Isolate Each Component of Literacy

     In order for students to become exceptional learners in both reading and writing, the learning process needs to be divided into several parts. It is important for students to learn literacy, in which daily lessons are focused. This way, students can take each component of literacy and develop clear connections to each other. In relation to Debbie Rickards and Shirl Hawes' article, "Connecting Reading and Writing Through Author's Craft" discusses, "Classroom teachers can link the isolated components of balanced literacy by helping students make focused connections in reading and writing through out the day" (370). As a future teacher, I think it's important to develop lessons that have specific objectives and goals. Furthermore, I think it's important for lessons to connect and relate to one another. Learning how to become a better reader and writer is a step by step process. In previous fieldwork, I noticed that students became more distracted during  the literacy block when they were overwhelmed with tasks. However, when the students were asked to do one specific assignment, such as to underline the main ideas in a story, they were focused and able to complete the work.
     Rickards and Hawes' article states four points in relation to the focus on one strategy across literacy components. The four points are:

• set a purpose for listening and reading;
• use exemplar texts to affect specific parts of their own writing;
• begin to read like writers; and
• realize that certain concepts are in the repertoire of all good writers. 

     This article includes several in-class activities that could help break down the components of literacy so that students can gain a better understanding. One example from this article included Ms. Tran's lesson, in which the students worked together to replace verbs to fix the way a character sounds in the story. The students located the verbs, and developed ideas together as a class. For example, Ms. Tran demonstrated to her students that a character's sound could be expressed by replacing the verb "said" with "shouted." As a future teacher, I find small lessons such as Ms. Tran's to be effective. Even as a current college student, it is easier for me to store knowledge when lectures are broken down, and each lesson can be connected to the overall topic. I would like to incorporate mini-lessons or focused lessons into my classroom's literacy block. I want my students to become better readers and writers, and to enjoy the process of reading and writing. I personally believe that focused lessons that connect to literacy as a whole is the most effective way to go.

Classroom Management

     There are several factors that contribute to classroom management. In particular, organization is the key to a successful classroom. I believe that organization is highly important in any educational atmosphere. A classroom can quickly become chaotic if there is an absence of structure. I would like to organize my classroom in a similar manner that related to a classroom that I previous completed fieldwork in. This classroom contained organization and structure for almost every classroom activity. For example, the teacher followed a strict time limit, and consistently notified her students of the day's continuous schedule. For example, she made a large chart that listed the times of the day, and the activities that would be completed during that time. This way, students were fully aware of what subject area that would transition into. Also, this keeps the students on task, because they are fully aware of what work/activities need to be completed at that time. Furthermore, the teacher made a poster that listed all of the tasks that need to be completed at the end of the day. The end of the day poster reminded students of their obligations, and for the most part, prevented chaos from developing.

     In relation to classroom management, I think it's important to also incorporate a sense of responsibility within my classroom. Responsibility needs to be instilled in students because it will benefit them in the future. My previous fieldwork teacher used several strategies to incorporate responsibility into the classroom. In particular, she came up with a clever idea to assign classroom jobs to each student. The teacher used small, laminated shapes that were labeled with a task such as "paper passer" and "homework collector." The teacher wrote each of her student's names on each of the shapes, and everyday the students had a new job. I think it's important for students to have a sense of responsibility because it creates a community within the classroom.

     Finally, I think the most important idea that I have in relation to classroom management is to incorporate activities into the classroom that make it feel like a community. In EDU 414, the required text book, Child Development and Education, McDevitt and Ormrod discuss the idea having the classroom be a "community of learners." The text states, In one model, children form a community of learners, a classroom arrangement in which students help one another to achieve a common learning goal" (572). Treating the classroom similar to a community encourages participation, socializing, and comfort ability for the students. I want my students to connect to one another and be able to successfully work with one another in groups. Overall, I think that these three main aspects are most important in my future classroom.

Writing About Writing

     Chapter three in Grove's book, 'Why Would Anyone Ever Want to Write?', contained some interesting and truthful information in relation to students and the development of writing. This chapter highlighted the importance of instilling writing skills early within a child's education. Also, this chapter discussed the importance of making writing fun and a non-stressful experience for students. The goal is to encourage students to perform writing, rather than feel like writing is, "a sweaty business." Writing can/is a scary experience to new students. It's important to me, as a future teacher, for my students to feel comfortable within their own learning environment. I want to help my students develop writing skills at an early age, and I want my students to leave my classroom with a feeling of accomplishment in relation to the ability to write.
     Chapter three listed several strategies that could improve student's writing skills. Some of these in-classroom activities included, writing a letter to a family member, writing about their day, recording their thoughts in a journal, and even writing about the atmosphere that surrounds them. I wanted to give recognition to this part of the chapter because it provided several fun and easy activities that could encourage student writing. Also, I was able to picture my own classroom, and think about which of these activities I would include. I have concluded that I would like to use each of the activities that I have listed from the text. For example, writing a letter to a family member is a phenomenal idea. Not only does it encourage student writing, it's sentimental, it develops structure for letter writing, and it sure does beat writing a uninteresting prompt. Furthermore, even recording their thoughts into a journal is sentimental. It allows the students to connect with their emotions, and to write their feelings down on a piece of paper. I think that it is important for my future students to understand that writing is meaningful and useful in several ways. It should be performed in every day life.
    As for the classroom structure, I think it's important to include writing in several subject areas other than in Language Arts. For example, the students should be given activities in science and math, in which they have to describe data. This also practices writing skills. When I was in Elementary School, I remember that my teachers gave me several assignments that linked to writing in one way or another. By doing this, it practices repetition with writing. It reminds me of a child learning how to ride a bike. When a child begins to ride a bike, the first few times they tend to fall off the bike. However, with consistent practice, the child is able to ride a bike without falling off. That's similar to the develop of writing skills. If a child continues to have in-classroom activities that involve writing, they are more likely to lose that fear that has been instilled, and will be more likely to enjoy it. Overall, writing skills are important to a student's learning. Students should always be encouraged to write, even if it's as simple as writing a reflection of their day.

   

Collaborative Learning: Does it support literacy within the classroom?

Collaborative learning is effective and supportive towards learning literacy skills. In previous fieldwork experiences, I have noticed that students enjoy working with others in small groups on the same activity. In particular, I used to observe and help small reading groups during the afternoon literacy block. I observed that the students enjoyed working with each other because they were able to share and compare their opinions, as well as help each other complete certain tasks. If a student was struggling with pronouncing a word, then another student would help by sounding out the word. Also, several times I observed students who had different interpretations of the readings. For example, from my fieldwork that I completed last semester, the students were reading 'The Three Little Pigs'. One student stated that she thought the first pig had died, and another student corrected her, and together they both looked back in the text. The other student explained to his group member that the first pig simply ran to another pig's house. The student was then able to understand the correct concept on the story. 
Furthermore, collaborative learning supports literacy because each student is motivated to complete their work. In other words, collaborative learning encourages socializing with other students, and provides the students with a sense of responsibility. I have found in previous fieldwork that students enjoy completing their work when every person is assigned a role, and they have the opportunity to work together. It develops a sense of leadership and responsibility. Also, some students are stronger in some aspects of literacy than others. Most times, student to student communication can clarify any confusion about literacy, such as the way a story was comprehended. Collaborative learning encourages the students to work together to complete activities.
Overall, I think collaborative learning is effective, and does indeed support literacy skills. There are several aspects of literacy that a teacher needs to focus on within the the literacy block. Having students work with others is an easier and more effective approach to learn this subject matter. As a future teacher, I certainly plan on including collaborative learning in several content areas, and especially include it in literacy. 

(Unfortunately, I couldn't incorporate text from the article, sense we weren't able to cover this information during class due to the snow storm.) 

Reader's Workshop: How Can I Help my Students Become Brighter Readers?

In class earlier today, I watched an informative and interesting video that displayed a successful example of reader's workshop. In order to perform a successful workshop, teachers need to be prepared and students need to be engaged. I envision my reader's workshop within my classroom as a future teacher. I would like to involve several visuals for the students. For example, if the mini-lesson is related to sequencing, which we used as an example today in class, I would like to have a poster that is dedicated to transitioning words. Also, I would like to use clear text for all of the students to see. In the video, a enlarge book was used in order for the model teacher to underline and highlight important aspects of the book, which seemed to really catch the student's attention. Furthermore, I think the strategy, "think aloud" is effective for a teacher to model during the modeling stage. After today's lecture, I understand that it can be difficult to make a smooth transition from explicit to modeling to guided practice to independent practice. As a student, it is my job to gain knowledge from my literacy education class in order to master these skills. As a future teacher, a large role that I have is to make learning understandable and effective. I want to use all of my materials and tools to model and guide proper reading skills effectively. Also, I believe that reader's workshop should include differentiation. Each student is an individual, with individual learning needs. Differentiation is important during Reader's workshop because it allows the teacher and student to connect. It reassures the teacher that the student is understanding the material, and that the mini-lesson was a success. In general, my role in Reader's workshop is highly important. I need to provide guidance during all aspects of a mini-lesson. Also, I need to focus on the "what-to-do" after the mini-lesson, and tie the Reader's workshop into application, reading, and conferring. I've realized that there are several pieces that are apart of the Reader's workshop. All of these pieces need to connect in order for the students to become successful readers.

How Many Candies Are In the Jar?

I have several memories in relation to family and school. One memory, in particular, is so clear, it's as if it happened yesterday. In the beginning of the year, my second grade class began to learn was an estimation was. We would have worksheets that contained pictures of jars, buckets, and bowls filled with several objects such as marbles, M&M's and so on. My elementary school was hosting an open house, and my second grade teacher made our work come to life. She brought in a large jar that contained several pieces of candy. Each student, with the help of a parent, was allowed to make once guess in regards to how many candies were in the jar. My father and I were together at this open house, and decided to give it a shot. My dad asked me, "Well, Lauren, how many pieces of candy do you think are in the jar?" I replied, "A whole lot, Dad." We worked together and tried to brainstorm how many candies were in the jar. My Dad told me to not attempt to count all of the candies, because that's cheating, and the whole point of this game was to make an estimation. I studied the jar for the time I was allowed, and my Dad asked what my thoughts were. I guessed 85, and my Dad guess 59. So we both decided to meet somewhere in the middle, and we decided to guess 64. I placed my guess into the bucket, and wished that my Dad and I would win. The next day, my teacher announced that there was a winner for the jar estimation contest.  Now, when I was in Elementary School, I believed that I had the worst luck. I felt like I never won small classroom competitions, or even games at recess. So, I already assumed that the winner couldn't possibly be me. My teacher announced that I was the winner of the contest, and I could take the jar filled with candy home. I still remember that I shot up from my seat and was overjoyed that I had finally won something. I waited for my Dad to come home from work that night, and I showed him the jar filled with candies. My Dad said something along the lines of, "Wow, we make a pretty good team. Right on the dot." That memory between my Dad and I in relation to school will forever hold a special place in my heart.