Readings: February 14

I also really enjoyed this week's readings. I felt that the readings were very specific and had a lot of useful information. They were less about studies and methods and more about certain situations that are very likely to occur in any classroom.

Maples: I really enjoyed this article because you hear so much about how important parental involvement is. I always hear it is important to get parents involved to help their child's learning outside the classroom, but this article brought up the important fact that parental involvement is important in so many different ways. Maples said that "teachers should establish respectful and trusting relationships with children and families. Through these relationships, every aspect of learning- attitude, effort, motivation- can improve." I loved the "million word" homework assignment he teacher sent home for the parents to do. This simple assignment is a great way to get parents involved. It shows them that as a teacher, you care about who their kids are individually. Establishing this relationship with parents right in the beginning can set the tone for the rest of the school year. Previously, when I thought about having a relationship with my students' parents I thought of classroom newsletters, occasional phone calls home, conferences, etc. However, I really like the idea of establishing a more personal relationship. I think that can greatly improve the classroom environment.

Breitfelder: I liked this article because I think it can be directly related to any classroom. Although it specifically talks about students with learning disabilities, I think that the adaptions and accommodations mentioned in the article can be beneficial for all students. In my classroom now, my CT has talked to me about how important it is to tell the kindergarteners exactly what they will be doing any why. She said that giving them a timeline of exactly what they will be doing, how long they will be doing it for, and what they will gain from doing it helps the students stay focused. I liked the idea of visual supports for this same reason. I think that by having a visual schedule gives the students something to easily refer to. They will know the structure of their day and will know what is coming next. I know that if one thing is out of the ordinary in their my classroom's daily routine, every student notices and it really bothers them. They need to know why things are different and I think visual supports would really help in those situations. As important as these accommodations may be for students with learning disabilities I think that they could benefit the entire class.

Marcus: This article really showed me a lot about gifted children. I never thought about it in this way. that just because a child is smart, maybe the gifted track is not right for them. This shows how important it really is to know your students. Marcus was smart, but almost gave up on school because he became so frustrated. When he finally found a teacher that worked with him, he finally loved learning again. Every student is different. In my placement I notice children who are smarter than they think, like Marcus. I try to tell them they are smart but they reach a point where they give up if they become frustrated. That is the point where, as a teacher, you need to find a new way to reach that student. Another small point in the article that stood out was when someone suggested that Marcus have something to hold on to to help him pay better attention. My cousin is in the first grade and when they have time where all the students sit on the carpet and have to pay attention, they all have squishy balls to occupy their hands. At first, I had the same thought as the teacher in the article. I thought it might become more of a problem than a solution. However, it works and it allows the students to focus their attention on listening by keeping their hands busy. I think this is a really cool method and a way to think about focusing kids' attention, as opposed to just telling them they need to sit still with their hands in their laps.

Scott: I chose to read the Scott article about effective urban literacy instruction. The article said that instructional practices should be authentic, motivational, and focused and differentiated. The article mentioned different ways to assess students' literacy, and not one teacher in the article said that standardized tests were an effective way to do so. Urban teaching environments present literacy challenges. I liked how the article explained authentic, motivational, and focused ways to teach literacy. Teachers need to specifically look at the needs of urban learners and teach to those needs. Every teacher from the article had something different to say about their teaching principle when it came to literacy, however they all agreed that literacy education needed to cover a wide range of literature, be hands on, cover many strategies, and enstill confidence in the students. I think that these principles are the key to teaching literacy to any student.