New Literacies Blog

My New Literacies project is one that I tried to take in a different direction. I have used the technology that I am using before, but the way in which I am presenting it is completely different than what I did with it in the past. I am planning to do a digital book but use it to describe a story through a screenplay as well. I will take a film that was based off of a novel and show students the many types on literature that can be used to describe a story based on the same premise. One way is through the novel, which I will have read to students through a computer program. I will then show how a novel can be adapted into a screenplay, which is what a film uses to set up scenes, settings and moods for any shot or series of shots that make up a portion of the film. One aspect of screenplays that I like is that they allow the students to take the descriptions of s particular scene and use their imagination to picture what the story would look like on the big screen. In this way, I feel students will focus on the comprehension of understanding why a screenplay is set up the way it is and focus on the details and lines in a scene, and look to see how each of these coincide with one another. After this, if it were a lesson plan, I would have the students give their best illustration or vision of what the scene would look like. Maybe I would have them draw the scene to show how they picture it in their mind. Another option I may give is for those who prefer to work with technology. I could have them film their own depiction of the screenplay and show it to the rest of the students in the classroom. There are many other options I can choose from but I would be sure to vary these options for a variety of learners. The final step of the process in the project would provide a link too a film clip in which both the novel and the screenplay are based off of. This can be a culmination to the project and to the lesson plan/ unit. I feel all three parts of the process focus on numerous parts of literacies and would definitely cater to many different students and their multiple learning needs. After all, I think the main goal of this new literacies project is just that; focus on new and innovative ways to share material that is seemingly the future of learning and education in America and in the rest of the world as well.

Blog #10, Digital Literacy and Basal readers

My digital literacy is creating a website using Weebly.com. This week I have added a few pages to my website, adding for more variety. One of my concerns is being able to get other users to blog on my blog page. I think that I will have to look at the technicalities of it and unfortunately I might have to set up a link to a separate blog website (such as this one, I like blogger :). But it would be nice if students or parents could blog right on the website without having to navigate away. I also want to figure out how to add U-tube videos. I know there are a lot of good teacher friendly videos and I would love to be able to have a "video of the week" type of deal where students could go online and watch the fun educational video. My other idea is to add a homework page where I tell the work for the day/week/month. This way if students are absent they have an easy way to see what they missed and reminders of when tests are etc. I also would like a place online where I could post notes to lectures, I also haven't figured out if I can use web reader or add one to the page because that would be ideal. I want my web-page to be user friendly, disability friendly and completely accessible. Hopefully i will be able to figure out how to add these amenities because they are key to allowing my future students the ability to access the Internet and become digitally literate.

I have not finished the Tompkins reading (I plan on finishing it now) but I do have a huge concern with the basal readers I have seen in my placement. There are very simple texts that do not follow natural speech patterns or provide in depth plots. I hate the books that are "Sam likes bikes. Sam rides bikes. Sam falls off bike." They are ridiculous and do not teach children any normal form of fluency. If they don't know how to read they are told the first sentence and guess the rest because they know the words will be similar and they always go with the pictures. I have a problem with this because we have a huge number of students that only guess and do not even try to look at the words and they say that they are reading. (Not that it isn't a form of reading to be guessing and using context clues, but often the context clues that they pick up on are much more complex than the story actually provides.) They are trying to make up an elaborate story because that is what comes naturally. Even kindergarteners tell better stories than "We ride Bikes" so I think it is silly to have them read these context-lacking books.

Tompkins Chapter 10/New Lit Project

•How do teachers support reading skill and strategy development using a basal reading program?
I wanted to answer this question because I was curious about the reading because before now I did not know what a basal reading program was. Basal readers are a type of commercial reading program that has almost always been a part of literacy. Research shows that less control is better but there is a need to include less words, but then the words become more unique. Special characteristics that are new to the format of a text, features now include more in depth plots and stronger characters in a story. Also the predictability of a story has become easier and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Here, we want the students to succeed when it comes to literacy and giving them the stepping stones to figure out how to comprehend a story from start to finish is great. The main goal is to allow students to be successful by giving them the right components and tools. The components of basal reading programs was fairly simple and seems like something any teacher can consider and also it seems like it could really help out ELLs, which is a bonus in the program! I think the most important idea in all this is the management plan because if you know what you want to target with your students then it will help in making them successful.
My new literacies project is one where I will create a scrapblog encompassing emotional literacy. I was extremely interested to explore how my future students could use this tool. I feel as if there is no wrong way to approach this project and that it can be used be students of all ages! There are really no limitations to scrapblogs and I think that is what I like most about them. Using new programs/technologies is never very easy but I find that sometimes I get disappointed after I find out a better way to do something after I have already done it. I am hoping that does not happen in this case!

Response to Tina's Blog #9

Tina I also really like your idea about the personal dictionary. I have never seen this done before but I really do think that some of the students would be given the chance to be really creative! I think when students do certain projects like this they actually learn more because it is more memorable to them. I would have loved to do something like this in one of my classes because to be honest sometimes I read things now and have no clue what half the words in the book/article mean! When students are given the chance to explore and to be creative sometimes you'd be surprised who actually makes the effort!

Blog #10- New Literacies

For our new literacies project, Jess, Sarah and I have opted to explore cultural literacy, where we will be using the Digital Story program that Erik introduced us to last semester. I love this technological program because it gives the kids a chance to add their own pictures, voices and words to the creation through a virtual matter. I believe that this personalization is a wonderful tool to help students become more interested and motivated to complete a project! The three of us have been analyzing and taking individual notes at the libraries in our placements and explored the East Lansing Public Library together as a group. We plan to compare/contrast these libraries and their display of cultural diversity through literacy. At my placement (Winans Elementary in the Waverly District) I noticed a wide range of diverse literature through racial, cultural, and gender means. Because Winans has a diverse amount of students (with the dominant race being white), I noticed many of these diverse types of literature on display. There was a strong emphasis and large section display of the American Girl series of books. The library was very well-organized, clean and is centrally located in the school. I noticed that the lighting and overall theme to the library is colorful, fun and inviting and immediately draws my attention everytime I walk by it. The environment is definitely a warm and caring one that allows kids to feel comfortable and explore different kinds of literature. Aside from the many different types of books that were available, the library has a few computers to allow the kids to explore the internet and search for books. However, one thing that I did not notice was religious literature on display. In the ELPL, there were many types of literature on display regarding religion and races. A lot of this issue more than likely stems from the school setting that the library is located in. Because the ELPL is not a school-based library, they can draw religion to a greater focus because there are so many different ethnic and relgious backgrounds of people that visit. Overall, this project has really opened my eyes and helped me view cultural literacy in a different light and perspective. I had never paid attention before to the different kinds of diverse literature and it has been an interesting experience, thus far, to observe and interact with these literacies.

Blog #9

For a vocabulary lesson related to Roll of Thunder, I would have students create a personal dictionary. I have seen these used in classrooms for my 301 placement and I think they are really neat. Each student is given their own folder in which they keep words that they often spell wrong at the top. Then inside the folder on lined paper they keep track of new words and their definitions. I really like this idea for a few reasons. The most important thing being that it is individual to each student. When you have group vocabulary lessons some students might get bored, they may already know the word and use it in their everyday speech (I often had this happen to me and it was annoying to have to do worksheets becuase I knew the words already). I think it also helps lower level students because they are able to pick words that they don't understand. If they need to identify simple words, they do not feel singled out by the rest of the class because it would be in their personal vocabulary book. I also think this helps students have some ownership over what they are learning. They feel the power of being able to choose the words they want and need to learn. I think any time you give students a choice, you are making the activity more interesting more engaging.
I think that unit on Roll of Thunder would need a lesson on vernacular, although I don't know if this would necessarily be vocabulary. I know it would fall under fluency. Do you think it would be vocab too?

(sorry I posted late- I have been sick with Bronchitis all weekend thanks to my boyfriend who got it last week and gave it to me)

Blog #9

This week for a vocabulary lesson I have decided to use what Nicole and I had done for our mini lesson based on comprehension and vocabulary. The It Says, I Say, And So is perfect for this type of lesson. I say this because I think that it is a good way to incorporate having students observe vocabulary words in a text and then also they can include pictures. I know that Roll of Thunder does not have illustrations in it so therefore I would use another book for this vocabulary lesson. Then I could include student's interpretations of illustrations in the story to help their comprehension of certain vocab words. When using Roll of Thunder for this lesson I would have students pick a few misunderstood words in each chapter and make a It Says, I Say, And So chart for each word. This chart includes many ways a student can view the word and gather information about it using only themselves and the text. If I were to use another book that had pictures in it I would suggest that the students use what they can infer about the word by using the pictures and words around the vocab word.
There are many ways to include vocab into a classroom other than just creating lesson plans about vocab content. In chapter 6, examples of ways to expand student's knowledge of words were given and most of them seemed like things I could/would do in my classroom. On page 191 the levels of word knowledge seem important not only for the teacher to understand but also the student should understand the process in which they go about learning new words and why it is important. Being able to self-assess I think is a nice way to allow students to understand their own understandings (cannot remember the official name for that!) This way I think that students will realize why vocabulary knowledge is important and how it can help them in the long run.

Blog #9-Vocabulary Lesson

When thinking of ideas for vocabulary lessons, I first had to think what age would be reading a story such as Roll of Thunder. Keeping this in mind I came up with a lesson that incorporates working in groups and learning necessary skills such as looking up definitions or using context clues to figure out meanings of words. For the lesson, I would first split the groups and give them each an extended passage or chapter to work with. I would have the group read the passage out loud to incorporate some fluency skills into the lesson. Along the way, I would like the students to look for words that may be troubling or unfamiliar to the students. When they come across a word, have one person in the group record the word/s until they have compiled a list from the passage/chapter they have read. From here, the students would divide up the words and be sure that each of them seek to find a definition for each word. When finding a meaning, the kids will have the options of using context clues, a dictionary or thesaurus, and also a computer if it is available. When each group member has come up with their own definitions, the members will go around and share what they have found by giving the meaning of the word and also an example of the word by using it in a sentence that will make sense to the group. By doing this, I feel the students will gain a sense of responsibility for their words and be sure that each member of the group is able to understand the new vocabulary and recognize/comprehend them if they ever come across them in the future. After this part of the lesson is complete, I will assess the students by having them write out a short story using a certain number of their new found words. By doing this, I will truly be able to see if the vocabulary words are understood, and if the kids would be able to use them and incorporate them into their own writing in the future.

Blog #9- Vocabulary Lesson

When I began thinking about a vocabulary lesson that could be used with Roll of Thunder, I instantly thought that the mini lesson that Jess, Sarah and I had planned for the class before spring break would be a perfect vocabulary development lesson to coincide with Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. The lesson teaches the students: vocabulary terms, comprehension skills, and also assesses their knowledge regarding verbs, nouns and adjectives. To begin this vocabulary lesson, I would have the students read a certain passage from the text (around 2-3 pages) silently at their desks. When they are finished reading, I will go over the three terms "verb, adjective and noun" with the class to ensure their understanding. Once we have gone over the terms, the class will be broken up into groups and assigned 3 terms (one noun, one verb and one adjective) for each table that will be written on a notecard by the teacher. The terms will be selected (by me) prior to the lesson and will be words that are not in their everyday vocabulary. The students will then decipher within the group to discover the meaning and the action of the word. They will choose one spokesperson to place the word on the board under the appropriate noun, verb or adjective column while I will ask each group to explain the meaning of the word and why they chose to place it in that column.
Overall, I really enjoy this lesson and had fun creating it for the class earlier in the semester because it seems fairly quick, easy, and straight-forward for the students to understand while assessing many different things from the teacher's stand point. The lesson is also simple for the teacher to prepare and incorporate into the classroom, while involving the rich and insightful vocabulary from Roll of Thunder. Obviously if adaptations need to be made for children with special needs I will be sure to properly assess those and group the students with the rest of the children to help guide one another and decode the meanins of each term. However, I think the lesson is pretty straight-forward and should not need many adaptations.

Blog #8

In a sense I think that fluency can be taught through vocabulary. It is important that students always feel comfortable with the text that they are reading and it will make reading much easier. In the beginning of chapter 5, the high frequency words that the teacher allows the students to explore and ask questions about is a great way for the students to be able to recognize these words. I like how the teacher made connections with the words to themes/units that were being taught in the class, I feel as if this is another way students can make connections with the words and what they are learning. In my classroom, my CT is always adding new words to the top-words list and the students then have to know these 'sight words'. The chart on page 155 was helpful for me to understand how the different components of fluency can fit into everyday literacy lessons. From the entire chart, I view oral language as one of the strongest ways a student can pick up on vocabulary, which is something I think ties into fluency. These components will only help a child while reading and it will help them comprehend other aspects in literacy, so that many aspects can tie together.
In chapter 9 many of the assessments in the beginning reminded me of some of the tests that we had to complete with our focal student in TE 301. That was neat to see that those assessments were things that I have done before. I do feel that assessments are very crucial to a class and to be honest I think that many of the assessments that I have completed in the past were not completely appropriate. Knowing what my students are able to do and what they know will only help my teaching. On page 299 the chart that describes how various assessments for literacy fit into a classroom is useful. I remember for example, that spelling bees or quizzes was one way that my elementary school teachers assessed us in vocabulary/spelling and it was fun (well maybe not the quizzes)! For writing I think that allowing students to assess their own work is one of the most powerful and challenging things to do.

Response to Abbey's Blog #8

I do also think fluency is very important in dealing with literacy and it also is almost the basis of how students go about understanding linguistics. (whether they know it or not!) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry would be a great book to use for focusing on vocabulary, and I agree that there are many words in there that require much attention. The use of the vocabulary in the book could raise many questions with students and I think that it would be important to talk about that with them; using a jig saw would be a great idea for all students to express their ideas and thoughts. I feel like vocabulary is something that is very much like rote learning, especially in the sense that many teachers do the same thing in teaching vocabulary to a class, coming up with new ways to incorporate vocab into a classroom would be very beneficial!

Blog #8

The concept of fluency is a tough area to assess because there is more to it than simply reading without pausing or stopping. Granted this is part of fluency, knowing what one just read and being able to recall and comprehend the material is also a very important part of fluency. Another part of fluency that often goes overlooked is the tone and annunciation in which a passage is read by a student. Yes, the student may be able to read without stopping or pause to sound out a word, comprehend all that they just read, and be able to recall the information at a later time. However, we very frequently hear students read with little or no emotion when reading a story. If there is an exclamation point, a student should change the pitch or tone of their voice to match the excitement, displeasure, or attitude that is expressed through the text. If there is a question mark, there should be a change in the style of reading the sentence in such a way where it sounds like the student is asking a question for the narrator or character in the story. These, among other elements are ones that can change the meaning and tone of a story and completely alter the dynamics of a story.
My CT expressed this importance to me during a conversation I had with her about reading with expression and feeling. About once a week, a parent volunteers to come into the classroom and read to the students. Often times, they pick a story that they grew up with or pick a book that is popular among children. Knowing this, the CT says that this alone does not ensure that the students will be fully engaged in the story. She has had several occasions where a parent has come in and read in a very dull and boring voice. That said, the students were uninterested and the next day were unable to recall what was read to them or what the basic plot of the story was. She also said there have been parents who have read the exact opposite way and show tons of feeling and emotion in their reading. The CT says these are the most memorable parents for the kids and even has a lasting impression on the students where they have requested to have that parent back and even ask the CT to write a thank you note to that parent. I have seen it before because I was involved in proofreading the thank you notes to one parent in particular. The way this parent read the story and emphasized the aspect of fluency allowed each student to make a connection to the text and make it an experience they will remember. This should ultimately be the goal for all teachers to get their students to do. It may not be an easy task, but it is worth the effort seeing the benefits of being "fully" fluent as a literacy learner.

Blog #8

Because this week's post was about the topic of fluency, I researched the simplest definition I could find and found this one to be the most suitable: "Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly" (National Institute for Literacy). I think fluency is one of the most important aspects for successful literacy. I believe that one of the most important aspects toward assessing students word identification and fluency is listening to the students verball read a text out loud. During reader's workshop, my CT has the students read certain pages of texts one-on-one with her to determine their understandings and word identification. I believe that the DIBELS assessment also helps test levels of fluency/comprehension as I have previously administered a DIBELS assessment during my 3rd grade placement in TE 301. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry is a good book for upper-elementary to use to test their vocabulary knowledge and comprehension of the textual material because the book is so rich in historical fiction. One of the reader response activities I had completed early-on involved identifying unknown vocabulary terms and discovering the meaning. Page 33 of the text (chapter 2) had many words that I was unsure of, let-alone a 4th grade student. A few of the words I had marked are: ginned, dwarfed, sinewy and tawny. A good mini-lesson that could be used with this book to test fluency could involve an activity of this kind where students are placed in groups and given a vocabulary word from the chapter. It would be their groups job to discover the meaning of it, as the class would complete a jig-saw activity, where each student would switch groups and share with the rest of their group members until everyone in the class had each word's meaning decoded. Another mini-fluency idea for this book could be a vocabulary bingo game where verbs, nouns and adjectives are brought in as factors as well. I stand by my previous comment that fluency is one of the most important aspects to literacy. It is important for teachers to implement many of these vocabulary building and syntactical activities into their lesson plans to further their students' literacy development.

Blog #7

As we work each week on our book clubs, I see more and more how we could be able to use these in our classrooms. Going back to an earlier post I made, I really enjoy having discussions with students about topics, subjects and issues that are brought up in class and I feel a book club with book talks included in them are a great tool for generating discussions about the book in general, the issues raised within the book, and also discussions on more abstract ideas that have deeper thinking involved with them. I would not expect this to come up with all ages, but I do feel it is an important aspect of a book club too consider when doing discussions with older students. There are so many issues to discuss in a book club that the possibilities and endless as far as good discussion is concerned. Ideas such as themes can be discussed and what the significance of the themes are as they relate to the content of the story. One can look at the characters and look at the development of each character. Character studies are often times more complex than originally anticipated and can stir great conversation. Discussions about the author and their intent behind writing the story can also be a good conversation to have. Even talking about the time in which the story and what effects this may have had on the story could be a topic to pursue. Either way it is important to have discussions where there is not only factual questions but also a lot of questions that are open ended and can be left up to interpretation. This allows opinions to be formed and can allow students to relate themselves to the story in their own unique way.
Another positive attribute of book clubs is they allow for teachers to assign roles to students. Having jobs such as the facilitator or the question generator can be a way to get every student involved with the book club and also a way to keep a discussion going. If each person has a role, they can feel more a part of the club knowing that the others in the group rely on the information they may give and how they relate it to the book. Each person has unique aspects to bring to the club and the discussions generated and assigning roles is a great way to teach student responsibility for their roles. If each member pulls their own weight, I feel students will see the benefits as far as their conversations are concerned. They will be longer, more in depth and always engaging if each member is able to contribute.

Blog #6

As I read the readings, I could see where the author was coming from as far as labeling students and coming up with the type of learner that they are. However, at the same time labeling also has it limits and issues and relying on labels could have a teacher run into problems in the long run. The problem with labeling is that it does not include the many details that can be associated within the category of a particular label. Each student under a label is different than the next. You will never find one student that is exactly the same as the next no matter how many similarities they may have. In a sense, labeling does this and can give many teachers false ideas that all students under a certain label are the same. I have seen this many times in schools before and I'm sure we all have a some point as well. I can even admit that I have done the same thing and have will more than likely do the same in the future. However, I work on this exact concept each time I go into the classroom, because it is important to work with each student and see them for who they truly are and not what a label has them being.
Another thing with the labels that I noticed was that there is a lot of chance for overlapping as far as each of the labels is concerned. The author had the labels and certain characteristics of each label. When I tried to "label" myself, I had a hard time finding just one label that could fit. I found parts of myself in many of the different labels and sometimes I found I could see myself fitting under different labels and have different characteristics depending on the day, the mood I was in or the situation I was placed in as well. I say this because I feel we all can say the same. We have all had bad days where we did not feel like doing anything and also had very good days where motivation and a can do attitude was at a peak level. We also act differently around certain groups of people. The person we are in class, can be totally different than the person we are in public. The person we are in public can be the exact opposite of the person we are in private. The options are endless, and I feel this makes it very hard to label students unless you know the underlying reasons behind certain behavior or tendencies. This is what I have found myself becoming more interested in. I see a student misbehave or not do an assignment and I am curious why this is the case. Rather than label them as unmotivated or dumb, I want to see why this happens and see if there is anything I can do to change this. It may take more effort, but to me it is worth it if it means that each student will maximize their potential as a learner.

Technology Blog (Blog 5)

The session that we had about technology and the different resources available to us as teachers was very useful. I enjoyed going to each station and being able to explore each of the technologies. By doing this, I feel each of us was able to get a better idea of ways to incorporate these into our everyday lessons. We will also be able to find what technologies we feel the most comfortable with and which ones will be the most successful as far as a learning tool in the classroom. We have been exposed to many technologies in the past, but there are so many out there that we have not even heard of or have not had the chance to explore. I feel this is where the new literacies project will be very beneficial. It will allow each member of the class to become an expert on a certain technology and find new and innovative ways to use them in the classroom. I also think that having each member of the class share their ideas will be very useful as well. Seeing a different vantage point on how a technology can be used can be an eye opening experience for all of us and may even convince us to use a newly learned idea in our own classrooms.
Some of the technologies I particularly enjoy are ones that incorporate discussions that involve small groups and the entire class. In high school and college in particular, I have mostly enjoyed the classes that have allowed us to have in depth discussions on issues that we may or not have been familiar with. However, by having the discussions, I was able to pick up on new and creative ideas and also add to previous knowledge that I already had. I feel these types of classes have allowed me to expand as an individual and help me to be more understanding of all those around me. I feel discussions about topics are very important and could be incorporated at younger ages as well. It teaches them not only about an issue, but it also teaches them how to form opinions about the issue and be able to come up with support regarding their stance on an issue. I also think you can incorporate life lessons such as respect fro others into these types of lessons. Discussions often bring many opinions to the table and many of them will be very contradicting to your own opinion. However, having this does not mean you cannot get along with this person. It is important to show respect and understanding of where a person is coming from when they state their opinions. Too often, we pass judgment quickly on people who have differing opinions. By teaching students proper ways to handle these situations at a young age, we allow them to be more open to new ideas in their future education.

Blog #4

When looking at the readings for the week, I struggled with thinking about my classroom and how they go about spelling when it comes time to write. Usually the teacher does not care about spelling and has the students spell words based on how they think they should be spelled. She also encourages them to use the word wall in the room to find words and also use a worksheet that the teacher made that has many common site words. However, I often find myself being asked, "How do you spell this?" I always answer the same way and tell them to spell it how they think it sounds. This is what the teacher wants, so I go along with it. Then again, I still find myself asking when is the cut off when spelling goes from not being important, to being an essential aspect of good writing? How are teachers supposed to transition from one stage to another as far as spelling is concerned? I wonder because at some point the kids will need to know how to spell and be able to come up with spellings on their own.
Looking into the matter further, I wonder if there is a way to incorporate perceived spellings of words and the actual spelling of words and make them work in a way so that children remember how to spell words in the future. I always wonder this and often think to myself that there must be a way to take words and make them easier to remember. So when our CT has the students write about something, I often times try to work with students who ask me more often than others how to spell certain words. I first ask them how they think it should be spelled and then go over how it should be spelled correctly. When I do this I try to think of ways in which they would be able to remember the word without having to ask again. I don't know if this is at all possible, but I would think that this would be the best way to get rid of questioning of spelling during writing time. I feel some students are too concerned with spelling and not concerned enough about the content. If spelling issues are eliminated, I feel the ideas would be able to flow more easily and fluently.

Blog #7

· What is Book Club?
· How is comprehension taught in Book Club?
· How does knowledge of text structure facilitate comprehension?
· How can I help English language learners develop reading comprehension?

I think book club is a great way to involve all students in a book discussion. I think that by creating different jobs- i.e. facilitator, artist, time keeper, recorder, etc., the teacher can create a community of learners that feel comfortable sharing and thinking about literature. If you ask one student to do all these tasks they may get a little overwhelmed. It may be too much to ask them to comprehend, prove they understand, create a piece of art and turn it in on time. Some students are just poor at multitasking. By breaking the tasks up and giving them to different students you can alleviate some of the stress related to reading and comprehension activities. You also don’t lose any instruction if you require every student to perform every task over the course of a week or unit.

If a student has a working knowledge of text structures, such as characterization, irony, metaphor, dialogue (and others), then they will be more apt to understand the context in which the story is taking place. If they have never seen dialogue or don’t understand ironic phrasing, then they may stumble over the structures in the text before they are even at the meat or information that you want them to get at. By introducing these ideas in simple terms that the students feel comfortable with, then you can give them the tools to take on new and challenging pieces of literature.

I think the biggest struggle with helping English Language Learners develop reading comprehension is to learn to read fluently. Comprehension will only come when decoding is not the primary focus. And this is hard. Unless you are providing translations or really obvious context clues, it is going to be really hard for an ELL to understand a large piece of text if they are not fluent. I think that working on fluency will lead to comprehension. You must also teach students strategies on how to pick up ideas from the text, pictures and relate them to their own ideas. You have to teach the students the strategy, then how to use it and then when to use it. If they cannot read easily or fluently however, it is going to be hard for them to apply many comprehension strategies.

Blog #7

From what I gather between the readings and what we are doing as a class in the book club, I can see some benefits from being able to apply the readings to being in/running my own book club. I loved the activities in the coursepack that are easy to do and very beneficial for students who have trouble comprehending text in stories/books. I think the various activities and organizers are a great way to help students comprehend their readings and to be able to get more meaning out of what they are reading. They get the student really involved and it allows them to create their own path in deciding how to interpret what they have read. I think giving a student more of an option to dissect information is a better way and plus the student is more likely to enjoy what he or she is doing. I could see myself having these activities available to my class one day; maybe I could make a chart and the students could work in pairs, completely a different 'box' each week on certain readings or maybe if we are reading a book as a class. But most importantly I think that these activities could be used as a form of assessment in order to see which students are able to apply the stages of reading and writing. This is a huge step because we want our students to understand how their previous experiences and their current knowledge can help them comprehend how to make the most out of their work. I want to be able to motivate and encourage my students so that I can affect their reading and writing habits and skills. Knowing the ways I can help and encourage my students will allow me to suit their needs. Learning is very diverse and when I participate in the activities that I expect my students to do one day (like the ones in the coursepack) I can see why it would be beneficial to have my students do work like this. Furthermore, I can see which students (like I said) need the help and what students prefer to do/how they want to go about showing me that they understand something. Understanding that there is more way to something than just one way, is key and I hope that I learn many ways to accommodate my students.

Blog #7

After completing this week's readings, I noticed an interesting pattern from Tompkins Chapters 2, 7, 8 and Gibbons Chapter 5. They all correlated to the reading and writing process. I felt that Gibbons' chapter was somewhat of an umbrella toward Tompkins'. I especially enjoyed Gibbons chapter because he widely spoke of ELL student readers. It was shocking, yet interesting to me to read the first parapgraph in a jibberish language. It is extremely unfortunate for ELL students to initially understand language in that way, however, many first time young readers probably view it the same. In Chapter 8, Tompkins mentioned "graphic organizers," which was what we were assigned to do this week. These organizers highlight big ideas from texts and I see it being used all of the time in my placement. I think this is a good way to summarize text for first-time readers as well as students that have been reading for many years. It was fascinating to read the differenences amongst comprehension and reader factors toward facilitating comprehension. Chapter 7 mentioned many terms that I had remembered from TE 348 bringing the different genres into account. I didn't realize that stories could be more easier or difficult depending on the "factors that inherent them" (Tompkins 254). Every week, I participate in Writer's and Reader's Workshop in my first grade class and observe many different types of readers. I realize that their own funds of knowledge come into factor as they choose stories to read for me or stories to write about. The students tend to pick stories that serve their interest, as I see many of the boys read fantasy books and many of the girls read fictional stories. I feel that it is very important to scaffold these different types of readers and allow them to experiment with whatever type of genre and/or context they would like. These two workshops are essential for first grade development because they create motivation amongst the students (which is also something that Tompkins had mentioned in Chapter 7). Another good form of "created motivation" is through our Book Clubs. The activities we have done for the chapters, thus far, can be a good tool for students to dig deep into the text furthering their levels of comprehension. One of the activities I have completed involve searching for vocabulary terms that the student may not know. I like this activity because the student is given the chance to read the term in it's own sentence structure and decode it's meaning. Overall, creating a community of good readers (and writers) is important for every child to succeed in literacy (and any other subject) as well as communicating with the world! Comprehension and strategies correlating to it are an essential part of achieving this success in reading.