What text will you be using?
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! by Dr. Seuss, Jack Prelutsky & Lane Smith
What themes in the text do you want to emphasize?
I am still thinking about which themes I want to address, but my CT suggested using this book because it has a lot of potential for questions to ask before, during, and after reading the text to assess students' comprehension.
Which GLCEs are you thinking about?
R.CM.01.01 Make text-to-self and text-to-text connections and comparisons by activating prior knowledge and connecting personal knowledge and experience to ideas in text through oral and written responses.
R.CM.01.02 Retell in sequence up to three important ideas and details of familiar simple oral and written text.
R.MT.01.01 Self-monitor comprehension by recognizing when meaning is breaking down and use simple fix-up strategies including making credible predictions based on a preview of the book cover and pictures to increase comprehension when reading or listening to text.
R.MT.01.02 Self-monitor comprehension by using strategies including asking questions before, during, and after reading and discussing the most important ideas and themes in a text.
R.MT.01.03 Plan, monitor, regulate, and evalute skills, strategies and processes to construct and convey meaning and discuss which comprehension strategies worked and did not work.
R.MT.01.04 Self-monitor comprehension by using a graphic organizer to sequence events, sort and order information, or identify author's perspective.
(Obviously, I'm not using all of these GLCEs, but these are the GLCEs I am thinking about between the lesson itself and the post-assessment "activity" following the lesson.)
How will the lesson flow? What is the sequence of events?
I plan on taking a picture walk of the book before reading it, and asking the students what they think the book will be about. I will ask questions before, during, and after reading the book, which will assess comprehension at these three points. In addition, my post-assessment "activity" will include either a graphic organizer, identifying the most important points of the story, or sequencing events in the correct order (each of the extra GLCEs I am considering using).
How will you involve discussion (whole group, pairs, small groups, etc.)?
The students in my classroom hardly ever utilize small group work because they cannot stay on task, and pair work is never utilized for the same reason. Because of this, I will do whole group work on the reading carpet (reading the story), and at their tables (post-assessment).
Are you thinking about any other/additional types of assessment?
Other than the ideas addressed in the extra GLCEs I am considering using and my thought process of how the lesson will flow and the possible sequence of events, no, I don't know which type of assessment I am going to use yet.
Is there anything specific you would like advice about (from me, or your peers)?
I don't have any questions right now, but if I come up with any, I will either email Mike or my peers, or wait until the time we will receive to work on our rough draft in class on Monday morning to ask them.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Motivation
When I think about motivation, in regards to reading and writing, in my placement classroom, two students immediately stand out to me. The first student is a well rounded student, and seems to be highly motivated in all of the subjects that my CT teaches. In my classroom, as I've explained before, my CT relies heavily on silent reading, or as "Read to Self" as she calls it, in her classroom. During this time, this student is always sitting with a book reading quietly the entire time. This student is an advanced reader and she has moved from picture books to chapter books. This student is also very focused during writing time. She has many stories in her writing folder, and is a pretty good writer for being in first grade. I would say that she is one of the top writers in her classroom. I think that this student does well with these subjects because she knows that she is good at reading and writing, which motivates her to challenge herself and go further.
The other student that comes to mind is a student who struggles with reading and writing. This student is seen as the "Troublemaker" in the classroom, but is also a very sweet kid. When it is "Read to Self" time in the classroom, this student is often up and walking around the classroom, going to the restroom multiple times and is talking with other students. When I sit down with this student, he struggles with reading and often guesses because he thinks that if he gets the answer wrong enough times, that I will just tell him the word. This student also has difficulty with sounding out words, which also links to his writing. He still has a little trouble with identifying letters and their corresponding sounds, so when he tries to sound out words, he gives up easily. I can tell that he is not very motived toward either of these subjects because he has difficulty with them. I think that if my CT worked with this student one on one more frequently, he could be more motivated to try in these subjects, which will allow him to do better.
I think that motivation and success have a very close relationship. As you can see with the two students that I described, motivation is a huge part in achieving success. I know that I have learned about motivation in my other TE classes, but I find that this is sometimes very hard to implement in the classroom. Sometimes students just really aren't and don't want to have the motivation to work hard in certain subjects, even though they need to. But I hope that with more practice, I can find the right trigger to motivate certain students so that they can become better learners.
The other student that comes to mind is a student who struggles with reading and writing. This student is seen as the "Troublemaker" in the classroom, but is also a very sweet kid. When it is "Read to Self" time in the classroom, this student is often up and walking around the classroom, going to the restroom multiple times and is talking with other students. When I sit down with this student, he struggles with reading and often guesses because he thinks that if he gets the answer wrong enough times, that I will just tell him the word. This student also has difficulty with sounding out words, which also links to his writing. He still has a little trouble with identifying letters and their corresponding sounds, so when he tries to sound out words, he gives up easily. I can tell that he is not very motived toward either of these subjects because he has difficulty with them. I think that if my CT worked with this student one on one more frequently, he could be more motivated to try in these subjects, which will allow him to do better.
I think that motivation and success have a very close relationship. As you can see with the two students that I described, motivation is a huge part in achieving success. I know that I have learned about motivation in my other TE classes, but I find that this is sometimes very hard to implement in the classroom. Sometimes students just really aren't and don't want to have the motivation to work hard in certain subjects, even though they need to. But I hope that with more practice, I can find the right trigger to motivate certain students so that they can become better learners.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Technology and Emergent Literacy/"Emergent" Digital Literacy
I found several points to be very interesting and though provoking while reading the “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: A New Way to Look at Ourselves and Our Kids” article. And, after reading each of the definitions from the “Digital Denizens” webpage I feel that the term Digital Native best describes me. I think that my family, my public schooling, my friends and time at MSU have all influenced my use of technology. I grew up with a computer, telephone, TV, playstation, movies, CDs, etc. in my home, and during my years in high school I had a cell phone, ipod and a laptop. For most, if not all of my life I have used a telephone, cell phone, email, or texting to communicate with all of my friends and family. And, since I have been at MSU I have had several classes online, or at least all of my classes have relied on e-mail, ANGEL, powerpoints or other uses of the computer and internet. Technology has been a major part of my life for my whole life.
While reading the Tompkins chapter about working with the youngest readers and writers, or emergent literacy I simultaneously thought about “emergent” digital literacy in comparison with emergent literacy. While the chapter talked about teaching about concepts about print, concepts about words and concepts about the alphabet, I thought that it is probably necessary for literacy teachers to make sure that their students know where the letters of the alphabet are located on a computer keyboard and that they have experience reading and writing on the computer. Or, students may even know how to type on the computer or use a computer for other literacy purposes before they learn how to write the letters of the alphabet or words. While students are in the emergent literacy stage I feel that teachers can have students practice typing letters and words on the computer, allow students to type up their written work on the computer, have a classroom blog where students complete posts and comment on their classmates work, and just be sure that the students have the opportunity to work with Microsoft word to assist students while they are in the “emergent” digital literacy stage.
I think that as a freshman at MSU I was in the emergent stage of digital literacy. But, now after 4 years of using ANGEL, powerpoints, blogs, wikis and typing and submitting papers online in the majority of my classes I feel that I am beyond the emergent stage of digital literacy. I feel that some of the same things that benefit ELL’s when it comes to literacy learning needs can benefit me with my literacy learning needs as well. According to the Gibbons chapters assigned for reading this week, ELL’s literacy learning needs include clear and explicit instructions, extra time spent with vocabulary, and success with group work settings. In terms of my literacy learning needs, I feel that I require clear and explicit instructions, extra time with new vocabulary and that working with others in a group are all necessary for me at times, depending on the literacy concept.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Classroom Talk
Of the types of classroom talk discussed throughout the readings, I think that my CT engages her classroom in "response-centered talk." Every time she reads a story to them, conducts any type of reading and/or comprehension assessment, or wants her students to produce any type of response to the story, in order to assess this, she asks a lot of questions to produce the type of response she wants to receive. I think that while this can be productive, it also doesn't give the students the ability to freely discuss what they think was important about the story, what they liked and/or disliked, or how the story relates to them. In McGee's Response-Centered Talk article, she addresses the fact that at first, the response-centered talk does not seem productive, which is how I feel when my CT uses this approach. I do see how it can be effective though, especially because if students are unsure of how to respond to a story and/or comprehend it, guiding questions are beneficial. However, solely conducting conversations based on questions generated by the teacher isn't as productive for the students' ability to develop their own discussion, which is why I feel this approach isn't as creative as prompting the students and asking them to discuss. I don't think that my students have the ability as first graders to effectively have a structured conversation and respond to each other to continue a lengthy discussion, but my CT also asks repetitious questions that guide the students to responding in the way that she wants them to.
When McGee addresses what she calls the "hallmarks" of response-centered talk, it addresses exactly why I think this type of talk is most effective especially for our first grade students. She says that it doesn't necessarily evaluate the students' responses for "correctness," but provides an open-ended invitation for students to contribute to discussion and evaluate how the story relates to them and build a better understanding of the book. In addition, she compares response-centered talk to a "good dinner conversation," which is a great analogy and sums up the idea of response-centered talk to someone who may not know and/or understand the idea. I think that in order to scaffold students to participate in this type of talk, questions need to be thought of prior to the book in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the discussion. While I believe that my CT mostly tries to participate in response-centered talk, the questions that she sometimes asks make the process not effective. I think that questions need to be more specific than vague, such as what McGee provides, "Do you think Rosie knew the fox was behind her?" Later, the teacher asks the students, "Why?" which is also beneficial to discussion. My CT mostly vaguely asks for students' opinions of the story, such as if they liked or disliked the story, which not only doesn't assess students' understanding of the story, but doesn't further press their thinking by asking them "Why (or why not)?"
In my opinion, response-centered talk is most beneficial with younger grades, and is definitely something I would use in my classroom. It is a big help if discussion skills are lacking within the classroom, and provides the students with more opportunities to talk, and the teacher with more opportunities to scaffold the discussion if need be, but allows the students to begin to lead the discussion as they become more comfortable as well.
When McGee addresses what she calls the "hallmarks" of response-centered talk, it addresses exactly why I think this type of talk is most effective especially for our first grade students. She says that it doesn't necessarily evaluate the students' responses for "correctness," but provides an open-ended invitation for students to contribute to discussion and evaluate how the story relates to them and build a better understanding of the book. In addition, she compares response-centered talk to a "good dinner conversation," which is a great analogy and sums up the idea of response-centered talk to someone who may not know and/or understand the idea. I think that in order to scaffold students to participate in this type of talk, questions need to be thought of prior to the book in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the discussion. While I believe that my CT mostly tries to participate in response-centered talk, the questions that she sometimes asks make the process not effective. I think that questions need to be more specific than vague, such as what McGee provides, "Do you think Rosie knew the fox was behind her?" Later, the teacher asks the students, "Why?" which is also beneficial to discussion. My CT mostly vaguely asks for students' opinions of the story, such as if they liked or disliked the story, which not only doesn't assess students' understanding of the story, but doesn't further press their thinking by asking them "Why (or why not)?"
In my opinion, response-centered talk is most beneficial with younger grades, and is definitely something I would use in my classroom. It is a big help if discussion skills are lacking within the classroom, and provides the students with more opportunities to talk, and the teacher with more opportunities to scaffold the discussion if need be, but allows the students to begin to lead the discussion as they become more comfortable as well.
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