Week 10

"What we don't consider is the most significant "time on task" of all, what students choose to do beyond the walls of the school." The article focuses a lot how writing develops and how much goes into a student's experience with writing. The concept of students focusing on writing outside of school really stood out to me. I know from personal experience that I hardly ever, if ever, write unless I'm assigned to do so for class. For as long as I can remember writing has been something that seems more like homework than it seems like something enjoyable. I've always dreaded writing. However, having a nephew and younger cousins I can see that younger children really do like writing. I mean my mom has kept writings from my earlier years of school and it doesn't seem like I hated it so much then. It's interesting that most students experience this sort of shift from enjoying writing and not being able to do it enough to growing to hate it and dreading to ever to do. I really think that this is partially due to the limitations that are often put on students writings. Younger kids are typically encouraged to just write about anything they want, whereas as students get older there are more limitations on what they can and can't write. Overall from this reading I was able to see the importance of not making students write or forcing them to write about specific topics.

Week 9

"To be an effective teacher you must, first and foremost, know the students in your class and their abilities and interests." This part of the article, Understanding How Children Learn to Write: Developmental Stages, is the part that I feel is most important in basically all parts a student's learning. If a teacher is familiar with his/her students then they will be able to better measure the students success and shape their learning environment in ways that are most beneficial. This article largely focused on what to expect at each level of developmental stages for writers. The article summarizes the key components of all ten levels with the least developed being preconventional, typically ages 3-5 and the most developed being independent, having no age barriers. One part of the article that I particularly liked was that "a write may fluctuate between two categories until knew skills are firmly in place". Here one is able to take away that often times students will be intertwined in more than one developmental stage, and that that's okay. Rather than trying to put students into specific categories, it's important that teachers see where the students transitioning may need a little aid. I really liked this article because it helped me to see more in depth where my case study student may be at developmentally in his writing and where he will be going in the future. It's definitely helpful for me to see the areas that he has mastered as well as the areas that he still needs to develop and master before moving into the independent stage.

Week 8

The reading "Basic Concepts and Terminology" is really just centered around listing the most common terms used by reading educators. The authors of this text felt as if it were necessary for educators to establish some sort of common ground as far as knowing and using the same set of words in a corresponding manner. The majority of the list included words I myself had never really even heard of, or if I have that I definitely didn't know the meaning of. It was interesting to me how many words there truly were in regards to reading instruction that I wasn't familiar with. However, the part of this article that I found the most useful was that it emphasized that students don't need to know these terms. The authors stated more than once that it wasn't necessary for students to know and use these terms, but rather critical that teachers be familiar with them so that they are able to communicate effectively with one another about reading instructions. I also liked that the article opened with a statement from a teacher who said that many of her peers do not know the meaning of half the words used in correspondence to reading instruction or that they simply mix up the jargon of such words a lot. This made the article a lot more relatable for me because there have already been times in my field experiences when a teacher will use a specific term and I'm not really sure what it exactly means; whereas before I thought this meant that I was lacking some sort of knowledge I now know that a lot of teachers are still learning. It also helped me realize how awkward it is to be in this middle ground where I'm still a student (and don't need to know all this jargon and these terms) but working to become a teacher (where I do not need be familiar with such terms and jargon).

Webcast Blog

The webcast "Making Decisions for Individual Learners With Small-Group Setting" focused on giving helpful tools to improve the reading and writing skills of students. Although a lot of the information presented in throughout the webcast has already been covered and discussed in class and our readers, the three keynote speakers honed in different aspects of improving student learning in small-group settings.

The first Ah-Ha that I had came from the first speaker Pat Johnson, in which she stated that it's crucial to teach the students not the texts. This really stuck out to me because it encompasses the fact that not all students will be at the same skill level...this meaning that rather than trying to teach an entire class one book, it would be better to focus on how to teach each individual student in regards to their skill level. By doing this teachers will be able to help all students. I think that this is when the concept of small groups come into play most crucially... if a teacher is able to assess student ability and then divide or sort students into groups according to their skill levels they will be able to use a variety of different instructions meeting the needs of all students in an appropriate manner.

The second Ah-Ha moment that I while watching/listening to the webcast comes from a combination of both the second and third speakers, Diane DeFord and Mary Cappellini. DeFord focused the majority of her discussion on student-driven instructions. This meaning that teachers should get to know all of their students and know their individual strengths and weaknesses so that instructions can meet their needs. The main focus of Cappellini's discussion was ELL students and how important it is to incorporate lessons that allow students to 'mix' with students who are not in the same skill level. Combining the main components of these speakers, I realized how getting to know students both ELL students and English proficient students, teachers have to aware of the social aspects of one's learning. DeFord mentioned the importance of assessing a student both academically and socially. Being aware of students sociability teachers can better enhance their classrooms experiences and essentially improve the students abilities.

At the end of the webcast I realized that although we are learning about all of these strategies and scenarios in class and in our readings, it's going to be much different once I'm actually in the classroom and experiencing these situations first-hand. It's a bit intimidating to think about all of the different parts that go into truly teaching all students in a way that is meaning and lasting to each individual student. While this webcast covered a lot of material we've all already been introduced to, it still made me think further about how I will structure my classrooms in the future.

Week 6

"Guided reading is a context in which a teacher supports each reader's development of effective strategies for processing novel texts at increasingly challenging levels of difficulty." When reading the Fountas and Pinnel article "What is Guided Reading" I was able to relate many of the discussed concepts with methods I have witnessed my field placement teacher using in her classroom. In my 5th grade field class, Mrs. Kinkead has a pretty diverse set of students from varying countries, a handful of whom hardly speak or read English. It is with this group of students that I see guided reading used most often. During our time in the class room, the students are often working on their social studies units. Typically the class is divided into groups, with the ELL students always working with Mrs. Kinkead. Although I am not one hundred percent what their meeting time consists of, but it is at this time that guided reading strategies are most explicitly used. As the text states, "the ultimate goal in guided reading is to help children learn how to use independent reading strategies successfully." I believe that through the exclusive group work time with only the ELL students Mrs. Kinkead is essentially killing two birds with one stone- not only is she working on the students learning of English, she is also using guided reading to help them develop the skills necessary to read effectively and comprehensively.

Another critical part of the reading that I found interesting stated: "It is usually not enough simply to provide children with good reading materials. Teacher guidance is essential". Through this and the text that follows I was able to conclude that teachers really have to be aware of the impact and roles they plan in a young readers growth. It's critical for teachers to monitor and aid a young readers growth to assure that they are truly developing the skills necessary to build the strategies needed to read independently and not just reading to be reading. Reading words is much different than understanding words read, this distinction is not always easy to differentiate but is something teachers must be aware of when trying to build a readers reading process and strategies.

Week 5 reading

Chapter 5 focused on the components of a comprehensive literacy framework; or in other words the key components needed to help reach a student's full potential as a reader. These components include read-aloud, guided reading, independent reading, and more. One part of the chapter that really stood out to me was on page 80 and deals with the 'focus' of instruction. The paragraph ends with "...as long as you base the focus on the needs of the students in that group. Remember, we are teaching the readers, not the book." When I first read this I instantly thought about how many times, the exact opposite of that had been done by my previous teachers. So often I think that teachers forget or maybe don't want to go the extra steps in teaching beyond the required or tested material/books that they simply teach to the book or to the tests rather than teaching to the needs of the students. I found it both interesting and good that this chapter described the key parts, but left the method of implementation up to the teachers.

Chapter 10 of Catching Readers Before They Fall is solely about assessments; not simply tests but rather a full range of assessments teachers can and must use in assessing how well they're students are doing as well as in what areas they are struggling. Prior to this chapter I was pretty familiar with the terms reading conference, benchmark assessment, and adapted tests, however the basis of anecdotal notes and running records were both knew forms of assessments I really wasn't too familiar with. Running records seem to be the most important of all because they give the most clear indication of the students progress and struggles if they are kept accurately and accordingly. Running records "give us insights into which strategic behaviors are being used or not used as well as information about what level text is appropriate for a child. To take a running record, you use a coding system to record on paper what a child says and does while reading". Essentially for me, this form of assessment would be the most useful in measuring a students current and prospective abilities, while also noting their areas of struggle. However, it seems as if taking a proper running record is not something that can be done easily but rather something that needs a lot of training and further exploration.

Week 4 Reading

Throughout this chapter, I couldn't stop thinking about how interesting it is how much has changed from how teachers were teaching when I was a student to how I'm going to be teaching my students when I'm a teacher in the future. I was constantly told "sound it out" as a reader/student throughout the majority of the elementary school experience. I remember almost all of my teachers using this as their go-to phrase whenever I or another student were stuck on specific words. While at the time and even prior to this reading I didn't really think that this wasn't a valid or good way to get students to figure out the word on their own, I am not able to see that there a strong structural balance of sources that will better suit students and their comprehension of words.

Figure 4.1 on page 54 of the chapter is essentially the key aspect summarized or organized into one simple diagram with word solving as the focus. S, M, and V (S=structural knowledge, M= meaningful information, and V= visual information) are the three components that feed into the larger center and common goal of solving words. The structural knowledge portion deals with a readers knowledge of what does and doesn't sound 'right' in addition to knowledge of their spoken language. The meaningful information portion draws from the pictures, story lines, or contextual information that helps the readers relate their background knowledge with the text in a manner that makes sense. Thirdly, readers use visual information, or the letters and words, in addition to their phonetic knowledge to decipher what words do and don't look right.