The readings this week were ones that could easily be related to my classroom and to other ideas that we have been introduced to in the past. As far as reading is concerned, our CT has given us an opportunity to work with students in different environments, settings and using different techniques. The CT has many centers set up in the room that allows the students to learn reading reading orally, visually and aurally through listening to the text on tape and following the words of the narrator by having the text on hand. I feel using all of these methods, as well as incorporating a few more, can be beneficial to young learners. Once again it wives them a choice on how they would like to learn and what methods suite them as far as retaining the information.
As for writing, I really enjoy the way our CT handles writing in the classroom. The students are often asked to write about topics that are either directly related to a story or directly related to events that occur in the world. Take for example the inauguration of President Obama. Seeing the historical aspect of this day, the CT had the students write a letter to the president. The thing I like most about the lesson is the way she made it authentic for this class. Before writing, the teacher always does a brainstorming activity to give the students ideas on what they could write. One the board, the CT wrote down issues that are faced in this country and also by the students themselves. The objective of the letter was to make it clear to the president what issue they wanted him to deal with. It was great to see how many students truly wanted him to deal with the problems at hand and how they were able to relate these problems to their own families.
Another writing activity they had involved writing a story that involved a friend. The brainstorming activity for this prompt was very engaging and creative once again making the lesson authentic. The CT had the kids draw an empty brain and place their ideas in the brain. It sounds gross and maybe even cheesy, but it actually worked quite well. The teacher was able to use wordplay and let each student know that they had huge brains that were full of knowledge and ideas. The CT wrote most of the ideas on the board and allowed the students to use these examples and also help them to create their own.
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I think that is great that your teacher allows the students to chose for themselves what activities they want to engage in to help them better understand their personal learning styles. It is important as a learner and a student to understand how you function in a classroom environment and unfortunately it takes some students many many years to figure that out. The sooner the better I think though! I loved that your teacher did the President Obama activity, it would be funny to see what some of your students said. Your teacher seems to have some great activities for the students that keeps them thinking!
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