mbarnshaw-blog

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Readerly Exploration - May 1st

Reading: Park (2012), “A Different Kind of Reading Instruction: Using Visualizing to Bridge Reading Comprehension and Critical Literacy”

Biggest Takeaway: Visualization is one of the many great strategies that teachers can introduce to their students in order to help guide their reading comprehension. 

Nugget: Critical Literacy can mean two different things... the capacity to “speak back” to written texts, this includes asking questions and thinking about the text, or the capacity to “read the world”, this includes questioning society. The article says, “reading can be made more meaningful, relevant, and powerful if individuals explore the word and the world.”

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration I decided to read texts deeply in order to interpret, critique, and analyze the various layers of meaning a text might offer a reader, specifically by learning something about the author of the reading and using that to draw conclusions about the motivation behind the reading or the credibility/quality of the writing. 

When I looked up the author of the article, Jie Y.  Park, I found that she is an assistant professor for the Department of Education at Clark University. Her education includes a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University, an M.S. from Queen College, CUNY, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She focuses her research on adolescent literacy and language practices both in and out of school. Something I found particularly interesting about her is that she also studies how first-generation immigrant students acquire academic discourses. She also studies what cultural and linguistic resources they bring to their new school. She has worked published in several academic journals. 

With all of this information about the author, I feel confident that she is extremely knowledgable of her topic and her information is accurate. When I read that she especially enjoys studying about first-generation immigrant students, I was able to make the connection to the article. In my TESOL courses, we often talk about how visualization is one of the best strategies for helping English Learners so I can see why she focused her article on the benefits of visualization. Visualization doesn’t just help English Learners, all students can benefit from it, which we understood better from the article. 

Multimedia: Jie Park herself! This photo came from the website where I found the rest of the information about her. 

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Readerly Exploration - April 15th

Reading One: Tompkins, Chapter 12, “Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum”

Biggest Takeaway: The most effective teachers are able to connect reading and writing to the other content areas through mini lessons, themed units, read alouds, etc...

Nugget: Content Area textbooks are not enough because they only look at the surface level of topics. Incorporating other texts adds depth, deeper understanding and allows students to here different perspectives. 

Reading Two: Shanahan & Shanahan, (2014), “Does Disciplinary Literacy Have a Place in Elementary School?”

Biggest Takeaway: Disciplinary literacy can start in the elementary grades and prepares students to better understand vocabulary from different content areas early on. 

Nugget: Disciplinary literacy is the “idea that we should teach the specialized ways of reading, understanding, and thinking used in each academic discipline, such as science, history, or literature.”

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration I decided to explore the world through reading by using texts to answer questions about the world or generating new questions about the world from texts that are read, specifically by taking myself on a field trip to a place off campus that connects with the big ideas of the assigned reading.

For my off campus field trip, I went into Harrisburg city and visited the Midtown Scholar bookstore. I peered through the shelves of all different sections finding all different books that could relate to different content areas in the classroom. I looked through diaries, poetry books, historical fiction, novels, picture books, devotionals... you name it. I can so easily get lost in a bookstore. It was so neat to recognize that all different genres can play a part in telling the same story, just from different perspectives. 

With these readings in mind, I thought about how I could use texts to connect science in my classroom. Two standout books I found right from the covers were Ada Twist, Scientist and The Girl with a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague (Amazing Scientists). Both books were extremely visually appealing and specifically told stories of characters going against the stereotype of only males as scientists who were instead, females! I could easily see myself using these books and books like it to bring science content into my classroom through reading. 

After looking for books focusing on science, I thought about social studies, specifically history. There are sooooo many options and really neat opportunities for using different kinds of texts to teach social studies content. I really loved the series I found that included a whole bunch of different diaries, I could easily see myself incorporating those. There are also a ton of options in historical fiction. One of the series I found in the store, which is an absolute favorite series of mine, is by Laurie Halse Anderson, including the books Chains, Forge, and Ashes. The books are historical fiction and come from the perspective of African American slaves escaping from their masters in the United States. I found that, while I probably wouldn’t have enough time to use the whole text, taking out quotes or sections from the stories could be really powerful in my teaching of the content. 

Reading about how we can use other kinds of texts to promote better content understanding and then actually going somewhere to look for texts that would achieve that goal, really helped me understand first-hand why that works so well and why it’s important for us, as teachers, to do more than teach from a textbook. Using different genres, may allow for different students to connect to the material and get excited the way I did when I found one of my favorite historical fiction series or really interesting picture books. 

Multimedia: These are the covers of the series of books I found in the bookstore that I love! 

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Readerly Exploration - April 8th

Reading: Manyak, et al. (2014), “Four Practical Principles for Enhancing Vocabulary Instruction”

Biggest Takeaway: The MCVIP Project believed that by using Graves’ four part framework... a. providing rich and varied language experiences, b. teaching individual words, c. teaching word-learning strategies, and d. developing word consciousness... they could develop a successful vocabulary instructional program, specifically in the fourth and fifth grades. 

Nugget: I found Table 1 in the article to sum up the main principles quite well.

The Four Pragmatic Principles for Enhancing Vocabulary Instruction:

1. Establish Efficient yet Rich Routines for Introducing Target Words

2. Provide Review Experiences That Promote Deep Processing of Target Words

3. Respond Directly to Student Confusion by Using Anchor Experiences

4. Foster Universal Participation and Accountability

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to explore relationships with other people through reading by using texts as a shared experience with another person/other people or to gain insight into the perspective of another person, specifically by choosing an excerpt from my assigned reading and sharing it with a family member to get her insight and perspective on it. 

My sister Haley and I have always viewed school and learning differently. She always hated school until she got to college where she was able to focus her studies on what she loved, interior design. She also didn’t do very well in grade school, especially in literacy. I remember helping her study for tests by holding her worksheets full of vocabulary and asking her for definitions the night before the exam. I remember doing this in elementary, middle and even high school still. With this vivid memory, I thought it would be especially interesting to get some of her thoughts on vocabulary instruction in particular and talk to her about some of the ideas in the article. 

When Haley and I talked, she first shared, just like I had expected, about how much she hated literacy in school and hated learning vocabulary. She said vocabulary was her least favorite thing because she struggled with memorizing and never felt that she found a studying strategy that worked for memorizing. It grew more and more frustrating as she got older and found that not only were her English classes focused on weekly vocabulary quizzes, but all of her content-courses felt vocabulary-based as well, so she could never escape it. When I discussed the content of the article with her and these new strategies for ways we can incorporate vocabulary in the classroom without making it just solely about learning definitions of new, random words she was all for it! She made a comment about making sure students understand the “Why?” behind what we’re doing and I really appreciated that. What was so frustrating for her in school was never understanding why they were learning the words they were; it just felt like extra work or extra grades in the grade book. Answering that why question means a couple different things. It’s the “Why are we learning vocabulary? What’s the importance of it? Why are the the target words what they are? and Why are we teaching it the way we choose to teach it?” I think communicating those why questions and answers with our students may really help in vocabulary instruction. 

This exploration helped me relate back to the article and ask myself “Why?”. When looking at some of the recommendations such as the Connect Two, Two-in-One or Character Trait Writing, I asked myself why and when would those specific activities help my students and when would I communicate that reasoning to my students. Overall, I see the benefit of vocabulary instruction and why it’s important, and it’s important my students do too. 

Multimedia: To my sweet sis, Haley, thanks for sharing your thoughts and frustrations, so that I might be a teacher who recognizes those frustrations and works to help my students understand why vocabulary. 

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Readerly Exploration - April 1st

Reading One: Tompkins, Chapter 7, “Expanding Academic Vocabulary”

Biggest Takeaway: It is the job of the teacher to introduce students to unknown vocabulary in new and exciting ways by including activities and tricks that will enhance comprehension. 

Nugget: Teachers categorize words into three tiers - basic words (tier 1), academic vocabulary (tier 2) and specialized terms (tier 3).

Reading Two: Graves, et. al. (2013) “Words, Words Everywhere, But Which Ones Do We Teach?”

Biggest Takeaway: Teachers wrestle with which words to introduce as new vocabulary with students and there are benefits to several different approaches. 

Nugget: I really enjoyed the argument Hiebert and Cervetti made by suggesting that “because the vocabulary in narrative and informational texts differs in important ways, we need different approaches for teaching vocabulary for each genre.” 

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration I decided to engage in the reading process to increase the likelihood of text comprehension (pre-reading, reading, responding, exploring, applying) specifically by skimming the assigned course readings for unfamiliar terms, prior to reading. Then, taking the time to look up the definitions of those terms. 

Because both of the readings focused on vocabulary, I found it would be extremely appropriate to gain insight on questionable or challenging vocabulary I came across myself through the passages. As I went through the passage, I highlighted words that were either unfamiliar or questionable to me. I didn’t look up the definition right away, because I didn’t want to get lost in the passage, but I marked them as spots to come back to. Sometimes, the contexts clues around the word were able to help me figure out the meanings of the unfamiliar words. However, I found that in both of these texts, I was familiar with almost, if not all of the words. Because of this, I decided to add some of the words that Graves articles might classify as “Tier 2″, words that we see and are familiar with, but are not quite as common as Tier 1 words. Taking the time to actually look at the definitions of some of these words allowed me to understand greater what the author meant and made me think about why they might have chosen the words they did. How did that specific word convey the message they were trying to convey? 

After completing this readerly exploration, it really made me think about why my teachers in grade school never challenged me to pick out new vocabulary this way when reading new texts. This exploration forced me stop and recognize the words that I didn’t know. I feel like if I had done this with my readings in the past, I would not have skimmed over so many words and would have been able to understand so many more. This strategy could be used in more than just academic texts too, like when I read a novel or short story, if my teacher also assigned us to write down 5 new words and define them, I would have learned so many new and interesting words throughout all of my readings. 

I would love to take this idea and run with it in my future classroom, challenging my students to “hunt” for new and exciting words to share with the class in their reading. It would be so fun to have a challenge, maybe even weekly, and at the end of the week have students share the new words they learned with the class. We could even have a prize for the student with the”Best New Word” voted for by the class! 

This readerly exploration allowed me to understand the passages deeper by realizing that teaching vocabulary does not need to be this boring part of literacy I feel it is often viewed as. We should show our students that learning new vocabulary can be fun and exciting, and it opens our eyes to understanding so much more.  

Multimedia: I have included a picture of the vocabulary words I picked out and looked up the definitions for as a part of my readerly exploration experience. 

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Readerly Exploration - March 25th

Reading: Gill (2011), “The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool For Designing Comprehension Instruction”

Biggest Takeaway: The Comprehension Matrix was creating as a tool to help teachers structure their comprehension lessons around the three parts of reading... pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading, with different activities that will help students during each part .

Nugget: There are three series that suggest how comprehension takes place: schema theory (describes how readers use their prior knowledge to make sense of new information), transactional theory (because each reader brings different experiences to a reading, each reader will take away a different meaning), and constructivist theory (learners actively construct their own knowledge). 

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to engage in the reading process to increase the likelihood of text comprehension (pre-reading, reading, responding, exploring, applying), specifically by highlighting excerpts from the chapter that reflect the author’s purpose. 

This particular readerly exploration is one I always see the benefit in. Every time I highlight, I find myself slowing down my reading and paying careful attention to what is worth highlighting. It also makes it so much easier for me to go back and find what those key nuggets and big takeaways were that I might want to write about. For this particular article, it was good to be able to highlight the specific activity names in each of the sections (pre-reading, during reading, post-reading) without highlighting the name and the entire description. That way, it wasn’t an overwhelming amount highlighted and I can easily go back and see a list of potential activities that was created by highlighting. Then, if there is a particular activity that I don’t remember just based off the name, I can look deeper into the text to find the description, but at least I’ll know where to find it. 

I found it very easy to do this readerly exploration because I was sitting at a desk in my room. However, this strategy can be difficult if I’m trying to do it in a busier setting and am not able to highlight (ex. the lacrosse bus). It can also be easy to not want to do this strategy because it takes extra time to pause and highlight instead of just reading through the material. Nonetheless, I see the benefit of this strategy and try to use it as much as possible because it really does help me better understand the material I’m reading. 

Multimedia: For this readerly exploration, I printed out and highlighted the key parts from the article. I always feel like I comprehend better when I can hold the article in my hand and not have to read it from a screen. 

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Readerly Exploration - March 13th

Reading: Tompkins, Chapter 9 “Promoting Comprehension: Text Factors”

Biggest Takeaway: The three most important text factors are genres, text structures, and text features. Mini lessons are a great way to go over these factors with students. 

Nugget: All literature can be split into three broad categories, stories, informational books (nonfiction), or poetry. 

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to read a wide variety of genres and formats of texts to grow in my knowledge and experiences as a reader, specifically by finding and reading another text from a different genre or format and connecting the two in some way. I have been wanting to read the book Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst for awhile now, so I took this opportunity to think about the text as I read it with the new knowledge I have gained from the literacy reading. 

One of the nuggets that stuck out to me in the reading was the fact that all literature could be split into one of the three categories, stories, nonfiction or poetry. When thinking about reading this book, I wouldn’t naturally think to categorize it in one of the three, I would typically just think of it as a Christian book. With this new idea I thought about what category it could be as I read. Because it comes from real life experiences and life lessons of the author, I easily found that it could be considered non-fiction. But it is interesting to think about how something I would typically think of as non-fiction would be something extremely informational and typically... bland or boring (no offense to anyone who really enjoys non-fiction). It appears that I enjoy non-fiction too and I just hadn’t realized! However, while I easily saw the connection between this book and non-fiction, I also saw how it could be considered a story book. Each chapter is written in a way where the author is telling a story that taught her a lesson in the end. Like non-fiction, I wouldn’t typically think of this kind of book when I hear the words “story book” either. The first things that would pop up in my head would be a picture book or The Chronicles of Narnia. 

This readerly exploration allowed me to see that we are so quick to categorize books and feel the need to label them. We see them labeled all the time... in the library, in the bookstore, on the internet, in our classrooms, etc...  While labeling is important, and genres are important to understand, when we only consider books based off of their labels, we are assuming that we might not enjoy something without taking the time to actually read it. I think no two books are exactly the same, and this readerly exploration has challenged me to want to look outside of my typical “go-to” reads.

It also makes me think about how I want to teach these text factors with my students, and how I want them to be open to exploring all different kinds of books. I want to be knowledgable about books so that I can introduce a book to a student who “absolutely hates non-fiction” only to find that they actually love it and they shouldn’t have shut down that opportunity for reading all different kinds of books that were labeled that way.

I kind of went crazy with this readerly exploration, but it just made me think so much. Books are invaluable and I think there are books out there for everyone and maybe these three simple categories are helpful, but they might also be harmful in helping people find books that are right for them. 

Multimedia: This is the book cover for Uninvited, which I talked about in the readerly exploration. I was hoping to read this book because of several people’s recommendations, but it was interesting to be able to view it from this standpoint, using the information I’ve gained in the literacy reading to evaluate and think about what I’m reading. 

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Readerly Exploration - March 11th

Reading: Tompkins, Chapter 8, “Promoting Comprehension: Reader Factors”

Biggest Takeaway: Comprehension, involving literal, inferential, critical, and evaluative, is key at this point for a reader’s purpose. Developing reader’s comprehension through comprehension strategies is crucial. 

Nugget: (Super applicable because I am teaching a guided reading lesson on inferencing this week!) 

Students are not always aware that they are drawing inferences so teachers can guide them with a four step plan to drawing inferences.

1. Activate background knowledge about topics related to the text.

2. Look for the author’s clues as you read.

3. Ask questions, tying together background knowledge and the author’s clues. 

4. Draw inferences by answering the questions.

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to reflect on the contributions of reading experiences to reader identity in an effort to better articulate who he or she is as a reader, specifically by writing down two or three goals for myself as a reader for my next reading assignment, based on my successes and struggles reading this particular text. 

The goals I wrote down were:

1. Read in a quieter spot with less distraction. 

2. Either read all in one sitting or leave notes/post-its so I can recall things I had found important in previous times reading.

The first goal came because I did a lot of this reading on the way to and from a lacrosse game on our bus. While I was able to get through the reading, I found myself extremely distracted and trying to read over the same sections multiple times for clearer understanding. If I had been able to read it in a quieter, more secluded space, it probably would have taken me less time to get through and would have made it easier to understand the first time. 

The second goal came because, with reading while traveling, I had to split it up and found myself not remembering everything I had gone through in the first half of the chapter before needing to stop. While it’s not always possible to complete readings in one sitting, I think I do better with comprehension that way and if that’s not an option, at least leaving little notes or post-its can help me recall what I had read previously and what the main ideas were. 

This readerly exploration really helped me figure out what was making me struggle with understanding this particular reading. I typically have an easy time getting through and understanding the material, so the fact that this particular reading took more time and left me with more question marks made me concerned. Creating that list of goals helped me pinpoint why I struggled and allowed me to go back into the text for clarity. I feel confident that if I stick to those goals, I will be able to be more successful with future readings.

Multimedia: Going back to the nugget, where I was able to apply the material I read with what I was planning on teaching for the week, in that same section it suggested using some type of model or chart to show the steps for students as they look to draw inferences. I came across this model that I plan to use with my students in the lesson. Though it doesn’t specifically state asking and answering questions for the 2nd step, I’ll bring those ideas up as I teach. 

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Readerly Exploration - November 14th

Reading One: Rasinski (2012), “Why Reading Fluency Should Be Hot!”

Biggest Takeaway: There is a huge misconception that reading fluency is only related to the speed at which a person can read when in actuality, fluency is reading with and for meaning.

Nugget: Fluency has two essential components, automaticity and prosody. Automaticity is the ability to recognize words automatically. Prosody allows the reader to infer information that is not explicitly stated already in the passage. Both are developed through “wide” and “deep” reading practice.  

Reading Two: Applegate, Applegate & Modla (2011), “She’s My Best Reader; She Just Can’t Comprehend’: Studying the Relationship Between Fluency and Comprehension”

Biggest Takeaway: Reading skills such as fluency, word recognition and comprehension should not be kept separate from each other, they should be developing at the same time so that this issue of “good readers but not good comprehenders” is no longer a problem.

Nugget: From the research the authors conducted, they found that one third of the students considered to be fluent and “strong” readers struggled with the correct comprehension level appropriate for their grade level. It forces the teachers to ask the question, “Where is this good reading getting them if they can’t understand what they’re reading?”

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to explore relationships with other people through reading by using texts as a shared experience with another person/other people or to gain insight into the perspective of another person, specifically by sharing the readings with a friend in another major to get his insight and perspective on it.

I was really moved thinking about the topics in these articles and wasn’t totally sure what I was going to do for the exploration. I hadn’t really thought about talking with a peer about it, but it came up naturally as a friend and I were having a talk about other things. We talked about what we experienced in school and found that for both of us, being a “good reader” in especially elementary, but even middle and high school, often meant being the fastest reader. I remember loving that in elementary school because I was one of the fastest readers, I think, because I read all of the time. I loved the challenge of being the first one to finish a passage in the class and when it came to the teacher asking for volunteers to read, I loved showing off my speed, but also my enthusiasm, to the rest of the class. However, for my friend, he has struggled with dyslexia his entire life, and knew, even from kindergarten, that something was off. He dreaded language arts and having to read in front of the class because he always knew it was harder for him and it was embarrassing. Him talking about his experiences throughout school, how much he struggled, and how much he ultimately hated school because of his challenges made me really reflect on my own experiences and evaluate what my students’ experiences will be. I’m so heartbroken to think that no one helped him and I hope to never be a teacher who tells a student “Well, just stop being dyslexic” which is something he remembers being told as a second grader. 

While the articles didn’t discuss learning disabilities, my readerly exploration made me think more deeply about the emotional struggles our students might face if we act as though reading is a “competition” or something to be good or bad at. I think those ideas can be commonly associated with reading fluency when it’s all about speed, being the fastest, and getting timed. 

Multimedia: After my conversation with my friend, I continued to look into strategies for reading fluency especially for dyslexic students. A lot of strategies I found look very familiar to strategies beneficial for all young readers so I feel like it would be easy to implement. After hearing his story, it made me more aware of how even the youngest students might be struggling and I want to be prepared to work with those students. The woman in this video has a child with dyslexia and she has created an entire website with strategies and multiple videos. 

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Readerly Exploration - November 7th

Reading One: Silverman & Crandell (2011), “Vocabulary Practices in Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Classrooms”

Biggest Takeaway: Additional instruction of vocabulary terms both during read-alouds and outside of read-alouds will benefit students understanding of the vocabulary.

Nugget: Many school districts require that teachers have at least 90 minutes of language arts per school day, including read-alouds and non-read-alouds. I was able to relate this to my experience in the field because my teacher spends close to the same amount of time in language arts every day and I always wondered if that was her decision or if that was required by the school.

Reading Two: Williams, et. al. (2009), “Word Study Instruction in the K-2 Classroom”

Biggest Takeaway: Word study is an approach to learning that takes the focus away from memorization with a number of hands-on activities that improves students’ awareness of words and similarities/differences among words.

Nugget: Word walls can often times be overlooked. In order for them to be truly effective, teachers should constantly be changing the wall, replacing words students are comfortable with, for new challenging words. Teachers should also model using the word wall themselves.

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to engage in the reading process to increase the likelihood of text comprehension (pre-reading, reading, responding exploring, applying), specifically by skimming the assigned readings for unfamiliar terms before reading, and then taking the time to look up the definitions of those terms.

I thought this would be a great strategy to use because one of the articles was written off of research and an experiment that was done. Typically, when I am reading something like that, some of the vocabulary goes right over my head and I don’t try to fully comprehend it. Taking this initial step by trying to define the words that were going to give me issues before reading the text helped me comprehend once I got to that section. It was also really nice that I had circled the words so I remembered to look at my definitions when they were coming up during the reading. Something that was challenging about the exploration was that, for especially some of the vocabulary used in the Silverman article, the words were still challenging to understand even with the definitions. For those more difficult words, the best I could do was use the definitions I found and context clues to reach an understanding.

Overall, this strategy definitely improved my ability to comprehend the text which I thought was really great seeing as these two articles looked at the importance of learning vocabulary and word studies. There were certain words that I knew I understood, but couldn't really define that I chose to look up as well. Choosing to do that helped my overall understanding of that vocabulary as well.

Multimedia: For my readerly exploration, I circled all of the confusing words in the text and then made a list of them with their definitions. I have attached the list of the words and their definitions. Once I got into the readings and had clearer understandings of what these words meant, it really helped in my understanding of the whole text.

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Readerly Exploration - November 2nd

Reading One: Bissex (1985), “Watching Young Writers”  

Biggest Takeaway: It’s important that we monitor students individual progress from the beginning of the school year and not compare it to the progress of other students because students all come in at different starting points.

Nugget: At one point in the article, there is an example where Giacobbe says, “They were showing me what they knew as well as what they needed to know. There were no errors to be red penciled. Just information showing me what the next step of instruction should be.” I really loved this quote because I love how errors are being seen in a positive way. They are more of a tool for helping the teacher know what to do next rather than a burden. Wouldn’t it be something if all of our students could understand that mistakes aren’t necessarily bad things?

Reading Two: Manyak (2011), “Phonemes in Use: Multiple Activities for a Critical Process”

Biggest Takeaway: Phonemic awareness is crucial in ensuring that children understand letters in the alphabet correlate with phonemes in speech.

Nugget: The article gives five examples of activities that we can implement in the classroom that work on phonemic awareness. The activities include (1) Beginning-Middle-End (2) Say-It-And-Move-It (3) Scaffolded Spelling (4) Word Mapping (5) Word Wall Boxes. All of these examples were recommended to be used in the classroom daily and for some, even multiple times each day.

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to engage in the reading process to increase the likelihood of text comprehension (pre-reading, reading, responding exploring, applying), specifically by highlighting excerpts from the chapter that reflected the author’s purpose while reading.

As I focused on underlining more for this exploration, I spent less time writing comments and questions in the margins and more time focusing on what the authors had written. Underlining the text forced me to slow down when reading through the material because I was trying to be careful about what would be important to underline. I read the sentences I found to be important over multiple times as I was considering whether or not to underline them, then I would read them again while underlining. I think a challenge I face when underlining/highlighting in general is that I tend to underline too much. When looking over my marked up copies of the articles it does still appear that way. I'm not sure if that's necessarily a bad thing. It definitely can become bad if it get's to the point where everything is underlined or highlighted because then what was the point in the first place? Nothing stands out anymore. But I think as long as the person doing the underlining can go back and make sense of why they did what they did, then it's okay.

Like I said previously, this readerly exploration experience is one I really enjoy because it forces me to slow down when reading and search for the meaning the authors were trying to express. I am naturally a very fast reader, but reading fast never helps when it comes to articles like these or course readings because then I don't really absorb the material. There was an example in the second reading where after one sentence the author states, "This is the type of phonemic awareness instruction that I address in this article." Because I was reading slowly, I was able to pick up on that and then backtracked to the sentence before because the author was clearly stating what the entire article was going to focus on. I underlined and put a star next to that section so I knew where to go back to.  

Multimedia: I have attached pictures of my articles that show my underlining. I specifically included the page where I had put a star next to the important information I had found after backtracking. Because I tend to underline a lot, I prefer underlining instead of highlighting because I think highlighting could potentially appear overwhelming. Because the focus of this readerly exploration was to highlight the main ideas of the author, I tried not to write as much in the margins and just focus on what the authors had written.

[mbarnshaw-blog]

Readerly Exploration - October 22nd

Reading: Dyson (2008), “The Pine Cone Wars: Studying Writing in a Community of Children”

Biggest Takeaway: Children have both an official and an unofficial world that coincide with each other in their time in the classroom and in their time of play which is critical.

Nugget: Play is not limited to one space or time while learning and literacy are not either. Play can be seen on the playground or, like what we saw in the article, during writing. As educators, it is so important that we are able to combine the two, in an appropriate way, in our classrooms. 

Readerly Exploration Experience: For the readerly exploration, I decided to engage in the reading process to increase the likelihood of text comprehension (pre-reading, reading, responding, exploring, applying), specifically by annotating any questions that arise, as I read the article, in the margins.

While reading the article, I kept specifically questioning the use of the word “war” and if it was really appropriate. It was interesting to see how as the article went on how the author and the teacher in the classroom addressed it as an issue the same way I had originally seen it. I wrote simple questions in the margins such as “What are the ages of these students?” that I had not originally picked up on when reading through the first time. Writing these questions made it easier to go back to later to find the answers. When I looked for the ages of the students, I was able to find pretty much right away that they were 6, but writing the question down made sure that I didn’t forget about those simple things that gave me more information when thinking about the situations going on in the article. I am usually pretty quick to mark up my readings so this readerly exploration was not difficult to complete.

Asking the questions helped deepen my understanding of the article because it forced me to slow down and question the things I had not originally picked up on. I’m a pretty fast reader so for assigned readings I always feel like I need to mark it up by underlining, drawing arrows, writing comments, etc. to slow myself down and process what I’m reading. Writing questions was just another method for that same strategy.

Multimedia: Below I have pictures from my copy of the article. I tend to mark up my readings a lot, with underlining, arrows, comments and questions that help me when I look back on the reading remember all of my connections and thoughts. Naturally using this technique made this readerly exploration a little easier but I focused on questioning more than I typically would.

[mbarnshaw-blog]

Readerly Exploration - October 19th

Reading: Sipe (2002), “Talking Back and Talking Over: Young Children’s Expressive Engagement During Read-Aloud Storybooks”

Biggest Takeaway: Children respond to literature in a variety of different ways, known as expressive engagement, including dramatizing, talking back, critiquing/controlling, inserting, and taking over. 

Nugget: “Taking over” can often times be seen in a negative way. Maybe you feel like the student is only talking to listen to their own voice, but it’s important to let go of control a little bit and see everything they are saying as their way of expressing their engagement with the literature. Their random story about something they did over the weekend may have stemmed from something they heard in the story. 

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to read texts deeply in order to interpret, critique, and analyze the various layers of meaning a text might offer a reader, specifically by learning something about the author of the assigned course reading and using that to draw conclusions about the motivation behind the reading or the credibility/quality of the writing. 

When researching about the author, Lawrence R. Sipe, I came across an article that talked about his life and work after he had suddenly passed away. One section read, ‘To Dr. Sipe, children’s picture books, with their complex interweaving of text and visual elements, are in many ways more sophisticated than the text-heavy “chapter books” that are often seen as the next stage for young readers. Picture books, he said late last year, “invite all sorts of higher-level thinking skills,” and he objected to the recent trend among parents of pushing children to read chapter books at earlier and earlier ages. “Let children be children for a while,” he said.’ It is so evident that Sipe saw the value and real potential in children’s literature, specifically picture books, which made the assigned reading clearer to me. It makes sense why he saw every single thing a child does during read-alouds to be expressive engagement, even the random thoughts and stories thought to be totally unrelated, because he recognized that pictures books have the ability to take people to an even higher level of thinking than thought possible. Letting children talk, which we see through all five of the kinds of expressive engagement, is a way of letting children be children, what Sipe had encouraged. 

Multimedia: I just think Boo from Monster’s Inc. is adorable and this reminded me of the idea of just letting kids be kids and letting them talk. 

[mbarnshaw-blog]

Readerly Exploration - October 17th

Reading: Holdaway (1982), “Shared Book Experience: Teaching Reading Using Favorite Books” 

Biggest Takeaway: Holdaway explores the idea of using children’s favorites books in an enjoyable setting to guide their learning, where the learning program is meaning-centered and process-centered rather than word-centered. 

Nugget: Something really interesting Holdaway brings up in the reading is the importance of "read-it-again” which is lacking in the education setting. At home, where children tend to develop their love for certain books, they are able to choose the books they want to be read to them and often will use this phrase of “read-it-again” once they have found a book they love and want to hear over and over again. Teachers tend to fly through books in the education setting, and you hardly ever see a child requesting to hear a story a second time and the teacher agreeing to that. It seems like there’s too much to be done to be able to repeat. How can children fall in love with particular books then if they only hear them one time? 

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to explore the world through reading by using texts to answer questions about the world or generating new questions about the world from texts that are read, specifically by taking myself on a field trip to a place on campus that connects with the big ideas of my assigned reading. For my field trip, I took myself to the Murray Library, specifically to the area of the library with all of the children’s books. The article had a huge emphasis on the impact using children’s favorite books can have in the student’s learning so I picked through and found some of my most beloved favorites. Some of the books I found that brought back memories of learning in the classroom were... Brown Bear, Brown Bear, the entire Narnia series, The Very Hungary Caterpillar, The Rainbow Fish, Corduroy, the entire Junie B. Jones series, and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. 

Having three older sisters, I was usually pretty familiar with the books my teachers would introduce in the classroom and it made it so fun for me to feel like I was finally old enough to read the books my sisters had loved. I remember completing some type of art project/craft to go along with each one of those stories. While the article talked about needing to be able to read texts more than once for them to really become favorites, reflecting on the books also made me recognize how completing those crafts made those books my favorites as well. We would sometimes, spend a whole week or even multiple weeks, for the longer books, creating the projects so each day we would come back and talk about the book. This gave us the opportunity to really think deeply about the texts and focus on the meanings of them. 

In second grade, as my teacher read us the entire Narnia series, I kept a separate journal where I would write down all of the things in the books that paralleled to things in the Bible, in SECOND grade. I sometimes forget about the ability kids have, even at that age, to think deeply and then I remember that was what I was thinking about during those readings, and I’m nothing out of the ordinary. I think teachers can fly through books sometimes just to be able to say, “Look at all the different books our class read!” But if we slow down, and we give up some control to allow our student’s minds to think deeply about what we’re reading, we can instill a love for reading deeply and understanding in our students. 

Multimedia: I came across this video and thought it captured the idea of the entire article so perfectly. Not only was the boy adorable reciting “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, but I was also able to connect with it because that was a favorite book of mine I had memorized when I was young. (Look’s like I’m starting a trend of my favorite Eric Carle books)

[mbarnshaw-blog]

Readerly Exploration - October 10th

Reading One: Miller (2013), Chapter 4, “In October"

Biggest Takeaway: This chapter focuses on the importance of students connecting understanding with their schemas as they approach new literacy texts and being able to demonstrate that understanding. 

Nugget: A point Miller made, just briefly, I found to be extremely important was about the importance of raising social consciousness with our students. We look at our little, pure students and don’t want them to ever know an evil thing, but it’s not reality, and we have to face the fact that some of these topics we are trying to hide from these kids, they are already going through or have gone through in their own lives. Millers approach to the topic is by finding the right book to “launch” the discussion. I think it’s a really great idea to use literacy to make those real-life connections and bring up those topics that are really difficult. 

Reading Two: Worthy, et. al. (2015), “What Are the Rest of the Students Doing?” Literacy Work Stations in Two First-Grade Classrooms”

Biggest Takeaway: Everything we do in our classroom must having meaning and further the learning of our students. When we have things such as stations or guided reading, we need to make sure students are actively engaged, productive, that they are learning and the topics are not just seen as busywork. 

Nugget: I think it’s easy to see how work stations could be seen as difficult for the lower-level students if they are not able to understand the concepts, but there is also great risk when the stations work is too easy, and the higher-level learners are left doing nothing after completing a task that was far below their ability level and did not stretch them at all. It’s important to come up with work that is going to work for all levels of learners and arrange the stations in a way where the learners are being challenged at an appropriate level, no matter if they are the strongest or the weakest at the concept. 

Readerly Exploration Experience: For this readerly exploration, I decided to reflect on the contributions of reading experiences to reader identity in an effort to better articulate who he or she is as a reader, specifically based on my successes and struggles reading this text, writing down two or three goals for myself as a reader for my next reading assignment. 

Based off of my successes and struggles from reading this text, for my next reading assignment I would like to:

1. Continue to complete my readings in a quiet place, where I am able to process the information and think out loud.

2. Read the texts in one sitting so that I don’t forget information in the middle.

3. Look back over information that was highlighted, underlined, or things I wrote in the margins during my initial read to make clearer sense of the main ideas and concepts. 

Deciding to go back and reflect on how my reading experience went helped me to narrow in on things that helped me understand the texts better and things that might have not. Creating simple goals, that are easily reachable can help with holding myself accountable in the future when I’m reading. It’s important to take time when reading to make sure I’m fully grasping the concepts and these goals force me to slow down and process. This particular exploration really connected with our course content. Not only are setting goals something Miller talks about in her text, but the chapter we read about this week specifically talks about making sure our students are understanding. To be able to set goals and know if you’ve reached them, you have to understand them. 

Multimedia: We need to be checking in our students by asking good questions and watching them as they are developing their ability to read to make sure that they aren’t falling behind and are really understanding what they are reading and more importantly, learning. At the same time, when we’re the ones reading, we need to be checking in on ourselves to make sure, we too, are understanding the information. 

[mbarnshaw-blog]

Mia Barnshaw - October 5th

Simulation Journal #2

Part I. 

Describe how you have felt “giving it a go” when you know there are very real expectations (deadline from your fictional principal and grades from your real professor) and share some things you’ve learned about yourself as a professional as you’ve undertaken this task. 

I’m sure my views on “giving it a go” don’t really line up with most of the other students in our cohort because I have absolutely loved it. I feel like I learn best through doing so getting to apply everything we are talking about while we’re completing the assignments and in placement has helped me recognize things I’m naturally really good at, things I have practiced in other areas of my life, and most importantly, the things I need to work on improving. Teaching is my passion and what I know I want to do, so why not want take this time to dive in,  knock out those initial fears, and allow the experts in the field to surround us and guide us through.

I think it’s so interesting that, as education majors, we have these conversations all the time about how everything’s just about the numbers and monitoring the assessments now, but when we teach we’re going to make sure our students recognize there’s so much more to it and learning is something to be loved. This makes me think of the time in class we discussed the standards and specifically got into talking about the Common Core, Bill Gates, and Donald Trump. These new standards have made students to be just another number in the system in an effort to profit from the “business” of education. Dr. Fischer and students in the class spoke so passionately about how we must be different, and yet when it comes to our own classes, we too focus too much on the numbers and the grades instead of looking at the overall purpose. I have felt an overwhelming peace this semester knowing that I’m going to benefit and learn so much from these classes and experiences, and that is what I need to focus on. In literacy, we talk about how we must be readers to encourage our students to become readers, but we also need to be learners to encourage our students to be learners.

Looking at it from a teacher’s perspective, teacher’s don’t want to give student’s work that is too easy for them because then they won’t be growing to their full potential... they could do so much more. At the same time, teachers don’t want to give students work that is so incredibly beyond their ability because that can be discouraging and doesn’t promote the best learning then either. With this in mind, it makes me feel so confident that our professors know what they are doing and they know what we can achieve and how we can grow, even when we can’t. Trusting in that and looking at these assignments from the perspective of, “I know I can do this because my professors know I can do this”  makes it so much more exciting to dive into the assignments.  

I know I don’t know what I’m doing yet, and that’s so incredibly humbling, but I also have the confidence that I will get there. At the same time, this experience is allowing me to see the things I have learned from past experiences working at the learning center, being a preschool teacher and teaching swim and music lessons. So many upperclassmen have told me that by the end of this year, we will feel prepared to teach and I rest on that. The year isn’t meant to be an ongoing test starting from the beginning of the year on whether or not we’re ready, because we’re not. If this structure of “giving it a go” is what is going to prepare me the best and make me the best teacher I can be, then let’s go. 

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Part II.

How does reflecting on our simulation in this way help you think about our course driving question differently? (Driving Question: How can teachers create effective instruction that is good for children and maintains the integrity of their philosophy within the constraints of administrative and other external mandates?)

I think when teachers are put in the situation of having to change the way they would typically do things in order to follow the guidelines of the administration and other external mandates, the can go into that panic of feeling like they just have to “give it a go”. Things like that could change at any moment in the year and teachers don’t have the time to first learn all of the new material and expectations before having to incorporate it into their structure of the classroom.

Particularly learning about the Systems Model has made me think about the potential of my future school wanting me to do things differently than how I’ve been taught. I could get a job right out of college and they could throw a whole new model that they expect me to implement into my instructional plans that may seem more challenging for me. Thinking about our driving question, and the idea of “giving it a go” makes me feel like in that situation, and probably several other situations I’ll face, I need to follow the guidelines my administration has set for me, but I also need to stay true to myself and know myself enough to understand what’s going to be best for me forming effective instruction. It reminds me of what Miller explains in our literacy text... we need to know our stuff and why it works so that when administration wants to change it, we can back up why we do what we do. In that situation, I would use the new model that I am expected to use by administration, but I would also create a plan in the Systems Model that I am comfortable with. 

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Multimedia Connection. 

Whenever I’m feeling discouraged about not feeling totally prepared yet, I have to remind myself that it will happen with time.

[mbarnshaw-blog]

Readerly Exploration - October 3rd

Reading One: Miller (2013), Chapter 2, “In September, Part One"

Biggest Takeaway: This chapter focuses on what Miller believes are the most important things to establish in the classroom during the month of September including trust, strong relationships, and a working literate environment where your children are seen as readers, writers, thinkers and learners, and your classroom, a joyful place for learning.

Nugget: Miller starts the chapter by describing an assignment she would have her parents complete at the beginning of the school year. She would have them write to her about their child, including any information they thought she should know. She says, ‘I’m struck by the love between the lines, the hopes and dreams that live in their words, and the faith and trust they have in me.” (Miller, 2013, p. 28) She goes on to explain how something that she doesn’t see in those writings are the assessment scores they hope their child achieves, not because they aren’t important, but because they’re not the most important. She takes these writings and notes how important it is to look at our students the way their parents see them. We have such a privilege that we get the opportunity to teach them and to learn from them. 

Reading Two: Miller (2013), Chapter 3, “In September, Part Two"

Biggest Takeaway: This chapter focuses on the importance of getting your learners to understand what readers do so that they, too, may recognize that though they may not be able to physically read a book yet, they are also readers. 

Nugget: Miller does a really great job making us rethink our role as the teacher and our students’ roles as the learners. She states, “Why not just post a list of rules on the first day of school and be done? I remember those days, but that was when the room was mine, not ours; that was when I was the only teacher, and they were the only learners; and that was when I asked all the questions, and had all the answers, too.” (Miller, 2013, p. 41) Things are not black and white like they used to be. We have moved to a more learner-centered approach, where our main focus has to be on the students and not on ourselves. 

Readerly Exploration Experience: For my readerly exploration, I decided to focus on the readerly habit, “Read a wide variety of genres and formats of texts to grow in their knowledge and experiences as a reader,” specifically by identifying a song that relates to the topics discussed in the reading.  In Chapter 2, Miller spends time explaining why she enjoys starting off her read-alouds with a songbook, a poem, or a rhyme. She tells us how these kinds of books are fun, promote community, are ones students are going to take and try to do at home, and they increase phonemic awareness along with other things. Reading this section made me instantly think of the songbook “Today is Monday” by Eric Carle. I actually knew the song before knowing it comes from a book because my older sisters used to sing it around the house. Once I did see the book, it made it even better because I absolutely loved Eric Carle’s illustrations growing up. This particular songbook is perfect for a read-aloud because not only does it have a catchy, easy tune, but it’s also visually appealing and the content is educational. The students in the learning center I worked at over the summer used the same book and song to learn the days of the week, practice animals, and introduce different kinds of foods. The song is also very repetitive which makes it easy for young kids to learn. 

Multimedia: This video has the pictures from the book as they go along with the song. 

[mbarnshaw-blog]

Mia Barnshaw - 9/14

Instructional Design: Simulation Journal Entry 1

Part I: Prompt

Now that you’ve made it through your New Teacher Orientation in our simulation, talk about an instance in which what is expected of you in this district might be at odds with your teaching philosophy and/or an instance in which what the district says they believe might be at odds with how things are actually run.

Part I: Response

Throughout our entire time in the New Teacher Orientation, our principal would repeatedly say, “You are the best candidates and are fully equipped for the job.” While this statement was encouraging and nice to hear, as the orientation continued on, I felt that less and less true. While I do believe I’m qualified for the position and have prepared well from my studies at the University, I feel like there are so many things I have left to learn and find myself questioning how I could possibly be ready if I don’t know everything yet.

One of the first times I really felt that was while we were doing our first instructional planning session. Mrs. Fletcher started off by giving us time to write our own instructional plans the way we would typically do them. Well, for me, I’ve always started my plans by diving right into the instructional strategies I want to use and allowing the rest of my plan, including my goal and assessments, to stem from that. According to Mrs. Fletcher, I was completely wrong in that regard and she showed us the Systems Model we are required to use as educators in the Messiah School District. If we truly are the best candidates, why does she want us changing everything about the way we structure our lessons? I’m open to using this method, but it just makes me question how qualified and knowledgable I actually am.

Another time I questioned my own readiness for the position was when we were going over the academic standards. Mrs. Fletcher gave us a really great resource, the pdesas.org website. I had never heard of the website before and had no prior knowledge of the standards that I should be using to create my instructional goals. I want my classroom to be creative and fun and I want my students to have an incredible experience. I want it to be about more than numbers and testing and competition. How can I even do that when our entire instructional plans and goals are supposed to be based off of the standards and the eligible content that are going to have such a huge impact on our final evaluations? The whole session left me with a lot of questions on how I can be the best teacher I can be, not lose myself or what I believe in, while still making sure my students are prepared for these standardized tests.

Mrs. Fletcher says we are ready and we are the best candidates for the job, but I’m not so sure. She wants us to change the things we’ve learned and practiced to fit the mold of her district and I need to figure out how I can do that without losing myself.

Part II: Prompt

How does reflecting on our simulation in this way help you think about our course driving question differently? (Driving Question: How can teachers create effective instruction that is good for children and maintains the integrity of their philosophy within the constraints of administrative and other external mandates?)

Part II: Response

Our driving course reflection question came up for me a lot in my own personal reflection, especially after looking at the standards and learning about the eligible content area. It’s crazy to think about how politically driven our wonderful world of education is. When I was four years old and playing school in my basement, my young self had no idea of the depth this future career path could hold. It’s so sad to me that our students are viewed to much of the public as a number in a business transaction, and while I don’t know the answer to the question of how I will maintain the integrity of my own philosophy while still following the mandates yet, I do know that I’ll start by loving each and every one of my students and teaching because of the same reason I wanted to teach when I was four years old... because I love people and I love learning, and I want to be the one to make an impact on children’s lives and help them discover their true potential.

Media

While Jessica Day (New Girl) is crazy, and not always put together, her heart for her students, her passion, her honesty, and her love of learning and teaching is exactly what I want be...

While writing this post, I often related to her because she definitely doesn’t always have it all together, but her heart and purpose are in the right place. So it’s okay that I’m not 100% ready yet, because I’ll get there.