Teaching Literacy

I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.  -Socrates

Over the course of this semester, I have really started to look at teaching literacy in a different way.  I have realized that I want to develop my students as thinkers just as much as I want to help them develop them as readers and writers.  I have learned that if I want to really make my literacy lessons meaningful it will take a lot of work and a lot of planning.

I want to develop a community of learners that want to explore different perspectives and aren't afraid to take risks in the thoughts and questions that they have.  I want to provide my students with quality literature that pushes them out of their comfort zone, and that encourages connections.  I think that one book that a student really connects with can make a huge change in who they are as readers, and who they think they are as readers.

After reading many academic books about teaching reading and writing from experts such as Carl Anderson and Debbie Miller, I know that I want my lessons and activities to be meaningful.  Carl Anderson's book, "Assessing Writers" exposed me to how teaching writing can be as individualized as teaching reading by using student conferences, mini lessons, and purposeful writing in the classroom.

My teaching beliefs have been reinforced throughout this semester, but I have also developed new beliefs and strengthened others.  I still strongly believe that teachers should meet students where they are.  This semester, I have learned ways to make reading and writing lessons individualized through conferring with students about their strengths and goals as readers and writers.  I have also gained literacy tools that I think have a great place in the classroom.

Think Alouds
     In my class Literacy and Learning and in my practicum classroom, I have really learned the benefits of using think alouds in the classroom to model reading strategies we use such as clarification, connections, and asking questions.  They take a lot of practice to learn how to implement them using the right context and the right strategies, but definitely help students understand how to work through the text on their own.

Instructional Conversations
     In my classroom, I want to strive to make every discussion an instructional conversation where students are focused on creating their own understanding of the text and critically thinking about what it means within our classroom community and the greater world we live in.  I think it benefits students to facilitate discussion based on a purposeful theme that allows them to look at different perspectives, develop their own opinion, and analyze why they think something is the way it is.  I want to learn more about how to incorporate instructional conversations into the classroom in all subjects in an authentic way.

Overall, I have learned that as a new teacher I want to learn as much as I can about how to make my literacy classroom into a community of learners that challenges what they read, makes connections, and takes action when they see a change that needs to be made.  I have learned a lot about teaching literacy from my classes and now it is time to put that learning into action.  As I continue my learning in my student teaching next semester, I want to take the time to experiment, try different ways to engage students, and always strive to make learning as purposeful and authentic as possible.

“And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!” 

Kate

Technology In The Classroom

“Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is most important.” - Bill Gates

How in the world can I encompass everything I think about using technology in the classroom in one blog post?!  But I will try!  To start off, I am very passionate about the benefits of technology when it comes to education and my own life!  I think that there is no question that using technology in any lesson greatly increases students' motivation and engagement.  Any time that I have involved a youtube video, a website, or even an online article into any of my small group lessons I have noticed that I am able to grabs students right away.  Even in my own learning, I am so much more personally involved in a lesson when any of my teachers include technology.  However, I am also kind of overwhelmed with the immense amount of the technology available to us in terms of academics, management, and organization.  Every time that I learn about a new app or website that can benefit student learning I always think that I would love to use that in a lesson, but then I leave that seminar or class and I completely forget about it.

Challenge for myself: For the rest of my practicum experience and in my student teaching in the fall, I want to incorporate a new kind of technology that I haven't used in a lesson at least once a week.

I know that applying technology to teaching takes practice and I really need to learn the ins and outs of whatever piece of technology I'm using.  On the other hand, I know that if I don't try them with students, I won't know the best way to use them to promote learning.  As my own professional development, I would really like to make it a goal to go out of my way to learn new technology and new ways to make learning as engaging and interesting as possible.  But I also want to make sure that the technology that I use in the classroom is supplemental and benefits student learning.  If using technology keeps the learning at the surface level, I don't think that it should be used.  Using technology can take time, I want to make sure that the time I spend developing my use of technology in the classroom is worthwhile and challenges students to grow and push their learning further.

I think that when students are presenting information that they have learned or been working on for a while, I think that providing them with choices of the platform from which they present is really important.  Technology provides students with so much more freedom to express their learning.  Apps and website such as Google presentations, Prezi presentations, videos from Animoto, and so many resources I have yet to uncover.

A resource that I am going to start looking into regularly is Free Technology for Teachers.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com

This blog will help me learn ways to apply technology to different academic subjects and will help me learn what technology is out there for teachers.  Although I'm feeling a little small in this world of the internet and apps, I'm excited that everything is available for me to continue learning and grow as a teacher and learner.
   
Thanks!
Kate

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Instructional Conversations

   

Whenever I sit down with a group of students to discuss a story or a reading strategy, I am always hopeful for a thoughtful conversation where I go, "Wow! That was awesome!"  I want to leave feeling like we are all better readers and thinkers after the discussion than we were before.  However, I have realized that this feeling is rare and only come about with intensive planning and the right group of students.

     Although I have always thought about this when leading literacy discussions, we have recently been talking about and reading research on Instructional Conversations, and I realized that this strategy is something that I tend to work towards.  I've learned a lot about creating the right support for instructional conversations to succeed.  In Claude Goldenberg's article "Instructional Conversations: Promoting Comprehension Through Discussion" he discusses the importance of learning from conversations.  He writes, "But true education -real teaching- involves helping students think, reason, comprehend, and understand important ideas" (316).  And this doesn't come just because you sit down with a group of students and decide that you're going to have an instructional conversation.  It takes work and focus, flexibility and structure.

As I embarked on planning and implementing instructional conversations within my small groups, I realized that the thematic focus that you pick for the discussion is crucial to its success.  The focus can't be too vague, but it needs to be broad enough to allow for multiple perspectives and possible directions of conversation.  This is difficult to do because although you can try to pick topics or themes that you think your students will pounce on, it is hard to predict if they will actually absorb your theme into their discussion.  I noticed that when I incorporated literature or topics into the instructional conversation the students made thoughtful connections between past texts, past events, and from their personal lives.

From an unsuccessful attempt at an instructional conversation I learned that you truly need to plan and think through the lesson mentally before it happens.  If the students don't take to a subject or focus of the conversation, as the facilitator, you need to have a back up plan and be able to go with the natural direction of the conversation from the students.  The second time I implemented an instructional conversation into our small group the students fed off of the topic, fed off of each other and we had a really intellectual conversation that caught me be surprise.  I realized that I shouldn't have been surprised because the reason that the conversation evolved as it did was because of my planning and loose direction throughout.

I think that having an instructional conversation can make a lesson so much more meaningful for the students.  When they can share their personal ideas and work off of each other, the students are so much more engaged in intertwining the lesson into their schema.  It is a great strategy to find out students' background knowledge on issues in our world, their ideas on certain topics, and what they have learned in previous lessons.  It can be implemented into literacy lessons, science lesson, social studies lessons, and math lessons depending on your planning and focus that you develop ahead of time.  I think that instructional conversations are great to use in the classroom because they promote individual input from students, exposure to different perspectives, and can be a great platform for building a positive community of learners.

What do you think?

Thanks!
Kate

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcwathieu/2945514734/">Marc Wathieu</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">cc</a>

Writing Analysis Strengths

     This week I gave my sixth graders a writing lesson on structuring dialogue in writing.  They were expected to correctly include quotations, line separations, indentations, and a variety of verbs to indicate that something was being said.  The group of students that I did this writing assessment with showed me a lot about who they are as writers specifically related to structure, conventions, and voice.  The students' writing taught me things I expected to see, but I was also surprised by how much I learned about them and their identities as writers.

            One of the student’s strengths was that they clearly understood the purpose of using dialogue in writing.  All of the students wrote the dialogue in a meaningful manner, whether it was realistically driven or fantasy.  With their pieces of writing, all of the students used dialogue in a variety of ways to indicate conversation.  The lines that the students chose to use in their quotations and the verbs they followed those lines with were all indicators of this understanding.  For example, one student wrote [“I’m just fixing it sides!” Kaylee argued.]  Many students wrote sentences similar to this in their writing.  Because students wrote using this variety of verbs correctly, it shows me as the instructor that they understand the connection between dialogue in writing and conversation in real life.  Their writing taught me that this group of writers clearly understands the purpose of dialogue in writing and why it is used.  However, I think that it would really benefit them to work on learning the importance of dialogue in writing.

            One thing that I didn’t expect to learn about the group of students as writers is related to their voice as writers.  The writing task that I gave them was very specific towards working on the structure of using dialogue in writing, so I didn’t think that there would be a lot of unique voice that came out in it.  However, with the students’ pieces of writing I felt I learned something about them because their writing showed part of who they were.  For example, a student wrote about an argument that he had with his group during the science experiment they had done that morning.  Many students wrote about conversations they had with friends or imaginary conversations they would have with their friends.  Although the assessment task didn’t direct them to create a really meaningful piece of writing, I was able to learn about them whether they wrote about an argument, a sleepover, a fantasy story, or a realistic experience they have had in school.  Because of this strength I’ve found in my students as writers, I would love to give them the opportunity to write in a more purposeful manner that allows them to share their beliefs or unique ideas on topics that are important to them.

            Something that I realized about the students as writers is how much their identity as readers also impacts their identity as writers.  The students who are consistently engaged as readers demonstrated a very substantial understanding of how dialogue is structured in writing.  I’m assuming that this is because the more they read and because of the higher ability novels they are reading, the more they are exposed to the correct usage of dialogue.  This connection related to my students is very important because I think that students can learn better if we directly tie the concepts together between both writing and reading.

My students' writing really surprised me and I truly learned firsthand the importance of looking at students' writing as evidence of who they are as writers.  Although I agreed with this before, now I truly see it!

Thanks!

Kate

            

Students as Initiators of Writing

            An idea that has really stood out to me lately is developing students into initiators of writing.  Previously I’ve never thought of this a goal for teaching writing, but after reading Carl Anderson’s book “Assessing Writers” I really believe that this is a really important goal and purpose when teaching writing to students.  As we talked about in class some teachers use the writer’s workshop format for teaching writing and some do not.  I’ve been struggling with how you can develop students into initiators of writing without using the writing workshop format.  In my practicum classroom the students are introduced to a skill or genre on Monday and work on a writing assignment involving the topic for the rest of the week.  Although my cooperating teacher tries to provide the students with as much freedom and choice as she can, the curriculum and restrictions from her principal don’t seem to allow students to initiate writing.  Anderson emphasizes the importance of the characteristics of a lifelong writer saying, “A writer who initiates writing is someone who understands that the written word has the power to do things in the world, that writing is a way to achieve many important purposes” (16).  I can’t wrap my head around how students learn that writing can do something when they are always writing hypothetical writing assignments that have a sole purpose of meeting the requirements for the assignment.  

     For instance, I just watched students complete an assignment on writing dialogue.  The assignment was short and the students could write about anything they wanted.  I think that the lesson lacked any real purpose other than showing they could use the skill of writing with dialogue.  Therefore in the future, I don’t feel that the students would initiate writing with dialogue because they didn’t really learn how can writing with dialogue can help them accomplish something.  I think that it would have been more beneficial to present dialogue within a context that showed the impact it can have in writing.  I think that one way to help students become initiators of writing is to anchor as much writing into real world experiences as possible.  This will show students how they can have a voice and how they can use it.  I think that this takes a lot of creativity and hard work in order to align activities with writing standards, but it will benefit student learning and motivation.  I have never really thought about teaching students to initiate writing, but now I think it might be the most important goal as a teacher of writing.  If you teach students to become initiators of writing I feel that all of the other essential skills and strategies will develop naturally as necessary tools to accomplish their goal.

     I think that this is something that will take a lot more thought and experience in order to determine the true benefits and path for developing students into genuine initiators of writing.  It seems difficult to teach because it is more implicit, and would have to be laying underneath.  I want to keep researching this and think about it more!

Let me know what you think! Thanks!

Kate

Think Alouds

My first go at a Think Aloud…FAILURE! Okay that might be a little drastic, but it was not as easy or successful as I thought it would be.  Honestly, I think I went into developing a think aloud and implementing it with kind of a know-it-all attitude and it definitely put me in my place really quick.  I learned a significant amount about both of my readers and about myself as a reading instructor.  I think that this is a great strategy to implement in the reading classroom because I believe that teaching students the skills to really get into a story and engage with it is so important to develop students into people who love and value reading.

My Think Aloud covered monitoring skills, focusing on making predictions, connections, and clarifications about the text.  I conducted it with two students who are struggling readers.  We have been consistently working on improving comprehension skills and I thought it would be best to focus on these three to begin with.  I didn’t want to overwhelm the students with strategies, but I wanted to give them a choice of what they could share.  My goal for this think aloud was mainly to help both students develop skills for thinking about the text as they are reading, rather than focusing on sounding out the words that they don’t know.  Both students are really working hard at their skills for reading, but in the process focusing on what they are learning from the text falls short until they have fully gotten through it.

I think that my modeling could have been more explicit in pointing out what I was doing.  I think I chose good places to stop because I did provide the students with significant connections, predictions, and clarifications that I was making while I was reading.  However, the students weren’t able to clearly connect what I was saying with what they were supposed to try out.  The think-along phase probably was the most successful part of the lesson.  I had students give me a peace sign at any time they wanted to think aloud about the text and that was my cue to stop at the end of the sentence to allow them to share.  Both students contributed freely and often, however they mostly shared connections and ideas they had about the text.  They rarely provided predictions and they clarified a couple of times.  As I tried to lead into the student practice with teacher support and self responsibility phase I soon realized that the book I had chosen was way too difficult for them.

I let the students choose between two picture book biographies and they book decided to read Harry Houdini: The Legend of the World's Greatest Escape Artist and I soon realized that the wording was too difficult for the students, especially when one of them pointed it out to me.  Both students were working hard at trying to get through the sentences, which in turn didn’t allow them the energy or effort to put into thinking about the text and their own reading strategies.  I think that another downfall of our think aloud was that I didn’t give the students as much direction as I think they needed. 

At first I thought I didn’t want to direct their attention too much and I wanted to see what they were noticing in the reading.  However, I think that both of the students would have benefited from think aloud prompts.  I found some good ones on the Internet and some that I have thought of that I think I will try out when we do this again.

·      What do you think will happen next?

·      Let’s think about what’s going on here.  What do you think ­­­(character) is thinking right now?

·      Try to visualize this part.  What do you see?

·      So far I’ve learned…

·      I wonder why…

https://icon.uiowa.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/view.d2l?tId=3141942&ou=2336925

Overall both students seem more confident about making personal connections to the text than asking questions, making predictions, or making clarifications.  This is great because I can tell that they are really trying to understand the text in a way that works for them.  But I really want to try to work on developing these other strategies too!  I think that choosing a book where they won’t struggle through the sentences as much will definitely help and working through the modeling more slowly and stopping to explain what I’m doing will also help.  I was really surprised at how hard it was to describe what we were doing in a way that the students would understand and be able to try it out, but I was really happy by their enthusiasm and determination to read through the book even though it was too difficult for them.  I think that the strength I have in using this strategy is determining what to point out and notice aloud with the students in a natural genuine way.

I am going to try this again with my students on Monday because I really think that they can get a lot more out of the think aloud than they did on Friday.  They both wanted to read the other book I gave as an option also and I think that it is a better option to help them focus on the reading strategies and thinking aloud.  I learned that the two readers that I am consistently working with are both good at determining what is important in the text, but they zero in on those things instead of also thinking about the details that can teach us more about the story.  I want to work with them on emphasizing the importance of immersing yourself in a story and taking your time to work through it instead of always trying to get through it as efficiently as possible.  I definitely learned that doing a think aloud successfully takes practice!!!  Also I learned that that the students can’t learn these strategies in one day.  I think that a think aloud will be most absorbed and ingrained if it is done frequently and consistently.

I think it is a great strategy, I just need to work at it in order to learn how to do it successfully!

Thanks!

Kate

Inquiries

From the first time I started thinking about a topic I really want to learn about this semester, I have been overwhelmed with ideas.  There are so many things that I want to learn about to make teaching literacy as genuine and significant as possible.  However, I knew I needed to pick one thing to focus on.

I am really interested in figuring out the best ways to connect with students through literacy.  I really believe that in order for students to reach their learning potential teachers need to find different ways to really reach their students.  When I think about it realistically though, I image myself bringing a lesson that I think will really help me connect with students and help make their learning more genuine.  And then I image that same lesson completely failing when it’s actually attached to students.  So I want to figure out different ways to do this that are genuine and will actually be successful.

Because I’ve never looked into this or really read anything about education other than what I have read in my classes I’m not sure what scholars I will be reading in order to really learn about how to reach students.  If anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way!  I think that something specific that I would like to investigate is reaching students by connecting literacy to real life.  I think I will be trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t with the students I work with in my practicum classroom.  From working with them I have learned that they are much more focused on the lesson and engaged when they are interested in the lesson.  I am going to try to develop lessons that I think my students will be excited to learn about and really look at the differences of the connections that students make. 

The main question I want to consider is, How can I help students make connections from literacy to their real lives in ways that are authentic and make sense?  I don't want to force it because then I don't think that students will make deep, meaningful connections that will stay with her.  I'm kind of all over the place with this idea and curiosity right now.  I think that as I look into it and read about it, I will be able to focus in and really figure out exactly what I want to know.

Until then!

Kate