Overview of my reading lessons

For my first reading lesson I plan to focus on word recognition. I will use Chapter 6 of Tompkins as my source of information. I plan to use one of the books in the classroom and see if the students will be able to recognize some basic words, their sight words, and words that may/may not be a challenge for them.
For my second lesson I plan to focus on reading comprehension. I will look into the Stahl article for ideas on how to go about the lesson. I also plan to use a book from the classroom for this lesson.

Overview of My Short Reading Lessons

My first reading lesson I am going will be focusing on the topic "schema". I will be working with a group of three students. Using the the article entitled Schema: Thinking Aloud by Miller (2002), students will engage in a read-aloud/think-aloud activity where I will teach them how to make text-to-self connections using their schema. The book I will be using for this read-aloud/think-aloud activity is Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes. My lesson will start off discussing the term schema and telling students how they will use specific wording to make text-to-self connections while using background knowledge, also known as their schema.

My second reading lesson will be focusing on building the skill 'getting-ready-to-read strategy'. Before engaging in a reading activity, I will go through getting-ready-to read strategies derived from the Neufield article Content Area Comprehension Instruction. 

Inside the Writing Communities Blog

The video I chose was the second one which was "Teacher as a Writer". I chose this video because I was curious to know how as a teacher you could also be the writer. Some of the things I've learned from the video are that:

1) As a teacher you have to realize that you have to write with the students
2) If teachers don't write its hard to promote a passion for writing for the students
3) One teacher illustrated her mind web as her way for beginning her story and wanted students to be aware of the various tools you can use to help you formulate a story.
4) Students have fears about writing and teachers need to understand that.
5) Many teachers use writing as a personal tool and they share the writing they create with their students. You can use your personal writing as a motivator for students.
6) Teachers need to write so students can see someone going through the same process as them.
7) Each time you write it gets a little easier.
8) Many teachers write because it help them prepare for the writing lesson they plan to do with their students.

As a student I don't think I was a timid writer or a student who was afraid of writing. During my elementary years I don't think my teachers wrote with us. Usually the teacher gives you a writing prompt and you write about that particular topic. Typically the teacher instructs you on how to write, such as with grammar and the proper format of writing, but I never saw my teachers write with us. Because I wasn't a student who was afraid to write it didn't bother me but now I can see how that may cause difficulties for some students. I do think teachers should write with their students. It allows students to become more comfortable with writing and gives them practice. It allows the teacher to experience what the students are going through and gives them a better idea of how to assist them.

Hi all,
I notice that you haven't posted much on this blogger. Please make sure you post based on previous assignments on the schedule. Kristi, thanks for posting your new literacies learning here. Your posts are the only ones I can see for the NL project though!

Kristi King-New Literacy Blog Post 3/18

In doing the New Literacies Project, I was happy to have taken the time to learn a new literacy and a new technology. Kidblog.org is a technology that was completely unfamiliar to me. Therefore, in order to get the most out of the technology, I had to take my time and learn the ins and outs of the website. This helped add to my knowledge about technology. As students explore with technology, they should be given time to explore that technology and independently figure out some of the features of the program. No one person has all the answers when encountering something new. Students need to be given instructions on how to use technology after it has been explored. Therefore, as a teacher, knowing the technology I am introducing to my students and knowing it well is important for myself as well as my students.

I enjoyed the affordances of Kidblog. As a teacher using Kidblog, I have the ability to create a safe, user-friendly blog page. I have the ability to approve posts and comments before they are made public. I can also make the blog page public or private in which students would have to have a username in order to view posts or comment. This ensures internet safety, which is important as students access technology. The blog page theme can be changed so that it is usually appealing for students. The organization of the page makes this technology accessible for all users.

Kidblog allows for teachers to provide effective literacy instruction for students in regards to emotional literacy. Emotional literacy is “the ability to recognize, understand, and appropriately express our emotions”. As a teacher, students can use the blog page to respond to prompts focused on developing emotional literact. Through this project, I learned that emotional literacy is imperative in students’ academic performance. I learned that literacy can be taught through technology once students gain basic technology skills such as typing, getting onto the internet, using navigation keys, and basic open/close actions. As a teacher, I would instruct students on how to navigate around the blogpage.

As far as emotional literacy, students will have to know the definition and importance of emotional literacy. This will help motivate students once they learn the benefits of being emotionally literate. Students will have to learn how to appropriate express emotions and respond to the emotions of others. This would be developed through activities, some with the blog. I would provide this support by conducting lessons that will help students understand what emotional literacy is. I would like to do skits or read books that promote emotional literacy before introducing students to the blog.

Notes on Learning

Throughout the research on this new literacies project, I am learning that there is still so much technology available to learn about! I don't know if I will ever become a digital native when it comes to technology. Becoming an expert at any type of technology takes a lot of time and concentration. I am learning that you have to spend a couple of hours really playing (for lack of a better word) with the site in order to find out the benefits of it. I am also learning that there are always improvements to make to current technology and that one type of technology will more than likely never have EVERYTHING you desire to see in it.

I am learning a lot about my new technology as far as becoming emotionally literate and learning the Kidblog site. Emotional literacy involves giving students a medium to express themselves. Adding technology to this type of literacy makes it more engaging for students, especially on kidblog. I am learning that with blog posts, it is important to have restrictions as far as what you will allow students to post or comment. The kidblog site allows for teachers to closely monitor these posts, even before they are made public. Allowing students to have a choice in what emotions they share is an important part of emotional literacy. Students should never be forced to share more than they want. Teachers can prompt students on what to focus on as far as blog posts. One part of becoming emotionally literate is learning how to respond to others emotions, be it through non-verbal cues, comments, responses, etc. Teachers can help student become emotionally literate in this area via Kidblog by prompting students how to respond to people's posts. One prompt could be "how would you feel if you were in the bloggers position?" or "have you ever been in a situation like this?"

The affordances of this technology in comparison to writing manually is that students will have an excuse to hop onto the computer, and what student doesn't enjoy that! Using kidblog gives students a sense of ownership as they log onto a safe site with their own username and password. Students will have the freedom to respond to posts without being worried about their writing being legible. Shy students are given a voice to respond or post without being worried about speaking in front of large groups of students. I feel that my students in my placement would love kidblog. They have journals that they write in regularly, so kidblog would just be like a technology based journal--at least that is how I would use it in my future classroom.

Kidblog allows for students to upload images that may correspond with their blog. This helps build visual literacy in students as they learn how to connect images to what they are writing or feeling. I love kidblog. It has so much to offer, plus it is safe and easy to use. Before using kidblog, students would have to learn what I like to label as "internet lingo". They would have to know what certain icons mean. Students would need to know basic technology skills, such as typing. Students would be taught how to upload pictures. The down side to kidblog is that the activities would more than likely require students to have a computer at home. If a school had laptops available for students, then I would have students take time out of their day (either in the morning when they arrive, before/after lunch, or before school ends) to write a journal/blog post.

What do you think?

The things that Mrs. Potter is experiencing in her class are not unusual; however, there are some things that she could do to try to resolve some of the issues that her students are having.  Lupita seems to be lacking in social skills (and perhaps linguistic skills) which may be resulting in her lack of academic skills.  In this case, it   may be a good idea for Mrs. Potter to incorporate more group work.  She should be quite strategic about who she assigns to work together in a group.  Perhaps, she should consider having Eddie join her since he is well liked by his classmates and needs to be kept busy.  Eddie could set an example for Lupita and could engage with her during group activities.  As far as Jonathan is concerned, being in a group with Eddie could be helpful to him as well because Eddie may take the initiative to help Jonathan when he is confused.  Jonathan does not like to ask for help, but if Eddie finishes his work before him, he will most likely want to find something else to keep him busy.  Helping Jonathan and Lupita would keep him busy and those two students could benefit from having his assistance.  

Another thing that Mrs. Potter may want to consider is differentiating her instruction.  Oftentimes, a class will consist of students who are extremely interested in one topic, while others despise it.  The same thing applies to the way in which a lesson is taught (i.e discussion, essay, test, activity).  If Mrs. Potter can find ways to incorporate a variety of instructional strategies, she may be able to engage all of her students.  I would also suggest that she involves the students' guardians if possible (especially Lupita's).  By talking to parents and encouraging opportunities for families to get involved, Mrs. Potter can learn more about the students' backgrounds and can make their parents aware of their children's challenges and strengths, so that she can formulate her instruction accordingly and avoid having to retain students.

Post for 1/28 Literacy

I would say literacy is involved in my placement in multiple ways. The students do literacy in the morning and they learn new spelling words and new definitions and how to use them in a sentence. Once the students lean new words the words get added to their word wall. They also encounter literacy during centers. They have different worksheets that forces them to use their spelling words or they'll have to find 10-12 words that have particular letters in them or are spelled a certain way. For example one day they had to find words that ended in "ed". This activity was difficult for them because there aren't a lot of words in the classroom that end in "ed".  The students learn a lot about literacy and grammar and spelling through these assignments.
Additional ways to incorporate literacy in this class would be creating reading games for the students or making sure the students have a lot of literacy components in the classroom. Although I have first grade students I'm surprised by some of their reading levels. Some of the students are reading at a second grade level and even the students who are reading below level still make attempts to do better and learn. I do think literacy is a component for the students to learn and to become good at. Literacy is used all day everyday and the more practice students have with it the better their literacy skills will become.

Prompt 1: Response to the Course Syllabus

Prompt: After reading the course syllabus and the assigned readings, write about goals for your learning in the course.  In what type of school and community context do you hope to teach? How can this course help you prepare for that context or other contexts where you might find yourself teaching? What do you want to learn about literacy instruction? 

My main goal, like most people, is to do my best in the course. In the past, I feel like I have short changed myself by not doing the readings in my TE courses. Essentially, by skipping my readings, I am missing out on information that is going to help me becoming a better educator and an advocate for my future students and parents. So one goal of mine is to not miss more than two readings per this section in the course. 

Another course goal of mine is to really hone in on teaching strategies that will benefit different types of learners in my class. I am a firm believer in the idea that every student can learn, just in a different way. I am looking forward to learning about new technologies that will help my students become better speakers, writers, and readers!

I hope to teach in an urban community, preferably in failing schools. There are so many opportunities that failing schools within urban environments offer. There are opportunities to make a difference and help students realize their potential despite what the media or other areas of society say. The teaching strategies I learn in the course will help me to assist the various learning styles and struggles that exist within failing schools. I will use these strategies to help students get to where they need to be academically. A new perspective on standard based teaching will help me develop creative lesson plans that will make learning engaging and enjoyable for my students. 

As far as literacy instruction, I hope to learn how to better teach students who speak English as a second language.