Today was my first day of my language arts unit plan. For this week the topic is narrative nonfiction. Today was mainly an introductory day where we just did an overview on what the unit is going to look like. The lesson started out with me standing in front of the class with an anchor chart with the question of the week. This week's question "How can we help people in dangerous situations?" We started by having the students brainstorm and raise their hand with ideas for me to put on the chart. I had the usual problem of only having the same students raising their hands. I handled this by having the students put down their hands that had shared and give more wait time for students who had not shared yet. Worked well, most of the students gave their idea. I was surprised that most students were able to answer the questions and stay on topic.
Next, we read a model paragraph that displayed the qualities of a narrative nonfiction. After I read this out loud I had the students circle the main characters, underline the events in the story, and then underline the author showing voice. This went OK, with it being Halloween students were a bit chatty.
After this, we went back to our question of the week and we made a new anchor chart with the topic "people helping in weather" and students had to poise questions that they wanted to investigate further. This was the most diffucit of the lesson. It was a weird question to ask it did not ask "What questions do you have about rescue workers" but "What questions do you have about rescue workers in dangerous weather." Clearly, the questions became limited and students were not really asking questions that related to the topic. If I were to re-do this lesson I would have made my own question and not went with "Reading Street's" question.
Tomorrow, we are going to continue with narrative nonficiton by students starting to write their own paragraphs. Students will also continue to investigate questions that they have about rescue workers. Since, today was an introductory day students did not turn in anything. But to help reinforce today's lesson I will recap the main points of a narrative nonfiction. Students that need extra support I will be able to conference with them during writers workshop or snack time. Students that struggled were the ones who were not able to sit in their desks during the whole lesson and could not focus.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Strategies that work Chapters 10 and 12
For the two chapters you selected to read for this week, what is the ‘big idea’ or ‘take away message’ from each, and how do they help you think about literacy across the curriculum in your classroom?
The first chapter I read was Chapter 10 "Determining Importance in Text: The Nonfiction Connection". I chose to read this chapter because I personally feel that we are not really taught how to teach nonfiction and it's difficult to just jump in and teach a nonfiction text. As the chapter stated on page 156, most classrooms have mainly fiction books for the students to read and that the teachers read to the students. There is a big disconnect with nonfiction. So, this chapter gave strategy lesson examples for teaching nonfiction text. Page 159 states that "...the first purpose or real-world nonfiction is to convey factual information, important ideas and key concepts." Then it goes on to talk about how the chapter's aim is to show how teachers can help students read and take away important information and ideas from nonfiction texts. The chapter gave 10 different strategies for teaching nonfiction. One strategy I really liked was "Becoming familiar with the characteristics of nonfiction trade books" (page 161) I liked this strategy because I think it's important first and foremost for students to understand what is in nonfiction books. This strategy also allows students to write information the already know, questions they have and then information that they found out through the text. Then the students were able to make a poster including much of this information. The poster is a good idea, because it gives the students a purpose for their research.
The second chapter I read was Chapter 12 "Content Literacy" Reading for Understanding in Social Studies and Science." I decided to read this chapter, because the first page (page 205) caught my eye. It stated that science and social students get very few minutes per week in the classroom. This is very real to me, because we rarely "have time" for these subjects and I thought maybe I would learn some new tips from the chapter. The chapter was all about integrating science and social studies into literacy. We have learned a little bit about this in our previous TE classes, but I think it's a great idea. Literacy gets so much emphasis in the classroom already, why not add some science and social students into it. The chapter went through and gave some concrete ideas for integrating science and social studies into literacy. Interactive Read Alouds (page 209) with picture books was one of the ideas it gave. This is something that I don't think is too hard and can be easily integrated into the classroom. I also thought "Note-taking strategies for merging thinking with new information" (page 215) because it's a different way to get kids writing than just in a journal and they are learning new information during that time as well.
I am glad to hear that you all like the “Beyond-the-Line”
strategy for the stated reasons. I agree that with the proper scaffolding, even
second graders could achieve the desired outcome.
My MT uses a lot of authentic questions
in the classroom and I have observed many questions “That Leads to Inferential
Thinking.” (Strategies that Work p.119). She often treats the first graders as
conversational partners. When she reads stories to the children, the way she
talks to them reminds me of having a nice family or friends gathering. She
often poses a lot of questions prior to, during, and after the reading of the
stories. These authentic questions guides the children to activate their own
background knowledge, reflect and express their own feelings to similar or
relating situations as in those stories.
The children all enjoy answering these
questions because they could relate to the questions and their answers matter.
They also think deeper as they search for the answers that often require their
own interpretations. The students also learn the different perspectives from
their peers to the same question. They also get used to the idea that not all
questions have answers.
As an intern teacher, I have enjoyed
giving the children many inferential thinking questions. I really value the
importance of authentic conversations in classrooms. It is really a pleasure to
guide and observe how questions prompt the children’s inferences and “open
their minds.” (p. 120). I would like to learn more and do more of these open-ended questions in my classroom.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Bondarenko-authentic questions
In Strategies that Work, Harvey & Goudvis list several characteristics of ‘authentic questions’ (p. 124) that are typically open-ended and encourage divergent thinking. Pose one or more of your own authentic questions about ideas in today’s readings (sample units, or reading strategies) and share your initial thinking about how you would respond to them.
The list of authentic questions that were listed in the text book are:
What makes you think that?
Why do you say that?
Can you elaborate on that?
Can you tell me more about your thinking?
How did you come up with that?
Statement: My favorite reading strategy from the reading is “Beyond-the-line” questions.
Authentic question: What makes you think that?
Response:
I enjoyed the reading strategies that were in todays readings. My favorite strategy is “Beyond-the-line” questions in literature. This is my favorite because students are able to “dig” deeper into the reading instead of just surface level knowledge. Students are able to respond to inferential questions, that are genuine questions, and respond with a answer. Now the answer cannot be just a quick one or two words this has to be a response that causes you to deepen your knowledge. All of the authentic questions that are listed above students would be able to answer with their response to “BTLQ.” With being in a second grade classroom I do not think the students would be able to respond with such a lengthy response as in the textbook. But I do think they would be able to write a paragraph. We could also guide the students with “guiding questions” or the beginning of sentences and they respond with how they feel. If we modeled these different reading strategies to the students, in time, they would be able to respond to these authentic questions in the proper format.
Questions to consider: Does you MT use authentic questions when responding to students? What reading strategy could you see working in your classroom? How would you respond to these authentic questions?
The list of authentic questions that were listed in the text book are:
What makes you think that?
Why do you say that?
Can you elaborate on that?
Can you tell me more about your thinking?
How did you come up with that?
Statement: My favorite reading strategy from the reading is “Beyond-the-line” questions.
Authentic question: What makes you think that?
Response:
I enjoyed the reading strategies that were in todays readings. My favorite strategy is “Beyond-the-line” questions in literature. This is my favorite because students are able to “dig” deeper into the reading instead of just surface level knowledge. Students are able to respond to inferential questions, that are genuine questions, and respond with a answer. Now the answer cannot be just a quick one or two words this has to be a response that causes you to deepen your knowledge. All of the authentic questions that are listed above students would be able to answer with their response to “BTLQ.” With being in a second grade classroom I do not think the students would be able to respond with such a lengthy response as in the textbook. But I do think they would be able to write a paragraph. We could also guide the students with “guiding questions” or the beginning of sentences and they respond with how they feel. If we modeled these different reading strategies to the students, in time, they would be able to respond to these authentic questions in the proper format.
Questions to consider: Does you MT use authentic questions when responding to students? What reading strategy could you see working in your classroom? How would you respond to these authentic questions?
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Assessments are vital evidence of showing where my students stand and how well an instruction plan works. My classroom uses both formative and summative assessments. Formative assessments are conducted on a daily basis to improve instructional plans. For example, my MT uses class presentation to praise students’ good writing effort during the station (center) time. She collects their drawings and writings and puts them under the Elmo for the whole class to see which also models for and encourages the whole class to do the same. My MT and I get to see how well they are doing in their writing which guides our daily lesson plan. I have seen the first graders write enthusiastically knowing that their works will be on the show.
No wonder Regie Routman says that she always does whole-class sharing for kindergarteners and first graders (Writing Essentials, p. 207). I agree with Regie whole-heartedly because I really value the same assessment approach which is also to promote better teaching and learning. The whole-class presentation does a fine job to motivate the children to write more. The one disadvantage of this assessment site is the time issue to include every child.
My class also does formative assessments through anecdotal note-taking of students’ during learning periods or checking their homework assignments. From the students’ answers, my MT and I could estimate how much and how far the class has owned the materials taught. It also shows how well one teaching techniques works. All this information guides the following teaching plan immediately. It also helps me and my MT to plan the small group reading intervention for the noted students. These in-class formative assessments are very immediate, useful and real to me; they force me to reflect on my teaching, to reevaluate the teaching techniques used, and classroom management in a timely fashion. They provide on-going and more accurate information about the students’ learning as a whole (not just by tested areas on papers).
My class, as well as all the first graders in the building also completed formal standardized baseline tests at the end of first week of school. The results were then analyzed through both the Reading Street standards and Aimsweb benchmarks. Based on the resulting data, kids were grouped at their learning level for leveled instructions. For example, the tire 3 students receive critical intervention support from literacy interventionists in the school. These diagnostic tests not only give the district, the school, and the teachers’ a starting point of where their students stand, but also approximate the students’ strength and weakness in literacy learning and acquisition. They help to inform the districts and schools to zero in their goals and efforts for literacy learning. They help to group the critical students for further literacy intervention. But no baseline tests could fully tell where a student really stands in literacy learning. For example, one autistic child in the class had significant difficulties learning the materials in the class but she couldn’t get the special intervention due to her test scores which scored just a little higher than the rest.
There are many other assessment sites in my classroom such as the weekly tests or unit tests. The Reading Street website also has games for students to play with which also gives information of how well they learned the intended materials. Finally, the summative MEAP is going to start on October 11th.in my school which is going to test the students' competency in certain areas after the last instructional phase with the old curriculum. The students' strength and weakness shown through this state-wide test will also shed insights for future literacy instruction.
As an intern, I could already feel the pressure of raising the standardized testing scores echoing from the nation, district, and schools. I could also sense the pain some teachers experience struggling to meet the national and state standards and to teach the students with integrity. How am I going to achieve “letting my students own the standards” (Book Club Plus, p 81)? This will seem to be one of my life goals for teaching.
Questions to Explore Together:
In Writing Essentials, Regie Routman insightfully stated “While assessment for learning is legitimate, it must be balanced with assessment for learning, …” (p. 239). Then in Book Club Plus!, the authors talk about “possible assessment sites” (p. 92) where teachers can gather formative and summative information about their students’ learning. Describe at least three assessment sites available in your classroom for learning about your students as literacy learners. What are the advantages and limitations of each site for providing information that is useful for deciding what the students need to learn next?
No wonder Regie Routman says that she always does whole-class sharing for kindergarteners and first graders (Writing Essentials, p. 207). I agree with Regie whole-heartedly because I really value the same assessment approach which is also to promote better teaching and learning. The whole-class presentation does a fine job to motivate the children to write more. The one disadvantage of this assessment site is the time issue to include every child.
My class also does formative assessments through anecdotal note-taking of students’ during learning periods or checking their homework assignments. From the students’ answers, my MT and I could estimate how much and how far the class has owned the materials taught. It also shows how well one teaching techniques works. All this information guides the following teaching plan immediately. It also helps me and my MT to plan the small group reading intervention for the noted students. These in-class formative assessments are very immediate, useful and real to me; they force me to reflect on my teaching, to reevaluate the teaching techniques used, and classroom management in a timely fashion. They provide on-going and more accurate information about the students’ learning as a whole (not just by tested areas on papers).
My class, as well as all the first graders in the building also completed formal standardized baseline tests at the end of first week of school. The results were then analyzed through both the Reading Street standards and Aimsweb benchmarks. Based on the resulting data, kids were grouped at their learning level for leveled instructions. For example, the tire 3 students receive critical intervention support from literacy interventionists in the school. These diagnostic tests not only give the district, the school, and the teachers’ a starting point of where their students stand, but also approximate the students’ strength and weakness in literacy learning and acquisition. They help to inform the districts and schools to zero in their goals and efforts for literacy learning. They help to group the critical students for further literacy intervention. But no baseline tests could fully tell where a student really stands in literacy learning. For example, one autistic child in the class had significant difficulties learning the materials in the class but she couldn’t get the special intervention due to her test scores which scored just a little higher than the rest.
There are many other assessment sites in my classroom such as the weekly tests or unit tests. The Reading Street website also has games for students to play with which also gives information of how well they learned the intended materials. Finally, the summative MEAP is going to start on October 11th.in my school which is going to test the students' competency in certain areas after the last instructional phase with the old curriculum. The students' strength and weakness shown through this state-wide test will also shed insights for future literacy instruction.
As an intern, I could already feel the pressure of raising the standardized testing scores echoing from the nation, district, and schools. I could also sense the pain some teachers experience struggling to meet the national and state standards and to teach the students with integrity. How am I going to achieve “letting my students own the standards” (Book Club Plus, p 81)? This will seem to be one of my life goals for teaching.
Questions to Explore Together:
In Writing Essentials, Regie Routman insightfully stated “While assessment for learning is legitimate, it must be balanced with assessment for learning, …” (p. 239). Then in Book Club Plus!, the authors talk about “possible assessment sites” (p. 92) where teachers can gather formative and summative information about their students’ learning. Describe at least three assessment sites available in your classroom for learning about your students as literacy learners. What are the advantages and limitations of each site for providing information that is useful for deciding what the students need to learn next?
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