Laura Granger Blog # 6

In the article, Including Students with Special Needs in a Writing Workshop by Fu and Shelton, it covers different methods a teacher can use to help special needs students fit in with the mainstream students. Every child has different needs that a teacher must meet but the real question is how can a teacher do this. If a child doesn't know English or cannot write their letters the chances of that student writing is very slim to none. However, there are other ways that a student can express his or her ideas. For example, the article talks about this one student who draws pictures instead of writing what she thinks about the subject. The teacher can ask the student about her/his drawings and write down what that student has to say. This method can be very helpful when dealing with students who cannot write yet. The teacher can also simply expose the students to different genres and throughout the year students will pick up on different elements that a story requires. Many times a student needs to have independent time to go over the story and figure out what makes up that story.

As a future teacher, I found this article very helpful because it dealt with the emotional as well as social needs of the child as well. You do not want to cause a child embarrassment because their confidence is one thing that will help push them to succeed in writing. A teacher must make it comfortable for a student to have room for error. If and when a student makes a mistake the classroom atmosphere must be accepting and realize that everyone makes mistakes and that we are all here to grow. Being creative and having different ideas is also a part of writing. Without imagination writing cannot be achieved and since everyone has an imagination writing is possible for anyone, regardless of how that is expressed.

Laura Granger Blog # 5

In this article, " Let's Talk 2.0" by Michele Knobel and Dana Wilber, they talk about how technology is greatly impacting our schools. Teachers are starting to teach differently and incorporating technology into their lessons. The internet has become a major part of our every day lives and we are constantly using it to learn more, to be entertained, and for communication. Teachers can have whole lessons on the Smart Board and have students play games on computers to further their learning. One aspect that was brought up in the article was that "outside of school, many students are accomplished authors, filmmakers, animators, and recording artists" (21). This statement couldn't be any more true. The invention of You Tube literally makes people become famous over night. Everyone has the opportunity to get their opinions out and to be heard. It takes a minute to create a web cast and share your opinion about something going on. People will watch it and give you feedback and this creates an online community. People can write blogs sharing their experiences, writings, and photographs for the world to see are also very popular now.

Teachers can incorporate this into their lessons and give the students the most important a teacher can give to a student and that is creative control. Students are free to explore the internet and create new stories and ideas that sometimes can't be expressed with a pen and paper. Students can use graphics to make a story come alive. There are so many options out there now and it is going to be interesting to see how the next generation is going to take this to the next level.

Jaimie Ekiert Blog 6

Harvey and Goudis’s chapter 4 in Strategies That Work provided many strategies that help students become motivated and independent readers. I think that encouraging students to become more autonomous in the classroom benefits their academic and personal lives. One strategy mentioned was asking open ended questions. I believe that open ended questions enable students to think critically and focus on the lesson. In my clinical class, my cooperating teacher asks the students “thick” questions when doing a shared reading. This allows all students to think deeply about the focus area and a chance to answer the question. As we have talked about in previous classes, activating student’s background knowledge benefits their comprehension of the text. I liked how the chapter describes how thinking aloud and reading aloud with the students helps them to activate their background knowledge and get them to think critically about their reading.

Another important aspect of engaging students with reading is allowing them to read material that they find interesting. I think that is an excellent point that is noted in the chapter, I feel that I would be more of a reader today if I was able to read books that interested me throughout my education. Students will be more interested in what they are reading and more eager to share their texts with the class. There are many methods to creating a fun and beneficial reading lesson to the classroom. Small group instruction seems to make a big difference with students understanding of the text. With more one on one time and everyone responding the students get to form their own ideas, questions and opinion as well as hearing other student’s perspectives. In my clinical class, students are encouraged to write post it’s with questions or comments about their independent reading books. I think that this helps the students better understand the text and reminds them if they have any questions. Overall, the strategies mentioned in the chapter are beneficial in motivating students to read and helping them better comprehend their texts. It is methods that I would like to utilize in my future classroom.

Jaimie Ekiert Blog 5

My group worked on chapter 7, Activating and Connection to Background Knowledge in Strategies That Work. I believe that background knowledge is one of the most useful concepts used in reading. I think that when students activate their prior knowledge it makes reading text easier and more interesting. The chapter describes how background knowledge helps students to understand the material better, helps them make connections to see the bigger picture of the text and adds to their experiences. Different student’s experiences can help other students relate or understand the material better. The chapter describes ways in which the students can form connections and relate to the text. Students can make text to text, text to self, text to world and reminded of connections. I think asking the students what type of connection they are making will help other students make connections and to relate to material easier.

The chapter also describes the importance of students understanding genres, formats, features, author, structure, signal words and writing styles. I believe that students are able to understand the meaning of the text better when they are familiar with the format of writing. A student who does not understand the format or structure of a text may become confused and overwhelmed. Understanding these features also helps students to pick out the important information from the text. Another feature the text explains in assisting students with their background knowledge is picture books. Pictures books, in my opinion, are a beneficial way for students to learn different vocabulary and information. Photographs are usually isolated and contain their own caption or label that will further describe and define what it is that students are looking at. It also puts a visual on a new vocabulary word. I am a visual learner, for others who are visual learners; picture books can help them understand the text.

Jaimie Ekiert Blog 4

The blackboard article on chapter six, Great Readers Read to Learn, explained a lot of important facts that contribute to young children’s interest and ability to read informational texts. The article began by introducing an educator named Adam and how he approaches informational texts. As I was reading along I noticed that Adam and I have similar styles to reading informational texts. I enjoy informational texts that have to do with animals or the environment, basically any earth or life science texts. Before I begin reading the text I will go through the table of contents, picture walk through the text and ask questions on material I hope to read about. This method enables me to get an idea of the information I am going to find in the text and if it the type that I want to be reading. The article also described how most schools across the country have less science and social studies being integrated into their curriculum. I agree with this statement and I think that it would be great if informational texts on science and social studies were integrated into the reading or writing lesson. This would allow students to practice reading, understanding the text and learn valuable information in other content areas. The article also discusses that students enjoy fictional texts more because they are more familiar with these texts. These texts may be used at home, they are in the classroom and they are easier to follow along with. I agree that it would be beneficial to the students to have non-fiction texts in the classroom and at home to help familiarize students with its format.

I believe students should work with non-fiction texts just as much as they work with fiction texts. Students can learn to the different features of the text and learn how to understand the format of the text. The students will see the differences between fiction and non-fiction texts, and hopefully not run into a problem such as the fourth grade girl Dahlia from the article. Teachers can ask students to pick informational text based off of something they are interested in and come up with focus questions just like Adam did in the article. This gives students a purpose and guides them along the text. I believe this would help students complete the lesson or activity because there is a lot of material used in non-fiction texts. Even for myself I have questions to focus on while reading because there is a lot of material. I like to look at the captions as I read. I also agree with the idea of students highlighting and marking their texts. This allows students to pull out important information or information pertaining to their focuses. All of these concepts will help students recognize the relationships and features in non-fiction texts.

Laura Granger Blog # 4

An article written by Espinosa and Fournier called "6 Stepping Stones: Literature in the Classroom" talks about the challenges teachers face with bilingual students. Picking out literature for bilingual students can be especially hard on teachers who only speak one language. This article gives many pointers and answers many questions that teachers will be asking. First, the children need to have questions raised in their minds while reading books. How does a teacher do this? A teacher could start by reading books about famous people from history. The teacher could then go on to ask the students how they relate to them or if they even relate to the people they are reading about. The students will start thinking about the information they have received and how it applies to them in their own lives.

Another way would be that the teacher has careful preparation as to which books they are picking out for the students; teachers need to do some research before they read a book to the students. Teachers should talk to other teachers and get ideas as well as running it past the school board. The article states, " it takes a lot of thought and mental preparation to know exactly why you're reading this book or why this book is going to fit" (Espinosa and Fournier 85). The key point for teachers to remember is that we must be intentional with everything that we do. Every event in the classroom should be an opportunity to learn.

Making sure that the children get a chance to share their ideas is a key point when reading a text. Many times it is hard for teachers to get all 25-30 opinions from their students but there are techniques that can be used in order to conquer this. A child must first know that the teacher feels like their opinion is important and that can be done by the teacher saying to the class "everyone's ideas are important and we need to respect those ideas". The teacher can also form small groups and have the students share their ideas with their peers. Understanding where people and coming from and what their ideas are builds a stronger classroom foundation and gives students more confidence to share their answers.

Laura Granger Blog # 3

The article, "Asking the Experts: What Children Have to Say about Their Reading Preferences" by Davilla and Partick was a real eye opener. Not only did the article talk about how adults are generally the ones who pick and chose what a child reads but it goes one step further and breaks down what boys like and what girls like to read. The article states, " Adults control the world of children's literature: adults write the books, adults choose which books to publish...adults purchase the books for their homes, stores, and libraries " (Davilla and Patrick 199). As a future teacher it is really important to have a book nook that is very diverse and meets the needs and interests of all of the students. The first step though before a teacher begins planning a book nook would be to get to know the interests of his/her students. One way to do this is by using surveys in the beginning of the year asking what does the student like to do and what their interests are. If a student sees a book in the selection that they like chances are they are going to pick it up and read it.

The article also mentioned that as students age their love for reading usually decreases. Middle and high school students are told what to read and how to display what they know, whether it be by taking a test or by doing a project. Rarely, do they get the chance to take out a book that they are interested in and read it. If given the chance, I am sad to say that most of them wouldn't know where to start when picking out a book for themselves. It is a teacher's job to help nurture that need for direction but also taking into consideration that maybe not every student wants to read about the Scarlet Letter or The Grapes of Wrath. (which I personally think are both great books but do not meet the needs for every student).

Another point to bring up would be that there are books out there that are very popular with both boys and girls of any age level and any reading level. Harry Potter is a prime example of this because it has something for everyone, action, comedy, suspense, drama, and romance. It was a book that students wanted to read and learn more about because it was fun. Children are supposed to have fun while reading and we need to remember that.

Daniella Fusaro- Blog #6

Frey, Fisher and Berkin
Chapter 6- Great Readers Read to Learn

Not all children like to read and getting them to read informational texts or non-fiction text is an even bigger challenge. As mentioned in the article it says that teachers should expose their students to these texts from the very first day of school and that 50-60% of what students read should be informational. A great way to do this is with read-alouds and simply sharing with students that informational texts are not boring or contain too much information. On the other hand this is actually the perfect time to share with them because you are there to answer any of their questions that they may have. I will be the first one to admit that I would rather read a fiction book than non-fiction especially at a younger age. It was not until I was older that I enjoyed reading about real life stories and events that took place.

This article provided some very useful information especially on how to involve and engage students with informational texts. I never realized how important they really were until actually reading this article and seeing it used in my Clincial 1 experience. It also discussed using disagrams and charts that go along with text features and just yesterday my class used a flow chart to describe sequence of events. All of these practices come to life so much more and have such a deeper meaning after seeing it up close.

Laura Granger Blog # 2

In the article, " Using Textbooks and Trade Books for Content Area Instruction" by Alvermann et al, the topic of using trade books is brought up to the reader. Growing up we all were used to the idea that textbooks were the only way that we could learn information from a book. Many times we received the textbook in the beginning of the year put it in our desks or lockers and it was rarely to be seen throughout the year. There would be groans from the students as the teacher would have us take out the textbook to look at a paragraph or read a chapter for homework. So as a future teacher this article really stood out to me because it shows a different approach when it comes to finding information.

Trade books have a lot of strengths to them and are more interesting to a child because it doesn't give information that the child sees as useless. One of the key strengths that really stood out was that trade books are available to all reading levels. The article states, "Publishers such as Rigby, Sunshine, and Newbridge have whole catalogs listing and describing informational books for emergent, early, and transitional readers" (Alverman 45). Unlike a textbook where everyone has to read the same information the same way, a trade book can keep everyone on the same topic but provide the information in various ways. Also, trade books can be ordered for ELL students. Trade books include pictures and short sentences about different topics that make it easier for ELL students to understand instead of overwhelming them with a huge textbook full of words they don't understand.

Lastly, trade books can be used with textbooks as well. The students can look at textbooks for more information on a subject if they need to. The two go hand in hand which is great for teachers because this way more resources are available to them. I really think this article is useful and the strengths out number the limitations.

Daniella Fusaro- Blog #5

Chapter 5- Story Elements
Frey, Fisher, Berkin

I found this article to be very helpful with understanding the different story elements. As mentioned in the article, "The need for story manifests itself from the beginning of a child's life, because a child needs to organize the wold in order to understand it". This goes to show how vital readig and stories are for children and that we need to begin to introduce stories to children very young. I feel that it is never too early to read to a child or introduce text to them. The younger we start the more familiar children will become and when they get older it will not be so foreign to them.

I felt that this article was informative and useful in understanding all the types of story elements. It was also a great review for me because these are simple elementary school things that we should know and I have to admit that I forget what a hyperbole is half the time. It was nice to have everything all in one article and easy to read. It also gave questions on different aspects such as understanding characters or plot and they were to make sure the students were on target.

These elements of stories are things we think students know and take for granted but we need to go over them every once in a while to make sure all students are on the same page. We cannot forget about them once students know them because when I was in school that is what happened and all through high school no one ever reviewed them. A simple review for 5-10 minutes a day or once a week cannot hurt anyone and will only benefit our students. Overall, I enjoyed this article and thought it was very helpful.

Daniella Fusaro- Blog #4

Graves

This article focuses on many important literacy aspects such as teaching for transfer and distinguishing between practice and instruction. It gives both students and teachers relevant and essential information that they should know when learning and teaching about literacy instruction. As a college student I found this article to be very beneficial and educational in my experience to become a teacher. It had all of the concepts we discussed not only in this class but on my other education courses as well. I have also noticed that with student teaching and being in the classroom, a lot of these concepts are applied. It now helps to see them up close and personal and actually put into practice rather than just talked about.

I feel that this article was very useful and would recommend it to not only college students but teachers too. The gradual release of responsibility concept was explained in detail and easy to understand with a helpful diagram to go along with it. I will definitely keep this article for future reference because I found it so helpful and advantageous. Graves knows the audience he is writing for and makes sure to use both understandable and relevant language.

Daniella Fusaro Blog #3

Shared Readings: Modeling Comprehension, Vocabular, Text Structures, and Text Features for Older Readers
-Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Diane Lapp

This study stresses how signficant modeling is in literacy intstruction. I feel that modeling is one of the most important if not the most important aspect by which children learn. As stated by Fisher, Frey and Lapp "modeling is the primary way through which teachers can demonstrate for their students how readers can interact with texts". I have to say that even as a college student I like to see things modeled or written out so that I know exactly what my expectations are for that assignment. Modeling is something that we are always doing whether we are aware of it or not and it has become so much a part of our everyday lives. As a future teacher and now being the classroom I feel that a lot of what we do is surrounded by modeling. I never realized how important it was to learning or to text until now. It is also essential to introduce more than one way or strategy of thinking about texts. Children like and need to have options and teachers have to be able to offer to the different learning styles and multiple intelligences.

The study also states that main focus was on modeling thinking and not asking the students comprehension questions. Once again this is stressing that really thinking about the text is more important than simply remembering certain parts. I am not saying that comprehension is not important because I believe that it is, however just in regards to this article and modeling it does not need to be so stressed.

I enjoyed this article and feel that it had a lot of great information to offer. I would definitely recommend this for future literacy classes because modeling is an essential component of literacy instruction. I liked how it gave an actual study with results about shared reading all of which we now see on a regular basis by being in the classroom. It helps to see it up close and personal and be able to apply these concepts to real life and not just read about them.

Blog #6- Jenna Galatro

Harvey & Goudvis Chapter 4: Tools for Active Literacy: The Nuts and Bolts of Comprehension Instruction

In this chapter they focus on important tools teachers can use to make the literacy process more interactive. No child likes to sit for long periods of time listening to the teacher read information. They have to get involved! This chapter reinforces the importance of modeling our ‘thought process’ and important functions of text structure when moving throughout a book. Additionally, it provides strategies to promote active literacy.

The consistent pattern in this chapter was sharing. When sharing our thoughts, and how we arrive at our conclusion students learn multiple perspectives at looking at things. Our best teachers are the ones who can relate the information in a way that is relative to our lives. Often our best helpers are our students. Teachers can clarify unknown vocabulary however; the students should be making the connections.

The chapter mentions “piggybacking” which allows students to respond to one another’s comments and create an active discussion. When reflecting on this and my own experience with elementary school children, most often they make connections to the text with random examples of their experience not response of their peers. How teachers could foster more critical thinking is teaching students the method of “piggybacking”. For instance, if one student says, “I understand why Frog is angry with Toad, it reminds me of the time my friend did…” Another response from a student could be, “I understand what Jessica is saying because I had that same problem when my friend did… and it made me so angry I had a hard time being happy again”. In this example the two students are building on one another’s ideas while creating a mutual respect for their opinions. Rather than sharing random thoughts, they are feeding off of one another’s. Again, this is something that must be explicitly taught from the teacher and is not something that is mastered through one experience. The more opportunities we can provide for our students to challenge themselves into deeper thought, the more they will comprehend the text and foster a love for reading and sharing.

Blog #5- Jenna Galatro

Harvey & Goudvis Reading Chapter 3: Effective Comprehension Instruction: Teaching, Tone, and Assessment

Chapter three really made me think and envision what kind of teacher I hope to be for my students. It highlighted the ‘Gradual Release of Responsibility” model and how important it is that teacher follow these explicit steps when teaching students comprehension strategies. More than ever through my Clinical experience, I am seeing how the ‘Gradual Release of Responsibility’ is implemented and it makes much more sense to me. Reading it in a text only summarizes but does not actually make the information comprehensible until you see it first hand.

I find one of the biggest challenges of being a teacher is remembering what it was like before we knew the knowledge we know today. Reflecting on our own thinking and process of comprehension can allow us to better create lessons that focus on teaching explicit comprehension strategies. However, as the chapter reinforced there are so many different ways to find out what are students are thinking so we can better evaluate and revise our teaching methods. The one consistent pattern that can be found in understanding our students thought process is, knowing our kids on an individual level. The more you know, the more you can help scaffold connections and pick material that is reflective in their lives. There are many approaches of doing this and fostering opportunities for interaction such as ‘turn-and-talk’. While students talk, teachers should be listening and highlighting good analysis and discussions of the topic at hand.

Another way to teach comprehension is using the students ‘words’ to fill out a chart or graphic organizer about the topic. When showing this connection between their words and organizing to better understand the text; students see their thinking come to life. Again, these strategies must be constantly practiced and modeled throughout the year so students can continue practice them and apply them to their individual reading books. It is so important that teachers create an ongoing record of their student’s progress and continually evaluate and reflect on their teaching practices.

Jaimie Ekiert Blog 3

The article Going Public: NCLB and Literacy Practices in Teacher Education described many of the issues that we, as a nation, are facing in our education today. The author stated that she believes student’s curricula should reflect their cultures and interests. I think that if children had curriculums that included a majority of the time text that they found interesting and relevant to their lives that they would be more eager to read. I agree that student’s need to have choice in what they are reading. I used to be a student who wishes I had choice, and unfortunately the lack of choice has pushed me away from reading. Also if students have choices in what they are reading, it will be easier for them to activate their prior knowledge and make connections to the text. This will enable them to better comprehend what they are reading.

The article also discussed how there are many students who drop out of school and do not realize their full potential. I believe that this is a huge issue in our society. Right now there is an issue with achievement gap with income, ethnicity and abilities. Students who are in low income areas usually do not do as well as those students in more fortunate areas. I agree that teachers need to be professionally trained and informed on how to teach students the importance and pillars of reading. Students need to be motivated, engaged and confident about them to do well in school. I think students would have more self-confidence if there were no standardized tests. Standardized tests put a large strain on the school district financially and pressure on the teachers and students. More focus should be geared towards teaching material to the students and not focusing on the tests. I believe peer tutoring is a great way to boost student’s confidence and help them learn. Also involving a lot of writing into the student’s curriculum is a great way to practice reading comprehension. Writing includes all of the pillars (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension) into one assignment. Writing enables students to practice and familiarize themselves with literacy.