Final blog post during the semester spent in Literacy Learning and Teaching 3

     As this semester comes to a close and I prepare for student teaching next fall I have been doing a lot of reflection assignments for many classes and they have all shown me how immensely I have grown as a teacher throughout this spring. My teaching beliefs have not only been reinforced, I have developed some new ones to add to that ever-changing list about the practice of teaching.

     Starting with some teaching beliefs that I developed through my experiences in my practicum placement and discussions in class surrounding the professional texts I think my new beliefs are even stronger than my initial ones. Failure as a natural part of the learning process is one of my new beliefs that I strongly identify with. I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed for most of my schooling experience and I feel like I have only had a select few teachers that would accept failure as a part of learning. Most of the time failure would produce negative reinforcement and make me resent the thought or possibility of failing anything. If we teach our students to fear failure and do not demonstrate proper coping skills when failure does rear it's head then our future society will be made up of people who become dysfunctional in the face of failure.

     Connecting to the previous teaching belief, teaching the social development, morality, character virtues, and things necessary to be a functional citizen are often overlooked, but definitely should not be. These skills need a place in the curriculum alongside academics for a complete and beneficial schooling experience. We do want our future generations to be well educated, of course, but knowing practical skills involving social, lifestyle, and general health are needed to supplement the curriculum and truly round out the education experience. It's one thing to be able to do several mathematical or computer computations, but if you cannot hold a casual conversation with peers any academic skills are obsolete. The last course text by Johnston dealt with this issue the most explicitly, however every text mentions the teacher's responsibility and role as not only an educator, but also a mentor, friend, support system, and guidance counselor. 

     Nowadays the students that compose a classroom have so many incredible and differing stories that make them the student and person they are, so reaching all the students academically with a cookie cutter mold lesson will not be effective in this day and age. Differentiation is necessary to access ALL of your students higher order thinking skills. The Andersen text regarding the assessment process with writing handles this issue and offers excellent options for teachers to use when they just can't quite reach a certain student who is struggling. Also many of the scholarly articles from our course website that we have read give examples of differentiation like Goldenberg who describes instructional conversations. The several articles regarding technology offer very good ways to differentiate through the use of technology in the classroom whether it is with the whole group or even one on one work.
     Reflecting on these new beliefs I can see my own professional development as I am newly entering this field and I anticipate what the future has in store for my own classroom and my developing teaching style!

Technology in the Classroom

     Unfortunately the class I took here at the university with this title did not teach me as much as I would have liked to been taught about using technology in the classroom and how to work with technology as a teaching tool. However some other classes (including this one) have been extremely helpful in my attempt to implement technology in my own classroom! I have had personal experience with how effective technology is in the classroom and I think that teachers need to embrace this upcoming changing classroom environment to better teach future generations.

     What kind of message does it send to young students if schools do not utilize something extremely important to our culture and society as technology? Students will develop the idea that schools are not as advanced as they truly are and they will be underprepared for the real world, in which they will use technology on a daily basis. Technology can help students learn valuable skills they will need in life and their careers.

     Directly relating to one of the technology articles there is some new technology in the works that can help us more efficiently skim and scan pieces of literature. The technology, to be utilized on a smart phone or tablet, uses the front facing camera to track where your eye is looking on the page and automatically scrolls for you when you near the bottom of the page. Amongst other leaps in technology, this one in particular helps with controlling the readers pace and can help the reader practice slower and faster pacing during reading.

     In my practicum experience I brought in my own tablet to use during a lesson and it worked very well. Before the students would drill sight words using notecards and their attention spans would be gone instantly. When I brought notecards up on a tablet they immediately focused in and I haven’t had a management problem with them since.

     As I said earlier in this post technology is so vital for these young generations to get accustomed to because when they group up and are leading our society technology will be even more prevalent in our country and around the globe. Technology also has the capability to unlock student creativity that would have otherwise remained untapped. One computer game called Minecraft is what is known as a sandbox game that allows the user to build whatever he/she wants within a finite world. I have seen videos and read articles about this being incorporated in the classroom and some things the students can produce simply by stacking the blocks in certain formations are extraordinary.

     My future classroom will definitely utilize technology. I aim to use it everyday in every lesson I teach so that the students are exposed to it across a multitude of subjects. In the end technology is a great classroom tool for teachers to master and implement in their teaching, but it can also be a risky business sometimes. The key is knowing when to draw the line that separates technology being helpful for students as a learning tool and where it becomes more of a game instead of learning based.

Instructional Conversations

Despite being in a classroom of 1^st graders I had high hopes for my instructional conversation. Many portions of it proved to be effective however for next time I would like to work on getting the students to respond to each other more. Aside from a few occasions the students were mostly responding to my prompts or me. Some of the students really got it and were contributing excellent higher order thinking responses while others were sticking to surface level themes or summaries of the text we focused on.  As I dive into the thorough analysis this week I will explore what led up to moments that showed great instructional conversing amongst the students, what did not work so well, and what I can improve on for next time!

I chose to do my instructional conversation about the picture book Peter’s Chair. In this picture book Peter’s baby sister has just been born and his parents are paying more attention to her than him. They paint all of his baby things pink and he gets jealous and attempts to run away. In the end Peter decides to help his dad paint his chair for his little sister. So despite the somewhat basic plot line this book has several talking points that could be focused on that reveal the theme of the story. The ones I chose to focus on with my students were Why did Peter decide to run away, why was he grumpy throughout the story, and why did Peter change his mind at the end of the story. These talking points deal with Peter’s jealous and anger throughout the story. And the last one deals with his overall care and love for his sister that he was able to realize at the end of the story.

I taught my lesson with an instructional conversation focus last week and I do have some good data to analyze however the biggest mistake I think I made was making the group aware of the tape recorder. With other groups I have worked with the tape recorder did not change their interactions with me at all, but this group could not handle it as well as the other groups. During the lesson they were obsessed with the recorder and would try to say things into it.

As Goldenberg specifies I followed the elements of an instructional conversation by establishing a focus (Peter’s reaction to his sister), activating schema (asking the students about their own siblings and feelings they may have had), and provided starting points for thoughtful conversation (the talking points I listed above). Backed up in Johnston’s text, this idea of collaboration and building on peers ideas will promote critical thinking and HOTS among the students. So in my first attempt at an instructional conversation I think my content and focus was there, however student interaction with the conversation could be improved.

After I construct my Instructional Conversation essay I will be keeping in mind things that went well, not so well, and what I learned about this process that I can use for next time I have one in my own classroom.

Writing Assessment reflective post

  Overall my students did well on this writing exercise and gave me plenty of ideas regarding how to expand on this topic and build up their writing skills. Although my rubric specifies the importance of exact structure of the poem, their poems most definitely showed writer voice and a developing usage of descriptive adjectives, these two things are supported in Andersen’s text as traits of good writing (Andersen 56). To build on what this assessment has shown me I believe the students would benefit mostly from drafting work, word choice enhancement, and layouts of writing pieces. All three of these teaching ideas can be applied in small groups, large groups, or individually.

  Drafting, as several of our course texts have specified is an essential component of writing. As Miller’s text says, reading and by association writing is all about making meaning so how is the student supposed to make meaning after one writing exercise with Cinquain poems? Through a drafting process I would propose that students create a rough draft then with small groups or partners we could peer edit. The ability to think together is not only useful in classroom settings within writing, but also in the context of the real world (Johnston 103). Responding and reflecting on a peers writing is also identified as two of the five points of teaching true and to the test in writing (Wolf 232). Observing the students share ideas and writing with each other I could informally assess any growth that would take place.

  This collaboration would be encouraged in my next suggestion to direct future instruction and assessment. Enhancing the vocabulary of the students in exercises involving thesauruses and using descriptive words would help improve their writing. Andersen specifies the importance of rehearsing writing and that good writers return to topics they can connect to and have purpose for writing about (111). To apply this in the classroom setting letting students choose their topics is absolutely crucial. Through choice of their own topic they will have an interest and maybe some background knowledge to work with while they delve deeper into the topic. Topic choice for writing was something that was discussed thoroughly in other courses I have taken, so between that and the professional text that supports it I believe it is pretty important for developing writers.

  Finally, to address layouts of writing pieces introducing different kinds of writing layouts will help familiarize the class with all the different styles. A specific example, the students could write a formal letter to a celebrity or member of the government. This activity would simultaneously address adhering to layouts for certain writing pieces and writing to a real audience, which is a component of being an initiator of writing (Andersen 29). Layout of writing and genre can go hand in hand to improve the students understanding of layouts of writing. An activity could be to write the same story from different perspectives or genres (Andersen 154). Through these activities the students will gain a new understanding of layouts and will maybe even be inspired to revise previous writing pieces with different layouts.

  My group of students is on the right track for writing development and will continue to grow and learn if the goal of lifelong writing is reinforced. Through working with drafting and peer editing, word choice exercises, and lessons about layouts and genres of writing I believe these students will gain a better understanding of writing and themselves as writers.

-Andersen

-Miller

-Johnston

-Wolf

Creating Lifelong Writers

     One big idea that we have discussed in class and appears on several occasions in Andersen's text is through teacher writing we should be working toward the collective goal of helping the students become lifelong writers. To continue with their writing after we have had them in class and even after they finish their schooling experience. In order to do this Andersen highlights some key details that we need to focus on in our writing instruction and assessment. The importance of knowing your student, designing lessons that fit your class, and conferencing techniques are all essential pieces of Andersen's work that have been supported by other professional texts and our own discussions in the classroom.
     The importance of knowing who your student is on an academic and personal level is a necessary piece to the puzzle of creating lifelong writers out of your students. The influence a great teacher can live for decades and be a powerful motivator of your students. Andersen specifies that through active listening and having background knowledge of your students you will not only be a more effective at assessing writing, but you will also construct a well rounded relationship with your students that will have a lasting impression on their lives in and outside of school.
     Lessons designed to challenge, yet keep your students attention also go a long way towards creating lifelong writers. There are some units I remember from my own elementary experience over a decade ago because they included a perfect balance of academic stimulation and fun. Students who are challenged will often out perform your expectations because a challenge might have been exactly what they needed to focus in on improving their writing (Andersen). Designing a unit can be intimidating for new teachers as Andersen mentions, myself included, but having a unit that uniquely fits your classroom is much better than adopting a scripted design that does not fit.
     At the center of the carefully designed units keeping the kinds of students you have in mind is the writing conference. Andersen's text goes into great detail about tailoring these student teacher conferences to run smoothly and effectively as possible. Andersen not only writes about these conferencing techniques, but he also includes examples and tables of them in use which I thought was very helpful. Conferencing is an essential tool to make instruction flow smoothly and encourage your students to develop and inherent desire to write. I thought it was really awesome that he mentions that there is no right way to conduct writer's workshop, it depends on the classroom. This statement could not be more true and it resonated with me so much that I knew I had seen it somewhere before...
     In that quotation he cites Writers Workshops by Fletcher and Portalupi which rang a bell because this was one of my favorite texts from my Literacy Learning and Teaching I & II classes! Seeing how the professional teaching texts intermingle with one another is so interesting and highlights the most important aspects of teaching reading and writing. As I read more and more professional texts on teaching writing I will always keep in mind the goal of creating lifelong writers out of my future students.

-Assessing Writers Carl Andersen
-Writers Workshops Ralph Fletcher & JoAnn Portalupi

Think Aloud Reflective Summary

     The book I chose to do my think aloud on Little Louie the Baby Bloomer by Robert Kraus. I was actually able to do the think aloud with the same student I did my miscue with so she was already used to working one on one with me. I introduced the idea of think aloud as just saying what you are thinking in your head about the reading and dove right in from there!
     I approached my think aloud with a Talk-Through strategy, the student and I took turns reading aloud as we worked through the story. I would pause occasionally and share my own think aloud and encourage her to share hers as well. As we picked up speed the gradual release of responsibility began to kick in and by the end of the book I had to cut her off at certain points to get a word in! As we have learned in class through many of our readings, this release of responsibility will provide the best conditions for maximum comprehension and efficiency in reading. The book mentioned on our Think Aloud handout is where I got my strategy for the think aloud from. Out of the many choices I think that venue was the most efficient for the first grade level.
     Doing a think aloud with a first grade student revealed some incredible insights about how children of that age draw connections and piece literacy together. As we decided which of the many think aloud events we should record on the worksheet (above) I reminded her to choose an event that you can relate to and will help you remember the story better. She chose to record when Leo is trying to teach Louie how to do various things, specifically throw a ball. She related the illustration to how Tom and Jerry cartoons look, since the ball bounces off Leo's head. I asked her how this helps her remember and she told me that first Louie couldn't do anything, then he could do everything. She knew those parts so this think aloud reminds her of a part in the book that was more of a challenge to remember for her.
     Her rationale and explanation of this lines up exactly with the Miller text. Making meaning will help students retain the most information and improve retelling, since she made meaning of a part that she felt was a little harder to remember she is doing exactly what all readers should do whether she knows it or not!
     My think aloud experience also relates to the Tovani text in that the relation between text and real world context, Tom and Jerry, is one of the most powerful connection a reader can make. From my student I learned how think alouds really engage the student and having the ability to say your thoughts whenever during the story sometimes overexcites them. My student loved being able to say what she was thinking, which sometimes got us a little off track and was a little challenging to refocus her on the reading. Think alouds are definitely something I will use in my future classroom since they promote creativity, higher order thinking, drawing connections to the real world, and are practical in any subject area.


-Tovani's text
-Miller's text
-http://www.amazon.com/Improving-Comprehension-Think-Aloud-Strategies-Modeling/dp/0439218594/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1394401128&sr=8-3&keywords=think+aloud+books

Diversity in the classroom

     The topic Jackie and I chose for our area of inquiry is diversity in the classroom through literature in the context of culture, race, and ethnicity. The topic is very broad so by narrowing it down to the literature component will provide us with more specifics as we explore the topic. Whether it be through books for read aloud, more diverse options for individual reading, or through the media incorporating all kinds of diversity in the classroom is something Jackie and I thought is very important for students to be exposed to. Our country is growing more diverse everyday and if students in schools read only literature that doesn't explore other ways of life they are going to be in for a huge culture shock when they hit the real world. As I identified earlier the diversity will focus on culture, race, and ethnicity in order to provide a wide range of diverse subjects in the literature.
     The professionals with teaching expertise I will focus most of my research around are Debbie Miller and Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf Education). Having read many of Miller's books I really appreciate the directness of her writing and how she provides excellent tips for various aspects of the classroom. Knowing a lot about her I feel like her stance on include diverse literature in the classroom is one worth investigating. And another scholarly source I will do some research into is the Waldorf approach. Since that approach is centered on a learning by doing, I wonder what kind of information regarding diversity will be included. And being only the beginning of the inquiry project, I can say I will draw on more sources, but I'm not entirely sure who just yet.
     Real life classroom experience will be crucial for my own understanding and learning about this topic. Being in my first grade room for practicum I will use that as an opportunity to test the waters and see how students embrace me bringing diversity to their attention. Implementing this inquiry subject into the curriculum I use in my small group setting will be very easy and beneficial for the students. I also plan to let my cooperating teacher know about this inquiry project and see what advice or tips she has to offer regarding the subject.
     With the specific focus of diversity in classroom through literature, our topic directly relates to the big ideas we have been delving into about making meaning from reading and getting our students connected and engaged in the literature. With books specifically dealing with diversity I feel like the reading will be far more relatable than the boring reading from the basil readers. Having books that deal with this topic will also expand on the types of meanings that can be made while reading. The scripted books in the curriculum often have just one intended way the reader should make meaning of it, however with these different books reader interpretations can be endless. The importance of making meaning through reading is an idea we have had much discussion about and bringing in these kinds of books will help the students practice that skill.

Miscue learning

     My OTSMA went very well overall. I performed the miscue on a girl in my first grade classroom that I visit on a daily basis for practicum. After the miscue I learned that she is also an ELL student, which gave some perspective for the data that I found during the process. My student has a solid understanding of the importance of making meaning out of reading which is a major focus in Miller's text and many of the course readings we have read thus far.

     Through the post-miscue conversation I learned more about my reader's vocabulary. In discussion of "drawer" I learned that the barrier that held my reader back from this word was pronunciation, not the basic knowledge of the word. To address this I would focus more time on the correct pronunciations of words, based on this miscue I could tell my reader has a sufficient vocabulary for the grade she is in, however fine tuning her spoken language will benefit her greatly.

     As for my teacher toolkit I think the main lesson I took away from this experience was to have a back up plan. In the instance where she self corrected a miscue I really wanted to teach her about, I had to quickly implement my plan B by turning her attention to why she thinks readers might make that miscue. This turned out to be a productive conversation, but if I had not been prepared with a back up plan I would have simply breezed over this teachable moment and moved on.

     I also learned not to under estimate your readers. Thinking I knew my readers ability I initially flipped through the book and thought that she would miscue every other word! To my surprise she only miscued 13% of the text (which came out to only 13 words total), and proved me wrong! I embrace a lot of the positive and optimistic outlooks on student reading as seen in Miller and Tovani's books so when she proved me wrong I thought how could I have been so pessimistic about her ability? However during my initial look at the book I took for granted the context clues and illustrations that proved to help out my reader significantly. I also think I was almost hoping for some miscues to work with just because I had heard horror stories about classmates doing miscues and having excellent readers who wouldn't make a single miscue.

     In reflection of me being nervous there wouldn't be any miscues I thought about the readings for this course and Literacy Learning & Teaching I & II. After all of these readings they all still mention that all readers from the best to worst will make miscues eventually, the quality of miscues will vary of course, showing me that I shouldn't be nervous of that for future miscues. If a reader is proficient I could even read certain sentences and have a discussion about how that sentence could use different words and still maintain the same meaning.

     Keeping in mind all I have learned (in this class and previous ones) about miscues I think they are something I would like to have in my classroom. Just as a checkpoint for all the readers in my class to see what meanings they are making, what types of miscues they are making, and to discuss their individual reading process. The beautiful thing is that I think this could be meshed with reading conferences and flow very smoothly, killing two birds with one stone!

Classroom Spaces

     I believe that the classroom environment is an ever-changing location that needs to be welcoming, comfortable, safe, friendly, and accepting. Miller supports this claim that the classroom will grow with the students and that depending on the students, the classroom environment one year may be dramatically different than the previous year. I think that at the beginning of the year the walls of the classroom should be ready to display student work, but also have decorations right off the bat. With 4 blank white walls the students will have no excitement or desire to be in that room.
     The role of the teacher in this ideal type of classroom environment is to be a facilitator and guide. A passage in Miller describes how when a stranger walks in the room it is hard for them to pick out the teacher because they blend in so well exemplifies inquiry learning at work. Obviously for some instances formal instruction is necessary, but blending in with the students will enhance that feeling of an environment free from intimidation in which the students can express their ideas without fear of being embarrassed.
     The Waldorf approach really compliments my belief of the what the ideal classroom environment should be. With the first stage of his learning pedagogy mainly focused on learning through play, hands on activities, practicality, and tapping into the creative side of the students' mind I think this type of learning should definitely be embraced in elementary classrooms. Going back to one of my teaching beliefs, children learn by doing, with this type of curriculum students will grow and learn much more than the students who are subject to lecture formatted classrooms day in and day out.
     Another point that adds to my idea of the perfect classroom environment is the routines and rapport teachers must build with students. Supported in Miller's work and other educational literature, routines establish a much needed structure within the classrooms that students so desperately need. And having good rapport with your students will only further strengthen their feelings of comfortability in the classroom making them more open to your teaching.
     Combining all of these points together evenly and effectively will create the classroom environment that will promote life long learning for all the students. I believe that this cannot be achieved with a quick fix, to facilitate this kind of environment the teacher needs to balance all of these aspects while still ensuring that curriculum is being taught. With enough experience and knowledge about how students learn under my belt I hope to achieve this classroom environment with my own students one day.

Teaching Beliefs (February 2014)

• Students learn by doing.

Not only does my own personal experience support this belief, but from what I have seen up to this point in classrooms supports it as well. Students can memorize, recite, and mindlessly learn anything if teachers are persistent enough. But I believe that even one activity in which students do something, make something, or have any kind of interaction with each other or the assignment is far more beneficial than trying to memorize a list of facts.

• Making meaning out of what students are learning is essential.

Some students may be able to get by without making meaning of their learning, just doing whatever the teacher says because they believe they have to or they will get into trouble, but students really thrive in classrooms that make meaning of the learning. Same goes for any interest the student has outside of school. For example, what inspires a student to practice to get better at basketball? They like to play it, so they want to get better. Any student who is able to make meaning of their learning and relate it to an interest will be more open to learning.

• Establishing a classroom community.

Not only does a classroom community facilitate a sense of belonging in which students can exchange thoughts and ideas freely, but it will also satisfy a basic need all students require to learn efficiently, a sense of safety. No student will learn to their potential if they are too afraid to participate or do not feel welcome in the classroom. A community would break down those walls so even the shyest student can openly converse with the class free from any stress or worrying.

• All students can learn.

No matter what background your students come from or what barriers they must overcome, all students have the inherent ability to learn. I think people who don't agree with this think of learning as strictly academic, which for some students might be very difficult. But learning does not have to take place within academics to be learning. A student who knows extensive bus routes so they can make it home after school, an ELL student who uses symbols to communicate until they have a firm grasp on english,  or a student who knows the difference between right and wrong are all valid examples of learning.

• Student centered learning is very effective.

Giving students more control over their own learning in the classroom setting can be terrifying and extremely rewarding. Going along with learning by doing, by centering the learning around the student instead of the teacher the limits are endless, as opposed to a routine worksheet on the topic that some students breeze through and others struggle with. I think that students will benefit more than they would have thought through student centered learning.

Introduction Post

More used to blogging than I thought

To my own surprise this is not my first time using blog spot to blog for a class. In my Advanced Health high school class we created a blog in which most of our assignments and some discussions were facilitated. Thinking back on that class, the blog was a very useful and relevant tool to use to keep up with classroom topics and keep up with the ever changing technology. I expect that this new blog for our Literacy Learning and Teaching III class will also be very useful and relevant, but practices and ideas we learn and exchange through blogging this semester will follow us into our own career paths.