Blog #10 Homework

Homework Structure for 1^st grade

Purpose:

The purpose of homework in first grade is basically practice. Practice for the homework to come in the higher grades, and for practice of skills learned on the classroom. This is never a time to learn a new skill, but a time to review skills learned during the school day.

Type of homework:

The homework given in will primarily be math and reading. The math program taught in the classroom has corresponding “homework links” that are meant to reinforce the lessons learned in class. However, if I feel that this link will be stressful to the students I will not send this home.

Reading homework will be giving in the form of a daily reading log. All students are asked to read for 20 minutes each night. In first grade this can be a combination of the student reading and being read to. This log is to me signed by parents and sent back to school on Friday of every week.

Time:

Reading aside, the time spent on homework should not exceed 15 minutes each night for first graders. If parents are finding that homework takes much more time, them I would like to be make aware of this. Homework at this age should be a time to be proud of what the students have learned, not a time consuming process.

Parent Involvement:

All homework given can be and hopefully would be done with the parents. The students should be able to finish the tasks alone; however I believe the parents should be part of the process. All reading should be done with an adult or parent. This helps the students feel more confident and helps to ensure their understanding.

Technology and Communication:

Any and all concerns regarding homework can be addressed personally in the classroom or via email. The teacher will communicate with parents via email promptly.

 

Blog #9

Blog #9 Fiction vs. Non-fiction

This is a lesson I wrote for the first grade class I work with. The class is working on a unit about systems. This unit has been incorporated into the entire curriculum. For the literacy portion of the unit they read the book, We Need Trees by Karen Hoeneck. This is a non-fiction level C book that all of the students could read, mostly independently.  The pictures are beautiful paintings that closely match the text. This makes the book easier for the ELL students to understand. The class met as a whole to discuss the idea of reading a non-fiction book. The teacher asked the class what non-fiction is, and all hands went up. The kids all had answers that they could not wait to share. The teacher wrote the answers as a list on the board.  They read the story out loud as a class. When they finished they discussed the facts they learned about trees. They talked about the fact that this is a non-fiction book, so it is teaching us information that is true and real, not pretend or made up.

The second portion on the lesson was the fiction portion. The students continued on with the study of systems, but this time with Leaves also by Karen Hoeneck. This is a fictional story level C. This is an easy book for all of the students; the pictures directly correlate with the words on the page. This is a great selection for the ELL students because each page has no more them five word and the pictures can guide the students. After the book was read the teacher asked the students if this is a fiction or a non-fiction book. She wrote down the answers on the board as a list. She then circled the two lists (non-fiction and fiction) with overlapping circles, creating a Venn diagram. She then asked them to tell her what was similar about the fiction and the non-fiction books.  The class came up with very interesting and clear answers. They were able to connect to the study of systems with both books, but understood the difference between the more factual book and the whimsical fictional story.

Since I do not have my own classroom right now, I have to rely on my generous cooperating teachers. However, for this assignment I was unable to actually perform the running records. The following is a summary of what a running record is and how to perform one.

To begin the process of giving a running record to students the teacher must begin by selecting the appropriate level to test the student. This level should be about one level above the student’s independent reading level. The teacher should make sure he/she has the “transcript” of the text being read by the student. This is a copy of the story being read with room for recording miscues and attempts. The teacher will record the student’s miscues in two different ways, by making the transcript and by audio recording.

The important miscue markings include:

Substitution: when a substitution is made the teacher writes the miscues directly over the text.

·       If the substitution is not a real word the teacher writes a dollar sign ($) and the word said over the text.

·       If the substitution is over many words the teacher should bracket over the words and write what was said over that.

Omission: recorded by circling the word left out

Partial omission: circle the part skipped

Transposition: When words are reversed in order the teacher should use a sidewise “s” like a lasso around transposed words.

Repetition or regression: Phrases or words that are repeated. The teacher should underline the repeated word and attach a circled “r” to the end of the line. If the repetition happens multiple times, underline again.

Insertion: When a student adds one or more words, use a caret to denote the words added.

Correction: a miscue that is corrected is marked with a circled “c” and underline what was corrected.

Unsuccessful correction: underline the word with the letters “uc” circled next to the word with an arrow above pointing to the list of words attempted.

Pausing and intonation: If the student pauses between words, the letter “p” should be placed between the words along with the number of seconds paused.

Intonation: If the student reads words correctly but skips punctuation causing intonation changes, the teacher should circle what was skipped.

Checking comprehension: First the teacher should ask the student to retell the story in his/her own words. Second, the teacher should ask the student guided questions about the text, marking all answers.

Analyzing Running Record: 

·       The teacher should check the miscues for graphic similarities.

·       Check the syntactic and semantic cues asking these three questions

o   Does this sound syntactically correct?

o   Is this sentence semantically correct?

o   Did the students reading of the sentence change it’s meaning?

After the reading comprehension and miscues have been analyzed, record all information gathered and convert into a percentage.

 

Word Reognition/Sociopsycholinguistic

Directions:

Label each activity (L) for learning/word recognition or (A) for acquisiton/sociopsycholinguistic view.

Some activities can have both labels. Be prepared to explain your choices.

 

The students:

 

__L   look up words in the dictionary to write definitions

___A _make a Venn diagram to compare two stories

___L__practice sounding out words

__L___read in round~robin fashion

__L___correct peers when they make a mistake during reading

__A/L__identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound

___A__group cards with classmates' names by a criterion on such as first or last letter

__A___write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same sound

_L____ask the teacher how to spell any word they don't know

__L___read a language experience story they have created with the teacher

__A___work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences

__A/L___divide words into syllables

__L___on a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound

__A___make alphabet books on different topics

 

The teacher:

 

_L____pre-teaches vocabulary

_L____does a shared reading with a big book

_L___makes sure that students read only books that fit their level

_L____has students segment words into phonemes

_A____writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words

_A____asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter

_L____uses decodable texts

_A____sets aside time for SSR (sustained silent reading) each day teaches Latin and Greek roots

_A___has students meet in literature circles

_L____conducts phonics drills

_L____chooses predictable texts

_A____teaches students different comprehension strategies does a picture walk of a new book

__A/L___uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills

 

Word Recognition/learning seems to be about teaching the basics, more fundamentalist teaching. This approach is all about pre-teaching and skills based learning. This type of teaching/learning fits into a more traditional setting. The Sociopsycholinguistic/Acquisition view is more independent and student based. This student-based view allows students to gain understanding, use background knowledge and work on the basic principals of reading and writing later.

 

Blog #5

The first children’s book I reviwed was The Very Hungry Caterpiller, by Eric Carle. I chose this because it is a familiar book to many children, has a cute story with colorful stories. It is also used as part of an author study in many kindergarten/first grade classrooms.

From the very first page I realized that this might be difficult for comprehension with ELL students. The first page read, “In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.” The phrase “in the light of the moon” may be a difficult concept for the students to understand. The picture is helpful because it show the moon as a large part of the picture.  The other aspects of the story that may be difficult are toward the end of the story. The caterpiller eats a lot and gets fat, bulids a cacoon, “He stays inside for more than two weeks. Then nibbled a hole in the cacoon, pushed his way out and…” The concept of time and the scientific nature of the cacoon may be hard to comprehend.

The schema could be taught by introducing this story with other examples of caterpillers turning into butterflies, introducing the vocabulary words prior to reading the story, and giving examples by using different pictures.

The second children’s book I reviewed was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin and John Archambault. I chose this book because it is a useful tool for teaching the alphabet. This may be difficult because students may have a hard time seeing the humor behind it. The idea that the letters are staying in order but that it is playful story. Phrases like “stubbed-toe E and patched-up F,” may be to abstract. As well as the silly phrases like “ally-oop” and skoodle doot.”

This could be introduced as a song. The teacher could play the song and show the book as a “big book” to the class. If the sing the story as the teacher points to the letters, this may help. Plus this can be introduced as a phonics lesson about sounds and nonsense words.

Blog #4 Metacognitive look at text...

“Take a metacognitive look at how you decode unfamiliar text,” this was really hard, much harder then I thought it would be. I went into the task thinking; okay I have a good grasp on language as a whole I bet I can decode a different language pretty well. Boy was I wrong! I began with a Spanish newspaper. I am an avid newsreader and figured this would be a good place to start. I understood next to nothing. I understood obvious things like political names, locations, and words that were similar to English, but that was really it. I was able to use the pictures to help with some of the content, I think. I read the front page many times and became increasingly frustrated with each attempt. How powerful. This is so basic yet extremely important as a teacher.

I then scaled down until I got to a level that I could understand. This level was that of a toddler. I understood repetitive picture books in which the pictures directly correlated to the text. For example, everything on the page was blue, so I figures the word “azul” meant blue. The strategies I used were pictures, trying to find a connection to a word in English (or any other language I may have recognized), repetition.

The implications as a teacher to me would be the need for repetition. As I read on I picked up on words as they were repeated to me. I found it helpful to have pictures, much like a toddler would with a picture book. This also served as further proof to me that the more you read, the more you understand. ELL students need to be given more opportunities, possibly a longer block.

 

Oral Language and Reading

According to Chomsky, “Children are not born with knowledge of English or Japanese or any other human language. Instead, they are born with knowledge of those things that are common to all human languages.”  This means that children are born with some implicit knowledge of language, but they need to learn how their language (or the language they are learning) functions.  Chomsky believes that language is innate. So, is reading innate?

If children are born with the innate ability to gain oral language skills and it argued that there is a connection between oral language and reading, is reading innate too? I don’t believe so. While working in a kindergarten class last year I was amazed by the language skills of most of the kids. Their vocabularies alone were baffling to me at times. They had so much to say and were very pointed in their speech. However, this vast wealth of language they seemed to posses did not correlate to their reading ability. The fact that they had such strong oral language skills did help them learn to read. However it did not seem to have an innate quality. 

My Writing Education

To reflect on the writing instruction that I received as a student is not an easy task. I don’t remember sitting down to write in a “writers workshop” setting. I certainly don’t remember any part of writing instruction being fun.  When I think about learning how to read and write in school, I think of worrying a lot. I remember a constant feeling that everything I was doing was going to be wrong.

I do have a strong memory of learning grammar and punctuation. This took place with the teacher at the front of the classroom at the chalkboard, the students in rows of desks watching the teacher write sentences on the board. I was never really sure what she (my teachers were always women) was doing up their.  I was never focused enough to be engaged in this setting. This was not effective for me as a student.

It is easy for me to take how I was taught as a student and turn it around to be a positive teaching tool. I do not feel that my elementary school education was a very good one. It was a “wonderful” public school in NY in a great area. However, my needs were seldom met. As a teacher I know I am able to focus on each students development and take into account each learning style. I never had the chance as a student (until college) to feel as if my writing was something to be celebrated. 

My Philosophy…

            When thinking about teaching reading and writing my mind automatically jumps to teaching fourth and fifth grade.  I taught fourth grade for several years and fifth for one before having children. I had been out of the classroom for 5 years before going back to work in a kindergarten classroom. My feelings and my philosophy of teaching reading and writing changed significantly with this transition.

            When teaching the intermediate grades I focused on the details of more advanced writing. Much more focus on style and less (all though some) on conventions. I truthfully was not thinking about the process it took to get there. In retrospect I see what a disadvantage this was to my students. Through the reading I have done and the experience I have now, I am much more aware of the process. I would think and hope that I am a better teacher because of it. I now believe that the process begins when a child begins writing of any kind nonsensical or not. This often begins at around 18 months. I now see how the little scribbles that small children write are just that, writing. I feel that this is where the writing education begins. Before reading about this I would never have considered this as an important pre-writing activity.

            As for reading, as an intermediate teacher I focused more on comprehension and not as much on the process. I was not focused on how early on the reading process begins, how early language is connected to the process of literacy as a whole. My philosophy has changed as I have continued my learning.

            My philosophy is that literacy begins very early on, and it is our job as educators to turn pre-writing into writing and pre-reading into reading. As children are learning about phonemes, they are also learning about graphemes. As they learn how to read, they are learning how to write. It is my understanding that a good writing education goes along with a reading education. I also have a very strong belief that this all needs to be fun. When children are little they love to take out that big marker or crayon and scribble away. There is no reason this momentum has to stop when they are school age. Kindergarteners and up should find the process just as joyous as the 18 month old with the crayon.

            However, my philosophy is not only that the students have fun. In order for students to become proficient readers and writers, they must read write often. If students from kindergarten up read and write for at least 30 minutes a day, they will learn. Daily writers workshop combined with 10-minute mini lessons is an important routine for every classroom, no matter the grade level. Plus, combining writing with reading lessons. During reading lessons it is important for the teacher to draw attention to writing style and conventions.

            Combining fun with consistency is my philosophy for a good literacy program. Creating an environment in which students feel that they are reading and writing about what interests them. Working with students to create stories that they are proud of. Teaching students what good work looks and sounds like. Giving students the chance to share their work. And doing this every day. In my opinion this is what makes for a comprehensive literacy program.

 

A conversation with a colleague…

For the past six years I have dedicated my everything to my two boys. I have loved it all, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss teaching. I have missed the students and the colleagues. I missed being in a learning environment with constant converstion and excitment.

When my oldest son started kindergarden last year I began school as well. I felt this was the perfect time to start on my quest of becoming a reading specialist. I thought this would help me achieve my goals and be helpful in teaching my son to read. Oh, I was wrong about the teacing my son part. I quickly learned that my teaching and his learning on some levels needed to stay seperate. All I was doing was frustrating my son and questioning my abilities.

Recently I had a chance speak with a colleague that I taught with when I first started teaching ten years ago. When I forst met her she was a verteran teacher, one that I really looked up to.  I asked her about teaching literacy. I mast say I was a bit surprised by her answer to my question. I realize now how much I have learned about teaching literacy, even if it's not to my son. 

The following is my interpretation of what this colleague stated. This is not a direct quote, rather a re-written account of what was said.

 “As an educator, what do you see as your philosophy of teaching literacy?

Throughout my teaching career, my philosophy of teaching literacy has changed with the times. I have taught for twenty years, so I have seen trends come and go and I have been a part trends that have worked, and ones that have not been as successful.

My “philosophy” is that to teach literacy successfully, you must teach to each student’s strength as much as possible. If some students learn from a more traditional phonics format, I will teach to that strength. If other students need a more holistic approach, I will teach to their strength I try to approach each student in a way that they can be most successful. This takes careful planning and a lot of work, but it has proven to be successful in my classroom.