Writing Instruction

I would have to say that the amount of writing instruction I see in my placement classroom in minimal. In all of my time there this year, I can only recall a couple times in which the students were engaged in writing workshop, as defined by Tompkins. According to this format, the teacher gives a short mini-lesson at the beginning of the session, and then for the rest of the time, the students are allowed to work on their writings. I have noticed that during these sessions, the teacher keeps track of his students' progress in lists on the whiteboard, much like we discussed in class. One list is for drafting, the other editing, and then the final one was publishing. This way, as we discussed, the teacher can keep track of the students progress, and assess at a glance if some students are stalled in their writing process. Also, during this time, the teacher is available for conferencing. The three writing workshop instruction foci that I have seen this year have included narratives, compare and contrast papers, along with biographies, which the students are currently working on. Most students seem rather motivated while working independently, while others noticeably struggle and put off publishing. Many times, the teacher had to prompt them to continue working.

When I was in school, I remember my writing instruction to be much more extensive. We were constantly reading and writing responses, in the early grades, and in the later grades in elementary school, we were constantly writing in different genres. Additionally, a great deal of our writing instruction included grammar as well as stylistic instruction. This is one area that I do not see in the Language Arts Curriculum, explicit grammar. Although I have noticed that many teachers try to shy away from using explicit grammar instruction in the classroom, for fear of boring students, I think it is important for students to know grammatical terms, because this will help to enhance their writings. For example, when I was doing a mini-lesson on adjectives, my four students did not know what an adjective or a noun was. Therefore, I think it would be difficult for a teacher to tell the students that their writing doesn't have correct subject-verb agreement, if the students didn't know what the subject and verb were. Because of this need to have a common vocabulary when talking about grammatical elements within writing, I was very grateful to have had extension explicit grammar instruction in school. Additionally, when I had writing instruction in school, most of our work time was devoted to homework time. Every once in a while, we would have sometime to work on our writings during class, but many times, the teacher had us take our work home, work on it, and then bring the drafts in for editing. This is a large departure from the writing workshop activities I see in my placement school.

On a final note, there are definitely some areas of writing instruction I would tweak from my placement school to better suit my style as a teacher. As previously stated, I would most definitely use some explicit grammar instruction integrated within writing. This would help students work on their meta-linguistic skills while simultaneously giving them a chance to employ, as Cambourne suggests, their writing skills. For example, we might do a mini-lesson about subject-verb agreement, and then I would assign the students to write a narrative. I would tell them that they would need to focus on subject-verb agreement while working on their narratives. This type of grammatical emphasis could also be accomplished by instructing students on the use of adverbs and instructing them to write an action story and to use at least ten adverbs. I would also want my writing instruction to be more integrated across the curriculum and to be more structured. For example, we would have certain days for self-editing, peer-to-peer editing, turning into the teacher, and then final self edits. This way, the students would learn how they can perfect their writings of styles. Additionally, I would have students write reports in their science class as well as social studies. This way, they can see the value of their writing, and that it is important across curriculum and genre. Basically, there are many different ideas I have with writing instruction, and I am very excited to start!

New Literacies Reflection Post

At the beginning of this class, I had many questions about what it means to be literate. I really did not have any firm idea of the definition of literacy, except to mention that it was a broad one. For example, the definition I first cited as encompassing literacy was "the ability to adequately use, produce, communicate, and interpret the written word in all of its forms." Although I think this is a fairly good definition of literacy, I now know that literacy encompasses a multitude of other areas of our lives outside of the written word. For example, from my specific New Literacies Project, I know that understanding culture is a type of literacy. Additionally, being able to adequately use technology is a form of literacy too. As confusing as it sounds then, my idea and definition of literacy has become more exact as it has broadened. Literacy is an extremely dynamic and abstract concept. My official definition, as of now, for literacy is the various ranges and strengths of abilities and understandings in any subject. I now understand literacy to be a range of abilities from the Tompkins readings, because within those pages, specifically on page 91, Tompkins discusses individual traits that characterize the different stages of literacy from emergent to proficient. Furthermore, in class discussions, especially during out first discussion of the meaning of literacy, my idea of literacy was expanded to encompass the various means of communication for people who are unable to communicate in mainstream ways, such as those with visual or audio impairments.

Finally, the last majorly impacting reading for my idea of literacy was the Culligan online article. Within this article, Culligan mentioned how today technology is continually advancing and changing. This, along with my actual work on the New Literacies project enlightened me to the dynamic nature of literacy, especially new literacies like technological literacy. I noticed the need to develop literacy in technology while I was working on my project. When you take into account all of the various vocabulary such as .jpeg, .doc, and power point, along with techniques such as uploading files, it is no wonder that technology is considered a form of literacy. On a final note, of my exploration of my New Literacy project, I noticed how literacy is not only dynamic across time, but also, across culture. As I was trying to pull resources together to define mainstream cultural literacy in the United States, I realized how many different literacies one would need to master for other subcultures, such as big city versus rural district, or ethnic district versus Caucasian.

On a similar note, during my first post about the definition of literacy, I posed a question asking if it was possible to call cultures that didn't have the written word illiterate. I now believe that those cultures have their own respective forms of literacy that they are proficient in which we would not be proficient in. For example, some of those cultures without the written word know how to effectively hunt their surrounding wildlife, herd cattle, and the culture ins and outs of trading with surrounding tribes. These are aspects of environment, cultural, and social literacy that I would be deemed as illiterate in, within these cultures. So even though some may say that these distant cultures are illiterate by our US definition of literacy, we must also be able to concede that we are illiterate in their cultural, environmental, and social literacy as well, unless we have spent some time to live among these people.

Therefore, as future educators, we must be willing not only to educate our students on the various dynamic forms of literacy, but also, we must be willing to become literate ourselves within the needs of our students. For example, one could easily argue that getting to know the personalities and interactions of the students inside and outside of the classroom is an extremely dynamic form of literacy. Teachers must become proficient in understanding their students' needs and levels of ability as soon as possible.

Additionally, as teachers are becoming more literate by getting to know their students, they must also be able to provide effective literacy instruction to diverse learners. Effective literacy instructions is one that is differentiated to suite the needs of students of differing abilities and backgrounds, while also focusing on the acquisition of literacy as outlined by Cambourne. Cambourne mentions that instruction should, among other ideas, be engaging and allow students time to employ what they have learned. Also an example of differentiating for different cultures of our students includes taking into account their "funds of knowledge," as detailed in our math section's reading of Rosebery. The article discusses taking students' prior knowledge and activating it in a meaningful way in the classroom. This includes choosing literature for the students to read that is relevant. For example, in an urban classroom, it would be highly irrelevant to choose a book such as Dick and Jane to read to the students.

In order to teach my technological literacy of the website I used in an effective way, the students would first need a foundation in reading, writing, communicating, and typing. A GLCE that I found would be important while discussing websites would be within the vocabulary section R.WS.04.07, which states “in context, determine the meaning of words and phrases including similes, metaphors, content vocabulary, and literary terms using strategies and resources including context clues, semantic feature analysis, and a thesaurus.” Therefore, a good introduction to websites, for my class, would be to create a website that includes ways for children to access vocabulary necessary to make a website or general vocabulary necessary to know from lessons. In essence, the website would be an interactive word wall for students. This way, when we progress into students making their own websites, via Google sites, later in the year, they would already be familiar with the basic vocabulary we would use to construct the website. Additionally, the students would need to work on their keyboarding proficiency in order to construct the website in a somewhat efficient time. I was surprised that I did not find a specific ELA GLEC that would cover this need to teach typing. Therefore, in order to do this, I would create a keyboarding center in my classroom, where students could play games like “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing” or “Mario Teaches Typing” to better their skills.

Along with using the website to help students create their own websites, I could also use websites throughout the year as a way for my children to find valuable resources about lessons we are doing or as a way for parents to access what is going on in the class. This would create a strong community of learners within my classroom, and simultaneously make instruction have a stronger foundation with parental involvement. Furthermore, the website I constructed, in my project, can be used to help immigrant families, and children, become accustomed to mainstream culture, and thus improve their own cultural literacy. By using websites to enhance instruction and to add another technological literacy to my students’ understanding, I would also be engaging a variety of learners on a whole new level of literacy. This would help students who learn visually and kinesthetically, because they could both see and interact with the screen. Also, it would help students from a variety of backgrounds, because it would be easy to cater the content we are learning for my own student population. Finally, it would give students the chance to employ their own reading and writing skills by not only accessing the websites I would create for my students, but also, allowing them to go to other websites that stress literacy, which we talked about in class, such as Starfall.com. I have seen this interaction with websites in my ESL placement, especially with Starfall.com, but unfortunately, I have not seen my CT use websites within my TE 402 placement. I think it would greatly benefit those students reading literacy and technological literacy especially since they have the technology available within the classroom. In conclusion, using websites throughout my curriculum, correctly, would be a way to promote effective literacy instruction to diverse learners in my classroom.

I think that my understanding of literacy has definitely improved throughout the semester. Originally, I thought that literacy strictly dealt with reading and writing. However, with the introduction of New Literacies and Technologies, I can see that literacy definitely encompasses much more. The variety of literacies that my classmates and I have explored, show how there are many different stances on how to teach literacy. I think after looking at my peers' projects, I realize that I do not want to take one stance in particular, rather, I would like to implement them all into my teaching---because I think that they all present ways to learn, while making my students informed citizens. I think this will ultimately make my students want to interact more in their community, and even be a better student/friend/peer at school.

I have also learned a lot about technology and how much this affects teaching literacy. Kids are so intelligent when it comes to technology--always downloading a new computer game, playing a new type of gaming system, etc. I'm sad to say that many times when I am babysitting, I count on the kids to get these things all set up. This project has really taught me the importance of keeping up with technology, because as it improves, students evolve with it. Therefore, the boring old pencil and paper route of learning will not engage my students. Thus, I realize that to keep my students' attention, I need to teach them in a way that they enjoy learning. I chose to talk about my literacy in a scrapblog format, and I can see exactly why my students would like learning this way--it's visually appealing for my visual learners, and it just makes learning look more interesting. A scrapblog is similar to a blog, in that you can add information, however, it looks very similar to a scrapbook, as you can add stickers, different backgrounds, shapes, etc. This product was new to me, therefore, I had to play around with it quite a bit, to truly understand how to use it.

I can also see why something like a blog would also be fun for students. Students these days are so educated in using the internet, therefore, using something like this to learn would seem more like playing a game--i.e. clicking on the different links, seeing where they take you--than sitting and hearing a lecture.

I think in order to provide "effective literacy instruction," one must keep up with the times--so that they can see what students like doing, and how this affects the way the want to learn. I think this can relate in many ways to my technology, a scrapblog. One of the actual "themes" for the scrapblog was High School Musical. While I did not chose this theme, I think that students would be excited in general if they saw they were learning something that included their favorite movie. On the scrapblog, one is able to add speech bubbles, so I could have had Zach Effron saying something about Cultural Literacy, and thus my students would probably think this was cool--since Zach said so.

If I had to chose one of my GLCEs that my ELA lesson focused on, and could also be used in a new literacy, it would be: S.CN.02.02 explore and use language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes including questions and answers, discussions, and social interactions. Many of these new technologies are on social networks, and therefore, students would be interacting with one another. For example, if I chose to use a blog in my classroom, I could implement a center in which the students blogged on anything they had learned in ELA that day--i.e. reading a books, writing a story, etc. Students who follow could then add their own blog, or respond to one of their peers' blogs--i.e. I liked that story too, because....

I feel that the scrapblog may be a little to advanced for my students--I had to find pictures online, search pretty hard for information, and the program could be somewhat difficult to understand. Therefore, I would use this program to teach, but not necessarily have my students make this technology. However, in order to help my students become more acquainted with the internet, I could set aside ELA time to work on using search engines to find information, as well as, teaching students how to determine whether or not the source is reliable.

I feel that it is extremely important to teach students about technology in school, because in order to keep up with the times, and be successful, one needs to know how to use technology. Therefore, I feel that following GLCEs on technology are important, because I will not only be teaching my students in a way they enjoy, but also helping them be a digital native for the future.

New Literacies Post

Providing effective literacy instruction requires teachers to provide instruction that appeals to students with various learning styles, levels of background knowledge, and interests. While differentiation sounds like an easy ideal to achieve, teachers must always be making a conscious effort to conduct formative assessments and get to know students' learning interests and styles, then adapt lessons accordingly. Related to the technology I explored, blogging, there are two main ways in which I see blogs as being able to enhance classroom learning, when either the teacher or students write in a blog. I used my New Literacies blog to record my thoughts, learning, and external resources as I learned more about a new topic. Unlike my experiences using blogs like this one, I tried to incorporate aspects other than just text entries, such as embedded youtube videos, external links, and polls. If I wrote a similar blog for my students to read and follow, it would require them to practice comprehending written text, providing personal responses or writing their answers to a specific question, and critically viewing and analyzing information presented in a video format.

As a teacher, I could provide my students access to a blog written by me that might provide additional instruction in literacy (or other content areas) with the option of including multimedia files and links to other websites and resources. Such a blog might allow students to practice their reading comprehension skills by providing them with an additional source of print information while also (hopefully) encouraging their enthusiasm for reading on their own. Since many students enjoy spending time on the computer, they may be more willing to read on the computer, especially if the blog contains pictures, videos, or if its topic is based on students' interests. On such a blog, I might ask students to post comments responding to a specific question or have them share something that they learned from the post or from their own research...this would get students writing and responding to text and would provide me with some feedback about their understanding of the topic and incorporate some accountability.

Alternatively, I could have students create their own blogs to follow their own research of a topic and possibly have it structured as a type of annotated bibliography, have them write their personal reflections in a journal/traditional blog format, or have them work collaboratively in blog groups using a jigsaw or another format. This would give students a greater degree of autonomy and would engage them in more writing activities than the teacher-written blog. These assignments are not too drastically different from traditional assignments that might appear in a classroom, but blogging provides a new, interactive, and interesting way to present information.

My current view of blogging is that it might be able to engage reluctant readers and writers in literacy-based activities using a tool that is more often associated with fun games (the computer) as opposed to traditional worksheets or journals. (And, blogs can include fun widgets including polls and games to make them a bit more interesting!) Furthermore, blogs are able to incorporate additional media and collaboration in ways that traditional pencil and paper cannot. Although computer skills are often overlooked or considered an "after thought" in classroom instruction, part of the process of having students become literate citizens requires that they have basic knowledge of computers including typing, using internet browsers, and navigating different sites to search for information. Depending upon the age and background knowledge of the students, these skills might develop over the course of weeks or months as students become accustomed to an unfamiliar technology, or might be an easy task for students who already have a lot of experience with the internet and word processing software. These skills are no longer optional and students must learn how to operate computers and use internet applications, which reflects the broader definition of literacy reflected in Tompkins and our class discussion.

While I thought I had discussed a fairly comprehensive definition of literacy in my second blog post, in the case of digital literacy, the definition given in Tompkins seems more appropriate when she discusses the IRA and NCTE definition that includes the "competence 'to carry out the complex tasks using reading and writing related to the world of work and to life outside the school'" (11). Although technological literacy likely won't be the primary focus in my classroom, I definitely think that it is an integral part of an elementary classroom. Throughout this semester, I have had the opportunity to access sample lesson plans through Tompkins and in our class, and have been able to observe effective, standards-based lessons in my field placement that have provided me with a more complete view of what literacy instruction must include. Often, my CT thinks aloud as he is reading and models sample responses to questions that he asks of the students. At the beginning of the semester, I noticed these habits and thought they were interesting and useful methods to use in the classroom, but as we continued learning about these and other strategies in class, I realized that these were very purposeful instructional decisions and really do tend to help students think critically about a text. The lessons I observe in the placement are very standards-based and do not use basal readers at all; observing these lessons has helped me to envision structuring my own current (and future) lesson plans with high quality literature, while still meeting the necessary standards.

Writing

Although we don't usually see writing instruction often in our field placement (it's usually reading or math), I have noticed that our CT does use the writing workshop structure and we observed one lesson in which students were working independently and at different stages in the writing process. He took informal polls to see who was at the publishing stage and would conference with students once they thought they were ready to publish. This fits my CT's more laid back style of teaching, but I'm sure that if I were to use writing workshop, I would use some of the strategies mentioned in the Tompkins to create visual charts or at least a master list to keep track of students' progress. This information would help me to hold students accountable and make sure that students are progressing...one thing I noticed about the day we observed writing was that a couple students were continually off-task. Our CT does incorporate writing into his reading lessons by having students reflect on books that they read aloud and to themselves while focusing on specific skills that have been discussed in class. We don't usually get a chance to see their work completed, but the students have grown accustomed to this format and likely are beginning to see reading and writing as connected processes. (Although, I know that as a student, I would have still wanted to have some reading just for enjoyment and not "have" to do associated writing...I think this type of reading should still have a place in the classroom.)

In my own classroom, I would like to try to incorporate a somewhat structured writing workshop and know that direct instruction in the writing process will be necessary. I really like the idea of using "editing checklists" (like the example in Tompkins, pg. 67) for students so that BOTH the author and the editor know what exactly they are looking for AND they sign it and feel accountable for their work. In my high school expository writing class, we used a peer editing structure similar to the "stars and wishes" that Erin mentioned in class, where we were required to give at least three pieces of positive feedback and constructive criticism to improve the paper. I would definitely love to use that same structure with my students, I know it really helped me to learn to read papers more critically because you knew that you'd have to form both positive and negative opinions of the work. I also like the idea of structuring writing assignments by focusing on one or two skills, such as those outlined in the six traits. In my own elementary classrooms, we usually participated in writing assignments that either had a fixed topic or were "hot pencil time" and I don't recall ever focusing on specific skills as units. Because this is unfamiliar to me, it will probably require even more planning than usual, but I am excited to be able to integrate reading and writing units together, as Erin modeled in class. I was an avid reader starting in kindergarten and I know that I often mimicked the structures and tone that I had read in books in my own writing. So, from my own experience, as well as being exposed to the research supporting it, I look forward to being able to use reading and writing to reinforce each other.

Comprehension

This week's reading and discussion definitely made me think more about my own comprehension strategies/styles and the way in which I will teach these strategies. The Applegate (et al.) piece provided a really great way to organize and differentiate between the types of comprehension troubles students have. In the field and in my own experiences as a student, I've observed just about all of the categories of comprehension problems outlined, as well as a lot of the strategies the piece mentioned, but I never really organized my own thoughts on this enough to fully understand which strategies would help which students. From my observations in the field, I know that I would be most thrown off by left-fielders and I admittedly spent more time thinking about how to gracefully bring a class discussion back on-topic than exactly which strategies would prevent the problem from happening in the first place. For my own learning, I definitely recognized myself as having literalist tendencies, at least until my sophomore year of high school when it seemed like the only question my teacher would ask was, "what is the significance of ____?" In later classes as well, we spent a lot of time discussing higher-order questions and I began to move away from this comprehension profile.

I found the Neufeld article extremely helpful when considering what types of questions and models I should be providing for my students. Unlike Erin's experience that she shared in class, although I have always been a good student, I'm not very metacognitively aware. While I do go through many of these processes (establishing a purpose, summarizing, questioning) it is probably not as deliberate as it should be, and I don't do a lot of pre-reading. Knowing this, it is that much more important for me to study these strategies and effective ways to model them for my students. Piper discussed the way in which our CT models these strategies for his students, and we saw a couple of lessons on inferences that stick out in my mind. Our CT often activates prior knowledge by summarizing the strategy, then models the strategy by making his own inference and explaining his thought process ("I think Bradley Chalkers is beginning to trust Carla because..."). I am curious though if he is providing enough scaffolding for the students to really think through the process on their own. He seems to include aspects of most of the instruction strategies discussed in Neufeld (direct instruction on the strategies, modeling, guided practice, independent practice) but I don't really think that they are prepared to use it as a helpful strategy on their own for the purpose of comprehension. The student responses I have often heard are not always very accurate (ex. predictions rather than inferences) and I think that some of his directions don't always make it clear that this is supposed to be a strategy used in reading, rather than an assignment. (He may stop at one point in the book and instruct the students to "make an inference" which, if done accurately, does provide insight into the book, but it isn't always presented that way.) While I plan to continue examining the depth of student responses during reading workshop, I do think I have gotten a lot out of being able to observe this modeling technique...I feel more prepared to use it in my own classroom in a very deliberate way.

Reading Comprehension-Christina

How do today's readings and discussion help you understand your own reading comprehension processes? What are you seeing in the field related to comprehension processes and literacy instruction? Make sure to reference the readings and our class discussions.

I definitely feel as if I can really see which reading comprehension profiles I matched with as a child. I do think that I was a literalist as Applegate explains-that all answers will be found in the text. I used to be certain that everything I could need to know about a book, came straight out of the book, however, I now know that is not necessarily the case. For example, when I am going to teach my ELA lesson, The Story of Ruby Bridges, not everything is clearly stated in this book. It never once says why people discriminate, and it never once goes into depth about the past ideas of segregation. My students will have to come to some conclusions on their own--why the people discriminated against Ruby, why schools were much different in the past. Coming from a literalist past, I will need to work with my students that display these same qualities, so they look much deeper and beyond the text. One way to go about this as Applegate explains, is to do pre-reading activities on the theme that one is about to explore. For example, if I was teaching The Story of Ruby Bridges to my classroom, I might consider teaching a unit on discrimination, or even racism, within my social studies lessons.
Another comprehension profile I felt like I could relate to was the dodger. Sometimes when I didn't like a question, I would think of something somewhat similar, but not exactly the same, in order to satisfy what I felt like was worth answering. When working with Dodgers, I can use strategies such as List-Group-Label, Teacher Predictions, etc.

Within my field I am seeing many different profiles in my students. There are plenty of literalists that look only at the text for answers, fuzzy thinkers that provide vague answers, left fielders that give ideas I, myself, have never considered, and dogders that dodge questions completely. In order to adapt to the many levels of thinkers, as well as their different profiles, it will be important for me in the future to implement a variety of different comprehension activities, so that students are looking deeper into their understandings, so that they can truly comprehend the texts.

Comprehension Strategies

I would have to say that after doing this week's readings and participating in the class discussions, I found out a little more about my own reading comprehension processes and strategies. In the past, I have had a tendency to fall into the pattern of being a Literalist, as defined by Applegate et. al., because my language arts instruction in middle school and high school was based on the assumption that all of the answers to the questions posed can be found in the text. Furthermore, many of my classes in high school were focused on written criticism of text we had recently read, so I was also taught that if I couldn't find the answer to a question posed by my teacher in the text itself, then the answer would be available in a critique of the story. I don't think this is necessarily a bad approach to literature, but it is if it's used exclusively. For example, I think it's a good idea to have students look for facts within literature, but I also think it's a good idea for teachers to encourage students to look for their own interpretations as well. By doing this, teachers would show students the vivacity of the written word and that there is more than one interpretation to the story.

I also connected my comprehension style with what Miller characterized, making connections to the text. I find that as I read, I will make connections from the text to something that happened in my own personal life or something that I have seen on the news or read about before. I know Erin mentioned that she does this as well, and almost automatically as she is reading. I just find it easier to relate to a piece of literature or a text if I can make these connections, because by doing this, the text becomes more relevant and meaningful to me.

In the field, my teacher teaches comprehension processes through a variety of activities and modeling during reading workshop time. During this time, the students gather on the carpet area while the teacher reads a text. Each week, or every two weeks, the teacher focuses on a certain area of comprehension or a way to analyze a story and he models it with his class. For example, as he was reading Mr. Lincoln's Way, with his class, they were focused on making inferences and predictions, so every once in a while, he would stop in the story and say "Hmmm, I know that Mr. Lincoln is doing this, so I need to think that he is feeling that," or "Well Mr. Lincoln just did this, so I wonder how his student will react." This is a form of guided modeling that the teacher is showing his students. He frequently goes into much more detail than I listed above, but it's more meaningful within the context of the story. Neufeld sited the importance of this type of modeling. He discussed that by modeling thinking processes to students, they can come to internalize the thought process and develop their own successful comprehension strategies. I agree with Neufeld's ideas, and I would strive to model thinking strategies during my upcoming language arts lesson, and in my future classroom as well.

Entertainment or Learning Tool?

I find it encouraging that the three of you do feel fairly comfortable in the world of technology. I wonder if you feel as comfortable using it purposefully in a teaching/learning objective?  I, myself, have to continue to force myself to bring these technologies into my own teaching repertoire.  The new literacies assignment and my own creation of our class wiki are an example of exactly this.  I find it interesting to consider the entertainment/learning issue with technology. It reminds me of television... Too much TV isn't educative, but TV can and should be used to inform. Is the same thing true with the Internet and other technologies available. Is too much of a good thing negative?  How can we purposefully create units or assignments or performance assessments that allow our students to use and display their technological knowledge/skill? Do you also wonder about the inequities in technology availability?  When I worked in DC I was part of a group that worked on something called the "E-Rate" which provided high-speed internet to ALL schools... is this something we should, as teachers, be advocates for?  Can we bring technology to our students if it isn't in our schools?

Digital Literacy-Christina

After taking the Digital Natives Quiz I have come to the conclusion that I am a digital immigrant, as truly could not answer what more than half of the literacies were. Yes, I do use a variety of digital programs like Facebook, MySpace, wikis, etc from time to time, however I very rarely use these type of sites for learning. Rather, I use them more for enjoyment and entertainment value.

Although I may be an "immigrant," I definitely feel that I am definitely at the emergent stage of learning. I feel this way, because according to Tompkins, she classifies emergent as showing interest, using sites with predictable patterns, making connections from technology to myself, and I know about 5-10 types of digital programs. I definitely have shown an interest in digital programs, as I use networking sites like Facebook, and I have also used sites like googledocs to work on group projects. While I have used a couple of different programs, I tend to stick toward the networking sites, like Facebook and MySpace, as I feel they are more entertaining to me. I have also gone ahead and made connections to the technologies, as I have seen many of these different technologies used in classrooms, by peers, etc. Finally, I have discovered and played around with at least 5-10 literacies, much like young children's use of high-frequency words.

All in all, I do not believe I am the most undigital person there is out there, but I definitely need help toward becoming a Native. While this may seem somewhat scary, it will be imperative that I keep up on technologies, as my students will, and thus they will want to learn in new ways.

Digital Literacy Level

After thinking about my level of digital literacy for a while and reflecting about the article regarding digital literacy online, I would have to say I am a digital immigrant in the process of applying for "digital citizenship." I say this, because I feel as though I am comfortable with many different types of technologies such as Facebook, e-mail, Microsoft Office programs, and texting. At the same time, I think that my knowledge of other areas of technologies such as blogs, wikis, and website design is developing, but, after looking at the options for our New Literacies Project, I realize that there are many other types of technologies that I have yet to discover and master. So, there are some types of technology where I feel comfortable, and others I feel completely incompetent. I also thought it was interesting that Culligan's online article makes reference to the fact that my generation, since we have been exposed to Nintendo games, are technologically proficient. I think that some video games may help hand-eye coordination when using "computer-screen-like" technology, but with others games, such as "Call of Duty," I fail to see the technological connections. I think it's a huge leap to connecting mastery of video games to mastery of technology in general.

To answer the second part of the blog prompt, I do see definite connections between emerging technological literacy and basic literacy for children. Tompkins discusses the three stages of literacy learning. The first stage is emergent, then beginning, and finally fluent. In the emergent stage, however, Tompkins mentions that students learn many different concepts of print and the alphabetic principle to move them toward beginning literacy. Similarly, there are concepts of technology and alphabetic principles, such as keyboarding skills, that students of technology must learn before they move onto the beginning stage.

Therefore, the emergent stage of basic literacy and digital literacy includes the basic understandings of communication and technology. On page 91 of Tompkins, there is a list of traits that characterize all of the three levels of literacy learning. The emergent stage includes aspects such as noticing, showing interest, and pretending to read, or in the digital literacy this would mean pretending to use a computer or technological device. For this reason, I think that I would be past the basic emergent stage of digital literacy, because I do possess a functional level of technology. This would place me into the beginning level of digital literacy. The beginning stage is characterized by ideas of being able to identify basic concepts, applying prior knowledge, and decoding. I do hope one day to be in the fluent stage of my digital literacy, but I think there is one major challenge to this goal. With book and language literacy, there are some variations, but words, letters, and sounds generally remain constant. With technology, on the other hand, one can never be completely proficient, because there are always new programs or ideas on the horizon that need to be mastered. Therefore, digital literacy is more of a lifelong process to acquiring even a basic temporary level of fluency, because one must continually be aware of new updates to digital systems.

Post 5-Ashleigh

I would say that I’m closer to a digital “native” than “immigrant” but am not, by any means, an expert. I feel comfortably past the emergent phase in my digital literacy because I am pretty confident in my ability to use different technologies, I have been exposed to computer applications, internet resources, blogs, wikis, website creation, making movies, working with photos, etc. in my K-12 education and during college and have moved beyond trying to “decode” the tools and simply understand how to use them. Thompson includes a progression for literacy learners on pg. 84 that discusses a transition from students learning to read and write and observing the ways that literacy is used, to developing the ability to read and write through experiences, and finally students become more active in their literacy progress and develop their own understanding of literacy. I would probably place myself at the second stage because I’m able to use most of the common forms of technology and can easily apply prior knowledge to new and unfamiliar types of technology, but I do not yet feel that confident in my ability to envision effective ways to incorporate technology in my own classroom.

Continuing the comparison to literacy learning, I can decode and comprehend the material, but perhaps not make deeper connections to the text. I do feel comfortable with the “basics,” but the technology presentation in class demonstrated a ton of new programs and tools that I have never seen before and would like to explore…I think the biggest lesson is that technologies change so much and so frequently that one cannot become complacent and think that learning is complete, we must always make a concerted effort to keep up to date and consider new ways to incorporate technology into our lessons.

Post 4-Ashleigh

Like Piper mentioned, we have been mostly noticing recitation in our field placement and although I think our CT usually poses good questions, it is more of a teacher-controlled dialogue. I also agree with Piper that our students are not in the necessary mindset for a real discussion because it's not what they're used to and they aren't usually concerned with listening to other students' opinions. I think the best way to try to encourage a change in the discussion style would be first to set expectations (explain what we want to see), model the behavior by thinking out loud, then give positive feedback when students do build off of others' ideas and/or encourage the behavior by asking leading questions, like we discussed in class (can anyone respond to what x just said? Does anyone agree/disagree?) . Hopefully, if students hear models, see desired responses encouraged, and hear probing questions, they will begin to internalize the thought process and begin to provide these types of responses independently. While I think the I-R-E format is very familiar to most of us and may be tempting to use especially when we want students to focus on the content of a story, the readings and class discussion helped me see why and how I should try to incorporate more discussion into my classroom.

Classroom Talk

In my placement classroom, I mostly see recitation talks. At times, it seems that discussions could develop, but unfortunately, for one reason or another, they do not. Some of the reason for a lack of discussion in my classroom, that I mentioned in class, is that the students seem too wrapped up in their own answers to listen to other answers that students are giving. In other words, there is no collaboration. Additionally, it seems that time constraints can also be an issue in the classroom that squashes out potential discussion. Sometimes, there just is not enough time built into the schedule for the teacher to allow discussion to develop.

In order for more discussion and, specifically, response-centered talk to take place, I think that the teacher would need to provide scaffolding on many different levels. Firstly, the teacher needs to negotiate rules of discussion talk with his students. These rules need to provide the framework for cooperative and collaborative efforts in discussions. For example, a good rule might be to require a student to link his thought with the thought of a student who previously talked before sharing. This would require all students to pay attention, possibly decrease repeated answers, and increase collaborative efforts, or at least linking, like we discussed in class.

Also, in order to have response-centered talk, as discussed in McGee, the teacher will need to carefully select an age appropriate book with gaps of understanding that students can work to fill or make different interpretations from. The teacher could ask guiding questions during the task, for students who are in need of more scaffolding, but overall, he must act as the facilitator. There are some students in my class that would need extra scaffolding and guidance, but mostly because they are prone to being off-task, or easily distracted, not because they have mental deficiencies. Additionally, some students are not liked by others, because they can be a bit socially awkward, so it would be imperative for the teacher to ensure that not only were their opinions heard, but also that they were respected. Finally, some students tend to dominate the conversation more than others, and as Weinstein suggests, these students must be reigned-in, so to speak, so that all students have an equal chance at participation in the discussion.

Post 4-Christina

Consider ideas discussed in today's readings. What type(s) of talk are you seeing in your classroom? What scaffolding is needed for response-centered talk to take place? Are there students in your classroom who need particular types of scaffolding?

My CT has fostered interaction in the classroom, however I feel that it is more on the recitation spectrum. Recently, she has been reading chapters of Fig Pudding to the class, while the class listens for "hand" and "heart" feelings (i.e. senses vs. emotions). Before, during, and after my CT will ask students to recall these feelings, and then they are invited to write them down on their "Hand and Heart Feeling" worksheet. Sometimes my CT will dip more into discussion, when she will ask the students how they think the characters feel and why they think they feel that way. However, it typically does not go much deeper than that.

In order to implement response-centered talk into the classroom, my CT needs to ask more probing questions. By simply asking the students to differentiate between hand and heart emotions, students are not really partaking in discussion, rather they are simply answering a point-blank question. Maybe my CT could not only ask how they think the character felt, but when they last felt this way and why? My CT could even foster smaller-group discussion, by having students work in their desk groups to discuss the scenarios given in Fig Pudding, so that all students are more involved.

There is one particular student in my classroom who would probably need help scaffolding, as she is very timid about speaking in front of others. Therefore, she may work better when talking one-on-one with my CT or even myself, or my other Senior Counterpart.

Post 3- Ashleigh

I really enjoyed the topic of getting to know our students from multiple perspectives and discussing responsive teaching more, I thought we finally got a bit beneath the surface on this topic after hearing a lot about it in the past. Since I’m interested in teaching in an urban setting, I know I’ll have a lot to learn about my students that may be unfamiliar to my own experience, and the Lapp (et al.) reading was interesting to me personally since I’m really interested in hearing about actual experiences in urban districts. Although to some extent “kids are kids” anywhere and we always need to make sure to know them individually regardless of the setting, I’m apprehensive about being caught off guard with things that I have no personal experience with. I thought it was especially helpful that the authors discussed common mistakes that new teachers make and reflections from effective teachers…as well as examples of some of the unexpected obstacles that teachers face that are unique to low-income school districts.

A lot of the little ideas we discussed in class were ones that I had already considered implementing in my classroom either since I enjoyed experiencing them as a student, or because I thought it would be have a positive effect on the classroom community, but our discussion helped me realize and formulate more deliberate rationales for these ideas. I like the “lunch date” idea, our elementary school principal always had one lunch a month with students whose birthdays were during that month (or half birthdays for July and August.) As I thought more about using this in my class, I was concerned about “forcing” them to come if they didn’t want to give up lunch with their friends, but I think it is worthwhile enough to include…and the students that may initially resist the idea are probably ones that I need to get to know better anyway. A lot of the things Erin has incorporated into our class or her own elementary classroom (using music, quotes, bringing in personal items on the first day) seem like really easy ways to incorporate students’ interests and make them feel like they are “being heard.” Another idea that my 8th grade social studies teacher used was posting a calendar in the back of the room where students could write in the times and locations of extracurricular events that we wanted him to attend. Of course, he prefaced this with the knowledge that he may not be able to attend every event written down, but that he would make an effort to attend anything that we wrote on the calendar if he was available. I think, too, that all of our field placements that stressed the use of focus students and my own personal experiences tutoring have helped prepare us to look at students as individuals first, while also considering the needs of the class as a unit.

Getting to know My Students

How could you, as a teacher, learn about diversity in your classroom and get to know your students from multiple perspectives?

In order to know my students better, I would first and foremost need to recognize that every one of them are different whether it is race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Therefore, I would need to accept these differences (i.e. I would need to see 'color' as Ladson-Billings says, and realize that every student will learn differently based on their backgrounds. One idea that I really enjoyed from class was the 'Star of the Week' idea, because I partook in this as an elementary school student. I definitely think it is a good idea to have students share their backgrounds with not only you, but also the rest of the class. As a result, a student who may come from a single-mother home, would then share this, and students who come from a two-parent home could then see that every family is different.

I also feel it is very important to know my student's parents. Yes, this may be a challenge, as some parents in lower-income communities may work later hours, or not have access to childcare. However, I definitely think that I, as a teacher, could make house visits, and therefore see exactly what kind of environment my student comes from. This will eventually help me in the long run, as a Special Education teacher, because I may see how behaviors are formed (i.e. When I worked at Easter Seals, I found out that my student was repeating swear lines from the movie, "Next Friday." I then knew that he didn't actually know what he was saying. Rather, he was just repeating these lines, because they got a rise out of the actors in the movie, and out of his teacher and aides). Another good reason to know about your students' home lives, is that fact that when I work in an urban area (as I plan to do), I have to realize that all of my students may not come in with a full stomach, and a significant amount of sleep. In Lapp's article, it mentions how one teacher wanted to punish the student by not allowing him to eat. When some of my students may not be getting three square meals per day, I need to recognize this, so as not to further starve him. This is also something to take into consideration---maybe behaviors occur because of students' hunger--therefore, maybe I should plan to have an early snack time (and even have snacks on hand), so students are more likely to focus on what I am teaching.

Another idea about knowing my students that I picked up from my field placement was that my CT has her students journal on Monday mornings about what they had done over the weekend, whether it was going to a concert, or as simple as going to Meijer. I think this really is a good idea, because if a student shares this, you can then ask them more questions about it, and eventually come to know what they really enjoy (i.e. If they go to a lot of basketball games, then they probably really like basketball. Therefore, you could have a potential reward for behaving be basketball cards). My CT also implements another similar idea with "Sharing Time" on Monday mornings. Students are welcome to bring in any sharing item. By letting students share what is important to them, my CT then knows her students likes/dislikes--again further getting to know your students.

Finally, I feel that it is very important that I do not try to tell my students that I know exactly what they are going through--everyone has different experiences, so I should respect that. Therefore, I should bring a variety of culturally relevant texts, so that my students know that everyone has different backgrounds, and rather than pointing fingers and calling each other names, we should work together for the good of the classroom.

Getting to know my students

I think between the readings we did for class and the discussions we had in class last Wednesday, I have a much better idea about how to get to know my students. For starters, before I even started the first day of school, especially if I was moving into a new community or state that I was unfamiliar with, I would want to take a walk around. I'd want to get a general feeling for the community. If there's a downtown district with little shops, maybe I'd go in and ask some of the owners what children usually like to do for fun around the area. I also liked the idea of going over to the library and seeing what is available and what isn't available for the students to read. After taking a walk around the town, I'd want to see what my kids look like on paper. I'd research the demographics of the school and community including racial, socioeconomic, and ESL population. Before reading the "Putting Literacy Learning in Context" article, I had some idea about the impact of poverty in shaping the conditions and attitudes of students, but I had never imagined the effects of extreme poverty. Therefore, I would see what population of my classroom was impoverished so I can be prepared to supplement readings or resources for them throughout the year, if necessary.

Also, because I want to teach ESL, I would see which countries my students recently came from. I would then do some additional research on those countries, along with any recent political unrest, especially if my students are refugees. I recently read in another class I'm taking about the prevalence of slavery around the world, and based on where my students come from they may have experienced this first hand or they may have seen others taken away. These experiences would greatly affect the attitudes of my students, and I would need to be aware of them.

If possible, I would then send out an e-mail to the students' parents to introduce myself, and explain some of my goals for the class this coming year. If I couldn't send an e-mail, I would make sure to send a letter to the house. Then, on the first day of school, we would do introduction activities, along with setting guidelines for classroom behavior. I really liked the idea about making each student the weekly star. So I would definitely do that in my classroom as well. I would also have students fill out a mini-survey for me that I would hand out on the first day, so I could get a feel for who that student is more in depth before their "star week." I think most importantly, however, to get to know my students, is to just listen. Many children will tell you pretty much their life stories or at least important hints if you only are open to sit down, take the time, and listen. So, on a final note, I would always be open and inviting for students to come and talk to me.

Continually Confusing

What good points you make- particularly when you refer to the Leland (Critical Literacy) and Cambourne pieces- - - It was interesting that each of you found a way to bring PURPOSEFUL literature into your ideal vision of a classroom. I wonder if you have considered what we might have to "give up" in order to make time for such critical literature--- or would we have to give anything up? I like that you mentioned the elements of literacy (consume, produce, respond)  as "working together." Maybe we should plan for our students to engage in each of these actions every day--- or maybe we could hit all of these things with one activity such as a read aloud with discussion and reader response or even a literature circle.  It also reminds me a bit of what we saw when we watched the video of the kindergarten teacher and her students engaging in "literacy" independently, purposefully, and in varying ways. I also agree that our definitions of literacy are continually confusing. Good teachers are continually confused in that they are always considering the students in their room and the ways to engage them in activities that push them beyond their current understanding--- Good teachers do literacy in more than one way, and different all the time. Continually confusing, maybe. Effective, yes.

What is your definition of literacy? How has it changed after the readings and today's discussion? What would your ideal literacy learning environment look like and why?

My Original Definition: Literacy is the ability to read and write, and to be able to comprehend ideas, and put your own ideas logically into writing.

What I forgot: Literacy has much to do with communication! Literacy also requires students to be able to function in a changing world.

My New Definition: Literacy is the ability to read, write, and communicate, so that one can comprehend ideas, put ideas into writing, and finally be able to function in an ever-changing, technological world.

My ideas about literacy changed quite a bit after reading and then discussing the readings. I definitely think Cambourne's 8 Steps are imperative when learning literacy in the classroom. While not all 8 steps may be going on at once, the teacher needs to be sure to know that students are using these steps (i.e. Responsibility), or that these steps are being taught to them (i.e. Demonstration).

I also truly enjoyed learning more about Cultural Literature. I thought the Leland article did a great job of showing how Cultural Literature is necessary in the classroom, as we as educators are responsible for our students learning about the diverse world around them, thus creating mutual acceptance.

When I have the opportunity to start implementing literacy to my students, I will make sure to follow what I have learned from the readings. Students and teachers/guardians/parents will be required to work together, literature of all backgrounds will be available, students will be required to work together, and finally students will need to work toward greater understanding (i.e. reading more texts, writing papers, etc).

Post 2- Ashleigh

What is your definition of literacy? How has it changed after the readings and today's discussion? What would your ideal literacy learning environment look like and why?

My current definition of literacy, similar to most of those discussed in class, includes the ability to consume, produce, and respond to written and spoken language. Our class discussion definitely made me consider the ways in which we see literacy as essential to one's intellectual development, and it often seems difficult to separate the two. As we discussed, it's not enough to be able to read the words off a page if you don't understand what you're reading...similarly, it may not be enough to simply understand what you are reading if you are unable or unwilling to question and challenge what you read or hear. As teachers, I think we always aim to help our students accomplish these complex literacy tasks, but a strong foundation in basic literacy skills (such as decoding) is necessary to build anything beyond that basic level. The readings and class discussion brought to my attention further complications to this definition, including students with disabilities, although there do seem to be ready-made alternatives to the standard definition. While there wasn't anything in the day's readings that shocked me or was especially new, it is always helpful to see arguments about literacy instruction laid out in an organized way. I was especially intrigued with the Leland piece that discussed critical literacy, which leads into my ideal literacy learning environment...

As a part of my ideal literacy learning environment in my classroom, I would like to include many of the aspects that we observe in many classrooms and often discuss in class--a comfortable area devoted to reading, a wide variety of books that appeal to students of all interests and abilities, and depending upon the age level that I will teach, easy-to-access resources such as a word wall, phonics resources, or other materials. I plan to read aloud to my students and also include individual reading for fun, for projects, and for group sharing/book clubs. I especially like the idea of critical literacy to build students' awareness of conflicts and issues in their own lives and in the lives of others. Ultimately, we, as teachers, are trying to prepare our students to become effective citizens that work to create positive change, and I think that the types of books highlighted in this article help students to become more empathetic toward others and aware of the consequences of their own and others' actions. Leland described the ways in which one classroom dynamic changed to become more cohesive and supportive, likely due (at least in part) to the choice of literature, and hopefully this change would reach beyond that year and later into the students' lives. While this would definitely have to remain only one part of a balanced approach to literacy, I think it can definitely motivate students and create more meaningful learning experiences.

Week 2 Blog, Literacy Definition and Ideal Literacy Environment

The deeper that we delved into talks about the possible definitions of literacy, the more I realized that my own definition would probably continue to shift and change as the semester goes on. For now, however, I would say that literacy is the ability to adequately use, produce, communicate, and interpret the written word in all of its forms. A true test of literacy is to give someone text they've never seen before, say a newspaper article, and see if they can read it, communicate its main points orally, and then write a letter to the editor. Obviously, this isn't the only test, but it could be a basic one. The more I think about types of literacy, the more I think about types of literacy that people with disabilities have. For example, a visually impaired student needs to learn how to read Braille, an audio impaired student needs to learn to read and communicate with signs, and a dyslexic student needs to learn to interpret and write symbols that probably look much different to him then they do to us.

To continually confuse myself, I started to think about societies that do not have written words. In fact, a majority of languages in this world do not have an alphabet and cannot be found in any written forms. Are these societies illiterate? Is that even politically correct or culturally sensitive to say that? If we have students that come to us from a society that does not have a written language do we call them illiterate in their society even if they can fully communicate and function with numbers and symbols? I know this is a rare case for us living in a western culture, but it does make one wonder about the purposes of literacy and its full definition.

I therefore feel that my definition of literacy has definitely broadened since this week's class period. Before I did the reading for this week, I thought literacy was just reading and writing. Now I know that it involves many different skills including developing the kinesthetic abilities to produce communicable written word, such as typing, or signs, such as sign language.

As far as my ideal literacy learning environment would look like, I'd cater it to the level of a fourth grade classroom, because I would like to work with this age level. I think I'd want to have an area just for reading like a small library in the classroom. I'd make sure to have word walls, dictionaries, thesauruses, and rhyming books. I'd encourage poetry writing, maybe by having a poetry corner with some student work displayed. This would encourage playing with words and rhyming. There would be journal time and planners. Finally, I'd want to highlight an author or issue each two weeks and offer literature for students to read about this topic in the classroom. Obviously these are a lot of goals/dreams about my ideal environment, but I really want to make sure that my students love reading and writing and that they learn the skills necessary to succeed.

I'm a bit nervous about this upcoming semester. I know I will learn a lot, but I feel that I have a lot on my plate--especially small assignments like blogging, reading responses, etc--that I may forget, and it will greatly affect my grade. I realize now more than ever, making sure I plan everything out accordingly will be my best route...because I cannot put things off until last minute.

I feel that this semester will teach me a lot about teaching literacy. In my 301, I definitely learned a lot about literacy, but I don't think we went over methods as much as we will in 402. I'm excited to learn about a variety of methods, as I will be interning in Chicago for my internship year. The schools that we are assigned to are high-risk, and therefore I need to give my students the best teaching possible (especially in literacy).

My goals for the course are to learn more about literacy, and how to implement literacy into the classroom, so that all my students will enjoy learning. I also feel it will be very important for me to pick up on how to accommodate for all learners, as I will have a placement in both general education, as well as, special education.

Finally, I would really like to thank Erin for bringing Thank You, Mr. Falker into the classroom. I also was very touched by the book, and I was again reminded of how important we as teachers can be to even one student. And even if I can make one student feel that much better about themselves, I will feel I have done a good job.

Week 1 Blog

Well to start with, I do have some definite goals during my participation in this course. I feel that in the past we have learned about literacy instruction and how to encourage students to read and to love reading. I do not, however, feel like we've learned how to cater language arts lessons to struggling learners or how to specifically teach a student how to read. So far, it seems like students should instantly learn to read or they struggle. Therefore, I'd like to know specifically how to teach students how to read, how I can identify literacy problems early, and how to help these students with problems. I think that ensuring that these struggling students have successful experiences is important, but not the complete answer.

Because I went to school in a suburban setting and have really had only one experience in a low-income school, Mt. Hope Elementary, I don't think that I am adequately prepared to teach in an urban setting or a low income rural setting. I would like to learn more about the effects of poverty on literacy and how, as a teacher, I can counteract this negative aspect. I know that many times students in urban schools do not have parental involvement at home, which would help support their literacy attainment, and this can also be detrimental. Another goal for this semester then would be for me to discover ways to support students who do not have academic support at home, because either their parents are unavailable to help or apathetic.

As far as language arts instruction in general, I would like to learn more about the GLCEs for different age levels. I'd also like to learn about how to create engaging lessons for students of all ages and literacy achievement levels. When I was in elementary school, I really enjoyed reading time and discussion within class, so I would like to ensure my own classroom had solid language arts activities as well.

Moreover, a goal for my teaching in general is to be a teacher like Mr. Falker. I've had the story read to me before, and I thought it was very touching then, and I still do now. It's amazing that a teacher can touch a child so deeply by just treating them like a valuable human being and giving them love that they don't usually get which can change their lives. It reminds me why I want to be a teacher, because I want to treat each of my students with love and respect, and infuse in them a love of learning and a path to academic success.

Post 1-Ashleigh

Read the syllabus and write about your goals for the course. Write specifically about your thoughts about your preparation for placement in an urban setting and with literacy instruction. How do you want to use this course to help aid you in that preparation? What do you want to learn about teaching and language arts instruction? Responses to Thank You, Mr. Falker are most welcome!


I hope that this course will help to provide me with a more concrete understanding of what I need to include and how I need to think about Language Arts instruction. I believe it was Cindy who was talking the other day about "visualizing" our classrooms, and I have been somewhat frustrated to this point by my inability to picture the actual types of lessons and activities I should be using with my future students. We have learned the importance of differentiated instruction, teaching to diverse learning styles, creating engaging and meaningful lessons and so on...but have had little experience actually hearing/reading about or constructing these types of lessons. I'm hoping that through our course readings and hearing about Erin's (and other students') experiences, I'll be able to make more informed decisions about the way I will eventually set up my language arts instruction. More specifically, I'm looking forward to spending time discussing how to handle classrooms with wide ranges of ability, English language learners, and students with disabilities. I'd like to get a better idea too of how to teach emergent readers, especially since I don't have any memory of learning to read, read chapter books starting in kindergarten, and loved reading ever since...which is likely a very different experience than that of many of my future students.

With regard to Thank You Mr. Falker, I thought the book was extremely inspiring and embodied what most of us hope to experience in our teaching careers. I'm always concerned that I'll become too caught up in the curriculum/standards/testing/bureaucracy etc. since that's often what we hear about, rather than being able to really focus entirely on my students' needs...but stories such as that one really try to keep things in perspective. (And, hopefully, this semester and next year will prepare us to avoid those pitfalls...) I thought the book could also be a great tool to use in the classroom to sensitize students to others' struggles, and recognize their own potential if they are struggling academically. I loved it and plan to buy myself a copy :)

Let me know that you girls were invited to the blog...I'm not really sure how you use this just yet!

Yayyyy here's our blog!