Blog #4

I loved that Fisher and Frey reminded us the importance of teaching our students how to think or how their thinking works. We all learn through language. We are exposed to language daily. Exposing students as often as possible to language across subject areas is important. We should be able to find some kind of writing activity to go along with the content we are teaching. Having them to write down their thoughts about the days lesson as they go, and give time to jot down questions they may have, will enhance their learning. They will begin to take charge of their learning and become motivated to find out things on their own. Offer activities to make them a critical thinker that can be done with their peers and have them present supporting details on the topic. Standing and just providing information is only so good, having the students apply the knowledge you tell is where true learning happens. I love the idea of and the warm feeling a group provides. I would make sure I point out to my students all the benefits of having their peers input. Peers can always provide an extra avenue of checking understanding.
We all know that experiences help with learning. Have background knowledge of key concepts earlier, and text structure earlier, will enable students to make connections at a later time. Connections are best made when comprehension happens. If students do not comprehend something, it's useless. We should teach students strategies that help them learn how to comprehend things. As a teacher we have to role to model good practices. Regardless of the activity we are doing, we can find something to model a good practice. And if things don't go so well during the lesson, it will be better next time, improvements will be made accordingly.
I remember having a journal when I was in school but I don't remember a rubric that went along. I don't think we were ever given the reason for the journal or what specifics to include. Besides the journal, I don't remember many tools that helped in the classroom. I merely remember my teacher telling me how to do something then doing it. I was never given its importance or reasoning behind it. Just a right way to do it. If we had something in the classroom that compared to the THINK center that we had a chance to experience now, I am sure I would have had a better outlook of school. I really enjoyed my experience there and I did not feel out of place at all. I would love to design my classroom around it and have the opportunity to have that homely feeling in a great effective learning environment.

Baby medium cat

SOOOOO yea...I was just on pinterest and I saw this beautiful thing!! Cutier than the little baby leopard from class today!!! Too cute!!





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Blog #3

America is said to be behind other countries when it comes to education. Many factors contribute to this depressing realization. The old techniques were not effective so more has to be done. Effective content area literacy instruction drives students to becoming better learners. Showing and teaching students how to read and understand the world around them very early on is the central idea. It recognizes the need to provide elem. school students with instruction in reading to learn. It address all the literacies in the students lives. Right now our elementary classrooms have the basic basal readers and not doing much with them but reading it and not even much is done with comprehension. Giving the students exposure, early on, to more expository text and shown how to navigate through it, the slump between third and forth grade would decrease. The students should be given that direction, verbatim, on how to navigate any text. I was glad to hear that a study presented findings that a 1st grader was able to retell a informational text just as well as a narrative text. Informational texts actually motivate children to read and give them more access to literature as a whole. Giving them this exposure to read and retell this literature, will improve their writing abilities later on. Effectively instructing students on how to navigate content topics will increase new knowledge domains. They will not only be able to understand the information they are reading but they will also be able to evaluate it themselves. This requires long term immersion in the topic. It can enhance vocabulary understanding and comprehension, and comprehension is definitely a piece that has been missing in the past. As a supporter of this strategy, I understand the concept and importance of children learning to read the same time they begin to read to learn. Learning logs we introduced to me in my intro block and I will always be a fan. It is exciting to think of the possibilities of integrating them into any topic or content area. I know the textbook will be a guide but I really want to leave the learning up to the learner. I want to introduce them to all kinds of texts like websites or even how to pay attention to the bold print in textbooks. Students who learn to use their organization and structure of informational texts are better able to read and comprehend them. Opening the stage for retellings, dramatic activities, or any other experiences that will allow them the opportunity to use these structure in their own writing. A perfect classroom has the students so interested in something they ask questions and go find the answers and just want to know more and more about all there is to know about that one topic. Before long they have a desire to Read the World.
I think it is important to start early teaching children and motivating children to try to read everything around them with purpose and conviction. Everything matters and providing them with the avenue that leads to success due to their own curiosity is a great achievement for a teacher.

Blog #2

I see Nicki thinks the way I do...a lot of writing. But as Cassie pointed out, the expectations for everything is completely laid out. I like that indeed. I don't know how to swim but I would love for my babies to learn so it was interesting to learn that Mary Catherine teaches children how to swim. The article on Writing to Learn was not as long as I anticipated it to be..LOL..but it was interesting. It offered ways to incorporate writing among all subject areas. The techniques shown can be adapted to fit any objective. Reading and writing together can enhance comprehension and mastery of content can be shown through such. Writing to learn focuses more on the student and their ability to communicate. They should be motivated to further their learning. We as teachers should have our students to connect and integrate ideas from the text. We should show them how to connect with the text and put an emphasis on taking their thinking beyond the surface. We should provide authentic engagement with the text and always, always provide them with frequent feedback. Any feedback will be valuable to them as learners. To help them be more responsible for their grades, we should tell them exactly what we expect. Let them know up front how they will be judged. This will have them become more mindful of their own work. I will remember to provide my students will enough opportunities to explore the text. I really enjoy the strategies provided. The Guided Writing Procedure reminded me of the importance of activating prior knowledge. Microthemes was another strategy I think will be really useful. I enjoyed our time in class that we spent doing biopoems. That was probably the highlight of my week. I am sure I will be using biopoems in my classroom!!