Classroom Talk

The classroom talk that takes place at my placement is recitation base.  The teacher will read a story with the children and ask implicit and explicit questions to get them thinking about the book.  Although this encourages the children to talk and share their ideas, there are many pitfalls to this method and instruction that limits their overall comprehension of the story. Unequal participation is a main limitation that I notice in my classroom.  My teacher calls on student volunteers to answer the question.  This is an issue because it is normally the same handful of students who are volunteering to participate.  This allows students to get in the habit of thinking that they can zone off and not pay attention because they will not be called on.  The students in my class get easily distracted and I notice them fighting and focusing on other tasks rather than paying attention to the story being read.

 I notice that there are a handful of students who don’t ever participate during literacy discussions.  One student in particular, who has an IEP plan, will sit through our literacy readings and recitations but have no comprehension of what was just read to him.  The reading discussed multiple methods that can scaffold response-centered talk to take place in the classroom.  In order to promote responses from students my mentor teacher could use the Popsicle stick method to evenly distribute student’s chance to participate.  This will support students in thinking about their response to the questions ahead of time, in anticipation of them being called on.  Resources such as Popsicle sticks and small white boards have the potential to promote a more in-depth discussion by allowing for more students response in the classroom.  I know my mentor teacher has enough white boards available for the students to use.  Students could use white boards to write out their response ahead of time, allowing them to think for themselves before sharing with the class.

One way to scaffold student’s comprehension during a story would be to provide individuals who need extra support with their own book to have in front of them as the teacher reads to the class.  This will help them follow along as the teacher reads to the whole class and not get as easily distracted by other things in the classroom.  

Post2, Incorporating Literature

I know that incorporating literature into a classroom is crucial in developing students' literacy. I have heard this time and time again, through many of my MSU classes, but also from personal experience. I took a liking to reading from an early age, and throughout elementary and middle school, it was rare to find me without a book. I would pick reading over almost any other past time; I would even get in trouble for reading through teachers' other lessons in school. I believe that because of my high exposure to literature from an early age, my literacy skills became strong. To this day, my reading, writing, and other literacy skills are the strongest skills that I have. To be able to foster this same development in my students, I want to motivate them to make literature to be a big part of their lives, and provide opportunities to do this. 

In my Mentor Teacher's classroom, however, I think literature is lacking. My MT has a small bookcase as a classroom library, but I rarely see the students checking out any books. I know they have a library time, but I never see them with their library books in the classroom. My teacher uses textbooks whenever available, meaning that students have a math textbook, a social studies textbook, and a literacy textbook. This is where all of the lessons in that subject come out of. In literacy lessons, they are always teacher focused and are always focused on just the content of the reading out of the textbook. When students finish assignments early or have some down time, they are not encouraged to pull out books, they either cause a disturbance or bother the teacher.  

Tompkins brings up another important idea of preparing students in the field of literacy - the new literacy of the Internet. Print sources are not the only important forms of literacy, but online documents are, as well. Tompkins explains that these online sources have a different structure to them and require different strategies for literacy, as well. I believe that preparing students for online literacy also has a place in the classroom. In my placement, my students have computer time in the library and they spend time playing literacy games online, reading online books, and writing e-mails and blog posts. I like that my MT sees the importance of giving her students time to work in this medium. 

Hassett and Curwood also stress the importance of making literacy instruction relevant to our culture today. Realizing that our culture is highly connected to technology in all aspects and that literacy is "multimodal" is important for incorporation in the teaching curriculum. "Multimodal" means that writing is no longer the only form of literacy today, that our culture sees it as only one form of communication, next to other visual communication such as graphics, images, gestures, facial expressions, or sounds, oral language, etc. Instead of just looking at a certain literacy piece, Hassett and Curwood stress teaching about context and how social relationships affect meaning. They stress that interaction with the text is important, and that teachers should foster that. My MT doesn't talk about design of a piece or how the kids might be reacting to what they are reading at all; she just asks them comprehension questions. Being more aligned with Hassett and Curwood is how I want to teach literacy in my classroom. 

Langer really challenges our teachers today to re-think what literacy means, because it hasn't been re-thought in many decades. She believes that literacy instruction is more about the students' development than we traditionally put weight on. She also think that teachers have to re-think the idea of what "success" in literacy means - does it mean getting all the comprehension questions correct, or something deeper? I agree with Langer that we should focus more on how the reader is interacting with the text, rather than what is the perceived "correct" answer to the question. I think that teachers should get students to read for different purposes, including informative, making connections, expanding perceptions, etc. I think these ideas can go across subjects, as well. Rather than just using literature for "literacy time," I think that literature can be used across disciplines for a variety of purposes, and that this helps students see how important literature is to their world. 

Another important factor to think about is literature in terms of bilingual students. Martinez-Roldan displays a picture of Hispanic bilingual students engaged in inquiry-based learning about a piece of literature. The kids are allowed to communicate their thoughts freely, and in whatever language they choose. Codeswitching is a norm. While this may not necessarily be relevant to all classrooms, the idea of inquiry and unrestricted communication can be. These students are allowed to engage with the text without things that may hold them back, like a list of comprehension questions they have to complete or what language they have to speak in. This is very relevant in my classroom, as I am in a Spanish immersion classroom. The kids, save one, all understand both Spanish and English. While it is important that they are developing in both languages, it doesn't seem inappropriate to have some time to speak Spanish, English, Spanglish, or whatever they choose so that they are able to focus  more on content than restrictions. 

I like the idea that a teacher is more of a facilitator of a lesson than the center of it. The kids in the Martinez-Roldan article sustained discussion with each other for almost an hour, and the teacher was nowhere near the focus. I like that they were able to talk about real issues like gender within a piece of literature. This made the book relevant to their lives and engaging. Re-thinking what literacy looks like in the classroom is a good idea. I want to be doing that throughout my teaching career.

Goals

·         To learn about ways/methods I can teach language arts

·         To teach more lessons (outside of those assigned) in my classroom to gain more experience

·         To continue to see my mentor teacher teach reading/writing

·         Have in depth and valuable class discussions that will get me thinking or challenge me to implement something into my lessons

·         To become a more confident writer

I have never been confident in language arts. It takes me a long time to write a paper and I am very judgmental of my work. However, I know the importance of LA so I will strive to learn as much as I can this semester to become more confident in teaching this subject!

            School

·         Early Elementary (K-2)

·         Diversity

·         Support from administration and colleagues

·         Safe area

·         Not sure about parochial/suburban/rural

What I want to learn about literacy instruction to help me reach my goals

·         How to balance all types of learners during literacy lessons (i.e struggling reader, advanced reader, ect.)

·         Effective writing techniques to show young children

·         How to get parents to be active and involved in their children’s literacy skills

·         Strategies to get students motivated, but keeping standards/content

Jig saw readings

·         From the Diller article

·         I know that I want to be a teacher that gets to know their students on a personal level

·         Read books in the classroom that reflect the life of the students/ones they can connect to

·         I learned an effective way for handling the “race card” situation. Specifically I will acknowledge difference and say that I am here to teach all students.

·         If the culture of the students is unfamiliar to us get it from children’s literature or even colleagues and even children and parents!

·         From the Hettinger/Knapp article

·         I learned that I don’t ever want to label a child in their ability to read, but help them out as best I can

·         I want to be a teacher that pulls out all the stops for a struggling reader (i.e parent- child book clubs, buddy reading, older/younger child reading, ect)

·         Even with many different abilities in literacy I want my classroom to have a positive “classroom reading community”

·         From the Tompkin Reading

·         I want to be a teacher that incorporates a good balance of the four different learning theories

·         I want to include technology into my classroom

·         I like Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development

·         I want to again build bridges between home and school

·         Even at a young age literacy can challenge injustices and inequalities

·         I want to instill a classroom community that has the characteristics of responsibility, opportunities, engagement, demonstration, risk taking, instruction, response, choice, time, and assessment.

·         Set up my classroom community within the first two weeks

Week 2: Exploring Learner Diversity

 My learning goals for this course:

• Learn strategies on how to use literacy as a tool to connect and relate to student’s lives.
• Learn how to modify literacy instruction to fit the culture of African American and Hispanic students.
• Learn strategies on how to support children to become intrinsically motivated to read and write (this is essential in order for children to develop a love for reading).
• Take on more of a leadership role in my placement classroom.

My professional goals are to teacher younger elementary school in an urban setting.  My first step toward reaching this goal will be student teaching in the Chicago Public Schools next fall.  This experience will help prepare me for the real world of teaching that I will face if I work in an urban district my first year.  The two JIGSAW readings I choose discussed a lot of critical issues that I have experienced in my placement this year and will come up next year when I am student teaching.

The Diller (1999) article, Opening the dialogue: Using culture as a tool in teaching young African American children discussed a white teachers experience discovering ways to relate to the African American students in her classroom.  I really connected to this article and learned some important strategies that will help me relate to the African American students in my current placement:

• It is impossible to have a classroom environment where color is not an issue.  Children from different races experience different lifestyles, values, and cultural.  It is important to embrace these differences and not pretend that they don’t exist.
• I want to have literature in my classroom that reflects the lives of my students.  The stories they read have to be relatable to their lives. 
• As a teacher it is important to be aware of the families that the children in my classroom come from.  I must not assume that all children are being read bedtime stories every night.   As a teacher I hope to provide all the children in my classroom with books that they can have in their home, especially those who come from families that can’t afford books.  It is important to share with families’ simple ways in which they can create a strong literature environment in their home.  This doesn't have to involve spending a lot of money.  Ways can include teaching families how to use the public library to access free books, telling oral stories to children, and writing their own stories at home.
• An important issue that this article talked about was Black English that is used in many African American homes.  This is a topic that needs to be approached delicately.  I do not want children to think that the way they speak, and the way that their family speaks is “wrong.”   I want to learn more ways on how I can help students learn to know the difference between what language to use in school and what language to use when at home or with friends.  
• The teacher in the article learned to use more explicit directions and become more assertive and straight forward when redirecting the behavior of the African American students in her classroom.  Behavior management is a big issue in my placement classroom and I need to be more assertive with the children and make sure to set clear expectations.

The Fleming (2004) article, Putting literacy learning in context: What practicing teachers say about realities of teaching in urban schools talked directly about teacher’s experiences in the Chicago Public Schools. This article was a real eye opener to me about the types of issues that I will be dealing with next year during my internship.  As excited as I am, I also am nervous about whether I will be ready to handle such an intense environment.  This article made me think about the type of teacher I want to be:

• I realize that the school I work will have poor funding and resources available. This means that I will be responsible to making my classroom a rich literature environment.  This includes having lots of books and writing materials for the students to use, including technology such as leap frog and other computer games that the student’s can use.
• The students I teach will most likely come from a very different background and cultural experience than me.  I realize that it is essential for me to have a deep understanding of the cultural that my students come from.  I need to change my teaching style to fit their needs.
• Students in my classroom will be at a wide range of reading and writing levels.  I want to learn strategies on how to best support all students in my classroom.   

Kusek_Post1

I am very excited to be taking the second part of senior year teacher education courses. These 400 level courses have provided me with the best concrete, practical information for my future career as a teacher. Going through topics about social studies and science in detail helped me gain perspective on how those subjects are currently being taught and what improvements need to be made in those areas. I am interested to engage with the topics of English language arts and math in the same manner this semester.  

In specific regards to learning about English language arts, all I've experienced is just following through textbooks and not a very real engagement with the topic of language arts and how it relates to the real world. I have a few goals in regards to what I want to get out of this course: 

- Think more out of the box, or out of the textbooks, with lessons and application

- Learn different strategies as to how to incorporate English language arts into other topics, especially science, social studies, and math 

- Take lesson planning further than my inexperienced self from last semester and think through my ideas more and follow through with them in the classroom

Overall, I've been thinking about what kind of school and community I want to teach in for some time now. While I would take any teaching job after college, I have some preferences: 

- Upper Elementary (4/5 grade) or Middle School

- High Hispanic population or teaching Spanish in some facet 

- Haven't made my mind up about rural/suburban/urban preference  

What do I want to learn about literacy instruction to help me reach my goals? 

- How to tailor literacy instruction to ELLs 

- How to use another language (like Spanish) in literacy instruction 

- How to make literacy instruction very applicable to the real world context 

- What the best strategies are for encouraging literacy development and reaching all learning styles 

How do the jigsaw articles you read for today help you think about the kind of teacher you want to be? 

Lenski Article (Assessing English Language Learners in Mainstream Classrooms) 
- I want to be familiar with different forms of assessment that are good for not just mainstream students but English Language Learners and Special Needs students. 
- I want my assessments and lessons to be authentic and meaningful.
- I want to be aware of all of my students' backgrounds and how that might affect their learning.
- I want to use alternative assessments and nontraditional ways.

Risko (Tapping Students' Cultural Funds of Knowledge to Address the Achievement Gap) 
- I want to make sure that all of my students feel represented and included in content and in the classroom.
- I want to use the cultural modeling approach to spark the attention of a wide variety of my students so that they are all able to relate to content and teaching strategies, and not just one group of students.  
- I want to continue to seek out a variety of resources to use in my teaching, rather than just one source all the time.

Tompkins (p5-12)
- I want to be more student-centered in my teaching, rather than using the Behaviorism Theory, which is more teacher-centered 
- I want to incorporate the "new literacy" of the Internet into lessons 
- I want there to be a great deal of interaction between students in my lessons, and I want these interactions to include speaking and listening, reading and writing
- I want to teach all of my lessons within the context and culture, not just for "school"

Gibbons (p1-13)
- In understanding the concepts of Context of Culture and Context of Situation, I want to provide this knowledge to my students and give them experiences in different situations instead of assuming they are familiar with the culture. 
- In understanding the difference between conversational proficiency and academic proficiency, I want to provide ELLs opportunities to continue to develop their language skills within all content that I am teaching, rather than isolating the language development. 
- I want to teach with a more "progressive" outlook, rather than thinking that my students are coming into my classroom as "empty vessels." 
- I want to provide my ELLs and all my students with sufficient support, scaffolding and feedback for their development. 

Goals & Supporting Reading

Some goals for the course:

§  Find strategies for how to address lessons to wide varieties of learners
§  I am curious what the best way to divide reading groups is (by reading level or not?)
§  Discover new and unique ways to interest reluctant learners

I hope to be able to teach in a school like the one I attended for fifth grade – one with a strong sense of community. I would love to be in a school where teachers collaborate and work together, where the principal is interested and involved with what various teachers/classrooms are doing, and most of all where the students feel comfortable and like they belong to a community. I guess you could call this my ideal school environment, and even if the school I teach at is not like this, I would try to work toward making it more like this, starting in my own classroom and working from there.

The Hettinger article discussed ways in which teachers can support “underachieving” readers.  This article reinforced my goal to be very supportive of my students and to help them in any way I can.  One point made in the article is that just because a student is struggling with reading, it does not mean that they are incapable, or a trouble-maker, or not trying.  Sometimes students just need a little extra nudge to get them going.  Students need to feel supported, and know that they have what it takes to be a good reader.  Students also need to see the greater purpose behind reading, and that they will need it in their everyday lives.  It also helps if students to find books that challenge them at an appropriate level, and ones that they are actually interested in reading.

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