Before I read the book to my students, I asked them what this book is about and asked them to predict just by looking at the cover of the book. All three students responded me by giving their prediction. I loved how all three students gave me similar predictions because on the cover there was a woman, a man, and two boys who are playing around the well and they all think that a woman and a man are parents of two sons and one of the son fallen into the well. This was pretty good prediction just by looking at the cover. I also asked students what the title Tikki Tikki Tembo means and no one could guess what it means. After the reading, I asked few questions related to the story including and students were easily answer my question. One of my questions was “now we know what Tikki Tikki Tembo mean because it was mentioned in the book. Who know what it means?” and everyone had raised their hands and said the answer which was name of first son. Not only students could answer this question but also could answer other questions as well. To see if students could retell the story in their own words I asked them to tell me what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Students took turns to tell me what happened in the story. This made sure that students have met my objective of the lesson.
My CT gave me several books to pick for my comprehension lesson and I picked this book because it was about Chinese folktale and I thought I could be a good chance for students to learn another piece of Chinese culture since they are in Chinese immersion program. As I thought, students were excited to hear about Chinese folktale because they never have heard any Chinese folktale before. I think this was my strength of my lesson that students were more engaged due to their connection between China and themselves. However, I think the story was too wrong for students to sit still on the chair and listen because while I was reading the book, I did not stop and ask any questions. Therefore, I could tell when the book was almost over; students were looked a bit tired just listening to me. If I have stopped or had some interactions with students, students would have paid closer attention at the end of story.
Through out this mini lesson, as a teacher, I noticed that I need to practice reading a book from side while holding a book. It was hard for me to read and hold the book while trying to not cover the pictures of on the page at the same time. However, I enjoyed reading a book to students and asking questions to see if students understood the story. Also, I noticed that I should read more slowly when I read to students because as I read the book, I could feel that I was reading faster and faster.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Lee Mini Lesson Plan #2
Reading Lesson Plan # _2__
Rationale : Throughout the semester, I have not observed students having read a book or CT reads a book to students. Thus, I wanted to know where my focus students are at in terms of comprehension level.
Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):
Students will retell the story up to three events using their own words or phrasing from an ancient Chinese folktale book that will be read aloud to the students.
Materials & supplies needed:
The book Tikki Tikki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Introduction to the lesson (_5__ minutes)
By pointing the cover, Just by looking at the cover of the book, who can guess what this book is about?
Does anyone know what Tikki Tikki Tembo means? Or has any ideas what that mean?
After hearing the story, you will find out what Tikki Tikki Tembo means. I want you all to pay close attention to the story and this story is an ancient Chinese folktale.
Have you heard of Chinese folktale before? If you do, please share with us!
OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (_10~15__ minutes)
While I read the book, students will sit tight and listen carefully.
So now we know what Tikki Tikki Tembo is. What is it?
Before we read the book, we were guessing what the story is about. Did anyone guess right?
Was this story interesting? If students say yes, then let them tell peers what was interesting
So, what happened in the beginning of the story?
And then what happened after? And what happened at the end of the story?
Now, imagine you are telling this story to your family. Who wants to try to retell the story?
Closing summary for the lesson (_7__ minutes)
Does anyone have any questions about the story?
Does anyone know other folktale that they want to share?
It is important to understand the story but it is also an important skill that you can retell the story with your own words. I think everyone did a great job retelling the story and I believe everyone will tell this story to others as well.
Ongoing-Assessment:
After finish reading the book, students are asked to retell the story. Therefore, I will know that if students are able to retell the story or not. Also, I can know if students can identify beginning, middle, and end of the story when I ask them.
Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?
Student B and Student H are very quiet and soft spoken. So, I will encourage them to speak up and make sure they get chance to talk and express over Student X because she is very outgoing and talkative student. Other than this, there are no academic or linguistic supports needed to students.
Rationale : Throughout the semester, I have not observed students having read a book or CT reads a book to students. Thus, I wanted to know where my focus students are at in terms of comprehension level.
Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):
Students will retell the story up to three events using their own words or phrasing from an ancient Chinese folktale book that will be read aloud to the students.
Materials & supplies needed:
The book Tikki Tikki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Introduction to the lesson (_5__ minutes)
By pointing the cover, Just by looking at the cover of the book, who can guess what this book is about?
Does anyone know what Tikki Tikki Tembo means? Or has any ideas what that mean?
After hearing the story, you will find out what Tikki Tikki Tembo means. I want you all to pay close attention to the story and this story is an ancient Chinese folktale.
Have you heard of Chinese folktale before? If you do, please share with us!
OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (_10~15__ minutes)
While I read the book, students will sit tight and listen carefully.
So now we know what Tikki Tikki Tembo is. What is it?
Before we read the book, we were guessing what the story is about. Did anyone guess right?
Was this story interesting? If students say yes, then let them tell peers what was interesting
So, what happened in the beginning of the story?
And then what happened after? And what happened at the end of the story?
Now, imagine you are telling this story to your family. Who wants to try to retell the story?
Closing summary for the lesson (_7__ minutes)
Does anyone have any questions about the story?
Does anyone know other folktale that they want to share?
It is important to understand the story but it is also an important skill that you can retell the story with your own words. I think everyone did a great job retelling the story and I believe everyone will tell this story to others as well.
Ongoing-Assessment:
After finish reading the book, students are asked to retell the story. Therefore, I will know that if students are able to retell the story or not. Also, I can know if students can identify beginning, middle, and end of the story when I ask them.
Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?
Student B and Student H are very quiet and soft spoken. So, I will encourage them to speak up and make sure they get chance to talk and express over Student X because she is very outgoing and talkative student. Other than this, there are no academic or linguistic supports needed to students.
Reading Lesson Overview #2
I did my second mini lesson with same three students that I did my first mini lesson. Since my students do not get much time reading books in the classroom nor my CT reads to them, so I thought students may need to learn to retell the story in their own words or phrasing the story that the teacher reads them. In order to retell the story, students need to comprehend the story that I will read to them. I used the some of the comprehension strategies which were discussed in the chapter 8 of Tompkins such as predicting, questioning, and determining importance etc.
Lee Reflection #1
I think my first mini lesson went fairly well. I was satisfied with all of my students’ participation because especially in the beginning of the lesson, students really participated well such as listening what I was asking without talking among themselves and answering my questions. My objective of this lesson was students will be able to read a short Chinese book with prosody and appropriate speed rate. As a result I think they all met my objective because students read the book with good speed rate and prosody such as expressive rhythmic and movement. Also as they finish the lesson, students themselves felt that practicing reading over and over helped them to read better and faster.
My lesson had some strengths and limitations to it. Normally when students read each chapter, they just read whatever is on the page. However, I added movement to each sentences such as the first sentence was if I translate into English it would be “eyes, eyes, to look”. So I asked them to point to their eyes when they read “eyes, eyes” and to point objects when they read “to look”. This was the strength of my lesson because students did enjoy doing movements while they read and this made them to read with expressive rhythmic. On other hand, there was also limitations to my lesson which was it was too easy for students to read. My CT suggested me to use the chapter 25 and students were already fluent readers of this chapter. Therefore, students got bored after echo reading and when one student read to other students. So I had to make extra effort to make students stay on focus.
As a teacher, I noticed that I really enjoyed the moment and felt really good when I saw my students enjoying my lesson. I also noticed that I like to be an active teacher because it was so much fun for me to do movements while reading sentences just like a kindergartener. One thing I noticed that I should be working on was I got so scared when students were getting bored and did not want to read to other students. I know that I have to finish my lesson but on my head I was thinking what can I do something fun to make them read and do what I ask them to do. In addition to this, I realized as a teacher that I need to learn more skills to work on management.
My lesson had some strengths and limitations to it. Normally when students read each chapter, they just read whatever is on the page. However, I added movement to each sentences such as the first sentence was if I translate into English it would be “eyes, eyes, to look”. So I asked them to point to their eyes when they read “eyes, eyes” and to point objects when they read “to look”. This was the strength of my lesson because students did enjoy doing movements while they read and this made them to read with expressive rhythmic. On other hand, there was also limitations to my lesson which was it was too easy for students to read. My CT suggested me to use the chapter 25 and students were already fluent readers of this chapter. Therefore, students got bored after echo reading and when one student read to other students. So I had to make extra effort to make students stay on focus.
As a teacher, I noticed that I really enjoyed the moment and felt really good when I saw my students enjoying my lesson. I also noticed that I like to be an active teacher because it was so much fun for me to do movements while reading sentences just like a kindergartener. One thing I noticed that I should be working on was I got so scared when students were getting bored and did not want to read to other students. I know that I have to finish my lesson but on my head I was thinking what can I do something fun to make them read and do what I ask them to do. In addition to this, I realized as a teacher that I need to learn more skills to work on management.
Lee Mini Lesson Plan #1
Reading Lesson Plan # _1__
Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?): I know that my students can read simple Chinese sentences but to become a fluent reader, students not only have to read accurately and with appropriate speed but also with prosody. I noticed that students can read accurately but a bit slow and without expression. In this lesson, I will practice them to read faster and with expression.
Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):
Performance: Students will be able to read a short Chinese book with prosody and appropriate speed rate.
Condition: Students will read the book via echo reading and buddy reading.
Criteria: Students will read aloud to the group with prosody and appropriate speed rate.
Materials & supplies needed:
The book called 你在做什么? meaning what are you doing?
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Introduction to the lesson (_5minutes)
Who knows how to read in Chinese? Yes, I know everyone can read Chinese.
So today we are going to read a very short Chinese book and see who can read fluently. Who knows what fluent means? Fluent means that a person read correctly, with appropriate reading speed and also with intonation and expression.
I know all of you want to be a fluent reader so we are going to practice how to read fluently.
OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (_10~15__ minutes)
Ask if students can find words that they can read in the book
Read the book to the students using prosody and appropriate reading speed rate
Do echo reading with actions go with the sentences
Do buddy reading except that one student read to two students and take turns
*While students read, I will pay close attention how they are reading.
Closing summary for the lesson (_10__ minutes)
Ask students how they read today compare to the way they read in class
Which way did you like better? I like how we read today much better because this way makes me reading fun!
Was it helpful for you to practice reading again and again?
Who can feel that they can read faster than before practicing?
What other ways you can practice your reading skills? Such as reading to younger brother.
Everyone did great job reading today!
Ongoing-Assessment:
As students read after me and read for their peers, I will listen and pay attention how they are participating and reading. During practicing reading, if students are struggling to read such as they don’t recognize words or don’t know what the sentences are saying then I will make a note what they need to work on so I can plan follow-up instruction.
Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?
Student B and Student H are very quiet and soft spoken. So, I will encourage them to speak up and make sure they get chance to talk and express over Student X because she is very outgoing and talkative student. Other than this, there are no academic or linguistic supports needed to students.
Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?): I know that my students can read simple Chinese sentences but to become a fluent reader, students not only have to read accurately and with appropriate speed but also with prosody. I noticed that students can read accurately but a bit slow and without expression. In this lesson, I will practice them to read faster and with expression.
Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):
Performance: Students will be able to read a short Chinese book with prosody and appropriate speed rate.
Condition: Students will read the book via echo reading and buddy reading.
Criteria: Students will read aloud to the group with prosody and appropriate speed rate.
Materials & supplies needed:
The book called 你在做什么? meaning what are you doing?
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Introduction to the lesson (_5minutes)
Who knows how to read in Chinese? Yes, I know everyone can read Chinese.
So today we are going to read a very short Chinese book and see who can read fluently. Who knows what fluent means? Fluent means that a person read correctly, with appropriate reading speed and also with intonation and expression.
I know all of you want to be a fluent reader so we are going to practice how to read fluently.
OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (_10~15__ minutes)
Ask if students can find words that they can read in the book
Read the book to the students using prosody and appropriate reading speed rate
Do echo reading with actions go with the sentences
Do buddy reading except that one student read to two students and take turns
*While students read, I will pay close attention how they are reading.
Closing summary for the lesson (_10__ minutes)
Ask students how they read today compare to the way they read in class
Which way did you like better? I like how we read today much better because this way makes me reading fun!
Was it helpful for you to practice reading again and again?
Who can feel that they can read faster than before practicing?
What other ways you can practice your reading skills? Such as reading to younger brother.
Everyone did great job reading today!
Ongoing-Assessment:
As students read after me and read for their peers, I will listen and pay attention how they are participating and reading. During practicing reading, if students are struggling to read such as they don’t recognize words or don’t know what the sentences are saying then I will make a note what they need to work on so I can plan follow-up instruction.
Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?
Student B and Student H are very quiet and soft spoken. So, I will encourage them to speak up and make sure they get chance to talk and express over Student X because she is very outgoing and talkative student. Other than this, there are no academic or linguistic supports needed to students.
Reading Lesson Overview #1
I did my mini lessons with Student B, Student H and Student X. All of them were not my focus students but I know that they are average students in the class. Before I choose which areas I should do for my mini lessons, I asked my CT if she has any preferences for me to work on certain topic with her students. She thinks that work on fluency would be beneficial to students because students need to practice speaking/reading their Chinese more but they do not get to practice as much as they needed. I have observed their Chinese lessons and I know what kind of materials they use to learn Chinese. When it is time for their Chinese lessons, students are mostly watching video clips from the website, reading words, and listening to each chapter on the better Chinese website. Thus, students do not have many opportunities to speak or read aloud Chinese. There are mini chapter books in the classroom which are also available on the website called “better Chinese”. So my CT suggested me to grab one of the chapters that they learned before so that students can focus on prosody and speed rate instead of trying to read new Chinese words. Also, my CT gave me some strategies that I can use on my mini lesson. To practice their fluency, I could do echo reading with the group first and then they can do buddy reading so students get to practice reading several times.
In Tompkins book chapter 6, she describes the components of fluency. I knew that accuracy and speed was the components of the fluency but I was aware of prosody. On page 208, it explains what prosody means and I think that my students are really missing prosody so I decided to include prosody in my mini lesson.
In Tompkins book chapter 6, she describes the components of fluency. I knew that accuracy and speed was the components of the fluency but I was aware of prosody. On page 208, it explains what prosody means and I think that my students are really missing prosody so I decided to include prosody in my mini lesson.
Final Notebook Action Plan
JENNIFER FARRELL
Final Notebook Action Plan
Think about the next steps in your teaching career and reflect on your learning over the semester. Provide concrete and specific examples for each of the following:
| What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to get to know your students as learners and as people? |
| 1. Observation 2. One on one interaction. 3. Assessment (pre and post assessment, variety of methods: work samples, talking, testing, etc.) |
| What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to learn about your school and its surrounding community? |
| 1. Communication with staff, parents and children. 2. Reading school and class newsletters. 3. Getting actively involved in school activities. |
| What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to learn about your literacy curriculum? |
| 1. Looking in to the standards the school I teach at uses. 2. Reading philosophy statements and curriculum materials the teachers and school provide. 3. Talking with other teachers and the principal. |
| If you were writing a letter to introduce yourself to your students' parents and families (which you should all do), what are three things you would want them to know about you as a person and/or a teacher? |
| 1. Student learning requires cooperation and communication between teacher, child and parents. 2. All children should feel safe, comfortable, and respected in their classroom. 3. I love having fun and I believe that the best way for children to learn is through play. |
| Once you get to know your students as people and as learners, what are three concrete strategies you will use to differentiate instruction? |
| 1. Mini lessons based on a student or group of students needs. 2. Guided Reading lessons also based on where each child is individually. 3. Allowing students to choose books based on their interests and reading level. |
| Revisit your work in this class (blogs, logs, New Literacies, etc.) and the topics covered in this class (leading discussions, comprehension, writing, emergent literacy, and so on). What is the one area that we have talked about this semester that you feel you need to grow in the most? What are three specific steps you will take to foster that growth? |
| Topic: New Literacies 1. Continue to educate myself in many “new literacies” throughout my teaching career. 2. Give my students learning experiences with a variety of “new literacies.” (visual, cultural, etc.) 3. Allow “new literacies” to be a tool for students to learn thinking about multiple intelligences and accounting for all types of intelligence. |
| Reflect on your learning in the course. What are three pieces of knowledge, insights or beliefs that you have gained from this course specifically that you would want to pass on to future TE 402 students? |
| 1. Reflection is very important in order to improve as a teacher. 2. Always follow through with students in order to create order, understanding, and respect in your classroom. 3. Keep an open mind at all times, you can learn a lot from your students if you listen. |
Monday, April 18, 2011
Letter to Parent
Dear Parent or Guardian,
Hello, my name is Mrs. Moreno and I will be teaching literacy to our third grade classroom until the end of May. Throughout the year, I have observed your child’s progress in his writing abilities such as his ability to organize ideas, write complete sentences and correct use of punctuation. However, he has shown a struggle with using a wider range of vocabulary in his writing pieces. As he is repetitive with his words, he is failing to make his writing interesting and convey meaning in the best possible way. Although this issue is indeed hindering the creativity of his writing, I have strong beliefs in your child’s ability to get back on the path to successful writing. I feel that with a little bit of adjustment in instruction, your child will overcome this issue. To accomplish this, I will reinforce our word walls that are posted in our classroom and print him a laminated copy to stay at his desk. I will encourage that he refer to this list of words during his writing to help him see and use a range of different words. Furthermore, I will devote additional time to your child during the revision stages and make sure he is adding more interesting words into his writing pieces. Support at home can also influence success in this area by using a wide range of vocabulary with your child at home on a regular basis. Repeated exposure inside and outside of school will have a tremendous impact on a child’s vocabulary. They will not only hear new words, but also identify the meanings of them and help them to apply them in their everyday speech, reading and writing.
Thank you for your time and support,
Mrs. Moreno
If you have any questions in regards to this issue, please contact me anytime.
Hello, my name is Mrs. Moreno and I will be teaching literacy to our third grade classroom until the end of May. Throughout the year, I have observed your child’s progress in his writing abilities such as his ability to organize ideas, write complete sentences and correct use of punctuation. However, he has shown a struggle with using a wider range of vocabulary in his writing pieces. As he is repetitive with his words, he is failing to make his writing interesting and convey meaning in the best possible way. Although this issue is indeed hindering the creativity of his writing, I have strong beliefs in your child’s ability to get back on the path to successful writing. I feel that with a little bit of adjustment in instruction, your child will overcome this issue. To accomplish this, I will reinforce our word walls that are posted in our classroom and print him a laminated copy to stay at his desk. I will encourage that he refer to this list of words during his writing to help him see and use a range of different words. Furthermore, I will devote additional time to your child during the revision stages and make sure he is adding more interesting words into his writing pieces. Support at home can also influence success in this area by using a wide range of vocabulary with your child at home on a regular basis. Repeated exposure inside and outside of school will have a tremendous impact on a child’s vocabulary. They will not only hear new words, but also identify the meanings of them and help them to apply them in their everyday speech, reading and writing.
Thank you for your time and support,
Mrs. Moreno
If you have any questions in regards to this issue, please contact me anytime.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Writing Approaches
In Tompkins book, few writing approaches were discussed. There are five writing processes which are prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. To be honest, I have not seen much writing in my placement. All the writings that I observed in my placement are just practicing some Chinese characters. I don’t think students have practiced more than 5 times this semester. So I am not sure how students are practicing their writing skills. I am assuming that in their English classroom, they are learning how to write and sound out words in English. Mostly in Chinese immersion classroom, they are practicing reading and speaking. Even though those five writing processes are not happening in my placement, I am certainly can see how it will help students to write better. Myself as a student, I learned to go through writing processes to help my writings better and I think it worked pretty well. Therefore in upper elementary classroom, writing processes definitely needs to introduce to students. I don’t see any journals in my placement but when I was Junior I was also placed in kindergarten class and I observed students writing journal entries every day. Most of students could not write many words. However, as chapter 12 described, words wall on the wall helped them to write their journals. I think with lower elementary students, journals works well for students to practice their writing skills because younger kids like to talk about their own life and they always have something to tell others. In the reading, it introduced Double-Entry Journals which is students divide their journal pages into two parts and write different types of information in each part. They write important facts in one column and their reactions to the facts in the other column, or questions about the topic in the left column and answers in the right column. I never have seen any teachers do Double-Entry Journals and neither have I experienced myself. I think it is a unique way to write journal and it might interest students who does not like to write “traditional journal”.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Tier 1, Tier2, and Tier 3 Words: "The Breadwinner"
The book I am reading for our book club is "The Breadwinner," this is where I will take my words from.
Tier 1: Basic words: Words that are used commonly and don't usually need an explanation.
Some examples of tier 1 words in "The Breadwinner" include: father, outside, sitting.
Tier 2: Academic words: used more frequently in writing than oral language, these words allow you to describe/talk about things more accurately.
Some examples: slump, recognize, and wonderful.
Tier 3: Specialized words: content specific and abstract.
Some examples: Taliban, militia, and chador.
Tier 1: Basic words: Words that are used commonly and don't usually need an explanation.
Some examples of tier 1 words in "The Breadwinner" include: father, outside, sitting.
Tier 2: Academic words: used more frequently in writing than oral language, these words allow you to describe/talk about things more accurately.
Some examples: slump, recognize, and wonderful.
Tier 3: Specialized words: content specific and abstract.
Some examples: Taliban, militia, and chador.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Fluency
*** Sorry Blog Bloomers for my late post…I was very sick all weekend! ***
Part A:
Based on the Tompkins book, some of the effective approaches for assessing accuracy, speed and prosody include Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), Fluency Checks, Informal Reading Inventories (IRIs), and Running Records. These assessment tools are used by many teachers along with informal observations to determine students reading fluency. Some teachers use one or two or these fluency tools, while others may chose to use all of them in order to assess students more closely. Personally, I would use any of them since they are good for assessing all the components of fluency. However, the DIBELS seems to be the only one that that is more focused on testing for speed only. If I used the DIBELS, I would definitely use another tool to go with it. Using any of these assessment tools can be very effective if a teacher uses the results to help improve a student’s area of struggle.
In my field placement, I have heard my CT talk many times about using the DIBELS. Unfortunately though, I have not seen her actually administer it to her students, or any other assessment for that matter. I am usually helping run literacy centers at the time she does her assessments. Since my field placement is in third grade and the DIBELS is used for grades 1-3, it’s no wonder that my CT talks about using it often. Over the course of the year, I have definitely seen an improvement in the students’ fluency. Probably the most improvement I’ve noticed is with speed and accuracy. There have been many instances in our literacy centers where I’ve noticed a better ‘flow’ while the students read fables, long passages and basic sentences. When I say ‘flow’, I mean they are recognizing words very well and there aren’t too many pauses while they read. Also, they ‘flow’ in a sense, because their speed is very consistent and is not too slow either. It is becoming easier and enjoyable to hear the students read.
Part B
My book club novel is called “The Breadwinner”. If I were to create a mini lesson for my field placement, I would probably focus on prosody since that is currently the area that I have not seen much growth. I would base my lesson off of the following GLCE:
R.AT.03.01 be enthusiastic about reading and do substantial reading and writing on their own.
Materials: Book, “The Breadwinner”, a copy for every student of the passage from page 32 of “The Breadwinner”, whiteboard, dry erase marker, pencil for every student
Do: Pass out a copy of page 32 to every student
Say: Today, we are going to practice reading with expression. To help us do this, we are going to break these sentences into chunks on the whiteboard.
DO: Write the passage into chucks on the whiteboard as followed:
“Clothes,
blankets,
pots-everything landed on the floor.
Closer and closer
they came to the bottom shelf,
the one with the false wall.
Parvana watched in horror
as the soldiers bent down to yank the things out of the bottom shelf.”
Say: Notice I have broken the sentences up into chunks. This will help us pause during our reading to help us slow down and use expression in our reading. Let’s practice using expression as we read our chunks seen on the whiteboard. I will read it one time for you and then we will read it together at once.
Do: Read the sentence aloud using proper prosody. After finished, read aloud with the class at once.
Say: To help us practice using expression, I will give you a few minutes to use a pencil to mark your own copies of the passage that shows you where to pause in the sentences. Use my whiteboard example to help you do this.
Say: Next, I will give you about 5 minutes to practice reading the passage with a partner. Be sure to read with good expression. I will walk around and try to hear everyone.
Do: Walk around the room and listen to students’ prosody. Help those in need.
Say: Now with your partner, I would like you to take about 5 minutes to find another sentence or two from the book. I would like for you to chunk the sentence and practice reading it to each other with good expression.
Informal Assessment:
Have partners share their sentences aloud to the class. They can read them simultaneously or individually. Look for chunks or pauses in sentences and proper expression as they read.
Part A:
Based on the Tompkins book, some of the effective approaches for assessing accuracy, speed and prosody include Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), Fluency Checks, Informal Reading Inventories (IRIs), and Running Records. These assessment tools are used by many teachers along with informal observations to determine students reading fluency. Some teachers use one or two or these fluency tools, while others may chose to use all of them in order to assess students more closely. Personally, I would use any of them since they are good for assessing all the components of fluency. However, the DIBELS seems to be the only one that that is more focused on testing for speed only. If I used the DIBELS, I would definitely use another tool to go with it. Using any of these assessment tools can be very effective if a teacher uses the results to help improve a student’s area of struggle.
In my field placement, I have heard my CT talk many times about using the DIBELS. Unfortunately though, I have not seen her actually administer it to her students, or any other assessment for that matter. I am usually helping run literacy centers at the time she does her assessments. Since my field placement is in third grade and the DIBELS is used for grades 1-3, it’s no wonder that my CT talks about using it often. Over the course of the year, I have definitely seen an improvement in the students’ fluency. Probably the most improvement I’ve noticed is with speed and accuracy. There have been many instances in our literacy centers where I’ve noticed a better ‘flow’ while the students read fables, long passages and basic sentences. When I say ‘flow’, I mean they are recognizing words very well and there aren’t too many pauses while they read. Also, they ‘flow’ in a sense, because their speed is very consistent and is not too slow either. It is becoming easier and enjoyable to hear the students read.
Part B
My book club novel is called “The Breadwinner”. If I were to create a mini lesson for my field placement, I would probably focus on prosody since that is currently the area that I have not seen much growth. I would base my lesson off of the following GLCE:
R.AT.03.01 be enthusiastic about reading and do substantial reading and writing on their own.
Materials: Book, “The Breadwinner”, a copy for every student of the passage from page 32 of “The Breadwinner”, whiteboard, dry erase marker, pencil for every student
Do: Pass out a copy of page 32 to every student
Say: Today, we are going to practice reading with expression. To help us do this, we are going to break these sentences into chunks on the whiteboard.
DO: Write the passage into chucks on the whiteboard as followed:
“Clothes,
blankets,
pots-everything landed on the floor.
Closer and closer
they came to the bottom shelf,
the one with the false wall.
Parvana watched in horror
as the soldiers bent down to yank the things out of the bottom shelf.”
Say: Notice I have broken the sentences up into chunks. This will help us pause during our reading to help us slow down and use expression in our reading. Let’s practice using expression as we read our chunks seen on the whiteboard. I will read it one time for you and then we will read it together at once.
Do: Read the sentence aloud using proper prosody. After finished, read aloud with the class at once.
Say: To help us practice using expression, I will give you a few minutes to use a pencil to mark your own copies of the passage that shows you where to pause in the sentences. Use my whiteboard example to help you do this.
Say: Next, I will give you about 5 minutes to practice reading the passage with a partner. Be sure to read with good expression. I will walk around and try to hear everyone.
Do: Walk around the room and listen to students’ prosody. Help those in need.
Say: Now with your partner, I would like you to take about 5 minutes to find another sentence or two from the book. I would like for you to chunk the sentence and practice reading it to each other with good expression.
Informal Assessment:
Have partners share their sentences aloud to the class. They can read them simultaneously or individually. Look for chunks or pauses in sentences and proper expression as they read.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Literacy Project Reflection
Looking back to the beginning of this course, I can see that my understanding of literacy has changed drastically. I used to have the idea that it merely included reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing. However now, I understand the term to include a much more wide range of components. After learning about emotional literacy, I now know that one can be emotionally literate or illiterate. In the past, if anyone would’ve asked me what emotions are, I would’ve simply answered something like happy, sad, excited, bored, etc. I used to think that they were merely just feelings in life and that everyone naturally learns about them as they go through life. However, after this project, I now know that emotions are something that people are not always naturally good at and that there are many people, especially children, whom are emotionally illiterate. Furthermore, I now know that dealing with emotions is something that can be learned and implemented into a classroom.
After reviewing the various literacy projects on the wiki, I have seen the importance of being literate in many more areas than just reading, writing etc. Knowing this, I think it is important for a language arts teacher to recognize and take necessary steps at helping his/her students develop literacy skills in these areas. I think that if children can become literate in as many areas as possible, it will benefit them academically and give them overall life success. As shown in many of the projects, there are books, games, songs, activities, etc. that can be incorporated in the classroom to help students become literate in these subjects. In particular, for emotional literacy, I learned that we can use three basic strategies in helping children become emotionally literate. These strategies include, practice expressing emotions, label children’s feelings, and do activities that deal with emotions such as play games, sing songs, and read books.
Furthermore, I think using technology can be incorporated into the classroom to help students on their way to emotional literacy and digital literacy as well. The technology I used for my project was the Prezi. Although there are many ways to teach emotions to kids such as books, drawing, singing, etc, I think a Prezi presentation could be more attractive to students and grab their attention better. The Prezi allows you to present information in different ways than a traditional power point. It helps the presentation come to life with the movement and zooming features and unique ways to add vivid pictures and videos. Before this class, I had never even heard of Prezi and probably wouldn’t have wanted to use such a program in my classroom. But after this project, I have learned that working with new technology can be a very easy and effective way to present information to all ages.
When it comes to effective literacy instruction, my view is very different compared to the beginning of this semester. Referring back to my original concept map, there are a few things that have been added such as the use of technology, meaningful discussions and now, different types of literacy such as emotional, social, cultural, environmental, visual, etc. After all my research on emotional literacy and my learning of a new technology, I was able to find out how much more there is to offer students. Emotions should not be merely expected to learn throughout life but rather, they can be taught about and dealt with in order to help them become more successful. And if we can incorporate technology into our lessons, then we as teacher may be able to better impact our students.
As a future teacher, I will definitely incorporate this new literacy and technology into my classroom. Depending on the students’ grade level, I can either create an ‘Emotions’ Prezi presentation for the class or have them create their own. Regardless if they are simply watching my presentation or making their own, I think it will help them become more interested and attracted to the information being presented. I would definitely use tools such adding sound and video to make it even more exciting. For example, in my Prezi, I added YouTube video of a song called, ‘Feelings’. I think this tool could be a great way for the kids to hear a song and watch the video at the same time. This way, students can sing along and even copy the dance movements. Experiencing a Prezi could allow students to become more interested and engaged in the lesson being presented. Further, student can have the opportunity to become creative with a simple subject of emotions and help them see emotions in a whole new, non-linearly way.
Of course, in order to use this technology, students will have to possess some amount of literacy in reading, writing, and viewing and listening and speaking to be successful. For early grades who may not yet know how to write, they might have trouble creating their own Prezi since they would struggle forming or spelling words. Also, at this level, students may not have gained much digital experience, also hindering them from making a presentation such as the Prezi. However, I think they could successfully view, and listen as I gave them a presentation and reach learning goals as well. In the older grades, perhaps 4th grade and up, I think students may have a better chance at developing their own presentations. At this age, they are more experienced with technology such as their ability to use computers, search for images and videos, copying and pasting, and so on. Additionally, their reading and writing abilities are more advanced so they would have an easier time reading, researching information and entering it into their presentations.
Although the Prezi is easy to use, students who are learning it for the first time may need several instruction periods until they can do it on their own. Even students in older grades will need lots of practice with this technology. Just as I was working with Prezi for the first time, I had to learn how to properly use the technology and it took me several hours of learning how to do it on my own. Knowing this, I think it would be a good idea to give students plenty of time to experience the website and look at some sample presentations. Another thing that would help them learn about Prezi is if I created one right in front of them. I could use something like a smart board and model how to use the technology and create an awesome presentation. Students may also be inexperienced with developing the content of their presentations. If we were creating Prezis about ‘Emotions’ I may have to teach them about emotions prior to using our technology. I could do a lesson, have a discussion, play a game, watch a movie, or do any other activities dealing with emotions. By doing this, students can develop a background knowledge about emotions to help them know the type of content to put into their presentation. I may even have to model for them how to brainstorm ideas to put into the presentation, how to research needed information, summarize findings, etc. After modeling, I could have them try it on their own, but also helping them as needed. Scaffolding would have to be the goal here as I help them here and there but then gradually allow them to perform the task on their own.
After reviewing the various literacy projects on the wiki, I have seen the importance of being literate in many more areas than just reading, writing etc. Knowing this, I think it is important for a language arts teacher to recognize and take necessary steps at helping his/her students develop literacy skills in these areas. I think that if children can become literate in as many areas as possible, it will benefit them academically and give them overall life success. As shown in many of the projects, there are books, games, songs, activities, etc. that can be incorporated in the classroom to help students become literate in these subjects. In particular, for emotional literacy, I learned that we can use three basic strategies in helping children become emotionally literate. These strategies include, practice expressing emotions, label children’s feelings, and do activities that deal with emotions such as play games, sing songs, and read books.
Furthermore, I think using technology can be incorporated into the classroom to help students on their way to emotional literacy and digital literacy as well. The technology I used for my project was the Prezi. Although there are many ways to teach emotions to kids such as books, drawing, singing, etc, I think a Prezi presentation could be more attractive to students and grab their attention better. The Prezi allows you to present information in different ways than a traditional power point. It helps the presentation come to life with the movement and zooming features and unique ways to add vivid pictures and videos. Before this class, I had never even heard of Prezi and probably wouldn’t have wanted to use such a program in my classroom. But after this project, I have learned that working with new technology can be a very easy and effective way to present information to all ages.
When it comes to effective literacy instruction, my view is very different compared to the beginning of this semester. Referring back to my original concept map, there are a few things that have been added such as the use of technology, meaningful discussions and now, different types of literacy such as emotional, social, cultural, environmental, visual, etc. After all my research on emotional literacy and my learning of a new technology, I was able to find out how much more there is to offer students. Emotions should not be merely expected to learn throughout life but rather, they can be taught about and dealt with in order to help them become more successful. And if we can incorporate technology into our lessons, then we as teacher may be able to better impact our students.
As a future teacher, I will definitely incorporate this new literacy and technology into my classroom. Depending on the students’ grade level, I can either create an ‘Emotions’ Prezi presentation for the class or have them create their own. Regardless if they are simply watching my presentation or making their own, I think it will help them become more interested and attracted to the information being presented. I would definitely use tools such adding sound and video to make it even more exciting. For example, in my Prezi, I added YouTube video of a song called, ‘Feelings’. I think this tool could be a great way for the kids to hear a song and watch the video at the same time. This way, students can sing along and even copy the dance movements. Experiencing a Prezi could allow students to become more interested and engaged in the lesson being presented. Further, student can have the opportunity to become creative with a simple subject of emotions and help them see emotions in a whole new, non-linearly way.
Of course, in order to use this technology, students will have to possess some amount of literacy in reading, writing, and viewing and listening and speaking to be successful. For early grades who may not yet know how to write, they might have trouble creating their own Prezi since they would struggle forming or spelling words. Also, at this level, students may not have gained much digital experience, also hindering them from making a presentation such as the Prezi. However, I think they could successfully view, and listen as I gave them a presentation and reach learning goals as well. In the older grades, perhaps 4th grade and up, I think students may have a better chance at developing their own presentations. At this age, they are more experienced with technology such as their ability to use computers, search for images and videos, copying and pasting, and so on. Additionally, their reading and writing abilities are more advanced so they would have an easier time reading, researching information and entering it into their presentations.
Although the Prezi is easy to use, students who are learning it for the first time may need several instruction periods until they can do it on their own. Even students in older grades will need lots of practice with this technology. Just as I was working with Prezi for the first time, I had to learn how to properly use the technology and it took me several hours of learning how to do it on my own. Knowing this, I think it would be a good idea to give students plenty of time to experience the website and look at some sample presentations. Another thing that would help them learn about Prezi is if I created one right in front of them. I could use something like a smart board and model how to use the technology and create an awesome presentation. Students may also be inexperienced with developing the content of their presentations. If we were creating Prezis about ‘Emotions’ I may have to teach them about emotions prior to using our technology. I could do a lesson, have a discussion, play a game, watch a movie, or do any other activities dealing with emotions. By doing this, students can develop a background knowledge about emotions to help them know the type of content to put into their presentation. I may even have to model for them how to brainstorm ideas to put into the presentation, how to research needed information, summarize findings, etc. After modeling, I could have them try it on their own, but also helping them as needed. Scaffolding would have to be the goal here as I help them here and there but then gradually allow them to perform the task on their own.
New Literacy Project Reflection
Throughout this course, my conceptual idea of literacy has changed a lot. At the beginning of this course, I remember literacy was only reading and writing in an English language class. Thus, by doing new literacy project, I learned there are different kinds of literacy such as cultural, emotional, environmental etc. My topic was cultural literacy and at first I did not even know what it was. Though now I learned what cultural literacy is and how much it is important for children to learn about it.
I have investigated cultural literacy and used a technology PowerPoint. PowerPoint was not a new technology but I only could use basic stuff such as just adding texts, clip arts, and changing font. So, I wanted to explore more about PowerPoint such as adding sound, put animations, and download pictures from internet and put it in a slide. Our classrooms are becoming more diverse as time goes, so it is important for not only teaching reading and writing but also teach various types of literacy such as cultural. For example, last semester there was a Taiwanese ELL student in my placement. None of his classmates knew anything about Taiwan but I knew Chinese and some of Taiwanese culture. So I talked to him and showed that I know something about Taiwan. This made him to open to me and he started to ask me for help.
PowerPoint could be used in the classroom. Both as a teacher and as a student, one could use PowerPoint to present their own culture by putting sounds, pictures, videos, or other visual aids to help others to understand one’s culture.
I have investigated cultural literacy and used a technology PowerPoint. PowerPoint was not a new technology but I only could use basic stuff such as just adding texts, clip arts, and changing font. So, I wanted to explore more about PowerPoint such as adding sound, put animations, and download pictures from internet and put it in a slide. Our classrooms are becoming more diverse as time goes, so it is important for not only teaching reading and writing but also teach various types of literacy such as cultural. For example, last semester there was a Taiwanese ELL student in my placement. None of his classmates knew anything about Taiwan but I knew Chinese and some of Taiwanese culture. So I talked to him and showed that I know something about Taiwan. This made him to open to me and he started to ask me for help.
PowerPoint could be used in the classroom. Both as a teacher and as a student, one could use PowerPoint to present their own culture by putting sounds, pictures, videos, or other visual aids to help others to understand one’s culture.
Monday, March 21, 2011
New Literacy Reflection
My conceptual idea of literacy has changed a lot throughout this course. Initially I remember thinking about literacy as reading, writing, and the processes that go along with learning how to read and write. While learning about visual literacy in particular: first of all I didn't realize what visual literacy even was, second I had no idea how important it is for keeping up with and competing in the real world.
Now that I have learned about visual literacy and used a new technology (prezi) I understand how important visual literacy is. Visual graphics, how we read things that do not have words, and our use of technology (video, audio, images, etc) is very important. Visual literacy is a rapidly growing field and we do not want our students to be left behind. Providing effective literacy instruction means providing students with the tools they need for success. That means we need to teach them how to read and write, but that is just the beginning. Students need to be well rounded in literacy meaning they should learn about all of the "new literacy's" we covered during this project.
My specific technology (prezi) could be used in the classroom. You as the teacher could use it to make interesting, interactive presentation. Also (if your students are old enough) students could use prezi to make their own presentations (book report, group project, etc.). Visual literacy is also important to think about in your lessons because we see so many signs, images, videos, etc. every day, it is a growing area of literacy.
Now that I have learned about visual literacy and used a new technology (prezi) I understand how important visual literacy is. Visual graphics, how we read things that do not have words, and our use of technology (video, audio, images, etc) is very important. Visual literacy is a rapidly growing field and we do not want our students to be left behind. Providing effective literacy instruction means providing students with the tools they need for success. That means we need to teach them how to read and write, but that is just the beginning. Students need to be well rounded in literacy meaning they should learn about all of the "new literacy's" we covered during this project.
My specific technology (prezi) could be used in the classroom. You as the teacher could use it to make interesting, interactive presentation. Also (if your students are old enough) students could use prezi to make their own presentations (book report, group project, etc.). Visual literacy is also important to think about in your lessons because we see so many signs, images, videos, etc. every day, it is a growing area of literacy.
Monday, March 14, 2011
My New Literacy Project Notes
My definition of literacy was the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential. To become culturally literate person, one should understand the culture and accept and understand the differences in that culture to be able to use printed and written information in function in a certain society/culture. The reason is that different culture value different things and understand differently depends on their belief, morals, laws and custom etc. I personally believe speaking, listening and viewing play more important role to become culturally literate compare to reading and writing. When I learned Chinese, I acquired listening and speaking skills first and slowly learned to read and write some Chinese words. My speaking and listening skills are stronger than other skills and just with speaking and listening skills I could still understand the Chinese culture and I did not feel necessary to read and write Chinese to just learn their culture because through oral communication I could still learn Chinese culture. However, to understand better, I eventually needed to learn how to read and write Chinese language. As I become more familiar with this literacy, I learned that culture is 100% learned from other human being and because culture is exists only in our minds that it is constantly changing and easily lost. Before I was exploring this new literacy, I thought that every culture is different from each other but actually all cultures share universal traits such as using age and gender to classify people (e.g., teenager, senior citizen) and raising children in some sort of family setting etc.
In my field placement, I think that my students are already somewhat culturally literate because they are learning Chinese language and also learning Chinese culture while they are learning the language. For example, my students have celebrated Chinese New Year and did some activities that Chinese do during their New Year. Also, students learned Chinese nursery rhymes and songs which is part of Chinese culture as well.
I am planning to use PowerPoint to present my new literacy project because even though I have used PowerPoint before but I am not sure how to use more effectively and I thought I could learn more features to present better via PowerPoint. However, by looking at some examples on the wiki, I am not sure if I still want to use PowerPoint because I saw some better technologies that I can use. To be honest I have not explore much more about other technologies so I am not sure which one to change but most likely I think I am going to use website called “scrapblog”. It looks very nice and awesome tool to present information and looks like it has space for me to write on as well. However, I am not a technology person so I have to study a lot more to use this new technology.
In my field placement, I think that my students are already somewhat culturally literate because they are learning Chinese language and also learning Chinese culture while they are learning the language. For example, my students have celebrated Chinese New Year and did some activities that Chinese do during their New Year. Also, students learned Chinese nursery rhymes and songs which is part of Chinese culture as well.
I am planning to use PowerPoint to present my new literacy project because even though I have used PowerPoint before but I am not sure how to use more effectively and I thought I could learn more features to present better via PowerPoint. However, by looking at some examples on the wiki, I am not sure if I still want to use PowerPoint because I saw some better technologies that I can use. To be honest I have not explore much more about other technologies so I am not sure which one to change but most likely I think I am going to use website called “scrapblog”. It looks very nice and awesome tool to present information and looks like it has space for me to write on as well. However, I am not a technology person so I have to study a lot more to use this new technology.
Notes on my learning
Emotional literacy is the ability to recognize and express our emotions. As emotions are a part of human nature and a huge part of our everyday lives, becoming emotionally literate should be essential for healthy and successful, emotional living. Many definitions posted on the class wiki reflect this type of literacy depending on how one interprets it. The definition stating that it is “an aspect of communicative abilities” and, “literacy is a bridge from misery to hope” can be associated with different literacy types including emotional literacy. Being emotionally literate indeed requires communicative abilities that deal with recognizing feelings of happiness, anger, fear, loneliness, etc. and the ability to express and talk about those feelings. In turn, the ability to be a good emotional communicator can contribute to positive relationships and improve the overall quality of life. As is it defined, “from misery to hope”, without emotional literacy, one can truly feel miserable to not be able to comfortably express the way they feel or be able to identify or understand the feelings of others. However, by being emotionally literate, one can have the hope of having an improved social life by learning how to understand themselves and society as a whole. As another definition stated, “By helping your young children express their thoughts and feeling verbally and in writing or drawing….and to understand how others think and feel, you can make sure their emotional development and literacy go hand and hand.”
Some of the definitions that contrasted to this type of literacy were the ones that mainly focused on technology. Definitions such as “The ability to locate, evaluate, use, and communicate using a wide range of resources including text, visual, audio, and video sources.”, “ The ability to use printed and written information to function in society…” or “a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies-from reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classrooms…” Again I think these definitions could convey various interpretations depending on the interpreter. But to me, I think they focus more on technology and using literacy that is visual and hands on. When I think of emotional literacy, I primarily think of communicating information that is not visual...information from deep within a person and expressing it outward.
Although, the traditional aspects of literacy such as reading, writing, speaking, etc. may not be the same thing as emotions, they still go hand and hand to some extent. For example, without the ability to speak and listen, how else would one be able to hear someone’s reasoning for the way they feel? How would one be able to use words to tell someone why they were mad, happy or sad? Furthermore, having the ability to write can be a good tool for expressing one’s thoughts on paper, a good way to let out inside feelings when they are unable or unwilling to tell them to an actual person. As I continue to meditate on emotional literacy, I am learning the importance it will have on my future teaching career. If I am not emotionally literate, then, how can I teach it to my students? How will I be able to show them and responsibly? How will I help them think positively about themselves? In the article by Allison Aubrey, it shares that depression among students can become an issue if they consistently think negatively about themselves. The article had some easy strategies that I can use with my own future students. For example, it suggested, teaching kids to do positive “self-talk” and reflect back on situations before reacting to disappointing circumstances. This was good insight but it was also quite surprising. I never thought to think that teachers would have to worry about depressive thoughts and feelings in their classrooms. In my field placement, I have not seen any lessons on emotional literacy. It may be a totally new concept for them. If this is the case, they may need extra support such as time and practice in becoming literate in this area. I think that they could really benefit by the practices mentioned above or by just through demonstrations of ‘how to’ and ‘how not to’ treat a person. One website I looked at talked about how emotional literacy is a ‘preventative tool’, meaning, it can prevent negative issues later in life such as violence, abuse, negative social relationships, etc. I think that all students including the ones in my field placement could benefit through this literacy by helping them live more positively altogether.
The technology I chose for this project is a presentation using the Prezi.com website. This is an awesome tool for presenting information more creatively than a traditional power point. It allows me to use reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing in a more stimulating way. I can use the so called ‘canvas’ which gives me an unlimited amount of space to type in the information I wish to present. As I present the information, I can zoom in and out of words or sentences to highlight crucial parts of text. As I present my information, I can talk about my thoughts and ideas in a non linear way since Prezi is also set up non-linearly and is easy to leave my lesson pathway and to talk about additional content. Another thing I can do with the Prezi is to have sounds in my presentation such as music, voices, single sounds, or even video clips. All of these things are very stimulating visually as its main purpose is to help people including teachers, present information or a lesson in a new, not so boring way. There are so many things that can be done with this technology that I think the most challenging thing will be my ability to be my most creative. I want to use the Prezi to its full potential and try to avoid creating something boring.
I think this tool will be great for teaching emotional literacy. It will allow me to use pictures of different emotions. I could even zoom in on the pictures I would like to emphasize. It will also allow me to explore ideas such as depression in students, bullying, etc., in more detail by zooming into hidden icons that hold further information. I can also use a video piece to show different instances of how to handle emotions. I feel that this technology can be very much like reading a book or a piece of text and even writing. For example, you can have a piece of text from a book on your Prezi and deeply analyze it. But instead of looking directly at the page in the book, you are looking at the presentation. As I mentioned before, the teacher can create different size fonts, use bold fonts, or even zoom in on a word or sentence or idea to show the students what should be focused on. In turn, after a student has read a book, instead of writing a traditional book report, they can use the Prezi to show what the book was about. They can create a ‘canvas’ of their thoughts, containing pictures, sounds, timelines, thoughts, ideas, etc. and vividly present t their classmates. If the students in my field placement were learning to use this technology, they would definitely need to work on the skill of determining the main ideas of what they want to present. They will also need to know how to summarize the things they want to add to avoid too much text on their canvas. Additionally, they will need to learn how to speak about what is on their presentation in a clear way. They should also learn how to incorporate pictures, video or sound to help make their presentations come to life.
So far, I haven’t noticed any limitations with this technology. However, I did noticed one downfall, and that is the zooming feature could leave someone a little sick feeling from all the motion. (lol) I say that based on my own experience of exploring a Prezi presentation. I’m not sure if I felt that way after viewing several presentations or if it was just the excessive amount of movement and zooming from a specific part of a presentation. I also noticed that although it remains an incredible tool, it is a lot like a traditional power point. A power point presentation has the potential of displaying all the information listed above BUT, I feel that this technology is still much better. I feel like it captures one’s attention and helps them become more engaged in the information being presented.
Some of the definitions that contrasted to this type of literacy were the ones that mainly focused on technology. Definitions such as “The ability to locate, evaluate, use, and communicate using a wide range of resources including text, visual, audio, and video sources.”, “ The ability to use printed and written information to function in society…” or “a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies-from reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classrooms…” Again I think these definitions could convey various interpretations depending on the interpreter. But to me, I think they focus more on technology and using literacy that is visual and hands on. When I think of emotional literacy, I primarily think of communicating information that is not visual...information from deep within a person and expressing it outward.
Although, the traditional aspects of literacy such as reading, writing, speaking, etc. may not be the same thing as emotions, they still go hand and hand to some extent. For example, without the ability to speak and listen, how else would one be able to hear someone’s reasoning for the way they feel? How would one be able to use words to tell someone why they were mad, happy or sad? Furthermore, having the ability to write can be a good tool for expressing one’s thoughts on paper, a good way to let out inside feelings when they are unable or unwilling to tell them to an actual person. As I continue to meditate on emotional literacy, I am learning the importance it will have on my future teaching career. If I am not emotionally literate, then, how can I teach it to my students? How will I be able to show them and responsibly? How will I help them think positively about themselves? In the article by Allison Aubrey, it shares that depression among students can become an issue if they consistently think negatively about themselves. The article had some easy strategies that I can use with my own future students. For example, it suggested, teaching kids to do positive “self-talk” and reflect back on situations before reacting to disappointing circumstances. This was good insight but it was also quite surprising. I never thought to think that teachers would have to worry about depressive thoughts and feelings in their classrooms. In my field placement, I have not seen any lessons on emotional literacy. It may be a totally new concept for them. If this is the case, they may need extra support such as time and practice in becoming literate in this area. I think that they could really benefit by the practices mentioned above or by just through demonstrations of ‘how to’ and ‘how not to’ treat a person. One website I looked at talked about how emotional literacy is a ‘preventative tool’, meaning, it can prevent negative issues later in life such as violence, abuse, negative social relationships, etc. I think that all students including the ones in my field placement could benefit through this literacy by helping them live more positively altogether.
The technology I chose for this project is a presentation using the Prezi.com website. This is an awesome tool for presenting information more creatively than a traditional power point. It allows me to use reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing in a more stimulating way. I can use the so called ‘canvas’ which gives me an unlimited amount of space to type in the information I wish to present. As I present the information, I can zoom in and out of words or sentences to highlight crucial parts of text. As I present my information, I can talk about my thoughts and ideas in a non linear way since Prezi is also set up non-linearly and is easy to leave my lesson pathway and to talk about additional content. Another thing I can do with the Prezi is to have sounds in my presentation such as music, voices, single sounds, or even video clips. All of these things are very stimulating visually as its main purpose is to help people including teachers, present information or a lesson in a new, not so boring way. There are so many things that can be done with this technology that I think the most challenging thing will be my ability to be my most creative. I want to use the Prezi to its full potential and try to avoid creating something boring.
I think this tool will be great for teaching emotional literacy. It will allow me to use pictures of different emotions. I could even zoom in on the pictures I would like to emphasize. It will also allow me to explore ideas such as depression in students, bullying, etc., in more detail by zooming into hidden icons that hold further information. I can also use a video piece to show different instances of how to handle emotions. I feel that this technology can be very much like reading a book or a piece of text and even writing. For example, you can have a piece of text from a book on your Prezi and deeply analyze it. But instead of looking directly at the page in the book, you are looking at the presentation. As I mentioned before, the teacher can create different size fonts, use bold fonts, or even zoom in on a word or sentence or idea to show the students what should be focused on. In turn, after a student has read a book, instead of writing a traditional book report, they can use the Prezi to show what the book was about. They can create a ‘canvas’ of their thoughts, containing pictures, sounds, timelines, thoughts, ideas, etc. and vividly present t their classmates. If the students in my field placement were learning to use this technology, they would definitely need to work on the skill of determining the main ideas of what they want to present. They will also need to know how to summarize the things they want to add to avoid too much text on their canvas. Additionally, they will need to learn how to speak about what is on their presentation in a clear way. They should also learn how to incorporate pictures, video or sound to help make their presentations come to life.
So far, I haven’t noticed any limitations with this technology. However, I did noticed one downfall, and that is the zooming feature could leave someone a little sick feeling from all the motion. (lol) I say that based on my own experience of exploring a Prezi presentation. I’m not sure if I felt that way after viewing several presentations or if it was just the excessive amount of movement and zooming from a specific part of a presentation. I also noticed that although it remains an incredible tool, it is a lot like a traditional power point. A power point presentation has the potential of displaying all the information listed above BUT, I feel that this technology is still much better. I feel like it captures one’s attention and helps them become more engaged in the information being presented.
My New Literacy Project Notes
While researching my new literacy: visual literacy, I am learning a great amount. Initially I had to learn what visual literacy even is. Then I used other resources to dig deeper and understand the components of visual literacy and how you can implement it in today’s classroom.
One of my colleagues posted this definition of literacy:
In broad terms, literacy is the ability to make and communicate meaning from and by the use of a variety of socially contextual symbols. Within various levels of developmental ability, a literate person can derive and convey meaning, and use their knowledge to achieve a desired purpose or goal that requires the use of language skills, be they spoken or written. A literate person can mediate their world by deliberately and flexibly orchestrating meaning from one linguistic knowledge base and apply or connect it to another knowledge base. For example, knowing that letters symbolize sounds, and that those sounds form words to which the reader can attach meaning, is an example of the cognitive orchestration of knowledge, a literate person conducts. Literacy is "not in isolated bits of knowledge but in students' growing ability to use language and literacy in more and broader activities" (Moll, 1994, p. 202).The definition of literacy is dynamic, evolving, and reflects the continual changes in our society. Literacy has, for instance, expanded to include literacy in information and communication technologies and critical literacy (Cunningham, 2000; Harste, 1994; Leu, 2002; Mol1, 1994; Paris, Lipson & Wixson, 1994; Yopp & Singer, 1994).
I really like this definition and some parts of this definition fall in line with visual literacy. The use of the term “socially contextual symbols” falls in line with visual literacy. Visual literacy involves taking in symbols, labels, charts, graphs, images, paintings, comics, and much more. It also says “The definition of literacy is dynamic, evolving, and reflects the continual changes in our society.” This is something that visual literacy is going through today. Visual literacy is very important and necessary to for the future of tomorrow, the children of today to learn. When we continue to not include visual literacy in our classrooms we are hurting our students and pushing them behind.
In order to become literate in visual literacy you have to be able to do standard reading. You need to read the various websites directions to be able to learn how to use them. You need to be able to read the directions on your camera and learn how to change the focus, the color, etc. It is possible to learn about elements of visual literacy such as color, line, zoom, etc. from a video I suppose, but being able to read is essential. You need to be able to communicate verbally with others to learn from their experiences.
I am learning that there are many easy to use this literacy and that you can go much more in depth with visual literacy than I expected. I thought that it would just be about using these new technologies for visual literacy such as making a comic or a video, etc. but there is much more to it. You can learn about colors and lines and other elements of film that effect your images and how your audience perceives them. You can have a discussion about a picture, painting, drawing, anything and talk about how you perceive it and why and how other people perceive the same image and why.
In my placement, visual literacy would be pretty much new to them I think. I know that they have computer time twice a week, and that they play educational games, and have a piano key board that they use on one of the days, I have never seen them create anything though. I have heard students talking about the fact that they have facebooks, and I’m sure they are all pretty good at using computers, as many young people are. I just don’t think that they are physically being exposed to visual literacy and what it means and how they can use it themselves. I do think it would be something that they would all be very interested in though because they all look forward to computer time.
While I am learning about this new literacy: visual literacy, I am reading a lot of articles, watching a lot of videos and listening to people on videos also. When I use my new technology (comics and video) I am having to think about how my audience is perceiving what I am putting into the comic and/or video and how I should set it up so that it is most useful to my audience. I find that planning out my ideas for a comic is very difficult for me. I have never really been into comics and trying to make them interesting is hard for me.
I think I am able to use this technology to communicate ideas about my new literacy fairly well. It is difficult to make the comic in a way that is effective for learning but I think when it is done it is something that students would be very interested in looking at and even more interested in making. My technology limits my ability to teach about my literacy only in that I would want to have links to specific websites that are interactive instead of just typing them and then the viewer would have to go find that website.
Students in my placement classroom would need to be able to listen to directions from a teacher, possibly read directions on a piece of paper instructing them to go to a certain website. They would need to be able to once on the website possibly create a user name, and read even more about how the technology works and what the features of it are. In the case of both a video and a comic they would have to come up with a story, plot, or idea of what they are going to portray in the comic or video. Perhaps they would make up a story, or have it be some sort of informational tool like how I am going to use it.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Reading Comprehension
Before reading today’s readings, I did not realize that there is a process in reading. I simply thought that people get meaning out of the text/story in a book by just looking at the words on a page and grasp the meaning. However, now I realized that reading is not that simple and requires many different things. “Reading is a constructive process of creating meaning that involves the reader, the text, and the purpose within social and cultural contexts (Tompkins p.42). In Tompkins chapter 2, Tompkins has described the reading process. In the reading process, there are five different stages which are pre-reading, reading, responding, exploring and applying. In reading, comprehension is the goal why people read. Comprehension also involves different levels of thinking and the most basic level is literal comprehension which is readers pick out main ideas, sequence details, notice similarities and differences, and identify explicitly stated reasons. Today’s readings help me understand the reading behaviors of the learners in my classroom because now that I can tell by students’ behavior, where they are in reading process or what/which comprehension strategies are the best for the students. So that students can easily comprehend readings and find more interest in reading as well.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
What do you think?
Looking at the three students situations these are some ideas I have to help foster their learning:
Lupita I would say has “limited formal schooling” (Freeman 2004). She is far behind most of her classmates as far as being exposed to the English language because she grew up with her grandmother in Mexico. She is showing that she is capable of learning and accomplishing in other areas, but she just isn’t talking. Lupita needs to develop conversational English to catch up with her peers. It seems the language barrier is one of the main things that is holding her back. Someways to help foster this English language development include having themes so that Lupita can grasp what it is the class is focusing on over an extended period of time. This can also help Lupita to categorize information and vocabulary. Having culturally relevant books and lessons can also help Lupita to connect to what she is learning. Being able to see herself and her culture in any books or other materials can help her in the classroom. Organizing the materials and activities in a visual way that is easier to comprehend can also help Lupita to understand what is going on throughout the day and give her confidence.
If reading is Jonathans main area of struggle the teacher can focus on this. He isn’t asking for help whichi tells me he might be embarrassed or ashamed of his inability to read at his age level. Mrs. Potter can help Jonathan by boosting his reading confidence. Call on him for reading that you are sure he can do. Play literacy games where everyone participates all together so he feels part of the group. Raising his confidence will be very important to get him to be okay with asking for help. Even when he doesn’t ask for help Jonathan should be a student that Mrs. Foster remembers to keep an eye on whenever there is a reading task. Also getting his parents to really be reading with him at home would be beneficial. Sending Jonathan home with books (and the whole class for that matter) might really push for his parents to read that book with him every week.
Eddie has trouble sitting still and paying attention. Activities where he can get up and be physically involved might help him to be in tune with what is going on and being taught. For example: Mrs. Potter talked about the development of frogs verbally. Perhaps if she had had students physically pretend and go through the stages of frog development and/or used a select few students (including Eddie) and had them hold up pictures in front of the class, Eddie may have been more engaged with the activity. Also with Eddie since he was not able to process her question/possibly wasn’t listening in the first place because he was paying attention to the tad poles, she could make sure Eddie is focusing on her words, possibly stand behind him and/or lightly touch him on the shoulder so he is listening then ask him the question and give him time to answer. (He might be processing the question then thinking of the answer then thinking about his response)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Writing Samples
In my 3rd grade field placement, I collected two writing samples to analyze. The students were prompted to write about their favorite season. The first student, I will call him Ryan, had a good writing piece about summer. Here is a sample of his writing:
“…we can eat icecrem my favorite icecrem is spencalls whith vinelly icecrem in the cone. We can go to the bech and we can srim in the water and lay in the sun and have coold drenks.”
This writing sample has many spelling errors. The main thing I noticed in this piece was his vowel use within some words. For example, Ryan is unfamiliar with the vowel team found in ‘cream’ and spells ‘crem’ instead. Likewise, he doesn’t spell the vowel team, ‘ea’ for the word ‘beach’ and spells ‘bech’ instead. I also noticed his spelling of the word ‘cold’ as ‘coold’. These vowel mistakes seem to place Ryan in stage 3 spelling stage because he is still confusing spelling patterns within words. He is still working on his long vowel sounds and needs to work on vowel teams as well.
The second writing piece comes from another student named Jessica. She was also prompted to write about her favorite season. Unlike Ryan, she chose to write about the winter being her favorite. Here is a sample of her writing:
“I enjoy winter because every week I go sleding on the fantastic, steep hill. I also build snowmen with my brother and sister with buttons, berries, and some carrots. And the best thing I do is skii. We go skiing sometimes…”
Jessica wrote a great piece and had overall good spelling use. The issue she is still having is with rules for inflectional endings. I noticed that she indeed knows about some of the more difficult rules for word endings. For example, when she spells the word, ‘berries’, she knows how to change the word, ‘berry’ into plural by dropping the ‘y’ and adding ‘ies’. Likewise, she knows that the word, ‘skiing’ requires you to add an ‘ing’ even though the word ends up having two ‘I’s. But Jessica made a few mistakes with this concept as well. For instance, she spelled ‘sledding’ as ‘sleding’. It seems she is unfamiliar with the ending rule for that word, that it requires you to add a ‘ding’ to ‘sled’. These mistakes place Jessica in stage 4 of spelling development as she is already working and seems ready to learn more on inflectional endings to words.
“…we can eat icecrem my favorite icecrem is spencalls whith vinelly icecrem in the cone. We can go to the bech and we can srim in the water and lay in the sun and have coold drenks.”
This writing sample has many spelling errors. The main thing I noticed in this piece was his vowel use within some words. For example, Ryan is unfamiliar with the vowel team found in ‘cream’ and spells ‘crem’ instead. Likewise, he doesn’t spell the vowel team, ‘ea’ for the word ‘beach’ and spells ‘bech’ instead. I also noticed his spelling of the word ‘cold’ as ‘coold’. These vowel mistakes seem to place Ryan in stage 3 spelling stage because he is still confusing spelling patterns within words. He is still working on his long vowel sounds and needs to work on vowel teams as well.
The second writing piece comes from another student named Jessica. She was also prompted to write about her favorite season. Unlike Ryan, she chose to write about the winter being her favorite. Here is a sample of her writing:
“I enjoy winter because every week I go sleding on the fantastic, steep hill. I also build snowmen with my brother and sister with buttons, berries, and some carrots. And the best thing I do is skii. We go skiing sometimes…”
Jessica wrote a great piece and had overall good spelling use. The issue she is still having is with rules for inflectional endings. I noticed that she indeed knows about some of the more difficult rules for word endings. For example, when she spells the word, ‘berries’, she knows how to change the word, ‘berry’ into plural by dropping the ‘y’ and adding ‘ies’. Likewise, she knows that the word, ‘skiing’ requires you to add an ‘ing’ even though the word ends up having two ‘I’s. But Jessica made a few mistakes with this concept as well. For instance, she spelled ‘sledding’ as ‘sleding’. It seems she is unfamiliar with the ending rule for that word, that it requires you to add a ‘ding’ to ‘sled’. These mistakes place Jessica in stage 4 of spelling development as she is already working and seems ready to learn more on inflectional endings to words.
Spelling Analysis
I have collected three different levels of students in my placement which are above average, average, and below average. Since I do not see much readings and writings on in my classroom, I had no idea who to pick. I told my CT that I need to collect students’ writing samples and she picked three students for me to take them to the hallway to do some writing.
Both Student A and Student B who are above average and average student are in stage 2: Letter Name-Alphabetic Spelling. Both of them know how to write their name in Chinese and English correctly and also few English words such as I, like, and etc. I noticed during writing time, Student B sounded out the word into each syllable and try to write out the word which was a good start to spell out words.
Student C who is below the average in the class could barely write her name in only English. When I asked her to write anything that she can write in Chinese or English, she said she does not know how to write anything. And she starts to draw her favorite foods. Thus, I think she is in stage 1: Emergent Spelling.
Both Student A and Student B who are above average and average student are in stage 2: Letter Name-Alphabetic Spelling. Both of them know how to write their name in Chinese and English correctly and also few English words such as I, like, and etc. I noticed during writing time, Student B sounded out the word into each syllable and try to write out the word which was a good start to spell out words.
Student C who is below the average in the class could barely write her name in only English. When I asked her to write anything that she can write in Chinese or English, she said she does not know how to write anything. And she starts to draw her favorite foods. Thus, I think she is in stage 1: Emergent Spelling.
Spelling Analysis
Looking at my writing sample, I am struggling to decide which category this student falls into. He spells most of his basic words correct such as: the, I, was, we, to, with, he, then (these are some examples from his writing sample). But he also does not spell some words I would consider basic for 3rd grade such as: they (thay), their (thare), our (are), there (thar) -stage 2 strengths and weaknesses. For stage 2 he also shows that he is still using letter name-alphabetic spelling with words such as: erevy (evre), and watch (woch), and chocolate (coclit). He shows that he knows endings such as -ing in the word "winning" that he spells "wening" (stage 4).
I would say he is probably somewhere in stage 3 but his spelling does have certain qualities of stage 2 and stage 4.
I would say he is probably somewhere in stage 3 but his spelling does have certain qualities of stage 2 and stage 4.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Digital Denizens
After reading the information from the ‘Digital Denizens’ website, I found out that I belong in two categories, ‘digital native’ and a little bit in the ‘digital addict’ category. I began using technology when I was a kid. I worked with things such as with video cameras, tape recorders, projectors, video games, computers, etc. Since computers were still very new for personal use around that time, I did not use them that much. It wasn’t until my high school years that I became very familiar with computers, internet and some software programs. Today, I use even more forms of technology but I know there is still a lot that I am unfamiliar with and a lot to learn. Thankfully, growing up around various forms of technology allowed me to build a firm foundation and to this day, I feel comfortable and ready to learn and explore new things. Through all my technology experiences I was able to see how useful and important it can be. I think it’s so important that I find myself relying on it more and more, to the point that most things in my life depend on it. I am to the point that I may be able to fit into the ‘addict’ category, as I often get frustrated and feel lost without it. (Lol)
Tompkins talks about emergent literacy as being the way children learn how to read and write. It explains that emergent readers and writers accomplish things such as developing an interest in literacy, acquiring concepts of print, developing book handling and hand writing skills and more. Tompkins also explains that a child’s meaningful experiences with literacy such as a parent reading to them every night or by watching a parent write can benefit an emerging reader/writer and allow them to reach the above accomplishments sooner. Immediately after reading this, I made the connection that technology learners and language learners can both benefit from past experiences and exposure early on. For me, it was my early experiences that served as a foundation to build new digital knowledge. They allowed me to have the knowledge, ability and confidence to use technology. I think it is the same for a child who already had a reading and writing foundation to start out with before school starts. With a solid foundation already in place, a child can be ready much sooner to take on more reading and writing challenges and perhaps be more comfortable doing it compared to less equipped students.
In regards to my own digital literacy, the term, ‘emergent’, seems to apply to my past and future. In the past, the emergent stage was the part of my life where I was introduced and became interested to technology for the first time. It was the time in my life where I began to practice and develop my own experiences. It was through this stage that helped me get where I am today with technology. In my future, the emergent stage will continue to exist as technology is forever changing and there will be so many new things for me to learn.
Tompkins talks about emergent literacy as being the way children learn how to read and write. It explains that emergent readers and writers accomplish things such as developing an interest in literacy, acquiring concepts of print, developing book handling and hand writing skills and more. Tompkins also explains that a child’s meaningful experiences with literacy such as a parent reading to them every night or by watching a parent write can benefit an emerging reader/writer and allow them to reach the above accomplishments sooner. Immediately after reading this, I made the connection that technology learners and language learners can both benefit from past experiences and exposure early on. For me, it was my early experiences that served as a foundation to build new digital knowledge. They allowed me to have the knowledge, ability and confidence to use technology. I think it is the same for a child who already had a reading and writing foundation to start out with before school starts. With a solid foundation already in place, a child can be ready much sooner to take on more reading and writing challenges and perhaps be more comfortable doing it compared to less equipped students.
In regards to my own digital literacy, the term, ‘emergent’, seems to apply to my past and future. In the past, the emergent stage was the part of my life where I was introduced and became interested to technology for the first time. It was the time in my life where I began to practice and develop my own experiences. It was through this stage that helped me get where I am today with technology. In my future, the emergent stage will continue to exist as technology is forever changing and there will be so many new things for me to learn.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Classroom Talk
In my placement, mostly I see initiate-respond-evaluate (I-R-E) interactions going on. My CT usually introduces a topic and start asking to students. For example, if today they learned about different nationality then my CT would ask a student “where are you from?” in Chinese then a student would answer in Chinese. My CT uses I-R-E a lot in the classroom to see if students have understood the questions and be able to answer correctly or not in Chinese. I do not see much of classroom talk in the classroom. Mostly students are repeating sentences and vocabularies over and over to remember how to say things in Chinese. Especially in Chinese immersion kindergarten classroom, it would be hard to do discussion or recitation since focus is on learning Chinese. Students do not have enough words or knowledge to share their idea in Chinese. In Almasi’s article, she mentioned that encouraging students to provide a rationale for their response is a good way to scaffold students. And I think it is important to students that in discussion, there is no right or wrong answer. It is time for students to express their thoughts and share their ideas in the class. For those students who do not participate actively in classroom talk, I think give them more time to think about the discussion topic before actually discussing it. That way student would feel more confident about their answer and feel more comfortable talking in the class.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Exploring, defining and creating meaningful approaches to literacy learning
In my classroom literature is included in a few ways. Every week students get new spelling words to practice over the week. When they get them on Monday they sit and write each work 5 times at their desks. They take the words home and practice them for the spelling test on Friday. On the spelling test they have to spell the words correctly and use the correct upper and lower case letters. The spelling words correlate with their readings for the week. Their readings are from a text book and are themed (ex: outer space). Students always have a reading book in their desk. They are instructed to pull it out and read it almost every time they are done with an assignment. There is also something called AR reading books. Students read these books and then take a quiz on the computers to check for comprehension. Lastly, my CT reads them a story from around the world every week. They look at their large globe and find where the story is from in relation to where we live and then read the story and reflect on it after (text to text, text to self and text to world).
In addition to having things such as what is listed above, I would like to incorporate technology into my classroom. Just like the video we watched in class, technology is a large and growing part of literature. Getting children involved in literacy using technology I think will be a key way for success. Students can read and write online and do many other things to expand their knowledge (blogging, book reviews, etc.). I would also like to incorporate multiple genres of literature including everyday items such as food labels, receipts, signs, etc. I would also like to incorporate class book readings into my classroom. We would read as a class together so students could follow along, I could read and students could read out loud.
In addition to having things such as what is listed above, I would like to incorporate technology into my classroom. Just like the video we watched in class, technology is a large and growing part of literature. Getting children involved in literacy using technology I think will be a key way for success. Students can read and write online and do many other things to expand their knowledge (blogging, book reviews, etc.). I would also like to incorporate multiple genres of literature including everyday items such as food labels, receipts, signs, etc. I would also like to incorporate class book readings into my classroom. We would read as a class together so students could follow along, I could read and students could read out loud.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Goals for Learning - TE Language Arts
I am excited to be taking TE 402 Language Arts and look forward to reaching new learning goals as well. Based on my experiences as a pre-service teacher, I feel that literacy is my one of my favoirte subjects to teach kids. In TE 301, I feel I learned the basics of literacy including terms and their definitions, different forms of assessment, meaning of literacy and it's importance for students. However, for this class, I am looking forward to going beyond the basics. I am ready to learn how to actually teach literacy and help students become more successful academically. Throughout this semester, I hope to be exposed to different teaching and assessment strategies for language arts. From these experiences, it is my hope to develop my own teaching pedagogy and become more experienced and comfortable as a language arts teacher. I also look forward to becoming understanding of students' needs as literacy learners and use that information to develop the best ways to teach them.
Additionally, I hope to make learning more effective by using strategies such as technology. I am very curious to see the different ways it can be integrated with language arts. Personally, I think technology can be a great way to capture curiosity as many students already have a love for technology. It could also allow them to learn things such as reading and writing much easier as various new software can be effective teachers. Lastly, it is my goal to reflect upon my own personal language arts experiences from this semester. This is something that I have not done much of in the past but I think it could be very beneficial. By reflecting on the best things and the worst things I experience over the semester, I will be able to reflect, learn and apply them to my future teaching career.
Additionally, I hope to make learning more effective by using strategies such as technology. I am very curious to see the different ways it can be integrated with language arts. Personally, I think technology can be a great way to capture curiosity as many students already have a love for technology. It could also allow them to learn things such as reading and writing much easier as various new software can be effective teachers. Lastly, it is my goal to reflect upon my own personal language arts experiences from this semester. This is something that I have not done much of in the past but I think it could be very beneficial. By reflecting on the best things and the worst things I experience over the semester, I will be able to reflect, learn and apply them to my future teaching career.
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