I am combining these two blogs together, just catching up from the weeks past.
The article pertaining to classroom discussions that I found the most interesting was the Almasi article. She writes about the difference between what a traditional discussion is [recitation] and what a real discussion is considered now. I think this is significant because the things that we see in our placements, and have in our experience as students throughout the last 16 or so years. We are used to being talked at and seeing our students talked at, instead of talked to. Almasi writes "In a recitation there is little interaction among students, so the teacher is a member of the group whose thoughts might influence a person's interpretation most significantly. The fact that the teacher determines the questions that will be asked, the order of the questions, and the correctness of the students' responses to those questions means that the teacher becomes the ultimate interpretive authority in the discussion context." (p 35-6) This passage describes the traditional things that we see in classrooms--and what I see in my placement over and over again. I think that in situations like our placement--which are all kindergarten--recitation type questions are the place that the teacher needs to start, because the students have not developed in their classroom skills to the extent of older students. They are still learning how to interact with each other in the classroom, and how to react to literature and lessons based on it. As students get older, discussions are significantly important. "In a discussion, studetns tend to assume a multitude of roles that are traditionally reserved for the teacher, such as inquisitor, facilitator, and evaluator as well as the more familiar role of respondent." (p 36)
The Gibbons text talked about the layout of your classroom and how to support your students in a classroom talk. This definitely tied into our readings from last week. My students are not at this point yet, I don't believe, like I said previously. Mike talked about the IRF pattern and I will not repeat him--but I will say that I feel it is a good strategy, like we talked about with ELLs... although you are adapting things for your ELL students, it will work well for your students whose first language is English as well. She goes on to mention different strategies for engaging your students in a talk setting. One that stuck out is journal writing. For me, it's the only one I have seen in my placement. Our students will listen to a read-to and then go back to their seats and "journal" about what they have just heard (p 48). They are to write what they are journaling about in their own words [spelling in their own way, the best they can], and then draw a picture. This actually ties nicely into the end of the Tompkins article (p 105-7).
The Tompkins text, as it was for Mike, was very close to what I have been seeing in my placement. From the schedule that Mrs. McCloskey has for her class (p 81), I feel like my CT has been doing almost all of the same things with her students. Literacy is one of the most important components in the Kindergarten classroom. By having the students interact with print in so many different ways, they are able to connect to it in different ways. Literacy Centers (p 83) are also something that are really big in my placement. The games are switched out every few weeks focusing on different aspects of literacy. There are seatwork centers and games of all different sorts, with three to four students in each center group. "The two teachers circulate around the classroom, monitoring chirldren's work and taking advantage of teachable moments to clarify misunderstandings, reinforce previous lessons, and extend children's learning." (p 82) It is important that during centers and all lessons surrounding literacy that the students feel supported, but are still able to learn on their own. I have seen a lot more of the things in this chapter--particularly the traveling books (p 100), which get swapped out each week in our classroom. Involving the family members of the students really helps them learn in a different way. Because the parents are encouraged to promote literacy at home, the students have more support than they would otherwise have.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Goals for TE 402
I just took TE 301 last semester and feel that I have a nice start on what I need to know to be able to effectively teach a student how to read and write. That course was good because I was able to learn many of the terms and techniques used in literacy education. Also I was able to do a child study on one particular student and in the process get a better understanding of that student's literacy ability. I learned lots during that course, but now hope that this course will take my ability to teach language arts and literacy to a whole new level.
The goals for the class that are spelled out in the syllabus appear to do just that. While TE 301 was an excellent course, I don't think it did enough to teach me how how to plan lessons and effectively set up my classroom for teaching children to read and write. Being able to understand the standards better and how to incorporate them into my teaching will benefit me greatly. Along the same lines, I hope to become more familiar with the general language arts curriculum that is used in schools, across all grades. Also, I look forward to learning about different language arts strategies and technologies that I can use when teaching. I like how one of the goals in the syllabus deals with self-assessment as a teacher. This is one area where I need more work on and which I think will be something that I should strive to do as a teacher if I want to constantly be improving as a teacher. A final goal of mine, which we have already started to do, is to work with and observe how students are involved in language arts. This is probably the most important aspect of the class because I feel that the best learning for me comes from actually being in the classroom and working with students.
Overall, I am excited for this class and feel that it will be an invaluable step as I progress towards being a teacher. At this point we are only three weeks into this class and I am already pleased with what I have begun to learn. Learning about how to best incorporate ESL students into the classroom will be helpful because it is reinforcing in me the idea that a teacher needs to be able to set up instruction that can reach all of their students, regardless of their varying academic levels.
The goals for the class that are spelled out in the syllabus appear to do just that. While TE 301 was an excellent course, I don't think it did enough to teach me how how to plan lessons and effectively set up my classroom for teaching children to read and write. Being able to understand the standards better and how to incorporate them into my teaching will benefit me greatly. Along the same lines, I hope to become more familiar with the general language arts curriculum that is used in schools, across all grades. Also, I look forward to learning about different language arts strategies and technologies that I can use when teaching. I like how one of the goals in the syllabus deals with self-assessment as a teacher. This is one area where I need more work on and which I think will be something that I should strive to do as a teacher if I want to constantly be improving as a teacher. A final goal of mine, which we have already started to do, is to work with and observe how students are involved in language arts. This is probably the most important aspect of the class because I feel that the best learning for me comes from actually being in the classroom and working with students.
Overall, I am excited for this class and feel that it will be an invaluable step as I progress towards being a teacher. At this point we are only three weeks into this class and I am already pleased with what I have begun to learn. Learning about how to best incorporate ESL students into the classroom will be helpful because it is reinforcing in me the idea that a teacher needs to be able to set up instruction that can reach all of their students, regardless of their varying academic levels.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Classroom Talk and Emergnt Readers
The two chapters in the Gibbons text were about how to make an environment in the classroom that allows for the students to engage in productive talks. Gibbons feels that productive classroom talk is important because "development of the spoken forms of language are essential for second language learners as a bridge to the more academic language." (p.14) ESL students are not only learning the new content that is being presented, but they are also learning a new language. Simply listening to the teacher all the time does not allow the students to practice the new language enough. Sadly, classrooms are most often set up in an IRF (Initiation, Response, Feedback) format. This means that the teacher asks a question of the students, gets a simple response, and then evaluates that response as to whether or not it is correct. In this type of an environment the ESL student suffers because they are not able to really practice the new language and hear their peers using language. I would take this point a step further and argue that all students suffer in this situation because I feel that all students benefit from work on their spoken language.
Gibbons goes on to argue that in order to get away from the traditional IRF format in schools, teachers need to get their students to do more group work. This allows the students to hear a "greater variety of language...interact more with other speakers...[and hear language] in an appropriate context and used meaningfully for a particular purpose." (p. 17) All of this leads the students along what Gibbons refers to as the "mode continuum...from spoken to written language." (p. 41) The group work allows the students to work together using informal language, piece together all of their ideas, and then come back together to report their work verbally to the class or write out individually what they learned. Reading through these chapters reaffirmed to me the importance of group work. However, in my placement I have not seen much, if any real group work. This is obviously because I am in a kindergarten classroom and the students are so new to formal education. These students are just now learning how school works and what is expected of them. Effective group work takes practice, and the students in my classroom are far from being ready to productively work in small groups.
The Tompkins chapter was much more in line with what I have seen in field. All of the students in my kindergarten class are at varying levels within the emergent reading and writing stage. At this stage, "young children gain an understanding of the communicative purpose of print, and they move from pretend reading to reading repetitive books and from scribbles to simulate writing to writing patterned sentences." (p.89) Reading about the instructional recommendations that Tompkins has for emergent reading and writing students, found on page 97 in figure 3-3, was like going through my classroom's daily routine and listing everything that they do each day.
I could write for hours about all of the literacy instruction that I get to see everyday. Just last Thursday I worked with the students in the afternoon on their daily journal entries. In a notebook, at the bottom of the page, they write out a sentence by themselves and then above that illustrate the sentence. My CT stresses to them that they are to write the sentence by themselves, carefully sounding out each word as they write. The sentences are very simple, such as, "The alligator bites." The spelling doesn't have to be correct, as the objective is for the students to work on breaking words apart and sounding them out as they spell. Looking through their journals I can already see some improvement for most of the students from when they began back in October. I can barely remember my time as a kindergarten student and my struggles as I learned to read and write. As a teacher, regardless of what level I am working with, it will be helpful to have been in a kindergarten class and to have seen what emergent readers and writers must go through to become literate.
Gibbons goes on to argue that in order to get away from the traditional IRF format in schools, teachers need to get their students to do more group work. This allows the students to hear a "greater variety of language...interact more with other speakers...[and hear language] in an appropriate context and used meaningfully for a particular purpose." (p. 17) All of this leads the students along what Gibbons refers to as the "mode continuum...from spoken to written language." (p. 41) The group work allows the students to work together using informal language, piece together all of their ideas, and then come back together to report their work verbally to the class or write out individually what they learned. Reading through these chapters reaffirmed to me the importance of group work. However, in my placement I have not seen much, if any real group work. This is obviously because I am in a kindergarten classroom and the students are so new to formal education. These students are just now learning how school works and what is expected of them. Effective group work takes practice, and the students in my classroom are far from being ready to productively work in small groups.
The Tompkins chapter was much more in line with what I have seen in field. All of the students in my kindergarten class are at varying levels within the emergent reading and writing stage. At this stage, "young children gain an understanding of the communicative purpose of print, and they move from pretend reading to reading repetitive books and from scribbles to simulate writing to writing patterned sentences." (p.89) Reading about the instructional recommendations that Tompkins has for emergent reading and writing students, found on page 97 in figure 3-3, was like going through my classroom's daily routine and listing everything that they do each day.
I could write for hours about all of the literacy instruction that I get to see everyday. Just last Thursday I worked with the students in the afternoon on their daily journal entries. In a notebook, at the bottom of the page, they write out a sentence by themselves and then above that illustrate the sentence. My CT stresses to them that they are to write the sentence by themselves, carefully sounding out each word as they write. The sentences are very simple, such as, "The alligator bites." The spelling doesn't have to be correct, as the objective is for the students to work on breaking words apart and sounding them out as they spell. Looking through their journals I can already see some improvement for most of the students from when they began back in October. I can barely remember my time as a kindergarten student and my struggles as I learned to read and write. As a teacher, regardless of what level I am working with, it will be helpful to have been in a kindergarten class and to have seen what emergent readers and writers must go through to become literate.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Goals and ELL readings
I am going to try and play catch-up here for the first few blogs.
After reading the syllabus more closely, I have come up with a few goals for myself for this class:
I would like to learn more about how to better implement strategies for emergent readers in my classroom. This has been something that I have noticed in my field that becomes stronger and stronger as the weeks go on. I would like to learn how to incorporate more of the standards into my classroom--maybe even have a "guide" as to when I should be covering specific things [depending on the grade level].
I would also like to develop my portfolio with different aspects of teaching. On top of just simply learning about literacy and how to implement it, I would like to take that and add in aspects of classroom management, and assessments that are grade-level and child appropriate. By this I mean that I would like to gain some resources that I can take with me into the classroom (i.e. handouts, worksheets, etc).
I would also like to learn how to better incorporate Language Arts into all aspects of learning. Since literature is able to be adapted to so many different topics, I think that it is important to be able to incorporate standards from different subjects with LA. This will be something I want to learn a lot about this semester.
ELL Readings:
Last semester I took a class called "LLT 307--Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages". In this class we read many different articles and case studies on teaching to ELLs. I have realized over the last few years that ELLs are on the rise in our elementary schools, and having courses like this should almost be required soon. It is important to have instruction focusing solely on ways that will be easier for students whose first language is not English, because they may not have the prior background to understand context clues or similar aspects of your lesson. Lesinski states, on page 24, "They represent a variety of socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. In school, ELLs need to simultaneously develop English compotence and acquire content knowledge. An overwhelming majority of assessment tools are in English only, presenting a potential threat to the usefulness of assessments when ELLs' lack of English prevents them from understanding test items." This section alone shows how important it is to tailor your teaching [and materials] to ELLs. However, by putting things into different terms or allowing ELLs to be assessed in other ways opens the door for students who also speak English, but may be developing at a slower rate. By providing differentiated instruction, you open up a new window for learning for many of your students, not just ELLs.
This will become a more "hot ticket" item on the table as we roll through the years with more and more students in our schools who have different learning abilities, or who aer ELLs.
After reading the syllabus more closely, I have come up with a few goals for myself for this class:
I would like to learn more about how to better implement strategies for emergent readers in my classroom. This has been something that I have noticed in my field that becomes stronger and stronger as the weeks go on. I would like to learn how to incorporate more of the standards into my classroom--maybe even have a "guide" as to when I should be covering specific things [depending on the grade level].
I would also like to develop my portfolio with different aspects of teaching. On top of just simply learning about literacy and how to implement it, I would like to take that and add in aspects of classroom management, and assessments that are grade-level and child appropriate. By this I mean that I would like to gain some resources that I can take with me into the classroom (i.e. handouts, worksheets, etc).
I would also like to learn how to better incorporate Language Arts into all aspects of learning. Since literature is able to be adapted to so many different topics, I think that it is important to be able to incorporate standards from different subjects with LA. This will be something I want to learn a lot about this semester.
ELL Readings:
Last semester I took a class called "LLT 307--Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages". In this class we read many different articles and case studies on teaching to ELLs. I have realized over the last few years that ELLs are on the rise in our elementary schools, and having courses like this should almost be required soon. It is important to have instruction focusing solely on ways that will be easier for students whose first language is not English, because they may not have the prior background to understand context clues or similar aspects of your lesson. Lesinski states, on page 24, "They represent a variety of socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. In school, ELLs need to simultaneously develop English compotence and acquire content knowledge. An overwhelming majority of assessment tools are in English only, presenting a potential threat to the usefulness of assessments when ELLs' lack of English prevents them from understanding test items." This section alone shows how important it is to tailor your teaching [and materials] to ELLs. However, by putting things into different terms or allowing ELLs to be assessed in other ways opens the door for students who also speak English, but may be developing at a slower rate. By providing differentiated instruction, you open up a new window for learning for many of your students, not just ELLs.
This will become a more "hot ticket" item on the table as we roll through the years with more and more students in our schools who have different learning abilities, or who aer ELLs.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Readings on Discussions
The readings for this week reminded me a lot of our TE 401 Science course and all of the work we did with inquiry based instruction. The best inquiry based instruction is when the students have complete control of the questioning and direction of their learning. This is the same idea that is behind the student directed discussions written about and supported by Almasi, McGee, Langer, and Goldeberg.
Almasi writes about "recitation" discussions where "there is no collaborative attempt to construct meaning; the answers are already known." (p. 34) This type of discussion is completely teacher driven with the students responding with either correct or incorrect answers. This is the type of discussion that Almasi wants teachers to move away from and try to avoid. Rather Almasi wants teachers to lead discussions that are "interactive events in which individuals collaboratively construct meaning or consider alternate interpretations of the text in order to arrive at new understandings." (p. 31) Basically, Almasi favors discussions where the students take control of the talking and explore the material together. McGee builds on this idea when talking about how in good discussions "children set the agenda for discussion; their comments initiate topics of discussion." (p. 59)
In my field time I have not seen what the authors would consider true student driven discussions. This is because I am in a kindergarten class and the students aren't capable of carrying on their own discussion about a subject. The classroom talks that I have seen are completely teacher driven with my CT asking the questions and guiding the lesson. She doesn't allow any of the students to be shy and not participate in the lesson or discussion. To do this my CT simply calls on each student multiple times every day and does not continue with her lesson until she hears a response. The students aren't directing the discussion, but everyone is involved. These students are at the very beginning of their schooling career and are learning so many new things that it would be a bit presumptuous to think that they could carry on a thoughtful discussion with little help from the teacher. My CT is trying to get her students to that point by teaching them how to participate in school and try to be active learners.
Even though I haven't seen a real student driven discussion in my field work, I do believe that this is an effective technique for teaching language arts. This is something that I as a teacher hope to be able to use with my students. I understand that this will not be easy to do and will require lots of preparation and practice. However, I like the idea behind these types of discussions where the students are taking control of their learning and coming to an understanding of the material by working together.
Almasi writes about "recitation" discussions where "there is no collaborative attempt to construct meaning; the answers are already known." (p. 34) This type of discussion is completely teacher driven with the students responding with either correct or incorrect answers. This is the type of discussion that Almasi wants teachers to move away from and try to avoid. Rather Almasi wants teachers to lead discussions that are "interactive events in which individuals collaboratively construct meaning or consider alternate interpretations of the text in order to arrive at new understandings." (p. 31) Basically, Almasi favors discussions where the students take control of the talking and explore the material together. McGee builds on this idea when talking about how in good discussions "children set the agenda for discussion; their comments initiate topics of discussion." (p. 59)
In my field time I have not seen what the authors would consider true student driven discussions. This is because I am in a kindergarten class and the students aren't capable of carrying on their own discussion about a subject. The classroom talks that I have seen are completely teacher driven with my CT asking the questions and guiding the lesson. She doesn't allow any of the students to be shy and not participate in the lesson or discussion. To do this my CT simply calls on each student multiple times every day and does not continue with her lesson until she hears a response. The students aren't directing the discussion, but everyone is involved. These students are at the very beginning of their schooling career and are learning so many new things that it would be a bit presumptuous to think that they could carry on a thoughtful discussion with little help from the teacher. My CT is trying to get her students to that point by teaching them how to participate in school and try to be active learners.
Even though I haven't seen a real student driven discussion in my field work, I do believe that this is an effective technique for teaching language arts. This is something that I as a teacher hope to be able to use with my students. I understand that this will not be easy to do and will require lots of preparation and practice. However, I like the idea behind these types of discussions where the students are taking control of their learning and coming to an understanding of the material by working together.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Week 2 Readings (Mike Woodberg)
-Everybody learns in a different way, so when talking about diverse learners participating in their learning community, we are talking about how every person needs to do this. One of the ideas that stuck out in my mind was the idea of “Making Meaning Explicit.” The thought behind this concept is that “the more that speakers are doing together and engaging in dialogue, the more they can take for granted” (Gibbons, 3). As discussed earlier by Gibbons, there are three contextual factors in language and these are, field, tenor, and mode. If teachers can make meaning explicit, then there three factors are more easily achieved, and less supports are needed.
-The idea of transmission models is used to try and figure out a concept of how to teach ELL students (Gibbons 6,7). The first idea is to think of a student as a bank, getting deposits of skills or knowledge from the teacher. The second idea is referred to as “progressive” (Gibbons 6). In this method the learner is put at the center of the learning process. These are the ideas that we use to try and teach our ELL students, but they can also be used for students when they are trying to learn how to do anything. It is important to think of a student as a bank, getting deposits of information, or to put them at the center of their own education. Students come to us as teachers needing to gain knowledge and whether we are getting them as an ELL student or a non-ELL student, if a student needs to learn the information it is important to view them at the same level.
-I am going to be teaching special education in the future and with this I feel that it is important to get to know each one of my students at an individual level. It is important to teach to every student and not the class as a whole. I understand that great amount of prep time that goes into this method, but it is crucial for every child to be taught in a meaningful and appropriate way. It is a teacher’s job to do everything possible to help their students succeed and if this means having to teach something in more then one way then it is important to do that.
-The idea of transmission models is used to try and figure out a concept of how to teach ELL students (Gibbons 6,7). The first idea is to think of a student as a bank, getting deposits of skills or knowledge from the teacher. The second idea is referred to as “progressive” (Gibbons 6). In this method the learner is put at the center of the learning process. These are the ideas that we use to try and teach our ELL students, but they can also be used for students when they are trying to learn how to do anything. It is important to think of a student as a bank, getting deposits of information, or to put them at the center of their own education. Students come to us as teachers needing to gain knowledge and whether we are getting them as an ELL student or a non-ELL student, if a student needs to learn the information it is important to view them at the same level.
-I am going to be teaching special education in the future and with this I feel that it is important to get to know each one of my students at an individual level. It is important to teach to every student and not the class as a whole. I understand that great amount of prep time that goes into this method, but it is crucial for every child to be taught in a meaningful and appropriate way. It is a teacher’s job to do everything possible to help their students succeed and if this means having to teach something in more then one way then it is important to do that.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
What I expect from TE 402
It is an exciting time in the lives of just about every TE 402 student (as lame and cliche as that sounds). We are about six months away from being interns and in the classroom four days a week. TE 301 taught us about literacy development, 401 taught us about ways to implement science and social studies in the classroom, and I now look forward to learning about the best ways to teach language arts and math in te 402.
I really have high hopes for myself as well as for the class in 402. I hope to gain as much knowledge and insight as possible while I am in and out of class. I know that these classes are going to be great tools in preparing us for our internship year, as well as for our future profession. I hope that in 402 we learn how many methods of how it is possible to teach students to read and write, as well as different methods to do math work.
I know that assignments for TE classes can be demanding, but I feel that we gain a lot from doing them. I am not a big fan of the 15-20 page lesson plans that I had to write for TE 401, I would much rather do more lesson plans that have smaller write-ups, but any way that we go about doing this I know it will help prepare us for the future.
I look forward to my final semester as a college undergraduate student to be fun and informative!
I really have high hopes for myself as well as for the class in 402. I hope to gain as much knowledge and insight as possible while I am in and out of class. I know that these classes are going to be great tools in preparing us for our internship year, as well as for our future profession. I hope that in 402 we learn how many methods of how it is possible to teach students to read and write, as well as different methods to do math work.
I know that assignments for TE classes can be demanding, but I feel that we gain a lot from doing them. I am not a big fan of the 15-20 page lesson plans that I had to write for TE 401, I would much rather do more lesson plans that have smaller write-ups, but any way that we go about doing this I know it will help prepare us for the future.
I look forward to my final semester as a college undergraduate student to be fun and informative!
Monday, January 19, 2009
First Readings
Reading and learning about ELL students and how to best teach them was helpful to me and something I need to do more of. This issue is of utmost importance because the number of ESL students is rising every year. Lenski writes that this is because "more than a million new U.S. immigrants arrive annually." (p. 24) Lenski goes on to write that these "ELL's bring a wide range of educational experiences and academic backgrounds to school. They represent a variety of socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds." (p. 24)
I feel that recognizing this diversity is a critical first step to teaching ELL students. Teachers need to know that there is no one correct way to teach ELL students. This means that a teacher's lessons need to be adaptable in both the material and assessments to be able to effectively reach a diverse student population. Gibbons talks about teachers doing this in their classroom through scaffolding and building on what each individual student already knows. For ELL students, one form of scaffolding that should be provided is language support. These students are not only learning new curriculum knowledge, but are also learning a second language. With adaptable material and a focus on language, ELL's will be given a much better chance at success in the classroom.
I am in special education, and I think that there are similarities between teaching mainstream ELL students and mainstream learning disabled students. In both situations, a teacher needs to be able to adjust their teaching to reach all different levels of learners that are together in the same classroom. Lenski says that "effective teaching comes [from] the teacher's ability to meet the needs of all students at all points in the educational continuum." (p. 33) I feel that teaching with this perspective is actually going to be beneficial to all of the students in a given classroom. The teacher is forced to get to know each student individually and how they learn best. This will probably result in additional preparation time for the teacher, but ultimately it should make for better instruction that reaches more students. All of the students are on the same learning continuum and it is the responsibility of the teacher to adjust their instruction to best meet the needs of a diverse classroom.
I feel that recognizing this diversity is a critical first step to teaching ELL students. Teachers need to know that there is no one correct way to teach ELL students. This means that a teacher's lessons need to be adaptable in both the material and assessments to be able to effectively reach a diverse student population. Gibbons talks about teachers doing this in their classroom through scaffolding and building on what each individual student already knows. For ELL students, one form of scaffolding that should be provided is language support. These students are not only learning new curriculum knowledge, but are also learning a second language. With adaptable material and a focus on language, ELL's will be given a much better chance at success in the classroom.
I am in special education, and I think that there are similarities between teaching mainstream ELL students and mainstream learning disabled students. In both situations, a teacher needs to be able to adjust their teaching to reach all different levels of learners that are together in the same classroom. Lenski says that "effective teaching comes [from] the teacher's ability to meet the needs of all students at all points in the educational continuum." (p. 33) I feel that teaching with this perspective is actually going to be beneficial to all of the students in a given classroom. The teacher is forced to get to know each student individually and how they learn best. This will probably result in additional preparation time for the teacher, but ultimately it should make for better instruction that reaches more students. All of the students are on the same learning continuum and it is the responsibility of the teacher to adjust their instruction to best meet the needs of a diverse classroom.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Week One
This is my first go at a professional blog, and I am not 100% sure what I am doing, so bear with me.
I have had so many experiences over the past 17 years with education. From pre-K through my senior year in college, there have been many teachers who have influenced the way I think about learning in both a positive and negative manner. I come from a family filled with teachers. My mom and grandma are/were both certified in Elementary Education, while my dad and grandpa are/were high school science teachers before becoming a guidance counselor. Because of this, I have been exposed to all things-learning since I was old enough to remember.
By the time I reached Kindergarten, I was able to read books that many students don't read until at least first grade. I had a very supportive staff of teachers in my school who allowed me to read with them, and even assist the reading specialist in her separate room.
Because I was encouraged at such a young age to keep on reading, I found myself excelling in other things outside of these things. It was these times in elementary school that prompted my thinking about becoming a teacher. I'm not sure I would have been interested in it if I didn't have such positive role models in my past.
Once I got to high school, I fell in love with the Language Arts--or what we called "English" classes. I had great teachers who often pushed my thinking beyond the normal levels, and this excited me to learn more. It was here when I thought I would make a great high school English teacher. [Obviously something has changed!]
I have stuck with Language Arts as my teaching major because I love the English language, and all the things it has to offer, particularly the amount of levels that Language Arts can be incorporated into everything that we teach.
In our TE 402 class, we have a very diverse representation of learners. If you look at us, there are not many diversities on the outside. But "don't judge a book by its cover". We all come from many different places and histories. Not all of us are earning our first degree. Not all of us have the same teaching major. We are all here for slightly different reasons because of the things that we have experienced in our past. This is an important key to our learning because without diversity in the classroom, our learning would be quite stagnant. I'm looking forward to all of the different perspectives from my classmates as this semester rolls on.
I have had so many experiences over the past 17 years with education. From pre-K through my senior year in college, there have been many teachers who have influenced the way I think about learning in both a positive and negative manner. I come from a family filled with teachers. My mom and grandma are/were both certified in Elementary Education, while my dad and grandpa are/were high school science teachers before becoming a guidance counselor. Because of this, I have been exposed to all things-learning since I was old enough to remember.
By the time I reached Kindergarten, I was able to read books that many students don't read until at least first grade. I had a very supportive staff of teachers in my school who allowed me to read with them, and even assist the reading specialist in her separate room.
Because I was encouraged at such a young age to keep on reading, I found myself excelling in other things outside of these things. It was these times in elementary school that prompted my thinking about becoming a teacher. I'm not sure I would have been interested in it if I didn't have such positive role models in my past.
Once I got to high school, I fell in love with the Language Arts--or what we called "English" classes. I had great teachers who often pushed my thinking beyond the normal levels, and this excited me to learn more. It was here when I thought I would make a great high school English teacher. [Obviously something has changed!]
I have stuck with Language Arts as my teaching major because I love the English language, and all the things it has to offer, particularly the amount of levels that Language Arts can be incorporated into everything that we teach.
In our TE 402 class, we have a very diverse representation of learners. If you look at us, there are not many diversities on the outside. But "don't judge a book by its cover". We all come from many different places and histories. Not all of us are earning our first degree. Not all of us have the same teaching major. We are all here for slightly different reasons because of the things that we have experienced in our past. This is an important key to our learning because without diversity in the classroom, our learning would be quite stagnant. I'm looking forward to all of the different perspectives from my classmates as this semester rolls on.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Week 1 Blog (Mike Woodberg)
My own experiences in language arts education have taught me a lot about the teacher that I want to become. I learned to read before I was in kindergarten with my parents at home. Every night before I went to bed I would read with my parents, and this was time that I really enjoyed and really looked forward to. When I was in school, I did not start off with strong teachers in kindergarten and first grade. My kindergarten teacher did not know that I could read until the end of the school year, and this was a skill as I previously stated that I had acquired before entering her classroom. My first grade teacher gave us many opportunities to read which was nice, but she had a way of humiliating young students that struggled in reading as well as any other subject. Fortunately, my teachers from this point on were all very good at their jobs and were able to develop my reading abilities a little bit better. From this experience I learned how to teach and treat children, and how not to teach young students. In my own classroom I will make sure to give my students plenty of opportunities to read and write, and correct them calmly when they make a mistake. It is important to know where each of my students will be at when they walk into the classroom, and even more importantly will be how much they have developed at the end of the year.
I know that in our own TE 402 class that people have come from all different walks of life. I am interested to see and hear about how different and not so different we all are from one another.
I know that in our own TE 402 class that people have come from all different walks of life. I am interested to see and hear about how different and not so different we all are from one another.
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