New Literacy Project Reflection

For my New Literacy Project, I chose to present my new knowledge of cultural literacy through a web page.

How has your conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking?
As frustrating as this project was at moments, I really found it to be beneficial to my learning. Just weeks ago, my conceptual understanding of literacy was very limited. In fact, I originally defined literacy as the ability to read and write. I had never before thought that being literate could also mean being knowledgeable of your culture, emotions and even the environment. There are so many aspects of literacy that goes beyond what you can learn from just a textbook. This project has made me realize that as a future teacher, I need to expose my students to all aspects of literacy – both print and digital. Especially now a days, technology has become such an integral part of our everyday lives that it is more important than ever to expose children to digital resources that will make their lives easier. Teaching students to merely read and write is not enough anymore. Instead, teachers need to incorporate technology, authentic literature, and engaging activities that promote knowledge of culture, students’ emotions and issue of environment.
One of my biggest strides through this whole project was actually putting together my web page. I chose this technology knowing that it would be a challenge for me, but also knowing that it was about time I learned how to build one. A web page is not only a great way to inform your students about upcoming assignments and events, but it is also a great way to communicate with parents who will not always have the time to make the phone call or set up a conference. One of the biggest struggles with building my web page was becoming familiar with uploading pictures and creating links to other websites. Unfortunately, the web page I originally created on Microsoft FrontPage was not compatible with our class Wiki. Once I figured out how to publish my site, the images failed to show up. Although this was extremely aggravating, I tried to see it as a blessing in disguise. All of the problems forced me to spend hours getting familiar with the software and navigating through files. I ended up having to start all over with a new program, which I actually found easier to use. Despite all of the trouble and problems I encountered, I can now say that I have built a web page I am actually proud of.

What does it mean to provide "effective literacy instruction" to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking?
Effective literacy instruction requires teachers to incorporate a balance of teaching methods that benefit all learners. When it comes to cultural literacy, students need to gain an understanding of their own culture and gain an appreciation for the differences between their peers in the classroom. By creating a comfortable classroom environment that is welcoming and risk-free, students will feel like they can express themselves and their differences without the fear of rejection of ridicule. Not only does literacy encompass several aspects beyond reading and writing, but it also requires the use of several resources. Literacy lessons should encourage active participation from students by utilizing activities that familiarize them with technologies like PowerPoint and web pages.
When it comes to the knowledge, capacities and commitments required of students to use the technology successful, it is the teacher’s responsibility to incorporate web pages into their lessons to get children familiar with the new resource. I don’t know how beneficial a web page would be for students in lower elementary, but I can definitely see students in upper elementary utilizing the technology by incorporating it into different lessons. For example, students can visit web pages to assist in research, or use a classroom website to communicate with their peers or post projects of their own. In order to build knowledge, it would be helpful to first get students familiar with navigating the web. I think a great way to do this is to have a scavenger hunt on the computer. Students can pair up and navigate through websites to answer questions. If students are given the opportunity to build their own web page, it is going to be essential that they are able to compose complete grammatical sentences, as well as being efficient at typing. It is also crucial that students learn how to identify authentic and credible information. Since the internet is open to anyone and everyone, students will need to be able to recognize when information comes from a credible source. The more students are exposed to different technologies when they are young, the more effective they will become in their own lives as they grow older. I wish my teachers had incorporated more technology into our lessons so I would not be struggling as much as I am today with becoming familiar with all of the new digital literacy.

New Literacy project review

I learned a large amount about creating an interactive map by doing this “New Literacies” project. From my own experiences and looking at the projects of other students, I felt that I gained a much better perspective of how I can use new technologies to keep the interests of my students. For my project, I decided to create a map using Google Maps. On the map, I placed about 30 points of interest, each containing at least a picture. In each point of interest, there was a label of what the place was highlighted for, and then I gave a brief description of why that place is important, and how students could be more culturally literate from learning about this place. I also embedded links to external websites and YouTube videos, things in which students could explore, and not feel like that they were doing “real work” but instead just having fun.

How has your conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking?

Before taking this class, I thought that literacy was just being able to read, write, and speak well. However, after doing this project, I understand that literacy is on so many different levels, and that every day, every person in the world is working to become more literate in some aspect without even realizing it. I think that using an interactive map informed my thinking of this because it allowed me to realize just how big of a place that this world is, and how different everyone is. That being said, I found it hard to just highlight one part of a culture to deem the most important. Because people need to understand other cultures to become culturally literate, I think that I learned a lot about cultures just trying to figure out what points to highlight on my map.

What does it mean to provide “effective literacy instruction” to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking?

I think that “effective literacy instruction” to diverse learners means that you need to work on many different levels of literacy to work on students’ literacy. I think also it means that you need a balance in what you work on in the classroom to help the students become literate. For example, if you work too much on writing and reading literacy in the classroom, you risk the students becoming ignorant of other cultures, the environment, or new technologies. I think the part of effective literacy instruction that interactive mapping help me understand is that in this age of technology, students need a way to be entertained using technology while learning in the classroom. Because of this, I thought it was important for me to include in my map links to things like YouTube, and other websites. I am a true believer that students can learn from YouTube, if they are appropriately guided there.

New Literacies personal reflection

Hello All!
This new literacies project proved to be very educational for me, and helped me understand all the possibilities literacy can offer in the classroom. This not only includes what we think literacy is in terms of being able to speak, read, and write, but other literacies that we explored through this project. For my technology, I chose to use PowerPoint. This may seem basic, but I unfortunately never got to spend time working with this technology to become proficient at it, since all the times I have used PowerPoint, it was in a group setting, and someone else usually took that job over. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to work with this technology on my own, because this could be very useful in my own teaching. I already had a basic knowledge of this technology, but I needed more to really become proficient at it…so I took time to just play around with PowerPoint, using all the features, and seeking help options from the program. It also took a time commitment as well, making sure I understood how this technology worked, and spending time learning all I could about it. In terms of K-8 students using this technology, I feel that PowerPoint is well known, or has been introduced to older students, and that in today’s classrooms, with all the technology they use (or hopefully use), students can pick up quickly on this form of technology. Students will need to have the capacities of using a computer, typing skills, and managing the options provided in this technology to really be successful, but this can be done with instruction, practice, and time.

- How has your conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking?
It is very easy for me to say that I did not think literacy was so broad of a topic. When I thought of literacy, I thought about books, reading, and writing. This is so far from the truth. Thankfully, through our class topics, readings (Tompkins and Gibbons), discussions, and working with technologies, I have learned that literacy is so much more. More than reading, writing, and speaking, literacy is about understanding the world that surrounds you, it’s how you interpret things, how you read, write, and communicate to others. Literacy can span through all topics, not just staying put in a language arts class. Literacy can be broken into so many sub-divisions, and this is what educators need to understand and work with to promote this type of literacy instruction in the classroom. This growth has led me to understand that I need to be knowledgeable about so much more if I really want to make an impact on my students, and develop in them as many forms of literacy as they are willing to take in.

What does it mean to provide “effective literacy instruction” to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking?
There are so many components that go into “effective literacy instruction”. For one, you should begin by building a classroom community, where students are experienced with class discussions, open dialogue, and understanding and being open to others comments and viewpoints…and then build from there. Teaching fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, word recognition, vocabulary recognition, etc. are all components of literacy instruction. To make it effective, teachers should make sure to accommodate, modify, and use multiple strategies for each component, highlighting students natural strengths, while working on areas they need to improve on. This really emphasizes the component of diverse learners as well. Teachers should understand what each student needs to succeed in literacy, and tailor their literacy activities and strategies from there. This can also be said for using the technology I chose for the New Literacies project. Students would need the knowledge of how to use PowerPoint, and therefore, have previous understandings of technology, typing, writing strategies, etc. To understand all this, they would have needed to have formal writing instruction, as well as instruction as how to write informally, such as in an outline format, or using bullet points. They would need speaking instruction of they were to present the technology, such as how to orally present a PowerPoint, or something of that nature, and how to address the viewers. They would need viewing instruction as well, since visual education about this technology is one of the best ways to learn. As you can see, literacy instruction goes beyond reading and writing, it extends into how students speak to others, use technology, and various other things. In terms of sing this technology in curriculum; a PowerPoint could be used in almost every subject to make teacher and student presentations, outlines for a class activity/lesson, a lesson on technology, etc.

Overall, I enjoyed working with my technology, and learning about a new literacy, and literacy in general, in the process.

New Literacy Project

The new technology that I used was websites. This was new to me because I have never created a website before. I am around people everyday who create websites, but never have I done one. I am pretty familiar with the old literacies, such as reading and writing and how to accomplish both. I am familiar with how to navigate my way around websites, but never have I created one.
To create a website you have to know where to begin. Here at MSU we are all given a website (www.msu.edu/~username). I know about Homestead and DreamWeaver, but I have no clue on how to use them. You need to understand what is important and what should be included in a website. What information will be important for people and what will they want to gain from your website. I had to figure out how to guide myself through the process of creating a website. Creating a website is a huge commitment because you are putting your name on something that can be seen by people from all around the world. It took time to find all of the resources that I wanted to include in my website and make it what it is. I would say that the commitment to website is huge because it is a big project.
The knowledge that students are suppose to have about websites is how to use one. Students will have to guide themselves through a website to find the information they need. Students also have to be aware of what websites are educational and helpful and which ones are not. Students will have to use their reading skills, writing skills, and computer skills. Their capacities will be using the computer and if they are creating a website their typing skills. The commitment would be that students are positive that they can rely on the information they are collecting from the website or they are committed to the website they are creating. They are proud of their accomplishment. With websites, students need to make sure the information they are looking at is accurate and/or they are using accurate information in their own website.
By learning this technology is was important for me to understand how hard it is to create websites and to find out if the information you are getting from your sources is accurate or not. It is also hard work because you are putting something up on the world wide web where everyone can see it. Not only do you have to write the website, but you have to proof read it too. I think that websites are an effective way to teach literacy because for one, you can have students read websites, find, and determine if the information is reliable or not. Students can also create their own by researching information and writing the website themselves. Students can use the traditional reading and writing in creating a website of their own.

How has you conceptual understanding of literacy changed since beginning this class and how does the technology you explored inform your thinking?
When we started this class I saw literacy as reading and writing. I saw it as reading books and writing stories. I now see literacy as all around us. It is much more. I learned that literacy means "the competence "to carry out the complex tasks using reading and writing related to the world of work and to the life outside of school"" (Tompkins 11). Literacy is how we interpret the world around us. It is the way we think, speak, and write. It is important for students to exposed to all of the different forms of literacy and that there are many more than just reading and writing. The different literacies are cultural, emotional, environmental, numeracy, print, social, visual, and digital. I would never had thought of all of those things being considered literacy. I feel like I can better teach language arts now that I am aware of all of the different literacies. I feel I can make the class more interesting and I can better get students involved. Exploring websites made me realize how hard it is to create websites and how much time and effort people put into them. I know people who work on websites everyday, but I never realized all the work they did to keep it up to date. I now know to make sure that my students know how to tell if a website is educational and the information is reliable. Websites are very informative and can teach students a lot about the world around them.

What does it mean to provide "effective literacy instruction" to diverse learners and how does the particular technology you explored inform your thinking?
Effective literacy instruction begins with a good classroom community in which all students feel comfortable to speak in front of each other. The class can hold classroom discussions. It also means engaging students into the lesson. Make the lesson interactive in which students can participate such as creating PowerPoints, websites, or interactive maps. When students are hands on they become more engaged and they get more out of the lesson. Teachers should allow students to participate through reading and writing activities that they can do independently, provide opportunities for experience in reading and writing, and provide practice for students in reading and writing (Tompkins 28). It is important for a teacher to give students the tools for success in reading and writing and that can lead to an effective literacy instruction. If students were creating websites they would need to know how to pick out information that they know is creditable. They will also have to be able to write in complete sentences. Students will have to proof read what they write because people from all over the world will be reading it. It is important for students to look at other people's work and decide what to use and not use. Students need to be able to use computers and their typing skills. Students will have to use their technology skills in creating websites and today's students know how to do that. A website is a huge commitment for students because it is something that they will call their own. It is something that people from around the world will see and use. Students will have to put in the time for research and putting it all together. Students will have to view other websites to get ideas of what they would like and not like to use. If students use their knowledge of technology, their computer skills, and time they will create successful websites. I can bring websites into my classroom and instruction by having students research a topic and turn it into a website like I did for this assignment. This is a hands on assignment that students will enjoy doing because they will be able to control and have a say in how it is created. Also, they can create their own personal website. By working with a website I am more informed about how hard it is to incorporate all the different information on one topic into one website. It is hard to figure out what is important knowledge that people should know and take away from the website. Websites are very informative and I am glad that I got the opportunity to work with one.

Vocab Minilesson Notebook

For the minilesson, I will be focusing on Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell. The lesson I will be focusing on is a word study based on some words that the Navahos used, that may be introduced for the first time to the students through this book.

Lesson Introduction

For my lesson, I would start by asking the students to pull out their Sing Down the Moon books. Next, I would have one student briefly give a summary of the book, just to get the students. Next, I would pass out the following word list, which contains 8 words that can be found in the book along with the page number that each can be found on. Next, I would take a word from the book (orchard p2), and I would use this word to demonstrate a word investigation. I would create my word investigation (See Tompkins p199) on the white board for the whole class to see. I would then pass out worksheets to the students, and tell them that they would be creating their own word investigation

Sample word list:

Barranca (p 1)

Mesa (p6)

Tortillas (p 39)

Turquoise (p 41)

Dwellers (p 68)

Fleecy (p 87)

Speckled (p 101)

Scorn (p 110)

The Worksheet/Assignment

The first part of the lesson would address the concepts and word meanings component of word study from Tompkins. In the first question, students would be asked to find the word on the page that has been given to them. Next, they would be asked to write down the sentence that it was found in. Following this, they would be asked to write down what they think the word means based on the sentence. For the second question, I would have the students first choose a word from the list, grab a dictionary and look up their word. Students would then read all of the definitions of their word, and choose the best fitting definition, and write that down. Next, I would ask to do a morphemic analysis of the word. This means the students would break the word down into different morphemes, or sounds. I would have the students record their word’s morphemic analysis. The fourth, fifth and sixth components of word study from Tompkins would be addressed in the next question. Using a thesaurus, would ask the students to find one or two synonyms, antonyms, homonyms (if possible) for their word. Next, I would have the students go back to their dictionary, and find a word history of the word. Finally, I would ask the students to write the word in a sentence, where it is used figuratively.

Post Assignment

When the students have completed all of the tasks of the assignment, I would ask them to get a sheet of paper and create their own word investigation. I would allow the students to finish their word investigations in class.

Rationale

My reasoning for choosing this lesson is that it involves all eight components of Tompkin’s components of word study. Using this assignment, students would learn a wide range of information about words, and make connections between words and concepts. This will allow them to go in depth of investigation of one of the words, and give them a deeper meaning of how it is incorporated into the text.

Sing Down the Moon Vocabulary

Vocabulary Mini-Lesson

Topic: Introducing Navaho Words
Grade: Fifth Grade

The Students are learning about Native Americans. They will be reading Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell. This is a good story to show students all the hardships that Native Americans had to endure when Europeans came to North America. The vocabulary words that the students will be looking at deal with the language that was used by Navahos at that time.

1. Introduce the Topic
We have been learning about Native Americans and now we are going to be reading the book Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell. There are words that they used in their everyday language that we may not be familiar with. There are many words in this text that you may have difficulties with. I have 10 words that I have written on note cards and they are: mesa, cedar, Utes, Long Knife, Canyon de Chelly, piñon, hatchets, Navaho, Señora, and Hogan. These words are found throughout the book and it is important to be familiar with them because they will help you understand the story.

2. Share Examples
The students will be given anticipation guides in which they will rate their knowledge of each word. The students will see four columns. In the first column will be the new vocabulary words. The next column will be titled “I know the word well” the next column will be “I have heard of it” and the last column is “I don’t know this word.” The students will place a check mark in the column that applies to that word. After completing the reading, the students will again rate the words again.

3. Provide Information
The students will get into groups in which they will be given 20 cards. On 10 of the cards the vocabulary words will be written and on the other 10 cards the definitions will be written. The students were responsible for creating the 20 cards once they received to words. Now, they will be using them to match the vocabulary words to their definitions.

4. Guide Practice
As the students are continuing to read Sing Down the Moon they will repeat the word sort activity. Once the students have read a chapter using one of the vocabulary words, the word will be removed from the matching game. Sentences from the chapter with that new vocabulary word will be added but omitting the word to the matching game. This will be continued until all of the words are now being put into blanks of sentences from chapters.

Lennemann 2
5. Assess Learning
The 10 new words will be put onto the word wall. The students will write a paragraph summarizing Singing Down the Moon and they will have to incorporate five of the vocabulary words. They can also write about what they learned from the story about Native Americans. This will show if the students understand the new vocabulary words and how to use them appropriately.


**I took this mini-lesson from Tompkins, page 198. I thought this was a great idea and I would love to use it in my own classroom. It incorporates many things, such as seeing if students know the words, matching definitions to vocabulary words, and being able to use the word in a sentence.**

Vocabulary Development Lesson

Book Club Lesson – Vocabulary Development
Becoming familiar with content-area vocabulary words – 3rd Grade

We have been reading Sing Down the Moon for awhile now, and as students progress through the book, they encounter many unusual or unfamiliar words along the way. I would like for students to become familiar with these words, and use their knowledge of the story to determine what scenario these words could have occurred in.

Introduction: Briefly summarize the book up to the point we have read, or the entire book if that’s where the class is at. Explain that there are some vocabulary words that many students have not come in contact with, or words which are simply not that commonly used. I will show the students the vocabulary words, and have tem share their ideas about what they think these words mean, and observe how it was used in the context of the story/sentence it was in. I will explain that they will define the words by looking in the dictionary, and then have them make a graph that includes different scenarios of the story, and place the words where they occurred in the book, using the sentence the vocabulary word was in, along with the definition (they can go in more than one place if students can find multiple sentences using this word).

Words Scenarios
Mesa Fiesta - Living at Canyon de Chelly
Hatchets Tortilla - Bright Morning is kidnapped, and made a servant
Navaho ravine - Bright Morning escapes
Hogan canyon - Bright Morning’s tribe is trapped in the canyon
Senora gourd - The Native American sent to Spanish prison camps
- Bright Morning and Tall Boy escape

During: Students will see how the vocabulary word is used, and will use the dictionary or any other (credible) source to define the word. They will then make a graph or chart with areas designated to different parts of the story, which were given, and students will fill these areas with vocabulary words that were used in these scenarios.

After: Students will display their charts, and share them if they choose to do so. We will then go over the definitions of each word, and students will volunteer to make their own sentences using these words, and I will write them on the board for all to see. They will be assessed on their overall completion, accurate definition, and matching the vocabulary word to the place in the story where it belongs.

"Sing Down the Moon" - Vocabulary development

My activity on vocabulary development is going to focus on applying context clues to figure out unfamiliar words. The following passages have been taken from the story and include an underlined word that is most likely unknown to the student. There are six different context clues to use to assist students in learning the meaning of the word: definition, example-illustration, contrast, logic, root words and affixes, and grammar. In many instances, students can use more than one of the context clues to help them understand the word’s meaning.

“Then—while Running Bird and I watched a squirrel in the piñon tree, trying to coax him down with a nut—I saw from the corner of an eye a puff of smoke rise slowly from our village.” (71)

• For this passage, student will use the context clues of both logic and grammar to determine the word’s meaning. The reader will have to think about the rest of the sentence and then identify the word’s function in the sentence to be a verb, or action.

“On the barrels of their rifles were fastened long, sharp-looking knives. That is why we always called them the Long Knives.” (14).

• For this passage, students will use the context clue of definition to determine the word’s meaning.

“The Navahos, his people, were captives of the Long Knives and there was nothing he could do to free them.” (84).

• For this passage, students will use the context clue of contrast to determine the word’s meaning. Readers understand the word “captives” because it can be contrasted with the word “free” in the sentence.

It is important to remind students that context clues may only provide partial information that is required to fully understand the word’s meaning. Often times, the information can even be misleading. However, students should still be taught how to use the clues while they read through challenging text. When reading aloud as a class, teachers can also introduce other strategies to figure out the meaning of unknown words. Encourage students to look at the word in relation to the sentence and use their peers to help them out. Remind students that they are encouraged to look up the word in the dictionary to see which meaning fits the sentence. Since learning words in isolation is rarely effective, teachers should try to teach words in concept clusters whenever possible. “Sing Down the Moon”, which is historical fiction, is a great instance to teach concept clusters that help explain the characters and setting before a child begins reading.

Reading Comprehension

For my reading, I was assigned chapter 2 from the Tompkins text. In this chapter Tompkins discusses reading as a process, much like we were taught the writing process growing up. The first stage of this five stage reading process is Prereading. Prereading is where students set purposes (ex. are they reading for information or for pleasure?); students also connect to prior personal and literary experiences, connect the book to thematic units, make predictions, and preview the text. Once this has been completed, Tompkins suggest students move on to the next stage, which is the reading itself. In this stage students practice reading skills (ex. individual, group, shared, guided or listening), continue to make predictions, read the illustrations, charts and diagrams, read the entire text from beginning to end, read one or more of the sections of the text to gain a better understanding. The third stage, is the Responding stage. Here students are writing in a log, and participating in grand conversation or instructional conversation. Next, Tompkins writes about the Exploring stage. In this stage, students are rereading and thinking more deeply about the text. The Exploring stage also includes students making text to self connections, text to text connections, students will be examining the author's craft, identifying memorable quotes, learning new vocabulary words, and participating in minilessons on reading procedures, concepts, strategies, and skills. Finally, the students enter the Applying phase, where they construct projects, use information in thematic units, reflect on their interpretation, and value the reading experience. The use of the five stages in the reading process is key for students to comprehend what they are reading. I hope that I will be able to effectively use this process, as my CT does, so that my students will be able to get the most out of their reading.

Reading Comprehension

I had the opportunity to read the Carlisle article. The article was about how to help students who have a learning disability. I found this article very informative because as a teacher you will have students in your classroom that have learning disabilities. Carlisle says that 50 percent of shildren with LD spend an entire day in the general classroom. The first step Carlisle says is to identify children who appear to have special needs. The next step is to participate in the development of the child's education program. Then as a teacher you should collaborate with the special educators to develop an integrated approach for meeting a child's learning needs. You should not only be monitoring children with LD in your classroom regularly, but all students. You should alter lesson plans to ensure progress and help the child share responsibility for their learning. Closely, the last step according to Carlisle is working closely with the parents to support the child's learning. Something that I found important to consider when working with students that have LD is to work with specialists that work with those students because then the children will have an integrated education. It is important to give positive feedback and to encourage students because when they receive that positive feedback they are more likely to have positive attitudes towards their learning abilities. An important thing to consider is that "over 75 percent of children with LD have reading and spelling disabilities" (Carlisle 2). This is important to consider and to know that when creating lessons that most time should be spent in these areas. These areas can be incorporated throughout the curriculum. Some of the most beneficial things to all children are lessons and activities that foster the development of phonological awareness and group work. One of the last things that Carlisle says that I think is of great importance in creating a classroom is "It is important to build a classroom climate that fosters acceptance of individual differences within the class-including appreciation of the fact that children have different academic strengths and needs."
After reading Thompkins I learned that "The comprehension process begins during prereading as students activate their background knowledge and preview the text, and it continues to develop as students read, respond, explore, and apply their reading" (223). I never knew that comprehension depends on the reader and the text that is being read. There is a lot that goes into comprehension from the student and the teacher. It is up to the student to comprehend it, but it is up to the teacher to make sure the student's know how to do that. Chapter 7 gave me great insight on howcomprehension works and all that is involved. How to get students to the point where they can do it on their own. It is a great chapter.

Reading Comprehension

After reading the Applegate article, I found that I am a cross between a literalist and an author. When I was younger, I would definitely say that I was more of an author. I was always coming up with more details that what were given, or giving way elaborate responses to questions, when a simple comment would have probably sufficed. I think that being younger, I got away with more, and it helped me in the creative process as well. Today, I do think that I am still a bit of an author. I sometimes take away more than what was given to me, and I know that I can even get redundant or add too much dialogue to my papers. Being older now, I do believe that I am also a literalist, espically since high school and college, where much of my homework has been based on facts and to find these facts or bits of information, I had to look to my texts. I'm not quite sure if these traits have proven to be a detrement to me and my writing, and I think that by being both an author and literalist, I can absorb the facts, while also being a bit creative (I need to not take it too far though, where I create my own details). These readings definitely opened me up to my reading comprehansion, and I can now see myself being aware of my own reading and writing styles. It will be interesting to see how my future students display their own traits to reading comprehension.

Reading Comprehension Processes

I was assigned to read the Applegate article where they identified reader profiles by observing discussion and students’ answers to inference and critical response items. I was eager to learn what profile I would fall into, but became bothered when I began reading the descriptions of each profile. I thought that each profile description painted a negative picture of the student’s method of comprehension. I actually found myself becoming defensive and not wanting to place myself in any category. Who wants to be labeled as a dodger, fuzzy thinker, or minimalists? This is not to say, however, that the article did not bring up some good points. In fact, after reading it through carefully, I did begin to make some connections to my own reading comprehension process. In early and even later elementary, I think I would have classified myself as a literalist reader, meaning I believed “all answers to all questions could ultimately be found in the text”. I gave the author complete control of my thought and rarely questioned the underlying motives for the story and the characters. Like most young children, I liked when there was a cut and dry answer, and often didn’t put much reflective thought into the characters’ actions and emotions. I believe this is why I would always struggle with the comprehension section on standardized tests. I never knew why I had such a hard time with this section since I considered myself a strong reader. Applegate’s article explained this was since standardized tests focused less and less on literal reading when it came to asking questions.
After some practice, I got used to reflective reading to gain a better understanding of the text. As I have grown older, I believe that I read in a much different manner than when I was young. I now read deeper into the text and force myself to come up with my own inferential questions as I read along. I am also big on making predictions as to what will happen next. These comprehension strategies have helped me come a long way since elementary school. Since I am an elementary education major with a focus in language arts, I have been fortunate enough to take some really fascinating English courses in college. Although not every book I have read in these courses has been life changing, my professors have gotten me in the habit of making text-to-world connections. Not only has this become another one of my comprehension strategies, but it has also forced me to think beyond the text and place myself, rather than the author, in control of my reading.

Digital Native or Immigrant?

I have never really thought of myself as someone who was technologically advanced. It wasn’t until I read the online article and completed the digital natives quiz that I began realizing how much I rely on technology to do just about everything. It has become a helpful and supportive tool that has made life easier. Although I wouldn’t say that I am a pure digital native, I would have to agree that I lean more towards native than immigrant. I was stumped on a few of the quiz terms, but for the most part, I was able to recognize and explain most of them. Prensky identifies some ways he believes digital natives think differently than native immigrants. I was able relate to several of his claims, including the one that stated that natives have become more active learners in the classroom and the workplace. I use technology to read, study, and communicate with teachers and peers. The classroom is no longer just a place for lecture. Instead, students are actively participating and becoming more engaged than ever.
Having grown up in a generation that was exposed to computers at a very young age, I have not only taken an interest in technology, but I have become skillful at using it. At moments, I would even consider myself fluent because I am confident that I could teach others how to utilize technology to benefit their own lives. However, since new technology is constantly being introduced, I would have to say that, in a sense, I will always remain an “emergent” learner. Tompkins mentions in her text that during the emergent stage of literacy, students “notice environmental print in the world around them and in the classroom” (91). Even today, I am still noticing the different digital tools that can help make my life easier. For example, this is my first experience as a blogger and just weeks ago, I watched as a peer modeled for me how to post a blog. Just as “emergent” literacy learners are being exposed to literacy, I am constantly being exposed to new technology.

Digital natives quiz

It seems that after taking the quiz, that I am also a mix between a digital native, and a digital immigrant. Some terms such as instant messenger and wiki I was familiar with, so in this case I believe I am a digital native. But when I saw terms like modding and smart mobs, I felt lost, I had no idea these terms even existed. Because of this, I would have to say that my digital literacy is emergent. However, I think that for all of us in the upcoming generation are emergent in terms of our digital literacy. This being said, I also feel that I possess the ability to quickly adapt to new technologies that may arise, since I have pretty much done this all of my life. As for the connections that I am making between emergent digital literacy, and emergent literacy as discussed by Thompkins, I think that there are similarities with regards to understanding. As Thompkins discusses, in emergent literacy, students are slowly understing what they are reading, and develop a sense of directionality with their writings. In terms of my emergent digital literacy, as new technologies are developed, I gradually understand what is going on, and develop a sense of how to incorporate this new technology into my daily life. Also, Thompkins talks about emergent literacy as the stage where children show an interest for reading and writing. I feel that my emergent digital literacy stage mirrors this, I see myself finding an interest in new and developing digital technologies. I am glad I took this quiz though, because it showed me I have much to learn with regards to emergent digital technologies.

Digital Native or Digital Immigrant (2/4/2008)

After taking the quiz, I would have to agree with Catherine that I am a mix between the two. I knew some of the words, but the other ones I had no clue. The article talks about "Digital Natives perceive technology as their friend and rely on it to study, work, play, relax, and communicate" and that is exactly what I use technology for. The article says that Digital Immigrants are people "who struggle to understand and master these new technologies." I have no problem in understanding and mastering new technologies once I have the knowledge. With all of that said I would say I am a mix. It is hard not to use technology especially in college and in schools because it is everywhere now. I do not believe that I am emergent when it comes to technology. Thompkins explains emergent is "you children gain an understanding of the communicative purpose of print, and they move from pretend reading to reading repetitive books..." (89). I have been using technology for some time so I believe I am past the emergent stage. I am not learning technology like students are learning to read and write in this stage. I was once at the emergent stage when it came to technology, such as learning how to use word and the internet. Emergent literacy and emergent digital literacy are a like because everything has to start somewhere. With emergent literacy students begin to read by first pretending and then building upon knowledge with some guidance. The same goes for writing, children tend to do scribbles or a few letters, but as they gain the knowledge and guidance they begin to write patterned sentences. With emergent digital literacy the same goes, to build skills there needs to be knowledge and guidance. Everything involves time and practice. Children even use technology at the emergent stage with reading tapes and following along. Teachnology is apart of our society now and it is finding its way into the classroom more and more.

Digital Native or Immigrant?

After taking that quiz, I determined that I'm a mix between a digital native and a digital immigrant (if thats possible!). A few of the words given to me, I knew nothing about...I haven't even heard them before. So in this case, I was an immigrant. But a little over half the words I did know. Also, the article explains that "Digital Natives percieve technology as their friend and rely on it to study, work, play, relax, and communicate". When it comes to these things, I definitely rely on technology. When the term "emergent" is considered, I do not think that I am emergent, but more so between beginning and fluent. Tompkins explains emergent literacy as children who at an early age, begin observing the contexts as to when reading and writing is used, and applying it to their own use of reading and writing, which at this point is very basic. I have been using technology for quite some time, so I believe that my emergent stage was in elementary school, through using video games, computers, the TV, and so on. I can see how Tompkin's explanations of emergent literacy can be applied to emergent digital literacy. When I was first beginning to use compters or play video games, I watched the user first, then used it myself, gaining practice and picking up new skills towards using technology. In this sense, when it comes to technology and the digital age, emergent users find ways to use technology in their daily lives to better their understanding of this topic, and gain new understandings and more advanced techniques in the process, just as how emergent readers and writers use such topics in the context of their own lives to better grasp literacy. I think this quiz was very interesting and helpful in gaining a better understanding of emergent literacy.

Choral Reading

I thought that planning and performing our own choral reading was the most beneficial activity to get us thinking about the purpose of such activities in the classroom. Teachers use choral reading to develop students’ reading fluency by having them explore and experiment with the arrangement of the text. My group collaborated together to read aloud Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to the rest of the class. We decided to do a cumulative reading, where one student begins reading and after each page, another student joins in. Once everyone is reading, we reversed the process and after each page, one less student would read aloud. We continued this until the last person in the circle was reading – the same student who started reading alone.
During the activity, we were asked to focus on our tempo, rhythm, pitch, and juncture. In terms of the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations, the activity required us to use enunciation and stress to emphasize key ideas and concepts when presenting. As a group, we decided that we wanted to place a lot of emphasis on “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom”, so we chose one student out of the group to stress this phrase by altering the rhythm. Surrounding this phrase, we also altered the juncture of the reading by making sure there was a longer pause both preceding and following the phrase. Since the book had a lot of rhyming words, it would have been ideal if we were able to coordinate our read at a faster pace, which would have required us to use the GLCEs of pace of speaking to enhance meaning and influence interpretation when presenting. I think if our group would have had a little bit more time to practice, we would have been able to perfect our speed and ability to read in unison. We did not focus a lot on pitch when we were reading aloud.
I thought that there was a lot of support within our group during the activity. As Langer mentions in his article, during recitation, the students look to the teacher for support. For this activity, our group engaged in discussion, not recitation, and we were able to look to each other for support. Since there was not as much guidance from the teacher, we were responsible for working together and encouraging each other to share ideas. As a future teacher, I will have to remember that it is okay to challenge students with open-ended activities that force them to talk things out with each other. The great thing about this activity was since there was not a lot of guidance, every group presented something different. One thing I will remember in the future was that in these kinds of group setting, it is easy for one student to sit back and not participate. It is my role as a teacher to make sure that each group is encourage every member to contribute to discussion. This may be accomplished by assigning one student the faciliator to be responsible to prompting the shyer students to share their ideas.

Choral Reading Entry

For this entry, I decided to write about our group's awesome choral rendition of Chica Chica Boom Boom. In this reading, we met many of the Michigan GLCE's for 8th grade. Because we were speaking, I focused mainly on the speaking GLCE's. The first standard we met during our reading was "Students will use enunciation and stress to emphasize key ideas and concepts when presenting." An example of how we met this standard was how we but the stress on "Chica Chica Boom Boom" whenever it came up in the text. Since this was the most repetitive part of the book, and set the tone for the rest of the story, putting an emphasis on that phrase helps meet this content benchmark. The next content standard that we met was "Students will use tone of voice and pace of speaking to enhance meaning and influence interpretation when presenting." We met this standard by using a group rhythm to our choral effort, and we used this rhythm to create an enhanced meaning to the story we were reading. We also touched on content standards for the speaking discourse portion of the GLCEs. By planning as a group the manner in which we planned to go about our choral reading, we met the standard "Students will plan and deliver an informal presentation." In using these GLCEs, we were supported in our learning community. Evidence of this support can be seen in the readings which we did for last week. In this case, the teacher lead the discussion, by laying out the assignment, and giving some expectations for the completion of that assignment. Next, it was all up to us, the students to have a discussion about how we wanted to approach the assignment. That is saying, that our discussion was more of a discussion as opposed to a recitation, the content, and the flow of the discussion was based solely on the manner in which the students took the discussion. My own reflections on my participation in this assignment helped me think about my role as a teacher in language arts. I realize that giving the students more freedom in discussion, and breaking them up in to smaller groups will help them get more out of the discussion, as they will feel more comfortable participating with a small group, instead of the class as a whole. Doing this will also allow for many different interpretations to be brought up, and when the class meets as a whole, the students will be able to pick up on the interpretations of their peers. With this in mind, I realize that i need to focus on planning language arts discussions in small groups before having the same discussion as a whole class.

choral reading

For this post, I chose to use my own group's expierence during the choral reading activity. We decided to use cumulative reading with our chosen book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". The first person in the group started reading the first page, and after each page the next person began reading too, until the group as a whole was reading, and then went back down the line until only the first person was reading again. In terms of using Michigan's Grade Level Content Expectations, our group used enunciation and stress to convey main ideas, and also incorporated tone of voice and pace to influence intrepretation and meaning. For example, "chicka chicka boom boom" was stressed at certain points of the book to convey the meaning and emotion at the time (the climax, when all the letters fell from the tree). Also, pace was important, since the book is read in a rhyming, song-like manner, which works best when all members read like this in unison. I do feel that there was a lot of support while doing this lesson. Our group discussed all the types of choral reading available, and worked it out together to decide which approach would be the most effective. As stated in Almasi, meaning resides in the event, and all those participating in the event should work together to discuss meaning and exchange thoughts. Our group did this very well, and the student centered discussion we had was engaging and led us to an effective way of choral reading. By sharing our thoughts and expiermenting with different approaches, our group was using the event/text to learn about a new reading strategy. Reflecting on the activity, I feel that student centered discussions in a social environment really contributes to my own learning by listening to others ideas and gaining meaning through the sharing of others knowledge and opinions. This is something I would really enjoy using as a teacher, and need to be mindful of creating a classroom community capable of these types of discussions, and also making it a point to conduct student centered discussions often.

Choral Reading (January 28, 2008)

In planning and performing our own choral reading, our group chose to read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. As a group we decided to do a cumulative reading in which one person read a page and then another person joined the first person on the next page and so on. After everyone was reading at once on a page, the next page the last person to join in stopped reading on so on until the only person reading was the one who began. We really did not have a tempo or rhythm to what we were doing. The activity required us to emphasize when we came to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom because it had had exclamation point following it. That is an example of speaking conventions. Another example of this is the use of pace in speaking because as each person joined on everyone had to make sure they were reading together because if we were not then no one would understand anything we were saying. When it comes to speaking discourse we had to plan and deliver an informal presentation to the class in which we demonstrated cumulative reading to the class. When we were listening to other presentations we had to listen to a variety of peer presentations and analyze them to what we thought they were doing such as were they doing echo reading or small group reading? This is an an example of listening and viewing conventions. When it came to listening and viewing response we had to analyze oral interpretations of the literature and the effect of the interpretations of the listener we had to listen to other groups read their books and then we had to decide on what they did and how others could figure out what we were doing. I think that Almasi's idea of discussion played a role in which I was supported in our community because we had to figure out what we were doing and there were no straight forward answers. Something that Goldenberg talked about was instructional conversation and I believed that helped us as a group to think about what we were going to do and how we would do it. We also decided to have one person personally do Chicka Chicka Boom Boom a certain way to make it more fun and interesting. I really wanted our group to work together and agree upon everything we were doing. To do this we had to have discussions about how we would do everything. I think we worked well together and accomplished what we wanted to. I think as a teacher you need to present many options for lessons because not all students are comfortable with everything. Not only did we have small group discussions but large groups too. Having the large classroom discussion, everyone gets the opportunity to share their ideas and thoughts. Something I will have to pay attention to in my language arts lesson is to make sure there is enough time for every group to do what they need to do. I felt that we had time, but not enough to fully engage in discussion. Also, I will make sure that there are options to the assignment because like I said before, not everyone is comfortable with reading in front of the class, but they may be comfortable in front of a small group. I feel like this is a good lesson to have discussion with because it is interesting to hear why each group decided to do their choral readings the way they did. With that said I would like to do a lesson similiar to ith in which it can be done all different ways to see every student's personality and ideas come out.

Readings for 23 January

After reading the Almasi article A New View of Discussion, I was intrigued by the manner in which discussions were looked at by the author. Growing up, I thought was used to what the author called the I-R-E model, that is, there is a question and then there is a right answer to that question. However further examining my past in language arts and reading this article, I realize that there is a difference between this, which is called a recitation, and an actual discussion, as the author explains. From experience, and from the article, it is obvious that the discussion is more effective in engaging students in the classroom than recitations do. With the discussion, as opposed to the recitation, all students can become involved in the class discussion, and along with the teacher, everybody takes on roles. These roles are important to the success of a good classroom discussion. For me, the roles the students take on are the most important. When the student acts as the inquisitor, it helps the teacher gain an understanding of what the students got out of the reading, and it also will help other students construct their own meanings out of this. When students act as the facilitator of interaction, students encourage other students to speak, which helps the students feel more comfortable, and allows for a wider range of students to participate in the discussion. When students act as the facilitator of interpretation, students get a chance to connect personal experiences to the context of the discussion, which will help them feel more comfortable, and again allow for more students to participate. When students act as the respondent, they are answering each others' questions, as opposed to answering the teacher's questions as they would in a recitation. Finally, students acting as an evaluator allows for students to challenge the validity of their peers' responses. This is in contrast to a recitation where students' responses are evaluated by the teacher. I hope I will be able to institute these roles in my classroom, which will allow for more of my students to enjoy language arts.

Readings 1/23/2008

After reading A New View of Discussion by Almasi it made me think about what type of discussions are happening in the classroom I am in. I am in a fifth grade classroom and there is usually recitation that is happening because Mr. J is looking for a straight answer, but then I feel that the students take it upon themselves to have a more in depth conversation. One question that Mr. J may ask usually turns into a long discussion with students giving their thoughts, ideas, and asking questions. Most of the discussions the class has involves I-R-E (Initiate-Respond-Evaluate) and this is either by the students or Mr. J. There is a lot of scaffolding going on in the classroom because the students are learning how to do different kinds of poems. Since most of the students have never done some of these poems, Mr. J has to build a foundation and build upon it until they reach their potential. The students in the classroom are not affraid to ask questions or tell it how it is. After reading Langer's article I could see some things she talked about already in the classroom. Some of the things are initial understandings, developing interpretations, reflecting on personal experiences, and elaborating and extending. I actually saw these things the first couple of weeks I was in the classroom because the students were writing personal narratives. A lot of the writing Mr. J has the students do is really about their lives or something that interests them. I think it is a good way for the students to get out emotions that they may have and for other students to understand each other.

Being in an older classroom I have noticed with a little prompt from the teacher the students can have discussions that can last a while. I see Mr. J ask questions that he is only looking for an answer to but he tries to let every student answer before moving on. He may get a right answer right away, but lets everyone answers and then goes back to the right answer. I only have seen him cut students off when they are getting off subject which is understandable. I think it is easier to have good discussions in older classroom because the students seem to have a lot more to say and they want to get their point across.

Discussion in the Classroom

After reading Almasi’s article, A New View of Discussion, it was clear that when it comes to my second grade classroom, there is a lot of recitation that goes on. When it comes time to discuss a story, there is a lot of teacher-student interaction, as opposed to student-student interaction. Mrs. Kreft asks questions that prompt students to recall what they already know from reading the story. Almasi referred to this type of discussion as the IRE (Initiate-Respond-Evaluate) participatory structure. The goal of discussion in Mrs. Kreft’s classroom is for students to better comprehend the story and the main components of literature (setting, characters, plot, theme, etc.). Scaffolding is often used by the teacher in the lower reading groups to guide student reading. However, there is not a lot of student involvement that forces the children to really engage in reflective thinking. Since the discussion in the classroom serves as an assessment for Mrs. Kreft, the students’ responses are usually shaped around what they believe the teacher would find to be a satisfactory answer.
I think that at the young age my second graders are at, when they come up with an answer that they are satisfied with, they stick to it. Their interpretation of a story does not transform and is not shaped by their peers’ thoughts and ideas. Although the students are young, I think it is possible for the teacher to encourage students to challenge each other’s ideas without putting anyone down. In a good discussion, the teacher should remain neutral and silent, unless they are guiding the students’ discussion in a particular direction to promote richer understanding. As Langer mentions in the article, Understanding Literature, teachers should ask open-ended questions and questions that help students make connections between the reading and personal experience. Although this occurs occasionally in my classroom, the teacher will often cut students off when they begin to go off on tangents about personal stories.

After going over the readings, I was really impressed at how many strategies there are in terms of promoting good literacy discussions. When it comes to my classroom though, I haven't really seen many of these discussions occur as of yet. Right now, the CT I have is on maternity leave, so there is a permanent sub. Because of this, I think there is a lot less discussion occuring, and more assignments aimed at students simply getting to work independently. When it does come to discussions, the sub uses the traditional discussion approach, where the teacher talks and uses literal questions. So through this, there is not much room for interpretations when it comes to reading as a class. The one positive aspect I noticed is when the writing teacher comes for her lesson. She conducts open discussions everytime she visits, and makes the act of reading and writing open for students interpretations, something mentioned in Langer. I also noticed that she emphasized using personal expierences and elaboration when explaining their writing or stories they have read, to make them better readers and writers themselves. She does use a lot of scaffolding too, in terms of letting the class know her expectations for response centered discussions (everyone listenes to the speaker, don't be afraid to speak your opinion, the class is a safe place, etc), and it's usually the less developed students (in terms of ther literacy skills) that need a bit more scaffolding. I think this is because these students may be unsure of their interpretations of stories or sharing their own writings, so the teacher scaffolds to promote their own self-efficacy. Overall, both recitations and discussions ae used, depending on the teacher. I hope that when my CT comes back, I will be seeing a lot more response-centered, open minded discussions occur.

TE 402 goals

Hey,

After going over the syllabus, I have come up with a few goals for myself in this half of TE 402. Like Ashleigh, one of my goals is to better understand Language Arts as a whole. I am pretty sure
that growing up I was given a great education in Language Arts, even if I never really enjoyed it. However, since coming to Michigan State I feel that I have grown away from Language Arts so I am looking forward to getting back into Language Arts this semester. I am not saying that I want to leave this class an expert on Language Arts, that would be asking for a lot in a short time period. Instead, I would like to take away from this class the confidence in my abilities to instruct children in Language Arts, and with that pretest we took in class on Wednesday, I am not sure if that confidence is there yet, but that is what this semester is for right? Also, another goal I have for this semester, as alway is a goal of mine in TE classes, I hope to improve on my work habits, the most important is how I work with my colleagues. I always believe that the colleagues can be the best resources you have, so by using my colleagues in assignments, or even if it is just a simple question, that can help prepare me for using colleagues wherever I may end up teaching at. Finally, and most importantly in my mind, I want to enjoy myself in this class, and looking over the syllabus I think that this is very possible. There have been TE experiences in which I dreaded each day that I had the class (Thats Wednesday for all you 401 section 001 people). But I am confident that this will be both a fun and challenging experience, so I am looking forward to it.

Goals

Hey Everyone,
After I read over the syllabus for Language Arts I have discovered a few goals for myself. One of the first goals I have is to better understand Language Arts as a whole. I never enjoyed Language Arts as a learner, so I am hoping to discover ways to teach the subject to students that gets them engaged and interested in what is being taught. I would like to find ways that will engage of single student at some point. Another goal of mine is to have a better understanding of reading, writing, and grammer (like Catherine) because I feel that my skills are not where they should be to benefit students. I feel that there is a lot that can be done in a Language Arts class to make it fun and interesting, but I do not know how and I am hoping that TE 402 can help me. These are just a couple of my goals that I believe are the most important. I am looking forward to building upon my skills in Language Arts because I have little and I really have no idea on how I should teach it. Well, that is all I have for now and I will see everyone on Wednesday!!!!

Course Goals

Hello!
After reading over the syllabus, I think I have a good idea of what I would like to get out of the TE 401 language arts course. One of the most important goals I have is to gain a better understanding of my own literacy teaching philosophy and how I need to modify it to meet the needs of diverse learners. Seeing as though language arts is worked into almost every day’s class schedule, I hope that this course gives me ideas on how to create a classroom community that is both engaged and passionate about the subject. Since technology is not my forte, I am also interested to explore the different ways it can be integrated with language arts to help support students’ learning. Along with Catherine, I also hope to polish up on my own grammar, so I feel confident enough to teach it to others. Finally, I have a personal goal to stay organized (with Ashleigh) throughout the entire semester so that I never feel overwhelmed. Hope everyone has a great day...see you all on Wednesday!! :)

1/14/08 Learning goals

Hi everyone!
So I guess this is the first post for our blog! OK, after looking over the syllabus and getting a general idea of the intentions for this class, I have come up with a few goals for myself. In general, I want to have a good understanding of the current benchmarks for language arts, and ideas as how to effectively implement these into fun, creative, and meaningful lessons for the classroom. Also, I want to have a better grasp on basic elements of grammar, writing, and reading, so I can feel confident teaching this myself. In all of my TE classes so far , we talk about how to implent whatever subject we are focusing on towards building a classroom community, and I want to know how to use language arts to do this as well, since this subject area seems to be the most widelt used topic throughout the day.
These goals are the most important ones to me thus far, and I'm sure as class continues, I will have many more. I look forward to learning a lot from this class, and gaining valuable expierence through teaching language arts in the classroom.