The article Every Mark on the Page has got to be one of my favorite articles we have read so far because it deals with one of the very things I am most afraid of for my future teaching.... parents. It's not secret that some parents have their "angel" goggles on when it comes to their kids; they feel that their child can do no wrong, academically or socially, in the classroom. The article does a great job of what teachers can do to communicate with parents and family members about their child's writing levels. A big thing we need to help parents realize is the importance of age levels and where exactly their child should be at that particular point in time. It's all too common to see a parent who's child is at a perfectly normal writing level get worked up that he or she is not advancing faster. This could end up seriously discouraging the child both in the classroom and at home.
One of the biggest points to take away from this article is a note about mistakes.... that children SHOULD make them! Mistakes within a student's writing are not only learning points but are inevitable! Both teachers and parents have to be careful when focusing on this idea. Without these mistakes that the children are making, there is no platform to grow from. By discouraging these mistakes we are discouraging their growth and learning as a writer! The article then goes into ideas of how teachers can empower their students and family members to support their young writers. I really liked the idea of an open house method, where the adults are shown sample works of writing and given resources to help their home-work with their child. This is a great way to expose parents to not only some of the child's writing, but other anonymous works to give parents a wider range of what exactly writing at that age looks like. I also think this is a great way to empower the child into something he or she can be proud of their writing with. I remember in one of our classes we did a read aloud of a book where a student hated his drawings until someone put them on display, at which point he became proud of his work. Thats all a student needs; a little reinforcement that their parents and teachers want to see what they put so much work into.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Phonics and Phonemic Awareness
Teaching Phonemic Awareness by Rasinski and Padak
From Phonics to Fluency by Rasinski and Padak
I'm really glad I got to read these two articles because they are helping me open my eyes to realize there is so much more to phonic that I had at first realized. The idea of learning to read always fascinated me, so it's exciting learning all of the ins and outs that go along with what a student really is observing as he or she continues to work on phonics and phonemic awareness. There are so many different activities you can do to work on all of the components you want to hit on, and I think the article highlights that well. This is important because reading, from what I've seen and experienced, is something that should be fun and engaging for children. If it's not, they'll grow to resent it, especially if they feel themselves falling behind or not grasping content. This feeling only gets harder and harder to shake as they grow older. That is why engaging these phonemic components in a positive way at a young age is crucial for reading success in students. I loved how the articles discussed a "common language" throughout phonics and fluency that all teachers, literacy coaches, and to an extent students all share. This is a great way to look at phonics as a pre-service teacher; it only highlights the idea that learning the aspects of phonic and phonemic awareness is crucial at this point in our studies so that we can continue to build off a strong base of literacy teaching.
From Phonics to Fluency by Rasinski and Padak
I'm really glad I got to read these two articles because they are helping me open my eyes to realize there is so much more to phonic that I had at first realized. The idea of learning to read always fascinated me, so it's exciting learning all of the ins and outs that go along with what a student really is observing as he or she continues to work on phonics and phonemic awareness. There are so many different activities you can do to work on all of the components you want to hit on, and I think the article highlights that well. This is important because reading, from what I've seen and experienced, is something that should be fun and engaging for children. If it's not, they'll grow to resent it, especially if they feel themselves falling behind or not grasping content. This feeling only gets harder and harder to shake as they grow older. That is why engaging these phonemic components in a positive way at a young age is crucial for reading success in students. I loved how the articles discussed a "common language" throughout phonics and fluency that all teachers, literacy coaches, and to an extent students all share. This is a great way to look at phonics as a pre-service teacher; it only highlights the idea that learning the aspects of phonic and phonemic awareness is crucial at this point in our studies so that we can continue to build off a strong base of literacy teaching.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Chapter 7
Before I begin this blog about Chapter 7, I first wanted to comment on how much the title actually caught my attention. "I thought I knew how to teach reading, but WHOA!" Often times as a preservice teacher, I get that same "whoa" feeling in a lot of different areas regarding my future teaching. I am excited to be studying books like this one and getting the experiences I need to hopefully lessen the fear that is often associated with that feeling.
One of the first ideas I looked over again was the section titled "What are the early key strategies and behaviors?" Since I am wanted to teach younger grades, it is important for me to grasp these strategies for early readers that are essential for them to grow and be successful in older grades. I thought it was interesting when it commented on how most teachers assume that the first aspect of learning reading is letters and sounds. The book pointed out other strategies that were key to learning reading like the actual different between words and letters, thinking strategies, and a one-to-one voice/print match. I remember talking about this last point in class, how some students need to be clearly taught how to even read a page of a book, where the words should be taking them, and using the finger matching strategy to master the one-to-one aspect of reading.
I also really enjoyed the section of "suggestions for teachers". I found a lot of quality ideas and advice that I can already see myself using in my field experience/future classrooms. One of the suggestions said "if you have children who are learning to speak English, don't immediately assume they are struggling readers.. Ask questions about the country they came from, using student translators or other adults in your building who is familiar with the language. Use book introductions as one place to support their budding English vocabularies and their experience with book language" (pg 129). In my field experience now, there is a first grade student named MauMau who often struggles with his reading and writing. Most times during classroom work time, the teacher asks me to sit with MauMau and assist him with his assignments. I often struggle to find ways to break through to him, especially when I ask him a question and I know he is thinking one thing but saying something else. I found this strategy from the book really interesting because it made me wonder what reading level MauMau is at in his own home language. I am planning to ask the teacher for whatever background knowledge she may have, and continue using the strategies within this chapter and book to see if I can make more profess with him.
Webcast
This Reading Recovery webcast touched on some pretty relevant issues to consider throughout my preservice teaching and my current field experience.
Pat Johnson mentioned 4 points on instructional decisions; assessment driving instruction, supporting the reading process system, providing opportunities to practice with real books so children can use this system correctly, and keeping meaning at the forefront. A major point throughout this section of the webcast was the idea to teach through the readers, not the books. What an interesting idea.. not surprising to teachers since I think we all know that this is the most beneficial learning strategy for long-term success, however, I know myself and plenty of other teachers are guilty of searching through certain books to teach lessons through only using that book's content. The downfall of this strategy is the struggle the students might feel to apply the desired learning through different medias and books other than the book they learned it so clearly through. I thought this was a very interesting thing to keep in mind, since I already find myself guilty of this and I barely have much teaching experience yet.
The discussion that Mary brings up about small group instruction was an interesting one. As teachers, we obviously need to focus small group instruction on a more individual basis, which means knowing what our students need. I loved the idea that a small group should consist of differing reading levels so that the students have the opportunity to "cross check" each other while working. She also had some good insight on what books and what book levels to choose. During this part of the webcast, I kept thinking back to my current field experience in my first grade classroom. My teacher pairs up groups of 2 or 3 students to "partner read" books together. As they went off, she explained to me that she does her best to pair up the students based not on what level she thinks they are at, but student who use similar strategies as they read. For example, one student who seemed a very advanced reader was paired with two other students who were average readers. As I sat and listened to them, I realized that the advanced student was able to help the others work on the strategy of using contextual clues to understand their reading. I thought this was an awesome idea to showcase this "cross checking" strategy and was very beneficial to the students during this reading period.
One last idea that stuck with me when I was done watching the webcast was the idea that reading is more non-visual for students than it is visual. This idea is woven through the concept that pre service teachers are told hundreds of times- that we need to teach students to not just brainlessly read the words, but to match that with comprehension and meaning strategies. Here is where the "non-visual" aspect comes in; when a student reads, he or she should be doing a lot more in their minds that we can't see than just reading the words out loud. Whether it be applying background knowledge, using visualizing strategies, or other contextual clues, there always should be other processes going through a students mind as they are reading. Although this can be a daunting idea, I feel it is important to understand while helping our students become successful readers.
Pat Johnson mentioned 4 points on instructional decisions; assessment driving instruction, supporting the reading process system, providing opportunities to practice with real books so children can use this system correctly, and keeping meaning at the forefront. A major point throughout this section of the webcast was the idea to teach through the readers, not the books. What an interesting idea.. not surprising to teachers since I think we all know that this is the most beneficial learning strategy for long-term success, however, I know myself and plenty of other teachers are guilty of searching through certain books to teach lessons through only using that book's content. The downfall of this strategy is the struggle the students might feel to apply the desired learning through different medias and books other than the book they learned it so clearly through. I thought this was a very interesting thing to keep in mind, since I already find myself guilty of this and I barely have much teaching experience yet.
The discussion that Mary brings up about small group instruction was an interesting one. As teachers, we obviously need to focus small group instruction on a more individual basis, which means knowing what our students need. I loved the idea that a small group should consist of differing reading levels so that the students have the opportunity to "cross check" each other while working. She also had some good insight on what books and what book levels to choose. During this part of the webcast, I kept thinking back to my current field experience in my first grade classroom. My teacher pairs up groups of 2 or 3 students to "partner read" books together. As they went off, she explained to me that she does her best to pair up the students based not on what level she thinks they are at, but student who use similar strategies as they read. For example, one student who seemed a very advanced reader was paired with two other students who were average readers. As I sat and listened to them, I realized that the advanced student was able to help the others work on the strategy of using contextual clues to understand their reading. I thought this was an awesome idea to showcase this "cross checking" strategy and was very beneficial to the students during this reading period.
One last idea that stuck with me when I was done watching the webcast was the idea that reading is more non-visual for students than it is visual. This idea is woven through the concept that pre service teachers are told hundreds of times- that we need to teach students to not just brainlessly read the words, but to match that with comprehension and meaning strategies. Here is where the "non-visual" aspect comes in; when a student reads, he or she should be doing a lot more in their minds that we can't see than just reading the words out loud. Whether it be applying background knowledge, using visualizing strategies, or other contextual clues, there always should be other processes going through a students mind as they are reading. Although this can be a daunting idea, I feel it is important to understand while helping our students become successful readers.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Catching Readers Before They Fall Chapter 5 and 10. Armstrong Panel
In today's blog I am choosing to talk more about Chapter 10 because I thought it was really interesting looking at the assessment processes brought up in the book. I guess what surprised me was how many different aspects and types of assessment that were mentioned and are expected to be practiced in the classroom. The Running Record seems like a simple, effective way to "give us insights into which strategic behaviors are being used or not used as well as information about what level text is appropriate for a child" (Johnson and Keier, 283). I also enjoyed the ideas given about documenting and keeping record of the student's assessments throughout the year. Although there are many ways to do this, the book layed out some class grids and class lists that had different information on them. As a visual person, these documenting skills were important for me to learn about within the chapter. I'm excited to start using these strategies and the rest mentioned throughout these two chapters within my field experience.
I also attended the Armstrong Teacher Panel this week on September 26th. The panel was so interesting and informative, while at the same time being very informal and enjoyable. Although I took in a lot of great tips, tricks, and ideas to carry with me as I keep continuing down my teaching path, perhaps the greatest piece of advice I received is having to not listen to everyones advice. The last speaker brought up the point that I am going to receive a million little bits of information and advice from different teachers throughout these next coming years. Instead of getting overwhelmed about not being able to practice and assess each piece of advice, we need to absorb what we like and will think will work best in our particular classroom for that year. Within the panel alone, one teacher said not to smile until the first month is over so the students don't think your a pushover. Another teacher said to smile welcomely on the first day and be very open and inviting. Even this little situation shows how different teachers have vastly different strategies that work for them and not for others. I think the bottom line is I need to keep my mind open to all advice while staying true to my self, my teaching practice, and my successes.
I also attended the Armstrong Teacher Panel this week on September 26th. The panel was so interesting and informative, while at the same time being very informal and enjoyable. Although I took in a lot of great tips, tricks, and ideas to carry with me as I keep continuing down my teaching path, perhaps the greatest piece of advice I received is having to not listen to everyones advice. The last speaker brought up the point that I am going to receive a million little bits of information and advice from different teachers throughout these next coming years. Instead of getting overwhelmed about not being able to practice and assess each piece of advice, we need to absorb what we like and will think will work best in our particular classroom for that year. Within the panel alone, one teacher said not to smile until the first month is over so the students don't think your a pushover. Another teacher said to smile welcomely on the first day and be very open and inviting. Even this little situation shows how different teachers have vastly different strategies that work for them and not for others. I think the bottom line is I need to keep my mind open to all advice while staying true to my self, my teaching practice, and my successes.
Catching Readers Before They Fall Chapter 4
I really enjoyed Chapter 4 because it helped me transition from an "old fashioned" teaching strategy of sounding a word out which research and personal experience has shown that it is not always successful. It was interesting seeing the concept of Meaning (M), Structure (S), and Visual (V) being introduced. I found it a bit ironic that each of these three descriptions is not what I had originally expected. When I first read about the visual strategy compared to the rest, I was imagining the concept of using visual pictures and clues to understand the concept. Now I see that that strategy is actually Meaning, while Visual is using what looks right within the word to understand it. I also really enjoyed the examples the booked layed out of example prompts of students who use the strategies differently (i.e. too much V and not enough M, not monitoring, etc.) As I read through these, I was able to relate the prompt of the student who was relying too much on background and not enough monitoring/matching. When I introduced him to his first read aloud book, he actually said it was already one he had read and that it was one within a series of about 5 or 6 books (the Fly Guy series). Since he already knew so much about the story, while he was reading he would sometimes just summarize what he knew happened on that page without paying too much attention to the actual text in front of him. I am not sure if this is going to be an ongoing problem in his reading, so I am definitely excited to see his reaction to other books I bring in that he is not so familiar with.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Catching Readers Before They Fall Chapters 1-3
Chapter 1 was a great introduction to how our textbook for this class is layed out and how we can specifically use it in this classroom, our field experiences, and throughout the rest of our paths as future OR current teachers. One part that stood out to me while reading is the "We Believe" area that the authors wrote. One bullet point reads as follows; "Classrooms should be incredibly safe places where every student feels respected and valued; where its okay to make a mistake; and where its acceptable by all to have strengths and weaknesses that may be different from other students in the classroom community" (Johnson & Keier, 3). This quote took me as something that EVERY teacher should keep in mind through every aspect of their classroom, whether it be reading or not. Student success, in my mind, can flourish only in an environment such as this quote lays out that the teacher needs to establish. This quote meant a lot to me and makes me excited to continue learning throughout this book.
I was not surprised to be introduced to Vygotsky's teaching theories within the first couple of chapters in this book. I have learned about him before, and it is clear that he is one of the main resources teachers pull from while planning their literacy blocks and theories. Teaching through the zone of proximal development (ZPD) by using techniques like scaffolding and the gradual release of responsibility is a key way to move information to the zone of actual development. One of the main points of his theory, the gradual release of responsibility, got me thinking a lot throughout the reading of how I could apply this and the ideas of ZPD to something that is very personal to me, which is dancing. As a dancer, I have taken classes my whole life. The choreographer, which in these cases would act as a teacher, would usually start a class modeling whatever dance or routine she would like us to do for that day. After her modeling, we usually start to interact with the teaching by individually practicing the movements on our own with the help of the choreographer beside us or in front of us. At this point we would be in our own ZPDs, since we can do the skill with the help of the teacher. This would be where her main teaching points would be of most importance to us. Eventually we would be able to move our of the ZPD to be able to do it completely on our own. The choreographer models the gradual release of responsibility by at first modeling completely on her own, then giving us a little bit of freedom to practice with her guidance, and eventually giving us full control by doing the movements on our own without any of her help.
I was not surprised to be introduced to Vygotsky's teaching theories within the first couple of chapters in this book. I have learned about him before, and it is clear that he is one of the main resources teachers pull from while planning their literacy blocks and theories. Teaching through the zone of proximal development (ZPD) by using techniques like scaffolding and the gradual release of responsibility is a key way to move information to the zone of actual development. One of the main points of his theory, the gradual release of responsibility, got me thinking a lot throughout the reading of how I could apply this and the ideas of ZPD to something that is very personal to me, which is dancing. As a dancer, I have taken classes my whole life. The choreographer, which in these cases would act as a teacher, would usually start a class modeling whatever dance or routine she would like us to do for that day. After her modeling, we usually start to interact with the teaching by individually practicing the movements on our own with the help of the choreographer beside us or in front of us. At this point we would be in our own ZPDs, since we can do the skill with the help of the teacher. This would be where her main teaching points would be of most importance to us. Eventually we would be able to move our of the ZPD to be able to do it completely on our own. The choreographer models the gradual release of responsibility by at first modeling completely on her own, then giving us a little bit of freedom to practice with her guidance, and eventually giving us full control by doing the movements on our own without any of her help.
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