taylorderham

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #7

Due: 4/1/20

Graves Reading - Words, Words Everywhere but Which ones do we Teach? (2014)

Big Idea: As educators, it’s crucial that we choose significant words to teach our students. These may include basic words that are typical for everyday conversation, academic vocabulary terms, or words that are valuable when reading a certain text.

Nugget: I really appreciated how Michael Graves broke the types of words to teach into four different categroies. First, he discussed “essential words” which are words that must be taught to students so that they can understand a certain text. Next, he explained that “valuable words” are helpful towards students’ reading and writing in certain subject areas. Valuable words may also serve as academic vocabulary terms. Then, Graves described “accessible words” as words that are of higher frequency. Lastly, he explained that “imported words” are interesting new words that may extend a student’s knowledge of a certain text but they are not explicitly mentioned in the text. Overall, I really enjoyed how Graves broke the words in which we should teach our students into four straightforward sections.

Tompkins Chapter 7 - Expanding Academic Vocabulary

Big Idea: Academic vocabulary consists of important terms that assist students in understanding math, ELA, science, and social studies concepts. It is crucial that teachers select the most important vocabulary terms to teach so that students are capable of mastering the required content in each subject area.

Nugget: I love how Tompkins describes the different levels of word knowledge. She breaks students’ progress down into four distinctive groups. She explains that “unknown words” are words that students are unable to recognize. A student may have never seen it before. The next level is called “initial recognition” which can occur when a student sees a word in which he or she has seen or heard before but does not understand the meaning of the word. Then, “partial word knowledge” occurs when a student understands one of the meanings of the word and are capable of using it in a sentence. Lastly, when a student reaches the level called “full word knowledge”, they have mastered the word and they are able to use multiple meanings of it in a variety of contexts. These distinctive levels helped me better understand where a student may be in their word knowledge.

Exploration: To explore these readings on a deeper level, I had a conversation with my Dad about academic vocabulary. I asked him if he recalled learning vocabulary terms in school and what it was like! He remembered studying vocabulary terms in science and social studies. To remember the definitions, he would study by having his mother give him the definitions and he would respond by giving the corresponding vocabulary term. He also made personal connections to the words so that he could better remember their definitions. Most of the academic vocabulary terms in which he studied fell under what Graves called “valuable words” as they were beneficial towards his understanding of certain science and social studies concepts. He also read the excerpt on page 222 pertaining to the different levels of word knowledge. He expressed to me that most of the time when his teachers introduced new academic voabulary, he fell under the initial recognition stage. He typically stopped at the partial word knowledge level as he only used these words in the classroom. Talking to my Dad really helped me understand both of the articles pertaining to academic vocabulary as our conversation required me to understand which types of words he learned at school and which level of word knowledge he fell under.

To demonstrate my multimodal component of this exploration, I took a picture of my Dad reading Tompkins’ text.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #6

Due: 3/27/20

Tompkins: “Compendium of Instructional Procedures”

Big Idea: Teachers use choose specific instructional procedures based on a variety of factors. For example, prior to choosing an instructional procedure, a teacher must decide if the students will be working independently or collaborating and which skill the students will be focusing on which could be reading or writing.

Nugget: I decided to focus on five different instructional procedures and summarize them into my own words. I did this so that I could gain a greater understanding of these particular strategies.

1. Anticipation Guides: Pre-Reading guides that allow students to become interested in a text (anticipation guides contain a list of statements pertaining to a text for students to discuss prior to reading the text)

2. Choral Reading: A group reading activity that allows all students to participate in reading (this may include echo reading, leader/chorus reading, or small-group reading)

3. Double-Entry Journals: Journal entries that include two columns for information (one example of this may be having one column for “facts” and one column for “opinion)

4. Hot Seat- An activity where one student takes the role of a specific character and answers questions pertaining to that character provided by his or her classmates (starts with a reading abou the character, then an introduction from the character, next questions and answers, and then a summary)

5. Open-Mind Portraits: Illustrations of both the character in a story and that character’s thoughts throughout the story

-I really enjoyed focusing in on these five procedures because I was not very familiar with them prior to this reading.

Gill (2011) “The Comprehension Matrix: A Tool for Designing Comprehension Instruction”

Big Idea: The Comprehension Matrix is a system for literacy that is made up of three parts which include prereading, reading, and post reading.

Nugget: I really appreciated how Gill provided the “Titanic” example because it helped me visualize what the Comprehension Matrix should look like. For example, the teacher in this scenario started by having the students create a K-W-L chart pertaining to the Titanic. Then, she had the students discuss a few statements from her anticipation guide. They discussed whether the opinions were true or false. Then, during the reading stage, the teacher read aloud the first paragraph of the text and asked students for their predictions. Lastly, for the post-reading stage, the teacher had the students write diary entries as if they were one of the survivors or people at the dock.

Exploration: For my exploration, I decided to discuss the “anticipation guide” strategy with a spiritual mentor of mine, my older sister Nicole. She said that she thinks they are very beneficial in the classroom because they help students prepare for the text they are about to read. She also said that she could see the list of statements potentially becoming controversial, but overall it could serve as a tool as it would help students understand other perspectives. Although she said that it could make students feel uncomfortable, she mainly sees it as an oppurtinity for students to share their experiences with their classmates. For example, a student who has immigrated to the United States could explain his or her experience with their peers which may cause other students to become more empathetic. She said “this activity could help students gain a greater respect for each other”. I really enjoyed talking to Nicole about this because she was an elementary reading specialist before she had her two sons. She had not heard of the “anticipation guide” strategy prior to our conversation, but she said she would certainly be interested in using this strategy with students one day. My conversation with Nicole helped me understand both readings better as I learned potentional successes with this strategy such as the development of a stronger empathy for others and as I learned potential negative impacts such as the development of uncomfortably or conflict between students.

To show my multimodal component of my exploration, I took a screenshot of my sister on FaceTime.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #5

Due: 3/11/20

Tompkins Chapter 9: Promoting Comprehension - Text Factors

Big Idea: Text factors and elements look very different and should be taught in different ways depending on the genre of the text.

Nugget: I really appreciated the section in the chapter that presented the characteristics and text factors for each genre. This was very beneficial to me as Tompkins wrote out bulleted lists of what to expect in each genre. For example, she explained that fables are “short and often less than a page long”, contain animal characters, and include an unclear setting. She then explained that folktales often begin with “once upon a time”, contain simple plot structures, and consist of one dimensional characters. For myths, Tompkins stated that these types of text often explain creations and contain characters who have supernatural powers. Then she went on to explain text factors and characteristics of fantasies, science fiction stories, realistic fiction texts, and historical fiction texts. I love how she broke them apart by genre because this helped me clearly understand the characteristics of each one individually.

Exploration: To further explore this reading, I took an on-campus field trip to the Union! At the union, I looked at the different foods and noticed that they all have different characteristics and features. For example, the eggs were white, circular, and they came in a pack of twelve (a dozen). The bin of eggs was located in the fridge. Alongside of the eggs were “Hillshire” snack packs full of crackers, cheese, and salami. There were also fruits and vegetables such as apples, grapes, carrots, and celery! While many foods at the union needed to stay refridgerated, many of the foods did not need to because of their ability to stay fresh. Some of the foods that were on the shelf include chips, pretzels, and party mix bags! This exploration may sound a bit silly but it actually really helped me understand the importance of teaching text features. For example, if educators would not teach their students about text features and different genres, the students would not know how to read that genre properly. In the same way, if we do not refrigerate the foods that need to be refrigerated, they will rot. It’s important that we recognize the features of our text just as it’s important that we recognize the characteristics of the food we eat.

For my multimodal component of this exploration, I took a picture of the food at the Union.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #4:

Due: 2/26/20

Tompkins Chapter 10: “Organizing for Instruction”

Big Idea: Implementing “basal reading programs” can be extremely beneficial to students as it often encourages them to follow the reading process through various activities.

Nugget: I really enjoyed reading about both the basal reading programs and the reading process because I have been able to connect these topics to many activities in my daily life. For example, as a student in college, I go through the reading process daily as I do my devotions in the morning, do homework, and participate in class. For my devtions, I begin prereading in prayer as I ask the Lord to speak to me in what I’m about to read. Then, I read my devotional and a section of the Bible. Next, I respond by pondering on what I have just read and what the purpose of it was. Additionally, I explore by writing new thoughts and prayers down. Lastly, I apply my reading by aiming to live out the love I read about in God’s word. I strive to encourage others and love others as Jesus did. Not only did I love reading about the reading process, but I also really enjoyed reading about basal reading programs as I could relate much of the apects to my field placement.

Gambrel (2011) “Seven Rules of Enagement: What’s Most Important to Know about Motivation to Read”

Big Idea: Typically students who feel motivated and inspired to read, accomplish greater things in their reading.

Nugget: I really enjoyed reading about the fifth rule of enagement which states, “students are more motivated to read when they have opportunities to socially interact with others about the text they are reading.�� This part stuck out to me because as a reader, I really enjoy discussing my experiences with others. For example, if I read something that’s really powerful to me, I want to share my new knowledge with others almost immediately. I also believe that allowing students to discuss what they read and how it made them feel can not only strengthen their social skills, but also their understanding of what they read. The article states that social interaction with classmates can allow students to become curious about new things in a text that they would not have thought of on their own. I love this because discussion allows students to wonder about new things and discover new ideas in a text.

Exploration: To explore Chapter 10 of Literacy for the 21st Century by Gail Tompkins, I decided to take a field trip off campus to my very own field placement on Tuesday! To relate the topics to my placement, I connected the basal readers to our math curriculum texts. For example, I took note of which materials were the same in my fourth grade classroom and within the chapter. I noticed that basal readers are extremely similar to our math materials as they both include workbooks, kits, multimedia resources, and lesson planners for the teachers! For example, I am teaching a lesson pertaining to decomposing fractions on Thursday with a McGraw-Hill instructional packet. The instructional packet aligns with the slideshow on ConnectEd.McGraw-Hill.com which is extremely useful as I can teach from the instructional plan as they see the problems on the board. Additionally, the students are also able to follow along with some of the lesson in their own workbooks. As part of the autonomous stage of learning, the students are required to independently complete one page in their workbooks, following the lesson. When we come back together as a whole group, I will then display the correct answers and work on the board and explain the reasoning for each problem. I love this way of teaching because it creates a very smooth and organized atmosphere as everything matches up together. I certainly think it’s important to switch teaching styles up sometimes, but I believe that using this structure consistently, while adding a few different types of activities can be very helpful for our students. I really enjoyed reading this chapter about basal reading programs and the reading and writing processes as I was able to connect it to a place in which I am becoming very familiar with, Elmwood Academy. I believe my personal connections to placement helped me understand more about the purpose for basal reading programs.

For my multimodal component, I took a picture of the ConnectEd.McGraw-Hill website in which I am using in my lesson for placement.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #3: Due 2/24/20

Tompkins Chapter 1: “Becoming an Effective Literacy Teacher”

Big Idea: To become an effective literacy teacher, one must understand how students learn best, what learning environment best fits them, what assessments are best for evaluating their progress in various areas, and how to use the reading and writing processes in a way that encourages students to be lifelong readers and writers.

Nugget: One part of this chapter that stood out to me pertained to the “sociocultural theory.” On page 8 of the text, it reads “reading and writing are viewed as social activities that reflect the culture and community in which students live, and students from different cultures have different expectations about literacy learning and preferred ways of learning” (Tompkins). As a future educator, I strongly feel that it is so important to incorporate activities that allow our students to express themselves. For example, allowing students time to write creatively about their values and interests can be very beneficial as it allows their voices to be heard. I also believe that giving students freedom to read and write about what they’re interested in helps them enjoy reading and writing more. Students often become more engaged in activities when they feel that they can relate.

Exploration: To respond to this reading on a deeper level, I decided to connect the sociocultural theory and reading and writing processes to the song “Purpose” by Justin Bieber. I chose to examine the lyrics of this particular song because I realized that when we allow our students to read and write about what they desire, we are giving them a purpose for learning. A piece of the song states “you’ve blessed me with the best gift that I’ve ever known, you give me purpose”. I absolutely love this line because it helps me understand how a student coming from a cultural or ethnic minority can feel blessed and valued when we simply give them a purpose for reading and or writing. I also begin to think about my classroom library. I want to have a variety of cultural books that portray people from all ethnicities as heroes, not only white men. I want all my students to be capable of finding a book where a person of their race or culture is the champion or honored person in the story. I strive to make every student feel welcome in my classroom and I want them to know that they are in fact a reader and a writer who has purpose behind what they are creating! :)

For my multimodal component, here is a picture of the song in which I connected Chapter 1’s content to.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #2

Tompkins Chapter 2: “The Reading and Writing Processes”

Big Idea: Reading is an experience that includes a reader, a text, and a social intent whereas writing is a process that works on a variety of strategies such as drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. In order to be effective teachers, we must integrate reading and writing in these ways!

Nugget: I really enjoyed how Tompkins led the reader through the reading process. For me, simplified steps are very beneficial. While I was reading this portion of the chapter, I learned that the reading process begins with “prereading” where students demonstrate background knowledge as they get ready to read, which then leads to the actual reading which may occur in a variety of ways such as read aloud a, guided reading, independent reading or partner reading. I was fascinated to discover that the reading process does not end when the student is finished reading. The process continues as the students respond by writing in a reading log or contributing to a class discussion. Then, the students may apply their knowledge through performances, projects, or presentations. I loved reading these direct steps and explicit examples as it helped me picture the reading process in a more real way.

Tompkins Chapter 6 : “Developing Fluent Readers and Writers”

Big Idea: Fluency occurs when students are capable of reading and writing accurately with ease.

Nugget: I was intrigued as I read about “Writer’s voice”. I had never heard this term prior to reading this chapter. I learned that the “writer’s voice” is a reflection of the writer themself. Their word choice and tone can make their “writer’s voice” vary. For example, the writer may choose to write formally or informally and persuasive or informational.

Exploration: To deeply explore Chapter 2, I chose to draw my TESOL professor Dr. Tina Keller. I decided to draw Dr. Keller specifically because I was reminded of her class as I was trying to relate to the reading process explained in the chapter. For example, at first when I read about how the reading process does not stop when a student is finished reading, I was pretty surprised. After pondering on what I could relate or connect this to, I realized Dr. Keller requires us to respond to our reading through Socratic seminars. In Socratic seminars, we are required to read a chapter of a particular book and reflect on it through responding to questions in a short essay format. Not only do we write a reflection, we also bring our reflections to our next class meeting and have a seminar discussion on the assigned reading. Socratic seminars are very beneficial to me as a learner because they allow me to hear other perspectives on the readings. Although I was originally fascinated when I first read about the reading process continuing after the reading is finished, I was able to make sense of this as I connected it to my own college course at Messiah College! This exploration was very helpful to my understanding. :)

To show my multimodal component of this exploration, here is my personal drawing of Dr. Keller:

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #1

2/6/20

Advanced Readers in Reading First Classrooms: Who Was Really “Left Behind”? Considerations for the Field of Gifted Education

Big Idea: Rather than specifically focusing on below level academic students, we must meet all of our students’ unique needs for growth including our gifted or advanced students.

Nugget: The part of this article that stood out to me most was where Brighton discussed the “compromises in the curriculum and instruction.” I felt sad as I read about advanced students who waste time as they read below-level books. Additionally, they were not given work that challenged them or allowed for creativity. This inspired me as an educator, to provide my students with challenges and make sure all students are learning and growing daily!

Exploration:

To explore the ideas behind this article, I discussed the most compelling points with my classmate Katie. She mentioned how we often overlook students who are gifted and push them to the side when we’re so focused on getting the struggling students to the developmentally appropriate level where they should be performing. We both felt encouraged to inspire all of our students to reach their full potential, especially as we are starting our enrichment groups in our field placements soon. On the other hand, neither of us really found any points that were the “least compelling.” We could only come up with the fact that it may be difficult to implement unique, challenging instruction in other schools and other states. Overall, this article strongly motivated us to challenge all of our students to be the best they can be! Also, connecting this reading to our field placements was very beneficial in helping us understand why it’s so crucial that we challenge all of our students. We realized that we have focused on struggling students more in the past and how that may have hindered advanced students from learning the most that they could. I really enjoyed reading this article and discussing it with Katie as both experiences strengthened my understanding of the importance of challenge in the classroom.

Here is a picture in which I took of my classmate Katie after we discussed the article.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #8

Due: 11/13/19

“Why Reading Fluency Should be Hot” by Rasinski, Timothy

Big Idea: The purpose of reading fluently should be to read correctly to gain meaning, rather than simply “read fast”.

Nugget: I enjoyed the part of this article where Rasinski discussed “reading automatically”. He talked about students who can read most of the words in stories but are unable to comprehend what is happening in the stories. He then explained that those students are typically the ones that can comprehend stories when someone else reads them. This happens because when students read the words themselves, if they are not reading automatically, they are using all of their cognitive skills to read the word. Therefore, their congitive skills are not working to understand what meaning the words convey together.

Applegate, Applegate, and Modla

Big Idea: Students who are capable of reading fluently are not always capable of comprehending texts.

Nugget: The authors of this article explained that assessing fluency and comprehension separately may be very harmful for students. They portray that fluency and comprehension are two important reading processes that work best when done together. I noticed this connecting to the other article by Rasinski because he explained that students should have an automatic fluency so that they can read fluently while also understanding what they are reading. I loved finding connections between the two articles.

Exploration:

To explore Rasinski’s reading on a deeper level, I wrote down my struggles and successes in comprehending his article. In my “struggles” section, I wrote “how can fluency be hot or cold”. Prior to diving deep in this article, I was very confused to what the author meant by this. As I continued reading, I found that Rasinski explained that fluency should be “hot” as in fluency should be practiced often and practiced correctly. To be practiced correctly, students must not only say the words in which they are reading correctly, but they also must understand what is happening in the story. If a student was able to practice frequently and do both of those things, they would have a “hot fluency”. I also was confused about what the term “prosody” meant because I had never heard that term prior to this reading. I learned that “prosody” is the connection between fluency and comprehension. It is the factor that allows students to put the words together in a story to understand what is happening. On the other hand, in the “successes” section, I wrote down that I was able to clearly understand that fluency in its fullest occurs when students read for meaning. I also succeeded in comprehending the part about automatic reading because I could personally relate to this part of the article. For example, Rasinski talked about how many students can read the words accurately but are unable to comprehend what they are reading due to a lack of automatic reading. I experienced this many times in elementary school. When teachers assessed me on fluency, I got check marks on most of the words, but when they asked me to explain what I had read, I would freeze. Pondering over my struggles and successes while reading this helped me understand Rasinski’s article on a much deeper level. I felt as if he was writing about me because I have experienced such similar situations to the students in which he was talking about. I really enjoyed this reading because I am now even more motivated to provide fun opportunities for students to connect fluency to comprehension.

Here is a picture of my “struggles” and “successes” chart.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #7

Due: 11/6/19

“Word Study Instruction in the K-2 Classroom” by Williams

Big Idea: Word studies that involve common sight words and engaging activities can be a major benefit in the literacy development of children.

Nugget: I appreciated the part where Williams talked about “carving out time to prepare for word study instruction” because I see my mentor teacher soing this at my placement. She takes time to plan strong word-work centers for literacy and she models them each time. For example, one day students were practicing their sight words by rolling them out in play dough. Later that afternoon, the students were using the same words such as “the, are and my” in their kid-writing stories. I loved reading about the importance of word studies because I was able to clearly connect the content to my field placement.

“Vocabulary Practices in Prekindergarten and Kindergarten classrooms” by Silverman and Crandell

Big Idea: Studies demonstrate that teachers who read analytically and use more practice strategies during read-alouds typically have students with higher scores in vocabulary.

Nugget: I really enjoyed how the authors conducted their study on 16 different classrooms during three times of the school year. This helped me develop a trust for the authors and their findings. Also, I appreciated how the authors explained that the effect may differ between students. For example, the authors shared that students who had lower vocabulary skills made stronger improvement than those who already had stronger vocabulary skills.

Exploration: For my exploration, I decided to skim the article “Word Study Instruction in the K-2 Classroom” by Williams and jot down terms in which I was unfamiliar with. I jotted down the terms “high-frequency words, word study, and strategy instruction.” I looked for the definitions on both google and in the article. Fortunately, I was able to find all of the definitions in the article right nearby the terms. Also, I had ideas about what each of these terms meant by inferring and using context clues, but it was reassuring to find the true definitions. I learned that high-frequency words are simply words that may be extremely useful to a student. As I read about this, I thought about my field placement because my mentor teacher often chooses sight words that students frequently use during kid-writing. Also, I learned that a word study is “an approach to spelling instruction” that moves away from basic memorization (Williams). I connected this term to my field placement as well as I thought about our literacy centers. My mentor teacher sets up a word work station each day for the students to practice their letters, letter sounds, and sight words. Lastly, I was unsure about what strategy instruction was, so I looked around for a definition. I learned that strategy instruction occurs when the teacher teaches his or her students about how to participate in a word study strategically. Learning the definitions of these unfamiliar terms was very benefial to my reading experience. Writing the definitions helped me to comprehend the article on a deeper level and connect to my field placement more. As I was writing the meanings of the terms, I was connecting the definitions to my experiences in the Kindergarten classroom.

Here is a picture of my written definitions in which I wrote prior to reading Williams’ article.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #6

Due: 11/4/19

“Phonemes in Use: Multiple Activities for a Critical Process”

Big Idea: Teachers must teach phonemes in an effective way so that students can understand the alphabet and develop proper speech skills.

Nugget: I appreciated how the author Patrick C. Manyak included authentic and detailed strategies to use when teaching about phonemic awareness. For example, he talked about a literacy intervention strategy called “Say-It-And-Move-It”. This activity consists of students moving phoneme tiles next to each other while saying each phoneme’s sound out loud. Once the phonemes are put together correctly, the student would sound-stretch the entire word to read what it said. This was only one of the numerous techniques in which he discussed.

“Watching Young Writers”

Big Idea: As teachers, it is very important that we praise students for their efforts in writing and allow them to try first without always correcting them immediately.

Nugget: The part of this article that stood out to me most took place where one of the young adults was talking about her reading experience as a child. The young adult talked about how she used to draw scribbles on things. She remembered her family members referring to her scribbles as “cute”. The young adult explained that her family members would have praised her writing (even on the walls) if it contained a correctly written word. Instead, her family members were not excited or impressed because she only wrote scribbles. This made me feel sad because scribbles are a significant step in a student’s writing development and I believe that scribbles are worth being praised. I do not agree with scribbling on the wall, but I do think educators and parents should provide paper and praise children for writing even if it isn’t flawless.

Exploration:

For my exploration, I chose to view this reading through a lense of faith. As I read this article, I jotted down any connections to my faith in God. This helped me understand the article “Watching Young Writers” on a deeper level because it reminded me of why I should praise my students’ effort and provide opportunities for them to express their knowledge and creativity. For example, I thought a lot about how encouraging students and praising their work is one way to show them God’s love without verbally or explicitly sharing about God in the classroom. This is especially important in public school classrooms which is applicable to my life because I see myself teaching in a public elementary school someday. Also, I began to think about how God always supports us. He never leaves when we make mistakes. The Holy Spirit certainly convicts me sometimes, but the Lord loves me and does not attack me every time I mess up. I believe that as Christians, we are called to live like Jesus and encourage others even when they make mistakes. We should provide correction once in a while, but we do not need to constantly discourage students for making mistakes because mistakes are a natural part of the learning process. I really enjoyed reading this article because it developed my understanding of how we should approach students’ writing mistakes and taught me more about myself as a Christian educator.

Here is a picture of my notes while reading the “Watching Young Writers” article.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #5

Due: 10/18/19

“Talking Back and Taking Over: Young Children’s Expressive Engagement During Storybook Read-Alouds”

Big Idea: As educators, we can encourage expressive engagement during read-alouds in practical ways such as applying texts to our lives, providing time for students to reannact the story, or simply asking students what they would do in a certain situation.

Nugget: I really enjoyed how Lawrence R. Sipe included real examples of expressive engagement. He provided an example of a literary response where a student was engaged in a read-aloud about “Foxy Loxy” from Chicken Little. She happened to be getting into trouble for a crime. The student then began to sing the theme song from Cops in response to reading about Foxy Loxy’s crime. Another interesting response occurred when a teacher was reading “Where the Wild Things are”. The book talked about “terrible roars” and “terrible claws” and one student began to act the scene out by dancing. These examples helped develop my understanding of expressive engagement. They also reminded me of students at my placement who often call out or raise their hand to share connections during read-alouds.

Exploration: As part of my exploration, I read about the author Lawrence R. Sipe prior to reading his article. This motivated me to read the article because I was fascinated by his accomplishments. I learned that he was a professor at Penn GSE and even the chair of the “Language and Literacy in Education” Program. I also found out that he wrote a popular book called “Storytime: Young Children’s Literacy Understanding in the Classroom”. He also wrote a couple other books pertaining to picture books. As the chair of the literacy program and an author of books dealing with children’s literacy, Lawrence Sipe seems to be a very knowledgeable and credible person in the literacy field. This encouraged me to really take time to read the strategies he provided in his article. For example, in the article, I learned about the basic ways to encourage effective engagement without encouraging distraction. He provides helpful suggestions like the ones I listed before such as fitting a text to our students’ situations, acting things out, and asking students questions during read-alouds. These are strategies in which I can use during future read-alouds.

Source: Larry Sipe. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2019, from https://www.gse.upenn.edu/larry_sipe

https://www.gse.upenn.edu/larry_sipe.t

Below is a picture of Lawrence R. Sipe’s book called “Storytime”. Learning about his previous works helped me gain a stronger sense of trust for him.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #4

Due: 10/9/19

Miller Chapter 4

Big Idea:

As teachers, once we know the direction in which we’re headed for instruction, we become determined to prepare successful instruction for our students.

Nugget:

I really enjoyed the section in Chapter 4 where Debbie Miller talked about authenticity. Here, she tells us as teachers that we simply cannot fake it. By this she means, we need to try the activities in which we are requiring our students to do before they try to complete them. Miller also explains that we must be careful when someone suggests a particular book or lesson because it might not be as smooth in our classroom if we don’t put our own spin on it first. We must modify lessons for our specific learners and their needs.

“What Are the Rest of the Students Doing? Literacy Work Stations in Two First-Grade Classsrooms” Article

Big Idea:

Seatwork as individual students working on worksheets has been proven to be unproductive, but engaging learning stations with guided instruction may be very beneficial to students’ learning.

Nugget: I appreciated how this article provided so many tips for providing engaging literacy centers. For example, the authors provide links to readwritethink.org where teachers can find resources for literacy centers, activities for centers based on specific book titles, and specific activities pertaining to note writing. I also enjoyed how the article explains Pamela’s story as a teacher because I was able to relate her experiences to my placement. For example, centers are typically very successful in my classroom but just as Pamela found her students creeping over to the wrong center, a few students in my Kindergarten class have a hard time staying in their literacy center the whole time without getting distracted.

Exploration: For my exploration, I actually observed the kindergarteners’ behavior at my field placement. I couldn’t find a better connection than observing real literacy centers. Fortunately, I was able to lead a writing center and also watch the centers around me. I saw some benefits while I also saw some problems. For example, I observed my mentor teacher practice all of the letters and their sounds with the students who struggle the most with letters. This seemed to be a very beneficial time for the students and the teacher. I also had a great experience practicing the letters “M” and “J” with some students who have a hard time with letters. We had the opportunity to use play dough and whiteboards for our center. While some centers were very successful, some stirred up some trouble. For example, there was a watercolor station where the students had to use paint to discover the glow letter. This was a very fun activity and worked very well for the most of the children, but some children had a hard time taking the correct amount of paint. Fortunately, my dyad partner and I helped our at this station and corrected students when necessary. There was also a reading specialist helping at another station. I tried to imagine the stations without the four of us helping out. I honestly could not imagine how it would go. The only two stations that were not supervised were library and iPads. One of the students at iPads kept having her headphones fall out. This was a distraction for the other students and we had to settle it. Making observations during literacy centers at my placement helped me understand this article better because I got to experience the success and chaos in which the article talked about. I definitely saw both sides to independent work because while it sure can be a benefit, it can also be a free time.

This is a picture of the play dough mats we used during the literacy center.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #3

Due: 10/2/19

Miller Chapter 2

Big Idea:

September is for getting to know students personally and deciding what students must know by the end of the year.

Nugget:

I really enjoyed how Debbie Miller talked about her mistakes during the first week rush as a teacher. She was open about forgetting to read the parents’ letters about their children. This encouraged me because it helped me realize that all teachers forget things once in a while, but it’s never too late to get back on track. I also loved reading about her students’ interests! I found it facsinating that some students were “Irish step dancers and LEGO-maniacs” (28).

Miller Chapter 3

Big Idea:

As educators, it is crucial for us to have a contageious passion for reading and an empathetic motivation for assessing students’ progress.

Nugget: I appreciate how Debbie Miller talks about using practical items such as sticky notes and notebook entries to demonstrate students’ responses to reading. She explains that having her students complete responses through book jackets took more than twice the amount of time than the actual reading did. Therefore, she changed her strategy and allowed her students to write and draw their responses on sticky notes and or in journals.

Exploration: In order to explore this reading on a deeper level, I talked to my classmate Katie about her reading experience. I told her that Miller’s section on the first week rush stood out to me. Katie said that she was surprised when she read about reading strategies, workshops, and applications of reading because she feels that she rarely sees these practices in her placement. Because she hasn’t experienced a positive reading experience in her placement, she forgot about many positive strategies to making her students feel like readers. She felt encouraged while reading this because Debbie Miller provided many helpful reading strategies in the chapter and Katie is excited to implement these in the classroom.

As Katie read the chapter, she applied many of Miller’s strategies to her field placement. I also found myself relating pieces of this reading to my student teaching experience. As another part of my reading process, I tended to focus on the big ideas that interested me the most such as getting to know the students’ interests and focusing on what the students would have to know by the end of the year. Completing this exploration gave me a better understanding of the reading because I learned more about what my own feelings as I discussed my takeaways from the chapter with Katie. As I learned more about the parts I focused on in the chapter, I also learned more about the other sections as Katie discussed them. For example, I learned more about positive reading strategies such as reading workshops and reading applications. I learned that we should provide and encourage a significant amount of individual reading time each day as Katie talked about this. She was frustrated because the students at her placement do not receive this important time. I really enjoyed discussing this chapter with Katie and learning more about positive reading strategies.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #2

Due: 9/20/19

Big Idea:

Fischer- Sloppy scribbles are very beneficial to understanding text. Although many may argue that doodles in margins are distracting and cause the book to lose its value, it has been proven to increase the value in many cases. For example, a young boy named Elijah illustrated characters from a story and paused to ponder their physical attributes. This helped him connect deeper with the story and gain a stronger understanding of the characters. Children learn to read better when they illustrate their own interpretations of the story because it allows them to become more engaged.

Miller Chapter 1- We must try out different strategies to determine which guiding principles work best for ourselves and our students. For example, we can teach our students to be respectful of their peers by sitting quietly while a classmate is reading or politely asking a peer to speak a little louder. Debbie Miller realized that respect for one another was a significant priority in the classroom. As future educators, we should begin to consider what our guiding principles will be like in the classroom.

Nugget:

Fischer- I really enjoyed reading the part about 18 month old Hannah engaging with her book. I was surprised that at only 18 months, Hannah was producing drawings while making sounds. The study makes it seem as if she is trying to explain the story with her illustration. This study made me appreciate illustrations more because they seem to be a major benefit to children’s literacy development.

Miller Chapter 1- I love how the author talked about “showing children we care about them and love being their teacher(s)” (Miller 21). She explained that demonstrating we care as the students’ educator will teach them how to show care to their friends. Debbie Miller did things like giving a student a new rock for her collection, printing a poem about cats for a student who loves cats, and putting a band-aid on a student’s paper cut, and more (Miller 21). I hope that I can be just like Debbie Miller when I become a teacher. I find it so great that she is such a strong role model for her students because many students don’t have positive role models to look up to. She also provides a great demonstration for the students to use while making “lasting friendships”. :)

Exploration: My initial response to these readings was to draw. I felt encouraged to illustrate my feelings after reading about the power of illustrations. I also felt inspired to think about some of my greatest priorities and guiding principles. Writing these out helped me feel more confident about teaching in general. I believe it is crucial to identify our goals, priorities, and teaching strategies if we want to be successful teachers. This excercise allowed me to relieve stress by relaxing and coloring. Also, illustrating my feelings and listing my guiding principles helped me to understand myself better as an educator. I also learned that illustrating our thoughts truly does help us understand what we read better. I feel that I have gained a better understanding of both articles because I have personally experienced the importance of illustrating and creating guiding principles.

[taylorderham]

Readerly Exploration #1 - Cambourne Reading and Britsch and Meier Reading

Big Idea:

Cambourne- Our students are capable of learning. They demonstrate math and literacy skills in various activities in life. As educators, we must direct our students in a way that encourages learning so that they form a habit of learning. They need our guidance at first until it becomes natural and engaging to them.

Britsch & Meier- There are many helpful strategies in strengthening programs for elementary students. Some of these may include letting students own their work and ideas, providing art materials for the students to express themselves and their thoughts, and having the students collaborate with peers who may have different experiences then their own.

Nugget:

Cambourne- Cambourne’s awareness of contradictions really stood out to me. I love how he took notice of his students’ skills and learning capabilities. He noticed that they could learn difficult tasks with practice such as reading music, playing cricket, or even using probability strategies in card games (Cambourne 183). He took that interest and determination and began to use it in the classroom in order to make learning school material a habit as well.

Britsch & Meier- I love how the Head Start preschool teacher responded to Leon. When he asked for an envelope and for help from the other teacher, the Head Start teacher responded “ah-ah-ah—Leon—remember? It’s Leon’s project. He can write his own name, too” (Britsch and Meier 2). I love how the Head Start teacher made Leon feel that he owned this project. I believe that giving our students a sense of ownership will also provide them with stronger confidence.

Exploration: For this exploration, I chose to share an excerpt from Cambourne’s reading with a friend. I decided to discuss this excerpt with my good friend Jack. He is a Christian Ministries Major here at Messiah College. Jack really enjoyed the excerpt from Cambourne’s article. It talked about how students demonstrate strong learning skills in activities they enjoy. Jack agreed with Cambourne and went on to say, “we learn and perform well when we have interest and our preferences are taken into account.” Jack believes that teachers should take time to learn about students’ interests and hobbies so that they can incorporate those interests into their lessons. Then, I asked Jack if there was ever a time where a teacher taught a lesson related to one of his interests. He told me about a time in his English class during his senior year of high school. He said that his English teacher was having the students write practice essays to prepare for the AP Exam. The teacher allowed them to pick any book from their class readings and write about it. Jack wrote about his favorite book which made the practice exam a lot more exciting for him. He felt that he learned better because his teacher let him choose his own preference. This conversation helped me understand the article more clearly because it encouraged me to believe Cambourne even more. I enjoyed hearing a friend’s interpretation of the same article because Jack’s thoughts gave me more evidence of Cambourne’s findings. Just as the students who played cards needed to enjoy learning and make it a habit first, Jack began to enjoy writing more as he was given more choice in what he was writing about. This made Jack excited to write. It was not that he was incapable, but simply uninterested.

[taylorderham]

Instructional Design - Simulation Journal #1

One thing that stood out to me as inconsistent pertained to test scores. While the district and teaching philosophy imply that their greatest care or goal is that we create a positive learning environment for our students, it seems as if our test scores affect us more. For example, our salaries may be affected by our test scores and we may even lose our jobs depending on our students’ scores. It was difficult for me to hear statements like “we don’t care about your test scores” when I was also hearing statements like “test scores will affect your salary and whether you can keep your job or not”. Reflecting on this simulation encourages me to create ways to help my students learn the material that will be on their tests while also providing a welcoming and confident atmosphere. It also inspires me to come up with unique intervention strategies for the students who may be struggling.