Literacy Week 4

This week's posting is prompted from Regie Routman's book titled Writing Essentials.

This past week, our class has been swimming amongst the ways in which we can become better writers. I say this because I just finished reading the first ninety-four pages of Lamott's book Bird By Bird in which she carefully explains her own writing process and how she uses her own experiences in order to help other aspiring writers develop their own skills.

Routman lists the 12 Writing Essentials for All Grade Levels on page thirteen. I can easily speak for many students when I say that we have all heard these essentials day in and day out. We have been constantly reminded to think of our audience, be organized, catch the reader's interest from the beginning, and to elaborate. These essentials appear ideal and often easier said than done. Writing can be a complex and timely task and can sometimes be more free flowing and imaginative with less structure. But for the most part I believe these essentials lay out the ground rules for any type of writing. They appear to successfully guide us as we begin and as we continue on through the process.

From a teacher's perspective, I believe that yes these writing essentials are in fact essential. I believe there is nothing more important than teaching students how to create purposeful writing that aligns with lanquage standards. I aim at being the type of teacher where my own writing lessons will use these and only these essentials. I aim at creating a welcoming environment where my students feel confident enough to write and safe enough make mistakes. Allowing students to see how writing can be a positive and enjoyable experience will be my essential goal.

For as long as I can remember I have been a writer. I believe as long as someone has the materials and basic skills, they too can be a writer. I do however wish to mention that there is a fine line between being a writer and the production of good writing. For me, writing has typically been a fun activity despite a few college classes where subject matter had little success in finding my interest. That aside, my inner child made a valuable connection to writing because it allowed me to explore my own mind in a deeper, more engaging way. Through writing I was able to better understand my imagination. Writing for me was like an escape.

I understand for some that that task of writing echoes a negative connoation, and I believe this is true due to the fact that we all have different writing experiences that have collected overtime to form one's own writing history. For me however I have been keeping a journal since I was ten. When I turned fifteen, the way I felt about writing changed because I allowed myself to get burried udnerneath a teacher's negative view on my writing getting to me. I guess more than anything she left me confused. Was I poor writer or was it okay because I was still learning? Nonetheless, her intention was unclear and all I was left with was doubt. Even with negative reviews I have been able to move on because there were teachers in my life who made me reevaluate my potential. My very first quarter paper assignment at UWB was read aloud to the entire class and as I received it I noticed a shining "A" at the very top. It was then that my confidence grew. I believe that everyone has a personal writing history that has been shaped by the experiences and people who have been a part of it. We can learn from our writing, we can learn from those who read it, and we can keep on learning as long as we continue to practice. I think that where we fall short is when we let our doubt overcome our creative and powerful reason for writing. After all, we just want our voices to be heard and for our thoughts to be acknowledged. There is more to life than just existing!

Onomatopoeia

For this week I plan on doing my read-aloud assignment. For those who are unsure of what this exactly entails I get to read a book of reasonable context and supply my very own lesson along with it. I have been on the hunt for a so called "perfect book" and so far what I have come up has been narrowed down to three likely books/candidates. Because my teacher room (at home) is poorly unorganized I was extremely unlucky in my search for a book I already own thus my hunt lead me to my local library!

I was deeply saddened by the poor layout of my local library, in fact I left feeling strongly disappointed in my selection. I was actually shocked at how non child-friendly it was. Aligned the walls lay signs reading "Easy Picture Books" and "Non-fiction" and "Fiction" what happened to descriptive signs, I kept asking myself how a child would be able to navigate themselves around. The word "Easy" still haunts me as I think about, how discouraging for a young student to read that word and feel discouraged that their hard work and achievement is being belittled. I also found only 2 Halloween related books mixed within all the shelves. I was hoping that at least a few seasonal books would be strategically placed for all to admire. I felt it was cold and uninviting.

On a more positive note I did bring three great books home with me. Two of which I found in the language section of the library. I really have my heart set on two books. Because my Dyad students are really interested in the use of language and all the neat types of descriptive words I really wanted a book on homonyms. Luckily I found a great book written by Brian Cleary titled How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear? and If you were Onomatopoeia written by Trisha Speed Shaskan. Both look amazing so I will just have to see where my heart and mind meet in terms of my big decision!

This book If you were Onomatopoeia is really great, I feel like they will just adore the illustrations and the use of language. How much fun will they have learning that sounds can be written in words and that they have their own very special identity.

Why Blog?

Over the Summer I had the opportunity to meet with a group of teachers for lunch. As we were conversing I shared a bit about where my passions lie and what type of things I see becoming valuable among the technology world, especially within the educational system. I shared with them my personal relationship with Blogging and how important it is for us to really use what we have available to us. I was shocked when they immediately questioned my ideas and narrow-mindedly suggested this entire idea to be pointless. Was I witnessing a gap in generations? I was extremely shocked and could not believe how strongly they felt about it...had they no idea?

I'm proud to say I didn't let this situation discourage me. I've chosen to take it as a suggestion to myself to keep up with technology because it is constantly changing. For this reason, I blog!

I'm including this video that I saw on Jane's site because I feel it will help prove my point:



Here is a link to some serious and "true" suggestions, and some rather biased and opinnionated beliefs as to why we should and should not blog:

Literacy Week 3

Last week in my dyad placement I was able to listen in on a student who was willing to read aloud to me during free reading time. I was excited because my September experience primarily consisted of reading to the students so this was a great opportunity for role reversal.

When I first met these students I learned that many of them were already reading advanced chapter books. I was actually suprised by the amount of requests for free reading time. This let me know that these kids were readers! What I was most interested in was how well they could read and what types of things they enjoyed reading. I saw a few students caught up in comic books, others were reading thick and highly advanced chapter books, and some were reading picture books. Students at all different levels loving to read, it was a beautiful sight!

I had asked a few other students the previous day if I could read with them but unfortunately, one student told me that they would rather read alone, and another student and I were about to begin and realized we didn't have enough time to really get through a reasonable amount of reading. Finally, I was going to be able to see how hours of literacy practice would pay off. She began reading to me from the middle of a chapter book so I was unable to fully understand the story which now reminds me that I should have asked her what she had read so far in order to catch me up with the story and to see if she was comprehending the story. As she was reading I realized that there were at least 5 words on each page that she had a difficult time saying but her efforts were wonderful. She sounded out the letters and gave it her best shot. Even if she misprounounced a word I was careful to not correct every mistake because I was learning the importance of fluency. I wanted her to feel comfortable enough to keep reading with me and if she asked me to help her with a word then I would. I learned this lesson when we were working on our writing skills. Because I am still new to this classroom I am unsure on their use of phonics strategies. For this student in particular I was able to see the use of breif scimming and letter recognition.

I am still at the point where I am trying to learn how to assess students without doing formal assessments.

Literacy Week 2

Within the classrooms I've had the opportunity to visit and observe, emergent literacy has been a prominent aspect in the lives of young students. While many of my students are just learning how to read I also have a group of students who are highly capable of writing entire chapters. Emergent literacy as I see it requires a wide array of visual learning where words and sentences can be commonly found throughout everyday life. I strongly agree with Sulzby and Teale in their article titled Emergent Literacy: New Perspectives when they say that, "young children's literacy learning grows out of a wide variety of experiences" (p. 5). With their article, we are reminded how important it is to read with or to our children on a daily basis. As I am learning now, reading with children doesn't simply mean reading because there is a level of comprehension that we must acknowledge.

Without fail, my master teacher's always take time out of their day for storytelling and read alouds. I feel passionate enough when I say never underestimate the power of reading a book to a child. Even if they merely listening to you read there is still learning going on. I've even had the opportunity to sit one on one with students as they read to me. Some are able to read word for word while other interpret their book for me by what they see in pictures.

Thankfully I've had the opportunity to be surrounded by many postive experiences where the teachers I'm with strongly support and encourage young children's literacy in a wide array of experiences. I do believe this is crucial for any "good" teacher.