Week 8 - Harris (response)

The readings for this week really encouraged me to think about myself as a reader, and my development as such. It was interesting to me to read about various reading strategies and comprehension types, and to be able to identify those that align with my own practices and behaviors. The goal of learning to read text is to, ultimately, be able to comprehend it. I agree with Julia, that it could have been very beneficial if, in schools, teachers placed greater emphasis on comprehension, as opposed to just 'reading'. Also, consider the Applegate text, like Julia and Janine, I would classify myself as a 'politician'. Throughout my grade school years, I always strived to provide a response that I thought the teacher was looking for, instead of engaging in deep thinking. Still today, as a reader, I continue to engage in the five steps of the reading process covered in the Tompkins text, which include prereading, reading, responding, exploring, and applying. Like Janine, I do not engage in this process when I am reading for leisure, however, I do when I am reading articles and texts for classes, in order to better comprehend the main ideas within the text. Aside from identifying the type of reader I was as a young student, the text also enabled me to begin to identify the types of readers that the students in my placement classroom can be classified as. Along with classifying each student as a certain type of reader, the text also provides ideas for interventions to conduct with students to effectively encourage deep, analytical thinking and thorough comprehension of text. The students in my placement classroom are capable of engaging in all five steps of the reading process, however, they require guidance and encouragement from the head teacher in order to do so.

Week 8 - Widzinski

In thinking about how I developed as a reader after reading this week texts, I thought about the different stages I went through. While reading Tompkins, I realized that even today, I still do the five steps of the reading process when reading texts for school (books for pleasure, I definitely don't use all five steps!). In thinking back to my time in elementary school, I did a lot of independent reading. There were times when guided, shared, or reading aloud was used, but I realized we rarely did buddy reading. Being in the education program, in TE 301, I learned a lot of the types of strategies and skills to help readers become successful (Tompkins p. 50), but in my kindergarten placement, I am rarely seeing any of these strategies used. Because I am in kindergarten, the steps Tompkins presents in the writing process are not being used. My students are still learning to write. These are the writing steps that have been engrained in my mind throughout my schooling; I am very familiar with all of these steps. When it comes to comprehension of the text, what I am seeing in my placement is a book being read, and a small large group activity done with the text. For example, we read about how things are different from "then and now" (past to present), the book had things like riding in a horse and buggy to school, compared to driving cars to school. The after reading activity to check for comprehension was for the students to come up with things that are different from in the past to now. A lot of the students just retold details from the book. I agree with Julia, in Applegate's text, I think I was more of the politician in school because of the reason Julia pointed out- wanting to say what the teacher wanted to hear. I found Applegate's text extremely helpful in the fact that each type of reader was described, along with interventions. This is extremely helpful in getting to know each different kind of reader in your class. Gregory and Cahill's article was helpful for me because I am in a kindergarten class. My MT does not do anything to foster comprehension like what was presented in the article. I think my students would really benefit from doing "mind movies" and surprisingly, that is very similar to what I will be doing with my students after my lesson on Tuesday!

Week 8- McLean (Initial)

While exploring the readings for Week 8, I thought it was interesting to see all the different comprehension types and strategies to use for young children.  When reflecting back on my own reading comprehension process, it makes me wish that comprehension was explicitly taught to me by my teachers when I was younger.  I think it could have benefitted me as a reader and as student, in all areas.  As a student, I think I fell into the category that Applegate creates called "Politicians" because I tried to come up with what the teacher wanted to hear, rather than using my own analytical thinking.  By being able to identify students with these categories, I think it helps teachers to be able to narrow their instruction strategies.  Therefore, a teacher is better able to create opportunities to benefit students, that could overlap into multiple categories, and assist students in their comprehension abilities.  I really liked a quote by Applegate that says, "If we can remove some of the obstacles to thoughtful literacy that our students experience, it stands to reason that we can offer them more opportunities for engaged reading" (Applegate, p.56).  I think this quote is profound in saying that providing strategies for students to better comprehend allows them to be more engaged readers.  Furthermore, by looking at the Gregory & Cahill article, I noticed how important it is to use visual and active strategies with young children.  I really liked the ideas of drawing out what a schema means and explicitly defining what visualization and inferring are to children.  This allows them to make "mental movies" and "merge information" to make connections.  I think this type of language and structure with children is very beneficial to their comprehension development in the classroom.  

Week 7 - Harris (response)

I agree with Janine's opinion that reading the "What do you think?" noteblog entry prior to reading the rest of the articles for today seemed to be much more beneficial than it otherwise would. Approaching the readings in this way enabled me to maintain a more focused reading, and helped me to easily make connections between the students mentioned in the first piece versus students and situations that arose in the following articles.

In regards to Lupita, I agree that there is an obvious language barrier that is preventing her from demonstrating success in the classroom. The information provided shows that Lupita is struggling to communicate using English, which likely means she has difficulty comprehending the information shared with her in English. However, she was able to finish her assignment early, and independently complete a puzzle with ease. I agree with Janine that the first step to helping this child achieve success in the classroom is to meet with her parents, to obtain a better understanding of the child's typical behavior, her likes and interests, her abilities, and more. The knowledge obtained through meeting with Lupita's parents can be used to effectively tailor the teacher's instruction to meet the needs of the child. While I agree that integrating a translator into the classroom to help Lupita transition from speaking Spanish to speaking English, I worry that the child may only pay attention to the translation, and give up attempting to learn English. I think it could be beneficial for the child to receive one-on-one English language instruction outside of the classroom to assist her in learning to interpret and use the English language. I really like Janine's idea of incorporating more partner work into the classroom, to provide Lupita with more one-on-one exposure to the English language. This would also alleviate the anxiety that Lupita might feel about having to speak in front of the entire class.

Regarding Jonathan, the difficulty he is experiencing when it comes to activities and assignments that involve writing could be due to a lack of motivation in this area, or he may not have had the proper literacy instruction necessary to foster his development in this area. To help Jonathan further his literacy development, it would likely be beneficial to tailor literacy instruction in the classroom to somehow involve Jonathan's interests to increase his intrinsic motivation in this area. Along with this, I agree with the points made in the Carlisle article regarding the ability to make choices. Being able to choose the book he will read, or reading with or without a partner will likely aid in increasing his motivation as well. Often, when writing activities are overly-structured, student motivation tends to dwindle. Allowing students more freedom (within reason) with their writing will also help increase motivation. Collaboratively, with the incorporation of all of these points, Jonathan's motivation in regards to reading and writing should greatly increase, therefore, increasing his success in this area.

In regards to Eddie, it appears he is suffering from ADHD. Even when he is interested in the activities presented in the classroom and appears to be engaged, it is clear he still experiences difficult focusing on the content being taught. I agree with Janine that it could be beneficial to provide Eddie with visual (and possibly verbal) reminders to help him stay focused. I really like the idea mentioned in the Breitfelder article regarding providing individual children with mini-schedules to give them an idea of the time constraints for the various activities that take place throughout the school day.


As a future teacher, I plan to pay a visit to the families of each of my students before the school year begins. This way, I will be able to better plan my teaching instruction, and tailor my instruction to my students' interests and abilities. These visits will allow me to become better aware of students' development and abilities up to that point. It is also always important to assist students in developing an intrinsic motivation to learn through making activities meaningful and engaging to all.

Week 7- McLean (response)

I agree with much of what Janine said in her initial blog post.  I too am enjoying using the readings to relate to actual circumstances that we may encounter as future teachers.  The practical application is very clear in this prompt.  While reading the “What do you think?” blog post, my initial reaction wondered what kind of relationship these students had with the teacher and their peers.  I also wondered what kind of classroom environment is set up for the children.  These types of contributing forces can make a big difference in children’s learning and success.  This was clearly seen in the Marcus article where there was resistance to succeed for a few reasons, one of which being a poor relationship and classroom environment in his first grade classroom.  As a result, it is very important to consider having a safe and supportive classroom community. 

To begin with, Lupita actually seems to be very intelligent and needs socio-emotional support.  The teacher should take the opportunity to call on her in class to allow her practice answering questions and using her speaking skills.  When she does this, she should be sure to do it at a time of day, like calendar time, where she would be familiar with the routine and the answers acceptable.  This time should also be highly verbally scaffolded for her to allow for success (Mohr).  In class, the teacher could support her by assigning partner work to allow her to work one-on-one with a student and practice her language, while also forming a relationship with that student.  Because she struggles some with her verbal language, she may do well with picture cards to help her communicate her wants/needs and engage in more communication (Breitfelder).

Secondly, Jonathon could benefit from implementing reading into his mathematics curriculum.  He could be asked to solve multiple story problems, or even create a math problem from a specific book (like the three little pigs).  He would have to read the story first and then use writing skills to draft a math story.  It seems that he needs more motivation for engaging in reading/writing.  By integrating some of his many interests with literacy, he will have more success.  The teacher could learn more about him as a student and more about his interests by sending a letter home to his parents, like in the Maples article, and have the parents describe their child and his interests at home. 

Finally, Eddie reminds me of Marcus from the article we read.  He also had trouble sitting still and I agree with Janine, he seems to have a mild case of ADHD.  However, as a teacher, I think it is great for him to use this to help his learning.  Incorporating more movement into his learning may be beneficial.  Maybe this means having him act out the stories to show comprehension, having him take multiple sensory breaks in order to facilitate his learning, or even holding a fidget in order to concentrate during group time.

These are some examples of how to help facilitate these children’s full learning potential.  Just like the Scott article stated about children in urban schools, these children need to be held to high expectations, engage in hands on learning and participate in authentic and motivating classroom activities.  Trying these suggestions are one way that may help these children become more successful.  

Week 7 - Widzinski Initial Post

What do you think?

I really enjoy the prompt for this week. I read the "What do you think?" piece before I read the articles for today, and I am glad that I approached this assignment this way. I was able to gear my thoughts towards each of these students, and while I was reading, think about how each article applied for the different students.

In looking at Lupita first, it is clear that there is a language barrier holding her back. What I would do right away is make a home visit, or set up a conference with Lupita's family. Maple's article, "Opening Quality Lines of Communication: Seeing My Students through the Eyes of Their Parents" really spoke to this topic. By getting feedback from Lupita's family about her strengths and weaknesses, the teaching in the class can start to be tailored to meet Lupita's needs. Obviously there may be communication difficulties, so working with a translator may be necessary. This will help to find out where Lupita's strength lies, so she can start helping her students (much like in the puzzle scenario, she may be very cognitively gifted), or where her weaknesses lie. I believe that partner work in Lupita's case would be extremely beneficial.

Looking at Jonathon's case, I really think fostering his literacy development would be beneficial. In reading Carlisle's article, she really had a lot of great ideas that I think Jonathon would benefit from. I think that giving Jonathon choices would help him out as well. If a "free reading" time was made, Jonathon could pick a book out of his choice, even making this a partner reading activity could benefit Jonathon. Another idea was to have journal writing. Having a prompt could work, but also having a free write could work as well (within given parameters). I'm not sure if Jonathon sees any fun in language arts, so Carlisle also suggested word games. I think that by giving Jonathon choices, partner work and making it seem fun, Jonathon will begin to strive in language arts activities. These are all ideas that can be implemented throughout the day as well.

In Eddie's case, his story reminded me a lot of the article about Marcus. I really made the connection when Marcus would leave the classroom just to walk around, much like Eddie goes to the bathroom just to move. Eddie may have a small form of ADHD. Eddie needs to stay focused. Just like Marcus, reminders could work for Eddie (10 more minutes...five more minutes...so on). Having a visual set up of how the day is structured could help keep Eddie on task. Breitfelder's article had many good ideas for visuals to set up around the classroom to help children stay focused. Eddie could have a mini schedule set-up as well that shows him when a task starts and when it ends (Breitfelder).

These are all tasks that will not take up too much time away from the average day. Getting to know your students and families should be done at the beginning of the year, as well as setting up a clear visual schedule for the students. Learning should be fun in all aspects, and then of course, tailor different activities to meet different students needs.

Week 6 - Widzinski

In my kindergarten class, almost all of my students are at a solid Stage Two: letter name-alphabetic spelling stage. My students know the consonant sounds and short vowel sounds. They are beginning to sounds things out and it shows in their writing. In one writing sample, a child was trying to write the word "home". She started sounding it out and was able to write "hom". The students work hard at sounding out words while they are writing. They will sometimes us a letter chart to help them with the letters.

A center I would want to put in the classroom would to be focused around blending. The students are at a point where they can start learning the "h" brothers (sh, ch, th), and start blending "r" in words. Even the students at a lower level will benefit from more simple blendings like "c-a-t, cat". A blending station I believe will help continue to refine the students skills that they already have.

Week 6 - Harris

The vast majority of the children in my placement classroom can be classified within the emergent spelling (stage 1) and letter name-alphabetic spelling (stage 2) stages in regards to literacy development. I am able to visually classify these students as so by observing them during literacy block, as they engage in the various literacy centers throughout the classroom, as well as when I previously observed them during Writer's Workshop. These children are able to verbalize a word, 'stretch' it, and write it as it sounds without the help of an adult, although they may ask for it. A small number of children in the classroom are still working toward identifying letter sounds, and proper letter formation. These children still require scaffolding from an adult to help them stretch the word, identify the letter sounds they are hearing, and forming those letters. The students who display stage 2 literacy development are able to identify most all of the letters within each word, with the frequent exception of vowels.

A literacy center activity that could potentially help my students improve their spelling could involve matching matching picture cards to the words that represent them. This way, students will be able to make connections between objects and their names, while providing them with exposure to the correct spelling. The more frequently a student encounters a word, and various letter combinations, the more likely he or she is to remember them.

Week 6- McLean

Stages of spelling development evident with examples:

Many children in my classroom are seen in the emergent spelling and letter name-alphabetic spelling stage (stages 1 & 2).  This is evident through their writing done at literacy centers and writers workshop.  There are a handful of children who are still learning how to make letters and some letter-sound matches.  For instance, children will approach me asking how to write the letter M or "how do you spell park."  When we try to sound out the word, they struggle to write the letters they hear and consistently use phonetically based invented spellings.  These children are also writing in almost all capital letters, which is one of the In addition, some children are showing the stage two spelling development.  For instance, they are using some letters to represent the whole word, such as "PRK" as "park" and still uses mostly capital letters when writing.  These students are starting to find letter-sound matches more on their own, however still seeking occasional help.  

Design literacy center activity that would support students learning:

A literacy center that may help students is using picture cards to learn the different sound-letter correlation in words.  This would help students with their understanding of phonics.  The students could also practice using Elkonin boxes with pictures to scaffold their understanding.  These are a few examples of how to use literacy centers to specifically support students learning, especially children at the emergent & letter name-alphabetic spelling stage.      

Week 5- McLean (response)

     Like Holly stated in her initial blog post, the teacher in our classroom leads the class discussions and only calls on specific students.  In the classroom discussions that occur, my head teacher asks a question and calls on students until she gets the "right" response she is looking to build upon.  She does not have the patience to listen to the students respond.  However, the classroom discussions that I have witnessed are rarely over a piece of literature.  Usually these conversations are about recess, math, or writer's workshop.

     The classroom would greatly benefit from including more literacy into the classroom, and therefore more book talks or classroom discussions on literacy.  In the article by Triplett and Buchanan, they discussed the importance they found in including these discussions into classroom routines.  In fact, they say, "McCarthey discovered that book discussions can promote critical thinking when topics are related to children's developing identities, including race, gender, and class" (65).  In addition, they state, "Commeyras [...] discovered that students were more motivated to read when discussions were focused on their questions" (70).  These are examples of how book talks are beneficial to children's learning.  

     With that being said, I think it is important to notice that these book talks should be on books with substantial texts, not flowery texts with no meaning or thinking required.  There are purposes to each kind of text, but engaging in a class discussion would best happen with critical literacy.  In addition, children in the classroom should be encouraged to ask questions and discuss.  The students in my placement would greatly benefit from this type of text and class discussions, especially due to the social-economic, racial, language, and cultural differences throughout the classroom.  These students could be teaching each other and sharing ideas/opinions that are not being offered currently.  In response, there should be books read aloud that allow students to discuss these differences with one another and, at the same time, relate to the text which is being read-aloud and talked about. 

     There are many students in my class who sit quietly un-noticed.  They are the students who consistently do what they are told and are average students.  They do not require extra attention from my head teacher, however, their learning could be greatly improved if they were engaged in a discussion which promoted their thinking or allowed them to share their thoughts and experiences.  These students would be an asset to the class and the teacher would get to know their personalities and interests more if these children were included in conversations.  As Triplett and Buchanan say, "Ms. B believed that book discussion was the primary way that she got to know her individual students both cognitively and personally" (67).  Therefore, the learning in my placement could be greatly increased and more students could be actively engaged in their learning through the teacher engaging and learning about her students through classroom discussion. 

      

Week 5 - Widzinski (response)

In agreement with Holly, in my K class, my MT facilitates a lot of the discussion. She will tend to call on the students that she knows will have "good" meaningful responses. My class also rarely does read-alouds or anything of the sort. If my MT reads a book outloud, it is in response to something the children are learning about. For example, they were talking about how things are different between the past and now, so she read a book outloud talking about how in the past, people may have gone to school by horse and buggy, today we walk or take the bus, etc. To me, this book is not interesting and does not evoke much discussion.

In reading Beck and McKeown's article on Text Talk, it showed some very interesting things. First, I didn't really realize that simply doing read-alouds weren't really benefiting young children; yes I knew there had to be more to it, but when they gave examples of children's responses, I realized how closed off children's responses to books can be.  This idea of "text talk" is something that I want to implement in my classroom, granted I am teaching K-1. As Holly, Julia and I are all child development majors, I believe this is an alternative way to promote awesome literary discussions with young children. The biggest thing that I found in this article, which I agree with completely was the point about pictures: show the students the picture on the page after the question and response has been given for that selected part of the text. This limits the children to only answering about the picture, but to really thinking about the words that were just read before looking at the picture.

Text talk uses specific texts that are complex that can be used for young children to build meaning from. Be careful with the vocabulary in the text, or else we can get too hung up on defining the words for our students rather than focus on the literary context. There needs to be initial questions that have your students explain text ideas, not recall words from the text. The follow-up questions need to be scaffolded from the students initial responses (from the initial questions).  These follow-up questions will encourage elaboration of an initial idea. As teachers, we also need to be cautious of the background knowledge we want our students to bring in; too far fetched and it could be pointless material they're bringing to the discussion. Teachers should help scaffold the background knowledge around the issues in the text to build meaning off of them.

Text talk isn't all that different from some of the strategies that we've been learning, but by tying all aspects of this method together will provide a great literary discussion tool for young children.

Week 5 - Harris (initial post)

Typically, in my placement classroom, the 'talk' I experience is dominated by my mentor teacher. She will occasionally ask the students questions to respond to. However, she tends to select the same children over and over to answer the questions, while virtually ignoring the rest. By doing so, she is preventing those children from being able to contribute information to the 'conversation'. I have yet to experience an "instructional conversation" take place in my placement classroom. Little discussion actually takes place in the classroom, likely in part by the lack of literature that is incorporated into the classroom on a daily basis.

In order for response-centered talk to successfully take place in the classroom, some scaffolding is necessary, especially for those students who do not actively participate in classroom talk. First and foremost, it is important to create a safe environment for students, where they can feel comfortable contributing information in front of their peers and teacher(s). It is important, as a teacher, to be open to and accepting of all opinions and viewpoints, and to not be judgmental of students' responses. This is something that I've noticed my mentor teacher does not always do. It is the duty of the classroom teacher to weave together the various comments and contributions made by different students with the ideas and concepts he/she wishes to explore with them. He/she must also weave students' prior knowledge and experiences with new knowledge and experiences, ultimately broadening the scope of their understanding while building upon understandings they already possess.

There are a wide variety of learning resources available that have the potential to promote rich discussion. These resources can include a wide variety of texts that touch on important social issues that may be unfamiliar to students, or texts that involve topics or concepts that are meaningful or relevant to students. Looking at a variety of genre of literature can also be beneficial in promoting rich discussion among classmates, such as introducing poetry to students.

According to the article "Instructional conversations: Promoting comprehension through discussion" by Claude Goldenberg, instructional conversations are discussion-based lessons geared toward creating richly-textured opportunities for students' conceptual and linguistic development. These 'conversations' are meant to be interesting and engaging for all students, focusing on an idea or concept that is meaningful and relevant to most, if not all students. Although the focus of the conversation may shift, it remains clear throughout. The level of participation from students during instructional conversations is high, and is not simply dominated by the teacher, or by just one or two students. In these instructional conversations, teachers and students are responsive to the information shared by their classmates, so each contribution can be built upon. As a future teacher, I plan to take advantage of Instructional Conversations in my classroom to promote rich discussion of classroom content. I also believe the implementation of instructional conversations into my placement classrooms could greatly improve and benefit the students' comprehension of learned material.