For our microteaching lesson my group focused on writing and reading workshops. A reading workshop is similar to a book club in that a group or class reads the same book and completes an assignment after finishing the reading.
My placement uses reading workshops and has throughout the entire year. Students are divided up into groups of similar reading levels and assigned a color; my placement has three colors: green, red, and blue. The green group consists of the most advanced readers and are assigned books that are at an "above grade level" difficulty. Red consists of average readers and are assigned books that are at grade level but are still challanging. The blue group consists of readers that are below grade level and struggle with fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. All groups, with the exception of the blue group, read the same book independently and complete activities after reading. The blue group meets at the back table and reads the book together, outloud along with my CT. After completion of the book and activity, the group meets and discusses their thoughts on the book and shares how they chose to complete the activity.
Writing workshops are similar to reading workshops. Ususally, the teacher poses a vague, broad prompt for the students to write about and gives the students free-range to write about anything that applies to the topic. Writing workshops are loosly directed and give the students the topic of which they are expected to write about; the students are free to exploit the prompt in any way they chose. Individuality and creativeness are the main focuses of this type of free-writing. For example, if the teacher posed the prompt, "Spring is in the air. Tell me about your favorite aspect of Spring. If you do not like the Spring time, chose another season" the students would be free to write about anything that pretains to Spring time or any other season they chose.
I see writing workshops in my classroom as well. Every morning, my CT puts up a "Daily-5"activity on the board in which one of the "5" things they must complete is a free write around a topic she posts. The students record their writings in their journals and are free to share if they wish.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Mini Lessons- Molly
For my mini lessons I worked with a group of three of the more struggling students. We played a game that had them naming and discussing the names of the letters and their sounds. They would draw a card that was face down and if they were able to name the letter and tell me what sound it made they got to keep the card. Since it is towards the end of the year these students did very well with the game. After the game we did a letters worksheet that had them placing the correct letter in the blank... for instance there was a picture of a bat and they had "_at" on the worksheet they would then sound out the word "bat" and place the "b" in the blank. As for strategies, I really made the students sound out the words on their own. If they were unable to do this I would say the word and had them These students have really made progress throughout the year. These were activities that would never have been able to be accomplished the first semester.
For my second mini lesson I worked with a student on reading "Go Dog, Go!". We first just practiced the reading. If the student was unable to figure out the word, we would "karate chop" it. This means using our hands in karate motions while saying each syllable. Then most of the time he was able to put the word together just by that strategy. After reading the story, we went back and found all the opposites. After that I had him try to think of some other opposites. When he struggled to find more I would say "hot" and then he would say "cold". So just by a little scaffolding he was able to discover other opposites that weren't present in the book.
April 18th- Molly
I think the instructional models are a great way to teach language arts! My group focused on book club and literature circles. While we were introduced to these concepts in class, I learned so much more when we looked deeper into this instructional model. I thought it was very beneficial to hear all of the other groups' presentations. It gave me insight into their model, as well as provided me with sample lessons that incorporates the model.
For my own model, I think that it has influenced my philosophy of teaching language arts because it really showed me how impacting group work can be. One of the best ways for students to learn is through discussing with their peers. Through book clubs, students have something in common to discuss and can bounce ideas between each other. I think many times this is much more valuable than listening to the teacher speak of the book or other language arts content.
For my own model, I think that it has influenced my philosophy of teaching language arts because it really showed me how impacting group work can be. One of the best ways for students to learn is through discussing with their peers. Through book clubs, students have something in common to discuss and can bounce ideas between each other. I think many times this is much more valuable than listening to the teacher speak of the book or other language arts content.
April 11th- Molly
I found the Ladson, Billings article to be a very interesting one this week. This article brought up the fact that many white teachers don't see the color difference in their children because regardless of race all students should be treated the same. Some find this naive or simply disrespectful because not all children are the same and they each have their individual needs. I can see both sides to this. I think its important to see the difference everyone brings to the classroom but with that said no child should be discriminated due to their qualities that make them who they are. I did question when they compared an African American child to a blind child in the sense that in order for all to be "equal" you would need to give the blind child the same work as you would the child who can see. I think that someone with a disability is completely different than someone of a minority. I think regardless everyone should be treated equal in the sense of learning ability but obviously if students need special assistance otherwise that should obviously be done. Very interesting article!
April 25th- Molly
The Scott article really gave me insight to urban settings and teaching literature. I thought it was interesting that the teachers begin by saying that these students need extra support and motivation rather than just jumping into their theories about literature. I agreed with this statement and this is important because motivation and comfort at the classroom is the root of all learning success. One of the sixth graders was asked to write about the person that inspires her. She wrote a beautiful response about her mother. This article both shows and tells the importance of giving students in urban settings writing prompts that are authentic and meaningful. This gives the students a connection to their writing that they can build from.
In my placement I have helped my Kindergartners writing by sitting with them and really getting them to share their ideas. By sitting with them and asking them questions, this generates ideas that they then put on paper. At this age, many of the students do not think as in depth as they could. My CT really stresses that they use "detail" in their writings and the students are very aware of this so try as hard as they can to make their story as detailed as possible. Their writing has progressed immensely throughout the semester. They are all on the right track of becoming highly developed first grade writers.
In my placement I have helped my Kindergartners writing by sitting with them and really getting them to share their ideas. By sitting with them and asking them questions, this generates ideas that they then put on paper. At this age, many of the students do not think as in depth as they could. My CT really stresses that they use "detail" in their writings and the students are very aware of this so try as hard as they can to make their story as detailed as possible. Their writing has progressed immensely throughout the semester. They are all on the right track of becoming highly developed first grade writers.
Monday, April 25, 2011
April 25- Kelcie
In my placement, the classroom is fairly bare and there is little deliberate vocabulary. The very first time I met my teacher she said that having everything at the students eye level was best and nothing else should be on the walls. The students have a ton of 'works' that they are to do each day, and there are multiple vocabulary works. While the students don't have a lot of vocabulary stimulants that are visible on the walls, the vocabulary works are constantly out being manipulated. There are many works that surround the dictionary, and others focus on the students ability to alphabetize words.
Even though the students are not visibly working with vocabulary each time I am there, they have great vocabularies. Just listening to them talk shows me that they are well versed in vocabulary, and really understand words I never thought they would. I think this speaks volumes to the work that the Montessori school does. My teacher really emphasizes that the students can choose to work on things if their classwork is done, and this is really helping the students vocabulary grow regardless what they see in their classroom.
I have not however, seen very many works that focus on the definitions of words. I have to recognize that I am only in the classroom for four hours a week, but I haven't noticed any definition work. If I were to provide additional opportunities, I would create a word wall that students could add words to. It is important that students create their own understanding, and develop a contextual basis for understanding definitions of vocabulary words.
Even though the students are not visibly working with vocabulary each time I am there, they have great vocabularies. Just listening to them talk shows me that they are well versed in vocabulary, and really understand words I never thought they would. I think this speaks volumes to the work that the Montessori school does. My teacher really emphasizes that the students can choose to work on things if their classwork is done, and this is really helping the students vocabulary grow regardless what they see in their classroom.
I have not however, seen very many works that focus on the definitions of words. I have to recognize that I am only in the classroom for four hours a week, but I haven't noticed any definition work. If I were to provide additional opportunities, I would create a word wall that students could add words to. It is important that students create their own understanding, and develop a contextual basis for understanding definitions of vocabulary words.
Mini-Lesson: Kelcie Ebbitt
In my placement my CT and the two other 3rd/4th grade have created groups of their highest need students and I work with them for about twenty minutes each Wednesday morning. These students are considered a part of the Strategic Intervention group and are given extra attention for comprehension and fluency. Each Wednesday we read a different book, and I make sure that I have read it before the students. The students really struggle with pace, so that is a major focus of mine.
One of the strategies I try and employ is starting off by discussing as a group what we do with punctuation, at the end of paragraphs, and what parts of the book we read aloud and to ourselves. The students run through the reading as fast as they possibly can and were really having difficulty with punctuation. After we started going over as a group what we are supposed to with punctuation the students were obviously much better; it was a nice reminder for them to pause and read at a comprehensible pace. I have seen great progress with them over the past six weeks when it comes to punctuation.
The other aspect of their reading that I really chose to focus on was vocabulary. The leveled readers they are using all cover different topics from science to fantasy. The vocabulary is varied, and often trips the students up as they read. In the beginning the students would say words they didn't know very quickly and then move on without any understanding of what the word really is. After I realized this, I let the students know if they didn't know a word they should pause and try and sound it out. If they really struggled I would help them, but the student would have to at least re-read the word and sometimes the entire sentence. When the students understood that we would not be 'skipping' words by mumbling through them, they were much more confident and tried a lot harder to read every word without my help.
The progress of the students is great. I of course only see them four twenty minutes one day a week so by no means see all the work the teachers are putting in with these students, but clearly they are working incredibly hard. It is wonderful to see the students try hard when I am watching, I just hope that my strategies such as using context words to help them understand the word they are struggling with, and reading punctuation with emphasis until it is wrote memory will help them as they read on their own.
One of the strategies I try and employ is starting off by discussing as a group what we do with punctuation, at the end of paragraphs, and what parts of the book we read aloud and to ourselves. The students run through the reading as fast as they possibly can and were really having difficulty with punctuation. After we started going over as a group what we are supposed to with punctuation the students were obviously much better; it was a nice reminder for them to pause and read at a comprehensible pace. I have seen great progress with them over the past six weeks when it comes to punctuation.
The other aspect of their reading that I really chose to focus on was vocabulary. The leveled readers they are using all cover different topics from science to fantasy. The vocabulary is varied, and often trips the students up as they read. In the beginning the students would say words they didn't know very quickly and then move on without any understanding of what the word really is. After I realized this, I let the students know if they didn't know a word they should pause and try and sound it out. If they really struggled I would help them, but the student would have to at least re-read the word and sometimes the entire sentence. When the students understood that we would not be 'skipping' words by mumbling through them, they were much more confident and tried a lot harder to read every word without my help.
The progress of the students is great. I of course only see them four twenty minutes one day a week so by no means see all the work the teachers are putting in with these students, but clearly they are working incredibly hard. It is wonderful to see the students try hard when I am watching, I just hope that my strategies such as using context words to help them understand the word they are struggling with, and reading punctuation with emphasis until it is wrote memory will help them as they read on their own.
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