This weeks reading was all about struggling readers and writers. The book and the article overlapped in discussing different characteristics of struggling readers, the evidence of their struggles, and how to best meet their individual needs. These readings reminded us yet again that there is no one sized fits all solution.  Even within groups there is so much variation. This can be within cultural groups, groups of friends, and achievement groups. In this case, we saw the variation the commonly labeled group, struggling readers. I found the article’s examples of this to be interesting. It not only talked about the characteristics of the groupings it made (automatic word callers, struggling word callers, word stumblers, slow comprehenders, slow word callers, & disabled readers), but also explained how to best help this student. One point that I strongly agree with that I got from the article is that one test cannot tell you much about a student and tests in and of themselves do nothing to help a student. Even our own informal assessments must be used with purpose, and the information gained must be used to direct instruction, or else we are simply wasting time and paper.

I also enjoyed reading the textbook’s ideas about how to ensure that readers/writers workshop is accommodating to struggling readers/writers. It seemed like all the ideas mentioned are great practices that would benefit all students, not just struggling students. These are best practices that we as teachers should try our hardest to incorporative to best reach all students. Each students’ interests and background will influence their reading preferences and how they come to make meaning of what they are reading. Involving literature that interests students and represents their background is a way to engage students and make them feel more connected to literacy. As we have often discussed, read alouds and independent reading time are both essential for literacy development. I see all of these on a regular basis in my classroom. I am amazing by how engaged my students are in reading. I think a lot of it has to do with their literacy experiences the past few years and this year. They are given so much choice in their reading and writing, which allows them to use their interests and background. They experience multiple read alouds a day, full of think alouds and modeling, and have a reading and writing mini-lesson with explicit instruction each day. The idea mentioned in the Flint text that I have not seen in any of my placements is scheduled easy reading time. I think this is a great idea. I think students would find it to be so fun. It seems like a great way to foster a love for reading and reading for pleasure. I also like the fact that it is not grouped by ability level, so the struggling students do not always fell singled out. I know it seems hard to fit everything into one school day, but this is something I would like to try.

Another great chapter from the Flint text…

I found the opening story of this chapter to be a reminder to teachers to be open and have a broad view of literacy. These boys were learning so much and were fully engaged in conversation, reading, and analysis. We should try to encourage literacy in whatever ways are more appealing to our students, not just the ways we are used to or that we favor. We need to have a wide variety of books available for our students in our classroom libraries, not just those that we own or like. If these boys had not been able to read cartoon magazines, they probably would not have been as engaged in reading. I think the classroom library inventory from ch 5 that we did in our placements, would be a great tool to use as we start our own classroom libraries. I want to use it to make sure that I provide a enough variety in my library to have the best  chance of providing each child with some books that are engaging to them.

All of my placements have been in the lower grades, and I feel like much of our literacy training has focused on the lower grades. So, I was excited to read this chapter of Flint and get an idea of what reader and writing instruction looks like in the older grades. I found myself putting a star next to almost every “Invitation to the classroom”. They are full of ideas that I want to use in the classroom and can even see using a variation of in my current 2nd grade placement. The children’s work samples throughout the whole chapter helped me get a sense of exactly what these ideas look like in an actual classroom.  I also find the four resource model to be a helpful way to think about literacy at all ages.

When reading about the four resource model in this chapter on intermediate and accomplished readers and writers, I was most interested in the code breaking section, because this is the one that I had the most trouble predicting what it would consist of for this age group. Word Study is used in my classroom now, but the description in the book showed me all the different ways it can be extended for older grades. I think the study of homographs and homophones is essential and would be engaging for students, particularly ELLs. I have seen in my classroom that word study is a great activity for our ELL student. He is learning a lot from it. He is working with his classmates to make sense of the English Language. They are all learning together, because there are many patterns and structures that are new to my native English speakers or they are familiar with but have never studied before.

I also never thought about fluency as code breaking. It is important as a teacher to remember that fluency is not something that is accomplished in younger grades. It is something that is constantly developing. I strongly agree with the books suggestion of using easier books to focus on practicing fluency. If children are struggling to the read the words, they will not be able to read fluently even if they are trying to. There are so many ways to help build fluency: read alouds, guided reading, partner reading, choral reading, independent reading, and reader’s theater. I want to incorporate all of these into my classroom, no matter what age I am working with. I have seen each of these on a regular basis in my placement, except for reader’s theater. I look forward to discussing reader’s theater in class this week, and I hope to implement it in my placement next semester.

This was the best experience yet for me at Haw River! These students had a larger knowledge base of what parachutes were than the 3rd graders. However, what was most noticeable to me was the difference in their ability to explain their thinking and talk to each other. In the third grade, the students had trouble expressing their ideas, and when they did they were answering our questions to us. They had trouble listening to each other and holding a discussion. I think, this aspect of communication made the lesson more meaningful this time. Along the same lines, the pairs cooperated and collaborated more in building their parachutes. They worked together, whereas in third grade it seemed like one person took over in most pairs.

Perhaps this increased communication was a result of them being older and having more experience with it as well as our efforts to increase discussion. The students in fourth grade were motivated and engaged in the discussion as well as the building! It was great to see how exiting science was for all the groups we worked with at Haw River. This parachute activity in particular showed me so many possible connections and extensions to other subject areas.

Although the experiement went well there were still some weakness I noticed and would try to improve in the future. We spent a great deal of time discuession what our goal was, which is to slow down the paracute. This means we needed a higher number, becuase the parachute will be in the air longer. This in itself is confusing, but they seemed to graps this after discussion of it. However, the difficulty came in when comparing the averages. The students were not familar with decimals. Many of the students stated that .75 was greater than .8 because 75 is greater than 8. We did our best to talk to the students about this; however, this would be multiple lessons in itself, not something we could fully explain in a few minutes. If I were to use this in the future in my classroom, I would make sure the students had some knoweldge of decimals, or I would make sure that all decimals had the same place value (so all decimals would be written with a digit in the tenths and hundredths place, even if zeros need to be added). The other change I would make is to have less teachers in one group; three adults for 6 students just was not ideal. One a postivie note,  I found that the small group setting was great and would love to have volunteers in order to do science in small groups in the future.

The SAM I created last class is linked a few posts below. This is a great technology that I enjoyed exploring. I think that I could make great use of these vidoes as an engaging way of presenting information in the form of videos to my students. I also think the videos showed us that students can create outstanding work using this technology. The photosynthesis video made me think about how the memory of creating a SAM will remain with the students far longer than just studying the formulas would. I hope to not only use SAM that I make, but also have my own students use it someday. This is just one of many technologies available today.

The Glog that we saw in class also seemed like a great tool. I feel that in creating a Glog as a class students learn the content, as well as the importance of teamwork. It would build a sense of accomplishment and community in a classroom. Once again, the students would be an active part of the learning, which I believe is the best way to learn. Many technologies give students this opportunity. These technologies all present material in a stimulating format, which may be more engaging for many students. As the students in the video clip we watched in class mentioned, our students use technology a lot, and we should use technology to actively engage them in scientific (and all) learning. In my placement, we often use the Smart Board and occasionally students use the computers. These are great technologies to use, but I am excited to be learning about more and different ways to use technology in the classroom.

I personally have found the videos/samples in class and the time working on SAM to be the most compelling in encouraging the use of technology inthe classroom. The James Gee article does not have me convinced. I still feel that there could be other technologies or ways to implement inquiry based learning instead of using video games. However, I will say that for some students this would be an extremely complelling and motivating way to learn. But, I do not think that it would appeal to all or even most students. Perhaps this is where differientation comes in. Maybe students could have choices to play games like Quest Atlantis or create a SAM or use other technoligies, whichever they prefer?!

 

Much of Flint chapter 6 reminded me of experiences in my K/1 field placement last year. The opening story explored the influence that a literacy rich home environment had on literacy development. In that field placement, I saw the divide between those that engaged in a wide variety of literacy activities at home and those that did not. Some children came to school able read, to write, and to share their ideas clearly. Other students were still just beginning to explore concepts of texts and words. Spending the first half of the school year in this classroom gave me the opportunity to witness a great deal of literacy development. They grew as readers. All of the students writing improved. Their letters became clearer. More letters in their words were included. More full sentences were used. The stories had more meaning. Although each student entered the room in a different place in their literacy development, they were progressing as emergent readers and writers.

The concepts of environmental print, writing centers, storybook reading, dramatic play, language experience approach were all common in this classroom (some of them are also common in my current placement). The part of this chapter that caught my attention the most was the concept of screen. I had not heard of this before, but I can see how influential computers and other technologies are on this generation. The impact of these technologies on literacy development is drastic. Think about it, from a very young age, babies now have toys that talk to them, practice the alphabet, and read books. Children are using computers at increasingly young ages. They are navigating and learning about concepts of screen just as they learn about concepts of print.

Chapter 7 spoke about beginning reading and writing. I found the 4 resource model to be a clear way to think about beginning reading. In my classroom, an integrated approach to code breaking is used. The students learn about the alphabet, spelling, and structures of language through authentic activities such as read alouds, buddy study, and reading workshop centers. I believe that this authentic study of code breaking is much more effective than a prescriptive (worksheet) approach. During read-alouds and reading workshop centers, we spend a time participating with text (2nd part of the model). The students are often sharing how they relate to what we are reading and making predictions about the text. The wide variety of texts available in our classroom allows students to see the various uses of text (3rd part of the model). Throughout the year, we will spend time focusing on different uses of text (fiction, non-fiction, procedural, etc.). The fourth part of the model, critical practices, is that part I think we could add to enrich our classroom. This allows readers to challenge what is read, question the text, and question the status quo. This extends students knowledge and helps them grow into not only critical readers, but also critical thinkers.

http://www.learnerslink.com/curriculum.htm

This website, “Differentiating Instruction”,  linked above is my differentiation resource. This is full of valuable information, and it has numerous links divided into sections. It states that when differentiation is used  “All students are regularly offered CHOICES.  Based on the student’s readiness levels, interests, and learning profile, we modify the content, process, product and/or learning environment”. The website provides links to other websites for each of the essential instructional components of differentiation (as listed in the previous sentence). Some of these websites provide information on research and theories, while others are links to websites that provide differentiated tools and activities that can be used in a classroom. Even further down there are even more useful links! These all focus on instructional techniques and other ways to implement differentiated instruction in your classroom. I have seen a few of the techniques it mentions in my placement. The arts are commonly incorporated into the classroom. Centers occur for a short period of time everyday. There are enrichment activities for those who finish work early and can benefit from more challenging activities. Technology is used everyday in our classroom. These activities help to fit instruction to the individual students and to reach all students. They present material in different formats, appeal to a variety of learning styles, and use a range of meduim for learning. There are many other ideas the provided information on that I find to be great ideas to implement in the classroom.

Below is “A Fable?” which the website links to. It makes you really think about how we teach. Take a look!

A FABLE?

One time the animals had a school. The curriculum consisted of running, climbing, flying and swimming, and all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was good in swimming, better than his instructor, and he made passing grades in flying, but was practically hopeless in running. He was made to stay after school and drop his swimming class in order to practice running. He kept this up until he was only average in swimming. But, average is acceptable, so nobody worried about that but the duck.

The eagle was considered a problem pupil and was disciplined severely. He beat all the others to the top of the tree in the climbing class, but he had used his own way of getting there.

The rabbit started out at the top of his class in running, but had a nervous breakdown and had to drop out of school on account of so much makeup work in swimming.

The squirrel led the climbing class, but his flying teacher made him start his flying lessons from the ground instead of the top of the tree, and he developed charley horses from overexertion at the takeoff and began getting C’s in climbing and D’s in running.

The practical prairie dogs apprenticed their offsprings to a badger when the school authorities refused to add digging to the curriculum.

At the end of the year, an eel that could swim well, run, climb, and fly a little was made valedictorian.

–printed in The Instructor, April. 1968

Here is my SAM animation on youtube. It shows a thermometer as the temperature increases and decreases. Youtube did not process it fully, so it jumps around. It actually has 5 increments for increasing and 5 increments for decreasing.

Once again, NCLB and high-stakes testing came up in the reading. It is good to be informed, but I find it more valuable and interesting to read about the authentic practices in the second half of the reading that I want to implement in my classroom. These are the assessments that I have control over, and I want to do my best to effectively assess my students. To me, this means that I learn what they know and how/what to teacher next or review.  I found the descriptions and examples of different informal assessments in the Flint Chapter to be helpful. I feel that this is a book that I will reference when I am teaching. I have seen many of these assessments in my placement including observations, running records, conferencing, and reading/writing conferences. However, it was interesting to read about some new ones, such as retrospective running record. This seems like a valuable assessment, although time consuming( a hard balance in a classroom).

Growing Readers was another great read. I feel that this book lays out  so many of important detials that we have never seen before, just as this chapter lays out reading instruction for the year. I have always wondered how to structure reading lessons. It seems like the hardest subject for me to organize. My CT often struggles to find where she is going next in reading workshop mini-lessons. I think a structure similar to the one in this chapter would prevent this problem. The units are also overarching topics, that I believe could be adjusted to fit the standards of multiple grade levels. I look forward to reading the following chapters, which are each an in-depth explanation of each unit.

 

 

There is one ELL child in my field placement. He started the school year with little to no oral language, but he could read and write in English. Because of this and its benefits for all students, directions are given to our whole class verbally and orally. Once the activity has begun an adult in the room checks in with him to make sure he understands. Another strategy that is used when giving directions is modeling. This is extremely helpful for ELL students. Even if they do not understand every word of your directions, they can see what you are doing and know that they are supposed to do that.  When answering questions and finishing work, he is always given as much time as he needs. This gives him a chance to show what he knows and can do. Plenty of time is needed, not because he doesn’t know it, but because he needs time to put together his words.

The physical environment of our classroom also supports ELL students. There are labels throughout the room. The library books are in baskets with labels that contain words and a picture. Pictures of students acting out feeling words are on a bulletin board with the word below the picture. There is also a colors bulletin board with pictures of students wearing different color shirts with labels below the pictures. The directions for the morning routine are posted on the wall for a reference. There is also a picture of the inside of one student’s cubby serving as an example of what everyone’s cubbies should look like. These non-verbal cues help ELL students as they navigate the classroom and learn the English language.