Two of Everything

Last Tuesday, December 1, me and my dyad partner (Heba) led a short math lesson in our first grade class. The lesson included a read-aloud of a children's book called, Two of Everything--A Chinese Folktale, written by Lily Hong. Following the story, I created a practice activity to teach them about doubling numbers--or counting the same number twice. I showed our students a big pot--my "magic pot!" I also showed them a basket of various small items. Unbeknownst to the kids--I also had the same number of same items hidden on the bottom of the pot. As was told in the story--every time I put items in the pot--I could pull out double the number of items--magically! We did this several times. Each time, I asked the students..."If I put in this number of items...how many will I pull out? (Answer: double the number)Most of the kids were in total awe and were also able to guess the correct number outcomes. I felt like a magician! There were a few boys who kept creeping closer to the pot...they guessed that I already had those items on the bottom of the pot.

I loved this activity. I can't believe I just thought of it that morning. It was great to see the kids so engaged and having fun and doing math all at the same time.

For a wrap-up, and to see if kids "got" the concept of doubling, we asked them to complete a worksheet: a picture of a big pot. They had to draw items (two equal sets) in the pot and fill in the blanks of a picture sentence...___ plus ___ = ___ (something like that). The kids were able to use their imaginations in choosing what they wanted to see doubled. We walked around visiting kids during this time and made sure they understood the doubling idea...Most got it!

Response to Educational Leadership article...

In Ohler’s article, “Orchestrating the Media Collage,” we are informed about the need to include digital literacy when considering the definition of literacy. Ohler describes how students are trying to get along in a “digitally distracted world” and how teachers need to figure out how to incorporate digital literacy or media literacy into their educational journey. This requires us to continue teaching effective writing for students to be able to successfully create, contribute or collaborate in the digital world.

Ohler states, “Students need to be media literate to understand how media technique influences perception and thinking.” When teachers engage students in meaningful learning about social issues, the use of technology should always be included. Media is powerful, and we need to arm students with information to aid with the choices they make in their use of technology.

Many teachers are not exposed to the array of technological advances available to students and their families, nor are they aware of the positive contributions technology can make in learning. Ohler believes teachers do not need to be technological wizards in the classroom, but that they should serve as consultants (“guides” or “managers”) to their students. Digital literacy is here to stay, and teachers have a responsibility to add it to their list of teaching essentials.

For me—before we began our technology classes in this program, I considered myself pretty naïve and lacking confidence in the area of computer literacy as it relates to education. I have been resistant. Now—as we have been required to learn some new technology, I am excited about all the possibilities. As a teacher, I feel I can actually bring some great tools to my students to boost their learning and bring them into the 21st century. Wish me luck!!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Regarding Routman's chapters on teaching and organizing writing (ch. 7, 8):

I greatly appreciate being in the different placements and visiting other classrooms to see how teachers teach writing. I'm happy to see teachers who really try to help their students enjoy and care about what they are writing. Conventions, traits of writing, and editing will emerge next. I can tell if teachers enjoys writing themselves. I've witnessed a certain kind of contagious enthusiasm whereby students' writing is honored and the students are ecstatic to be noticed!

Identifying the writer's AUDIENCE will be very helpful to students as they approach writing assignments. I've seen my supervising teachers issue fun and engaging writing exercises for students. In sixth grade, students were asked to write a letter to the principal about why the school should continue to support field trips for students. The students, by way of trying to convince the principal of their position FOR field trips, learned how to write a strong, persuasive piece. Another writing task involved a paper about the importance of good food being offered for lunches at school. These were topics that were "life applicable," that kids could care about and express a personal opinion.

As a teacher, I will want to try to follow the Optimal Learning Model for teaching meaningful writing. There's nothing worse for students than to be taught that learning how to write is REQUIRED. Of course it is--but we can ease students into an appreciation of their own writing through a multitude of processes--several presented in Routman's book. Students do need to assume responsibility gradually. Our goal is for them to become independent in their writing, but first they need to experience writing as a shared activity and through meaning gained through the teacher's (and sometimes peers') modeling.

Focusing on the trait of VOICE, Routman emphasizes the need for teachers to train kids to write and think out loud. Then they will get a better sense of noticing or identifying an author's voice. I think the trait of voice is key to students developing a love of writing; they are given permission to maintain their own personality or identity in their writing. Routman also talks about the important practice of reading writing out loud. Listening to yourself as a reader--not just the writer--is critical for reorganizing or revising the writing for the purpose of strengthening that piece of writing.

Routman proposed so many ways in which to immerse students in writing. I only hope I can make it a priority in my teaching. I especially appreciate that you can incorporate writing into most subjects in school. I agree with Routman that writing needs to happen daily. I appreciate the reminder about provided choices to students, also. Routman says, "Sometimes, we just have to plunge in" (p. 179). Writing should be part of the classroom routine with emphasis on prewrites and freewrites, peer conversations about writing, and a trusting classroom climate.

December 2, 2009

I've heard it from both my placement experiences--first grade at one school, and sixth grade at another...writing assessments are a BEAR! And the rubrics provided are over-the-top long and ambiguous.

While assisting my supervising teacher in the sixth grade class, I was confronted with a stack of students' responses to the district writing prompts for assessment. I stared (for quite a while) at those glorious pieces of effort and thought to myself: Where do I start? How can I begin to evaluate these when I know students tried so hard? I do know that the teacher provides a rubric on which they will be assessed. I am overwhelmed!

In my first grade class recently, right before conferences, I was able to peruse the folders of student work of which the teacher was going to review with parents during conference time. The teacher carefully collected samples of their writing (even while often messy and brief!) from the beginning of the year through current practice. To me, it seemed a pretty valid indication of how those students were successful in making progress in the right direction--even though they may not be at grade level expectations.

Routman stresses the importance of assessing the "validity" of students' writing rather than the narrow focus on a checklist (the rubric). I agree with Routman when he talks about making sure we use rubrics which are age-appropriate. Time spent on test preparation will decrease with good teaching of writing and simply doing a lot of it. As teachers, we can't be hyperfocused on test prep; the joy will be sucked right out of writing. Routman provides many examples of how to teach writing well so that we can reduce the stress felt by students, teachers and parents. Both my supervising teachers incorporate writing into their teaching every day. This routine practice lessons the hardship of the required writing for the students; they expect it daily. The other magic to getting kids to concentrate on the quality of their writing is to get them to the point of self-assessment, or at least peer-assessment. These students will be much more prone to good learning. Routman believes in the need for assessment--but not solely from testing.

Routman would agree with Elbow's contention that assessment/ranking is being incomplete and unreliable. I've heard from more than a few teachers who concur with the C.S. Lewis quote, "People are obviously far more anxious to express their approval and disapproval of things than to describe them." Seems everyone would agree that we need better ways to measure a child's writing efforts and success. We are in danger of shifting focus from writing as individual expression to writing as meeting someone else's expectations in order to assign a grade.

Elbow seems to like the term, evaluation, better than ranking/grading. Evaluation, he implies, forces the reviewer to more thoughtfully determine what works well and what does not work for a piece of writing. Similar to Routman's wishes for assessment--evaluation should not be an act of just filling in blanks with numbers; it needs to include some pondering on the part of the teacher. As with many teachers, this pondering should occur more often than just testing time. It needs to happen daily or at least frequently as students become more relaxed with writing and as they receive encouragement and positive feedback from the teacher.

Okay--I had to re-read the Elbow's "liking" hypotheses more than once. I believe what Elbow points to is developing the skills of discernment (and/or discrimination). We, and our students, need to be taught to delve deep into writing, to read a piece multiple times, with different sets of eyes, in order to establish the good and bad of that piece. Routman does not express this kind of evaluation in so many words, although he gives us a sense of this in explaining how to get students into self-assessment. I get the impression that Routman feels evaluation, aka grading, aka assessment, is inevitable, but that there are ways in which we can work to make them more meaningful for student learning.

The two writers, Routman and Elbow, provide us with great perspectives on judging our students' writing. Routman seems to offer more concrete methods or strategies to vary our means of assessment. Elbow's article more thoroughly explains the variations in the art of judgment. As teachers, we may need to post our grades on students' writing accomplishments, but we can also take it many steps beyond and look more closely at what makes their writing good. The more desired descriptive form of evaluation can then be used in conferences with parents and the students themselves so they know what they need to work on and for what we are praising them.

November 19, 2009

I wrote a literary vignette about my history with writing in journals as a child (making this into my digital story). Reading Spandel's article on 6-trait writing, I especially related to the section on the beginning process of drawing from personal experience. Even though I eventually delved into creative writing, my early writing as a young person was all from my own unique stories. This part of the process of formulating ideas sounds easy to me as an adult. However, I think it is something that takes training and practice before it becomes so natural.

I can see this as I work with both my first graders in my dyad experience, as well as the sixth graders in my main placement. Those first graders are just at the tip of the learning process. Sure, we provide plenty of rich topics from which they can choose. And we would think there would be a wealth of experience from which to tap, but this part of the process seems nearly impossible for them. Maybe it's because the whole idea of writing is daunting to these youngsters! Many of them are intimidated whenever the task of putting pencil to paper is presented. We'd be happy if they could draw pictures of these ideas, or even just a few words. We're trying to teach them that they are full of engaging stories that others would like to hear. I've seen a lot of jumping on the bandwagon with ideas like riding a roller coaster, watching John Cena in the WWF. The sixth graders are more hung up on conventions of writing and seem to experience writer's block when first starting a writing assignment. I also see a lot of copying of ideas--the easy way.

Seeing the power of our written word--for me the journal writing that helped me grow up--I hope I have the magic to share with young writers the importance of memories and even the simplest of ideas. I hope I can coax from them the telling of what is important to them in their lives and how valuable it is for us to reflect on those things.

Spandel talks about how "writers write before they write" (p. 152). If we could teach kids that their everyday thinking about what matters to them is their "pre-write," we could ease them into viewing writing as fun and accessible.

November 9, 2009

Ann Lamott...would love to go have drinks with her sometime! As we have been asked to identify quotes from her Bird by Bird book, I have ended up with a book loaded with a bazillion Post-It notes locating my most favorite quotes. Not sure how to explain my admiration...her honest way with words floors me, and I admit I can relate to a lot of what she says!

An example: The chapter, "How do you know when you're done?" (pages 93-94): Her analogy of "putting an octopus to bed" so reminds me of multiple writing experiences in school these past few years as I finished my undergraduate degree first and continued with coursework in the t-cert program. While attempting to attain A's in my classes, I have felt the wrath of several wild octopus tentacles as they threaten to send me over the edge of sanity. I can work on a piece of writing and come pretty darn close to what I would call my very best work--ready to print out my "final" version--but then that octopus rears its ugly suction cups. I stay up way too late trying to "finalize" a piece and then try to sleep with that nagging back of my mind saying, "If only you could fine tune that section a bit more" or "I know I've left out some critical element...let me just suffer through a few more hours trying to locate it!" I remember asking a much admired professor of mine at UWB while writing a research paper in his class, "How do you know when to quit?!" He said, "You just do. You work to the deadline and then tell yourself, 'It is what it is.'" No big magic or sixth sense in knowing when you're done.

Okay, one more: page 112 in the "Broccoli" chapter. Lamott writes about "being militantly on your own side" and the need to trust ourselves. She says not to "look at your feet to see if you're doing it right...just dance." After writing my literacy vignette drafts--both of them, I was a little underwhelmed with myself--especially after feedback from my writing group. I don't have Ann Lamott's sense of humor and am challenged to make my writing entertaining to other readers. I thought my vignettes were true to my word and my story, but they ended up a little "short" on the engagement factor for other readers. But you know what?! Those first drafts were truth and directly from my memories. I guess I need to not worry so much about my rational depiction of those memories via the written word and just keep working and searching for those details that best show my recall as "valuable stuff."

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.