Week 15: Writing Workshops

This week, we learned about Writing Workshops and what makes a good mini-lesson for students to learn to write effectively and become accomplished writers. While we discussed this, we talked about the five steps of the Writing Process, which are:
1. Rehearsal
2. Drafting
3. Revision
4. Editing
5. Publishing

Through field placement experiences and class, I know about Writing Workshops, however, I found them hard to define completely while in class. Looking online, I found a concrete example of what exactly a Writing Workshop is, and what it consists of.

 

Through my Methods Block field placement, I observed my co-op perform many Writing Workshops. My favorite part was that she would allow students to go through the steps of the writing process but write about any topic they would like, giving suggestions to those who wanted them. As a teacher, I enjoyed circulating the class to discover the different ideas of my students, and as a class this semester, we devised a list of characteristics that would be included in a Writer's Workshop:

- Independent Writing: Students interact with their writing, editing it multiple times to reflect maturity in writing and applying their knowledge of grammar to make a readable piece of writing.

- Teacher Conferencing: The teacher facilitates writing by giving mini-lessons on writing conventions or grammar and conferencing with individual students to strengthen their writing based on their weaknesses and the class mini-lessons.

- Mini-Lessons: Target one skill so students can effectively incorporate and apply new skills to ongoing writing.

- Dedicated Time: Students expect a certain time each day or a few days a week to work on ongoing pieces of writing. 

- Routine: Writing happens frequently, for a set period of time either every day or a few days a week, so a student can progress through all writing stages. 

- Choice: Topic suggestions are engaging and motivating, allowing students to apply knowledge from lessons, but also allow students to have free reign about their favorite topics so they can write what is relatable to them.

Keeping all of these components in mind, we understood as a class that some students just do not like to write, typically because they feel like writing is not one of their strengths and they would rather avoid the task altogether. In my field placement, I worked frequently with one student who despised writing because he felt as though his ideas were "bad" and he took longer to form his letters than most other students in the class. I adapted writing lessons with him by allowing him to suggest to me ideas for sentences, and then writing those sentences for him on a whiteboard for him to copy onto paper. This engaged and motivated him as he was no longer apprehensive about spelling or forming his letters incorrectly, and also assured me that he could create his own ideas and come to conclusions about writings based on the topics given in class. Other adaptations we discussed were to scaffold, such as the technique I used with my student this semester. Other scaffolds include notes or prompts to give the student ideas and feedback to feel confident about writing. A graphic organizer or set of steps can help students be aware of the writing process and follow the steps of the process to write effectively. Through conferencing, teachers can embed strategy instruction based on conventions with which the student specifically has trouble.

Finally, the last step in the writing process, Publishing, is the most important. Students feel accomplished when they work towards publishing, and all students feel validated when they are able to share their ideas. Many teachers struggle to follow through with this aspect of the writing process, but I hope to emphasize publishing in my classroom so that my students understand that they can all be writers and feel pride in their work as it is displayed or read in the classroom.

Week 14: Role Models

Last week, we discussed role models of teaching, and I thought of my cooperating teacher from Methods Block. She was a fairly new teacher, however, I admired the way she taught her lessons with ease and got her points across effectively while I, on the other hand, felt nervous during nearly every lesson, paranoid that my students learned nothing from me. She also dealt with problem behaviors very well, handling an incident with a student with aggressive behaviors with an effortless calm that I have taken into my own practice, and hope to keep as I learn more classroom management techniques this coming semester when I student teach. She taught me to let go, and to learn from my mistakes in my lessons. She commended me whenever I tried and always gave me suggestions on how to improve. As that semester went along, she also helped me highlight my strengths while I worked to become a well-rounded teacher. As I embark on my adventure for student teaching next semester, I hope to keep her teaching methods in mind and hope to ease my nervousness and help my students learn the best that they can. After evaluating my teaching role model, I have given many thoughts to what I would like to do after I graduate as I wrote a letter to my future self.

As I evaluate my own goals, I realize what I would like to accomplish in my life and what passions I would like to continue. Forcing myself to realize what I want in life helped me come up with the above goals for myself. Above all else, the reason I became a teacher was because I want to help children learn, and I am passionate about what I do. I realize that if I can make a difference in a child's life while I work, then I have served my purpose.

Week 13: Resources and New Literacies

This week, we discussed learning context and evaluating the resources in our classrooms. I have been fortunate to work and have many field placements in many districts and schools with plenty of resources. However, I realize that some districts and schools may not have as many resources and teachers need to be creative in reinventing their resources to make lessons as dynamic as possible. 

We continued to talk about New Literacies. The whole concept baffled me at first, but I began to understand the concept of New Literacies with discussion of all of the new technologies coming into our lives. It was difficult to understand at first that many teachers have not grown up in a digital environment and must learn not only to navigate new technologies, but to use them to their advantage. At first, the digital world included places to find information and become a consumer, learning about online businesses and gathering knowledge through data and "experts" online. Now, anyone can consume online content, as well as produce it in our increasingly social online environment. Though it was frustrating to navigate new technologies in class that I was unfamiliar with this semester, I found it useful to learn from others in the field about popular topics in both general and special education, and, along the way, discover my philosophies and thoughts about the way I teach. 

Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

Teachers must teach to students now growing up in an increasingly more diverse digital world, where one must be smart about the way they use technology, to not only use it for fun, but to use technology to effectively communicate their ideas. The above visual shows the different components to Digital Literacy, and how they all work together to help people use information well and be smart consumers. At my field placement this semester, one of my days was spent learning about internet safety with the school's police officer. Even starting at five and six years old, the students learned not to talk to strangers on the internet and hide personal information unless through a trusted source. This was the first step to their learning about being smart consumers. Students will learn as they grow to create reliable and useful information, how to find credible information, and discoverwhy they search for information. As I've gone through my four years of college, I've learned to take important information to share my thoughts and learning about what I am passionate about - teaching children and making a difference in their lives. Students also become very motivated by Web 2.0 materials to incorporate into their learning. Including these options helps students relate content to their lives and provides an outlet to show how technology can be used effectively and for learning. Providing these options gives students choice and allows them to have a relevant means of explaining information. 

Gamifying learning is also very popular with students in my generation. Many teachers, especially those who grew up before my generation and had been teaching for years, discount gamifying learning as dumb and useless, claiming that students do not have the same level of knowledge as students in the past because they learn less through these new games. However, this infographic explains the amount of time people devote to gaming daily now that casual games have become much more popular. The infographic talks about the aspects of gaming that apply to learning. The one that struck me most was the endless nature of gaming, and how students continue to learn and advance until they become experts, which is what teachers want. Students should continue to learn about different topics and keep exploring until they satisfy all their curiosities and fully understand their learning. We also discussed in class the opportunity to create content and that students may be able to demonstrate their knowledge by creating a game that applies what they know. The opportunity to produce content helps students take pride in their work, showing what they know in a medium very relevant to their lives. I always loved playing video games growing up, and would love to incorporate games into lessons as I become a teacher.

Week 12: Instructional Environments

This week, we discussed instructional environments and what would be most conducive to learning. For all learners, the environment must be evaluated physically, in interactions, in organization, and congruence among settings. Physically, most students enjoy low lighting, a temperature balance, and fresh air. In addition, students also enjoy a balance between different types of learning, including, audio, visuals, technology, and hands-on projects. In addition to the physical environment, emotional relationships between teachers and students can make the classroom more enjoyable when the student feels safe and creates a bond of trust with the teacher. When the students physical and emotional needs are met, then learning can proceed. 

In a small group, Bella, Caitlin, and I created a list of techniques to engage kinesthetic learners. Kinesthetic learners learn best through movement and hands-on techniques. The list we created is below:
 - creating a dance or movement
 - touching body parts or making symbols with hands
 - touching or experiencing realia of the topic being discussed (a pumpkin in the fall for example)
 - allowing for fidget room
 - allowing use of a stress ball to ease anxious movements
 - brain breaks involving movement
 - center activities and small group activities

Neurologically, movement has been shown to help make more neuronal connections in the brain, stimulating learning. In a study done on children with dyslexia, movement helped those students perform better on reading tasks, also allowing for higher scores on reading-based standardized tests. Incorporating movement into our classrooms will allow students to increase the oxygen flow to their brains, allowing them to learn more effectively.

Using the Fry Readability Formula, we calculated the difficulty level of two books, a lower-level Nancy Drew book, and the first book in the Charlie Bone series. This formula took into account syllables per 100 random words as well as sentences in the same section of 100 words. We determined that Nancy Drew was at a mid-3rd grade level and Charlie Bone was at a beginning 6th grade level. Based on the formula and results, we determined that the formula basically relies on the principle of more syllables + fewer sentences = increased complexity. We developed a list of pros and cons about this formula and how it is used to evaluate reading levels of different texts.

Pros and Cons of the Fry Readability Formula

In evaluating the readability formula, we realized that there are many factors that are not taken into account when evaluating the books, as listed in the cons in the above chart. Though the formula could be a good benchmark for recommending books for students or creating variety within lesson plans, teachers should still read the books and look for other formulas of ability levels for students when assigning or recommending books.

Weeks 10 and 11: Role of Race in Education

We began these two weeks by discussing the role race plays in our placements and in the larger scope of the field of education. In a free write, I discussed my cooperating teacher's relationship with the one African-American student in her classroom and how it seemed to be skewed and odd. She tends to discipline her more harshly and pick on her more often, even saying both her first and last name while reprimanding her, whereas she wouldn't do that for another student. After discussing race in a fishbowl with our class, I became hyperaware of the fact that racism is still a very prevalent issue within our country. The discussion made me realize that slavery and the civil rights movement were fairly recent occurrences in our country, and though progress has been made, we still have a ways to go to establish equality and non-bias.

In the midst of the Ferguson riots due to decisions based on Michael Brown's death in Missouri, a CNN article discusses implicit biases that everyone has, despite their claims that they are not racist. We discussed the idea that as teachers, all types of children will come into our classrooms, and the idea of "not seeing color" just isn't fair or correct. It's important to keep in mind that biases that we don't even know we have can still influence our behaviors and we treat others unfairly due to stereotypes we may have heard or misperceptions we have in our heads. The CNN article describes a study in which people are shown a picture of two white men fighting, one with a knife and another unarmed, and typically people can correctly identify who is holding the knife. However, when the picture shows a white man and a black man fighting, with the white man holding the knife, people tend to misidentify the armed fighter as the black man. These implicit biases can at times be more harmful than outright racism, as they are harder to correct and mediate, UCLA researcher Daniel Ames describes.

We also discussed whether or not black people can be racist as one of our Socratic Seminar talking points. Initially, I did not bat an eyelash when I said "yes" in answer to that question. I think of racism as a hatred or prejudice against another race for no justifiable reason, and in that case, I believe that racism can be found among any race towards others. Unfortunately, biases and prejudices are just a part of being human. However, as I continued to listen to what my classmates had said, I realized there could be other definitions of racism that would make the answer to the question "Can black people be racist?", no. I read an article under Ferris State University's Jim Crow Museum describing the definitions of racism and by those definitions whether or not black people can be racist. The writer of that article and Professor Dyson in this video, describe that under the definition "systematic oppression and exclusion of other races", the United States is not set up to oppress the majority of whites. There is no possible way that whites are excluded from different social systems in the United States simply because they are white, which I had never thought of. 

In our fishbowl and Socratic Seminar, we talked about poverty, however, since we are mostly in urban districts, we did not really discuss rural poverty. Interested, I looked up the tendency for more urban populations to be at lower socioeconomic levels than rural populations, and the results were surprising. 

 


 Looking at this chart, the rural and urban rates of poverty are about equal in most places in the United States. However, when looking at the South, the rural poverty rates skyrocket compared to the urban rates. This came as a surprise to me because most people, especially teachers, do not realize how few resources rural areas, districts, and schools have. Generally, teachers and people in general tend to think of cities when they think of people of low socioeconomic status, not realizing that rural areas have as much as, if not more, people living at a low socioeconomic status. This also plays into the race conversation, as people generally think of those with fewer resources as people of minorities, when that is not always true. Many rural areas have a higher amount of people of white race, meaning our biases about race in relation to socioeconomic status tend to be incorrect when we don't think of those in rural areas and of the majority race.

Week 9: Assessment and Fishbowl

This week, we discussed getting started with assessment, especially in relation to our field placements. We created a home survey as a communication to parents and families in order to gather general information about the family as well as information about reading in the home. 

Home Survey Questions
- Who lives with you in the home?
- What types of activities do you do as a family?
- What types of interests does your child have that you know of?
- What is the primary language spoken in your home?
- What are your child's reading habits? What about academic habits in general?
- When is homework done in the home? How? Do you have any rules about getting homework done? What kinds of support does your child receive at home to do their homework?
- What are some goals you have for your child to accomplish by the end of this year?
- What abilities for your child to have are most important to you in terms of skills they will need to succeed in life?
- What would you like to see in your child's teaching?
- In what way would be best for me to communicate with you?

I chose these questions because I feel like they would be essential to determining the values of the family and understand what the family thinks is the best learning style for the child. Especially with elementary age students, it may be difficult for them to really know and verbalize what their preferred way of learning is, and the families are experts on their children, allowing the teacher to really see into what they believe is most important. 

Many of the other Home Surveys I found that pertained to reading had similar information on them as well, however I believe mine have some more detail attached to the questions in terms of what the family values right off the bat. One survey I found that I really enjoyed and would use to alter my questions on incorporated asking questions about the type of technology students have access to in the home. The link is below. I find that these types of questions could be very important when giving assignments to students, and oftentimes people, including teachers, assume that everyone has a working desktop with a printer or WiFi access in their home when that may not be the case. Also, by finding out what kind of technology is used in the home, I can offer apps and websites that could be used as enrichment activities based on my lessons.

http://thetechieteacher2.blogspot.com/2013/07/parent-technology-survey-freebie.html

We also had a fishbowl discussion about the topic of race in general, but also focused in on the classroom environment. One of the parts of that discussion that really struck me was the idea of color-blindness. In our discussion, we discussed color-blindness as a way to not see color in our students and in turn treat them all equally regardless of their race. However, we also discussed that race is a very important part of a student's individuality and identity and it's important to acknowledge their racial background and make them proud of who they are, no matter where they come from or what they look like. I also realize that we discussed our cooperating teachers and the students that they teach in terms of race relations. I've realized that there are only two African-American students in my classroom, one of which is actually from Haiti. The other student on the other hand, whose name is Nyshima, tends to have a distrustful relationship with my co-op. She frequently disobeys the rules that they review daily, and acts out frequently when reprimanded. My teacher actually called her grandmother one day to threaten her over her bad behavior, and as I later tried to redirect her to avoid her getting reprimanded yet again, my cooperating teacher essentially told me to back off so that her grandmother could see the full scope of her actions and discipline her in the classroom. The grandmother never did come into the classroom (at least before I left) so I do not know what became of that situation. But it irked me and I also found it odd that she was not providing a nurturing environment and redirecting the student to the best of her ability when that is a teacher's role in the classroom, and other students of other races may at times act similarly but she will not reprimand them in the same way. 

Week 6: Co-Teaching Strategies and CRI Testing

Co-Teaching Strategies to Use with Math Instruction

Co-Teaching is a method of delivering instruction where general and special educators share responsibility for planning, delivering, and evaluating instruction.
Strategies
- One Teach, One Observe: One teacher teaches the whole group, and the other teacher observes the group, determining who may need extra help and support to contribute and perform well in class. 
- Team Teaching: Teachers share total responsibility for planning and delivering academic instruction, teaching side-by-side.
- Alternative Teaching: One teacher teaches a small group of 3 - 8 students while the other teacher focuses on the whole class, helping to form small groups for more individualized, intense instruction. 
- Parallel Teaching: Both teachers split the class in half and teach both halves the same lesson at the same time, planning lessons together, allowing for more individualized attention with a smaller group. 
- Station Teaching: Teachers divide responsibility for instructional content, dividing class into groups of different activities, achieving the learning goals for all students. 
- One Teach, One Drift: One teacher facilitates instruction while the other floats around the classroom, able to check for student understanding and provide one-on-one help to struggling students.
Pros and Cons
- Pros: Allows for teachers to help all students, provides more individualized instruction, two teachers bring their ideas, general educator brings knowledge of curriculum and special educator brings specific strategies for certain needs
- Cons: May not match all academic topics or ages/grade levels, strategies for teaching may be limited, it may be difficult for both teachers to get on the same page and find planning times

Field Placement - Beginning CRI Instruction
I began my CRI Instruction with my designated student during my third week of placement. My teacher frustrates me a bit because of her teaching and classroom management style. It does not seem like she respects the assignments we have to complete, as her practice reading test as well as her other routines lasted about an hour and a half of my 2 1/2 hour timeframe in her classroom. As she began her morning Daily 5 with the students, I approached my student to begin the tests, as I only had about an hour left to even get started. As I started talking to him, my co-op asked me to wait until after her guided reading session with the student. I was left with about 20 minutes total by the end of their first Daily 5 rotation and guided reading. After reviewing the Interest Inventory, I noticed that Mario, the boy I work with, very much enjoys Scooby Doo and watching lots of cartoons on TV. He has a big family and loves to play Xbox with his older siblings. We did not get through many of the tests, so next time I go to placement I plan to get through the rest of the test battery and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of Mario to hopefully begin planning lessons. It may be difficult to find a place to facilitate the lessons as students are scattered all over the classroom for the Daily 5. Each week there will need to be a lesson planned to perform all 6.