Through Intro to LA I have learned that it really is worth it to go through the whole writing process to submit your best work. Some of the implications of this class is that the observations don't guarantee that you will see everything in action and thus not having much of an example to follow or amend in the future. I really enjoyed the activities and discussions we had in class because I liked being able to see what a sample of third grade writing looks like, role playing during the mini lessons, and seeing the use of new technology (smart board) for lessons. The only piece of technology that was used when I was in third grade was the overhead projector and the occasional television for when we watched movies.
In my future classroom, I will consider using available technology in my lessons and as a means to complete projects, I will use brainstorm maps to help my students get their thoughts organized, and possibly even blogs as part of their journal entries while reading.
I will try to avoid setting writing and reading periods on the back burner if other subjects need more time to catch up on material.
LA was never my best subject, so I am a little nervous that I won't be very good at teaching it. To my students who initially don't like to read or write, I plan on telling them that I didn't like it when I was their age either because I wasn't good at it, but that they would get lots of practice and it will probably grow on them one day.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Field Visit Reflection
Through visiting Ms. Buchanan's class at Smith Magnet Elementary School, I learned that you could incorporate the six Language Arts in just about any area of study. However, I don't feel like I got to see proper writing instruction in action. I would still say that the observations impacted me positively because she gave me some resources to get lesson plans off of, and demonstrated how to use Language Arts instruction in other subjects. I can't really relate many textbook readings to what I saw in action, but as I mentioned, I saw some aspects. Even though I didn't get to see everything in action, I still enjoyed being in her class.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Editing/Revising
My editors didn't really have much to edit the first time, but I enjoyed reading my partners' stories because I got to see a glimpse into their lives that I didn't know about before. The only thing I don't like about peer conferencing is that if you're in the editing stage, and the person who's reading your story doesn't have great grammar skills, then they might mark your paper up wrong. Luckily, we're all old enough now that we can choose which punctuation to change and which to keep to reflect the mood we're trying to portray. I like when people give me suggestions about what to do with my writing, but I don't like to critique other people's writing, unless it's to find grammar mistakes.
Peer editing/revising can definitely be adapted to a k-5 classroom. Peers at that age are capable of telling the writers what they like best in the story, and what parts are confusing. In terms of grammar, a third grade class would look for things like period placement, proper use of capital letters, and spelling.
Peer editing/revising can definitely be adapted to a k-5 classroom. Peers at that age are capable of telling the writers what they like best in the story, and what parts are confusing. In terms of grammar, a third grade class would look for things like period placement, proper use of capital letters, and spelling.
Reading/Writing Workshop
I've never had a literature focus unit because my teachers always expected us to read some on our own and discuss the reading the next day. Some of my teachers have had class read-alouds, but I think it was to kill time or get us interested in different authors or reading subjects.
In eighth grade, I had a thematic unit on the holocaust. We learned about WWII in history and read the book "Night" in my Language Arts class, but I never had any math or science teachers try to integrate lessons from social studies or language arts classes.
I've been in multiple literature circles, but the part where my teachers have broken the rules is that they didn't let us choose what books to read. We still had different roles we were in charge of and certain pages we had to read at once. Also, our roles didn't switch after each meeting. It wasn't until EDU 255 that I learned the roles were supposed to switch after each meeting. It makes a lot more sense to do it that way, because every group would always find lots of ways to not read and still do well on the assignments.
In writer's workshops, my teachers usually assigned us prompts to write. Some of them had a lot of flexibility, and others did not. I usually hated the ones that didn't have much flexibility if I couldn't relate to the situation given. We rarely ever got to choose what to write until I was in 8th grade. We were finally allowed to write about whatever we wanted in my 8th grade LA class, but it was usually only for ten minutes, so it couldn't really be called writer's workshop, since it was less than an hour in duration. However, we were able to continue a piece if we wanted to, or start a new one, and when we finished, we had the option to share it or not share it after each writing period.
I've done a lot of reader's workshops. I remember in 4th grade it was called SQUIRT. It stood for Super Quiet Uninterrupted Reading Time. We also had SSR. Every so often, we took class trips to the school library to pick out new books to read, and when there was a book sale going on at school, we always went as a class to make up wishlists or buy books if we had money on us.
I really enjoy doing thematic units because they're interdisciplinary and they help reinforce what I'm learning in other classes and I remember the information better if I can relate it to something. I don't think there are any disadvantages to using this method for students, but it does make it a little more difficult on the teachers to try to integrate lessons from other areas.
I would use writer's workshop in my classroom, but I would try to give more flexible prompts so that my students wouldn't dread writing for the rest of their lives.
In eighth grade, I had a thematic unit on the holocaust. We learned about WWII in history and read the book "Night" in my Language Arts class, but I never had any math or science teachers try to integrate lessons from social studies or language arts classes.
I've been in multiple literature circles, but the part where my teachers have broken the rules is that they didn't let us choose what books to read. We still had different roles we were in charge of and certain pages we had to read at once. Also, our roles didn't switch after each meeting. It wasn't until EDU 255 that I learned the roles were supposed to switch after each meeting. It makes a lot more sense to do it that way, because every group would always find lots of ways to not read and still do well on the assignments.
In writer's workshops, my teachers usually assigned us prompts to write. Some of them had a lot of flexibility, and others did not. I usually hated the ones that didn't have much flexibility if I couldn't relate to the situation given. We rarely ever got to choose what to write until I was in 8th grade. We were finally allowed to write about whatever we wanted in my 8th grade LA class, but it was usually only for ten minutes, so it couldn't really be called writer's workshop, since it was less than an hour in duration. However, we were able to continue a piece if we wanted to, or start a new one, and when we finished, we had the option to share it or not share it after each writing period.
I've done a lot of reader's workshops. I remember in 4th grade it was called SQUIRT. It stood for Super Quiet Uninterrupted Reading Time. We also had SSR. Every so often, we took class trips to the school library to pick out new books to read, and when there was a book sale going on at school, we always went as a class to make up wishlists or buy books if we had money on us.
I really enjoy doing thematic units because they're interdisciplinary and they help reinforce what I'm learning in other classes and I remember the information better if I can relate it to something. I don't think there are any disadvantages to using this method for students, but it does make it a little more difficult on the teachers to try to integrate lessons from other areas.
I would use writer's workshop in my classroom, but I would try to give more flexible prompts so that my students wouldn't dread writing for the rest of their lives.
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