last blog

Ch. 11

This chapter spent some time talking about subjective and objective Test, the effect of homework, and then spent a lot of time going over tons of studying strategies. It was fitting for me to read this chapter after having discussed developing new study strategies with my girlfriend. She has mentioned how she needs to learn the art of studying better to help improve her grades because it is something she never had to take serious until college. After this chapter, I have tons of strategies to discuss with her.

From SQ3R to several graphic organizers, I learned that there is some kind of strategy out there that can be adapted no matter the situation. It is funny to me that so many strategies have to have some little name or catch phrase to go along with it. Sometimes I felt like I was reading the next big diet gimmick they wanted me to try out with their fun name like INSERT (Interactive Notating System for Effective Reading and Thinking). At least in this situation they have good intentions. The more strategies the better since there are so many different situations to apply them and so many different people to utilize them.

I have learned how to use chapter mapping and other variations before along with some of the other note taking strategies. The structured note taking was VERY structured. I honesty feel I would get bogged down in the process of the strategy trying to implement something like this, which would be counterproductive.

I have used matrixes several times in my life and they can come in handy. This can really help you understand the relationship behind topics and can turn a lot of random information into some nice organization. Ending with Internet search strategies was a bit random. It did not fit the rest, but I guess it is necessary by todays standard. It is also odd to me that this idea has to be developed since I grew up as the Internet grew. This is a skill that has to be taught to the students of today.

Ch. 12

This last chapter explains the need for literacy and reading in all content areas. Although the chapter goes on to share in all the different ways each and every type of literature and such can be incorporated in the classroom, I feel like the first section of the chapter did the best in summarizing the book while validating itself. The list of 7 benefits of using literature in content areas did a good job of convincing the reader of their point to the book while backing it with several sources. This also sums up what I feel like our teacher hopes for us to get out of this class. Literacy is extremely important across the board and is at the core of education. This book has explained how that is true, why it matters in every content area, and how to incorporate it into each content area.

As the book concludes on all of these notes, I feel like the rest of the chapter just becomes a rehashing of earlier parts of the book. I feel like I am not covering any new ground at this point. I do feel this last chapter was better fit as a summarizing chapter to the ideas presented within the book. They did give some specific information relating to certain topics, but I still feel the overall ideas had been covered.

They did cover some new ground at the very end when dealing with multicultural literature. I do understand that this has become ever more important to incorporate in education today, and I do understand it is a topic you may have to be careful when approaching. I do think that the author sourced a good reference on this topic. I like the guidelines given at the very end on choosing the correct book.

I would leave this book and this class agreeing with the last chapter summary. I believe that books are wonderful things. I agree that they can be much more beneficial than just textbooks. Also, have the opportunity to read good books will definitely help students prepare to be lifelong readers.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 blog

Writing across the curriculum

I am all about unique ways to incorporate writing in the classroom. Last semester in our EDMS class, each teacher set up a mock lesson for one of the four core subject areas. Hilary taught the English class, and her lesson plan and activity focused on finding all the creative ways to bring writing into the classroom in a fresh way. I am not big on writing at all, but her method really engaged me on this topic in a way I haven’t been in a long time.

            The technology tip in this chapter related to this way of finding new ways to incorporate writing. We even used wikispaces in our last EMAT project to help us get away from traditional ways of relaying information through writing. These ideas along with blogs, wordless, podcasts, and more are all ideas that I would be more than willing to try in my classroom. Since I am not big on writing myself, I know I will be finding every way in the world to bring new light to this topic for students who are like me.

            I also feel like writing has also been taught to me in such a boring and monotonous way and I want to help it be more engaging for the students when writing is necessary in my class. It has been taught as such a straight forward and linear way with so much structure. I understand the necessity for that when initially teaching a concept, but I was never given the opportunity to relay my ideas in any other fashion and by any other process. Using these alternative ways keeps you away from this step-by-step process and allows you to be more creative. I can foresee ideas being better received when they are conveyed through many different styles.

            If I even put my teacher hat on, I believe I would feel the same way about writing. I would much rather grade tons of assignments that were each unique in the way the information and ideas were presented. I would much rather watch some podcasts, read some blogs, explore some wikis, and read some papers instead of just reading a stack of papers. I do not envy English teachers that have to read countless essays and papers.

            I enjoyed the list of effective writing recommendations the author listed from Graham and Perin. This could be very helpful in the classroom one day. RAFT could be fun to implement in the classroom one day too. I could see students putting more effort in this kind of assignment, and it also fits under the umbrella of alternative writing assignments.

            I definitely look forward to incorporating journals in my science classroom one day. Doing assignments in a journal somehow seems less monotonous than just writing for the sake of writing. It is something the students can have some creativity with and take ownership of. One of our TA’s in our ESCI class used this idea of journals in the science classroom as her research for her degree. She taught us a bit about them and helped me decide that it was a very valuable tool in the middle school science classroom.

            I also enjoyed the biopoem we did at the beginning of class. There would be a lot of room for creativity with this assignment both on the students’ and the teacher’s part.

Articles

Poems:

            That was a brilliant way to incorporate writing, and especially poems, in the math classroom. I can’t say I would have ever thought about that. I am storing that idea away in my little toolbox. Maybe I will get to use it one day. I wonder what other math ideas would make for good poetry.

Technology:

This was a reminder of how science still requires a lot of reading and writing and comprehension. Using the graphic organizer to structure the order of the sentence and paragraph reminds me of a twist on the old reading comprehension that would be found on standardized tests and such. Teaching the students to understand the author’s main ideas and intentions becomes very important as students later do their own research or start reading the research of other scientist. This example was just one of the countless ways to include math, technology, and reading together. I can only imagine I could find plenty more with a little research.

Writing in Math:

Well, I agree with what is being communicated in this article. I ultimately feel that I have heard everything it had to say at this point. I understand the importance of writing well, I have heard of how to incorporate this, and I have heard their general ideas on how to accomplish this task. Maybe I have just read too much at this time or I am missing out, but this article did not really shed any new light.

Writing to Learn Across the Curriculum:

Even as it is in the title, I feel this article is a supplement to what I just read in this last chapter. I could view it as a bit of a summary, but it did have some different examples and activities. Some of the strategies mentioned and used sounded interesting to me, but some did not really have enough on them. They were all referenced well though, and it might be beneficial to read up on their references. I think this article would have been more interesting had I read it first instead of after the chapter and after the other articles. I think it would benefit me to reread it with fresh eyes another day. I did enjoy the writing style more than that of our textbook and I feel I would actually get more out of this article than I did the chapter if I spent some more time with it later. That is my plan right now.

Chapter 9

Reflecting on reading.

I feel like I remember a lot of whole-class discussions when I was going through school. A lot of my schooling we either focused completely on the teacher as they taught, we focused by ourselves and we worked independently, or we focused as a class when we discussed. I did not get a chance for a lot of small group discussions. I feel they can be the most beneficial too, so that is a bit sad to think I missed out on that. I will take advantage of that as a teacher one day though. I do understand that small group work takes a bit more to keep the students on task without direct supervision, but it has to be more beneficial for the students overall. I know that I was one of the students who was not afraid to speak out and who was always called on. Looking back I can see how intimidating that is for those who may have something to say but are afraid to speak up. I know it is not fair for them and that teachers will also start neglecting those students sometimes. I am all for small group discussions, especially when it comes to discussing something the class has read. I also know how much harder it is to speak out in a math classroom, which I hope to one day teach. No one wants to look stupid in front of the whole class.

            I like the ownership that comes along with peer-led circles. It still can be hard to incorporate everyone and leaders will start to rise up. This can be turned into a positive experience for everyone when monitored and led correctly.

            Reaction guides were used in my 9^th grade honor’s lit class from what I remember. She definitely challenged our understanding of the stories through her use of them. They can also be used as a great guide for later discussion as a model for the conversation.

            Being a very visual person and a math person, I really like graphs and charts. They can really help me organize ideas and thoughts. I would definitely use the discussion web whenever I saw a topic would allow for this type of organizational discussion.

            I am nervous of how to deal with actual debates in a middle school classroom, but I would love to work on it. I am a big fan of having debates. It would be fun to teach students to come up with valid arguments based on reading or research to have an organized discussion/debate on the topic. I like the guidelines for the argument found in this chapter. I would love to combine that with the idea of putting on different “hats” depending on the situation. Students could learn to utilize these skills based on the “hat” they were wearing. This could help them choose sides and debate based on their “hat” and what they bring to the table based on their experience.

            Any way that I could find to engage students at any level on what they are reading I would consider. Several approaches were discussed in this chapter and I would like to give them all a try one day to see what works best for me. This could also change depending on the students or the reading as well though.

Week 8

            This semester has really helped me open my eyes to the world of literacy. It has also helped me broaden my idea of literacy as well as my definition of literacy. Literacy seems to be a field that is ever progressing and changing. What I found so interesting was how literacy, much like so many other things, had to fight to keep up with technology in our every progressing world. Technology has also helped expand the definition of literacy and created its’ own field of literacy.

            The idea of literacy outside the area of English was foreign to me before this semester. I understood it to be reading and writing. Even when I threw in the idea of comprehension, literacy was still a concept related to reading and writing within an English classroom. I now understand that reading, writing, and comprehension can be related to so many subjects, concepts, and ideas outside of the English classroom or traditional classroom in general. An example would actual be computers. I may throw around terms such as java, C++, HTML5, hexadecimal, encryption, and other computer jargon to someone who is not computer literate, which would make someone say, “It’s all Greek to me.” I may understand computer talk, but I would not understand two doctors or lawyers talking to each other in their “language.”

            This all being said, I found it very interesting to start thinking about what this all means to the greater idea of literacy around us and what it would mean to me as a teacher in a middle school classroom. Something I have learned from class, reading, and some videos I have watched is that it all starts with language and comes down to these words. A student must be introduced to necessary vocabulary and taught the words meaning in order to start applying it to the subject and start comprehending the material based on this vocabulary. I also took this idea from my teacher interview. She mentioned how introduction lessons in units end up being heavy vocabulary days. The students must first learn this vocabulary before they can start applying it to the problems. We even start using this vocabulary intuitively later on with the assumption that students have learned it earlier in education. An algebra teacher would be confident to start throwing around works like variable, equation, slope and other concepts that should have been introduced in the previous course. We sometimes take this for granted. Sometimes students do not have a great grasp on these words, which affects their further learning of new material. It would be like walking into an English class that was already diagramming sentences and you were not even really sure how to define a subject and a verb.

            My book used for the book review and lesson plan furthered this idea. I have just continually seen where vocabulary can be a hindrance to learning if time is not spent to develop it. This seems to be common in any area that contains some level of literacy. It would be true in any of the above examples I mentioned and certainly in every academic subject. This was not a topic that was necessarily covered as a core concept in class, but it has been continually brought to my attention through readings, videos, and personal experience. I do feel that it is something that is important and something to take in consideration when planning new material for a class. The bottom line is that vocabulary is foundational to any form of literacy and should be an area of high focus.

No Chapter this time...

...just articles

Rosenblatt:

            First of all, this article has a ton of high vocabulary. It was not an easy read at parts. I have been fighting being sick the past several days too, and we all know how much harder it is to think and comprehend when your mind is foggy. I feel this way this week, so this was bad timing for this reading. I feel like I had a few quotes along the way that helped me get at the writers point I think.

            “At any point during the reading, we have already noted, awareness includes also reactions, emotional and intellectual, to the very ideas, events, characters, situations being experienced as the evocation. During a reading event, there can be a certain back-and-forth fluctuation of stances.”

            Notice that this quote does not have tons of SAT words. That may be why I could use this sentence as a summary for a section. It reminds me that there are a lot of different ways a reader can approach a text and that this approach even shifts during the reading. Different parts of text can trigger the reader to flow from one way of thinking to another way of thinking. This next quote I feel helped make more sense of that concept and made more sense to me than a lot of what I had read so far.

            “The reading process, then, should be thought of as encompassing a flow of fluid states of mind emerging into the focus of attention, shaped by reader, text, and context—a series of momentary changing, synthesized patterns, organized as the evocation that is constituted for the memory as that work and that is accompanied throughout by concurrent strands of thought and feeling.”

            I know the author was saying a lot more than this during this long 30 plus page article, but I am quoting and discussing what I got out of it. I am sure I would get more out of it if my mind was not so foggy. Much like the other article, it reminds me that reading, comprehending, and responding is far from a simple, linear concept. There is so much going on between the author, the text, the reader, and the context. There are many ways a reader can approach and deal with a text. There are many external and internal variables that affect the way readers experience text. When you put all of this information together, it seems there are truly countless ways that can affect and alter readers responses to text.

Sipe:

This article focused on four areas of interest surrounding children’s literary responses. The author of this article has done their research. There were two plus pages of references. They discussed so many different authors research on this topic along with their personal experience and research. There was a lot in this article that I am not sure I have ever thought about. There is just so much to think about when it comes to a student dealing with literature. It can seem overwhelming to think about it all.

            The author just touched on every topic that they discussed, but they touched on every topic. They explained the research that has been done and seemed to end by saying they hope research would continue on this topic. Responding to literature is not a simple task even for young readers. So many different variables are a play when a student takes on a piece of literature. All of these variables need to be remembered when assigning a reading individually or to a class. Just as the author of the text brings so much to the table that explains their writing, readers bring so much to the table that explains their responses.

            I think the culture and gender discussions were the most interesting to me. I would love to know how much of the gender response is truly instinctual and how much of it is learned from our surroundings. I also found the culture discussion interesting because I have worked in the inner city with a lot of African American and I know that if I were to teach back in my hometown that I would be dealing with a lot of Hispanics. It would be interesting to see how their take on certain pieces of literature various from that of a White student. I even thought pop culture was an interesting discussion point. I feel like children these days are surrounded by this cultural phenomenon so much that we should find ways to use it to our advantage in the classroom. I feel the same way about technology. Why not meet students where they are. I would have fun incorporating pop culture into literature if I were ever given the change. This article was again a reminder that there is so much to think about when being a teacher and dealing with students. This allows me once again to feel a little overwhelmed at the task of teaching that is before me.

Chapter 7

Questioning seems to be a tried and try way of engaging students as they read. They can be asked at any time before, during, or after the reading. I remember teachers doing this with me when I was a student. Much like the anticipation guide, pre-reading questions can help student prepare for the material they are about to read. This allows them to know what to expect.

            I liked the “right there” and “putting it together” questions that were mentioned. These are great ways to see if students are actually reading and if they comprehend what they are reading. It is as if the “right there” questions were asking them surface level questions and the “putting it together” questions were asking them to dig a bit deeper than the surface.

            I can understand why even this simple QAR setup can be more complicated in practice. Reading comprehension is not like a math problem. It is not straightforward. There are so many levels of comprehension, and this can vary from reading to reading depending on the subject matter. It can also be hard to pick out what to ask questions about to discover students comprehension. A student may understand one aspect and not pick up on another. I know we talk a lot about “main ideas” when we measure comprehension, but that alone may not be enough to test student knowledge.

            I know one thing that helps is asking questions that involve your input or opinion. You have to understand the material to a certain level to give your opinion. This also helps students stay away from just scanning the test to find the simple answer to a question. It truly requires them to read and think.

            I can see how it makes a difference depending on the subject as to which approach you would take as a teacher. When reading math or science, it may be more important to understand the information at surface value. Students may need to know definitions or processes.  Questions that require questioning the author or giving your opinion would be left to literature class. You want to see that your students understand the text rather than the author’s take.

            I like the idea of having students question the teacher. I could see that being very beneficial. Students can feel that they have the power of the teacher for a minute. It will give them the chance to feel in power while asking the questions they are curious about, and this can lead to a learning opportunity. It requires the teacher be ready for anything and may make you feel more vulnerable.

            Graphic representations have always helped me. They help make science make so much more sense. When you are dealing with a process or a more abstract idea, it is a lot easier to see the whole picture when you break it down into a graphic organizer. It can help fill in the gaps with stories as well. You can start with a point and expand upon it.

            Compare and contrast always seemed like the easy way out to me. It was the lazy way to deal with a topic. It may make sense for something, but overall I do not particularly like it. It just seems like an easy way to approach a topic and leaves all the work to the students. It would be the method I would be least likely to use of all the ones mentioned.

Reading:

            Apparently Science teachers are facing a lot these days. We need to be more acquainted with our subject matter. Teachers are not familiar enough with their material. Teachers also have varied ideas on the nature of science. That can often create issues in the classroom. We need to be more familiar with how students learn and understand science too. If we do not, then we will never be successful in teaching our students. We also need to understand how to set up our classroom to be a productive environment and how to manage our class with this atmosphere. Professionalism is something that needs to be continually developing as a teacher. There are a lot of things to constantly be mindful as a teacher. This just reminds me of this fact. It almost feels overwhelming at times like these.

            I can agree with all of the “attitudinal differences” mentioned in the article. I am guilty of them myself prior to being in education classes. I can also imagine that a lot of my math/science teachers feel the same way. These do seem to be truths sadly. It is something that is not easy to change, and it is especially hard to change overnight. Math and science teachers do need to be more open when it comes to using other sources outside of the textbook. It could only enhance learning. You do have more chance to put in your opinion or argue something in an English or history class. We are taught more problem solving in math and science. We seek to find the answers. It was interesting that they made a math problem using and STD. Whatever works I guess. At least it is real world related. The physics problem using plate tectonics was interesting. It was a reminder of how heavily vocabulary is used in science and therefore literacy is necessary.

            This article showed me that science and math is as important as I always viewed it. We are not equipping students to get out there and join the work force. They need more skill in these areas and our schools sometimes do not focus on these areas enough. This leaves room for remediation down the road and for employers to train in areas they hoped employees would be efficient. This article also points out that we are losing quickly to China and India. I have always complained that we need to be preparing our students here to do the jobs of the future, otherwise there will be no jobs available and no one will be equipped to do any of the jobs that are available. The bottom line is that math and science is important, especially today in our world of technology. If we do not start treating them as important, we will soon be left behind.

            Education should be open to everyone and is essential for life today. It needs to be structured from the ground up. There is still much reform that needs to take place and we need to make sure there is opportunity for everyone. Education needs to be structured in a way that everyone has the chance to be equipped with the skill that will allow them to amount to great things. We still do a good job of tending to the privileged and leaving out the poor and less privileged in education today. This is something we need to continually work on in order to close the achievement gap. Grassroots movements like this can help us push in the right direction to see the reform and change that we still need in the classroom.

Chapter 6 and such

Chapter 6:

            I can definitely, from first hand experience, understand the importance of these strategies used to help students in their reading. It makes all the difference in the world if you are familiar with what you are reading or have been prepared for it. If you asked someone to dive into the middle of “The Lord of the Rings” without any knowledge of the characters, story, or world you would be lost. It would be a slow read to try and understand the world of Tolkien in this fashion. In fact, while I read through LOTR I read other companions to them to better visualize and understand what is going on in the books. This would be the same way I would use SparkNotes when reading literature for class. Also the same way I would use a dummy’s guide to enrich my knowledge of a topic. This is especially true when dealing with science. The science textbooks are written at such high levels that the students need something else to help guide their knowledge base when trying to comprehend a classroom science book.

            I had either heard of or had experience with some of these strategies. I learned about K-W-L last semester. I really like the setup of this strategy. I imagine it could be used in all areas, although it probably works better in some. I can think of several ways to use it for science teaching. Any time a new topic is introduces, this could be beneficial for students in preparation of the material. From experience, anything would be better than going in blindsided. There were some others I had never used before. I liked the anticipation guide. It was extra helpful for me because I observed in a 7^th grade math class last semester and had to help teach integers. They had a great example of how this concept was applied to integers. If only I would have read this before last semester. It could have been helpful to my teaching and planning.

            Prior knowledge is something that I have learned to think a lot about since this class. It is something we take for granted or forget sometimes. As I mentioned earlier, this is something that applies to areas outside of teaching as well. It is such a novel idea when you think about it though. New knowledge is best built from a present knowledge base.  I also liked reading for reading. It sounds funny to think about, but it is very true. This is more of an example of using dummy’s guides or something along those lines. Reading some material on a subject that will make other readings on this subject easier to comprehend. This chapter did have some good ideas. I am sure I will try them all out one day and figure out which is my favorite. Maybe I can learn the pros and cons of each and when to utilize them.

The Nation’s Report Card:

            This was a bit hard to get through. It was a LOT of information and statistics. What was crazy about the information was how true it was compared to everything I have ever thought or heard. All it did was convince me that everything I had heard was more fact than rumor or false information. It also all adds up to my personal experience. Everything just seemed to line up. Males slightly outperforming females, whites outperforming everyone, higher income levels outperforming, inner city underperforming, etc. This was all information I have heard at some point in my life. I now have seen the statistics to back it up. I am no exception to this rule. As we mentioned earlier too, it is partly because the curriculum and tests were designed by people like me for people like me. I am a middle class white male and this country is catered to me. That is clearly not a good thing. It is definitely not a fair thing. Now, all I know to do is ask myself what we are going to do about it. Thankfully the gap has been closing a bit compared to the past. Sadly, the gap still has a ways to go.

            I have worked in the homeless sector for the past several years. I also worked in inner city schools for a year after college. They have both taught me so much. I learned working in the homeless sector exactly how deep rooted and complicated this issue has come to be in our country. It will not be solved overnight. In fact, it may never be solved. Since Biblical times there have been homeless people. There will continue to be homeless people. We are humans and far from perfect, so we will never be able to develop a perfect system that will eliminate homelessness. I sadly feel more and more this way towards education. Even though both of these issues may never be resolved, I do plan on doing my part in helping the issue. I have done that for a while in the homeless sector and plan on devoting my life to this cause in education. I just wish, like so many others, that I had answers. All I know to do is pull my weight in being a good teacher. I look forward to this chance in the near future.