As I read this weeks articles it made me think about how I want to be able to see what my student's strengths and weaknesses are. I want to be able to assess my students in order to know what type of 'profile' they fit in to. More than anything I don't want to be that teacher that only requires my students to answer questions that, "require factual recall of information included in the text". I remember all my schools years doing the basic recitation. And what I guess I think about is the difference between grade levels. Right now in my kindergarten class they are learning all these new concepts, ideas, lessons, etc. and I can appreciate the fact that in kindergarten, students are required to 'memorize' many new facts and concepts. Take counting for example, there really is only one way to learn how to count to 100...memorization, but it is interesting to see and understand the various profiles in comprehension. I am a firm believer in the fact that what I put out in terms of my teaching style is what I will get back from my students. My students will be a product of my skills, attitude, and knowledge. When I looked over the profiles in the chart on page 162 I found it very interesting. I have never seen this chart before and it is kind of fun trying to classify all the students in my classroom...and even myself! Right now, no offense, but I would classify many of my students as left fielders...but I would say in time and as they become better readers and writers they will be able to comprehend their text a little bit more. In my placement I would say that my teacher is attempting to allow the students to become authors. They are encouraged to create their own stories and details every morning in their writing journals. I think is a great way to allow the students to be themselves and create a profile for themselves. I would call myself a literalist and I say this because I am sometimes afraid to go off and create my own answer, I feel much safer using the answer from the book, the one I know is right.
I thought it was really interesting when the article had said that given the right tools and if we are aware of all the possibilities out there in order for each student to fit the right profile, there is no reason that each student should not be comfortable in his/her own profile.
The second article was something that I could appreciate. I also agree with Abbey in that we are not given the appropriate tools in order to succeed in our classrooms in the future. At MSU I have not felt as if I have been given everything I need in order to be on my own, let alone to be able to teach LD children. There are quite a few children in my kindergarten class that are seeing the school specialist because they are seen as children who may have learning disabilities, behavioral issues, etc. Many occasions the students are taken to another classroom to work with another teacher in the school and I think it is important that they are identified at such a young age in order to meet their needs. Students in my class are aware of their responsibilities and know that they (and their family) are the ones that are in charge of the learning that takes place outside the classroom. My teacher does many activities that allow the students to experiment with reading and writing (which includes spelling, vocabulary, and reading/writing strategies). I think many of the students are prompted to use strategies that work best for them but my CT does expect students to remember the rules of being a good writer. She is constantly modeling steps and providing cues for the students, which I think helps them tremendously.
I think as a teacher using strategies and skills that I have gained along the way in order to accommodate my students so that they can better themselves is important. Knowing about the reading and writing processes, the various profiles of comprehension, and knowing the different types of learning styles will only better me as a teacher and I hope that I can learn the needs of my students in order to allow them to become better students.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Blog #6
Upon reading Applegate, Quinn, and Applegate's "Profiles in Comprehension," I realized that there are many different types of reading comprehension that I didn't even know existed. After reading through the eight main categories, it seemed the most logical that teachers strive to create "authors" out of their students. Different personality types held mold these ideals of comprehension into the individual student. For example, there is a student in my placement that is extremely shy and often times reluctant to complete any work. I would classify him as a "minimalist" because of the lack of effort and expression he uses in class discussions. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is another student in my first grade class that is very outgoing and intelligent and would answer every comprehension classroom as a "quiz contestant." This student also believes that he knows more than the teacher at times. It is unfortunate that the classroom climate ultimately helps alter these levels of comprehension as the first student I had mentioned is very shy and quiet and the second is outgoing and talkative. As far as my reading comprehension goes, I would classify myself as a "politician" because I am often a visual learner that connects random things from texts to the outside world. These many different types and strategies for comprehension should be assessed by being scaffolded initially in the classroom. The teacher should take and manage steps to know and learn her students different techniques and abilities to understanding and relating material.
I was pleasantly surprised to read the second course pack article regarding LD children and how to assess their needs. I mentioned this earlier as a comment to Katie, I feel very nervous to teach children with learning disabilities because I'm not sure how to assess and handle their individual needs. I feel that MSU has ill-prepared us Elementary Education majors thus far in accomodating our whole classroom. Carlisle gave an interesting statistic that in a classroom of 20, one student is bound to have an LD. I am very thankful for our mini workshop that took place last semester by Lindsay, Natalie, Rachel, Kelly and Meryl because it taught me so many things to help modify my lessons to accomodate these children. I would like to have another day like that at some point before I am off to teach on my own to feel more comfortable in this area.
I was pleasantly surprised to read the second course pack article regarding LD children and how to assess their needs. I mentioned this earlier as a comment to Katie, I feel very nervous to teach children with learning disabilities because I'm not sure how to assess and handle their individual needs. I feel that MSU has ill-prepared us Elementary Education majors thus far in accomodating our whole classroom. Carlisle gave an interesting statistic that in a classroom of 20, one student is bound to have an LD. I am very thankful for our mini workshop that took place last semester by Lindsay, Natalie, Rachel, Kelly and Meryl because it taught me so many things to help modify my lessons to accomodate these children. I would like to have another day like that at some point before I am off to teach on my own to feel more comfortable in this area.
Monday, February 16, 2009
GLCE's and UDL
Grade Level Content Expectations are an obviously important part of Michigan education. Teachers must teach the expectations that the state has set out for each grade level. Students are tested on their knowledge during the MEAP, which then affects whether or not the school meets AYP under NCLB. If the teacher has taught the GLCE’s and done her job “correctly” ie: teaching to the test, then her students should pass the MEAP and their school will successfully have met the federal guidelines.
After being in the schools now for about 2 years as an intern, I have come across a few interesting experiences regarding the Michigan GLCEs. Firstly, I was in a parochial school last year and the teachers did not have to abide by the GLCE’s because they were not federally funded and did not have to meet AYP (although the students still took the MEAP- I think so that they could switch to public school and have their records show that they took the MEAP). The teacher I was with did look at the GLCE but she did not seem phased in the least that she was not going to meet all of them by the end of the year (she also had a split classroom which would have made meeting both years of GLCEs nearly impossible). This year I am in a kindergarten and the teacher has expressly stated to me that she switched to the kindergarten age level because she was tired of teaching to the test in the older grades. Unfortunately she doesn’t really look at the kindergarten GLCE’s except during professional development meetings where the k-3rd teachers get together to discuss curriculum. I know that she has made lessons after these meetings based on the GLCE’s but she does not refer to them daily or weekly. She absolutely hates teaching to the MEAP and she gets very heated when she looks over the GLCEs. She feels that many of the kindergarten GLCEs are too hard for five year olds. In some cases I might agree with her, such as the science GLCEs which want teachers to introduce the concept of tides and lunar changes. Although, the majority of the GLCEs deal with things that I feel are attainable when done slowly throughout the year. It might be hard to teach students to write a “brief personal narrative”, but as they progress through the year they should be able to illustrate and make an attempt at writing a sentence or two beneath their picture that describes their narrative.
I strongly believe in UDL- universal design for learning. This system says that you should teach in a variety of ways to help not only your struggling students but those who you didn’t think would be helped. This ties in with differentiated learning/teaching- the teacher must provide information in a variety of ways so that all learners understand the material.
After being in the schools now for about 2 years as an intern, I have come across a few interesting experiences regarding the Michigan GLCEs. Firstly, I was in a parochial school last year and the teachers did not have to abide by the GLCE’s because they were not federally funded and did not have to meet AYP (although the students still took the MEAP- I think so that they could switch to public school and have their records show that they took the MEAP). The teacher I was with did look at the GLCE but she did not seem phased in the least that she was not going to meet all of them by the end of the year (she also had a split classroom which would have made meeting both years of GLCEs nearly impossible). This year I am in a kindergarten and the teacher has expressly stated to me that she switched to the kindergarten age level because she was tired of teaching to the test in the older grades. Unfortunately she doesn’t really look at the kindergarten GLCE’s except during professional development meetings where the k-3rd teachers get together to discuss curriculum. I know that she has made lessons after these meetings based on the GLCE’s but she does not refer to them daily or weekly. She absolutely hates teaching to the MEAP and she gets very heated when she looks over the GLCEs. She feels that many of the kindergarten GLCEs are too hard for five year olds. In some cases I might agree with her, such as the science GLCEs which want teachers to introduce the concept of tides and lunar changes. Although, the majority of the GLCEs deal with things that I feel are attainable when done slowly throughout the year. It might be hard to teach students to write a “brief personal narrative”, but as they progress through the year they should be able to illustrate and make an attempt at writing a sentence or two beneath their picture that describes their narrative.
I strongly believe in UDL- universal design for learning. This system says that you should teach in a variety of ways to help not only your struggling students but those who you didn’t think would be helped. This ties in with differentiated learning/teaching- the teacher must provide information in a variety of ways so that all learners understand the material.
Chapter 4 Tompkins
In Tompkins Chapter Four, the stages of spelling development are laid out from age 3 to age 14 with all the different things that children should learn/be able to do at each stage. I am in a kindergarten classroom and the majority of students fall into this category. It says that students learn to make a distinction between drawing and writing, how to make letters, the direction of writing on the page and some letter sound matches. I think it is very interesting however, that some of our students still do not even know the directionality of text. I find them writing their name backwards, starting at the far right of the page moving left with the letters. I immediately correct them and tell them that in writing and reading you must always go from left to right across the page. (I also remind them that they have to write their number sentences this way for math as well.) I think that in my classroom so many of these simple things that the students are supposed to be learning are going un-taught. I feel that by this point in kindergarten the students should know the directionality of text as well as be able to write most of the letters (at least half). But sadly, many of them don’t know any letters but those in their name and they often don’t realize that the letters in their name are making the sounds that we hear when their name is read aloud. I find often students coming up to me and saying “There is an “M” in my name Miss H!” after we have learned the letter for the week. Up until we have discussed it, I don’t believe they have made the association that Mariam starts with an M and makes the “mmmm” sound. I know that the students are very young and they are still learning the basics of phonics however, I feel that they are very behind. It is sad to me that after 100 days of school they are just now learning the sounds in their name are related to letters. I think this had to do with the fact that the CT only introduces one letter per week. I have talked about this approach before and I think after seeing it implemented throughout the school year that it is not a good approach. Students should know more letters than they do now and they should be writing the letters they know much more often. It has been weeks since they have done a writing assignment and they are still so afraid to write that it makes me sad. Reading this chapter has given me some hope though, because I realize that at age 5 these students are not expected to be spelling correctly or even understanding the alphabetic principle completely. They are still learning and every experience is setting them up for further knowledge in phonics and reading.
Blog #5
This week I really enjoyed the readings and I think they go along with what we are covering in class. The technology that we saw last Tuesday really shows how I can accommodate students in my classroom however I need to. I liked seeing some of the different types of computer websites, blogging, 'games', and ways that my students can express themselves. Some of the technologies I thought were a little inappropriate for students in a classroom. I suppose it depends on the age and grade level but some of the new things I learned were things I would not consider using in my classroom. But other things (like Abbey mentioned) like the blogs, digital stories, after school 'today's meet', and such are great ideas and things that I would love to incorporate into my room.
From the articles I really appreciated the various ideas of accommodating different learners and some of the ideas were really neat. In the first article, I thought it was a huge eye opener to read about this little boy that was gifted but yet sometimes not understood or did not fully function to the term gifted. It was as if he developed his own meaning to the term gifted and I really saw a lot from this child. His family went through a lot to accommodate his needs but it was well worth it. When the teacher in his first school was frustrated by having to allow Marcus have accommodations and modified schedules I thought that it was weird for a teacher to act like that. I could not understand why a teacher would not want to do anything in his or her power to help a student in the classroom. I believe creating an environment for Marcus where his learning styles are accommodated to where it does not affect other students too much would be what I would try and do. In the second article I liked reading the specific ways I can set up my classroom. I would even say that I would use some of those techniques and support systems in my classroom no matter what type of learners I have. I completely agree with the schedules and how children/students rely on a set, guided routine everyday. Many of the things I saw/read about kind of reminded me about what we did in Erik's class last semester when the one group presented that showed us the stations to accommodate students.
I think that between Tuesdays class and the readings there is a reminder that while technology is great and we need to bridge that gap that some students may have, we need to remember that the simplest things such as visual simulations in our classrooms can be just as efficient and stimulating.
From the articles I really appreciated the various ideas of accommodating different learners and some of the ideas were really neat. In the first article, I thought it was a huge eye opener to read about this little boy that was gifted but yet sometimes not understood or did not fully function to the term gifted. It was as if he developed his own meaning to the term gifted and I really saw a lot from this child. His family went through a lot to accommodate his needs but it was well worth it. When the teacher in his first school was frustrated by having to allow Marcus have accommodations and modified schedules I thought that it was weird for a teacher to act like that. I could not understand why a teacher would not want to do anything in his or her power to help a student in the classroom. I believe creating an environment for Marcus where his learning styles are accommodated to where it does not affect other students too much would be what I would try and do. In the second article I liked reading the specific ways I can set up my classroom. I would even say that I would use some of those techniques and support systems in my classroom no matter what type of learners I have. I completely agree with the schedules and how children/students rely on a set, guided routine everyday. Many of the things I saw/read about kind of reminded me about what we did in Erik's class last semester when the one group presented that showed us the stations to accommodate students.
I think that between Tuesdays class and the readings there is a reminder that while technology is great and we need to bridge that gap that some students may have, we need to remember that the simplest things such as visual simulations in our classrooms can be just as efficient and stimulating.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Blog #5- Technology
I thought that our technology exploration day last week was awesome! I personally found it extremely benefitial, practical, and a lot of fun! It was a nice change of pace from a regular day of TE class. Amongst all of the technologies that we explored, a couple stood out in my mind that would be very useful in an elementary classroom. Google Earth is a fasinating tool that could be used on any computer to provide the students with motivation to learn about geography and/or social studies. Last semester, I planned a lesson for social studies ELL students to learn about maps and cardinal directions. As an idea to open the lesson, my group and I thought we could show the students' homes on Google Earth to get them motivated to study it more. Because we were able to use Digital Story first-hand in Erik's class last semester, I feel competent in the program and excited to introduce it to my future classroom. Students could easily complete projects and/or assignments with this program. It is fun, interactive and very unique for students to use for many different kinds of assignments. I also think that blogging is a good piece of technology to bring into the classroom. Ever since Erik showed us "Today's Meet" last semester, I thought it would be fun to do after-school hours for my future students. I plan on setting a time once a night for an hour to have students log into our class' chatroom on "Today's Meet." During that time, students and their parents can log-in to ask me any questions or state any concerns regarding homework and the like. I also plan to organize and design a class Wiki, much like the one our class is currently using. Announcements for parents and information for the kids will be updated daily on the site and kept up by me. I realize that unfortunately, every student from my class will not have a computer with internet at home to access, therefore will plan on making accomodations for these students and their parents. These accomodations could include a "homework hotline" to call during a certain hour in the evening and/or send extra flyers home with the student for their parents to read, so they will be receiving the same information that the students/parents are getting from the Wiki. Overall, technology day was a huge success for me and it was nice to learn about all of the many different options (and I didn't realize there were so many!)
Monday, February 9, 2009
Blog #4
According to the "Digital Natives" quiz, I am a digital immigrant because I could only correctly define 4 of the terms. However, once I read through the article and learned what the definitions of the terms actually meant, I realized that I was actually a digital native. Natives rely on technology on a daily basis and view it as their 'friend', where immigrants fear technology and try to avoid it at all costs. I think technology in the schools is such an important thing to introduce. I can remember playing Oregon Trail in Elementary School for social studies and Number Munchers for math- the computer lab was always that I looked forward to. It is evident that today's kids are much technologically savvy than most. Many of the students in my class constantly talk about their Nintendo DS or XBOX 360 at home. I've noticed that these students have a hard time being challenged and finding fun in school-based activities because they are constantly living in their own fantasy land after school. I thought the digital natives site was interesting because of the suggestions it gave to help these kids in the school.
To be completely honest, I am having a very hard time defining and understanding what exactly 'emergent digital literacy' is. I looked up the term online but fou nd very few results. I could be completely wrong, but I thought that digital literacy is how the students are using literacy through technology outside of school and emergent digital literacy involves students of other languages attempting to use a new of technology that's on a different level of what they are used to. In this case, emergent students often times do not have the resources that others outside of the classroom would have. Therefore these students are on a whole different level than the others because of the lack of exposure to the different forms of technology. For ELL students, these new concepts and ideas of technology could be very confusing as they are new and unique and something that is not commonly viewed at home. Gibbons states that ELL students are not as familiar with our basic concepts of print, therefore could potentially be left behind. It is hard to say with the ELL student in my classroom how she feels about all of this because she has severe learning disabilities ontop of her miscommunication with the rest of her peers. I feel so sorry for her because I could never imagine being in a room where I did not understand one word of what was being said. She is often left out because of this and I can tell that it affects her. Tompkin's view of emergent literacy and the term of emergent digital literacy are seemingly two of the same because both closely correlate to one another and will become one in the same with the way technology is developing through-out schools. As result, ELL students are suffering from their different backgrounds and new concepts to follow and keep up with the rest of the schooling system.
To be completely honest, I am having a very hard time defining and understanding what exactly 'emergent digital literacy' is. I looked up the term online but fou nd very few results. I could be completely wrong, but I thought that digital literacy is how the students are using literacy through technology outside of school and emergent digital literacy involves students of other languages attempting to use a new of technology that's on a different level of what they are used to. In this case, emergent students often times do not have the resources that others outside of the classroom would have. Therefore these students are on a whole different level than the others because of the lack of exposure to the different forms of technology. For ELL students, these new concepts and ideas of technology could be very confusing as they are new and unique and something that is not commonly viewed at home. Gibbons states that ELL students are not as familiar with our basic concepts of print, therefore could potentially be left behind. It is hard to say with the ELL student in my classroom how she feels about all of this because she has severe learning disabilities ontop of her miscommunication with the rest of her peers. I feel so sorry for her because I could never imagine being in a room where I did not understand one word of what was being said. She is often left out because of this and I can tell that it affects her. Tompkin's view of emergent literacy and the term of emergent digital literacy are seemingly two of the same because both closely correlate to one another and will become one in the same with the way technology is developing through-out schools. As result, ELL students are suffering from their different backgrounds and new concepts to follow and keep up with the rest of the schooling system.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Blog #4
This week in Gibbons I found the very first page in chapter 4 to be quite intense but so true. Stating that those who do not have enough literacy will be " 'locked out' " from the society and all it has to offer. Thinking that we as teachers are supposed to provide students with the tools to be a part of society and to be literate enough to carry on these tasks...is kind of scary! The world now can be a scary thing but with the new generations of people, our world is ever changing. As the chapter begins to touch on the fact that not only is society a tough place for English speaking students, imagine a ELL! Helping ELL to not only speak but write English may be hard. I think helping students find their strengths and weaknesses will make reading, writing, and speaking more enjoyable. As a teacher I want to help students focus on their strengths and improve those. I feel as if drilling students about their weaknesses will only discourage them and will make them think they are not capable of accomplishing difficult tasks. In my classroom I have a student who can speak English but I can tell that in her home another language is spoken. She is a very shy and quiet girl and I feel as if my CT does not always give her the help that she needs. She is not very confident when she speaks or writes. I find this unfortunate because she does not really receive any extra help from my CT because she can speak English. She is just pushed aside.
In the chapter it says to express meaning more than form and I think that this is a great idea. It helps students focus more on their work and trying that worrying about whether it is right or wrong. I also liked how the 'stages of writing' were described; I think those are really helpful. The steps that the stages take will clearly help a student become a well-rounded writer and thinker. Lastly, I feel as if (like the book said) writing is a process of scaffolding. I really see how a teacher-student relationship can be beneficial while a student begins to write and express themselves through pencil and paper.
In Chapter 4 of Tompkins I really tried to relate what I read about to what is happening in my kindergarten class. The chart on 116 I think was really helpful in seeing what students go through as they begin to read, because I know I don't really remember HOW I learned to read. All the games, silly rhymes, posters/labels, and books in the classroom have a part in helping students to read and write. Each time students learn a new number-they sing a song on how to write that number, every time the students learn a new word-they recite that word and make meaning from it by experimenting with the word. For ELL I think that many of the activities I see in my classroom would help them. They too need what the other kindergartners are doing in order to understand English. My CT plays many rhyming and sound-matching activities with the kids; they do spell on your own story journals. As far as spelling goes I don't know if I would be really all that worried right now, that is what my CT tells me. You don't want to help the kids too much because then their parents will think they can spell these words on their own-but you want to help a little to help them think about 'sounding out the words'. I get kind of torn when I try to help them in the classroom because I see what she says but I sometimes do not agree. On page 141 many of the words on the page are my kindergartner's top sight words, and they can see them and recite them quickly! I was pretty proud of them. I liked both of these chapters they were fairly insightful and I can connect many of the things that I see in my class to what I read about in the chapters.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Blog #3
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.
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.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Blog 3
A few thoughts after reading the Tompkins article:
I love the different ideas for centers found in the Tompkins text. My kindergarten CT uses the "reading the room" idea in one of her centers and the kids love it. They are allowed to use the teacher's special pointer as they walk around the reading area reading high frequency words, and the words for the letter of the week which are hung in a special clear pocket holder that changes each week.
I love the idea of the "Bag a story" center, I would never have thought of something so creative and engaging! It is a great idea because not only is it hands on but it is a great way to make the students interested in writing a new story. They get to play and also be creative while they write. Also they imagine the story but they are given ideas and don't have to create every detail which, I think, can be somewhat dauting for young children. They become too nervous about the story that they forget what they are writing and the story can become illegible and confusing. I think providing this interesting brainstorming technique also helps the students lay out what they are going to say before they say it becuase they have to fill out a chart.
I must say that I think my teacher is not doing enough of the strategies listed on page 85 of the Topmkins chapter 3. I feel like some of the things are done naturally, ie by reading books aloud she is introducing them to new vocabulary, however, there aer other very important things I feel that she should be doing to foster their literacy development as this chart talks about. One thing that I think could very easily be done would be to work on comprehension in the form of predictions by looking at the pictures. I think this is a remarkable idea for kindergarten classrooms becuase most students cannot yet read full sentences but they can predict from the pictures and the title.
One of my biggest concerns about my classroom is the fact that the students have not yet really started writing. Next week they are celebrating their 100th day of school and they have barely done 5 writing activities. The students are only expected to write their name on each assignment and up till this point in the year they have only had a handful of writing experiences. My biggest concern is that becuase they have not been working on writing, the students are extremely self-conscious and they complain about not knowing how to write or spell. I feel so frustrated having to tell them to try their best becuase I know that that's the last thing they want to hear. They know that their best is still not accurate. I also know that the only way they will improve is to work on writing daily and be taught positive ways to improve and have more confidence in their mistakes. I am hoping to implement more writing activities with the teacher, she has said that she wants the two MSU seniors in her room to work with the students on writing every afternoon during centers. I hope that we will be able to instill more confidence in the students from more practice. I also want to use some of the "opportunities for students to experiment with writing" that are on page 86 of Tompkins. One that particularly interests me is the letter to parents from the students. I think it would be great to work on a letter to the parents each week and see how the students improve as the rest of the year goes on. I would love to see their writing become more letters and sounds (if not actual words) rather than frustration and scribbling.
I love the different ideas for centers found in the Tompkins text. My kindergarten CT uses the "reading the room" idea in one of her centers and the kids love it. They are allowed to use the teacher's special pointer as they walk around the reading area reading high frequency words, and the words for the letter of the week which are hung in a special clear pocket holder that changes each week.
I love the idea of the "Bag a story" center, I would never have thought of something so creative and engaging! It is a great idea because not only is it hands on but it is a great way to make the students interested in writing a new story. They get to play and also be creative while they write. Also they imagine the story but they are given ideas and don't have to create every detail which, I think, can be somewhat dauting for young children. They become too nervous about the story that they forget what they are writing and the story can become illegible and confusing. I think providing this interesting brainstorming technique also helps the students lay out what they are going to say before they say it becuase they have to fill out a chart.
I must say that I think my teacher is not doing enough of the strategies listed on page 85 of the Topmkins chapter 3. I feel like some of the things are done naturally, ie by reading books aloud she is introducing them to new vocabulary, however, there aer other very important things I feel that she should be doing to foster their literacy development as this chart talks about. One thing that I think could very easily be done would be to work on comprehension in the form of predictions by looking at the pictures. I think this is a remarkable idea for kindergarten classrooms becuase most students cannot yet read full sentences but they can predict from the pictures and the title.
One of my biggest concerns about my classroom is the fact that the students have not yet really started writing. Next week they are celebrating their 100th day of school and they have barely done 5 writing activities. The students are only expected to write their name on each assignment and up till this point in the year they have only had a handful of writing experiences. My biggest concern is that becuase they have not been working on writing, the students are extremely self-conscious and they complain about not knowing how to write or spell. I feel so frustrated having to tell them to try their best becuase I know that that's the last thing they want to hear. They know that their best is still not accurate. I also know that the only way they will improve is to work on writing daily and be taught positive ways to improve and have more confidence in their mistakes. I am hoping to implement more writing activities with the teacher, she has said that she wants the two MSU seniors in her room to work with the students on writing every afternoon during centers. I hope that we will be able to instill more confidence in the students from more practice. I also want to use some of the "opportunities for students to experiment with writing" that are on page 86 of Tompkins. One that particularly interests me is the letter to parents from the students. I think it would be great to work on a letter to the parents each week and see how the students improve as the rest of the year goes on. I would love to see their writing become more letters and sounds (if not actual words) rather than frustration and scribbling.
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