"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? 

 

Connecting Students with the Text

"If the reading is too hard, I just get the Cliffs notes or skim through chapters. If I say I can't get the Cliffs notes, I just listen to what the teacher and kids say in the class".
                                                                                   Jay, high school sophomore

Wow! What a connection I have with this student! I did the same thing as Jay did, which is if i couldn't understand the text I did turn to the cliff notes and then the class. The one important thing about group discussions in class is other view points are brought up which can help others gain a better understanding of the text. It seems that certain textbooks that are put into the school system are, honestly, useless. Because some textbooks have too much information and could be too advanced for most of the students.  

How can we as teachers avoid the textbook problem?

• Create multiple sources of texts at various reading levels 
• Provide "managed choices" which means choosing text that is interesting
• Individualize Instruction! Small group work and less whole class lecture 

So what is an accessible text?

Poems, Short nonfiction selections, fiction, picture books, newspaper articles, short stories, internet pieces, lists, mathematical writing, postcards, photos, stamps, recipes, catalogs, calendars, pictures of artwork, letters and journals, historical recounts, song lyrics, brochures, and quotes!

Who knew that there was so many different types of accessible texts?! So, teachers not only have to use a textbook in the classroom but they can bring other items to the classroom. A variety is important in a classroom, so students don't get bored with the content and get more information from other items rather than a textbook.

How can teachers evaluate text sets?

• Writing letters to future users of the the sets 
• Observing tudents as they use the sets 
• Asking students to compare and contratst pieces in the text 
• Recording questions and research those questions 
• Making interesting and important places in the text with sticky notes that describe connections made by the reader

  

Parallel Experiences!

There was a part in the beginning of this chapter that really caught my eye because the area of subject that i am teaching, or going to teach, there is hardly any or no reading. The beginning starts off with a conversation between two adults and one said, "Oh Yeah? Then you tell me hot I'm supposed to teach reading when students don't have to read in my class?". I was thinking this same thing because i am teaching physical education. But as this conversation went on between the two adults one of them starts talking about how the other teacher reads a blueprint. "So how do you read a blueprint?" says one of the teachers. "What do you mean how do i read a blueprint, I just read it", says the other teacher. This brings up a good point because every single one of us has different abilities in a subject that comes easier to us rather than to others. For example, making a lesson plan. To me it is simple at this point and to others it's like a whole new demention and don't know where to even begin.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL MODELING 

First off, when i say this headline i thought what an important statement! I say this because we all need to guided in some way or another. We are guided bu our parents, teachers, colleges, friends, schools and communities. We all do need a set of rules as well, so we know right from wrong. But some people don't follow these rules and is why we have police officers and i will include the military as well. Now, as teachers, we need to set guidelines or rules for our students when it comes to reading or writing. I know when it comes to assignments myself i need some type of rubric to follow so i know what the heck i am doing! 

            So what is mental modeling? 

1) Mental modeling gives students insights into how good readers ans writers make sense of the text
2) Allows students to see options that are available to them
3) Helps students understand the complex way of reading and writing and that students have an ongoing thinking process 

So, how do we as teachers apply this concept into our classroom?
 This also depends on the text but to model the examples given are to:

• Determine what is important 
• recognize and repair confusion 
• negotiate difficult reading situations 
• start new books 
• remember key word from previous chapters 
• figure out unknown vocabulary 
• research topics 
• remember what you read 
• infer meaning 

It is important that as teachers we are able to recognize what students are struggling with. As teachers we know the struggle of reading and is important to give our students insight on how we dealt with the struggle and share how we got through it. Some of the things we as tachers do can be passed on to our students. 

The "so What?" of Reading Comprehension

It is truly amazing how students can change the way we end up teaching the next years class. Even though we have our fellow teachers to help us out, it is the students input that is the most important on our "teaching" abilities. We all have had that boring teacher but i feel if a student speaks up things can change. We need to change for the better not the worst, of course. But, unfortunately, we do have some teachers out there who no longer care and hate going to work and that needs to change. Because we do not want our students to lose interest in learning because we are "boring". Obviously we cant have exciting lessons every day but to make most days enjoyable for students to be in the classroom is the most important.

A strategy that is stated in this book that is truly useful is a diary. Believe it or not i had to do this for a health class last semester and it really helped my understanding of the ENTIRE class. I will personally assign a diary to each of the students that take my class. What the author states in this chapter is using a double entry diary for students comprehension of the reading helps the students make the connections to the text. There are different examples a teacher can go about doing this and pictures should be up for examples for you to see. I think this is one of the better strategies to help students make that connection.

Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Chapter.1

Already reading the first chapter of this book i can really relate to the author of the book. As she begins her first chapter she states, "I'm the stupid lady from Denver". I took this as a shock but we all have our strengths and weaknesses in certain subjects. A huge weakness of mine is reading but this was due to my elementary school. I wasn't good in math either, so they took me out of "reading" time to get tutored in math! UNBELIEVABLE right! So now that i suffered in math, i know suffer in my reading abilities. I can say my math abilities have greatly improved but still improving on reading. I think it is very important for schools to have all students get the same time in each subject and not be taken out because that will create the weakness in subject, like myself. Even though i will only be a PE teacher i want to make sure all my students are succeeding in each subject and if they needed help i could help them or help find them a tutor. A book for teachers that will help by this author is I read It, but I Don't get It. After reading into the chapter a little more she hit on a few things that i found very important. As teachers we need to understand that all students learn differently and we need to find ways to teach in a variety pf ways. That could mean as teachers we give the same assignment but give students a different way about doing the assignment. The author does bring up a good point when he states, "Good readers and writers monitor their understanding as they read. They recognize when the text is making sense and when it isn't". BUT! There are many strategies that students will do to make understanding of the reading. Some of the examples that the author uses for students to understand what they are reading is:

A) Activating background knowledge and making connections to new information
B) Self- questioning the text
C) Using sensory images
D) Finding clues in the text
E) Fix-up strategies
F) synthesizing and extended thinking

So, what is a fix up strategy?!
    This is a strategy used by a reader to help get unstuck when the text becomes confusing........ ok, so what are these strategies?

           Make a connection between the text and the students life, knowledge of the world, and another text.

TONSILECTOMY!!

This is not part of this class but i had to blog about this so other people could read this!
I know a lot of people had their tonsils removed and I am now included in that category! I have been fighting chronic tonsillitis since the beginning of January and it sucked! So i was in and out of the hospital, well the hospital on the UNM campus. I swear i cant wait to see the doctors at UNM campus because they diagnosed me very wrong!! When i first came down with this stuff i thought i had strep because i had all the signs and symptoms of it but it only lasted a day. I couldn't even get in to see my actual doctor and said i had to wait forever to see them and im like that doesn't do CRAP for me! So, my happy butt went to the doctor at UNM, on campus. The doctor gave me some medicine to help with the "strep" but when i was tested for strep it came as negative and i was surprised because i swore that is what i had! She had me come back in because she SWORE i had mono. Because these doctors on campus swears all students on college campuses get mono and kept telling me that is what i had. Im like i do NOT have mono! They did all these tests on me and guess what........NEGATIVE for mono! I was done with them because they had no idea what i had so i went to another (real) doctor. I went to an ear, nose, throat doctor and he diagnosed me right away! Doctor "well you have chronic tonsillitis"......in like 1 minute at looking at me! HAHAHA WOW! After this he sent me on my way with antibiotics to help me before my surgery. My surgery was June.15. The day of the surgery i was nervous because im the type that thinks something will go wrong. (kind of did). The nurse i had couldn't get the IV in my hand and kept poking me and that just freaked me the heck out. I only remember being rolled into the surgery room then i was out like a light!. From here it only went down hill. I was in so much pain, i cant even describe the pain to you! My ears hurt bad and so did my jaw plus i couldn't swallow without tears coming out! You have to realize i LOVE food and i could barely eat jello! i knew i had to stay hydrated because if i didn't it would just get worse, so i forced myself to drink fluids. I couldn't talk at all and used a white board to write notes to my parents. I only got 2 hours of sleep because i was in just constant pain. My scar tissue came off about the 7th day of surgery.....its a bunch of BS when they say you don't feel the scar come off because i did! I swallowed the dang thing and it was nasty! After some of the scaring came off anything burned after, even water. I couldn't take the pain pills because i would just throw up. One day my grandpa came to see me but i was SO sick from the medicine and he was worried about me. I was OUT for a week. And i have this online class and catching up because i just slept but didn't get much because i hurt so bad.  I am doing better now but still hurt (not as bad as the first week) and barely talking now. I still cant eat much either and I'm STARVING!!! Ive lost 8 pounds since my surgery date. But this is the worst thing to go through.....just AWFUL. When people say its hell......its the truth! Im on day 9 from the surgery (so still another 5 days)  and still having issues but not as bad. I just feel like a true hick spitting out stuff in a can like im spitting chewing tobacco lol.......so to those who are wondering about what its like after this surgery it SUCKS! If you don't need the surgery and antibiotics help you then don't do it!!!

About This Girl

Well, first off i have to say i had no idea what a blog is or used for. I have seen a movie with a girl that used a blog to express  her feelings but she was being bullied in school and posted not good things on her blog. I am not much about the "social" internet stuff. Yes, I have facebook but that is to keep in touch with friends and family that are not living in the same state as myself. I am VERY surprised that I now have a blog myself but i kind of have to! I had no clue how to even start a blog but once i figured it out I had fun creating a page that reflects my personality. I do, however, plan on using this blog for more use than just to blog about a book I am reading. I have a lot of experiences that others don't and i will have no problem sharing them. I want this blog to help myself understand certain topics better and to help others understand. The thing that makes me nervous about this is who all can see this......so to those don't put personal information up on these blogs! I think it is interesting that to post blogs that i have to go through my email, i was really thrown off with this! HA! Shows how technology savy i am!! For those who still are confused about what a blog is here is a site to help you understand (don't be embarrassed i had to read this!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog. I am going to school to be a Physical and Health Education Teacher. So, most people tell me "why that career?" Guess what?! I am not about making millions of dollars and be in a job that i completely hate! I love kids and they are our future, so we best give them a good path of success AND happiness. I want to be a teacher that actually makes a difference in a students life. I truly feel like if a child finds a physical activity it will keep them out of trouble and help them make better decisions. I won't be teaching just the basic sports because we are all not the same. A blog that i found that i will keep in touch with is a blog for physical education teachers http://www.thephysicaleducator.com/blog/.

For me I played soccer for about 15 years now and i do coach soccer too (which helped me lead to my career). But other activities for me is fishing and shooting and archery. The mountains is a place of happiness for myself.
  It seems that technology has taken over the new generation, i mean a brand new born baby can get on a tablet and know how to work it! And I'm over here trying to figure out where the dang power button is! (Ok I'm not that bad but it is the truth!) From my first blog, which was a test to make sure it actually worked, i talked about how do i teach reading/writing for Physical education? I do have a few ideas not but I'll tell you later! When i was going through school in my younger age i was not excited about reading or writing because the teacher was BORING! SO, I need to change this and make assignments and learning fun and take it a different way than the traditional way because it is not working well for most students. I, to this day, do not like reading but i can write when it is something that i am interested in. For example, last semester i was taking Exercise Physiology and our final was a paper based on terms throughout the semester but had to come up with our own story using all terms. I was thinking what in the heck?! I sat and thought about it for a while and a light bulb came on! I am kind of a wierdo and LOVE watching zombie movies and anything that has to do with a virus or CDC stuff. So, I wrote my story on a zombie apocalypse (Hey i thought it was good!). So, this made me think being a teacher I will have my students write their own story using terms (to make sure they are learning).
 Lets see where this goes!! :}

What's The Motivation?

As a Physical Education teacher how do I teach reading and writing?!


I believe many teachers go through this scenario because we are not all "English" teachers. As a student reading and writing was the worst! BUT! That's how we all learned. So, how can we motivate students to read and write? The book I am currently reading, hopefully, will give us ideas on how to motivate our students to read and write, no matter the subject.