Reading and Writing Strategies

            In chapter five of D and Z we are introduced to various strategies for reading and writing. There are mental strategies that readers use to understand what they are reading, instructional strategies that teachers use to help students learn mental strategies, and whole class or individual strategies that combine both mental and instructional strategies. Teachers must introduce these reading strategies to students and guide them on how they are done then allow students to practice them on their own. While reading through all of the suggested strategies in the chapter five I was thinking about which strategies I thought to be the most effective and that I could see myself using in the classroom as both a teacher and a student.

            One specific strategy that I liked was brainstorming. With brainstorming the teacher gives a key word from the reading that is going to be done and the students tell the teacher words or ideas that they associate with that word. This give both the teacher and the students an idea of what they already know about a topic prior to any reading that is done. This also allows students to have input in the lesson right from the beginning. I think that this strategy would be very useful in a history classroom because students might have some kind of knowledge about historical subjects prior to learning about them in class and that information is useful for the teacher to know.

This made me try and think of an example of how I would use brainstorming in the classroom. The first subject that popped in to my head was the Civil War. I could possible start by asking students what words they think of when they think about the Civil War. Or I could narrow it down to a specific term and say slavery, freedom, or secession. The opportunities are endless when it comes to brainstorming about historical topics.

I felt that clustering which was the next strategy in the book could be used as a way to organize student’s brainstorming. With clustering students identify a key word, which they write down, and circle on a piece of paper. Then they think of words and ideas that they associate with that word and write them around and connect them to the key word. Students then connect outside words that are related to each other. Students get together in groups and share their ideas and draw connections between each other’s ideas. Again I thought of my Civil War example and how this strategy might work well in the classroom with this subject. Chapter five goes on to discuss various reading and writing strategies all which can be useful for both teachers and students in the classroom.

I found a website with blank graphic organizers that could be used for both brainstorming, clustering, and other strategies that were described in chapter five: 

http://www.eduplace.com/ss/socsci/tn/books/bke2/gfxorganizers/index.html

Finally here is a quote that I found this week and wanted to share just because...

The Problem With Textbooks and How To Use Them

            From this weeks readings I learned many important lessons about textbooks.  Chapter three of Subjects Matter discussed why textbooks should not be the only reading material used in the classroom.  The authors claimed that textbooks have a number of issues for both teachers and students. Some of these issues are that textbooks are superficial, hard to read, badly designed, authoritarian, inaccurate, not written for students, and cost too much. While there are many issues with textbooks they do serve as a useful reference guide however, they should be supplemented with other kinds of readings.  

            In chapter six Daniels and Zemelman discuss how to use a textbook. They explain that what we really want to do as teachers is to help student understand the big ideas and that to remember the big ideas students must act upon them. There are six ways to help students use textbooks more effectively that are listed in this chapter. These six ways are checking out the textbook, jigsawing, guide-o-rama study guides, vocabulary word sorts, textbook circles, and SQ3R. My favorite method of these six is jigsawing. With jigsawing students are assigned to focus on a certain topic or chapter of the textbook to read. After reading their section and writing down the big ideas they meet in a group of their peers who read the same section as they did or an “expert group” and discuss what they read. They then decide what they think were the key ideas of the chapter and present their findings to the class. I have experience this type of activity in high school and seen it used in a class at CF High School and think this is a great way to make textbook reading more interesting for students. It allows them to focus more on their assigned section and allows them to work with and learn from their peers.

Overall theses chapters got me thinking about how I want to use textbooks in the classroom as a teacher. As someone who never enjoyed reading textbooks I agree with everything the authors are saying in these chapters. Textbooks should be used sparingly and only as a reference material. While using textbooks it is important to help and guide students to understand the content they are reading in fun and creative ways.

           

            

What is the future of textbook use in the classroom? 

ELL Info Brief

            The ELL Info Brief discusses the challenge of improving academic achievement for English Language Learners in the classroom and provides detailed instruction on how teachers can make these improvements. It is explained that there are two primary challenges for educators when teaching ELL students at the secondary level. The first being the issue of ensuring that ELL students on the secondary level have an educational experience that includes both content and English language instruction. The second is that educators must assess ELL students in valid and reliable ways. The brief goes on to list various ways in which Educators of ELL students at the secondary level can face these challenges and differentiate their lessons.

            One strategy that stood out for me on how teachers can differentiate their lessons for ELL students was under the category of differentiating instructional techniques and strategies to deliver content. In this example it is suggested that teachers use non-verbal tools such as pictures, demonstrations, charts, and graphs to make the content understandable for students. (p.3) I saw an example of this while observing a Special Education and ESL class where the teacher was having students look at various pictures from Ellis Island then describing what they saw. She allowed students who were not fluent in English to write what they saw in Spanish first then translate it to English. I thought this was a good example of differentiation for ELL students and saw it as a tool that I might be able to use in the classroom someday.

Below is a powerful picture of Susan B. Anthony getting beaten and arrested for trying to vote in 1872 that might be useful in teaching ELL students in a Women's Suffrage lesson. 

Source: https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/46532_520206144657772_1973803745_n.png

Chapter 4: Toward a Balanced Diet of Reading

In chapter four of Subjects Matter Daniels and Zemelman discuss the importance of exposing students to a wide variety of reading materials. They explain that while textbooks are a useful resource for teachers they should not be the sole source of reference material for students. Teachers should try to include other reference materials in their lessons including news stories, historical accounts, editorials, essays, reviews, biographies, memoirs, novels, plays, and poetry. Including these materials in the classroom can help to actively engage students and make it easier for them to understand the content of the lesson.

            I do agree with these ideas discussed in chapter four of Subjects Matter. I think it is important to utilize resources other than textbooks in the classroom, especially in my content area of history. Learning history from a textbook can by dry and boring. There are so many historical resources that can be used in the teaching of history. I think it is especially important to teach students about primary sources in history at the secondary level. I had not learned about primary sources until I entered college and I find that they are very useful in the teaching and understanding of historical themes and ideas.

            While I agree that a wide variety of reading materials should be used in the classroom I do think it could be somewhat difficult for teachers to obtain these resources. While there are many reading materials that are available for free such as news articles and essays there are some that would be costly. For example if a teacher wanted to use a specific novel in their lesson it would be costly for the school to buy each student their own novel. Like a well balanced diet of healthy foods a well balanced diet of engaging reading material can be costly.

            I was reminded that not all school districts have the money to spend on reading material in the classroom in a recent Huffington Post article titled, “’It’s not worth it to become a teacher at this point’ Veteran Educator Says.” In this article a North Carolina teacher explains how she must sacrifice her own money out of pocket to buy supplies for her students. She also explained that she has not gotten new textbooks since 2009. With educational budget cuts around the country it seems as though a well balanced diet of reading might be easier said than done. It is our job as educators to make this dream of a balanced diet of reading in the classroom a reality. 

’It’s not worth it to become a teacher at this point’ Veteran Educator Says:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/north-carolina-education_n_5909324.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

UBD Reading

         The UBD reading discusses the importance of Understanding By Design in planning curriculum. With UBD or understanding by design teachers plan lessons or units backwards by first focusing on what standards they would like to address and identifying the end result they would like to achieve. Teachers then determine what evidence they can use to reach this final or end result and go on to plan out how they will instruct and teach their students to reach the desired result. A concept that I found interesting in this reading about UBD was essential questions and their importance in UBD.

            Essential questions are questions that make students think and they have more than one answer as opposed to knowledge questions, which will only have one definite answer.  Essential questions lead to better understanding and student inquiry. They keep important questions alive, are meant to be explored, and are thought provoking. Essential questions are crucial in my content area of history because they are meant to have more than one answer or opinion and raise new questions. By doing this essential questions keep students interested and engaged. This is important in history because non-essential questions that just ask for dates and names can be boring.

            While reading about essential questions I found myself thinking about writing my interest inventory for class. While writing my interest inventory I found that it was difficult to come up with questions that would render more than a yes or no answer from students. I know that writing essential questions is something that I definitely need to practice. Through both writing my interest inventory and reading about essential questions I have learned how important asking the right questions and wording them in a way that is thought provoking can be in teaching students effectively. 

Play In the Classroom

In Wilhelm chapters one and two there are many interesting teaching and learning strategies that are discussed. One idea discussed by Wilhelm that I found interesting was that Vygotsky stressed the importance of play in learning.  Wilhelm explains that Vygotsky believed in play children are forced to learn above the normal level at which they would normally learn creating a zone of proximal development. Thus play creates growth and development in students.  Wilhelm goes on to explain that play creates a safe environment for students to learn and express new and different ideas. (Wilhelm, 23) Wilhelm also discusses the findings of Hillocks who argues that learning that is fun should be done in a way that is challenging, relevant purposeful, and supported in a way that makes success possible. (Wilhelm, 25)

            I did some further research on play and learning and found an interesting article by Anthony Colucci from Teacher Magazine. The article titled, “What Would Walt Disney Learn in School Today”, discusses how great minds such as Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Edison may not have lived up to their full potential had they been brought up in today’s educational system where standardized tests have such high importance. Colucci stresses that teaching critical and creative thinking through real life scenarios and play are crucial to learning because play helps to actively engage students and hold their attention.
http://www.thinkfun.com/content/what-would-walt-disney-learn-school-today

I agree with these ideas about play in learning. I believe that play is crucial in learning because it helps to actively engage students. I began to think about real life examples of using play in learning while doing this reading. One example I thought of was the anatomy class that I observed at Central Falls High School where students were given medical records and had to diagnose what was wrong with a patient. I think this is a good example of actively learning through play in the classroom because students were required to do something that is fun however, they will also learn from it.

            These ideas also made me think about ways in which I could incorporate play in the classroom as a future teacher. I remembered a great game that I had found on Pinterest that I hope to use someday. It’s the game Guess Who with all of the characters replaced by historical figures.  I thought this was a great way to make learning history and historical figures fun for students. I believe it is important to make learning about history fun for students through play because it is a subject that when taught monotonously will make students not interested. 

http://acraftyteacher.blogspot.com/2012/07/guess-who-american-history.html

In summation these ideas about the importance of play in learning of Vygotsky and Hillocks that are discussed by Wilhelm in chapters one and two are crucial to learning. Play in learning helps to engage students and makes them perform above their academic abilities creating growth. These ideas have made me reflect on how I can hopefully incorporate play in the classroom someday to become a good teacher.

Literacies Profile

For the past year I have been fortunate enough to work part time as a pound keeper at the Pawtucket Animal Shelter in Slater Park. Having been an animal lover my whole life I thoroughly enjoy going to work each day and love what I do. As a pound keeper my responsibilities include maintaining shelter cleanliness, feeding and caring for the animals at our shelter, and assisting in animal adoptions. My work at the animal shelter has enabled me to become literate in caring for the animals at our facility.  

Since I was a child I have always loved animals. When I was eight years old I emailed the same animal shelter that I now work for inquiring about becoming a volunteer. They responded saying that I was unfortunately too young to volunteer but to get back to them once I was old enough. Here I am many years later working at the same shelter where I have been able to become a skilled animal caretaker. I have acquired the skills necessary to become literate in caring for animals through learning from others, practice, and patience.

When I started working at the animal shelter I knew that there were many things I needed to learn. The most important thing I needed to learn was how to properly care for the animals at our facility. I learned how to properly clean, feed, handle, and maintain the overall well being of the animals at our facility primarily from my co workers who were very patient with me. I observed what they did while they gave me advice and answered any questions that they had about their process. Practice was also very important in my process of learning how to become literate in animal care at the shelter.

Once I had learned how to properly clean, feed, handle, and maintain the well being of the animals at the shelter I needed to practice to fully become literate in these areas. I remember feeling overwhelmed when learning how to do animal adoptions because there were so many things that needed to be done throughout the entire process. It took me a few months however I eventually learned how to complete the entire animal adoption process on my own through repetition and practice. While practicing these skills required in caring for the animals at the shelter I learned that patience is also key in becoming literate in a particular skill.

At the animal shelter we get mostly stray animals that are sometime extremely scared when they come in to the shelter and have never had any type of human interaction. One of my jobs is to try to socialize these animals and get them to be comfortable around people so that they can go up for adoption at some point. For some animals this can take some time and we need to move very slowly with them. The best feeling is when they finally let you pet them and give them the love that they deserve. Through this process I’ve learned that patience leads to great things and is key in literacy.

I have learned that the skills of learning from others, practice, and patience that I have used to become literate in animal care can be applied to virtually every aspect of my life and are skills that I try to always practice every day. They will be especially useful for me in my future as a teacher because these are important skills that all teachers should possess to be an excellent teacher. Who would have ever thought that getting paid to pick up poop and play with dogs and cats would help me to someday become a good teacher?

If anyone is ever interested in adopting from the Pawtucket Animal Shelter here is a link to our Petfinder (which is not always up to date due to the high turnover rate of animals at our shelter): http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/RI13.html
Also a link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PawtucketAnimalShelter