For next class, please bring the Raczinski & Padak handout and your textbook -- we will be making a list of strategies for teaching reading.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
After Class Three
For next class, please bring the Raczinski & Padak handout and your textbook -- we will be making a list of strategies for teaching reading.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Decision vs. Desishun
ReplyDeleteThere is still some debate whether children will develop bad habits if they are allowed to use “invented spelling”. I believe that invented spelling should be tolerated in classrooms. Invented spelling is a very natural way for students to develop their writing skills and allows students to communicate in writing long before they can correctly spell each word. If teachers are going to constantly monitor students’ spelling errors then children may be less motivated to write as they may view themselves as failures. Invented spelling allows children to write freely and express their ideas without being slowed down. Children are creative and teachers should be more focused on the content of their written pieces rather than spelling errors. This is not to say that teachers should ignore all spelling errors, simply that the focus should be more on the creativity and content of the piece. Students who are given the freedom to write will be motivated to continue reading and writing. Gradually, these students will learn the correct spellings of words as well as appreciate the value of reading and writing.
Dual-Lingual Books
Today, our classrooms are composed of many different faces from a diverse range of backgrounds. It is beautiful to see many of these students working together in classrooms and learning about one another. Many of these students are ESL students and may struggle with the English language in the beginning. One solution is to incorporate the use of Dual-Lingual books. I think that dual lingual books are amazing since it gives students the message that their language and culture is valued. It also allows students to demonstrate their abilities in their first language as well as share these stories with their parents. Dual-Lingual books is a good way for students to transition into a school where they may not understand everything being said. It conveys the message that students are welcome and makes them feel comfortable in the classroom. It is not hard to imagine the fear that new students will feel if they are not fluent in the English language or the lack of motivation that can develop if they feel they are not succeeding. If a student is going to learn, they must want to learn and I believe dual-lingual books is one way of encouraging this.
This particular class reminded me of the value of collaboration. Working in small groups with people who were teaching the same age group was refreshing because I knew that we faced similar challenges and experienced similar joys with our students. As I expected, we got along quite well. The variety of people who had and hadn’t done 405 yet was also a great resource. I have a lot of questions about my long practicum, so it was great to talk to people who had survived it. When we were lesson planning, moreover, I couldn’t help but think how great it was to collaborate. I feel like our end product was much stronger because there were multiple perspectives and experiences influencing it. Even the ideas we didn’t use were interesting and definitely worth remembering. Hopefully I will have more opportunities such as this in my practicum and later, my teaching career.
ReplyDeleteThe lecture we had on Emergent Literacy made me realize just how much of a variety in experiences with text that each student brings to a classroom, particularly in the primary years. While some kindergarten students may be already reading, for example, others might barely be able to recognize their name. Thus, teachers have to make many decisions regarding how to effectively scaffold all learners. There is still some debate as to whether grouping students according to ability is an appropriate way to do this. What is certain is that there is a great deal of resources available to teachers who are willing to look for them from colleagues, the internet or a number of other methods.
Invented Spelling:
ReplyDeleteAs discussed in class, and in the chapter four handout, children who use invented spelling are eventually academically at par compared to those students who take part in a rigid spelling program. Research shows that when students write without the pressure to spell correctly, they will learn to spell properly sooner (lecture on May 24, 2011). This makes me wonder why schools still hold on so strongly to spelling programs. The discussion I had with my SA is that schools often continue spelling programs because parents like them. Parents remember learning rigid and conventional spelling and think their children should do the same. I think that educating parents, and the public, that invented spelling is okay will help students learn to spell correctly sooner. Parents should encourage their children to play around with words and sounds and explore them instead of drilling memorization of words. If children felt less pressure to spell correctly then they might enjoy writing more and have less anxiety about it.
Shared Reading:
The textbook presents shared reading as a way of helping emergent readers enjoy literature. “Teachers read with the children rather than to the children” (Tompkins et al., 2011, p. 92). This is such an important point. Shared reading is different from story time. Shared reading is a time where teachers demonstrate how to read a book from left to right and top to bottom, how to track words, and help students gain confidence with books so they can enjoy them. During my 401/402 practicum in a grade three class my SA had shared reading every morning for 15 minutes while she dealt with notices and other housekeeping items. The students could read stories together in pairs or had the option of writing little stories together. Two mornings a week parents were invited to come into the classroom to read with their child or other children in the class. If children did not have parents come in then the teacher would sit with those children so they felt included and valued as well. I think this is a great use of parent volunteers and getting parents involved in the education of their students. When parents and teachers have a good working relationship then the children benefit. Shared reading is something I will definitely try to incorporate in my 405 practicum. Since I will be in a grade six class, maybe something along the lines of buddy reading with grade ones might be an option.
Spelling
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting fact that I have read so far this term in this class, and any of my classes, is by Raczinski and Padakin in chapter 4 of the booklet we received about teaching phonemic awareness. They wrote that students who are taught spelling with a highly rigid system as compared to those who are encouraged to sound out words and enjoy the writing process, resulted in little difference in the number of spelling mistakes they made later on. This idea is noteworthy because one would assume that students who lack a structured spelling program would ultimately result in poorer spelling skills because without specific instruction they would not learn the correct their mistakes, and would continue to use their own invented spelling. This information is helpful to me because during my practicum, I struggled was always torn if I should correct spelling mistake, if I should teach spelling lessons, and if I should give spelling worksheets. Now, I know that I should refrain from giving intense spelling lessons and repetitive worksheets, and should allow students to write freely with invented spelling, and only correct spelling mistakes when I think its appropriate.
Dramatic Play
The textbook discuss how we can incorporate literacy into dramatic play centers by having things such as menus and order pads at the center so students can use literacy in meaningful play situations. Initially, during my practicum the students did not have any literacy items in their dramatic play center, but as soon as I added some, they really enjoyed it and without realizing, they were developing their reading and writing skills. An idea to further scaffold play is to either discuss with the class as whole written words that may be used in the center and model how to spell them, or simply to post a list of words by the center so that while students are playing, they will have access to the spelling of the words. In doing so, students will be able to practice using the correct spelling words in playful environment with no pressure on them. I think that the more literacy can be incorporated into play and engaging activities, such as dramatic play, the better grasp students will have on the subject. Additionally, if it is possible for dramatic play centers to relate to social studies or science units, then the vocabulary and literacy incorporated into those lessons can further be extended and a part of center time.
Resource Based Units:
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of having resource based units. I am a strong believer in creating cross-subject units and a resource-based unit is a great way to go about doing this. With one great, well thought-out resource you can teach reading and writing skills as suggested by the textbook but you can also create lessons based off of the narrative and the illustrations. For example, you can include social and emotional lessons, history lessons, art lessons, math lessons etc. As so many teachers know, one book can be a jumping off point for so many possible lessons but by basing a unit around a single resource it allows teachers to explore all of the possibilities the text suggests (such as phonics, writing etc) along with interdisciplinary lessons.
Text Play:
I found the Raczinski articles to be very interesting both theoretically but also practically. In particular, I was interested in the emphasis she placed on exploration and play when it came to emergent readers and writers interactions with text and sounds. As a kid I never realized I was increasing phonemic awareness by having fun with word games, songs, and nursery rhymes, I just loved them and thought of them as a break from work. Now that I can understand how useful these games, and altered versions of them can be to enhance students’ sensitivity to sound I will encourage them and initiate them if I am every working with emergent readers. Finding meaningful ways to bring fun into the classroom is always the goal and it’s even that much better when students don’t even realize that they are doing any school work while they are playing.
Environmental Print and Dramatic Play Centers
ReplyDeleteWe briefly spoke about this in class, but I think that it deserves a bit more attention. It was stated that environmental print helps children progress to reading words in a book. I think that adding environmental print into the classroom is essential. I have seen this done in a kindergarten class and the children took part in decorating the class and learned to read at the same time. Throughout the year children were asked to bring in environmental print such as a cereal box, juice container, or a box from their favourite toy that they got for their birthday and these were placed around the classroom. Children would often look at these and be able to read the word or words because the words became recognizable. I feel that children often saw these words during play time and would also incorporate them into their play. Furthermore, Tompkins, Bright, Pollard and Windsor (2011) mention that play centers can be altered to represent the units taught and words can be placed within the play centers to foster reading and writing. I love this idea that reading and writing can be learned through play centers because I believe that play is an integral aspect of learning for children.
Young Children as Emergent Writers
I find this topic interesting as I am fascinated by the progression of learning in young children. It amazes me how quickly children can progress through the stages of writing. After this class I realized that a teacher should not immediately correct invented spelling. I always thought that we should correct them at the time so that students can learn as they make mistakes. After reading the text and participating in discussion I now understand the benefit of just allowing children to experiment with written language and express their thoughts through scribbles or invented writing. Children begin to learn to write by scribbling and drawing about what they talk about and then they are able to differentiate drawing from writing; therefore, teachers should not correct invented spelling as it interrupts the creative thoughts that children are trying to express. In addition, the textbook gave great examples of how to provide practice opportunities for children in the classroom. Simple things such as having a sign-in sheet or including interactive writing each day will help children progress in their writing and reading.
I was extremely interested in the 3 stages that exist among Young Children Emerging as Writers. What I found both fascinating and concerning at the same time was that as the transition among the three stages can occur so rapidly (within a year or 2) and that each stage is seemingly superior to the previous step. For teachers, I believe the implications of this are enormous. I believe that the reason for this is that while two children may both be in late kindergarten or early grade 1, if student A is in the first stage (Emergent Writing - Using scribbles to represent Writing) and student B is approaching the end of stage 2 (Beginning Writing - Growing Awareness of the Alphabet), then the gap between these two students with respect to their ability to write and comprehend writing is massive. Teachers faced with such discrepancy must then be extremely cautious, seeing as one can not both cater to the needs of a stage 2/3 writer as well as a stage 1 writer with the same lesson and instructions. If teachers are aware of this, they can not only provided help and assistance to the students who need it, but they can prevent that child from falling behind in their writing development which poses the risk of fostering a inherent animosity towards schooling as they feel unable to keep up with what is expected of them.
ReplyDeleteThis leads to my second point. Just as teachers must try and be conscious of students who are in different stages of emergent writing, they must make note to not use such levels of development to compare students to one another and think along the lines of: "I must spent significantly more time if I am to help Student A become what Student B is." First, while I do believe in fostering a competitive edge (albeit friendly) among students, I do not believe that comparisons such as the example quote I used should be employed be teachers, nor parents. If used, educators and playing with the potential of deeming any quality work a child produces a "failure," for lack of a better word, if it does not match or exceed that of the child he or she is compared to. Personally, I can always recall competing with my best friend for the higher letter grade. More often then not, it would be my friend who came out on top. While this competition definitely was good for my overall marks in school, there was always a level of disappointment as I often would fail to match or exceed the work of my friend. This example, however, was my own personal choice. For many students, they are thrust into such a scenario of teacher and parents alike who fail to understand and respect the individual's present abilities and their rate of development. Teachers must be extremely careful when comparing students in that they should never set one's accomplishments as the standard for the whole class.
The first thing I want to comment on is a part of the reading, but also something that I feel really strongly about for teaching reading, and this is phonemic awareness. Prior to teaching I did not know the differences between phonics and phonological awareness, but through my PDP, and the chapter in the text, I have learnt a lot about the details and necessities of teaching the phonemes in the classroom. I personally feel, agreeing with the text, that phonemic awareness is far more important than teaching phonics to students and I found through teaching the phonemes and testing/teaching isolation and blending, that students (especially those that are ESL) are able to learn to read better and quicker than through teaching phonics in isolation. I think that phonemic awareness is something all teachers should be taught and have a focus on in the classroom, and I’m really happy with the focus that the textbook chapter had on this area.
ReplyDeleteA second area that I feel strongly about, and that was discussed, is the allowance of invented spelling. This is an area of debate, as some people think proper spelling habits should be enforced, but I personally agree with the idea that invented spelling is healthy and getting students to try to sound out words on their own, even incorrectly, is better for them in the long run. Not only is invented spelling allowing students to try and work out words in their head and getting them thinking about language principles and letter sounds, but I also think that, most importantly, it gives students the courage to try and not worry about failure. In reading and writing, I find that so many students are afraid to try because they are afraid of failure or being reprimanded for doing something incorrectly. By encouraging mistakes and not immediately correcting students on their mistakes it builds confidence and through confidence comes the ability to take risks. I believe that risk taking in reading and writing is one of the most integral parts when it comes to success and improvement, because if students refuse to try and fail then they will never try at all and I personally believe this will hinder their progression.
Inventive Spelling and Phonics:
ReplyDeleteI do not have a problem with inventive spelling but I can see it being a concern to those who may not have access to much research on it. If I were to encounter a parent who was concerned I would be happy to reassure them that their child is not at a disadvantage and back that claim with research. I think the most important outcome of inventive spelling is that it teaches children not to fear experimenting with language and is conducive to the concept that literacy and being literate is a process; because literacy is something that we practice daily, I think that playing with the process through which we learn new things, and experimenting with ways to learn is something that should be welcomed and not feared. As I mentioned in class, I especially like the idea of having students write the same sentence periodically throughout the year so that they can see their own progress; this helps them to see their own improvement and recognize/take pride in their achievements, which often functions as motivation for them to continue challenging themselves to improve more. In addition to playing with spelling, encouraging word play (written and otherwise) and sound play is a great way to ensure that they are not afraid of the process from which they can learn the most; word/sound play can be great for all types of learners as it can encompass visual, auditory, written, and tactile methods.
I find sound play to especially fun with students of all ages. I often do it with my ESL students to help them to train their mouths for word articulation that is unique to English, which can be very difficult depending on what their first language is. I especially like using nursery rhymes when focusing on replacing letters to experiment with pronunciation because they can focus on sound/pronunciation without worrying too much about meaning, and then we can move onto texts where we can build and begin focusing on meaning.
Literacy in the intermediate grades:
In one of the articles that we read there was a focus on teaching affixes to the intermediate grades and I found this to be a fantastic and extremely valuable idea. I recently began doing this with the students I tutor, who are in high school. It is amazing how much their spelling, and understanding of the words and their use changes when they really begin to understand how to break down the meaning of each component of the words. One of the students that I tutor is taking the Cambridge Proficiency Exam and one of the sections is on the use of English. Students are given paragraphs with words missing. They are given a list of words to use to complete the paragraph but are essentially only given the root, and have to decide what word to use that contains that root. For example, the root may be "light" and the word they need to use "enlighten". This was initially very difficult but we have begun taking the words provided and brainstorming as many words as we can with affixes and different verb tenses. This has helped to increase my student’s vocabulary as well as increase the understanding of meaning of words as the student is now beginning to understand the meaning of the affixes (ie: difference between geneTIC and geneOLOGY). It is helping her to recognize when it is appropriate to use the different word forms. I encountered many instances where talking about affixes became teachable moments and I think that the intermediate grades is a great time to begin introducing the “formula” behind words and the construction of their meaning. It is definitely something I would implement into my classroom!
“I really enjoyed making lesson plans from the magazines. It good to see that if you’re subbing in a class and the teacher has not left much instruction, then it doesn’t take long to come up with an idea using things that you can find in the classroom or library. Through collaboration each group came up with a lesson plan and even though many ideas were probably not used we all came out with a strong plan. Those ideas that people did not use could be built on for the future or used as they were for another lesson. I liked hearing everyone’s lesson plans and got some ideas for things to do in the classroom! I really like the use of magazines because it keeps the kids interested and involved in the lesson, although I’m sure that, like anything else, there is the possibility that the magazines will be more of a distraction especially for the older kids.
ReplyDeleteIn the section of the book titled “Introducing young children to writing” I found the progression of children’s writing interesting. I have noticed this progression before but I had never really thought much about it. it’s great to get kids to freely write and not feel pressured to be doing it the right way all the time, but when do we start to intervene and show them the proper spelling? Maybe they fall into the proper spelling on their own (through observing the environment) or through subtle hints from the teachers? When I was in grade one we had to write and draw in our journal every day, the teacher would never correct our spelling but would write something about what we had tried to write. So if I had written something like “my brothr liks ninga tertels” she would respond with something like “Yes, many kids like ninja turtles!” It gave me something to refer to over the rest of the month which probably helped with my spelling. In the same section, I also like the idea of getting kids to sign in in the morning or sign up for stations. It gives them practice writing their name and you can keep the sign in sheets to track progress.”
I liked the reader response activity that we did in class. It was very informative and easier to understand. It was capsuled and as a result, we were able to get summary of different pages and got the other person’s point of view. I felt that it was the collaborative effort and especially helpful in building connection between reading (at home) and rereading in class. It was an interactive session where valued contributions were made by each participant. Engaging in the activity and participating as a group member enriched my learning experience. The whole activity including presentation was comforting as we were given time to read and discuss with one another to process and consolidate our learning.
ReplyDeleteI feel that I can replicate this activity in my class where children will read through the text and write down their own understanding and provide the information to other students as well. In this way, the students will readily interact with one another and gain confidence; the brief sharing activity brings in the social component as well. This activity helps in cooperative learning and reinforces the concepts which sometimes become clearer only after being discussed in the class or by talking with their peers. Also, this will help students take pride in their presentation especially emergent speakers. Even though it is a helpful activity, but I wonder at what grade level would this be appropriate and helpful?
Spelling
ReplyDeleteThe portion of the class where we discussed invented spelling was very intriguing to me. It really made me think back to my 405 practicum. I was in a class where we had a spelling program that the students followed throughout the entire year. My SA wanted me to keep doing this during my practicum and so I did. I had many students in my class that struggled with spelling. Most of the students that had trouble spelt phonetically and it was easy to discern what they were trying to spell. I found it very interesting that the students who struggled with spelling did just as well as all the other students when we did spelling tests. Essentially all the students in the class would do assignments throughout the week with the spelling list and then spell them at the end of the week. The spelling test marks were not recorded at all. I asked my SA why I was teaching the spelling if it wasn't being assessed or related to the PLO's at all. She replied that the spelling of the words is not the important part. The important part was to work through different language arts activities with different types of words and to enhance their vocabulary. She really helped me see that spelling comes easier for some students and that over time the children will get better but that at the age I was working with it was more important to have them express their ideas and not have to focus too much on spelling as long as the process was there for the activity. Spelling was secondary in our class yet the students were encouraged all the time to sue dictionaries because being comfortable with language skills and words was more essential for their learning. I think that parents like their children practicing spelling because it is what they know from their education experiences. On one occassion I had a parent come in for a meeting and she was very concerned because her son was a terrible speller. I told her that there were more pressing areas to focus on in his development but she kept coming back to spelling. I found it interesting that she was so concerned with his spelling but not more focused on his struggles in math or excited about the great strides he had made in reading and expressing his thoughts in his writing more clearly.
Reading responses
I liked the reading responses that we did in class. It was good to colloborate with a group and share ideas and thoughts on what we had all read independently. Just reminded me that teaching is so much about colloboration and using all the resources and people around us to make ourselves better. I also liked how we shared with the class because it gave different perspectives on the things that I had read. It was nice to have everyone take an active role in our learning. I have found that I have learned a lot in the past from having people give a different perspective on something which challenges me to keep an open mind, which in turn, allows me to be a life long learner.
Emergent Literacy:
ReplyDeleteI found the discussion in chapter 3 to be very useful in showing how teaching literacy can occur in may different ways. Teaching young children to recognize letters and words does not have to always consist of the standard worksheets and rote memorization of the alphabet. The authors, and contributors, have provided a vast array of techniques that utilize the children's ability to recognize symbols and pictures that they see in every day life. Using recognizable pictures and symbols adds context for students so they can associate with what they are learning to do. As was mentioned in the chapter, young children do not necessarily understand what a word, letter, or sentence is. These ideas are too abstract for them. If you attach these 'terms' to a symbol or idea they already understand, it can aid them in grasping the more abstract ideas of reading.
I believe the research done on 'invented spelling' is valuable because it shows that children should be allowed to explore language through writing without pressure to always spell or use grammar correctly. I think this research correlates to a lot of other aspects of childhood as well. Children thrive when allowed to try new things, even if they are not successful. Education should allow opportunities for children to try, and sometimes fail, in order to learn and grow from mistakes. I also believe invented spelling helps children correlate sounds with letters and words, as invented spelling often means the word is spelled how the child hears the word pronounced.
chapter 3
ReplyDeleteSmooth flow of language p98
Interesting idea about the clues children need to understand the meaning of the text they are reading. On p 98 the authors say we need to read to children at a fluent pace in order for them to get the “syntactic and semantic cues that come from a smooth flow of language.” This point seems to be evidence supporting the theory of emergent readers which has supplanted the former ‘reading readiness’ model. It also seems to suggest that a child may learn more effectively with a whole language approach in contrast to a phonics or skill/drill approach.
Play opportunities p 81
The element of play is included on p 81 as an effective way to have children explore/expand their language arts usage. The authors recommend setting up dramatic play centres to foster written language familiarity and development. I spent time with a Kindergarten teacher who set up a play centre outside for 45mins every day of the year. She did not have text materials outside but the children designated a part of the playground, a small area with big trees and stumps, as their magical forest and actively constructed games and imaginary role playing scenarios there daily. The teacher was carefully documenting the effect on academic learning and said the students were farther along in their literacy development compared to students of other years who did not get 45mins out of classroom playtime. Being able to move freely about an open space seemed to be integral to the learning advantage ‘enjoyed’ here.
Invented spelling: (article)
ReplyDeleteI found this interesting especially when I experienced the traditional spelling curriculum (highly rigid and disciplined). My first encounter with invented spelling was when my daughter was in Kindergarten and I found numerous spelling mistakes in her journal. Initially, I tried to correct each and every word that she spelt ‘wrongly’ through spelling tests at home. After a couple of frustrated attempts, I soon realized that this was encouraged in school. I can see the advantages of allowing students to practice their phonics knowledge whilst they write – students might be too focused on the ‘proper’ spelling that they are unable to write. However, I can see its shortcomings as well. As a parent, when I look through my daughter’s writing, I notice that there are words that are frequently spelt incorrectly. I think that one challenge of encouraging invented spelling is that as a teacher, one has to be very observant and follow up each student’s writing/spelling ‘mistakes’ – through a log book? Otherwise, if the spelling error persists and is not corrected, then, in time to come, it could and will be a reoccurring problem. I am thinking that in the late primary grades, instead of a general (grade level) weekly spelling list for students, students who struggle with spelling could have a more personalized spelling list instead.
Readers’ theater and buddy system:
I like the buddy system idea whereby older students read to younger students on a weekly basis. In a class that I volunteered, a teacher used the buddy system to help motivate a student (Student A) who had trouble focusing on his tasks –not motivated. If he accomplished his goals for the week, he was able to read to the younger students in the buddy class. This proved very beneficial for both the younger grade students (they looked forward to having a big buddy read to them), and Student A enjoyed this experience as well. Each week, he worked towards helping out in his buddy class! That’s what I call a win-win situation.
As an extension of the buddy system, for the older grades, I was thinking of Readers Theatre (RT). Research has shown that RT increases fluency in ELLs as it requires repeated and assisted reading. RT can benefit proficient readers as well. It motivates students to read also fosters fluency and self-confidence in students. Older students in the school could use Readers Theatre as part of their literacy program and present it to their buddy class. In fact, the older grade students could also create their own scripts (co-operative learning) as part of their language arts. I hope to be able to do this for my 405 practicum as I think it is so neat!
Sharon wrote:
ReplyDeleteInvented spelling: (article)
I found this interesting especially when I experienced the traditional spelling curriculum (highly rigid and disciplined). My first encounter with invented spelling was when my daughter was in Kindergarten and I found numerous spelling mistakes in her journal. Initially, I tried to correct each and every word that she spelt ‘wrongly’ through spelling tests at home. After a couple of frustrated attempts, I soon realized that this was encouraged in school. I can see the advantages of allowing students to practice their phonics knowledge whilst they write – students might be too focused on the ‘proper’ spelling that they are unable to write. However, I can see its shortcomings as well. As a parent, when I look through my daughter’s writing, I notice that there are words that are frequently spelt incorrectly. I think that one challenge of encouraging invented spelling is that as a teacher, one has to be very observant and follow up each student’s writing/spelling ‘mistakes’ – through a log book? Otherwise, if the spelling error persists and is not corrected, then, in time to come, it could and will be a reoccurring problem. I am thinking that in the late primary grades, instead of a general (grade level) weekly spelling list for students, students who struggle with spelling could have a more personalized spelling list instead.
Readers’ theater and buddy system:
I like the buddy system idea whereby older students read to younger students on a weekly basis. In a class that I volunteered, a teacher used the buddy system to help motivate a student (Student A) who had trouble focusing on his tasks –not motivated. If he accomplished his goals for the week, he was able to read to the younger students in the buddy class. This proved very beneficial for both the younger grade students (they looked forward to having a big buddy read to them), and Student A enjoyed this experience as well. Each week, he worked towards helping out in his buddy class! That’s what I call a win-win situation.
As an extension of the buddy system, for the older grades, I was thinking of Readers Theatre (RT). Research has shown that RT increases fluency in ELLs as it requires repeated and assisted reading. RT can benefit proficient readers as well. It motivates students to read also fosters fluency and self-confidence in students. Older students in the school could use Readers Theatre as part of their literacy program and present it to their buddy class. In fact, the older grade students could also create their own scripts (co-operative learning) as part of their language arts. I hope to be able to do this for my 405 practicum as I think it is so neat!
Sonja wrote:
ReplyDeleteMay 29/2011
(Just a quick question for anyone who might know: how can I read other people’s blogs? I can only ever read Sue’s, but never anyone from the class. I have a sort of “news feed” on my profile page which has people’s comments, but when I click on them to read more it says the page doesn’t exist. Annnywayys...)
Reading about the different types of reading strategies in classroom really had me reflecting on some of the strategies that were used in my classroom during my long practicum. One of them is guided reading. It was a system that was in place before I started so I simply helped to continue on. The class had been divided into groups according to skill-level. There were three groups in the class: green, red, and purple. One of the groups was not named after a colour and they went to the resource room to work with the resource teacher for help with reading. Two of the groups worked on independent readings and I worked with the purple group. We always had a discussion before each chapter was read in order to make predictions based on the chapter’s title and on what had already been happening in the book. We did some reading out loud and some silent. One of the downfalls I experienced about guided reading was one that was mentioned in the text: not all of the students liked the book. All-in-all however, I found it to be a good experience not only for them but for me as well. I was able to understand the process of guided reading-the predictions, excitement over new vocabulary, and learning about their thought processes via their journal responses. It was a treat to be able to spend that one-on-six time with those students.
The other strategy that is used in the class is buddy reading. My grade 3 /4 class was paired up with a kindergarten class and ever Friday after lunch they would spend a half-hour reading with their buddies. I enjoyed this time thoroughly as I was able to just watch their interactions and listen to them read. Every single child in my class speaks more than one language and there were 15 (out of 23) who were classified as ESL students (received funding for language support). When some of the students would read aloud in class they would get nervous about mispronouncing words. One example: a student in my class (who luckily is very self-assured) asked me what a fire truck was while I was reading something about sirens and sound waves. The rest of the students laughed: “oh my goshhh, you don’t know what a fire truck is???!!” When I would watch these ESL students reading to their buddies, their demeanour changed. They seemed more confident and less afraid to read aloud. The stronger students were paired with the stronger students while the ESL students were also paired with ESL students. Oftentimes they would learn a new vocabulary word together. I would explain to them what the word meant and they would get excited about it. There is honestly no word to describe my joy at seeing a nine and a five-year old learning a word together. One of the downsides listed in the text is the lack of teacher involvement, but in my class it was positive. (One other note: I did do literature circles once but it was on my TOC day when I taught a grade 9 and 10 English course. I could see it having its benefits, but at that age, the last thing those kids wanted to do was excitedly discuss short stories. It was hard work getting them to converse).
Courtney wrote:
ReplyDeleteHello Sonja,
I also was reminded of the guided reading strategy used my grade 1 classroom for my short practicum. I worked with a group of 6 students. I gave instruction at the carpet away from the other students who were reading independently. We read a non-traditional version of "Five Little Monkeys." I was instructed to guide and prompt the students in predicting what was going to happen in the story by using the picture clues. It was fun because they got really into it and acted as little detectives trying to analyze all the details in the picture. I guided them along as they used their "pointer fingers" to read the words. Afterwords, we sang and did the actions to "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." The students then completed a fill in the blank worksheet using the book to help find the answers.
I enjoyed this reading strategy because I felt it was very interactive and fun for the students. I think it helped establish cooperative learning among the students because they helped each other come up with predictions and follow along while they read the story together aloud.
Letting Children Gravitate to Their Own Reading Choices
ReplyDeleteWhen Sue was talking about all the different options for reading materials, such as the magazines that we went through, it made me think of how important it is to expose kids to a wide variety of reading material. In my curriculum development class last week we were talking about a quote from Plato where he states “that an individual is happy and society well organized when each individual engages in those activities for which he has a natural equipment”, meaning that basically things are best when people are able to focus on their interests and passions. I believe letting kids discover what interests them in the world of books is the best way to get them excited about reading. I have two boys (now teenagers) and they were very different when it came to reading. Both boys loved their picture books, but when it came to transition to chapter books, they were very different. My oldest loved all types of chapter books, and would mow through them. Whenever he was done we would pack them away, waiting until his brother was old enough to enjoy them. Well, that day never really came, as my younger son was just never interested in any of these chapter books. I would go to Kidsbooks and ask for suggestions, but nothing seemed to click for him. More than once the staff at Kidsbooks had mentioned that many young boys love the Captain Underpants books, but I wasn’t interested in having him read about Captain Underpants and Professor Poopypants. For some strange reason I had never really involved my son in coming with me to choose these books. When I did bring him along to choose one time, he went right for Captain Underpants, so we decided to give it a try. He read a whole book the first day. He could not wait to get the next one and this ignited his love of reading. From this point on I made sure to bring him with me to choose a book. He started getting other books for himself that were similar in style and eventually his interest in reading broadened. I still wouldn’t classify the Captain Underpants series as great literature, but they definitely had a positive influence in my home.
Parent Education
When the authors talk about guidelines for kid writing on page 104 of the text they mention the importance of letting the kids know that they do not need to write and spell like adults do. They talk about how they need “permission” to experiment with language and spelling, and how if they are expected to do “adult writing” they may not want to write. This makes total sense to me (now), but I wonder if important messages such as this are getting home to the parents. Many children will practice their “kid writing” and “kid reading” as much at home as they will at school, where well-meaning, but possibly uninformed parents will look to their own childhoods for examples of how to “help” their children. I don’t personally recall receiving any literature on how to support my children’s “kid writing” (I imagine some schools do), and I am pretty sure that I was correcting them left, right and centre, not fully allowing them to experiment. It would be great to get the word out to get more parents on board.
Monday, May 30,2011: After Class 3
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed participating in the lesson planning activity that we did last class. I like designing and planning lessons, but I no longer get to because this is my last semester of PDP. It was nice to receive feedback for planning ideas from other education students because during my long practicum I only received feedback from my FA and SA during observations. I also realized how beneficial it is to collaborate with other teachers when lesson planning as well. Before this activity I had not really considered that magazines could be used for lesson plan ideas for a whole array of subjects. In fact, I had not really considered magazines to be an aspect of literature for elementary students at all. As a TOC, you could use various children’s magazines to design activities that could be completed by the class in one day, such as making an art project, or doing scavenger hunt in small groups. Magazines are also light and easy to carry in a TOC bag as well.
In regards to chapter 4-6, I did my practicum with intermediate students and therefore I had no idea how to teach children to read before reading these chapters. As a TOC however, I will be substituting for all grades K- 7 so I will need to have an understanding about how to teach the primary grades as well. Also, not all children in the intermediate grades know how to read, and as a teacher I need to be able to help those students, as best I can, to succeed. These chapters have been very informative and I am sure that they will prove to be very beneficial in my future years of teaching both primary and intermediate students.
One message I got from these readings is that there is no one “correct” and “proven” way to teach reading and writing to children - surprise, surprise! With different learning styles, developmental levels, and language experiences in the students, this is to be expected. There are tons of programs and ideas out there - some unique ones I’ve seen include “the writing road to reading”, the “picture-word inductive model”, and “letterland”, which vary in their comprehensiveness and focus, but from my observation so far, the effectiveness of these programs depend mostly on how the teacher uses or implements them. As the text seemed to stress, similar to our literacy day lecture and other research on learning disabilities, a balanced comprehensive approach (including some phonics) is most effective. This may materialize very differently from classroom to classroom, but I found that the text noted “mini-lessons” or explanations of the why’s and how’s of writing and reading (decoding) in every method. I wonder if these explanations are missed or overlooked by teachers who assume that their new “non-traditional” approach means that the students will naturally absorb the difficulties of the English language by osmosis or through their struggle to invent spelling.
ReplyDeleteMy own bias towards a more traditional approach to teaching literacy and away from forcing students to invent spelling stems from my family experience along with more recent classroom observations. Although I found my experience of not being allowed to guess at spelling quite stifling, and not appropriate, the rest of my early literacy experiences allowed me to develop strong writing and reading skills. However, my youngest sister was taught “emergent writing” and encouraged to write with invented spelling (to not stifle the creative process). The rest of our family are strong writers and readers, but she still struggles to read texts that she wants to read, and is very unsure (and embarrassed) of her spelling. It seems that the methods she was taught with were not as effective as the more traditional approaches I and my next two sisters experienced. Of course, other factors could have influenced her experience, such as less time being read to as a child, a resistance to reading because no one wanted to play with her when they were reading, or a speech impediment that might have affected how she heard sounds. (How do researchers control for all these variables?) Ultimately, though I know that using invented spelling is part of the curriculum, and I can see the rationale, I still have questions…
I know this is late but I still wanted to say my two-cents.
ReplyDeleteVarious forms of Writing:
I love the idea of providing primary students with the various forms writing comes in. Any five-year-old going into kindergarten will be able to recognize or at least be familiar with everyday writings like grocery lists, menus and newspapers so it only makes sense to bring them into the classroom. It’s the idea of taking what kids already know, and tying it into what you’re trying to teach them. Not many children will be very familiar with the idea that words are written down to respond to what you’ve read (reader response) or to describe your day (journal) but it wouldn’t be a long stretch for them to understand that words could be written down to help you remember what to buy from the store or to help you choose what food you want to order at a restaurant. Saying though, I don’t think I’ve seen these common forms of writing in many primary classrooms. Perhaps they are simply not the writings that get showcased but I certainly think we should be seeing more of that if we are going to discuss the importance of making learning relevant.
Kid Writing:
ReplyDeleteThe first time that I encountered Kid Writing I was in my first practicum in a Kindergarten/Grade 1 classroom. I had not come into contact with writing produced by children in the emergent literacy stage since I was that young myself. I thought that when children learned to write they would begin by writing words that are mainly whole but spelled incorrectly. I was intrigued but confused about the way in which my emergent writers were writing words. Most words were spelled using the first and last letter of each word. What was even stranger to me was that my School Associate (SA) teacher was not correcting this kind of writing.
I asked my SA whether it was okay or not for students to learn to write in this way. In reflecting on my students’ writing I was worried that it would be counter-productive to their learning when not all of the letters in a word were being represented but I thought there must be a reason that it was being allowed. My SA gave me a book about emergent writing in which it explained that all children learn to write by listening and recording the first and last letters in a word because these are the easiest sounds to hear. This is a natural step in the process of learning how to string together letter-sound correspondences for whole words. As time went on I could see that my students were making progress in learning how to write. More sounds in the middle of words would be focussed on over time, the corresponding letters would be learned and my students began to write middle sounds as well as beginning and ending sounds when they wrote words.
Although at first I was unsure of the usefulness of Kid Writing, now I see that it is a necessary and exciting stage in the process of writing development. I like the idea that students can experiment, be creative, and take risks to actively build their understanding of how to write. I now understand that learning to write is not something that happens all at once. It is a process.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAssisted Reading
ReplyDeleteDuring today’s reading response our group presented on the value of assisted reading. The process of assisted reading begins with children having books read to them while they attend to the illustrations and page layout of the book. The process progresses into shared reading as the child starts to participate in reading familiar words. As the child develops their reading comprehension, they move towards becoming an independent reader. In considering the various approaches to teaching reading, I connect strongly with the strategy of assisted reading. I find this approach to follow a natural progression that is associated with the child’s curiosity and personal capacity. I believe that these qualities of assisted reading help promote an interest in reading, which is an important component of facilitating the development of children. Children who are motivated to read are likely to pursue various reading opportunities in which they can practice and build on their abilities. On the other hand, unmotivated students are less likely to pursue reading experiences outside of the classroom, which limits their opportunity for reading practice.
Children’s Magazines and the Value of Collaboration
During class we were given the opportunity to work in groups and develop a lesson plan that incorporated children’s magazines. The activity allowed us to explore this type of literature and discover the value of including it in classroom learning. In examining the magazines, what stood out to me were the benefits of collaborating with other teacher’s to develop lessons and consider material. As we examined the various magazines, our group worked together to identify components that would be important to explore with students. From these components we developed lesson plans that facilitated the discovery of students. Collaboration enhanced this process because it provided an environment for asking questions and growing ideas. As teachers we were able to build off of one another’s proposals and ask questions about how to adapt and expand lessons to increase their effectiveness.