"Cultivating a classroom that encourages and sustains writing takes far more work than methods because it forces us to look first at ourselves and our own writing." The author of these two chapters stressed the fact that it is important for students to see their teachers doing the same thing they are learning about. I think that this idea is very important in creating a classroom environment that the students are comfortable in and that fosters their learning.
This is especially important in writing. Because it is about more than just the words on the page, but the meaning behind those words. It is important for students to understand that writing is a learning process that never stops. It is important for them to know that even as a teacher you are still learning about your own writing.
The author gave several examples on how to best teach writing in the classroom. One that stood out to me was the writing conferences and how they are set up. The most important idea I got from this was that during the conference the children are talking 80 percent of the time and the teacher only talks for 20. I think this is important because during this conference the student should be talking about their writing and why they wrote it and the meaning behind it. That doesn't leave much room for the teacher to say what they think about it, or critique it in depth, which I think is a good time. There is a certain time and place for the teacher to critique the writing and the conference isn't that time.
I think these two chapters expressed the importance of writing and why it is so important. The ideas put forth in these chapters are really something to think about and hold high importance in effective teaching.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Every Mark on The Page
As future teachers we will deal with parents and their concerns almost as often as we will deal with the students. The majority of the times their concerns come from the care they have for their child's education. It is our job to work with them to ease those concerns and assure them that their child is on the right path. In younger grades their concerns mostly focus on their child's reading and writing abilities. Their concerns can come form a lack of understanding of the learning process about writing and it is our job to explain it to them.
We don't expect our students' writing to be perfect, or even close to perfect, at this point in their learning. "Writing is more than legible handwriting and good spelling." This is because they are learning about an entirely new process. Teachers should encourage invented spelling, and their effort because at least they are trying. Correcting every mistake they make will hinder their future writing because they will be insecure about it and only focus on not making mistakes. This is why it is crucial for teachers to work with the parents who have these concerns. By putting their minds at ease they will be able to focus on how well their students are doing instead of the mistakes they make along the way.
We don't expect our students' writing to be perfect, or even close to perfect, at this point in their learning. "Writing is more than legible handwriting and good spelling." This is because they are learning about an entirely new process. Teachers should encourage invented spelling, and their effort because at least they are trying. Correcting every mistake they make will hinder their future writing because they will be insecure about it and only focus on not making mistakes. This is why it is crucial for teachers to work with the parents who have these concerns. By putting their minds at ease they will be able to focus on how well their students are doing instead of the mistakes they make along the way.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Teaching Phonics Awareness
"Phonemic awareness is a key element in learning word recognition through phonics and overall reading." Phonics is one of the foundational pieces of knowledge that all students need to have to be successful in the school career. If they don't learn this basic aspect of education then for them, learning how to read will be extremely difficult which would most likely lead to them not liking reading.
Including phonics into the classroom should be at the top of a teacher's list of priorities. It should be incorporated in a way that is enjoyable for students. This is essential because if they are enjoying it they will be more likely to take in what is being taught. There are many different ways for this to be done. The article covered several different games and activities that could easily be used in the classroom. Two of my favorites were sound matching, where the students match sounds with a letter, and sound substitution, where the students take off or add certain sound to words to make new words. Any of the activities that were listed would be great ways to teach phonics in the classroom in a way that the students will enjoy and benefit from.
Including phonics into the classroom should be at the top of a teacher's list of priorities. It should be incorporated in a way that is enjoyable for students. This is essential because if they are enjoying it they will be more likely to take in what is being taught. There are many different ways for this to be done. The article covered several different games and activities that could easily be used in the classroom. Two of my favorites were sound matching, where the students match sounds with a letter, and sound substitution, where the students take off or add certain sound to words to make new words. Any of the activities that were listed would be great ways to teach phonics in the classroom in a way that the students will enjoy and benefit from.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
What is Guided Reading
"Guided reading enables children to practice strategies with the teacher's support and leads to independent silent reading." Guided reading is a crucial and critical part of the reading block time in elementary classroom. It helps them build their reading process system, which plays a large role in student success. It allows teachers to help students in small groups so they have more attention focused on them. Using small groups with students who are on the same level gives the students a better opportunity to learn the way that works best for them.
Using guided reading will allow the students to learn how to read for meaning, which will benefit them in the long run. Teacher guidance is essential to this reading strategy because the students look to them as a model. They will do as the teacher does so it is important to the teacher to explicitly model how they want students to read during guided reading. Guided reading is the first step for students to become individual readers. It allows them to feel comfortable reading alone and lets them build confidence in their reading abilities.
Using guided reading will allow the students to learn how to read for meaning, which will benefit them in the long run. Teacher guidance is essential to this reading strategy because the students look to them as a model. They will do as the teacher does so it is important to the teacher to explicitly model how they want students to read during guided reading. Guided reading is the first step for students to become individual readers. It allows them to feel comfortable reading alone and lets them build confidence in their reading abilities.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Making Decisions for Individual Learners
This webcast was really interesting and helpful because it brought up a lot of great points that all teacher should look into. The three that stood out to me the most were; teach the readers not the book, encourage the students to use a balance of strategies, and to understand that the focus isn't always about accuracy, but implementing the strategies.
Teaching the readers, not just the book is important especially in elementary classes. Teaching the readers allows the teacher to focus on the students' needs. By teaching the readers and not just the book the students will benefit the students far more than just the content from the book. If you teach the students as readers and not just the book they can take what they learn from one specific activity and apply it to other future activities. By adding it to their reading process system it will expand their knowledge and lead them to be better readers.
Encouraging the students to use a balance of strategies that they learn and not just focusing on one will allow them to be better readers. It will let them use the different strategies that they need at different times. If the student only knows how to use one strategy and it doesnt help in a certain situation they will be stuck. That is why it is important for teachers to teach the students a variety of reading strategies and how to apply them to different activities.
When teaching reading strategies it is important to understand that the focus doesn't always have to be on accuracy. It should be mainly focused on implementing the strategy and teaching the students how to use it. the students should feel comfortable using the strategy so the focus shouldn't be on their accuracy of the reading but how well they are using that strategy.
Teaching the readers, not just the book is important especially in elementary classes. Teaching the readers allows the teacher to focus on the students' needs. By teaching the readers and not just the book the students will benefit the students far more than just the content from the book. If you teach the students as readers and not just the book they can take what they learn from one specific activity and apply it to other future activities. By adding it to their reading process system it will expand their knowledge and lead them to be better readers.
Encouraging the students to use a balance of strategies that they learn and not just focusing on one will allow them to be better readers. It will let them use the different strategies that they need at different times. If the student only knows how to use one strategy and it doesnt help in a certain situation they will be stuck. That is why it is important for teachers to teach the students a variety of reading strategies and how to apply them to different activities.
When teaching reading strategies it is important to understand that the focus doesn't always have to be on accuracy. It should be mainly focused on implementing the strategy and teaching the students how to use it. the students should feel comfortable using the strategy so the focus shouldn't be on their accuracy of the reading but how well they are using that strategy.
What is Guided Reading
"Guided reading enables children to practice strategies with the teacher's support and leads to independent silent reading." Guided reading is a crucial and critical part of the reading block time in elementary classroom. It helps them build their reading process system, which plays a large role in student success. It allows teachers to help students in small groups so they have more attention focused on them. Using small groups with students who are on the same level gives the students a better opportunity to learn the way that works best for them.
Using guided reading will allow the students to learn how to read for meaning, which will benefit them in the long run. Teacher guidance is essential to this reading strategy because the students look to them as a model. They will do as the teacher does so it is important to the teacher to explicitly model how they want students to read during guided reading. Guided reading is the first step for students to become individual readers. It allows them to feel comfortable reading alone and lets them build confidence in their reading abilities.
Using guided reading will allow the students to learn how to read for meaning, which will benefit them in the long run. Teacher guidance is essential to this reading strategy because the students look to them as a model. They will do as the teacher does so it is important to the teacher to explicitly model how they want students to read during guided reading. Guided reading is the first step for students to become individual readers. It allows them to feel comfortable reading alone and lets them build confidence in their reading abilities.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Comprehensive Literary Framework and Assessments
"If the teachers are going to support their hardest-to-teach readers as they learn to build a reading process system, then the classroom environment must allow time for teachers to do just that." It is important for teachers to set up their classroom in a way that allows for their students to learn as much as possible. To do this they have to construct a literary framework that allows them to do a variety of activities with their students so that they can build their own reading process system. These activities include, read aloud, sharing reading, conferring with readers and assessing them.
Reading aloud with your students is beneficial to all students, but especially to those who are struggling. Reading aloud to the students gives the teacher a chance to model their own reading process system and the strategies that they use to build that system. By modeling this the teacher is showing the students how they should build their system. It is helpful for children to watch how something is supposed to be done before they attempt it themselves.
Shared reading is an interactive way to read with the students. "The teacher does the reading and encourages the children to join in on a refrain or some other known part of the text." Doing this type of activity will build the students confidence with reading. It is good for students to read familiar texts because it can support them as they transfer to reading other texts that they aren't familiar with.
Conferring with readers is another large aspect of the literacy framework. Conferring with students give the teacher an opportunity to see where they students are at with their reading process system. It allows them to see each individuals system and what strategies they are using. Conferring can be paired with other assessments to track the students progress with their systems.
Each of these aspects are equally important and depend on the others. It is important for teachers to focus on each of them. If one piece is left out the literacy framework becomes incomplete and the students aren't benefitting as much as they could be from the classroom environment. This is why it is so important to set up the framework so it gives you the opportunity to focus and teach each aspect.
Reading aloud with your students is beneficial to all students, but especially to those who are struggling. Reading aloud to the students gives the teacher a chance to model their own reading process system and the strategies that they use to build that system. By modeling this the teacher is showing the students how they should build their system. It is helpful for children to watch how something is supposed to be done before they attempt it themselves.
Shared reading is an interactive way to read with the students. "The teacher does the reading and encourages the children to join in on a refrain or some other known part of the text." Doing this type of activity will build the students confidence with reading. It is good for students to read familiar texts because it can support them as they transfer to reading other texts that they aren't familiar with.
Conferring with readers is another large aspect of the literacy framework. Conferring with students give the teacher an opportunity to see where they students are at with their reading process system. It allows them to see each individuals system and what strategies they are using. Conferring can be paired with other assessments to track the students progress with their systems.
Each of these aspects are equally important and depend on the others. It is important for teachers to focus on each of them. If one piece is left out the literacy framework becomes incomplete and the students aren't benefitting as much as they could be from the classroom environment. This is why it is so important to set up the framework so it gives you the opportunity to focus and teach each aspect.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Reading Strategies: Beyond"Sound it Out"
"Word-solving strategies are some of the earliest strategies that students take control of as they begin to build a reading process system." This is why it is so important to teach them good reading strategies as soon as possible. It is important so that don't fall behind. It is important to teach a large amount of different strategies that have varying techniques as to reach as many students as possible.
The old idea was that the only strategy readers could use was sounding out the word when they were stuck. That isn't the case any more. The main strategies used today are a combination of meaning, structure, visual sources of information. Beginning readers struggle with using all three strategies so it is important for teachers to help those struggling and get them back on track. It is important for teachers to show them how to use a combination of the three, give them times were it is easy and appropriate for them to use all three, and most importantly to "reinforce their efforts".
It is important for teachers to model these sources of information during the school day so students become comfortable with using them themselves. It is important for teachers to model what they want their students to do so the students know how to do it correctly. This goes with anything they want their students to do in the classroom.
Teaching students to use different sources of information when struggling with reading is a good way for them to become independent readers. If they have multiple ways of figuring out a solution when they are struggling they are more likely to have success when reading independently.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
How Reading Works
"The children who are not learning to read are often confused, frustrated, and slowly giving up hope on themselves as readers." This is why it is important as teachers to notice when their students are falling behind as readers and how to best help them. There are several way to make sure struggling readers are being acknowledged and being helped. You have to know about the reading process, your students and how they best learn.
As teachers it is important to know yourself and what you think about reading and how it works. "In order to advocate for these struggling readers, we believe that more teachers need to become knowledgeable about the reading process and hope to support children as the construct a network of strategies." The reading process is a compiled set of processes that are all going on at the same time. It is important as teachers to know each of these processes and to know when one of their students is lacking or struggling with one r more of these processes. "How a teacher understands the reading process determines how he or she assesses, plans, instructs, and supports readers." That is why it is so important for teachers to understand the reading process, because it shapes their classroom and how they teach in it.
Knowing your students is one of the most important things to do as a teacher. It is important to know your students and how they learn so they can benefit from your teaching as much as possible. Knowing your students ZPD is an essential part of knowing your students and where they are at in their learning development. Students learn best when they are being taught within their ZPD, so it only makes since that teachers would know their students' ZPD so they would know how to teach each of them best.
As teachers it is important to know yourself and what you think about reading and how it works. "In order to advocate for these struggling readers, we believe that more teachers need to become knowledgeable about the reading process and hope to support children as the construct a network of strategies." The reading process is a compiled set of processes that are all going on at the same time. It is important as teachers to know each of these processes and to know when one of their students is lacking or struggling with one r more of these processes. "How a teacher understands the reading process determines how he or she assesses, plans, instructs, and supports readers." That is why it is so important for teachers to understand the reading process, because it shapes their classroom and how they teach in it.
Knowing your students is one of the most important things to do as a teacher. It is important to know your students and how they learn so they can benefit from your teaching as much as possible. Knowing your students ZPD is an essential part of knowing your students and where they are at in their learning development. Students learn best when they are being taught within their ZPD, so it only makes since that teachers would know their students' ZPD so they would know how to teach each of them best.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
"What Really Matters: Kids Need to Read a Lot"
As we all know reading is a major part of school and life. You read something everyday, whether is a menu, an e-mail, or a book. Because it is such a huge part of our lives it needs to be a major focus of elementary classrooms. Reading in classrooms is so important because it will give them a basis and platform for reading for the rest of their lives. If they have a bad experience with reading when they are young they will most likely not enjoy reading as the grow up and in their adult lives. As teachers it is our duty to foster the classroom in a way that make students want to learn and read.
Although we know it is important to read in the classroom, the real question is how much is enough? There have been multiple studies to figure this out, and there isn't one answer. Because every child is different they need different amounts of reading. One idea that is common among all studies it that more reading relate to higher achieving students. "Kids need to read to become good readers."- Allington. The old saying of practice makes perfect applies here. If teachers want their students to be better readers, as they should, they need to allow time for them to read more.
To allow time for more reading teachers may have to make a conscious effort to make more time for it. Because it is such an important aspect of school, and life, there should be time carved out of each day for reading. This time should be a combination of silent reading, reading out loud with big groups and with small groups. Having a variety of reading times will keep the students engaged and interested in what they are reading. This will also allow the teacher time to observe the students and their reading abilities. This is an important part of teaching how to read because if you don't know what students are struggling you won't know how to help them.
Along with making time to read it is also important that the students are reading something that is appropriate for their skill level. If a student is reading something that is too difficult they could doubt their abilities and give up all together. Likewise if they are reading something that is too easy they might get bored. Because of this it is important for teachers to be aware of their students' reading levels. Having the students know their own reading level is also important. If they know their own reading abilities they will be better equipped to pick books that are appropriate for them and in turn they will enjoy more.
In my future classroom I hope to effectively foster a classroom environment where the students enjoy reading and want to read. I would hope to positively impact their lives in a way that encourages them to read and makes them excited about it. To do this I will strive to give my students adequate time to read every day. I also hope to be lucky enough to have a library that has a variety of books for every level of reader. It is my goal to have students enjoy the time they spend reading and to always strive to be better readers.
Although we know it is important to read in the classroom, the real question is how much is enough? There have been multiple studies to figure this out, and there isn't one answer. Because every child is different they need different amounts of reading. One idea that is common among all studies it that more reading relate to higher achieving students. "Kids need to read to become good readers."- Allington. The old saying of practice makes perfect applies here. If teachers want their students to be better readers, as they should, they need to allow time for them to read more.
To allow time for more reading teachers may have to make a conscious effort to make more time for it. Because it is such an important aspect of school, and life, there should be time carved out of each day for reading. This time should be a combination of silent reading, reading out loud with big groups and with small groups. Having a variety of reading times will keep the students engaged and interested in what they are reading. This will also allow the teacher time to observe the students and their reading abilities. This is an important part of teaching how to read because if you don't know what students are struggling you won't know how to help them.
Along with making time to read it is also important that the students are reading something that is appropriate for their skill level. If a student is reading something that is too difficult they could doubt their abilities and give up all together. Likewise if they are reading something that is too easy they might get bored. Because of this it is important for teachers to be aware of their students' reading levels. Having the students know their own reading level is also important. If they know their own reading abilities they will be better equipped to pick books that are appropriate for them and in turn they will enjoy more.
In my future classroom I hope to effectively foster a classroom environment where the students enjoy reading and want to read. I would hope to positively impact their lives in a way that encourages them to read and makes them excited about it. To do this I will strive to give my students adequate time to read every day. I also hope to be lucky enough to have a library that has a variety of books for every level of reader. It is my goal to have students enjoy the time they spend reading and to always strive to be better readers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)