Literacy II: Week Seven

I found the Hudson article on dyslexia fascinating--most notably, the idea that dyslexia is a reading disability.  I liked this because it really makes you stop and think that this is a specific problem related to reading, and reading only.  I think that really helps you to understand dyslexia better--I know that reading the misconceptions about dyslexia (some of which I held) helped me to better understand this reading disability. It also helped me think about my ELL students, and how so often their process of decoding is very, very similar to a dyslexic person's. 

It made me think of the Tovani reading about "fake readers" because truly, fake reading would be a coping mechanism a dyslexic child would employ.  I can't imagine the pressures on an undiagnosed child to keep up the appearances of a true reader, and then to fall through the cracks and make it to high school?  We have utterly failed that student because the chances of surviving college, let alone a career that involves reading, studying, graphs or other elements of literacy, is slim to none.  I knew people like that when I was in high school, and sadly I just attributed their lack of academic success to those students not working hard enough, or caring enough.  I wonder now if they had an undiagnosed reading disorder...

I also think the RTI model is vital for a teacher when trying to teach reading.  Routman and Cooper would agree with the Mesmers that one strategy is simply not enough.  A teacher must try every trick in the book to see if one strategy takes a foothold, and the only way to discover if a strategy is working or not working is to intervene and keep detailed notes and records on those strategies.  This is just good practice in general, and I think you see it with most schools in the form of Running Records.  However, RTI should be used regularly on kids who need reading interventions in order to correctly discover what is going on in that student's mind, and how to help him or her achieve success in the classroom.

Empowering our students through strategies, differentiation and positive motivation is so vital towards creating good readers--even those who have significant reading disabilities.

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Literacy II: Week 6

Respond to an issue raised by Routman in Reading Essentials chapter 5 (Classroom library) or chapter 6 and compare/contrast this issue in terms of other class readings and your field placement.


I love our classroom's library (first grade).  It's provided an excellent model for me as a student teacher to see what goes on in a well-stocked library.  Not only does my MT support struggling reader by having an expansive A,B and C level library (which are extremely hard to come by--it's very difficult to write a quality book in less than 20 words), she also has "light reading" scattered throughout.  

Our system is that every other day, students get to bookshop.  They get to choose three just right books from the leveled bins and three any sort of books.  They place these in their book tubs on their desk, and during reading, we read only our just right books.  During all other reading times, the students may read whichever book in the bin appeals to them, and when they go home, they take the book from their conferences home with them to read.  I love this method because it truly supports Routman's theory that struggling readers must read books that appeal to them--but as educators, we also need to make sure they are getting the support and education they need in order to advance their reading and comprehension skills.


Looking through Routman's list of library evaluation questions, I am proud to say that I can mark off a resounding YES to all of them!  That is pretty incredible, and it makes me very proud and pleased to be interning in a classroom that so obviously supports readers at all levels.  My only concern is that it is going to take a LOT of my own money to continue buying quality books... but the return investment will certainly be worth it. 


For a great blog on the Tovani reading for this week, check out my cohort mate's blog here, at Furious Fred's Musings.  As usual, he injects his large personality and intellect into a great blog on "fake readers.

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Literacy II: Week Four

Cooper and Routman 8 (both chapters are required reading):

How are these two readings similar to each other and how are they different? You might explore this question in a global sense or you might consider a few specific points of comparison. Additionally, what aspects of the Optimal Learning Model are evident in the readings? Why are think alouds so important in comprehension strategy instruction? Have you seen this type of instruction in your placement? What is similar or dissimilar?

Similarities:

•  Both focus on teaching strategies for comprehension 
• Both state that teaching these comprehension should be taught with multiple strategies, not just one (Proficient readers use many strategies)
• Teaching comprehension should be carefully mapped out and explicitly modeled 

I felt that even though the readings were quite similar, I resonated more with the Routman reading.  Perhaps it's her conversational writing style, but I just found a lot of this chapter so intriguing to me--Highlights all over the place!   Some of the areas I found most thought-provoking were the following:

Demonstrate That Proficient Readers Use Many Strategies
I thought that Routman's stance on comprehension was revolutionary:  "Strategies wrongly become synonymous with comprehension, when, at best, they are a tool for facilitating and extending comprehension" (Reading Essentials, 119).  This is profound to me because how many times as a primary student are you asked to understand a story one way, and you are told that way that you comprehend the story is a strategy to derive more meaning from the story?  And then... you get to college, and you are asked to derive meaning of a story's themes in one, two or more ways and you are at a loss because the way you've been taught to figure out the "story" (read: plot) is the only strategy you know to figure out a book.  However, if a student is given the power of several strategies for comprehension instead of being told that understanding the story IS a strategy, this changes the way a student will look at a book forever!  Exclamation points!!

The Strategies
I found all of Routman's strategies helpful, concise and clear.  In fact, I am going to use rereading as my mini-lesson for my targeted small group instruction.  I thought her suggestions (rereading, survey the text, connections, self-monitoring and interaction with peers) her easy ways to really teach kids to learn and comprehend.  I see this in my own classroom because as our character unit comes, we will be focusing a block on making connections with that character, or "how does the connection I make with the character help me understand the story?"  It's a great strategy to teach kids comprehension in a fun and efficient way (because, really, we humans love to apply things to our own lives.  It's the ego). 

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Literacy II: Week Three

Routman lists five things she does to ensure students become excellent readers (p. 43). Choose one of these five. Support it with examples from Routman chapters 1-4, the optimal learning model, Cambourne's conditions of learning, and/or examples from your placement (or non-examples if applicable). In other words, make a case for this point's importance.

Oh my goodness, without a doubt, I love "Provide an excellent classroom library."  This is absolutely VITAL to students becoming better readers.  I think of it this way:  You can't learn to be an excellent ice skater if you have on roller skates.  They look similar, but an ice skater would have a heck of a time learning to skate on ice in rollerskates.  You have to have the correct equipment to learn.  

It's the same way with books-- a poorly stocked and ill-prepared classroom library may visually look the same, but when you delve in and begin to choose books to learn reading, you are going to have a much harder struggle (or even failure) to learn to read using comprehension and strategies.  In my own classroom, my MT has very carefully and deliberately started a library of both leveled books (A-N, in first grade) and general books of varied interest.

I feel her library supports the Optimal Learning Model in that we do mini-lessons almost everyday on reading, as well as reading conferences.  She uses specific leveled books that she has chosen for her conferencing (I do), models strategies and how to read those "just right books" with the children (We do), and then allows them to go "book shopping" every other day (this is where the children find the leveled book tub that corresponds to their level, but get to choose a book that they want to read.  "I do").  I don't think it gets much more optimal than that!

My MT often says the school we are at uses a lot of Regie Routman in their practice, and I can see that in what we use everyday (although we use Lucy Calkins units of study for writing).  Regie says, "When we teachers begin to understand the learning model, we begin to make different decisions" (Reading Essentials, 47).  My MT lamented to me all the time she feels she wasted by not having the model of literacy we do now.  She told me that her practice in the last six years has done more good for the students than the previous 20 combined.  Now that's a powerful statement, and I think Routman's been a huge part of the literacy revolution in the NS School District.

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Literacy II: Week Two

I think what struck me most when reading Routman's Reading Essentials was when she was speaking of publishing students' work and valuing that work in order to bond with them:  "When we celebrate the stories of children's lives, we blur the lines between home and school and let students know that their lives matter" (Routman, 18).  Here is why that quote resonated with me:

I was never a struggling reader-- in fact, in kindergarten I was reading at a fourth grade level and devouring all the books I could get my hands on!  I was Roald Dahl's Matilda but with a happy homelife and loving every minute.  For me, publishing my great works such as "Bear on a Hair," and "Where's Mystery," was the penultimate of my young writing career!  The day we got to write a story that was to be bound in book format for all to read was when my life as an author really started to bloom-- suddenly, it wasn't my work for just the teacher or my mom to read, it was a "real" story!  Someone had enough interest in it to read my works!  From then on, nothing I wrote was hand-written.  I would pound out short stories and poems on my mom's typewriter old-school style, relentlessly banging out each word key by clicking key.  Eventually, I was published and won the Young Authors Award in fourth grade, where I got to go on a small trip to another school and meet a real-life published author whose name escapes me now, in my old age.  But, at the time, it was amazing and uplifiting to be celebrated for being a published writer.

And it doesn't just work for celebrated writers or advanced writers.   Routman also states that she publishes the works of struggling writers first to boost self-esteem and faith in their writing skills.   My brother, who had always struggled in school from kindergarten until 10th grade (where he ultimately dropped out and got his GED instead), ended up a published writer, as well.  The difference was, he was published in the National Anthology of Young Americans, a book that is a Library of Congress book!  I cannot tell you how that made him feel--that he, a struggling student who didn't always have a great attitude at school, was chosen by his teacher for this great honor of being "good" enough a poet to publish his poem, "Green," in a national publication.  I really think that this was a huge boon to his academic career.  He could have given up; he could have reached 10th grade and not gotten any sort of degree.  But deep-down, he cared about his academic life, and he could always reach back to that one spot where he, Ben Martin, was a published author and poet.

I know that as a teacher, I will value every child's written work.  I think Routman is spot-on when she says to celebrate a child's work is to bond with them.  Not only does it instill trust and pride within the student, it creates a safe and encouraging classroom environment for the entire classroom, including the teacher.

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Literacy Week Eight

Kirsten posted this cartoon, and I really thought it tied in well with what we discussed this week in literacy:

I think that assessing writing can be tricky for educators.  Depending on where the kids are in their writing curriculum, a teacher can be looking for content, grammar, syntax and spelling.  What Routman was saying (and as a group, we agreed with) is don't get so caught up in the format of the written peice, but look also at what the child is saying (or trying to say) in the piece.  Is the thinking there?  Are the ideas contained in the writing?  Routman cautions against using rubrics to assess students' writing because then the writing becomes stifled and narrowly defined-- as she puts it, "rubricized."  But then what I wonder is:  What if our unit or lessons are on very specific elements of writing, like punctuation or correct essay formats?  If the ideas are there, and are well-written and expository, should we make a mark that lets the student know that the ideas are wonderful, but the rest of the essay (format-wise) needs work?

It seems difficult to find that line between grading and judging.  The last thing I would want to do is damper a kid's enthusiasm for writing because I found errors in the way it flows, or say, wanted them to write their own story, but in my way (see above, ha)!  I do like the six traits handout we were given the other day-- I'll most likely use that as my guide (depending on grade level, of course), but I also think a lot of it boils down to knowing your students (imagine that--going back to something we focused on in a major way during the beginning of our tenure here at UWB)!

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Literacy, Week Seven: LaMott quote.

I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good enough at it, and I don't think you have time to waste on someone who does not respond to you with kindness and respect.  You don't want to spend your time around people who make you hold your breath.
~LaMott, 170.

I think this chapter and quote really spoke to me in two ways, and it's not just applicable to writing or literacy, but to my whole world-view.

First, why do I waste so much time telling myself something isn't going to work because I do not think I am good enough, smart enough, capable enough or talented enough?  All that wasted time that could have been spent creating, exploring, working, or improving instead of worrying, stressing or stalling!

An example that happened the other day:  My sister is an extremely talented artist, and so I sat down to play with some watercolors as she worked on a commission.  Initially, I didn't even want to start because I felt I would disappoint myself by creating something that looked amatuer, or fake-- never mind being embarrassed in front of my talented little sister!  I began to simply play with the watercolors as my sister sat beside me--she creating a gorgeous replication of a vase of flowers, myself creating a simple heart with color gradiation--and I stopped and sighed.  "This looks so ridiculous," I said.  My sister looked at me, squinted her eyes, and said, "Steph, knock it off.  It's art.  Stop being a self-doubting artist."  I guess that kind of opened my eyes a little--I don't need to be good at something to thoroughly enjoy it, nor do I need to be accomplished to begin something.  Just go, stop wasting time and try it, do it, enjoy it.  And if you don't enjoy it, then stop!

It also reminds me of the chorus to one of my favorite Alanis Morrisette songs, entitled "So Unsexy:"

I can feel so unsexy for someone so beautiful

So unloved for someone so fine

I can feel so boring for someone so interesting

So ignorant for someone of sound mind. 

Secondly, the LaMott passage spoke to me because of the value of constructive criticism.  A trusted person with honest and supportive feedback and criticism is vital and so valuable to improving and growing in one's work-- whether that work is in teaching, painting, writing or construction.  On the flip side, someone who criticizes your work in order to tear you down or make you feel small is not a valuable resource and isn't worth wasting your time on.

I feel my master teacher really does a wonderful job of providing constructive criticism as well as positive feedback.  She considers observations a chance to really improve her practice as an educator, and if she doesn't receive any constructive criticism, then she is disappointed and feels it's a waste of the observers time.  She craves that chance to improve her practice or try something new-- she never wastes her time, and that is something I would like to strive for as an educator.

 

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Study Guide, Literacy Week Six

The study guide is in my notebook, and was e-mailed to Nancy :)

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Literacy, Week Five

My master teacher uses shared writing when we create class rules and charts to become better listeners/readers/writers.  Actually...does this count as shared writing or is this more about creating community or getting input from my class?  I need to think on that a little more...

As Tony demonstrated in class yesterday, shared writing can get a little chaotic.  He demonstrated several ways of containing the conversation such as just shouting out an answer, choosing a table "speaker," small groups and raising hands.  I found that something the instructor will have to watch out for is simply choosing the loudest person in the class, or allowing the class to be rude or mean when rejecting another student's idea.  I can't say my feelings were hurt, but I could absolutely say that if you had a sensitive kiddo, and their idea was shot down immediately or harshly, they could shut down for the rest of the activity.

However, I liked that when we had a finished product (the letter to Mrs. B's class), it was indicative of everything we as a class wanted to say to the kindergartners and it was a good feeling knowing the entire class' opinions and thoughts were on the letter.  It was a great model of how the lesson COULD feel, and how the lesson SHOULD feel.  My blog is not incredibly profound this week because all my energy has gone into planning a lesson for my first evaluation.  Sorry!

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Literacy- Week Four

I do think that it is vital to foster an environment where students are encouraged to be great readers and writers, but I know that it won't be possible to make every child love to read, or every child love to write.  However, this doesn't mean I won't try my hardest as an educator to create voracious readers and writers out of my kids.

Reading was my first love, but writing soon followed as I began to write poems, short stories and fairy tales.  Kids have this fantastic store of imagination and creativity to pull from, and with many kids the stories just seem to flow out of them--and I was one of those kids!  I wrote stories in my free time for fun, I entered contests (I even won a Young Authors award!), and I wrote for the love of telling a tale.  So where has that magic within me gone to?  I think it's been replaced with stark resumes, scholarly essays and a collegiate attitude that creative writing doesn't serve much of a purpose--which I understand, it happens.  It's the end of Peter Pan and the beginning of Captain Hook; it's the end of Harry Potter and the beginning of Muggledom.  Reading and writing because "I want to," give way to reading and writing because "I have to."

Luckily, my joy in reading has never disappeared... but the joy of writing has.  I find myself stifled and blocked when I try to think of creative things to write, and it can take me hours to come up with the perfect five page paper.  I loved to write in my personal blog, but I find blogging because it's an assignment or an evaluated project (well, sort of like this journal) takes even the joy out of my personal blogging.  I find that when I am writing about things that really strike me or things that I really care about the words just flow forth and *BOOM*  I have a fourteen paragraph blog in 20 minutes!  But set me down to write a blog about a reading...and I'm stuck.

So I guess in relating this to teaching, I wonder how, as educators, we can continue a love of writing in children.  How do we keep writing from being a chore?  And there can't be an easy answer-- there are somethings in life that can't be avoided, especially as you advance in education.  Scientific papers, expository writing, forced creative writing-- you just can't avoid these things in academia.  So is there even an answer to this question?  Can we keep a student's love of reading and writing alive as they get older?

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