Chapter 3 Vocabulary

One of the first things that I read in chapter 3 that I really feel strongly about is the idea that teaching words in isolation is not a good way to introduce vocabulary to students. Introducing vocabulary by practicing the discovery of meaning is much more important. In my own learning, I like to find out the definition of a word by reading it in narrative text. Along with hearing a new word repeated several times, I really love to discover new words through reading. I feel like this idea could be a motivational tool for students to read more.
In my practicum experiences, I have seen the success of word walls. The classroom that I am in now, has put a twist on the traditional word wall. Instead of having a word wall with explicitly new words, the words are familiar but filed under categories that students can use in their writing. For instance, if a student wants to say he is happy, there is a word wall full of words that convey happiness. The student can go and look at the word wall and substitute the word happy for other words featured on the wall such as joyful, ecstatic, or cheerful. This technique has proved to be very effective in strengthening student's writing skills. There is even an element of competitiveness in the class because students want to make their writing as creative as possible. This environment has been created by the teacher, who is unparalleled in her resourcefulness.
Acquiring new vocabulary is an integral part of understanding reading and creating great pieces of writing.

Writing and Graphic Organizers, posted late because I am a Do-Do

In regards to insulting myself with the name of a bird that is no longer in existence, I am taking the liberty of sharing an article with you that discusses the origin of using Do-Do as an insult.
http://www.davidreilly.com/dodo/dodo-faq.txt
Anyway, I really loved the class we had a while back, where we used graphic organizers mixed with poetry. I feel like students would really enjoy an activity like this. One of the benefits to this workshop was the fact that there were no real limitations on what anyone could create with a little paper, some markers and a whole lot of creativity. I was so impressed with what some of the class came up with and with children being generally more imaginative than adults, I would love to see what some younger students could do with this assignment.
The free writing workshop that we had just after the poetry/graphic organizer workshop was also very enjoyable. It has been a long time since I have taken a topic that I wanted to learn about, research it and write a little about it. This free writing exercise was enjoyable almost to the point of therapeutic. Sometimes, I feel like I have difficulty writing because I am not interested in what I am being forced to write about. It is nice to know that in recognizing my own metacognition, I can help students with theirs. I know that I write better when I am writing about things that I enjoy or that I am interested in, so I should try to get students to realize that when they are writing as well. The only downside to this awesome free write is that I feel like younger writers would have difficulty coming up with something to write about out of the blue. However, with gentle guidance from the teacher, they could do some research and come up with something really great.

Why Ask? Questioning Strategies in the classroom

I have never really thought about the way that teachers ask questions. After reading this chapter, I realize that the way teachers ask questions can really give the teacher a good indication of what the students know and how they learn and retain information. Students who are presented with questions that require only one answer do not really help the teacher to understand what the student knows or how they are learning and discovering new facts. The class then relies on the teacher to facilitate discussions. This is a hindrance to student's acquisition of knowledge because they are not learning to formulate and come up with discussions on their own.

I feel like Bloom's taxonomy is a good way for teachers to decide what kinds of questions they are asking their students. If you are asking students level one questions, then they are only giving you answers that indicate their knowledge of facts and definitions. Higher level questions can help teachers see how students make judgments and defend their own opinions.

I really like the Questioning the Author strategy that teachers can use to facilitate thinking in students. Students use questions to interact with the text and delve deeper into information that the author has presented to the reader. This strategy also allows students to relate to other texts. QAR is another strategy that I really like. I was able to use it quite a bit while tutoring a student this summer. The questions that I was taught to use really seemed to help my student gain deeper comprehension of the text.

Quote: " The danger of overuse of IRE is that students become passive learners and then rely on teachers to facilitate discussions."

Question: Which of the strategies presented in this chapter would be best to facilitate comprehension in students that have learning disabilities related to reading?

October 5, 2011

I really like the multi-genre project. I think the packet that we were given in class had some super great ideas. I really like the dialogue section between the two teachers. I feel like this project will allow me to do some research on a topic that I have interest in. Honestly, it feels like this project can go anywhere. I am excited about learning more about the project. Once I know more, I may decide to complete this assignment instead of the tutoring.

Read Alouds

Text to Talk:
The most important section of this article to me was the paragraph that focused on the impact of teacher's interactions with students during read-alouds. When the article discussed the types of questions that teachers ask their students during a read-aloud, it was eye-opening to find out that the questions that I have been taught to use in order to facilitate a read-aloud are not the best fit for higher order thinking. Questions that pinpoint a single detail or event do little to reveal to the teacher the level of comprehension that the student has. Questions that make the student think about how characters in the book feel, or why an event has occurred give the teacher a better understanding of how much the student actually understood about the story and not just whether or not they can retell it.
Chapter 4
I really liked all of the strategies that are discussed in chapter 4. The two that most stick out in my mind are the DRTA and the synthesizing exercises. The DRTA is great if you can use questions that facilitate higher order thinking. The synthesizing exercise can help students gain a deeper understanding about underlying themes that are present within a story.

What types of questions should I use in order to facilitate higher order thinking skills in students?

Making a Case and a Place for Effective Content Area Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Grades

This article highlights early childhood educator's inability to give students access and the confidence building skills needed to read expository texts. The grades that are mentioned throughout this article are one through four. While reading this article, I was taken back to my clinical experiences this past summer. For tutoring sessions, I was required to bring an expository text to accompany any other narrative text that I chose to use for my tutoring lessons. My student was nearing the entrance of first grade. She was a struggling reader. I found that using the expository texts as an introduction to my lessons allowed me to activate my student's prior knowledge about the subject that we were about to explore. Expository texts usually feature real-life photos, and my student seemed to take great interest in them. In my spring clinical experiences within a first grade classroom, I saw very little (if any) use of expository text within lessons. The use of expository texts to accompany narrative literature is a great way for teachers to use content area literacy instruction with early aged learners.

1. Should students somehow be exposed to use of email, text messaging or other non-traditional forms of text to help them become more familiar with it? Or should it be held off for older aged children?
2. Do teachers feel that using expository text would be more time consuming due to the aspect of having to go over new vocabulary and terminology prior to actually reading the material?

Blog #8

React to June Jordan's essay: what surprised you, compelled you, resonated with you? Can you relate to the issue of speaking a "nonstandard" dialect? Have you experienced a formal acknowledgment or celebration of your way of speaking/writing inside the university? What are ways you can enact resistance within the university?

I thought that June's essay was quite interesting. I thought that the run-down of the Black English terms was very interesting. This section of the article made a good point about standard English not really "getting to the point". From what I understand from passages within the essay, the apparent use of Black English is merely to be concise. Even though all people are taught standard English from the first day they enter a classroom, Black English can still be understood by most people. A way to show that you would like to resist the traditional writing frame that the university requires us to write in by taking your stance in your writing. If you are in a class that requires you to write a paper, and you would like to do what June Jordan did, you can write your essay in Black English. You will probably get points counted off for grammar and usage, but if your content is on point, you should still get a good grade.