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.