Autism Speaks

I thought that last weeks class was very powerful and informational not only about Autism, but also in helping to discuss classroom management skills and strategies. Josh informed us that more and more children are born afflicted with Autism and that there is a high probability that children with Autism will make it into our future classrooms.

This discussion and question portion of the class led me to take my own time to research Autism and also different organizations that fund research related to Autism. I came across www.autismspeaks.org, which is an organization that informs the public about the effects of Autism, offers support for families who have an Autistic child and also raises funds to support research into treatment options.

I appreciate that Josh came into our class and presented not only about Autism and dealing with children who are Autistic within your classroom, but also general strategies to classroom management that are effect for all students no matter their "condition" or "behavioral" issue.

Edited New Literacy Reflection

Click Here to access my New Literacy Project

When I first approached this class, my definition of literacy was pretty limited to print literacy—letters and numbers—but since being in this class and dealing with new technologies I now know that there are more distinct types of literacy that I had not included. These types of literacy are visual and technological. When I was attempting to create a website page and a link to a classroom Blog where students could share their own realistic fiction stories, much of the help I receive came from following the specific directions that were imbedded into the internet resources I was using. If I had a question about how to create a link, I needed to be able to negotiate the language that was being used in an attempt to help me achieve my desired goal during website construction.

Because of this project, I have changed my out look on what English Language Arts is and what it can be by incorporating new technologies into the curriculum. Many students come into the classroom with a highly developed sense of technological literacy and I feel that a marriage between technology and print literacy can take place within the classroom so that there is an opportunity for learning and growth. If students enter the classroom with one type of literacy highly developed while the others are lagging, I have learned through this project that there are ways to have students participate in English Language Arts without them really knowing it and therefore they give learning a chance subconsciously.

For my projected, I thought about how I could make reading and writing realist fiction more engaging and fun in the fifth grade classroom that I am currently placed. I have talked to the students before about their technology use and it has come up how they would like to create a classroom website (technology literacy) where their could share their own interests with the world. Taking these conversations, I thought that I could create a web page that was connected to the website I had created for my CEP 416 class, however my intention with this page is that it would be a class collaboration, perhaps using a Smart Board so that all the students could see what they were creating. Next, I wanted the students to have a way to share their work with “the world” and I thought that by having the students contribute to a Blog specifically meant to share their realist fiction stories. Next, I thought about how the fifth graders that I would with are obsessed with taking digital pictures and I thought that it would be fun and interesting if as part of this lessons, students were able to take real pictures about “what happened” and then to take pictures that answer the “what if” question. Using those pictures students would be able to create a slide show of illustrations to accompany their realist fiction stories that were Blogged and as a challenge to students that are more technologically advanced or wanted the challenge, they could create a digital story using their pictures and their spoken story.

I feel that by incorporating the different technologies into a writing students, even the most disconnected English Language Arts students could find some aspect of the assignment that they could really get involved in, all the while developing their self of literacy. I know that as a learner of technology that it can be a great source of frustration, so to support those students who felt particularly challenges, I would want to have two class periods where the students all had the chance to learn, use and play with the technologies that we would be using so that they had a better grasp on the tools as to avoid frustration when it came time to use the technology as part of an actual project. I know that for me personally, I like to play about with the technology before I have to take it seriously and use it in conjunction with a project.

I feel that this particular technology and the other new technologies that were presented during our virtual class are very important for complete literacy education because literacy isn’t only printed text, spelling and numbers. Literacy has evolved and grown as our society has evolved and grown as well so that it now included social, visual, emotional and technological literacy that must to used so that one can navigate the adult and professional world. More and more, information is held not between the covers of a book, but can be found using search engines and communicating with an expert through email. Times have changed and because of this so has my definition of literacy and thus my approach to a complete literacy program must include technology resources and that is what my project strives to accomplish.

Week 12, Exploring Instructional Models

This week we are focusing on the meaning of classroom centers as an instructional model, as well as others that are presented in Chapter 10 of Tompkins. When reading Tompkins try to envision what a Guided Reading group might look like in your future classroom, would you use this instructional method or do you fear that it would challenge your classroom management style? How do you think working teachers make their decisions about instructional models and how do you envision yourself choosing a model?

For those of us who are at Bath, enjoy your second "Spring Break" and as always, happy reading and posting.

Week 11, Vocabulary Development

This week we are reading Chapter 6 from Tompkins in hopes of discovering useful methods for developing vocabulary in the classroom. When you are reading this chapter, you should try to keep in mind different strategies for vocabulary development that was linked to a Book Club. Also, when reading Tompkins trying to develop a definition of critical literacy, as well as teaching for social action. Happy reading!

Reactions to Virtual Class

I must say, that I did enjoy the premise of todays class. I saw some many different ways to use technology in an educational and fun way that some techniques I can't wait to try. I was very interested in the iMovie that Kailey, Liz and Tara made that showed different important places and facts concerning England. I think that this particular technology tool, whether using a Mac or a PC, could be a fun way for students to work on researching a topic and then presenting their findings to the class as a whole. I hadn't thought about using this technology prior to our virtual class because I worried that it might be too complexed for students to use, but once I had the chance to talk to the group we were able to start brainstorming unit plans and lessons that could be used with the goal being a movie at the end acting as a performance-based assessment.

Another technology that I thought meshed well with literacy development and cultural literacy was the idea of using E-Pals. This project could be an on-going lesson on writing skills and also a chance to learn how peers in other places around the world approach the same issues related to growing up. I feel that E-Pals is an easy-to-navigate technology that could be utilized as a literacy tool, as well as a geographical tool.

I feel that this class was useful because I have seen how different technologies that I had once associated with social time can be used to excite students about learning and creating. I would like to thank my fellow classmates for taking such a creative approach to this assignment because I was able to see implementation of technology in the classroom that I had feared I would just never have the time to personally explore, let alone try to incorporate into my future classroom. I don't believe that in my first year of teaching that I will be able to use all the technology tools that I want, but I now think that it will be beneficial to illustrate the skill of fearlessness and challenging yourself.

New Literacies Project

For our New Literacies Exploration Project I focused on how technology can be used when addressing Print, Visual and Social Literacies. I have been working in a fifth grade classroom this semester and have witnessed their struggle and progression in writing and have seen them work on the various types of genre writing, all except for Realistic Fiction. I happened to run across a book by Roni Schotter entitled Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street and this story deals with strategies that can be used when it comes to writing a realistic, but fictional story about a place that the author knows well. I decided to create my new technologies project around this book with the thought in mind that I would create a lesson that would teach the skills necessary for writing realistic fiction while using blogs and flickr slide shows. I have created a web page outlining the lesson on my mock classroom website and you can access this site by clicking here.

What I liked about using these three types of technologies is that I feel that they are completely accessible for students within the classroom. I think that by the time that I have become a working teacher, my students will have already experimented with these types of technologies and, because of that, will be easier to work with on a project like the one I have created. I think that when teachers focus on the educational usage of technologies that students are already using social, the learning process becomes something that is more fun, engaging and meaningful because it links social with school. Overall, I enjoyed this project because I got to practice my own skills in editing and creating web pages and blogs and because I was able to create something interactive using a printed book so that multiple literacies were involved.

Step One: Identifing Yourself as a Technology User and Learner

So I was reading out the description for the New Literacies Project, and I noticed that we were suppose to have posted our personal definitions of how we see ourselves as technology learners. So, better late than never, here is my definition:

On January 7, 2008 I embarked on an eye opening trip of self-motivated learning and self-challenging exploration: I started CEP 416. CEP 416 is a class that has been designed for pre-service teachers to explore ways that readily and freely accessible technologies can be used as learning tools. The reason that I decided that I should take this elective course at Michigan State was because I knew that I knew very little about technology. Also, I attended the MSU Technology Conference and my eyes were opened to the learning possibilities that were offered by introducing students to technologies that could enhance education in a creative, fun and informative way. These two key events inspired me to immigrate towards the promise land that technology offers for the 21^st Century student.

I have had the opportunity to look at statistics and here employers speak about the high demand for technologically advanced and challenging jobs and the need for today's educators to be able to give students the tools necessary for these positions. Because of the information that I have gathered concerning the need for technology integration, I have begun to take the steps necessary for becoming more versed in digital literacy. Currently I would consider myself to be in the emergent phase of my digital literacy development. However, I feel that one points on this road towards digital literacy is to remember that the definition for being a “literate” person is constantly changing and it is our job as “literate” people within this society to keep challenging ourselves and our abilities so that we never digress into an illiterate state. Emergent is just the first milestone on the road towards complete literacy and digital literacy is one of the destinations that must be reached during your travels.

Fluency and critical standards with Book Club

Welcome back from spring break, I hope that it went well for everyone!

This week, the guiding questions to consider when reading are as follows:
1) How is fluency taught in Book Club?
2) What is critical literacy and teaching for social action?
3) What is cultural capital?

The read that you should be applying these guiding questions is Chapter 5 from Tompkins
See you all in class on Thursday!

Reading Comprehension and Metacognition with Book Club

First, I want to apologies for not being up-to-date with this blog last week, but I was sick with the flu and had to be nursed back to health by my mom at home in Clare, which equals no internet access! So here I go for next week (almost to spring break!)...

Guiding Questions for Reading comprehension and metacognition with Book Club:
1) What is Book Club?
2) How is comprehension taught in Book Club?
3) How does knowledge of text structure facilitate comprehension?
4) What are different perspectives on teaching the language arts with literature?
5) How do different perspectives address diverse learners' needs?
6) How can I help students with learning disabilities?

The readings for next week are as follows:
Tompkins, Chapter 8 Facilitating Comprehension: Text Factors
Gibbons, Chapter 5 Reading in a Second Language

It is also good to remember that next week, February 28, 2008, our first Participation Log is due. Happy reading and just remember, this is the last week before Spring Break and then its all downhill from there!

One Week Closer to Spring Break

For this week the questions to consider while reading were focused on planning workshops and reading comprehension. The following questions should be considered while blogging a response to the class discussion that took place on February 21, 2008.

1) How can I improve my lesson plans?
2) What are essential skills and strategies for improving reading comprehension?
3) How can I help English language learners?

The readings for this week focus the reading processes and facilitating reading comprehension within the Tompkins text. It is important to remember that reading and reading comprehension develop at different phases for different students and only by knowing you students will you be able to help develop classroom strategies for achieving the ultimate goal of literate students.

Enjoy your reading and blogging! One more week until Spring Break and warmer thoughts!

P.S.: For next week we have a Midterm paper due that is a response to page 119 of the course pack and should also include an appendix of your blogging activity into a word document. Just thought that I would put up a reminder because I know how easy it is to get conflicted about assignments with so many coming due! Happy reading and blogging!

Trisha's Reactions and Questions

Today we talked about ELL students and watched video clips of a Lansing Public School teacher voice her opinions and her experiences with ELL students within her classroom over the years. What I thought was most interesting about this particular discussion and video presentation was the issue of how you "label" a young student as either an ELL student or not? After working with elementary aged boys in the Lansing School District for two years now and experiencing various levels of parent involvement and language backgrounds, I have found that often times by many of the standards that have been highlighted in the readings, most of these boys would be considered ELL. I contest that when children first make the transition from home to school life, most aspects of the English language is new and has to be learned within the classroom environment, because of these circumstances I feel that lower elementary teachers should adopt strategies that are popular with those whom specialize in being teachers for ELL. It seems to me that whether a child is exposed to English within their home or not, verbal language can only get a student so far when considering assignments and academic usage and it is a learned skill when one realizes how to operate with this English classroom language.

What do you all think? I would like to know because with discussion Angela came up with an interesting point that I had not thought about when I made my original statement and I want to know if I am still missing some of the puzzle pieces. Thanks, see you all next week!

Readings, Questions and Presentations

Well group 4, this is our week to present our findings within the readings for week 5 of our Literacy discussion. Amanda and I will be splitting the Tompkins reading; Matt and Kevin, you will be splitting the Gibbons chapter. If you could all just create a brief power point and email is to Trisha so that she may compile everything by Wednesday afternoon everything should be ready to role by Thursday morning!

The guiding questions for the readings that may help when looking for the highlight-able portions are as follows and stem from the guiding title "Emergent Literacy: NCLB, Phonemic awareness, phonics & spelling":
1) How does the No Child Left Behind Act influence language arts curriculum and teaching?
2) What teaching approaches help children develop phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling?
3) What new literacies are students likely to bring to the classroom?
4) How can book clubs support language learning?

Good luck with these coming weeks of ample reading, discussion and presentations!

Week Four Readings for Thought

This week, our class was looking at Emergent Literacy and the discussion in class was based in part on the views presented in the readings and also the videos watched in class about how ELL students are incorporated into the literacy process.

The questions for thought this week are as follows:
1) What is emergent literacy?
2) How do children develop as readers and writers?
3) How do teachers prepare the environment to support literacy development for all learners?
4) How does an understanding of good discussion promote literacy learning in book club?

The readings for week four as as follows:
Tompkins, Chapter 3: Working with Emergent Readers & Writers
Gibbons, Chapter 2: Classroom Talk: Creating Context for Language Learning
Gibbons, Chapter 3: From Speaking to Writing in the Context of Classroom

Good luck this week and have a good weekend!

Trisha's Initial Response

Collectively, I thought that the readings were interesting in that they call illustrated the different aspects of the teacher-student relationship when introducing literature into an elementary classroom. The readings as a whole brought to my attention disparities that I had not originally thought about when thinking about American English language arts like how often traditional discussion is substituted for real and meaningful discussion of a classroom text. Personally I feel that offering students the chance for literary discussion or instructional conversation or what have you, is important because it offers various perspectives on a similar reading experience and conversing with people who hold different opinions concerning a common experience happens is every day life. However, I feel that this type of educational strategy is problematic in that time is of the essence in all classrooms throughout K-12 schools and at times any discussion, traditional or otherwise, is at a premium and this is a question that I held throughout the collection of readings.

I thought that the reading about response-centered talk was the most helpful and applicable within a classroom community that is already focused on student-directed learning. I like this discussion technique that best because it also allowed the teacher to interject their own personal opinions in a way that was not a singularly correct answer or interpretation and that students felt comfortable with expanding or disagreeing with an opinion. I feel that the situation of teacher transcribing is a positive method for self-reflection and professional development and more importantly, I think that by using response-centered talk for a year with students can only help the class move towards instructional conversations.

Lastly, I feel that the reading concerning instructional conversations is one that illustrates a future goal for first year teachers. Throughout the reading I felt that the approaches were definiately obtainable but on the scale of a five year goal for a first year teacher because I think at the core of the issue of instructional conversation is teacher preparation and background with a certain piece of material. I feel that if a first year teach systematically includes response-centered talk and builds upon his or her own knowledge about how students typically react to a piece of literature that a teacher can professional develop to a level where instructional conversation is possible.

Discourse and teaching for understanding literature

This week the readings for the course take a look at various types of interactions that can take place in a classroom when working with forms of literature. Please consider the following questions while reading and post your comments about interesting trends or points that where noticed throughout any or all of the texts.

1) What student and teacher roles are central to helping diverse learners make sense of language arts?
2) What role can classroom discourse place in teaching for understanding in language arts?
3) What support do learners need to participate fully in discussions and group work?
4) What language varieties do students bring to school and what do they need to learn about language?

Please post your thoughts and comments by January 24, 2008. After reading the group members' thoughts, please comment on one post by January 25, 2008. Please make sure that you label your post with the coordinating week so that it is easier to find the correct posts for comments. Happy reading to all and have a good week in your placement!

Readings for Week 3:

Almasi, A New View of Discussion; McGee, Response-Centered Talk; Langer, Understanding Literature; Goldenberg, Instructional Conversations: Promoting Comprehension through Discussion