Readings for 1/17

Tompkins Ch 1 p.5-12

They say that reading is defined as a complex process of understanding written text. They then say that writing is a complex process of producing text. These definitions help my theory of always saying that reading and writing go together, and to be able to do one you need the other to fully develop. I see this in my placement all the time in both reading and writing with certain students. Those who have a hard time reading are low in spelling and their writing shows their inability to connect correct sounds with letters and such. This chapter also got into one of the principles that they focus on; Effective Teachers understand how students learn. There are two learning theories they talk about; Behaviorism, Constructivism, Sociolinguistics, and Cognitive/Information Processing. Learning about these two theories makes me think about which one might be used in my CT’s classroom. Next time I go in I am going to really take a look at which one I believe she uses most. Students definitely relate what they know to what they are learning. For example when I was doing a science lesson on Concentration I asked how this related to science. One response I got was “Concentration deals with the process of the brain, because there are times when you have to concentrate really hard.” I also definitely agreed with the statement that motivated students are more successful. I see this in the classroom every time I go in where I have trouble, is knowing how to approach students who are not motivated and get them into the motivated column. In my classroom I have seen my CT show examples of Culturally Responsive Teaching as a way to empower students. I have not necessarily seen it in reading or writing but it has been done in social studies. A lot of the students in the class are from different cultural backgrounds. To play off that she did a lesson on immigration and brought in every students family and where they came from and things they brought over from their culture.

Gibbons Ch 1 p.1-12

As soon as I read the first page of this chapter about Julianne I instantly thought about a second language learner in the classroom I am in now. She loves school and is one of the top students in everything but reading and writing. While she loves to read it takes a little longer than others to read a book and when I evaluated her in the spring she often just skips over words she cannot pronounce or doesn’t know. The same goes for writing she loves to write but her writing reflects how she speaks. So without her next to you to explain what she means her writing suffers. Also as I read through the reading it made me realize how complex the language really is and why it is hard for those who have English as their second language to get a full understanding of each of the rules. When it gives the four sentences about magnets I never thought to myself how confusing it would be for someone who did not know what they were talking about when they referred to them and such. When looking back into the classroom I am in, there are a lot of students who English is their second language even though they have been here since say five years of age. I am only in my classroom about one day a week so I can not say much but since I have been in there I have not witness any adjust meant to any of the students who are struggling with this concept. The chapter talks about how later in the students career the teacher becomes both the teacher to the student and its ESL teacher or they at least are suppose to take on the role. This is another example of showing how teachers must find balance in their classrooms and how to hit on everything that is influential in each individual’s learning development. Since the social science is important in the way ESL students learn and/or communicate the chapter talks about two social views of teaching and learning. Two views of teaching are the banking model; dealing with teachers filling the empty banks of children with knowledge. The other model being the progression model that has the teacher’s responsibilities being to store and manage the students learning. I do not believe either one is better than the other but instead work good when used together in the classroom. The chapter talks about how both look at each student as an individual, which is something I talked about in our Math section last Monday. I also believe that good teaching does not just look at the whole class but mainly looks at each individual student and how they learn and where they are at and what is best for them. This I believes applies to both primary English learners and secondary.

Tompkins p. 7 New Literacies; The Internet

I believe today the Internet is both helpful in the world of reading and writing as well as having a few flaws for students using it. When looking at it as a guide to reading storybooks, playing phonic and spelling games, posting book reviews, and more it is an incredible extra tool in teaching/helping students with their reading and writing. It is also another form of motivation for students who are pushing away from the subject area. The Internet can be a great tool in getting them to want to participate in areas of the subject. The world is modernizing and technology is a huge part of it but I also believe it can be hurtful in certain areas. For example the Internet when using it to write a story can be hurtful in the area of sentence formation and spelling. Today all technology does spell checks on its own causing students to become very heavily relied on this aspect of technology to help them. Overall, I believe that technology is going to be here forever and will continue to change and be a positive tool in the learning process of students.

Cambourne Article

The first thing I saw was the word inquiry and I got really excited after last semester it is my new favorite word. But seriously Inquiry seems to be something that is continually popping up in recent teachings of education in the last semester and is showing my how important it is becoming in the world of teaching. In the article he talks about the finding that children actually are able to learn and understand a concept better in a setting outside of the school setting. This does not surprise me for most students. When I look at the classroom I am in you have the couple students who are motivated to learn work hard and always get their homework done while getting A’s on their test. Then there is the majority of the class who still struggles in many areas and feels the pressure of school in school to do well. This theory of overall school feeling also applies to the area of Literacy. There are those students who are good readers and love to read because of it. Then there are the many that struggle to read therefore push away from reading and who dread learning as well as struggle because of it. For a quick example that I witnessed this week in my classroom one student dreads reading and always puts it off. This week they had a book assignment where they had to read a book identify different part about it and give a book report (with a shoe box they made of the best scene). One student hates to read because he struggles and he put it off and put it off and before the weekend still didn’t have a book to read. So my CT found a book that fit his personality and the things he liked. He liked the book so much that he was able to pull the assignment through and his presentation was one of the best. He was able to sit outside of the classroom without any pressure or distractions and actually enjoy a book and want to read.