New Literacies Reflection

For me, the big mystery of how web pages get made was finally solved with this project. Not only did I learn how to make and use a website and pages, but it also sparked interest for me to create a professional website for me to help in my process to achieving a job. I had a lot of fun doing this website and after I was done with the New Literacies Project and have been continuing to edit it, add to it, and make it better overall in general. I had heard of people creating pages through google so I started there. From there, I created my account and started to create my website. If I had to do this again, I would probably choose a different medium through which to create a website, because Google gave me very limited templates and options. I would have liked to have the chance to be more creative with images/fonts etc. I know there are many applications out there that can foster a moving images, have sounds, etc. that I would have liked to have the time to learn to do. I now understand why people are hired to create websites for companies! There is so much you can do to be creative with them. But as I said, Google seemed somewhat limited, and I only discovered this after I was halfway done with the project so I decided to just continue with it and finish.

Creating the website was the best part of the project for me. Finding the information to put on the website was not the best part for me. I have always been uninterested in research (but I do believe it is a necessary thing to do!) and every time I hear someone who's life goal is to become a researcher, I get a bit sick to my stomach, because this seems so boring to me. I'm the type of person who wants to get out there and DO IT (Dear Nike, I am not stealing your slogan, merely borrowing your idea). Thank the dear Lord for creating the internet, because it made my research of visual literacy so much more convenient. I can't imagine how much more time this project would have taken had I only the option to use books, magazines, and articles. With technology, knowledge is at the tip of our fingertips, ready to grab at any possible moment. It is now possible to take the internet with us in our pocket. With a few seconds, all sorts of things can be gotten from phones with internet capability. So having the vast database of the internet made my researh woes go away a little bit. And once I got down to it, researching went rather well.

The last part was simply converting knowledge I had gained into my own words and putting them down at creatively and as appealing as possible. Again, I regret not knowing other sources to do my website (ex. weebly) but life is a learning process, isn't it? Knowledge is best retained by learning through mistakes. That's my opinion for many instances.

Lastly, of COURSE I learned a ton about literacy, especially mine. Before this project, and more so, before this class, I had a limited understanding of what it meant to be literate and what literacy was. I learned that it comes in all types of formats, which appeal to all sorts of senses. I gained so many new ideas for how to run my classroom and what I wanted to teach about literacy. Before this class, I thought of the traditional definition of literature: reading and writing, but literacy is so much more that just reading and writing. I learned from my area that literacy can come in a different form: visually. Even this can be done in a variety of different ways using different media (ex. painting, photographs, graphs, charts, etc.) which are awesome for teaching in the classroom. I learned through my aspect of literacy that all people learn differently, and by using visual literacy in the classroom, we can appeal to those who are more visually inclined to learn, thus creating the learning more meaningful. I also learned with Kristin's project that literacy also has a lot to do with how we feel we know ourselves, and how knowing ourselves creates better communication, self awareness, and social interactions. This will help stop a lot of problems before they are even started. I really didn't think emotional literacy was even connected to behaviors, but in a way it might quite possibly be the best form of literacy because it helps in so many other aspects of peoples' lives .

Overall, I think this project was a great learning experience and very beneficial for the class as upcoming teachers of the future. Technology is no longer a tool, but a necessity in today's world, and as future teachers it is out responsibility to keep on top of our education so we have the knowledge and means to be prepared for anything that the world of technology throws our way. I learned so much from our groups' projects and will continue to look at other types of literacies as they are made aware to the world. We must learn to not be afraid. We are all lifelong learners, regardless of where we came from or where we are going.

For my new technology, I explored how to make a website. The entire process was new for me compared to new literacies, because the only literary thing I am used to constructing are sentences, noteblogs, and scholarly papers. To create this new literacy, I had to develop a lot more knowledge on simple things like which sites provide website creators. How do I find these sites? Eventually, I used our class wiki to access old projects and saw which sites they used and selected from there which website creator I would use: Weebly. After I selected Weebly I had to figure out how to sign up, so I attempted to do this with my internet browser, only, my internet browser did not support Weebly, so I needed to download a new one. As I have never downloaded a browser before (I have a father and boyfriend who do that for me), I had to figure this out. Turns out it’s quite simple! So, I downloaded and installed a new web browser, and then created an account (or four because I could not figure out how it actually worked, meaning you create an account then sign in with that account you just created in the top corner). Once I created an account the typical type of literacy was necessary. I had to find a website, read, process, and reproduce information on my own. This was the easiest part for me! Throughout this entire experience I needed to learn to save my information as I typed it, because as it turns out, web browsers sometimes cannot support what I click on and then things are deleted but with websites, there are no save buttons. I also needed to do a lot of typical literacy work through editing, which was great fun, because often the edit I wanted to make, such as moving a line up or down one line, took twenty minutes with logging in, out, finding the page, saving, publishing, checking on one browser, not showing up, checking on another browser, and re-editing. With my usual literacy, a word document, it would have taken about two seconds.
I believe that a lot of students K-8 have the capacity to create a website already. They are, after all, digital natives, and I am a digital immigrant. As a matter of fact, a friend laughed at me when I told him I was struggling with my website, because he thought everyone knew how to make one. So, I think many students will already have the capacity for this but if they do not, they are in need of a number of things. To begin, they will need to know how to type quickly, effectively, and to preview their work on a computer screen instead of paper, which for me, was much harder. Also, they will need to understand how to use Internet browsers, find effective and credible sources, how to cite these online sources, and how to compile all of this web information into one, cohesive page of information. To prove authentic students need only try to create a website, and each and every instructor will see that this computer work will push students to their literacy limits, because they will be incorporating something new into something they think they already understand, and may potentially challenge and change their own understandings of literacy as I have changed mine.
Since the beginning of the class my conceptual understanding of literacy has changed immensely. When we first began, before I had examined the GLCEs as our participation logs required, I was completely unaware that literacy encompassed listening, speaking, and viewing on top of reading and writing. Why these things were included completely escaped my grasp. For me, comprehending written text and being able to write text that people can understand was literacy. However, when we started this project I realized literacy was more a full understanding of a topic. To be literate did not necessarily mean that one is able to read a sentence or paragraph and translate its meaning, but that one is able to take information from any medium and understand and apply it appropriately. For instance, with environmental literacy it is important for one to understand the inner workings of human and non-human interactions on the environment. Then, they should be able to take what they know of these interactions and their effects and apply them appropriately to help take care of the environment. In regard to visual literacy, students should be able to take information that is presented visually and connect to it in a way that is meaningful, so they can remember it. Furthermore, when working with technology, I realized that digital literacy is definitely something that is a reality, and in reality, I do not pass this literacy test. Technology could easily, from my experience, be incorporated into effective literacy instruction. My website, and our class’ projects prove that many different literacies can be explored through different technological venues, including traditional literacies, like reading and writing.
With this in mind, to provide “effective literacy instruction” has taken on a completely different meaning to me. Considering all of the new literacies we have learned about, I am not actually sure that providing comprehensive and meaningful instruction in all of these areas is even possible with the time that we have with students. However, what I have learned about teaching literacy is that is important to help students become fluent in all aspects of a classroom. For instance, just because a person can read a book and comprehend text, does not mean that they can understand and take information from movies, or websites, which is why the GLCEs regarding viewing and listening are important. Also, as my case study of myself has proven, teaching a new literacy outside of the window of opportunity (a.k.a. youth) becomes an incredibly difficult venture. So, my thoughts on students are that we should incorporate as many of the literacies as we can at a young age. In a school with the finances to have a lot of technology access, young children should be making webpages and digital storybooks, and scrapbooks. For another option, students could at least be exposed to these things, if not making them, via a classroom computer, or literacy activity centers. Students of all ages, K-8 (or even 12) can benefit from exploring these different digital literacies, because they are growing up in an age when they are going to need to know how to use them. The more about technology that they know and understand, the more doors are open to them.
Overall, this was an incredibly educational project. I loved learning about both my new literacy and my new technology, even though the technology was stressful at times. In fact, I was so proud that I immediately showed my dad, who is always my computer guru, and he told me I did a great job. Hearing that from him meant a lot because often I cannot even get my own word processor to work correctly. So, I enjoyed and benefited from this experience quite a bit! I may even explore another new technology in my own classroom, or on my own! Digital storybooks looked really interesting!

New Literacies Reflection

Before this project, I always considered “literacy” to simply be the traditional definition given in Tompkins: “Literacy used to mean knowing how to read but the term has broadened to encompass both reading and writing.” (p. 22) while I also believed that it included speaking, viewing, and listening, I had not known that “literacy” reaches far beyond these five things. Through this project and this course so far, my conceptual understanding of literacy has changed greatly. I now know that literacy is “a tool, a way to learn about the world and a means to participate more fully in the technological society of the 21st century.” (Rafferty, 1999) This quote, taken from Tompkins p. 11, acts as a window into the new literacies that are becoming more relevant today. For example, there is digital/information/media, cultural, emotional, environmental, visual, social, and numeracy literacy among others. These literacies, although not the traditional types, are still very important for students to learn.

Learning about these new literacies has also altered my ideas about what it means to effectively teach language arts. Previously, I thought that this focused mainly around helping students learn to read, write, and communicate effectively. Now, however, I realize that if the goal is to help students develop tools to participate in society, this alone will not be enough. Providing effective literacy instruction for diverse learners means helping all students, regardless of their background, learning styles or experiences, be able to succeed in society. This means that students need to not only read and write, but they need to understand the world around them: social norms, how to express emotions and interpret those of others, how to be responsible citizens, and environmental issues, among other things.

One way to make sure that all students are becoming literate in both traditional and new literacies is to use new, innovative methods that are relevant to students’ lives to reach them with the lesson content. One great example of this is using technology that students are familiar with. During this project, I decided to gain experience with making a website, because I feel that it is a very useful tool for students and teachers alike. This was an interesting and meaningful experience because it required me to step outside of my comfort zone and try to master a new technology that I use every day but have never created myself. It was “new” for me because I had to approach literacy without a paper and pen in hand; instead, I had to write on an electronic page. And, what I was writing on this page was new for me as well. Through this project, I learned about emotional literacy and that it involves being aware of our own feelings, being able to master the vocabulary associated with emotions, and expressing our feelings to others while also interpreting their emotions.

This project required knowledge, capacities and commitment on my part to make a website just as it has similar requisites for K-8 students to use it authentically. First, I had to know where to go to make a website. After deciding to use Weebly, I had to use my reading and deductive skills to view and interpret the instructions for creating a webpage. From here, I also had to use reading and researching to find information about emotional literacy, and then writing to create the page content. In terms of commitment, I had to devote a lot of extra time to the project because I was in the emergent literacy stage and did not really know what I was doing. Only through time and practice was I able to become technologically savvy with webpage creation (relatively speaking). In my placement, I highly doubt that my kindergartners would be able to use this technology because they are too young and do not have the skill sets yet. However, upper elementary students could definitely use websites to demonstrate their learning about different units or topics. To do this, they will need to be literate in the traditional literacies of reading, writing and viewing, but listening and speaking will not be utilized as much. A benefit of using these would be that students could access them from anywhere, but they will need to be willing to put in the time and use their knowledge of the Internet. One area of concern I do have with websites as well as using the other new technologies in the classroom is that students without a lot of exposure to computers, etc. at home will be at a disadvantage because they will not have the same background knowledge as their peers. A division could definitely emerge, and while it could be overcome with extra time and practice by students, it may make using new technologies in the classroom more difficult.

Overall, this project was a great learning experience. Not only did I learn about a new type of literacy, but I also learned how to make a website. Both of these will be valuable to utilize in my future classroom, depending on the grade level. As I worked, one thing I noticed was that my definition of literacy was much narrower before beginning. While I have now expanded my understanding of literacy, I still think that it is important to remember the necessity of the traditional literacies. While I worked with these new literacies and technologies, I still had to use my reading, writing and viewing skills to research and present the information. This project definitely broadened my view of teaching language arts!

Figurative Language Minilesson

Minilesson
Topic: Introducing Figurative Language using The Song of the Trees
Grade: Fifth
Time: 30 minutes

1. Introduce the topic/share examples
-Share with students the definition of figurative language
-Provide examples of similes, metaphors, idioms that students are familiar with
*Read In a Pickle and Other Funny Idioms (Terban)
*If there are ESL students, make sure to scaffold the lesson, or include phrases in their native language, so they can better understand
-Have children think of examples of figurative language

2. Guided Practice – Whole Class
-Choose one of the funny idioms from the book and as a class create a meaning or the phrase
-Hand out a sheet of paper to each student and have them make a quick picture depicting the literal and figurative meanings of each word (do a teacher example on the overhead)
3. Group Work
-Divide into heterogeneous groups of four or five
-Give each group one of the following examples of figurative language from the book
*Have students use their own books to find the page, read the context, and create a group explanation of the phrase
*Give students chart paper and markers and ask them to make a pictorial depiction of the literal and figurative meaning of each phrase.
Phrases
a) .“Last one to it’s a rotten egg!” (page 15).
b) “I watched until it was settled amidst the tree’s featherlike leaves…” (page 12).
c) “The eart was draped in a cloak of gray mist…” (page 2)
d) “…as the sun chased the night away.” (page 2).
e) “The ripening corn, wrapped in jackets of emerald and gold, was gray.” (page 2)
f) “…I closed my eyes and awaited the whining of the heavy belt and its painful bite against my skin.”

4. Class Presentation
-Have student groups present their work to the class and hang it on the literacy wall, next to the chart paper definition of figurative language and examples of similes, metaphors and idioms
-When students are presenting, remind them to utilize the speaking GLCEs
*Those listening should apply the listening GLCEs

Vocab Mini Lesson

By: Jeannie Jaques
Materials Required: plain white paper, pencil,ruler,highlighters or crayons
Activity Time: 30 minutes
Concepts Taught: Vocabulary Review

Vocabulary Bingo is a game for the whole class, that encourages students to study and review their vocabulary words. The objective is to be the first student to get bingo by matching the definition given by the teacher to the vocabulary word on their bingo card.

How To Play
Children divide a plain piece of paper into five equal rows and columns,putting a free space in the center box. Using their vocabulary list, they chose any 24 words and write the words in any order, one in each box, on their bingo card. All the vocabulary words and definitions are written on strips of paper and put in a container. The teacher pulls a strip out of the container and reads the definition, checking the word off her list. The students highlight the word that matches the definition. The first child to get bingo wins.

Options

*Award a small prize to the winner.
*Play four corners.
*Play to cover whole board.

Vocabulary Mini-Lesson: Song of the Trees by Mildred Taylor
Topic: Introducing Book Vocabulary Words

Vocabulary words: boughs, lumberman, hovered, protectively, indignantly, menacing, venomously, elude, sentries, resounded

·Introduce the words by taping word cards on the chalkboard that will later be placed on a word wall before beginning reading the book and reading them aloud with students to practice their pronunciation.
·Students will receive a set of cards, some which have vocabulary words and others with their definitions, and work in small groups to play a matching game and pair the words and their definitions.
·Talk about the meaning of each word as a whole group to ensure that all students understand the words and definitions.
·Have students re-sort the words according to their part of speech. Talk about the answers as a group and use the word cards on the board to show students’ answers and reach a class consensus.
·Students create a word poster illustrating one of the vocabulary words. The posters should have the word prominently displayed, an illustration of the word, part of speech, and use the word in a sentence. The posters can be hung around the classroom for reference while reading the book.
·Have students present their poster to the class. After presenting, they can move that word card from the board to the word wall.
·While reading the book, students will pay attention for the appearance of the word they created a poster for and record how it is used in the text.

Ch. 7/Carlisle Response

When I am reading a good book, I rarely ever stop to make predictions. As one of the first comprehension strategies discussed in Ch. 7, I found this thought provoking. Should I take a step back in my readings and make predictions? I have often times loved books so much that I simply could not afford the time it took to lay a book down and think. For example, I loved the Harry Potter series so much that when I read the first two books on vacation, I begged my parents to buy me the third book so I could continue the story. However, I did find it somewhat interesting how before the last of those books came out last summer that I found myself wondering how it all would end. I discussed it with several people and discovered all people had ideas different than my own. With the second comprehension strategy, I found myself nodding and agreeing with what was written. I definitely can connect and respond more to texts that I myself can relate to. For example, it is difficult for me to get into war books and books about the wars of the past because they simply don't relate well to me. I have nothing to compare it to. As for visualizing, I can definitely say that I do create visuals in my mind. Sometimes though I am more concerned with the story and what is happening than the scene around it or what a character looks like. I don't consider myself to have a lot of visualization in books, but it is evident that I do SOME because I can see it when I watch a movie I have previously read the book of. I am almost always disappointed. I also think summarizing is critical to comprehension because in order to comprehend something and regurgitate it I need to internalize it first, before I can do anything else with it.
Concerning the Carlisle article about helping students in the classroom with LDs, I found to be most interesting, because I have not received much direction in teaching and accomodating students with LDs in the classroom while maintaining the regular pace of most of the classroom. I found myself wondering what these students will be like in middle school, high school, and after. I tried to think of people I knew in elementary school or middle and high school with learning disabilities in the classroom. I could not think of any. Obviously, I remembered students with severe disabilities who were in a special classroom, but none that I remembered sharing a classroom with. Perhaps it was because I was always in an honors, accelerated, or AP classroom, but this makes me wonder even more about how these students will grow up to function. It is clear that these students need to be recognized, and one of the most important things Carlisle points out is to catch learning disabilities early. It is no help to the student for them to continue to struggle and fail. Carlisle also talked about how important assessments are in monitoring progress of students. This will help the teacher to identify those students who are still not responding to monitored or modified changes in curriculum. It is these students we need to recommend for special testing. Most LD students spend a majority of their time in a regular classroom so it is important that we as teachers know how to handle these students and keep them on the road to success.

Entiende usted?

My own reading comprehension appears to be most frequently used by connecting to the background knowledge I already have. It is always easiest for me to read about the elementary situations when I can connect something that the students are doing to things that I have seen students do. Additionally, I love making the self connections, because as egocentric as this sounds, when the information is directly applicable to me and my life, it is easier to remember. One example is that when reading about students using predicting as a comprehension strategy, it was easy for me to relate to because I had a student who engaged in reading almost exclusively through making predictions. I, on the other hand, do not like making predictions because I like to simply find out what happens, which is indicative of my impatience while reading stories!
I also noticed that while reading I do a good job of visualizing. This became apparent to me when I finally went to see the first Harry Potter movie and was devastated because the film images of things like Hogwarts, Hermione, and Hogsmeade did not at all match the visuals I had created from the text. Additionally, I am always the person who likes the book version more than the movie, and I think much of that has to do with my visualization. My list of bad movies/great books is endless and includes The Nanny Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, The Chronicles of Narnia, and certainly the Harry Potter series. I was actually enraged when the powers that be made Beowulf into a movie. Overall, visualizing has proven effective for me, and I think that as my imagination is more able to connect to the story, I am drawn in more and more.
My final and most successful reading comprehension strategy, is to identify big ideas/summarize. Because the two sort of go hand-in-hand, I frequently find myself doing both. In summarizing, I should cover the main ideas and often I will take a small note on what they are as I come across them, or check the text before or after I read, as a comprehension technique and reminder. Also, when reading text I use the subheadings and review questions at the end to identify the main ideas and to summarize the text I read. Note taking, review questions, and sub headings direct my reading, and help me to direct my reading. I think that these are techniques that I will want to teach my students, but I found myself wondering if these were taught or if I taught them to myself through reading. How can these strategies be taught? Especially, how should I teach the strategies that I do not find particularly useful? Will these be useful to other students? I am not sure on all of these questions, but I definitely can identify my reading comprehension strategies and know more than I can utilize such as questioning and monitoring.

Monitoring, and Visualizing, and Connecting, Oh My!

Reading comprehension is not a single action; rather, it is comprised of multiple behaviors that we use together while we read. Through today’s readings, I learned a lot more about the different behaviors that we as fluent readers frequently use. Before this, I did not realize how many strategies we rely on both consciously and unconsciously. However, while reading about the different processes, I actually found myself using some of them without even realizing it until their descriptions came up. I really noticed how much monitoring I do, because I tend to get distracted by other things and read paragraphs without comprehending them, so I often have to go back and re-read parts again when I realize I’m doing this. Because of this tendency that I have, I think that monitoring is probably one of my strongest and most-used strategies.

I also really connected (another strategy I realized I use a lot!) to the explanation of visualizing. Tompkins said that how well students use visualization becomes clear when they see movie versions of books they read: good visualizers are often disappointed with the film representation and the actors chosen, while students who don’t visualize tend to like the movie version better. Throughout my experiences, I’ve generally associated with the former – whenever I read a book before seeing the film version, I’m usually let down by the movie. I also don’t like seeing the movie before reading the book because then I don’t create my own visualizations and am always thinking about what I saw instead of what I’m reading.

Overall, these readings helped clarify the main strategies used by fluent readers and gave me a chance to metacognitively reflect on my own reading comprehension processes. As I looked through the overviews of each strategy, I realized just how ingrained these processes are in me after so many years in school. However, even though I use them without identifying them, I have to make sure that I monitor my processes so I can help my students learn to rely on them in the future. It’s easy to use them, but much harder to model them. I also really enjoyed this chapter because it showed me some great examples of how to help students develop these comprehension strategies as well. Overall, this week’s readings were very beneficial to me both as a learner and as a future teacher!

Let's Get DIGITAL! DIGITAL!

I loved this article and its quiz along with it. I am really interested in understanding the blockage of knowledge due to generation differences when applied to technology. I grew up in an enviornment where technology was available. Available, not welcomed or fostered. As my father's office was connected to our house, I can remember being in middle school and how I would run down to the office after dinner to wait 20 minutes for AOL to log me on to the internet so I could talk to my friends. I would spend hours down there checking email, surfing the web, and talking to my friends. All of this was available, and though it was there, I had to learn about computers on my own. As our readings have stated, much of what we know today about technology has largely to do with how our parents have dealt with emerging technology. My father only had a computer because his profession required it, and my mother was completely computer illiterate. Even now with instruction and ample time, my parents still do not recognize the computer as a major tool in today's world. Because of this, I would say that I am a digital native, though I did get two answers wrong, I got most of them correct.

Unfortunately, I am not as computer savvy as I would like. I know how to operate technology, but I get stuck on the trouble-shooting aspect of it. I too thought that "mod" was a form of fashion and I can see that I could stand some improvement in this area. There is the idea out there that kids are exposed to too much TV, video games, movies, computer games, etc. and I agree with that to some extent, but I also can see how they have developed young minds into today's technological leaders. Fore example, my older brother is very knowledgeable with new technology because in large part he was in a nurturing enviornment. His room was hooked up to the internet and mine was not. I believe this is why my brothers are more educated in this area than I am.

I as a teacher fully intend to incorporate and provide a nurturing enviornmnt for technology. I can see that computers are now becoming more readily available for the classroom and I fully believe that in the future, there will be one computer for every child in the classroom. If this does happen, I dream of having interactive lessons as a class on their computers. I think this will greatly help visual learners, as they are limited today due to seating arrangement, types of writing, other students in the classroom etc. I, as a highly visual learner, would like to see this happen for young visual learners.

My life as a Digital Immigrant

As I started to navigate the website, a box popped up asking me for a password, and I thought, is that a password for the website, or is that my user password for my computer. So instead, I used my impressive technology reasoning and clicked cancel. Then, I started to take the digital natives quiz and the first question was "modding" and I thought, "Oh my gosh, I actually know that one. It means wearing "Mod" fashion that Twiggy made popular. Good thing I just watched the ANTM Supermodelthon." Little did I know, I was showing my Digital Immigrant status. I continued to take the quiz, I got only two out of the six phrases correct! This is definitely in line with my course goal, which was to learn more about technology. Clearly I need to become more literate if my students know what all of those phrases mean. Also, each of the tools seemed like something that could be used to teach lessons, and be effective in the classroom. Furtermore, if my students are proficient at these things, and they are interactive and provide enough stimulation, as the article later discusses, I think it would be great to utilize these in my lessons!

Due to this poor showing, I definitely think that my literacy level for technology, or at least the technology this website says all kids now are comfortable with, is emergent, if that. I was unable to recognize many of the words, including the multiplayer game, the smart mobs, and I had heard the word wiki, but my guess was that it was short for “Wikipedia.” I had seen and used some of these phrases, and as Tompkins points out, I understood the communicative intent of these media, but could not use them myself. Additionally, I would definitely need a lot of teacher modeling, partner work, and scaffolding. Even in class when the IVAN program had completely laid out what we had to do, and Kate completely explained it, I still could not have completed the activity if I had not been in a group with others who were more proficient than I was. Another important point in Tompkins is that parents are responsible for a lot of the exposure children in the emergent literacy stage have, and in the case of technology, most often it is the other way around. For teachers, I think it is scary to us to incorporate technology because we don’t have the background knowledge and we would have to learn something new, that we had no experience with, from our students. There would be a complete role reversal, which could actually be fun and beneficial to students, but frightens most teachers!

Overall, I loved this site. It is true that the students we teache now are part of the digital generation. In TE301 we had a woman who was getting her PhD in technology integration come show us some of the things that kids as young as ten know how to do, which included create videos out of frozen video game images and add music and words. This type of technological understanding far surpasses anything that I have, and probably will achieve because I do not have someone to teach me. However, because I am still in the emergent stage, I am hoping that I am not a lost cause, and that somewhere along the way a student, teacher, or friend will be able to show me unique and fun ways that I can integrate technology into my curriculum. Especially because students have access to and experience with technology, and for them, this means of learning is more fun because they are used to fast paced, high-energy interactions! Also, the payoff for the attempts seems like something I want to figure out how to do in my classroom!

Digital Natives Quiz

I thought that this article was very interesting and brought up many valid points about the generational differences that lead to different understandings of technology. When I completed the quiz, I knew what 4 of the 6 terms meant, and so I consider myself to be somewhat of a first-generation digital native. While my parents are definitely digital immigrants and I know a lot more about technology than they do, I know there is a greater level of digital understanding among people younger than me. Overall, however, I feel that I am in a place where I’m comfortable enough with technology to try new things I am unfamiliar with because I have a sufficient foundational background.

Like this website’s information discusses, it is very true that students today have grown up in a different environment and are unlikely to be reached through the same methods that worked for previous generations in schools. Because technology is such a big part of their lives, it makes sense that it should be incorporated into their learning to connect their home and school experiences. I think that we (my fellow classmates and I, as well as younger teachers) are at an advantage for doing this because we have also grown up in this technological world and are more “digitally native” than many older teachers. Since we already have a familiarity with what is out there and how to make use of it, we consider technology to be more of a friend than a foe; at least I do personally. Because of this, we are better positioned to address students’ changing needs and therefore have a responsibility to do this.

In terms of my own digital literacy, I would say I am between the beginning and fluent stages, depending on the type of technology. However, I can see how digital immigrants would be in the emergent stage as defined by Tompkins. According to her, people in this stage gain an understanding of the communicative purposes of text and develop an interest in literacy. In the same way, those new to things like blogs and wikis learn about how they can be used to transmit information and communicate, and also begin to learn how to use these resources. In the same way that children go through the stages of development to become fluent readers and writers, digital immigrants must also progress through stages to become fluent with technology.

Choral Reading of Whoever You Are

For the choral reading activity we did in class, our group chose to read Whoever You Are by Mem Fox. We decided to have Alexis read the main lines, and the group chorally read the repeated lines. In regard to the GLCEs we used during this discussion, we definitely had to use our speaking skills. We varied our voices to emphasize the key ideas by using a different tone and stressing certain words and phrases. For our book, the main idea was that there were children all over the world who were different, and yet the same. Their differences were on the outside, and inside all the children felt and experienced many similar things. To stress the idea of book, we chorally read the repeated phrase “Whoever you are, wherever you are, all over the world.” While reading, we read this line at a slower pace and stressed the words “whoever,” “wherever,” and “world.” We also read the phrase “Different from yours,” and stressed the word “different” by slowing the pace of the word and using a slight tone change.
As a group, we were able to incorporate a more discussion-oriented group. We each added our ideas, and felt safe enough in our group community to compromise. Also, in the beginning, we could not even agree on which style of choral reading to present, so we talked about it using the discussion style and agreed upon one. Each time we came across a problem, for instance the chorus changed slightly each time and we could not decide whether or not to read it each time it was different or only to do it the same way. When deciding this, each of our group members added their input, and then stepped up to question the input that they disagreed with, by asking, “Is that really repetitive if it does not consist of the same words? Would kids know how to do that?” Or, on the other hand, “The message is the same, so why would we read one chorus and emphasize it and not the other?” Overall, this discussion tactic was very helpful. Eventually of course, the discourse started to move toward evaluating each other’s responses, and the group who thought that we should not read each of the different ones came out on top because they had three group members versus the other group, which had two. However, the important part is that we were able to see how a discussion group could actually work, where someone put forth an idea, group members questioned and evaluated it, and a plan was agreed upon. Thus, I felt supported by my group members because we were able to utilize a discussion format in which each of our ideas were respected and we came to a group conclusion about how to do the activity.
When our group was interacting, I think the teacher in me was definitely showing itself. I was presenting my ideas, but was still very busy evaluating others and figuring out why my idea was the most right. I think that as I plan my own language arts lessons, I will definitely need to be aware of my tendency to evaluate. Also, because the experience of interpretive discussion was so conducive to building community and teaching students how to use a discussion-oriented discourse, I think that I will definitely have to incorporate it into my language arts lessons. In our group, I had to step down and accept others’ opinions, but I also got to question and evaluate them, while they provided the same constructive criticism for me. It allowed our group to see multiple perspectives, and the fact that we had to create a finished product, made us reason and rationalize until we were able to compromise on one method of presentation. In my class, one thing I will watch out for as we do the discussion-oriented group work is whether or not students are actually engaging in the discussion and are getting the value out of it. Overall, our group utilized the discussion method that Almasi presented well, and our choral reading was a successful way to address the speaking GLCEs. However, in completing this activity, I recognized in myself that I am quick to evaluate others’ opinions and answers, and I need to be aware of that when teaching a language arts lesson, and that this would be a great way to help students learn how to use the discussion model in small groups! I think this activity will be one I will definitely use in the future!

Choral Reading Lesson

Given the freedom to select and determine the type of book and choral reading we were to do in class, it was interesting to see how my group came to a general consensus as to how we should read our given choice of book. Perhaps it was learning choral reading as a young reader or in later years as a more experienced learner which made our choice seem so obvious to our group. We decided to read and share our story in a way in which one main person reads new text read for the first time, and everyone chimes in at the parts that are repetitive. This seemed obvious to our group. Though it seemed obvious, we still seemed to have a good discussion as to why the other methods did not work as well as our choice way did.

Most of the GLCE's for 8th grade were addressed in our group. Personally, as the main reader (teacher role) in this activity, I made a point to stress the necessary key ideas (namely, the differences among the text) so they would stand out. When it was time for us all to read together, we all read in a somewhat monotone and drawn out manner to emphasize the pattern of repetitiveness in the book. These were some of the speaking expectations of the 8th grade GLCEs. Some of the listening and viewing expectations were also addressed. For example, we specifically noted a change in body language when going from the main reader parts to the group parts. This conveyed to the group that their participating part was coming up and that it is social correct to participate. This was conveyed non-verbally. Even as we as a group practiced, some parts of the book were tricky to remember when we all read together and when we did not, so I as the main reader made sure they would know from my body language that we were all to read this part. Especially since we were reading about likes and differences, it is doubly important to note that parts read together were extra important in the overall meaning of the book after we practiced orally and got to see how we sounded. We were able to construct and adapt our presentation after we got feedback from listening to ourselves practice.

Looking back at our whole lesson, it is important to notice the scaffolding that Kate had given us, for had we not practiced one as a group, or had a list of the types of possible choral reading styles, we may not have been as successful with our presentation. This connects with Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theory in that we as learners can accomplish so much more with prompts and assistance than we could ever acquire alone.

I also think that though we looked at choral reading for 8th graders, I believe that choral reading is good for all levels of reading development. As I noted from a placement earlier in my education at MSU, young students are more confidant in participating in reading when they know what is to come. Kids will gain confidance in themselves as a reader and as a participator because it shows them that it is ok and even encouraged to be active in the classroom. Higher up in a child's education, choral reading can be studied to look closer at syntax, diction, rhythm, pattern, rhyming, etc. depending on which level they are at.

This activity was an excellent reminder that we are never too old to study choral reading and reap benefits from it, whether it helps someone study, teach a lesson, learn to read, or whatever the case. Choral reading is excellent at all age levels, and with the appropriate guidance can be helpful at any stage in education.

Choral Reading Reflection

When we were given the task to plan and perform our own choral reading, my group selected the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle. After reading through the book, we decided to use call and response because of the repetitive and predictable nature of the text. The students would chant the question parts of the text, inserting the appropriate color and animal from the teacher’s previous response, and the teacher would call out the answer that followed.

Some of the areas from the 8th grade GLCEs that this activity addressed included both speaking and listening expectations. Speaking GLCEs that were that students will be able to speak effectively using body language including gestures, posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, and pace of speaking to enhance meaning and influence interpretation in narrative and informational presentations; adjust their use of language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes by using enunciation to emphasize key ideas and concepts when presenting; and engage in interactive, extended discourse to socially construct meaning in book clubs, literature circles, partnerships, or other conversation protocols.. Listening GLCEs included that students will be able to listen to or view critically while demonstrating appropriate social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive, and supportive); critically examine the verbal and non-verbal strategies during speeches and presentations.

I think that within my small group, there definitely was support for each member as we worked together to reach an end product. After reading so much about classroom norms, respecting each other, taking turns and making sure all members participate, I found that we all must have internalized these ideas throughout our own school experiences and our TE courses so that they are now second nature. Because we knew what was expected of us and had scaffolding for choral reading through the “All the Colors of the Race” activity, we were sufficiently prepared for our discussion with each other. As we worked together, we all took on the student roles discussed in Almasi of inquisitor, facilitator, respondent and evaluator. We shared our ideas and also challenged and responded to one another’s ideas about how to take our book and apply it in a choral reading. At the same time, we facilitated group participation by all members by encouraging one another to share their suggestions and ideas. Overall, we had a strong discussion about how to use our book selection for choral reading.

By taking on the roles described by Almasi and participating in discussions about the process of adapting a book to fit a different activity, I was definitely given an opportunity to think about my role as a teacher. Even though our book was simple, there were still a lot of positive benefits for using it in choral reading with younger children. First of all, students have to actively listen to the teacher’s part to know what color and animal to chant on their next turn. This involves taking the text and using it in students’ own voices. Also, students will practice reading fluency through the choral reading and strengthen the classroom community by taking part in reading together. As I look at the ways that this text could strengthen students’ literacy skills, I become aware of the fact that as a teacher, these will be things I will need to think about and decisions I will be making on a daily basis. At the same time, my experiences with the choral reading activity showed me that students should be given opportunities to work as a community and engage in interpretive discussions. As I’m sitting here right now, the words, “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?” keep playing in my mind like a broken record. Since I’m having trouble getting it out of my head, I know that the activity stuck with me. By using these types of activities in the classroom, students will hopefully be more engaged and take more away from the lesson than they might be able to otherwise!

IRE Versus "New Discussion"

In my classroom, there is not a lot of large group reading and discussion happening. Nevertheless, based on today’s readings, the type of talk I am seeing in my classroom is mostly IRE (initiation – recitation – evaluation). My teacher reads some to the students, about twenty or thirty minutes of story time after lunch if she does not teach social studies. However, after the story, if she asks questions, she asks ones that are intended to gauge whether or not students paid attention to or read the story. What is frustrating about this is that a lot of times, the same students are answering the initiation questions, and then she is stuck evaluating the entire class on a few students who were particularly attentive. I notice that the IRE model is especially dominant in my class when students are reading or discussing informational texts.
On the occasion that the students were working on Writer’s Workshop, my CT worked to engage students in the first step of “Being Out and Stepping In.” She read through each story and gave students a question from this category that would help them expand on their story, emphasizing that these were questions that readers asked while reading a text. However, none of her questions went beyond this stage, and no question involved “Objectifying the Experience.” Due to the fact that I have not seen students discuss a book in depth, the only role that was mentioned in the Almasi article that I have seen was the Inquisitor. For this role, there are a few students who are constantly questioning things, although their questions are not received well or discussed on a regular basis.
In regard to scaffolding, most of my students would benefit from some form of scaffolding. Many would need them to have the teacher model each role, particularly that of inquisitor. My students seem to ask questions, but not higher-level questions, mostly questions that require simple answers. Also, since they are not used to engaging in texts, it would be helpful for my CT to ask a few probing questions to start the discussion, but then to let students follow up as respondents, and slowly let them take over the discussion. I think from that position, the teacher could step in to help the students’ transition from the IRE format to this new discussion format. She could do it by scaffolding, eventually allowing the students to run their own discussion, with little interruption. If my CT was willing to do this, I think that response-centered discussion could really take off!
For specific needs of students, there are a few students who need help thinking past the “Being Out and Stepping In” stage. They are less proficient readers, and are still practicing reading for the “what” of a story and not the “why.” These students would need to be shown, and helped to think through, how to be inquisitors, and how to respond to others inquisitions. Also, other students may need to help my CT scaffold by being a facilitator, and inviting these students to contribute to the group discussion. Finally, some students may need scaffolding especially in regards to behavior and attentiveness during book talks. Maybe another student could work with them, as well as the instructor, to help them be productive members of the discussion, instead of distractions away from the discussion.
Overall, there is little book discussion done in my classroom at all. This is incredibly worrisome to me because as Almasi stated, “…students who talk about what they read are more likely to engage in reading.” I think that more response-centered discussion, as well as more discussion in general, should take place. A crucial part of processing literature is missing, because my students hear a story and do not then actively engage with the material! I hope that this can be remedied, if not in my CT’s classroom, than in my intern classroom and certainly in my own classroom someday!

Recitation VS. Discussion

In response to the readings for today, I can now reflect upon my classroom and I can definitely notice a trend. I mostly see recitation in my classroom. Occasionally, my CT will pause and give the students a few minutes to discuss, but since the students seem to be trained to just say answers, they just blurt out the answers to questions they think they are being asked. The students don't often reflect upon each others' comments more than saying "That's wrong."

I believe that this is an especially important time to promote more of a discussion-centered literacy learning since the students I have are so young. This is an important time for that because this can be something that the students can take with them and can grow off of and become confidant learners and thinkers.

I agree with the Almasi article which suggests recitation reaps more benefits than does traditional discussion, but I also have to question if this leads to students' misconceptions of ideas. For example, when my CT's classroom was helping my CT spell out words from a personal story she used for writing, she did not correct the students when they suggested incorrect ways of spelling. I also noticed similar patterns in some of the examples in the articles that were read. I understand the importance of encouragement and exploring and learning from one another, but what happens what it is incorrect to the point where it seems as if students are learning incorrect knowledge at school? This is of great concern for me.

In order for response-centered talk to take place, discussion should take place in the form of a web, with students expanding off of what others say and developing new ideas off of the ideas that started discussion. The teacher needs to provide encouragement and should monitor involvement. The teacher should also steer the discussion in the general direction of where the teacher would like the discussion to go, but provide the students with the opportunity to take theirselves there.

Some students in my class need particular types of scaffolding. For example, one of my students are disabled, so of course he needs 24/7 scaffolding. There are other students where they need concentration scaffolding, where the issues is focusing long enough to do the work. Some students just need the teacher as a support to remind them to hurry up because everything they do needs to be done to perfection so she naturally takes a longer time. As I learned the students' personalities and who they are, I am better able to help them.

Response-centered Talk in the Classroom

As this week’s readings demonstrate to us, there are countless benefits to engaging students in literary discussions and book talks. Based on constructivist principles, students learn by actively constructing meaning and understanding and relating new ideas to pre-existing ones. In contrast to traditional recitations, response-centered discussions and book talks enable students to interact with one another in meaningful discussions about a text and construct deeper understandings. Not only do these student-centered discussions help students better connect with a text, but they also provide many social-emotional, affective and cognitive benefits as well.

Although book talks and response-centered discussions are being implemented in classrooms across the country, they have yet to enter into the literacy curriculum in Rm. 122. In my kindergarten classroom, recitations as opposed to discussions are the norm. The I-R-E format of inquire, respond and evaluate can be frequently seen as the students respond to the teacher’s factual-based questions. Generally, the teacher will read a book and ask questions about what is happening in the story or who the main characters are both throughout and after the story. At this young age, students do need scaffolding to learn about the elements of a story. However, this does not mean that literary discussions beyond recalling facts are unnecessary.

Even though I am in a kindergarten classroom, I think that response-centered talk could be implemented with sufficient scaffolding from the teacher. The students are just learning to read and none of them are advanced enough to read a page of text on their own, but this form of talk could still take place based on books the teacher first reads to the class. Although students wouldn’t be able to refer back to textual quotes to support their discussion, they would build memory skills by recalling information to justify their responses. The teacher could scaffold students into this form of discussion by modeling responses to initial questions she poses. After students see what types of questions they should think about and how they should formulate responses, they will eventually internalize the strategies so they can take part in these discussions more effectively. The teacher may want to use whole-class discussions instead of small group ones so that students can hear a wide variety of responses and learn from one another.

While all students would need scaffolding because they have no prior experience with response-centered discussions and lack a large literary knowledge base, some students would require particular types of scaffolding. For example, some of the students are very shy and struggle during the literacy block. Many of these students leave the classroom each day for the resource room. They would probably need extra scaffolding as well as encouragement to build their self-confidence to participate in literary discussions. Also, there are a few students in the class who have behavioral problems and frequently talk out of turn or criticize their peers. They would need scaffolding about proper behavior and classroom norms so they would respect the other members of their group and give them a chance to share their opinions without being judged or ridiculed.

After reading about the value of response-centered discussions and book talks, I now look at the literacy curriculum in my field placement through a different lens. Although the children may be young, this should not discount their ability to take part in these discussions as opposed to strictly recitations. With so many students in the classroom in need of extra help who struggle with literacy, one solution may lie in introducing book talks into the curriculum.

Goals for TE 402 Lit. Course

As I am finishing up college with my last semester, I realize that there is still so much that I need to learn before I am ready to enter the working field as a qualified teacher.

I have realized with my field placement that I belong best with younger children. My first goal for this course is to 1) learn how to select proper books for the appropriate age level. Also, 2) I would like to learn how to incorporate diversity into literature without it being known to the children.

I would also 3) like to learn how to react to situations that other children may find uncomfortable. For example, today in my CT's classroom, a boy was late to school. When my CT asked why he was late, he hesitantly told her it was because he had to pick his dad up from jail with his mother. Kids started asking questions and I would like to know how best to be prepared for the unexpected.

I also hope to learn 4) how to keep students attentive when it becomes obvious that I am losing students' interest. My last goal is that 5) I hope to learn how I can use reading as a skill to propel and motivate students in other areas of work.

I hope with this course I generally can become more comfortable and more confidant teaching literature to young students. I hope to get a lot of practice teaching literature and to always keep an open mind about all types of literature.

TE402 Literacy Goals

In regard to my development throughout this semester, I am hoping that a lot takes place! I hope to continue learning about

myself as a learner, and most importantly, about how to adapt my learning and my perceptions of how learning takes place to fit

with a diverse classroom of students. When reading through the first goal, I was surprised, because as part of a generation where

Facebook, Google, and YouTube are turning into the common place for the exchange of ideas and information, not once when

lesson planning do I think of incorporating technology, especially in literacy. Thus, with goal one, I hope to fully address

technology integration in my curriculum, and using the technology available to both myself and my students to benefit them

the most. The technology strand of my development also reappeared in the second course goal regarding my pedagogy, and as

I continue learning about technology, and getting more into the Holt district curriculum, my goal is to initially think of

using technology as a resource.

For my second course goal, I hope that I learn to holistically self-assess. I want to know my strengths and weaknesses as a

learner, because each day I realize more and more how strong an influence my educational biases will have on my

teaching and my students' ability to learn. Within the context of language arts, I think this should be particularly interesting

because I love to read and value reading and literacy as an integral part of childhood. Also, in my family, reading was a

frequent activity, and I would like to find ways to use my own positive reading experiences to encourage my students' families

to read together and incorporate literacy into their own homes daily.

Another goal, which is more important since the passing of No Child Left Behind, is to learn how to work toward the state

and national educational standards, without being confined by them. I know teachers who teach only what is given them, and

when this is presented to the students, their enthusiasm drains, because the teacher lacks enthusiasm and ownership of his/her

own lesson. Nonetheless, all students are still responsible on standardized tests for the same material. So my overarching

goal for both this year and for my career is to continue to find innovative ways to teach the required material, so that it is

meaningful and powerful for my students, and most importantly, helps make language arts enjoyable.

Overall, I am hoping that this course in conjunction with my field work will help me to identify my own preconceptions

about education and learning, find new and innovative ways to incorporate technology into my classroom, and to teach the

standards without teaching only to the standards. My hope is that by achieving these goals, or working towards them for the whole

semester, I will be able to become an effective teacher for a diverse group of students, not simply students who are like me.

Through my own love for literacy, I hope to make literacy exciting for the students in my current classroom, and to observe,

develop, and adapt great literacy activities that will be useful for my future classroom!

Goals for the semester

As graduation day gets closer and closer and the realization that next year I will begin teaching sets in, I have to admit that I still feel unprepared and a little scared. Therefore, my goals for this course revolve mainly around learning as much practical knowledge and skills as possible to help me next year.

My primary goal for this class is related to Goal #2 on the syllabus: developing my pedagogy. While I have learned some valuable things in my previous TE classes, I feel as though the majority of it has been very theoretical. While I understand the need to learn about teaching philosophies, schools of thought and children’s developmental stages, I hope that this course builds off that knowledge with practical tips as well. I hope to learn teaching strategies that I can implement in the classroom along with activities and classroom management techniques.

One of my other goals for this class is to learn more ways to create an inclusive community in the classroom. The thought of how much diversity will exist in my future classroom is slightly overwhelming at times, and so I’m hoping to learn how to reach a wide range of students, learning styles and abilities. I really think that collaborative learning and creating a positive classroom community are beneficial for students, and so I’m hoping to learn ways to set this up in literacy lessons particularly so students can learn from each other as well as from me. With so much diversity in the classroom, each student will have valuable contributions to make that I want to be able to draw upon in lessons.

Finally, I’m very interested in learning more about how to make sense of the curriculum frameworks I will be working with and how to plan lessons and units effectively around these standards. After completing the in-class survey on the first day of class, I realized just how much about literacy and learning that I still don’t know but will need to teach my students. I’m hoping to find answers to many of the questions that were on the survey so I can be a more effective teacher.

Overall, I know that jumping in and getting started is going to be the best way I can get prepared to have my own classroom in the future, but I hope that this course helps better prepare me for when that day arrives!