Before, During, After Reading (4-1-08)

This week in my Tuesday Experience I had done a read aloud that went really well. The teacher let me choose the book that I wanted to read; last time she had assigned me the book. I had picked the book, Westlandia, by Paul Flieschman. I got introduced to this book through my children's literature class and fell in love with it myself. The children really took to it too!

I started off the reading with a brief discussion on what the student's thought that book was about. I only showed them the front of the book, asking them what they thought that book was about and why. Going into the lesson I wanted the children to focus on why the children had this thoughts. So most of their responses I went back with a 'why' or 'what clues give you that idea.' This really had the children get more involved and feed off each others responses.

During the reading I was asking the children what they thought would happen next. And again I would make sure that they would tell me why, using clues from the text. This book also had difficult vocab that i went over with the children. I had first asked them what they thought it meant and rephrased the whole sentence with an alternative meaning. The students really seemed to find this helpful; they were able to get more meaning at out the theme of the book.

After reading I had asked the children what they thought of the book. We did a comparsion of the main character from the beginning of the book to the end. We also discussed if our predictions were right. I checked for the students understanding by giving them a question to respond to. I asked the children to write what they thought was most interesting and exciting in the book, making sure to use detail from the text. This showed me the children that understood the material and was able to recall information.

To end the read aloud I had some of the students share their work. I tried the 'Author's Chair,' for the first time. I had choose one child to sit in the author's chair and read their piece to the class. I also choose two other students to give them feedback on their piece. I had them focus on the positive things, and what they liked about the story.

Overall I am excited about how the whole thing went. It seems to me that the children really enjoyed the activity.

Conferences (3-25-08)

This week my school has parent conferences, which is making the classroom a little more hectic then usually. All day my teacher was trying to prepare for the upcoming conferences; doing running records, looking through student work, and preparing comments. It seemed that she had everything every organized, but there still was a lot of criteria to follow. She showed me the paper work that she had to fill out, then she needed evidence to back up what she was putting on the report card.

It was a great experience to see the effort that a teacher has to put into the conferences. I never realized the amount of time that it would take, but it makes sense. Conferences are the one thing that I am the most nervous about. I don't want to be a young, first year teacher and have the parents come in yelling at me for their children's grades or progress. I know that I am going to have the sweetest parents and then those that want nothing to do with me. Watching a brief conference gave me a little ease, but not as much as a would like.

How could we approach the first conference with the parents? Should we initiate a parent meeting before school even starts? This way we could get to know them and what each of us expect with their children coming into my classroom.

Experience in the First Grade (3-11-08)

For the past two weeks the children in my third grade class are taking the CMTs. I was able to go work in a first grade classroom during testing. I really enjoyed the experience. I was first told that I was just going in there to observe, so when I got to work the the children I was very excited. I had worked with individual children on either spelling or math. I enjoyed seeing the difference in the children from first to third grade.
I could see the ideas and concepts that were forming in the children, that they will have to develop for the third grade.
Not only the working with the first graders was a great experience, but seeing the classroom management was interesting. Every classroom that I go into, has something different and i think that it is a great learning experience to take all that in. Even though I will still have my own way of doing things, I will be able to more of a background.

Listening in the Classroom (3-6-08)

I feel the same way Caitlin, but I always think that children and us both have to use this different listening skills everyday. I think that it is important to listen to different ideas and learn how to respond to each. For example, discriminative listening i s to distinguish sounds. This is important in learning how to speak. We as adults and our children, will hopefully learn a new word everyday. It is crucial to listen to the new words to stress emphasis and speaking and repeating the information.As for aesthetic listening, I feel that this is important in all aspects of learning for everyone. I feel that this is important for the children to find subjects that interest them and different ways that they can connect to the test. I see this everyday Tuesday during my experience at my school. The children are read to everyday before dismissal; they are able to sit back and enjoy a book that they are all able to share together. Efferent listening is listening that most of us do everyday. Listening to directions or instructional activities is efferent listening. This is obviously important to everyone knowing what is expected of them and making sure that all the students understand the material. I feel that critical listening is one of the best listening skills to learn and try to apply everyday. This listening skill allows for an students to think outside the box and apply what they have learned to everything around them. I also think that this listening strategy is important in developing class questions and discussion. I think that the teacher asking the children Why they think something, or explaining how they got an answer, would also fall into this category. I notice that my classroom teacher is also asking deeper questions and checking the students critical listening skills. See who is really picking up on the meaning of the reading.All four listening skills are important in the classroom and everyday life. I feel that you can't have one without the other. Granted, it is like a step process, but children should learn to accomplish all four, and the teacher as well.

Tuesday Experience (2-26-08)

This week during my Tuesday Experience was very interesting. My classroom teacher was out sick, so it was me and a sub the whole day. I felt more in charge than ever! It was a great learning opportunity for me to run most of the class. I implemented many of the classroom management strategies that i have learned so far. The class was very well behaved..which helped a lot.

The funny thing is, my blog a little while ago was concerning managing the classroom and connecting to all the students. This past Tuesday, eased my mind a lot and allowing me to feel more confident in the classroom.

I also had the opportunity to go peer review in a first grade classroom. I saw the children practicing a reader's theater, from a book that they have been practicing with. I really enjoyed this, not only was I able to see a different classroom grade level, but witness a reader's theater. I think that acting out the book is a great way for all the children to get involved and really have have with the book. Sometimes its hard to get children interested in reading,but I think this is a great way to start. Also reader's theater is great for children looking more into the characters and the plot. (GREAT JOB ON THE LESSON CHRISTINA!!)

Developing as a Teacher (2-20-08)

Just being in my Tuesday experince has allowed me to grow as a teacher. I feel that I have developed more of an understanding of different concepts in the classroom, as well as students themselves.
The main thing that I have picked up on in the classroom is classroom management. The worry that I have going into teaching is the management part. How can I get my students to do what I want them to, but also make the enviroment fun? I am able to pick up on different ideas everyday. I notice that my classroom teacher incoperates many different aspects of management, allowing for more understanding between teacher and students. I will feel more confident going into my own classroom, with new ideas that I would be able to apply.
Developing a Language Arts lesson was also very helpful in developing my understanding and confidence in teaching. This was my first time teaching to a whole class and I loved the experience. It was a great opportunity to test out my own lesson and evaluate the process. Also, it was helpful to look at the student's work and assess it. I really did not have any experience assessing work...great idea!
I still have hestiations about what to expect going into the education field. My may concern is connecting with all the children and making sure that everyone is on the same page. I know that the students in my classroom are all going to have different needs, how can I accomadate for all the children in my classroom?

Student's Writing (2-14-08)

Over the past two weeks I have learned many new techniques on how to look at children's writing. Not only the convention aspect of writing, but the ideas of organization, word and sentence variety, and fluency. I found that looking into student's work with more detail allows us as teachers to accomdate everyone's needs.

Before looking into the different aspects of writing, I based some of the student's writing on the looks. Just at first glance, many times I would assume that whichever paper looked the neatest would be the paper that would sound the best. I have learned that even if it does not look like a 'A' paper, does not mean that it isn't. I am glad that I was introduced to the writing characteristics and ways to apply them.

I look forward to observing more of the students' work and seeing the trends in writing. During my Tuesday Experience I hope to be able to read some of the children's work and be able to decide a plan that would help the children in their troubled areas.

What Readers and Writers Do (2-13-08)

I am glad that this topic came up at this time. My classrooom teacher and I have been working with the children on the steps that make good a writer. Everyday during writing we also have to stress the steps that writers do. I really like the way that the book laid out the description of each stage. I think that this would be a better way for the students to look at the different steps in the stages.
In my Tuesday experience I had noticed all of the stages in what writers do. As mentioned earlier my teacher always stress the steps, but the children never really seem to grasp the idea. I think that there is more pressure on the teacher to make sure that the students know who to write, especially with the CMTs coming up.
As for the what readers do; I haven't really seen much reading, other and independent reading done. The children often pick a book that they would want to read, there is never really a discussion with the stages in reading. I have noticed that when my teacher does a read aloud, she demonstrates some of the stages, but the chidlren do not specifically. She will ask them questions for responses and do activities with them to get them to explore and apply.
I would love to apply this strateiges to my own classroom. After reading over the stages of what readers do, I find it very helpful, especially for children that can not really get into reading. The book lists off many strategies that would have the student really get into the reading and be able to connect it to thier lives. Also, the stages in writing would be great to have posted in the classroom. Many times children do not know what to do in writing or even where to begin. I really like the prewriting stage description, i think that this would help a student get interested in a topic and really be able to get ideas flowing.

The Girl with the Brown Crayon

Paley's literacy instruction inspires me to invovle the same type of discussions in my own lessons. I really enjoyed the connections that Reeny is able to make; the way that she thinks outside of the box. Reeny looking up to Frederick, allows the class to look at different essential human needs. I would also like to incorporate the debate part into my classroom. I think that children being able to share their ideas about their peers ideas is a great learning tool. It also gives everyone a chance to say what they think. I remember reading books in elementary school with the class and many children debating on what they thought the book was about. I was able to get a lot more out of the reading; being able to hear ideas that I never thought of. When I teach reading I would like to incorporate different ways to portray a reading. For example, in the book, they had drew a huge poster of Frederick sitting on the stones. They also incorporate drama and writings into what they were reading. I think that using different techniques in the class is important. Being a very visual and hands on person myself, it would be great to do more interesting things with reading. It would be a great way to get children involved and wanting to read. Overall I thought that Paley was a great teacher, and knew how to connect with her students. Being able to connect with her students allowed them to be more free to discuss and explore their reading.
One of the things that fascinated me the most was Reeny discussions. For being in kindergarten I thought that she really looked into the stories. I feel that I learned something from her.

Literature Circles- Tuesday Experience

I have not yet since my teacher incorporate literature circles in her classroom. I have talked with her about working with a small group of children on literature. If i have the opportunity i would defiantly have a literature circle. I think that it is a great way for students to be more exposed to different reading materials. I feel that it is hard to sometimes get children interested in reading, but if they were able to find something that they like it would be more meaningful to the children.
Literature circles are something that i would like to use in my own classroom. It reminds me of show and tell but with books.

Reading and Writing Workshops-Tuesday Experience

The writing workshops that i have seen my Tuesday experience allowed the children to work collaboratively. I had noticed that this helped many of the children with ways to fix their work. The teacher had a chance to assess the children ad found out the problem areas. She let me know that the workshops were the best times for her to meet with the children and give them a chance to help each other. She continued to let me know that she enjoys the workshops and incorporates them at least once a day.
I feel that there are advantages and disadvantages to the workshops. The advantages are that the children are able to work with others and get a wide range and help. The children will be able to feed off of each others strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, I think that workshops could be a difficult to manage. Anytime there is group work, children may tend to slack off, knowing that the teacher is not able to see them at all times.
I would love to try the workshops in my own classroom. I enjoy the fact the children are able to work together, sometimes this is better for students. Children are sometimes able to understand direction more from their peers than the teacher.

Reading and Writing Workshops

Reading and writing workshops are group work that children work on together. The children will be assigned certain tasks in either reading or writing. The teacher should go around and meet with individual groups and assessing. I think that this is a great way for children to learn from each other.