Below, you will find the schedule and groups for strategy instruction presentations. It is unfair to expect the same products from all groups given the unequal distribution of people within groups, so I'm going to amend the text set requirement. Rather than having a flat number of ten books you must have in your text set, you will need to have three books for every member of your presentation group. For example, if you are presenting alone, you will have to create a text set of three books that go with that strategy. If there are five people in your group, your group's text set will need to contain fifteen books to go with that strategy. Book sets are not due to be posted to the web until two weeks after your strategy presentation.
Connections and Background (10/6)
Winnie
Jessica
Questioning (10/13)
Samantha
Kelli
Lily
Chelsea
Carly
Visualizing (10/20)
Lauren
Kristin R.
Emily
Devon
Determining Importance (10/27)
Ashley
Summarizing and Synthesizing (11/3)
Jessica
Kristin D.
Brooke Sc.
Brooke St.
Kristine
As always, comment with questions.
28 September 2008
22 September 2008
Reading Workshop
Reading Workshop is a powerful way for teachers to introduce new reading skills to children in a comfortable, social environment. As discussed in class, there are three major parts to the Workshop:
* The Minilesson (10 - 15 minutes)
The minilesson is meant to be a concentrated lesson focusing on one element of reading. These minilessons tend to fall into one of three categories: management, strategy, and what Joanna Hindley calls "literary gossip." Management are those lessons you will begin with at the very beginning of the year, establishing what your workshop will look like so you can engage in strategy and literacy gossip lessons without having to worry about structure. A look at the first six weeks of a first grade reading workshop can be found here (the link will download as a .doc file). Additional sources for minilesson ideas can be found at the Learning Pad.
* Independent Reading (students) & Conferencing (teacher) (30 - 40 minutes)
After the minilesson, the students are released to practice their skills. This looks differently in different rooms. In my own classroom, students spread throughout the room, sitting in chairs and on the carpets; the only rule was no sitting under the tables because I'm old and don't want to be crawling after anyone. Other teachers have their students reading at their tables, some have their students only reading in a particular area of the room. Depending on your own comfort level and your classroom setup, this portion of the workshop could look many different ways.
While children are reading, you are conferencing with students to gauge how well they are using their strategies, what books they are currently reading and which directions they need to move in to become even better readers. This is the most important element of the Reading Workshop - where the teaching happens. Conferencing can get sticky, but that time you spend with individual children and groups of children who have similar skill levels is invaluable. For another, more detailed view of conferencing, look at Bayview Education. They also have several forms available for download for record keeping.
* Sharing (10 - 15 minutes)
Sharing is an opportunity for students to collaboratively talk about their progress as readers, sharing their use of strategies and celebrating their successes. You can work this section several ways - sign up for kid's share, have a daily schedule, or choose students based on what you saw in conferences that day. It's very flexible. Sharing is also so important - it allows kiddos to hear about what works from other children, who may explain it in ways you didn't. Reteaching is always a beautiful thing.
Additional Internet resources for the Reading Workshop:
Karen McDavid's Reading Workshop Page: An excellent page with a lot of great information, including minilesson ideas, professional books suggestions and forms for record keeping. Contains a list of additional links that are worth checking out.
Jennifer Myers' Reading and Writing Workshop Page: Another excellent page containing video of minilessons, children's work, and background in establishing the Workshop structure.
Differentiation in a Reader's Workshop: This Scholastic article addresses the many ways that a teacher reaches the variety of different learners in their classroom. There are several downloads here that are worth space on your hard drive.
Hopefully, this entry on Reading Workshop is helpful, even though I realize it barely touches the surface. If you come across additional links that are useful, please comment.
As always, comment with questions.
* The Minilesson (10 - 15 minutes)
The minilesson is meant to be a concentrated lesson focusing on one element of reading. These minilessons tend to fall into one of three categories: management, strategy, and what Joanna Hindley calls "literary gossip." Management are those lessons you will begin with at the very beginning of the year, establishing what your workshop will look like so you can engage in strategy and literacy gossip lessons without having to worry about structure. A look at the first six weeks of a first grade reading workshop can be found here (the link will download as a .doc file). Additional sources for minilesson ideas can be found at the Learning Pad.
* Independent Reading (students) & Conferencing (teacher) (30 - 40 minutes)
After the minilesson, the students are released to practice their skills. This looks differently in different rooms. In my own classroom, students spread throughout the room, sitting in chairs and on the carpets; the only rule was no sitting under the tables because I'm old and don't want to be crawling after anyone. Other teachers have their students reading at their tables, some have their students only reading in a particular area of the room. Depending on your own comfort level and your classroom setup, this portion of the workshop could look many different ways.
While children are reading, you are conferencing with students to gauge how well they are using their strategies, what books they are currently reading and which directions they need to move in to become even better readers. This is the most important element of the Reading Workshop - where the teaching happens. Conferencing can get sticky, but that time you spend with individual children and groups of children who have similar skill levels is invaluable. For another, more detailed view of conferencing, look at Bayview Education. They also have several forms available for download for record keeping.
* Sharing (10 - 15 minutes)
Sharing is an opportunity for students to collaboratively talk about their progress as readers, sharing their use of strategies and celebrating their successes. You can work this section several ways - sign up for kid's share, have a daily schedule, or choose students based on what you saw in conferences that day. It's very flexible. Sharing is also so important - it allows kiddos to hear about what works from other children, who may explain it in ways you didn't. Reteaching is always a beautiful thing.
Additional Internet resources for the Reading Workshop:
Karen McDavid's Reading Workshop Page: An excellent page with a lot of great information, including minilesson ideas, professional books suggestions and forms for record keeping. Contains a list of additional links that are worth checking out.
Jennifer Myers' Reading and Writing Workshop Page: Another excellent page containing video of minilessons, children's work, and background in establishing the Workshop structure.
Differentiation in a Reader's Workshop: This Scholastic article addresses the many ways that a teacher reaches the variety of different learners in their classroom. There are several downloads here that are worth space on your hard drive.
Hopefully, this entry on Reading Workshop is helpful, even though I realize it barely touches the surface. If you come across additional links that are useful, please comment.
As always, comment with questions.
21 September 2008
Martha Blogs, Interesting Visuals and Other Web Stuff
A quick break from our normal programming to look at some interesting stuff going on in cyberspace.
Martha Stewart, the purveyor of all "good things," recently had a show featuring bloggers and how they engage in their writing process. On her own blog, Martha posted a how-to about starting your own blog, which I found really interesting both as a researcher and teacher. With mainstream celebrities like Martha Stewart now endorsing and even encouraging the creation of blogs, do you think they will be looked at as a legitimate and meaningful print source? As you engage in this blog, do you think you would ever create posts of your own or even create your own personal blog space? What blogs, aside from this one, do you read if you read any at all?
Ray Rohmer is the chair of Strong American Schools as well as the director for ED in 08. He keeps a blog and recently posted a YouTube video from a roundtable in Colorado, asking where the national will is in terms of education. He takes the position that, without focus in this area, we are at risk of becoming a second-class nation. Take a look at the video - warning: it's decently shaky, but definitely not Cloverfield shaky - and express your thoughts. Do you feel as though candidates have made their education agendas clear or have they been glossed over in favor of other platforms, such as the "polar bear syndrome?"
Indiana University is sponsoring a video contest through the Celebrate IU Website. Use your creativity to create a 60-second or less video and upload it to the YouTube Celebrate IU group. There are cash prizes and cash is always good.
Last, but definitely not least, I noticed this piece of clip art on the Indiana Department of Education's website:
Such an interesting image. As we prep to begin talking about visual literacy, what does this image convey to you about the ISTEP test?
As always, comment with questions.
Martha Stewart, the purveyor of all "good things," recently had a show featuring bloggers and how they engage in their writing process. On her own blog, Martha posted a how-to about starting your own blog, which I found really interesting both as a researcher and teacher. With mainstream celebrities like Martha Stewart now endorsing and even encouraging the creation of blogs, do you think they will be looked at as a legitimate and meaningful print source? As you engage in this blog, do you think you would ever create posts of your own or even create your own personal blog space? What blogs, aside from this one, do you read if you read any at all?
Ray Rohmer is the chair of Strong American Schools as well as the director for ED in 08. He keeps a blog and recently posted a YouTube video from a roundtable in Colorado, asking where the national will is in terms of education. He takes the position that, without focus in this area, we are at risk of becoming a second-class nation. Take a look at the video - warning: it's decently shaky, but definitely not Cloverfield shaky - and express your thoughts. Do you feel as though candidates have made their education agendas clear or have they been glossed over in favor of other platforms, such as the "polar bear syndrome?"
Indiana University is sponsoring a video contest through the Celebrate IU Website. Use your creativity to create a 60-second or less video and upload it to the YouTube Celebrate IU group. There are cash prizes and cash is always good.
Last, but definitely not least, I noticed this piece of clip art on the Indiana Department of Education's website:
Such an interesting image. As we prep to begin talking about visual literacy, what does this image convey to you about the ISTEP test?
As always, comment with questions.
16 September 2008
Literacy Snapshots, Literacy Definition, Beliefs and Understandings I
A smattering of the Literacy Snapshots that were presented in the gallery walk in class this Monday:
I was struck by the variety of literacy activities you all engage in, particularly those activities you engage in online and on your cell phones. Short messaging service (SMS), or texting, was a huge part of your literacy lives - definitely a change from students in years past. I was also struck by the use of Facebook - many of you had written that you checked it at least once a day. Having thought about our own literacy habits and looking at others', we constructed the following chart reflecting our understandings of literacy:
We've broken literacy into separate purposes: information, communication, and entertainment and went even further to list activities that fall into each of those categories. It is interesting that Facebook is thought of as a literacy activity that encompasses each of the purposes - is this the case for all technology?
Given all this work we've done surrounding the idea of literacy, what would you define literacy as? That is the topic of exploration of this first draft of the Beliefs and Understandings paper. Engaging in the Literacy Snapshot assignment has prepared you to write about your own literacy practices - feel free to bring your own schooling experiences into this narrative. The second section of the paper is to outline what literacy will look like in your own classroom, paying special attention to how you will engage kiddos in literacy. Feel free to think out of the box here, thinking of your own literacy practices, as you create classrooms where kiddos emerge ready to engage in the literacy practices of the 21st century.
You will find a rubric for the Beliefs and Understandings here.
As always, comment with questions.
I was struck by the variety of literacy activities you all engage in, particularly those activities you engage in online and on your cell phones. Short messaging service (SMS), or texting, was a huge part of your literacy lives - definitely a change from students in years past. I was also struck by the use of Facebook - many of you had written that you checked it at least once a day. Having thought about our own literacy habits and looking at others', we constructed the following chart reflecting our understandings of literacy:
We've broken literacy into separate purposes: information, communication, and entertainment and went even further to list activities that fall into each of those categories. It is interesting that Facebook is thought of as a literacy activity that encompasses each of the purposes - is this the case for all technology?Given all this work we've done surrounding the idea of literacy, what would you define literacy as? That is the topic of exploration of this first draft of the Beliefs and Understandings paper. Engaging in the Literacy Snapshot assignment has prepared you to write about your own literacy practices - feel free to bring your own schooling experiences into this narrative. The second section of the paper is to outline what literacy will look like in your own classroom, paying special attention to how you will engage kiddos in literacy. Feel free to think out of the box here, thinking of your own literacy practices, as you create classrooms where kiddos emerge ready to engage in the literacy practices of the 21st century.
You will find a rubric for the Beliefs and Understandings here.
As always, comment with questions.
15 September 2008
Class Norms
I've spent some time drafting the class norms for our time together - I'm on draft five, if I remember correctly. There are several pieces I'm very happy with and others that I feel are lacking. Please read through the norms I've written up and if you feel there is something lacking or something that is well stated, leave a comment.
In order to create a learning environment that is productive and encouraging to all, the students and instructor of E342 realize there are several norms that will assist in our preparation as superior educators. We take equal responsibility for preparing for class: the instructor will design and prepare experiences that will be beneficial to the development of language arts teachers and students will thoughtfully and with purpose engage in classroom readings, learning experiences and discussion. We will engage in each other in conversation, realizing that no learning takes place in a vacuum, being active listeners, respectful collaborators and gentle handlers of our peers. We will be aware of time, the constraints placed on other’s time, as well as our own. As students and instructor, we will be reasonable and fair to one another as we engage in learning and manifesting ways to convey our learning in the language arts.
In order to create a learning environment that is productive and encouraging to all, the students and instructor of E342 realize there are several norms that will assist in our preparation as superior educators. We take equal responsibility for preparing for class: the instructor will design and prepare experiences that will be beneficial to the development of language arts teachers and students will thoughtfully and with purpose engage in classroom readings, learning experiences and discussion. We will engage in each other in conversation, realizing that no learning takes place in a vacuum, being active listeners, respectful collaborators and gentle handlers of our peers. We will be aware of time, the constraints placed on other’s time, as well as our own. As students and instructor, we will be reasonable and fair to one another as we engage in learning and manifesting ways to convey our learning in the language arts.
13 September 2008
Literacy Snapshot Captions
There have been some questions about the captions I used on my Literacy Snapshot so I'll take this opportunity to explain them in case you decide you would like to use captions on your own literacy snapshot. I'll document the captions clockwise around the poster, beginning at the very top.
Traditional Texts - My bedside tabel is home to most of the traditional texts I'm currently working through. I read every night for approximately an hour, usually split up between readings for class and non-required reading. As you can see, I have a stack to work through.
Communication - I use my email to keep in touch with friends, events, and news. I check it, on average, twenty-five times a day, sending about twenty emails a day and receiving forty.
Other Forms of Literacy - I am a directionally-challenged individual so when I decided I would start my Saturday morning grocery shopping with Bloomington's Winter Market, my pulse raced a little at the thought of navigating the city. Luckily, I have superior MapQuest skills and only got lost once. I also scoured through the weekly ads to compile my grocery list after referencing cookbooks to plan my menu for the coming week. I tend to make a lot of lists: things to do, books to read, phone calls to return.
News - Throughout the course of the week, I rely on a variety of sources for information about the world. I read the NYT every morning, which is delivered to my email, as well as check an ever-growing list of blogs throughout the day. On the weekend, I catch up on the latest issues of The New Yorker and any extraneous newsprint I've picked up throughout the week.
Hopefully these captions from my own literacy snapshot give you an idea of how to structure your own. See you in class on Monday and, as always, comment with questions.
Traditional Texts - My bedside tabel is home to most of the traditional texts I'm currently working through. I read every night for approximately an hour, usually split up between readings for class and non-required reading. As you can see, I have a stack to work through.
Communication - I use my email to keep in touch with friends, events, and news. I check it, on average, twenty-five times a day, sending about twenty emails a day and receiving forty.
Other Forms of Literacy - I am a directionally-challenged individual so when I decided I would start my Saturday morning grocery shopping with Bloomington's Winter Market, my pulse raced a little at the thought of navigating the city. Luckily, I have superior MapQuest skills and only got lost once. I also scoured through the weekly ads to compile my grocery list after referencing cookbooks to plan my menu for the coming week. I tend to make a lot of lists: things to do, books to read, phone calls to return.
News - Throughout the course of the week, I rely on a variety of sources for information about the world. I read the NYT every morning, which is delivered to my email, as well as check an ever-growing list of blogs throughout the day. On the weekend, I catch up on the latest issues of The New Yorker and any extraneous newsprint I've picked up throughout the week.
Hopefully these captions from my own literacy snapshot give you an idea of how to structure your own. See you in class on Monday and, as always, comment with questions.
08 September 2008
Due Date Change
The due date for the read aloud reflection has been changed to December 1st, 2008.
Please adjust your syllabus accordingly.
Literacy Snapshot
As we begin to think about how we think about literacy as teachers, I want us to explore the role literacy plays in our everyday lives. One way to do this is to create a literacy snapshot. Over the course of the next week, I would like you to document your use of literacy, whether it be writing emails to friends, posting to your facebook, reading a textbook for class or attending an art show. While you are documenting these events, I would also like you to collect artifacts that supplement your documentation about your literacy activities. Artifacts could include magazine clippings, photos, or screen shots. Once you have engaged in several days (think about five or so days) of documentation and artifacts, create a visual representation of your learning about your own literacy practices. You will bring this visual representation to class and we engage in a gallery walk to observe our similarities and differences as literate beings.
This is my visual representation of my own literacy practice last spring. Note the variety of artifacts I chose to include, including the admission that I regularly read perezhilton.com. I'm okay with it.
To make your documentation process easier, I have created a template for you to use. It is a Google doc, which you can use here. It is my hope that this activity will help you think about beginning your Beliefs and Understandings paper.
Literacy Snapshots are due in class Monday, September 15. Please email me with questions or concerns - or, even better yet, leave a comment!
This is my visual representation of my own literacy practice last spring. Note the variety of artifacts I chose to include, including the admission that I regularly read perezhilton.com. I'm okay with it.To make your documentation process easier, I have created a template for you to use. It is a Google doc, which you can use here. It is my hope that this activity will help you think about beginning your Beliefs and Understandings paper.
Literacy Snapshots are due in class Monday, September 15. Please email me with questions or concerns - or, even better yet, leave a comment!
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