Caitlin Walton-Fluency (3)

QUOTE: Teachers can often gauge students' progress as they listen to them read aloud and notice how they figure out the unfamiliar words they come across. Teachers also use the graded word lists and running records to analyze their progress according to grade-level standards.
COMMENT: We as teachers have a lot of work cut out for us to do to teach our children to read and write. It is a huge job! Along with all the testing and analyzing that we are told is required when teaching children, I just hope that I do not forget to make sure to instill a love of reading to my students. If they think it is all about tests and sounding out individual words and learning chunks then I am afraid they will never love it. They need to know the big picture--the reason why we are working so hard to be literate. We need to make sure they realize there is reading past the tests and lists and worksheets, and that they get a taste of the sweetness they can experience once the world is opened up to them as readers.
QUESTION: I know it is important to do tests and make note of my students' progress in literacy, but how do I be sure to not over emphasize these and to really help the students love to read and write, even if is it boresome and annoying like some of the literacy-gauging tests are?

Fluency Sec. 3

Quote: "For reading practice, students often choose "pop" literature that's fun to read but rather ordinary. These books are often more effective than high-quality literature selections in helping children develop fluency because the vocabulary is more controlled, which allows students to be more successful."

Comment: When I first read this all I could think about was how it was recommended to use Captain Underpants to get boys interested in reading and at first I thought, no way! But I remember that I learned best how to read when I read the fun "pop" literature like Amber Brown and Junie B. Jones. How enjoyable it was, and because my parents and teachers let me read that, and then eventually challenged me to read longer more stimulating books with harder vocabulary I was willing to listen to them, because they let me read the easy books when I wanted. My fluency was positively effected because my parents and teachers were patient with me, so I need to be patient with my students too and let them read "pop" literature. As long as they are reading, that is what is best!

Question: How can I encourage those who hate to read, even the "pop" literature? Should I research and look up fun kids books and have lots of different genres so all cultures and personalities are accounted for?

Jordan Sanders (3) Developing Fluent Readers

Quote: "Students develop this endurance through reading books at their independent level. Teachers typically include extended opportunities each day for independent reading of self-selected texts through Sustained Silent Reading."

Comment: I think that independent silent reading is one of the best ways to get students to read books on their own. Reading on their own will allow students to imagine the things that are happening in the books for themselves and develop a love of reading.

Question: How do we get our students to choose books that are at an appropriate level? How do we motivate our students to do silent reading outside of class?

Zaundra Romney (3) Developing Fluent Readers and Writers

Quote: "Copying isn't very effective, though, because students are passively recording letters, not actively creating sentences, breaking the sentences into words, and spelling the words. In fact, some students are copying sentences they can't even read, so the activity becomes little more than handwriting practice."
Comment: I totally 100% agree with this section. I remember having my own little whiteboard and copying down everything the teacher wrote on the board. Or even worse writing a paragraph she had printed how and basically just copying that paragraph down word for word on my paper. I too agree that this is only working on handwriting skills. I can't see any other benefits of copying straight from typed text or teacher written text. I can copy down pages of text and not have a clue what I wrote down. When copying words just become symbols, the individual letter instead of words associated with meaning.
Question: What are some ways to still teach handwriting, but also teach other literacy subjects like sentence structure and phonics?

Nachelle Mackie (4) Word Identification

Quote: "Young children often depend on phonics to sound out unfamiliar words, but older students develop other strategies that use phonological information as well as semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic cues to identify words" (Tompkins 197).

Comment: It is interesting to see how a first grader sounds out a word that he/she doesn't know compared to a fourth grader that doesn't know a word. The first grade will take a long time sounding out the word, each and every letter. With a fourth grader they will just ponder the word in their mind for a moment and then just say it how they think it sounds. It is interesting how you get more and more reading strategies as you get older and older.

Question: What grade should you teach students strategies that use phonological information, semantics, syntactic, etc. Or should it start in first grade?

Courtney Harrison-Fluent Readers

Quote:pg 65. "Perhaps the most important outcome of teaching students to create rubrics, according to Skillings and Ferrell, is that students develop metacognitive strategies and the ability to think about themselves as writers. "-I think that it is cool how the students can put the two and two together and to really look at how they write when they set guidelines for their own writing.
Question: I don't really understand how choral reading helps students to improve their phrasing. How does singing the word help them to really improve reading speed just because they sing as fast as the rest of the class? This seems weird to me.
Comment: I thought it was interesting on pg 55 when it talked about students using computers early on. It said that there are a lot of benefits to this and that students are more motivated to write and also tend to write longer pieces when they are typing on the computer. I thought this was interesting and totally true.

Jenaca Jett- Tompkins pg 55

Quote: "Students meet in writing groups to share their compositions with classmates. They respond to the writer's rough draft and suggest possible revisions. Writing groups provide a scaffold in which teacher and classmates talk about plans and strategies for writing and revising."

Comment: I agree that rough drafts are desperately needed before you write your essay. I suggest always writing at least one rough draft per writing assignment, although some people may need more than that. The purpose behind writing a rough draft is so you can edit and rewrite a final draft that will not contain the mistakes of the first (if any are found). Ever since I began writing papers in school I have always remembered a classmate or friend peer editing my paper. Having someone else besides myself edit my paper helped in many ways. Often times the individual peer editing my paper would find mistakes that I never noticed. I also received feedback and different ideas that I could incorporate into my paper. I always appreciated this and felt that it was very helpful when I began my final paper. I think editing should be emphasized when children begin the writing process.

Question: What are other helpful things that teachers can do to help students as they learn about the writing process?

Ali Spittler, 4, Paying Attention, week 5

Quote: "In fact, sometimes children are copying sentences they cannot read, so the activity [copying from the board] becomes little more than handwriting practice" (Tompkins, 165).

Comment: I actually enjoyed that the book told us that copying poems or declarations from the board are not very effective for students, because they end up just copying letters without even knowing what it's saying. I appreciated it because I can see how teachers would just stick with an exercise simply because they've done it for years. Just in class the other day, Dr. Wimmer told us that research shows that DOL isn't very effective. So I think that we as teachers need to stay up on research, and we need to be open to change and new ideas. We need to be learning new things just like our students are. I think that's one reason why the partnership schools that we go to really like having cohort students come in because we have new ideas and fresh research that we can share with our mentor teachers. So we need to continually stay fresh and on top of our teaching.

Question: How do you feel about this? Do you see yourself staying in a rut, or being willing to change and expand?

Fluency: Annie Phillips (3)

Quote: "Fluency is the ability to read efficiently, and it's a bridge to comprehension. Fluent readers are better able to comprehend what they read because they automatically recognize most worlds and can apply word-identification strategies when they come across unfamiliar words".

Comment: I agree that it is so important for students to learn how to be fluent readers. I remember being young and having to sound out every word, and I wasn't able to get the full meaning of the text because I was so focused on reading the words correctly. When students learn to become fluent readers, it opens up a door for them to be able to learn in a more advanced way. Once they don't have to focus on sounding everything out, they can focus on the meaning, which is the goal of reading.

Question: What is one way that teachers can help their students to become fluent readers? What is an activity that teachers could engage the class in that would help them on their way to fluency?

Jessica McClellan (sec 4) choosing a prompt

Quote: " Students should choose their own topics for writing--topics that they're interested in and know about--so that they'll be more engaged, but that isn't always possible." (Tompkins 53)

Comment: I really agree with this quote because it is sometimes hard for students to relate to and write about an assigned topic, like we talked about in class on Wednesday. I remember having some prompts in elementary school that I didnt even understand the question so my paper was not as coherent and well written as it could have been. I think that to really allow children to write creatively and to the best of their ability, we have to give them ample opportunities to pick their own topic. Children are so imaginative and creative which will lead them to write much more interesting stories then if they are given a very specific, and sometimes unrelatable prompt. It is much more fun to write about something you care about then to write about something you dont.

Question: How do we balance assigned prompts with letting children pick their own topic to write about?

Lene Kristine - Sec 4. Education and Sociality

Quote:

"I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demand of the social situations in which he finds himself."

-John Dewey

Comment:

The connection between a social situation and education is interesting, and I think that we learn from our social settings and experiences. These are the kind of experiences that are embedded into us, thus they are true education and we learn from and remember them. As teachers I think we have a responsibility to not only create a classroom of educational learning, but also social learning, a community if you will. It is important for the students to develop social skills, and through the social interactions in the classroom they can retain what they learn there (be it math, health, or how to be nice to classmates) better.

Question:

What are some ways teachers can create this type of classroom?

Stephanie Wright (4) Biliteracy

"By using learners' native languages in the classroom, learning is achieved more quickly. . .students who received clarification in their first language were able to focus on the task at hand" (Pahl, 83).

Taking the TELL 400 class has sure given me a lot to think about as far as ESL students go. I don't doubt for a minute that things would be a lot easier for students if everything isn't delivered in English, but I think that the all English language helps them develop their English speaking so much faster. However, they make a good point that if students can understand what they have to do, then they can focus all of their energies on the actual task, not trying to decode and figure out what the directions are. This reminds me of reading with students who don't have the problem of learning a second language too. Are we going to focus on what is most important, things like fluid reading, comprehension etc. or are we going to be nit picky teachers who stop a student after every mispronounced word, or stopping them at every misspelled word? I need to decide now as a teacher what is going to be most important for me on each assignment, and focus on that. If I want them to read it fast enough to understand and follow the story line, I shouldn't be stopping them every time a word is said wrong. Or if I want them to really think creatively and get a good story down on paper, I shouldn't expect them to run to dictionary every time they aren't sure on spelling. I also connect this to the question of are we going to help students say a word if they are struggling on sounding it out. We really need to find the main points students should be learning, and point and help them in that direction. They should be able to focus ALL of their mental energy on it!

My question for these ESL students is how do I translate to their language? Is it appropriate to ask other more proficient ESL students to translate for me? Although I don't think there is a problem in having students help each other, I don't want to be too dependent, or risk "lost in translation" issues.

Ana Marques. Writing Process

Quote: "Murray (1982) believes that at least 70% of writing time should be spent in prewriting."
Comment: We have to understand that children do not come with previous knowledge on how to write down their ideas. Some children are more talented at being able to take information stored and organize it such as they convey the message they desire to, but for the most part we should assist the children to be more efficient at this.
Question: How would you help the children to choose a topic for their paper?

Sammie Martin (3) The Writing Process

Quote: "The labeling of the stages doesn't mean that the writing process is a linear series of neatly packaged categories; rather, research has shown that the process involves recurring cycles, and labeling is simply an aid to identifying writing activities."

Comment: I agree with this statement that one stage of the writing process may not be finished when another one starts and they can happen out of order. I think that students should understand that writing can constantly be improved upon and revised. I think that students should learn that writing does not have to be such a structured process. This fact may make it less intimidating for students to write. Writing seemed so daunting when I was younger because i felt that each step along the way had to be done perfectly because I would not be able to fix it later. To me, this way of looking at writing seems much more manageable because each part is important and can be repeated.

Question: How can we demonstrate to our students that writing does not always have to be a linear process when teaching them about writing?

Lindsey Draper, 4, Literacy & Education

Qoute: "When cultures and linguistic diversity collide they transform into a new experience for everyone and incite a new community of practice for everyone involved." (Pahl, 75)

Comment: I agree that when reading and learning the phonics for saying words students will learn from each other on how its done. That the students who speak another language can recieve help from english speaking studetns and can teach the english speaking children more about their language/culture.

Question: But does this take away from learning how to read and to sound out letters? Or does it help the students by helping and teaching each other?

Comprehension- Rachel Thomas section 3

Quote: "Comprehension is the goal of reading; it's the reason why people read. Students must understand what they're reading to learn from the experience; they must make sense of the words in the text to maintain interest; and they must enjoy reading to become lifelong readers." (tompkins, p. 257)
Comment: I agree with this statement. I feel that the reason I did not enjoy reading as a young child was because I was slow and I did not always comprehend what I was reading. Because of this I have never liked reading very much. I envy people who enjoy reading. I am working on loving it but it takes time on my part to learn this. Comprehension is important for life long learning. If you comprehend something, you will be more likely to remember it for the future.
Question: "How do we help our students in the comprehension process?"

Jazmin Smith, Guided Reading

"Guided reading is efective because ELs experience success as they read interesting books in small, comfortable groups with teacher guidence".

I really enjoyed learning more more about guided reading because I never did that in my elementary school. I think it is such a helpful way to teach students to read. Also like the quote says, it helps the student to help more confident, and be motivated to want to improve their reading skills.

What was your guided experience like? what are does things you enjoyed as a student that you would like to do on your student during guided reading?

Sarah Eddington (4) Dewey

"I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living. I believe that the school must represent life--life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the play-ground."

I love this quote. I love the idea about making school a place of living, not just a place to learn things that will help us live later. I think this means that we should not just preparing our students for critical thinking that might happen in later grades, but allowing them to think and create their own opinions right now. I know that in my own schooling I was never taught that I was allowed to have my own ideas or think for myself. I was taught how to take exams and get good grades. I wasn't really taught how to think for myself. I think rooting our teaching of basic skills in real life issues kids are facing right now will give the skills context. Our students will be able to learn better this way. That is the way they learn naturally outside of the school. That kind of learning seems to be much more effective and longstanding than simply giving our students almost random and independent information without context and connection to real life and living.

How can we make our classrooms a place of living rather than just learning?

Alicia Voellger(4) Visualizing

Quote: " Students who are good visualizers are often disappointed with the film version and the actors who perform as the characters, but those who don't visualize are often amazed by the film and prefer it to the book."

Comment:  As a young child I was always one of the top readers in my class. I don't remember learning how to comprehend stories...it was just something I did. When I read the above quote, it gave me a sort of measurement to think about. I thought about the Harry Potter books. I have read every book first and later seen the movie versions. I remember being displeased that the Snape on screen did not match the vision in my head. On the other hand I had had a hard time visualizing how the game of Quiditch was played but seeing it on screen helped me to easily visulize it then nexdt time I read.

Question: Today, movies are a multi-billion dollar business. The top movies made in the US are translated and subtitled into many different languages. I think the movie industry is definitely a new literacy form. How can we as teachers incorporate that into our teaching?

Melissa Turner Section 3 Chapter 8

Quote: "You've read about the word process before- both reading and writing have been described as processes. A process is more complicated than a single action: It involves a series of behaviors that occur over time. The comprehension process begins during prereading as students activate their background knowledge and preview the text, and it continues to develop as students read, respond, explore, and apply their reading."

Comment: The comprehension process of what students are reading begins when they first learn to read. I think comprehension comes with time, practice and experiences. As teachers we need to teach strategies to our students so they can learn how to comprehend what they are reading. I think a lot of the time, we check to see if they can read or not, but are we checking for the understanding of the reading? It is easy for students to repeat back facts or events from the book, but we need to see if they can understand the ideas or concepts seen between the lines and if they can connect those ideas on a more personal level.

Question: What are some strategies we can teach to students so they can comprehend the text they are reading?

Anna Munk (3)- Ch 8

Quote: "Having students read interesting books written at their reading level is the best way for them to apply comprehension strategies. As they read and discuss their reading, students are practicing what they're learning about comprehension."

Comment: I agree with this. I think that it is important for teachers to have students read a variety of books. If the students are interested in what they are reading they are more likely to pay attention and comprehend the story. Also, if students read something that they enjoy reading they are more willing to talk about it to you and classmates (more likely to do comprehension activities).

Question: Do you think it is a good idea to have students choose their own books? Do you think they will be more willing to do comprehension activities with their own choice or with your choice?

Robin Gleaves- (3) Comprehension

Quote: "Students need to understand how print and Web-based texts differ so they can adjust how they apply tradition traditional comprehension strategies and learn new ones to use for Internet texts." (Tompkins, 265)

Comment: This is such a remarkable time that we are living in, and we are introduced to so many technological advances. This quote shows how important it is that we are teaching our students not only how to read, but different things they need to know how to read to succeed in this world. The reading strategies we teach them must be applicable to all the different things they will come in contact with. As our world becomes more interconnected and technology becomes a great part of everyday life, this will become a greater importance. We have a great responsibility to teach and to motivate our students.

Question: What can we do to give our students the opportunity to learn and apply Web-based learning?

Esther Dolman (3) - Comprehension

Quote: "...Strategic readers are more likely to read in the future....Struggling readers, in contrast, are frustrated; they don't understand what they're reading, don't like to read, and aren't likely to read in the future."

Comment: Reading comprehension is a topic that really interests me.  While I wouldn't classify myself as a "struggling" reader, comprehension has never been my forte.  I worry about students like me.  Students who do the reading, understand the plot, but get a totally different message from the reading.  I loved the process the teacher used in the first few pages of the reading.  She addressed so many questions from the reading that weren't explicitly answered in the text, rather students had to infer based on what WAS in the text.  I wish that teachers had done that more often with my classes.  I think it's vital for kids to learn what types of questions to ask.

Questions:  How do you help those students who get a completely different meaning from a piece of text?

Stephanie Wright (4) Home/School

". . . he does not understand the task at hand and reverts back to what he can do and what interests him." (Pahl, 49).

The student in this example is "off task" and not completing the math assignment that you have given him. As a teacher I would automatically infer that he is not doing the work because he doesn't want to, not because he can't. This troubles and excites me. I am excited because the student wants to work, but it troubles me that he can't. It goes back to the question of do I know my students? I need to make sure that I can understand my students so when situations like this arise, I handle them correctly. The book brings home the point that I need to play on the interests' and prior knowledge of my students. I am happy to start thinking about how to implement this into my own classroom. I can motivate a lot of students by using subjects that will interest them. If I can also use the knowledge of what they already know, I can make my lesson plans a lot more effective. Our students know a lot, outside of the classroom tasks that we assign them. The more that I can learn understand these things, the better experience my students will have in class.

The hard question to ask ishow can I figure out what my students already know? How do I find out what intersts them? And then how can I mesh them all together?

Sarah Rands (3) Chapter 8: Comprehension

Quote: "Comprehension is the goal of reading; its the reason why people read. Students must understand what they're reading to learn from the experience; they must make sense of the words in the text to maintain interest; and they must enjoy reading to become lifelong readers."

Comment: This quote really stood out to me because I struggled with this idea when I was younger. I was able to read young and I was one of the fastest readers in my elementary class. I remember my teachers often called on me to read things aloud. But I had one major problem; I often didn't understand the things I read. Comprehension was something that I struggled with and thus did not enjoy reading for a LONG time. Not until Middle School did I finally begin to realize that books can take you places unimaginable. I want my students to know what they are reading and realize how wonderful books can truly be!

Question: From the reading and personal feelings, how can we as teachers develop ways to find out if our students are comprehending the things that they read? How can we instill this love into our readers and show them that books are truly amazing things?

Kristen Savage (4) Comprehension, chapter 8

Quote: "Students who feel they have little hope of success are unlikely to become engaged in literacy acitivites. Teachers play a big role in shaping students expectations, and teacher expectations are often self-fulfilling. If teachers believe that their students can be successful, it's more likely that they will be."

Comment: When I read that, it really stuck out to me because we will play such a big role in our student's lives. I know that our students will be able to be successful if they will put forth the effort, but it worries me to think about putting too much or too little of expectations on our students.

Question: How high of expectations will you have for your students? What if students don't feel like they will ever be successful? What are some things you would do for those students to know they can do it?

Diana Blauer (4) True Education

Quote: "I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself. Through these demands he is stimulated to act as a member of a unity."
Comment: I really liked this comment made in "My Pedagogic Creed." I like this idea because as I taught swimming lessons I noticed that kids had a hard time focusing on learning to swim because they felt like water was a play setting. The truth is that as kids learn about their settings they are aware of how they are to act. In school they know they are supposed to be more quiet and listen to the teacher with set rules. I had a hard time getting kids to settle down to learn in a setting where they usually get to play in the hot sun.
Question: What are some good ways to help kids focus on tasks at hand and create a more united classroom?

Caitlin Walton-Tompkins ch. 8 (3)

QUOTE: "Teacher's can't assume that students will learn to accomplish simply my doing lots of reading; instead, students develop an understanding of comprehension and what readers do to be successful through a combination of instruction and authentic reading activities."
COMMENT: This quote really changed my thoughts on teaching reading in the classroom. It has always been emphasized how beneficial and important it is to have children read, but this quote also says that reading isn't everything. As teachers we need to take the responsibilty upon ourselves to have teaching activites along with the assigned reading for the students to become proficient readers. Reading lessons cannot be checked off the list of activities for the day with a session of SSR. There need to be activities and discussions and summaries and analysis made.
QUESTION: Teaching reading comprehension is a pretty big deal and seems like it could take up all day, every day. Is there any way to balance out the reading comprehension strategies to use with cross-curricular? Or is it more effective to just have a specific "reading comprehension" lesson so the students realize what they are trying to master?

Laura Mitchell Ferrin (3): Comprehension

Quote: "When students don't have adequate background knowledge, the topic or genre of the text is unfamiliar and many words are new, they're likely to find the text very challenging, and it's unlikely they'll be successful" (Tompkins, pg. 259-260)

Comment: I remember reading many books in high school, however I cannot recall many times when we had any sort of background knowledge given to us before we read the book. Usually any background knowledge I had came from a friend who had already taken the class, a popular movie made about the book, or what I read on the back cover. It seems to me, that not knowing much about the book kept me from making early judgments and made me work harder to understand it. During or after reading a book, we would watch the movie, or find connections to the book in other media, and because I was familiar with the book it was thrilling. However, for me, I believe it would be beneficial to read the Grapes of Wrath before learning about the dust bowl because I would have a deeper understanding of the time period and happenings.

Question: Is it ever appropriate to not include background information before reading a text? Does age play a factor? For example, is it good to always have background information given to elementary students, but it isn't needed as often for older students? What is the balance between exploring the book before it is read, and exploring it while it is being read?

Kylee Openshaw (3): Reading Comprehension

Quote: "Comprehension depends on three prerequisites: having adequate background knowledge about the topic and the genre, being familiar with most words in the text, and being able to read it fluently."
Comment: I think this is true, it is diffucult to be engaged in a text when you don't know what it is about, and it is too advanced and incomprehensible to you. I think as a teacher if you can provide material for reading and also prepare students for reading, their level of comprehension will most likely be high. I think making sure students have challenging reading options is important and providing them with enough background knowledge and reading practice would help them to comprehend and hopefully enjoy what they are reading. I think students will be more motivated to read if they are able to comprehend what they are reading, and use that understanding to make connections from the text to themselves, the world and other things they have read.
Question: Should teachers prepare students for reading by giving lessons that provide background knowledge and information about the books that the students are expected to read?

Karalee Langton - Guided Reading & Comprehension

Quote: "Readers sift through the text to identify the important ideas as they read because it isn't possible to remember everything." (Tompkins 262)

Comment: I like this because it reminds us as teachers the our students cannot remember everything they need to re-read or look through a book more than once in order to find what is important. We can not expect are students to remember everything we teach them, I have a hard enough time remembering what I taught. So, this just reminds me that I cannot get frustrated when a child does not remember a concept that I taught a week ago.

Question: How do we as teachers determine what is important information for our students to know and what is not? Student cannot remember everything, so what should they remember?

Tiffany Millard--thinking about thinking

Quote: "'I was thinking all the time in the story. I guess that's why I know so much about it. This thinking is a good idea."'

Comment: I absolutely loved the story in the beginning of the chapter. I learned that I want to provide many opportunities while my students are reading to truly ponder, reflect, predict and analyze the story they are reading to create meaning. I loved that the teacher in the vignette provided different prompts and wrote them on poster boards so the students could contribute to the meaning of the prompt. When I have been in classes where teachers take the time to truly study a book in this way, I get so much more out of the book than I would have otherwise received if I read the book by myself. This way of teaching makes reading enjoyable and creates lifelong readers!

Question: In the vignette the teacher asked a question about divorce...how can I talk about a tender subject without creating emotional discomfort or fury in my classroom?

Natalie Murray (3)--Reading comprehension

Quote: "Children must comprehend what they are reading to learn from the experience; they must make sense of their reading to maintain interest; and they must derive pleasure from reading to become lifelong readers. Children who don't understand what they are reading don't find reading pleasurable, and they won't continue to read."

Comment: I thought this quote was a little scary, not so much a bad type of scary but the type of scary that spurs you to action and change. It is so important that children become lifelong readers, because our whole community and world deals with reading and literacy in many different ways. It students aren't enjoying what they are reading, though, they won't want to keep reading, and in order to enjoy their reading they need to be able to comprehend it. I've never thought much about comprehension before but I realize now that there are so many factors of comprehension that need to be addressed in the classroom on a regular basis. When children don't have to spend all their time decoding the reading, they can focus more on what they are actually reading and figure out how it applies to their life.

Question: How can we integrate the various aspects of comprehension into our classroom on a regular basis, while still making reading time fun? What activities and assessments are best when trying to increase/assess comprehension?

Misty Ivie - Week 3 - Pedagogic Creed

Quote - "I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not preparation for future living." I believe that the school must represent real life - life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the play-ground." John Dewey

Comment - John Dewey's Pedagogic creed is my favorite thing we have read so far in this class. I really love his statements about what he believes education to be. It started me thinking more seriously about what my own feelings about teaching are. How do I view what education is, what the school is, and what education is? I know that one of my strongest believes about education echos the quote above. Education to me is about real life and the more we relate our teaching to real life, the more engaged our students will be.

Question - What was your favorite statement about education from John Dewey?

Heather Durney (4) Facilitating student's comprehension

Quote: "Teachers use prereading activities to build students' background knowledge; first they determine whether students need world or literary knowledge and then provide experiences and information to develop their schema. They use a combination of experiences, visual representations, and talk to build knowledge. Involving students in authentic experiences such as taking fieldtrips, participating in dramatizations, and examining artifacts is the best way to build background knowledge but photos and pictures, picture books, websites, videos, and other visual representations can also be used. Talk is often the least effective way, especially for English learners, but sometimes explaining a concept or listing the characteristics of a genre does provide enough information." (P. 260)

Comment: If Zimmerman and Hutchins say that, "the meaning you get from a piece is intertwined with the meaning you bring to it"(p. 261) then activating that background knowledge is an important aspect of making children better readers.Teachers can help by providing experiences that create background knowledge such as fieldtrips and they can also help activate prior background knowledge by asking questions that will bring them to memory.

Question: What is a way that you could see yourself building students' backgroung knowledge?

Heather Boatwright (4) Assessing Student Writing

Quote: "Sharing writing is a social activity that helps writers develop sensitivity to audiences and confidence in themselves as authors...teachers need to teach students how to make appropriate comments as the respong to their classmates writing...teachers also serve as a model"

Comment: I really like how in this quote it helps to outline the teachers role beyond just correcting a students writing. A students confidence in their writing is just as important as their grammar. You can be given all the tools needed to to paint a picture, but without the confidence to pick them up and try the student will never grow. The quote also mentions that a teacher should serve as a model for the correct and appropriate reactions to students writings. This part confuses me, do they mean that you shouldn't comment on certain aspects of writing?

Question: What do you think Thompkins means when he talks about the teacher serving as a model for the class in reference to commenting on a students work? Do they mean that they should "sugar coat" commentary or be gentle?

Janelle Webb (4) Teacher's Role in Motivation

"Many teachers consider using rewards to encourage students to do more reading and writing, but Alfie Kohn (2001) and others believe that extrinsic incentives are harmful because they undermine students' intrinsic motivation. Incentives such as pizza, free time, or 'money' to spend in a classroom 'store' are most effective when students' interest is very low and they are reluctant to participate in literacy activities. once students become more interested, teachers withdraw these incentives and use less tangible ones, including positive feedback and praise (Stipek, 2002)." (Tompkins p. 278)

I think rewards can be a valuable asset if used correctly. I remember in the fourth grade we had class money. It was a really fun thing for all of us and we enjoyed doing all we could to earn class money. We would help clean up, do all our assignments, or win a variety of class competitions. On the flip side of the coin, I have also been in classes without rewards and have done just fine. I think it depends entirely on the students you have in your class and what it will take to teach them.

Will rewards be a part of your classroom? If so what will they be and how will they be used?

Elizabeth Larsen (3) Visualizing Strategy

Quote: "How well students use visualization often becomes clear when they view film versions of books they've read: Students who are good visualizers are often disappointed with the film version and the actors who perform as the characters, but those who don't visualize are often amazed by the film and prefer it to the book."

Comment: I remember watching film versions of books we read in class in elementary school. It was always such a treat to watch a movie in class, even though the movies were never as good as the books. It also sounds like watching a movie of a book is a good way to determine if students are visualizing well or not. The teacher can have the students write about the film as compared to the book after watching to see what they thought. However, it sounds like watching a movie of the book might not be good for students who aren't good visualizers yet.

Question: Is watching movies of books read in the classroom a good idea in elementary school? Will it interfere with the students' visualizing skills, or enhance them?

Ana Marques (3) Chapter 8 blog

Quote: Teachers often direct students toward the big ideas when they encourage them to make predictions.
Comment: It is important to understand that the child understanding depends largely on their prior knowledge and in targeting the big ideas. By encouraging the children to make prediction we can see the level that they are and get a glimpse of their perspective. Then as a teacher we can teach them how to predict or how to use prior knowledge to build more knowledge on top of it.
Question: how would you activate prior knowledge?

Reading Comprehension-Annie Phillips (3)

Quote: "Readers ask themselves questions about the text as they read. They ask self-questions out of curiosity, and as they use this strategy, they become more engaged with the text and want to keep reading to find answers."

Comment: I think that it is very important to foster children's curiosity during reading. When children read stories, they automatically wonder what will happen, and how things will turn out. If teachers can promote this type of interest in reading, it will help students gain a stronger love of reading, and a desire to keep reading. Reading stories with strong plots will help students to become engaged with the text, and they will continue to read as they gain an appreciation for story development.

Question: What are some ways that teachers can foster children's curiosity in reading? What activities might they do that would help their students to analyze the stories they're reading and guess what will happen next?

Zaundra Romney (3) Comprehension

Quote: "Students who feel they have little hope of success are unlikely to become engaged in literacy activities. Teachers play a big role in shaping students' expectations, and teacher expectations are often self-fulfilling. If teachers believe that their students can be successful, it's more likely that they will be."

Comment: This section caught my attention. As I was reading this chapter, I kept asking saying to myself, so comprehension is important, but what can I do to help my students be able to comprehend easier. While expectations was written under the students role, teacher's have a role in how students form their expectations. Not only do I need to believe in my students, but they need to believe in themselves.

Question: What will you do, or what are some ideas you have to help your students have higher expectations for themselves?

Sarah Means (3) Local and Global Literacies

Quote: "In an autonomous model of literacy...texts dictate terms for the reader wehereas in an ideological model of literacy the reader and the context dictate the terms of how a text is read and understood. Such a shift in thinking gives more power to the reader and the context as carriers of their own meaning, discourses, and ideologies." (Paul, 79)

Comment: I really liked this idea of the ideological model of literacy. I think that, if a student is going to get anything out of reading, they are going to have to internalize it somehow. It is therefore vital that each student can find the meaning of the text themselves. The beautiful thing is that the meaning can be different for each student. Different people are going through different things and will thus relate to a text in different ways. I think it is important to harness this idea in children when they are young. If they realize at a young age that they can make their own meanings of text, they will be able to more readily as an adult and will be able to see the value of text earlier.

Question: How can we engrain this ideological model of literacy in students who are just learning how to read?

Janet Leishman (3) Local and Global Literacies

Quote: "Appreciating the local and the global and the local cultural identity of our students opens up opportunities for richer classroom experiences." (Pahl 86)

Comment: In the classroom, students should be taught to not fear other cultures but rather to appreciate them. In the quote above it explains that if we, as a teacher, appreciate the cultural identity of our students will help in creating richer classroom experiences. One way that this could possibly create richer classroom experiences is because the teacher is appreciating and accepting each student individually. Every student is coming into the class with a different background. They each have been raised and taught manners according to their different cultures. Once a teacher recognizes the individuality of their students then they can begin to recognize the different instructional strategies needed to be used to reach each student. This gives the students a 'richer classroom experience'. They are each being given a variety of opportunities to reach their learning potential.

Question: Are there some racial stereotypes that we as a teacher may play to but we do not know we are?

Jayme Johnson - Section 4 - Student Interest

Quote: “We need to examine what literacy activities our students are engaging with out of school and consider how we can form bridges to support students within school” (P, 70).

Comment: I really liked the idea of bringing the students’ pop culture interests into the classroom. A lot of times, students are asked to express themselves creatively in writing and we try to pick out inspiring things from an academic standpoint. While I agree that students need this type of prompting, I also think writing would feel like less of a chore if they got to reflect and expand on things they are already interested in. You could have them write alternate endings to a well known story, or write a video game plot from another character’s point of view. You could do a brainstorming list of their favorite things and draw on that during assignments.

Question: How do we choose a subject that can reach every child, since they all have such diverse interests?

Heidi Burnett (4) Background Knowledge

Quote: "Readers bring their background knowledge to every reading experience; in fact, they read a text differently depending on their prior experiences. Zimmermann and Hutchins (2003) explain that “the meaning you get from a piece is intertwined with the meaning you bring to it” (p.45). Readers think about the topic before they begin reading and call up relevant information and related vocabulary to use while reading. The more background knowledge and prior experiences readers have about a topic, the more likely they are to successfully comprehend what they’re read" (Tompkins).

Comment: I thought this was an interesting idea. When one student reads a story, they will have a completely different experience from a student with different background knowledge and experiences. This makes sense, but I have never thought about how it will affect my classroom. Usually I think about how background knowledge and prior experiences affect my scripture study. There have been many times in my life when I read a passage one day and get nothing out of it; I might read it a few weeks/months/years later, however, and have an extremely spiritual experience. Because I had different experiences in the time lapse, the same words meant something entirely different. Even though it won't be in spiritual sense in our classrooms, I think it is important for us to remember that different students will comprehend reading at different levels because each will walk into my classroom with a unique background full of unique experiences.

Question: What are some things we can do as teachers to make sure the reading we assign is valuable to all students, regardless of their backgrounds and prior experience?

Comprehension Strategies-Section 3

Quote: "Zimmermann and Hutchins explain that 'the meaning you get from a piece is intertwined with the meaning you bring to it.'" (pg.261)
Comment: This quote has valuable truth to it. As a reader if I have more background knowledge then I will enjoy and be able to comprehend the book better than if I am reading a book that has no personal meaning to me. For example, I don't have lots of knowledge about space travel and living in other universes, so the book, "Ender's Game" didn't really mean much to me because half of the time I was confused about what was even being talked about (decoding), so there was no point in trying to comprehend or predict the character's reasoning's behind making the choices he does. It is vital that my students read books that they feel some connection to, or that I teach them strategies so they can relate some meaning from their lives to the book.
Question: What about my ELL students, who can't read English very well, or don't have a connection for many of the books Americans are required to read in the curriculum?

Laura Watts (3) Background Knowledge

Quote: "When students don't have adequate background knowledge, the topic or genre of the text is unfamiliar any many words are new, they're likely to find the text very challenging, and it's unlikely that they'll be successful" (Tompkins, 259-260).

Comment: All text is contextualized by our previous knowledge. We view what we read in terms of what we already know. When we are unable to connect what we read with what we already know, the reading is not enjoyable and does not make sense to us. As teachers, we must make sure that students are already to understand what they read in terms of the background knowledge of the text. Teaching the background of the text being presented is part of the purpose of presenting texts to students.

Question: How can teaching background knowledge help create not only fluent and comprehensive readers, but also help a student's motivation to read?

Sara Foster (4)--School as a continuation of home education

"I believe that, as such simplified social life, the school life should grow gradually out of the home life; that it should take up and continue the activities with which the child is already familiar in the home." (Dewey)

I really liked this quote. I think it's important that we're connecting their home life to their school life. It makes the things they're learning more relevant and memorable. If a kid can connect something unfamiliar they're learning in school to something familiar and comfortable from their home life, they'll be able to create a deeper understanding.
This approach also acknowledges and values what they already know; we should remember that kids don't come to us not knowing anything. They've already learned so many things before they ever set foot in the school, and we need to appreciate that.

What do we do if a student who has a less than ideal home life never learned necessary skills that other students learned in their home lives?

Hannah Austin (Section 4) Sep. 24th---Predictions in reading

Quote: "These Guesses are based on what students already know about the topic and genre or on what they've read thus far (Tompkins pg. 226)"

Comment: I really liked this predicting strategy because I think it is the kind of critical thinking that children will need. I think that learning to predict in reading, will make it easier for students to predict in all of their subjects, like being able to see where an answer is leading in Math. It will also make it easier for students to write since they will be able to both write in a somewhat predictable way that makes sense, but they will also get to learn how not to be too obvious in what they write.

Question: How can I help a student who always makes inaccurate predictions when reading? Do I just need to give them more practice, or is there another strategy they can use to help them?

Brittany Hammond (4) Motivation

Quote: "Motivation is intrinsic, the innate curiosity that makes us want to figure things out. It includes feeling self-confident, believing you'll succeed, and viewing the activity as pleasurable." - Tompkins, pg. 277

Comment: This quote stuck out to me because motivation is something that I often struggle with. I have such a bad attitude about a specific assignment or class that it can start to take a toll on my grade. I thought it was interesting that our belief in success is also key in motivation. Although I always just thought of my lack of motivation as a lack of enjoyment, reading this made me think a little harder, and I cam to realize that my bad attitude sometimes stemmed from the fact that I didn't know exactly what I was supposed to do. Because I didn't know what to do, I figured I'd do poorly and just stopped caring or enjoying. I think it's very important to make sure our students know they can succeed and that their personal best is good enough.

Question: How do we make sure that our students feel successful in their reading and writing accomplishments? What can we do to make these activities fun so that even if they feel they are not perfect they still want to work to be better?

Anna Goode (3) Comprehension

"In fact, students comprehend better when they generate their own questions than when teachers ask questions."

I thought this was so interesting, because from my own experience, it can be very challenging to come up with my own questions as the student because I don't always k ow what exactly he important points are that I should be looking for. I found it helpful to think about reading with a question in mind (very similar to our prophet's council while reading scriptures or the ensign! Ahhhh, it's for greater comprehension and understanding!). To help the students with this, I think it might be beneficial to have them reading some comprehension questions (like in the back of a text book) before they read so they can be looking for those points.

My question is not very deep, but it wasn't very clear to me: what is the difference between the ideas of "drawing inferences" and "predicting"? They sounded very similar to me.

Jordan Sanders (3) Capable and Less Capable Readers

Quote: "Another important difference between capable and less capable readers and writers is that those who are less successful aren't strategic. They are naive. They seem reluctant to use unfamiliar strategies or those that requre much effort. They don't seem to be motivate or to expect that they'll be successful. Less capable readers and writers don't understand or use all stages of the reading and writing processes effectively. They don't monitor their reading and writing. Or, if they do use strategies, they remain dependent on primitive ones. For example, as they read. less successful readers seldom look ahead or back into the text to clarify misunderstandings or make plans."

Comment: I think that this is very true. Strategic reading is the only way to really understand what you are reading and make connections to other knowledge and events. Students who are not strategic readers will find reading harder than those who are even if they have the same vocabulary and fluency levels. We need to help students become strategic readers so that they will enjoy thier reading expierence more and be more motivated to continue becoming better readers.

Question: How can we help students who are struggling to become strategic readers?

Allie Hymas (3) Facilitating Students' Comprehension: Reader Factors

Quote: "Readers bring their background knowledge to every reading experience; in fact, they read a text differently depending on their prior experiences...'the meaning you get from a piece is intertwined with the meaning you bring to it'." (Tompkins, 261)

Comment: I really liked the idea that "the meaning you get from a piece is intertwined with the meaning you bring to it". This makes a lot of sense in the context that students will apply their background to new information they are gaining through their reading. Each student's background knowledge will vary, especially between students of varying cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. This quote can help me as a teacher to remember to be aware of differing backgrounds of my students and make sure to select a variety of reading materials for my classroom that will appeal to students with different experiences and interests. I also realized that I should be careful in telling students what "right" and "wrong" interpretations of the materials we are reading in class are--I should first determine where the student is coming from and then determine if their conclusions and ideas are logical based on their previous knowledge.

Question: If there is a text that is required by the curriculum for our students to read, how can we as teachers make sure that our students have the proper background knowledge to read and interpret the text?

Whitney Winegar - Comprehension (3)

Quote: "Struggling readers, in contrast, are frustrated; they don't understand what they're reading, don't like to read, and aren't likely to read in the future." Also, I liked this quote too! - "Teachers teach these skills and students practice them until they become automatic procedures that don't require conscious thought or interpretation."

Comment: I like the first quote because I am now motivated to teach comprehension skills. Before reading this, I couldn't really see their importance. However, if students don't have comprehension skills, they're going to hate reading. I just always thought that people who hated reading just simply didn't like it. But it makes sense that they don't understand what they're reading so it's not worth it to them. I like quote number two because during this reading I was thinking, "I comprehend well but I don't use any of these strategies" But then this quote popped up and I realized it's because some elementary teacher taught me these skills a long time ago and now I just do them automatically! Amazing!

Question: So, I already stated that I agree with teaching comprehension skills, but for some reason I do not see the importance of the predicting strategy. I think it is a dumb strategy. I don't pick up a book and start to predict what's going to happen, because I don't know what's gong to happen, that's why I want to read it! Also, it doesn't seem like predictions help students with comprehending the story because they're just making guesses as to what happens, then find out later if they were wrong or right. what's the point? So my question is, do you think predicting is a good comprehension strategy? If so, why? If not, why?

Jessica Bringhurst, Sec. 4, Building Literacy

Quote: "Educators learn to incorporate students' texts written outside school, but to understand and build on their literacy practices.  This perspective gives educators the challenge of finding out about the literacy practices of their students, sharing them in a community of practice with the class, and building on these practices in classroom settings.  We need to examine what literacy activities our students are engaging with our of school and consider how we can form bridges to support students within school.  This will give us the opportunity to think more clearly about what literacy is being supported where." (Paul 70)

Comment:  Sorry this was a long quote.  But I thought it did a great job summing up the main points that really inspired me through out this entire chapter.  We need to understand the literacy that is going on within each child's home.  We need to learn to build from that as we work on literacy in the classroom.  If we can connect the learning to some extent with what students feel comfortable with or with what students know from home they will be more likely to respond positively.  If we can build a supportive nest with the home and school our students will have so many opportunities to thrive in literacy.  Even when we think a home may not be supportive for a particular student, we can glean something from that child's life outside of school that can help us touch and better connect with that student.

Question: What are some ideas you have on "forming bridges to support students with in school."  What does that phrase mean to us personally and what ideas do you have to make this happen once you begin teaching?!

Shalyn Shelton (3) Reading Comprehension

Quote: "Students need to spend lots of time reading authentic texts independently and talking about their reading with classmates and teachers. Having students read interesting books written at their reading level is the best way for them to apply comprehension."

Comment: I love this quote! It explains exactly how I feel about teaching reading. We can teach concepts and strategies to students that will be helpful, but in the end what will help students with reading comprehension the most is actually reading books they enjoy. The more students read, the more their comprehension will increase. If students are excited about they book they're reading, they'll understand it and want to ask themselves questions about it and make predictions. The actual doing is what will promote the learning. We should help our students find books that relate to their interests and help them to love reading.

Question: What is your personal theory concerning teaching reading comprehension in the classroom?

McKenzie Keene, Sect. 4, Bridging the Home and School Gap

Quote: "Teaching and learning take place in many spaces, and our students will absorb information unexpectedly and in different places... When students are in the classroom they will sometimes pay attention and sometimes not. Our students' attention and interest will ebb and flow in and out of our teaching. By bridging a gap between home and school, we allow them in far more" (Pahl, p. 49).

I really believe this quote and through our class discussions I have come to realize how important it is to teach literacy by relating it to what the children have already experienced and learned outside the classroom. Children come into the classroom with different experiences from home. They learn just like we do, by building on our previous knowledge. So why not connect home and school to help the child understand and pay more attention to what we are teaching. Students' attention and interests in the classroom will not be constant and that is why we also need to have a variety of lessons that relate to what they are experiencing at home. Pahl's chapter is also very relative to what we should do before guided reading. That is, to activate previous knowledge before reading. This is very important! It will bridge the gap they may have with what is in the book and excite them to read something they can understand, enjoy, and ultimately feel like a successful reader!

Question: As a teacher with an ell student, should you have them read the same books that are in the guided reading center even if the books are not relative to them and their home experiences? Or, should you have that child read books that they will more fully understand and be able to relate to?

Jessica McClellan (4) Reading

Quote: Students must understand what they're reading to learn from the experience; they must make sense of the words in the text to maintain interest; and they must enjoy reading to become lifelong learners.

Comment: Although the quote is pretty straightforward, it made me really think about reading and how it affects us and children. Comprehension is so important to make reading even worthwhile. I used to think that if I just read the words, that would be enough and I would be able to go on my way feeling like I had accomplished something. But to really understand the words that are being read transforms reading from passive to active. We have all had those times where ours eyes cross over the words and when we are at the end of the page, we have no clue what we read. Children need to make sense of the words instead of merely looking at them to understand and to actually want to continue. I never really liked reading until I read something that really related to me and that I could draw experience from. After that, I was so excited to read and now I love reading! I want my students to love reading as much as I do and to maintain a love of reading throughout their lives. So much can be learned from a good novel.

Question: How do we get kids who say they hate reading to give it another chance and really try to enjoy it?

Nachelle Mackie (4) Comprehension

Quote: "Comprehension is the goal of reading; it's the reason why people read" (Tompkins, 257)

Comment: This may sound like a "duh" statement, but when I read over it I stopped to think about it for a second. My first thought actually was on the words of Isaiah and how many people have difficulties understanding that passage of scripture. I have heard many comments over the years such as "I just skip the Isaiah parts" or "I just read over it fast without understanding anything." One reason why we don't like reading the Isaiah parts is because we don't comprehend it so we don't see a point in reading it. When we are teachers, some of our students will have a hard time comprehending text which could cause them to turn away from reading. That is why comprehension is so important! You read because you enjoy it, but how can you enjoy it if you don't understand what you are reading?

Question: In what ways can we help in our students' comprehesion skills?

Courtney Harrison: Comprehension and Motivation

Quote: “Mainstream middle class children often look like they are learning literacy (of various sorts) in school, but in fact I believe much research shows they are acquiring these literacy’s through experiences in the home both before and during school”
Question: In the Gee what is literacy, he says “we must also stress research and intervention efforts that facilitate the development of wider and more humane concepts of mastery and its connections to gatekeeping” What does he mean by a more humane way? What is inhumane now?
Comment: On the my pedagogical creed article I really liked the statement" I believe that education therefore is a process of living and not preparation for future living". I think this is so true because we're always looking for more and looking for something new to learn and prepare for and we just need to realize this is life.