drawing conclusionscomparing and contrastingmaking inferences
I have been using these 3 targets with some picture book read alouds that I have done in field placement. I find that these targets are easier for the students to talk about using a picture book. I think that they are able to form much clearer mental pictures with picture books.
Picture Books are nonthreatening
Getting a student interested in any type of literature is extremely important. Using a picture book can be an easy way to have a student be able focus on literature. It can also be easier for the student to process information from the book and be able to remember it.
ey knew that poets pur posely make decisions regarding the shapes of their poems. We observed these same deci sions being made by children as they wrote their own poetry.
I like the idea that thr teachers had the students write poems in "shapes". This could be a great motivator for students to write because it is so unorthodox.
fore we introduce the poetry unit we believe our students should have read and re sponded to poetry. Thus, from the beginning of the school year and throughout the year, the daily routine in our first-grade classrooms al ways includes poetry.
I was wondering how to introduce poetry to the students but I missed the obvious; just do read alouds and other activities with poetry as the main focus
ting time reflects the same format as the reading time, with the reading and writ ing connection emphasized throughout.
I like the link that the teachers used to connect reading to writing.
children assume the role of story characters, or shove their classmates into the story in some way. F
I think if I can get the students to insert themselves into the role of the characters in the story in some way they will stay interested and be able to recall more of thstory and vocabulary that we would use on the word wall. generally speaking, if there is a self interest involved, people will stay engaged longer
or example, during a read-aloud of Little Red Riding Hood (Hyman & Grimm, 1983) and at the point where Red Riding Hood meets the wolf, some second-grade children shouted, "You better watch out, Red Riding Hood! Don't be fooled!" Similarly, during a read-aloud of the Beatrix Potter (1991/1901) classic Peter Rabbit, an excited kindergartner yelled, "Run, Peter! Run for your life!" when Mr. McGregor began to pur sue Peter.
I like the idea of the read aloud being interactive I enjoy the reading more when the kids are into it. I feel sometimes that when we do not allow them to be expressive we kill their instinct to react. That being said, there is a fine line between having them react to the story and being silly for silly sake. I think being able to control the room comes with experience.
uring the conversations many of the ex pert teachers created word walls and charts of se lected story vocabulary and student responses. These charts were referred to later when teachers read texts with similar topics or texts by the same author. Charting of and later use of "story time talk" is of major significance in literacy instruc tion
The idea of what a word wall should be can difficult to implement but to use the wall as a reference tool when reading similar topics is great. this allows the students to reference the vocabulary that they selected, reinforcing the meanings and contexts.
ome of the expert teachers provided students with journal writing time immediately following the read-alou
I really like this idea. I would even have them writing in their journals as I was doing the read aloud so their ideas can be fresh. Although, it may be difficlut for some of them to do this while they are listening.
while developing their vocabular ies, experiential backgrounds, and concepts of print and story
I agree that read aloud are an extremely easy way to help develop a students vocabulary, concepts of print and story. Since most stories follow a predictable pattern it can be easier for students to learn new vocabulary by using the context of the story to help define the new word.
I found it interesting that a childs oral comprehension is better developed than their word recognition. So the challenge is to find literature that a child is interested in. One way that may work is reading a book that is very fluid in its story telling like an oral story. Also, changing up the book that are read but have the same story line. I think this would help the children to see story patterns in different types of books
ssessment I use the assessment portfolios to evaluate the children's progress and to share with parents. The weekly writing samples give tangible, and often dra matic, evidence of what the children can actually do. They also document each child's growing control of writing mechanics and craft over time. For ex ample, in writing samples from Mary's assessment portfolio (
Using an assessment portfolio is a great way to show the development of the students wrting skills over a set time. Showing this to the student can be encouraging for their literacy development. Its also a useful tool to show parent that the teacher is keeping tack and helping their child to develop their literacy skills.
rocedural
I liked how things like how to's are listed under procedure. Its extremely important to show students HOW to do things like speak clearly, take turns, read a chart, etc. These skills do not come easily for some students. I also liked the idea of drawing something beofre you write about it.
ypical time allotted Activity What the teacher does What the children do
Being able to categorize time, activity, what the teacher does and student does is extremely helpful for me. If I have a simple but effective framework it is easier for me to put the parts of the lesson together.
observed many discussion groups being de railed over who wore the same shirt every day, who had lice because they were dirty, what boy "dissed"
Part of the reason teachers can not get lesson plans completed in classrooms is due to the inter class relationships of the students. a solid and flexible classroom management plan is important to try to keep a safe and orderly classroom. I worry that having to spend so much time on classroom issues will keep me from implementing lessons
he teacher and I thought we had given the stu S dents the skills to productively discuss a text, but as soon as we pulled away to let them lead the group on their own instances like the previous example became far too frequent.
As a pre service teacher I worry about situations like this because as I learned in the Army, a well laid plan never works at 100%. Things can fall apart very quickly so it is important for everyone invloved to know what to do. A teacher to help the students practice HOW to discuss a text.
. Should African American Vernacular English (AAVE) be ac- ceptable to use in the classroom? Is AAVE a dialect or a language? Can AAVE be recognized as a second lan- guage that is accepted and validated within my classroom communi
All dialects are rule governed, so there is no such thing as right or wrong forms of English (Silva/Lancia 2012) It is important to let a student use the dialect they are comfortable with as long as they are still being taught the literacy curriculum. This is an important element in an inclusive classroom.
She asked if she might visit the classroom and talk to them the next day. Little did I know at the time how difficult it was for Aaron's mother to cross the threshold of the school. In future conversations, she revealed many of her own negative school experiences (including bully- ing and verbal abuse by both her peers and teachers) and how ner- vous it made her to step into a school building agai
To create trustful connections with caregivers it is important for teachers to understand that a school environment for some, can be a place of great discomfort. Asking the parent how confortable they are coming in and reassuring them that as a teacher, you will help them as much as they need is helpful. Small steps like this would build trust and help communication between teacher and parents.
. Wal-Mart, McDon- alds, Snickers, and Bubble Yum bubble gum were all words my stu- dents could see and recognize with excitement. What an important con- nection for the children to make be- tween the letters being learned in school and the way language looks in the world outside of school
Using environmental print that is recognized by your students is useful because they already hsve made a literacy connection. They have made the connection because items like candy and gum are synonymous with childhood. An example of an activity that can exploit this connection would be to have the students cut out the letters from the old wrapper and boxes to create new names for the candy they created. They can then discuss with each other the whats and whys.
between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types
To highlight the differences you could compare an encyclopedia on arachnids to a fable about Anansi the African trickster spider character.