Final Blog

I think that my attitude towards language arts has changed over this semester. It has never been my favorite subject, but I have seen how much you can do with it over this semester. It really interests me how many interactive and exciting activities you can do with a language arts lesson. I will definitely use readers and writers workshops in my classroom because I feel that they really engage the students.
I also have learned how important it is to use a variety of teaching methods in a classroom. Some of the things we learned this semester did not necessarily interest me, but I recognize that the same thing may happen among my students. I will catch certain students attention with different lessons. I really enjoyed the time I spent in the classroom this semester because it gave me a chance to see the application of the things we were learning in class in a real life setting.

Poetry

One of my favorite poems is Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. Although I really enjoy this particular Shel Silverstein poem i think that many children would enjoy his poems. I think that i would use his works as a whole in my classroom. An activity that I could use is to allow the children to pick one of his poems that they like. Then they could choose a way to represent the poem in a creative way. I think this would be a fun way to get students excited about poetry.

Freedom Writers

This is one of my favorite movies. It is truly inspirational. When we think about teaching we hope for the perfect little class, but this shows that is not always the reality. Also, that not so perfect classes can be just as rewarding. I love that Hilary Swanks character is not afraid to have an open discussion with these children. I am taking ed. psych right now and this clip definitely relates to the guidelines for teaching a multicultural classroom. These guidelines say that a teacher needs to get to know her students, their families, and their communities in order to be able to teach them. Also, because I have seen this movie I know that her character spends time with her students outside of the classroom which is yet another guideline for teaching multicultural classrooms. It is great to be able to see things that we are learning in our classroom in action.

Conferencing

After completing two conferencing sessions I thought they were very helpful. A fresh pair of eyes is always good because they can catch things that you didn't even notice. We know what we meant to write, and sometimes read that instead of what is actually written on the page. I usually allow other people to see my writing before I turn it in, although it's usually a parent or my brother. I think having a peer review your writing is very helpful because they have an idea of what is suppose to be in it. The cons of this type of conferencing is that students may not actually use peer conferencing to their advantage. With assignments like this students may not stay on task, and instead just socialize.

Literature Circles

I have only had direct experience with literature circles in my EDU 255 class. I really enjoyed the experience in that class. The different roles that were assigned really helped us to understand the story because it broke it down in many different forms. I also think that the group aspect of the literature circles helps the students to understand because they are getting multiple points of view. Although I really like this technique it is not something that can be used in the younger grades. Some of the other techniques such as readers workshop, writers workshop, and thematic units may be more useful for teachers of younger grades. I am hoping that in my placement this semester I will be able to see some of these other techniques used in the classroom.

Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot

I would really like to use Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot in my classroom. This book is about the Berlin Airlift. It highlights the true story of one young girl during the time, and a pilot that dropped candy down to the children in West Berlin. I have always loved the story this books tells, and would love to share it with my future students.
This story highlights all of the elements of a story.
Plot: The story begins with Merecedes and her mother reading about the "chocolate pilot." Then Merecedes sees the candy that the "chocolate pilot" drops from his plane and hopes to get some one day. She writes the "chocolate pilot" asking him to drop chocolate into her garden. The story ends with Mercedes receiving a letter and chocolate in the mail from the pilot.
Characters: Mercedes and Lt. Gail Halvorsen are the main characters of this story.
Setting: 1948 West Berlin, Germany- The setting of this story is very important because the story takes place during a specific event, The Berlin Airlift.
Point of View: Omniscient- The story is written in the third person, but the person telling the story is god-like. The feelings and emotions of the characters are known.
Theme: The Berlin Airlift, a story of a young girl and the relationships that were formed during that time.

One idea of an activity that students could do related to this book is to write their own letter to Lt. Gail Halvorsen as if they were a child during the Berlin Airlift. Another idea would be to write a letter or Mercedes, who is actually still alive, and tell her what they felt while reading the story or ask questions about her life.

A purely fun activity for students to do after reading the book is to make their own parachutes with chocolate attached to them.

I think this book tells a great story, and allows students to relate to the people during the time of the Berlin Airlift. It does a great job of showing the connections that people make during hard times, and how a small amount of kindness can really help people.

To blog or not to blog.....

I think that blogging is a great way to express your feelings about any topic. I find them very interesting, but also somewhat hard to identify how formal you must be. The type of blogs we are writing for this class are professional, but not extremely formal. Other blogs such as blogs about a certain event in someones life are very informal. I think I may enjoy that type of blog more than a formal blog.
That being said, I enjoyed this type of writing more than another type of reflection that could have been assigned. I feel that the blogs may make people feel more relaxed, and as if they can truly express their opinion without worrying about being judged, or their grade being reduced because of it. I feel like I am getting increasingly more comfortable with the blogs.

Authentic Assessment

Authentic Assessment is not simply one thing, in fact it is so many different things. Every assessment needs to be fitting for the child. When we are picking the appropriate assessment we must consider the child, and identify our purpose in the assessment. Teachers can use many different types of assessment including anecdotal and cumulative assessment. When doing theses assessments it can also be helpful to focus on what the student is able to do, instead of what they are unable to do. This can help with communication with parents and for the self esteem of the students.
If you are assessing a certain subject area you must also remember that their are different contexts within that subject. It is especially important to remember this in language arts because their are so many different areas such as thematic units, reading, writing, and literature. If all parts are assessed we may see that a students shines in one or more of those areas but has problems in the others.

Writing and Teaching Community

In order to create a learning environment for the children in your class you must know about them personally. Every student has different strengths and weakness's and learns in their own way. If we can create an environment so that all of our children have a place that they feel comfortable they will be able to learn better. If you take time to get to know your students they will then trust you and feel as if they can approach you. Having students feel comfortable to ask you, the teacher, and other students questions is a very important part of creating a writing, and teaching community. This will allow students to improve upon their writing, and take suggestions from you without feeling as if they are doing something wrong.

What makes writing worth reading?

I do not think that their is one answer to this question. I believe that every person has a different answer for this question. A book, or any other type of writing, must first be well written to be worth reading. The subject must also be something interesting to a person. This is where personal taste comes in, the definition of interesting can vary from person to person. The content must also be on the readers level. If a fifth grader were to pick up a book that is targeted to students in first grade, they will not think that it is worth reading.
The content of the writing must also have some sort of information for the reader, no matter how basic it may be. This again brings in the level of the reader. For a first grader the information will be very basic, but an older student should be able to get a good amount of knowledge out of the writing.

Learning to read.....

When I was in elementary school we learned to read through phonics. We even used the classic "hooked on phonics" materials in our school. We started off with simple concepts in lower elementary school classes. Then began to do independent work in phonics work books as we entered third grade. We were always encouraged to read books, but at our own pace and for enjoyment. I did not use AR in elementary school, we were only required to read for a certain amount of time each night. I really think this helped me to enjoy reading more as a young child.
Due to the fact that I learned to read through phonics, I believe that I am more likely to teach my students that way. It worked well for me, so I assume that is what works for others. Although, I know I should not think that way. I should try to understand that every student learns different ways, and that whole language or balanced literacy may be a better technique for some of my future students.

Sahara Special

Sahara seems to represent the life of so many children in our school system these days. She does not want to be marked as different, or weird by the other children. It is hard for children at such a young age to understand that everyone is different and has different needs. The other children just see that she sits in the hallway with "peaches," and do not understand why. I like that the book is from Sahara's point of view, I think this is good for an adult to be able to see and understand what the child is going through. I think this book could be a great resource for students with disabilities because they can see that they are not the only one.
My hopes for Sahara in this book is that she will begin to make friends with the other characters in the book. I hope that she will be able to talk to, and make friends with the girl she met in the library. I think that a relationship with another child that has similar interests could be beneficial to Sahara. It is also important that Sahara gets the attention and support she needs not only from her school but also from her mother. I think that her mother needs to understand where the school is coming from in order for the relationship to work and benefit Sahara.

The 6 Language Arts

The number of language arts did surprise me when we first started our discussion, but as we went through each part they really made sense to me. I understand why each area is included in Language Arts. All of the different parts work together to become one.
I think it is important that Visually Representing is included because as our world changes and more technology becomes available to our students we need to embrace that. We can use these advances to our advantage in the classroom. Students can use these technologies as creative tools in the classroom. Their are some parts of technology that are not needed or condoned in many classes, and I think a teachers need to draw a distinct line between these two areas. Viewing has also been changed through out the years. Now we see online videos such as YouTube being used in many classrooms to teach different ideas. Other useful information can be found on the Internet and through film.
Although we have made all these advances using technology we can not forget the basics such as listening, talking, and reading. These are all skills that we sometimes assume students know how to do when they reach our classroom, but they might not know how to do these things in regards to learning.
In my education I think that reading was emphasised very much as a young child, as well as writing. Although as I went through school reading was looked at as more of a chore, and the writing process as a whole was not emphasised. In high school and college levels listening is very much a part of your learning. Specifically, students are expected to use efferent listening during lectures.

First Blog!!

Hi! My name is Caitlin, and I am a Junior at Meredith College. My major is Child Development k-6. Language Arts was not my favorite subject in high school and middle school, but I did enjoy it in elementary school. I hope to learn a lot in this course that will hopefully get me interested in Language Arts. I have also never blogged before so I hope this goes well!! I'm hoping this will be a stress reliever as I enter my Junior year. I can't wait to get started, and hope to continue this when I go abroad or during other life experiences!