October 28, 2009

After reading Routman's chapter on shared writing, I immediately thought that this is something I really want to try out when I am teaching in one of my placement schools. I'm not sure about which class I will try it out in...first grade or sixth grade. Routman says it is invaluable for learners of all ages as it impacts their oral and written language. The lesson examples Routman provides, which include "What I do" and "What I say" are tremendous in how she brings this kind of teaching to life. I fully support collaboration occurring between students and teacher and how this improves those students' confidence and ability to take risks while learning. And because it's a whole class activity, there is less pressure to produce or perform individually. As its name implies--it's a shared experience, making it more fun, too.

I like the tie in with the Optimal Learning Model and the importance of the teacher gradually handing over the responsibility to the students. The teacher doesn't just "throw" an assignment at the students. Instead, she/he go about instruction through modeling and scaffolding so students really understand the task at hand before flying solo. I also appreciate the benefit of shared writing in how it values the contributions and efforts of students.

As I consider how elementary students (such as my sixth grade placement) are practicing the different components of written work (intro, body, details, conclusion), I think a shared writing exercise/lesson would be extremely helpful to them, especially because students have different levels of understanding about these components. And I would certainly want to review how to use respectful language, necessary to encourage all students' contributions.

Literacy, Week 4

Routman writes, "All students, especially those who begin school with limited literacy skills, need to think of themselves as readers and writers, see the processes as meaningful, and have positive attitudes about literacy before they can successfully engage in literacy practices."

I strongly believe that parents are key in developing in their children a love of reading and writing from an early age. Children who come to school without this passion for literacy can still learn to experience that same joy. Teachers who engage students in read-alouds, journaling, and art are opening up a world of imagination and real life identification. As Routman points out, one of the most important facets of developing this love of writing is to make students aware of the stories that surround us--other people's stories and our own. Also, when we focus on meaning, not mechanics, children will be more willing to take the risk of putting their stories down on paper. A child's first experiences with writing should be personal storytelling and themes that children can relate to. A child will also respond positively to a teacher sharing his/her own personal story.

In my dyad experience. our teacher administered a writing assessment whereby kids (first graders) were asked to write a short piece about something fun they did this past summer. They were given paper with lines on the bottom and blank space above for them to also include a picture. When the teacher first informed students about the assessment, she had them brainstorm (verbally) what they might enjoy writing about. Kids shared their ideas with the whole class before even setting pencil to paper. I thought this was a good way of valuing children's personal stories and giving them permission to use this for an assessment; it has meaning to them.

As I wrote my book review of Amazing Grace, I was again reminded about the power of stories. Grace, with her love of books and stories, was set free to explore her talents in other areas. In this book, she ventured into drama. And I believe she so fully embraced her passion for stories that she was able to choose to follow her dreams and try something new. Any time we can expose kids to stories (e.g. books, plays, TV, recordings), we are setting the stage for them to become creators of stories themselves. And if we can find out what appeals to them personally, they will be much more receptive to venturing into this new territory!

Journal Entry - Week 3

Prompt from Ch. 3, Fox book:

I do not believe "invented spelling" is harmful to early readers. It should be celebrated! This form of reading or writing expression is explained in Fox's book when he discusses "prealphabetic word learning" and "precommunicative spellers." As I read through the description of how children's skills emerge, beginning very primatively as they relay their own meanings, I thought about parents who are alarmed at what they might consider a failed attempt at spelling/writing. To the contrary, this rather typical staged development in the emergent reader is exciting and affirms that the child is interested in words, meaning, and expression.

As Ann and I got to know our kindergartener, Betsy, from Juanita El last Thursday, we both commented how confident Betsy was as she insisted on writing her responses to the fun interview activity. We are certain, even before administering an ELP, that Betsy most likely does not know many letters or letter sounds. However, she made a valiant effort to construct some of her own words.

Just as we are trying to instill in children a love of learning and a love of books, we should also be striving to encourage children towards a love of their own written words. With Betsy, we felt nervous anticipation as she risked tackling a task with which she was not fully competent. We were pleasantly surprised to witness Betsy's willingness to charge ahead; she did not even express any frustration in the process. I would guess that she has had positive experiences with books and early writing activities.

According to Fox, this early age (pre-K, kindergarten and even early first grade) is the age of experimentation and "eases children" into more challenging strategies in word identification and writing. Their use of partial cues (as Fox describes) is just what they need to test things out as they get closer to decoding the alphabet system. I believe that any small steps forward will help to maintain children's enthusiastic attitude towards reading and writing. I also believe that teachers will need to constantly observe and assess their students' progress as they acquire more information about words.

Journal Entry - Week 2

Okay...I'm a big Charlie Brown fan...and this is a fun example of what goes on in kids' minds while stressing about writing assignments...maybe not always via song--but close enough?! Just for fun...

Prompt from Sulzby & Teale:
As I observed (and assisted in) our first grade class this week, the teacher incorporated several read-aloud book activities into her teaching of more than one subject. As a prelude to a science lesson on growing wheat seeds, she read Eric Carle's picture book (a big version), Pancakes! Pancakes; the book includes how flour is made from wheat. During the read-aloud time, the teacher posed several questions to our students. Examples of questions include: how the kids could personally relate to the story, predictions, character observations. When we taught the science lesson later that day, we used the informational book on planting and were able to show kids actual photos of what wheat looks like during its different growth stages and how wheat is harvested and processed. Extension activities continued into the next day as we read another storybook called The Market. Again, the teacher elicited kids' responses to questions and then students engaged in an individual art activity creating their own grocery lists (words and/or pictures); they were also asked to guess at how much grocery items cost (math, too). They shared their activity pages via the document camera in the classroom. The teacher was supportive in verbalizing her pride in each student's work. Finally, the teacher read with students the Time for Kids story about farms (social studies). I appreciated seeing how successful the teacher was in actively engaging kids in literacy learning through a multi- or inter- disciplinary approach. I also thought the kids thoroughly enjoyed the variety of learning with the read-alouds and plenty of hands-on activities. They were also able to see (from their perspective) different uses of language in their classroom and out in the community.