompts that allow them to discuss what they did over the weekend or where their favorite place is, teachers are able to not only give students practice with writing, but learn more about where that student is coming from. For example, from the writing samples we looked at today with Marcus and the exemplary example, we were able to learn a lot about those students without even meeting them. Simply knowing that Marcus gets his haircut at a barbershop rather than at home gives you a clue into the other parts of Marcus’ life and can help you understand the background from which he comes.
In addition, I feel that it is important to know your students from multiple perspectives because if you only look at them in one way, then you are limiting their capabilities and potential for success. For example, if I only knew my students by how well they performed on tests, then I would find some very competent and others very incompetent. However, if I looked at them from another perspective, say from how well they did in art class, then my ideas about them would change, as would my teaching strategies towards their strengths.
I think there are a variety of ways though, that teachers can begin and continue to know their students but many of these strategies depend upon the age and performance level of students. For example, younger grades may have a hard time filling out a questionnaire and would need some verbal interaction with the teacher or be given art materials in order to convey some information about themselves. Another strategy would be to invite parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles into the classroom to talk about different students' cultural backgrounds so that not only do you as the teacher have a better understanding of that student, but so does that students' peers or even the student himself. I do not feel though that this information must necessarily always be directly given from the students. Simply by watching the way that students interact with one another or how they deal with different situations that arise in the classroom can tell you something about that student. I also think that a teacher can learn a lot about his/her students through their writing. By giving students prompts that allow them to discuss what they did over the weekend or where their favorite place is, teachers are able to not only give students practice with writing, but learn more about where that student is coming from. For example, from the writing samples we looked at today with Marcus and the exemplary example, we were able to learn a lot about those students without even meeting them. Simply knowing that Marcus gets his haircut at a barbershop rather than at home gives you a clue into the other parts of Marcus’ life and can help you understand the background from which he comes.
In addition, I feel that it is important to know your students from multiple perspectives because if you only look at them in one way, then you are limiting their capabilities and potential for success. For example, if I only knew my students by how well they performed on tests, then I would find some very competent and others very incompetent. However, if I looked at them from another perspective, say from how well they did in art class, then my ideas about them would change, as would my teaching strategies towards their strengths.
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