Making Connections

First of all, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! It is time to celebrate and thank our brave men that fought for our freedom! They are the reason why we can go out and be who we are without getting hurt. I just hope the white house lights up with red, white and blue for the fourth of July!
    
   Don't forget the history of the USA and that we do have rights from the constitution and those rights should not be taken away from anyone.

Throughout the class I have made some connections with our reading, the articles, with the real world. I am Catholic and do go to church every sunday and last weekend I made a connections with one of the readings! I will post a picture up just to see if anyone in the class can point out what I am looking at here.

Well there is a word that we all should be familiar with! Which is "discourse"! Although in the article the main discourse is spelt with a capital "D". So for those who don't know what discourse means here is a little insight into this term. Discourse is explained by Gee is, "Discourses are ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions and clothes. Discourse is our identity kit". I have to say when I read this I also connect with what is happening on this day and why Fourth of July is very important. Yes there are other countries who have freedom but there are those countries who don't have freedom. And in these countries that don't have freedom people cant have a Discourse or they would be killed. We need to be thankful for our military in order for us, Americans, to have Discourse. But I will stop ranting here because I can go on and on with what is going on and I don't want to get in trouble! haha

So with this ending statement of this blog........

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Final Thiughts

This is one of my lasts posts about the book, especially since there are only 9 chapters in the book and just reflected on each chapter!

I am visiting my family in Colorado and wanted to get my posts done so I can visit my family and my NEW NEPHEW!! I haven't seen him since he was born and i'm super excited and don't want to be tied down with a lot of homework! Even though I have the :getting practical" assignment to still get done....oh and the last paper on why I believe I deserve an A! Its gonna be tough but I will get all my assignments done but family is very important to me as well and would like to spend time with them, especially since I drove all this way!


There where a few things that I really enjoyed in the book Do I Really have to Teach Reading? and plan on taking some of these strategies to my classroom! I am going to be a PE teacher but I do plan on having my students read certain contents and will have them reflect on these reading. One big thing I took from the book is a double entry diary and having the students write about what they read. I will send home questions with the reading just to help guide the students with the reading.. I will have the students use this all year and I will have checks through out the semester and have them turn everything in at the end of the semester.

Another thing I took from this group is having students get into groups and bounce off ideas from each other to learn more about the content . I, however, don't want to put students in groups that know each other and I want students to become more social!

I will add more blogs up but its FAMILY TIME!!

"Did I Mis Anything?"

If teachers become distant from their own learning they will most certainly become distant from the learning of their students. 
                                                          -Alisa Wills-Keely

This person has made a very important comment that teachers should take in and learn from. We are teachers and we are supposed to be knowledgeable in many different aspects of life and learning. If we, as teachers, are no longer interested in expanding our learning, or just learn more in general, we will fall into a pit. I have personally seen this in teachers that dont seem to care if their content is being soaked into their students brain. But i have seen some teachers, even in their 60's, continue on learning such a variety of content and come into the class ready to teach and ready to have their students learn. Teachers who care really can make a difference in their students lives and make their class fun and exciting!
 

As teachers we still need to stay, yes even after hours, to sit and think about how our class went. And ask ourselves, did i miss anything? There are some content that we can bring up the next day in the class just in  case there was an important thing that we missed. During the class we still need to take notes of the different things that are going on in the class. The interactions that we have with the students and the interactions the students have with each other. We are a community, as students and teachers and we actually will bounce off ideas from each other.


Sometimes our classes become so boring that students end up falling asleep or lose their attention to the class! We dont want this and one thing i really took in from this book is changing around curriculum and do different things for the students to learn. But what we have to know is we wont have the answers to everything but thats why we need to continue on learning.
 

"What Do I do withh All of These Sticky Notes?!"

The hardest part about reading is remembering what I've read 
                                                                   Jessica, ninth grader 

The most nerve racking thing for students is when it comes to taking a test! I still to this day freak out when i have to take a test! There have been tests that U have taken that i did well on because of the teacher! There have been tests i failed because the teacher didn't prepare me well for the test! My teacher, Mr.Kravitz, was one of the bests teachers that i had in all of my school years! He told us what he expected us to know and what we needed to be prepared for the tests. Believe it or not i still remember the information that he taught the class!

Questions to Drive My Instruction 

1. What do the strategies look like as a students thinking becomes more sophisticated? 
2. How do strategies connect to real world learning, and how do students use the strategies outside my class? 
3. How do i know when a student is ready to have a new strategy introduced? 
4. How do these strategies connect to other strategies?  

This chapter in the book Do I Really have to Teach Reading? Gave some really good strategies and examples of assessments that can help teachersdriver their teaching. Some of these strategies are:

• Starting Points; Goal setting and whole-class charts 
• Conversation calendars
• Deciding on how much assignments are worth 
• Reading Response Labs 
• Collecting Reading Response Logs 
• File Folder collection of work samples 
• Quick Conferences 
• Testing what the students know

We still need to individualize our instruction according to each student in the class and make sure we aren't doing the same thing EVERYDAY because it will get boring to the students and they will begin to lose interest in the class. 
 

Group Work that Grows Understanding

Curriculum is often thought of as a set of specific knowledge, skills or books to be covered. I propose intead we think of curriculum as a set of important conversations that we want students to engage in. 
                                                            - Arthur Applebee

First off, I have to say I had a really hard time getting things started today! Never good to start a day off bad because other people get you, especially by people you really care about, or because you had an awful dream! This is why i wish i was already teaching so i could get into my classroom and start teaching students new things that will excite them! Plus that would make me a happy camper right now! I believe today would be a good day to teach line dancing! Since i got them all down last night!

So, enough with my mess its time to talk about, Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?  

As teachers we always have to have a plan set up for our classroom, whether its for a whole entire year or half of the semester. This is what is to be considered of "curriculum" stated by Arther Applebee above. He does make a very good point that we need to think of curriculum as what we want our students to be engaged in. Every time the new classes starts students are given sheets of paper that states what is to be expected of them, but that is also APS standards of what teachers have to do. We do need to let our students know what is to be expected of them, so they do not lose track or simple walk all over us (teachers). 

Part of our curriculum should involve some type of group work because students can bounce off ideas from each other and they can learn from each other that way too. For me being a Physical Education Teacher one idea i have for group work is getting students in groups of 4 or 5 (depends on the class size) and having them come up with their own line dance and teaching it to the class with the next days to come! With this they will have to do research on what a line dance is and what consists of a line dance. Being able to find moves from there dance from the readings (research), videos, music, and each other.

Why Small Groups? 

Teachers are always concerned about our students getting off track because being in groups can cause a distraction from the content being taught. But this is why we set guidelines and let our students know what is expected of them while they are in our classroom! Yes, students want to be in groups with their friends but it is best to put students in group where they dont know each other well or at all.  But we wonder why small groups in the first place during discussion? 

• Stimulates higher levels of thinking 
• Develops social skills 
• Develops listening skills 
• Encourages thinking 
• Honors all learners 
• Holds students accountable 
• Helps students remember 
• Allows students to make connections 
• Allows students to see different perspectives 
• Promotes deeper understanding 

What are things we can do to keep students on track? This book Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? gives some real life situations. 

What do we do if................. Someone hasn't read the material or completed the task? 
          It is suggested that these students do not like the spot light by any means and would prefer to read on their own in a quiet spot. If this is the case we need to give that students to have time to read but to come back to the group to be involved in the discussion.

What do we do if.........Someone talks all the time? 
           Give this person a job. Have the student record thoughts on a chart or in a group double-entry diary.Provide some words that the other group members could use to politely the students that he/she is monopolizing the conversation by saying, Great idea, ______, i wonder if you could let someone else respond" or "Thanks for your thinking_____, i wonder what _____has to say". 

What do we do if...........Someone doesn't talk? 
           Some students would rather listen to the conversation, which is ok to honor this to the students. But it is important for that student to have a chance to be heard! Students don't talk because they either feel like they are being rude or doesn't want to break in. If this happens use prompts like "______, you haven't said much. Would you like to add any thinking to the group?". 

How to guide students in group discussions?

• Have each student give an overview on what they have read so far 

• Have students share something interesting from the book

1. A character action 
2. An opinion about something thats happened 
3. A question 
4. A confusing part 
5. A provocative part  

• Have students share their thinking about a quote 
• Have each group member put in their own input 
• Have students use the text to support their statements

 

Holding Thinking to Remember and Reuse

I dont look at a book as a whole bunch of words. I look at it as someone's thinking, and the information the author wants me to know. 
                                                 Brad, high school senior

Reading this statement, I was thinking WOW! What if all the students that came into our classroom thought like this! As a student I did not think like this because i was never really interested in reading certain texts that i did not find interesting. I wont lie, I'm kind of a weird one, i love reading about viruses and reading cases on the CDC site. I also LOVE reading about hauntings and possessions, I know weird haha. But there is no class out there with this kind of information! (Well biology!)

Time for Thinking!! 

So we do need strategies to give to students that will give them tools to help them remember the content that we are teaching. One of these strategies is having students mark the text. How do we get students started with marking text?
1) Mark one quote in the text, and have a conversation about the quote
2) Write a question that doesnt have a simple answer
3) Ask your partners opinion about your ideas
4) Are you copying information from the text or sharing your thinking? Share thinking!
5) Make a statement or recommendation, based on what you've read

Although we do give students guidelines to help them understand the text but sometimes students will get stuck!
                             Tips for Students: Getting "unstuck" 

• Trust the author. Dont panic if at first the text doesnt make sense. The author will slowly reveal clues. 
• Ask questions.Quite likely someone else may have the same question. 
• Slow down. Give yourself time to read, reread, and paraphrase what youve read 
• Its okay to go back. Sometimes readers go back and reread confusing parts of texts 

Another tip stated in the text is having students use sticky notes. But what is the use of this or why should teachers suggest using sticky notes? Sticky notes give students the ability to find a part quickly, mark a confusing part to get clarified, and hold thinking to share later.

"Why Am I Reading This?"

I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander. 
                                      - Isaac Asimov


As teachers we seem to forget that we excel in the content that we are teaching and tend to speed teach and leave students behind without ever knowing it! Part of this chapter brought up a really good point that gives students the ability to tell the teacher what is working for them and what is not. With this we can change things around only to improve our teaching. I believe it is VERY important to have students input in our classes because they are the ones that we are teaching.The book gives examples for all different types of contents, such as Spanish, Science, and Math. This work sheet that we give to students can be used in classes but it does look like a worksheet for a teacher to fill out.

                  Instructional Purpose 

1. Instructional purpose: What is essential for students to know? 
2. What two places may cause students difficulty?
3. What will you model that will help students negotiate the different parts?
4. What do they need to do with the information they are reading? 
5. How will they hold their thinking while they read?   

What is your instructional purpose? 





As teachers we have to sit and ponder on what is our purpose and that is the instructional purpose of the content that we are teaching? The Book Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? gives teachers some questions for teachers to help answer there question.

• Dediide what students should know after reading the pece. Focus on essential information only. 
• Anticipate what might cause students difficulty 
• Model how you would negotiate difficulty. Try thinking out loud at one of the places where you anticipate students will experience difficulty. Give them a tip on how to negotiate the next part 
• What do you want them to be able to do with the information once they have finished the reading? How will they hold their thinking so they can return to it later to use in a discussion, a paper, or a project? 
• Model how they should hold their thinking and provide tools. Should they mark text, use sticky notes, complete a double entry diary? 

Determining possible purposes 
There are some examples that the text gives in order to provide the "tools" for teachers and students on how to hold their thinking. 

• Look for interesting details that could have multiple meanings 
• Ask questions about the title and subtitle 
• Ask questions about the piece 
• Look for the authors opinion. Compare his or her opinion with your own. 
• Read a piece to learn new information from. Is there anything in the reading that helps you understand the topic better better? 
• Make a connection to the piece 
• Who is the author?