Collins Chapters 4-8

As I’ve mentioned before, I really like this author.  She talks in her own voice and she also gives plentiful supporting details and helpful suggestions.  In these five chapters, I learned a lot of helpful ways to construct a functional, leveled, classroom library, how to partner appropriately, how to address reading issues in the class, how to promote fluency, and how to encourage reflection.  I found the chapters on the classroom library and how to structure reading partner groups especially enlightening because Collins brought up several things I hadn’t thought of before.  First, the idea of changing the library around after the winter break.  This is interesting because I thought that keeping things very consistent was ideal for kids, but switching it to be reflective of units and themes makes the classroom more exciting as well as gets the kids more interested.  I also love the idea of having a ‘shopping day’ where kids get to pick out several just-right books for them to read during the week.  This will really cut down on kids socializing and wasting precious reading time by going back and forth to the library.  It also encourages them to think harder about the books they select because they will be stuck with them for the entire week.  Next, I have always been a fan of partner and group work because I feel that when appropriately placed, kids are able to gain comprehension and strengths in different areas.  Book clubs and talking about books are great ways to exercise your own reading strategies as well as listen to others.  There is a lot to be gained from hearing other people’s points of view.

Add a comment December 9, 2009

Flint Ch.’s 6 and 11

I felt like chapter six dealt mainly with the first years of the literacy process.  It talked mostly about young children and the stages of their literacy.  Children are surrounded by literacy everyday in multiple modes, like talking, listening, music, memorizing and reading.  When these kids start kindergarten and begin learning how to speak, read and write, their past experiences with literacy should not be ignored or passed off as unofficial.  It is important to build on what students know rather than dismissing their prior knowledge and starting anew. 

Chapter eleven was generally concerned with technology; it’s recent growth and expansion, the necessity for teachers to keep up with it in order to better serve their students, programs or props to employ in your classroom, and the relevance and fun it contributes to the childs’ learning process.  I agree that technology is ever-growing, that children will come up in more advanced (and probably smaller) pieces of technologyand that in order for them to maintain interest in and get the most out of school, they musn’t be bored.  That is to say that since they will be accustomed to technology being in their face, they will have less patience (because everything is instant), less skill at doing things the old fashioned way, and their class instruction should keep up with their lifestyle.

Add a comment November 17, 2009

Flint Chapter 7

How many times so far have I discussed the importance of read alouds on my blog?  Several, if not hundreds.  This chapter made me want to stand up and applaud with the section on reading aloud and the numerous benefits it encompasses in student learning and awareness.  It can condition a child’s brain to associate reading with pleasure (with would indirectly increase reading test scores, since kids would read more and be better at it), background knowledge and experiences are enhanced, vocabulary is strengthened (helps with writing tests too), connections to other texts are made possible, fluent reading is modeled, ideas for personal writing are explored, book handling knowledge and concepts of print are developed, and new forms of language, styles, and sentence structures are introduced.  Often the best writers are the best readers.  Since everyone is so obsessed with test scores these days, it seems ridiculous and backwards for Durham to eliminate authentic read alouds, since all they do is benefit students, and teaching to the test is a bunch of uninteresting bull jive.

Add a comment November 9, 2009

Flint Chapter 9/Collins Chapter 3

First of all, the section on testing in the beginning of the Flint text just made me hate testing even more.  Learning about the increased intensity in recent years bothers me a great deal.  Kids are put through high stakes, standardized tests waaaaay too often, and too much is then decided about the student, teacher, school and district.  “Only a slice of what a student knows or is able to do is assessed, with results somehow representing the whole of what a student knows.”  How can this be considered accurate of learning and teaching when, in effect, the whole of what students know is not even addressed?  I have kids in my class who just burned out during our Benchmarks, and my casestudy student has serious test anxiety because of the amount of pressure placed on her to get 4′s.  It makes me sick.  As for the Collin’s text, I found this chapter very helpful.  Not only did it outline a rough plan for Units of Study across the school year, but it offered a lot of strategies and hints to help plan and implement these ideas.  This text feels like perhaps the most applicable text we have dealt with in all of our years with the school of education.  It’s refreshing, and it gets me thinking about my classroom and pumps me up for student teaching.

Add a comment November 9, 2009

Flint Chapter 5; Collins Chapter 2

I love this quote (found on page 128 of Flint), “We have always known that there are tremendous individual differences in literacy learning, and yet we persist in offering grade-level, textbook-centered instruction.  When the children do not thrive in these environments, we create low reading groups, remedial programs, and pull-out programs.  LD, MD, LEP, ED–the letters proliferate, and the children suffer.  It’s time we stop trying to fix the children and start fixing the schools that fail them.  Traditional organizational patterns for reading instruction have trapped caring teachers and children in a system that creates disability.”  Couldn’t have said it better myself!  If you have read my blog before, you may have noticed that I rant about the new DPS curriculum, and this blog is no different.  This new curriculum teaches the same level across the classroom, when in fact, every student is on a different level and has unique strengths and weaknesses.  If only testing did not dominate the school year and control the material taught, we could better prepare students in a greater number of ways.  For one, since Science and Social Studies seem to have been deemed unworthy of being taught, and those who excel and/or are most interested in these subjects are kicked to a curb in a way.  Schedule alterations to include an efficient time designated to each of these subjects would offer a more well-rounded curriculum and life lessons to all, provide greater opportunities and possibilities to integrate, and give every child a chance to have a knack for something being taught in the classroom, which can really take them a long way.  As for the Collins text, I found that I agreed with a lot of what was said about having a successful and informative independent reading workshop.

Add a comment October 12, 2009

Science Day 2 Cameron Park Reflection

On Thursday, the second day in Cameron Park, I think that Christine and I had a better grasp on things.  First of all, we were able to explain surface tension better (thanks to the tutorial over pizza).  Second, had a general idea of what worked and didn’t work with our group of students.  We kept having a recorder to write down group discussion main points rather than giving each child a worksheet, which again turned out in our favor.  We implemented the “buzz” system so that all the kids could say something and have fun with it, although this is in need of some tweaking so that it is not so noisy.  Perhaps lights?  Or sticking tongue out when you have something to say?   The kids were also good at blowing bubbles onto different surfaces and thinking critically about why they lasted or popped.  They took turns well when we blew with straws, and they had great ideas all around.

Add a comment October 8, 2009

“The Graveyard Book”

I finished “The Graveyard Book” about two weeks ago and loved it until the end.  I actually lent it to one of my students that same week, and he loved it (he finished it last week) too.  The hero, Bod, has such confidence and isn’t scared of anything, which is really cool.  I basically feel the same way I did when I wrote the previous review on this book.

Add a comment October 6, 2009

Collins Chapter 1

First off, I really like the way this text is written.  It is not so formal, which makes it way more interesting, but it is also informative and shares some great ideas.  I share the same ideas about education that the author does so far, so that definitely keeps me reading.  I found the idea of planning everything out from all the steps to possible questions and answers not the way I operate.  Like the author, I would rather be on top of my game and handle things as they come up.  I’m a go with the flow type of girl, but in my fifth grade classroom at Club, my supervisor wants us to detail our lesson plans with a ton of possibility stuff, and it always confuses me because I don’t know how to predict the future, and I don’t get to spend enough time in my class as it is, so I don’t know enough about what my students might struggle with.

Add a comment October 5, 2009

Flint Chapter 4

In this chapter, I most liked Mr. Ruby and Ms. Battle’s classrooms and methods of teaching literacy.  Both of them had a plethora of reading genres and levels, a comfortable classroom and a focus on communication.  I liked how Ms. Battle met with each of her students at least once a week during literacy to hear them read and talk about their books.  I think that this is a superb way to stay involved and informed.  She could monitor student progress as well as promote understanding by hearing her students talk about what they are reading.  Mr. Ruby’s classroom had a wonderful literacy environment, plush, nice lighting, calming atmosphere.  When my future students are in their independent reading, I would like to allow them to find a spot in the classroom that will help them focus and keep them comfortable.  I also liked the idea mentioned where when reading outloud (the example was racial discrimination) the kids can write down questions on post-it’s to be talked about later.

Add a comment October 5, 2009

Cameron Park Literacy

I had so much fun working in Ms. Howell’s second grade!  First of all, I have never been placed in a second grade class, and I really liked it and was impressed by what the kids knew.  My big book was about how a family has evolved from 1810 until 1996.  It starts with “great great great great grandpa” and ends with a young boy in a modern family.  The pictures were great and plentiful, and gave the kids clues about which time period was being talked about.  Afterwards, we talked about our own families and what we know about our relative’s childhoods.

Add a comment September 29, 2009