A Fresh Look at Writing

     "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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
         

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.