Motivation: What Makes Students Want to Read and Write

Motivation is the key to maintaining student engagement and overall willingness to learn. I'm currently enrolled in a special education course (SPCE 302), and this week, we focused on motivation and affect. Both motivation and affect are important terms that teachers should understand and be able to plan for in their classrooms.

From freshman year of college to now, motivation (both intrinsic and extrinsic) are familiar to me, and I know when/how to use it. When I wrote lesson plans as a freshman, the motivation was always the "fun" part of planning. Now as a senior, thinking of a motivation that is original and effective seems more difficult. Some lesson plans that I've had to write follow the 5E-Model. The motivation portion of a 5E-Model lesson is called "Engagement". Both motivation and engagement are similar terms in the teaching community, and I strongly believe that this portion of the lesson plan deserves plenty of attention. This is especially true with reading and writing. Have you noticed any changes in your lesson plan formats for "Motivation" throughout your college career?

Young children can have difficulty staying motivated while reading and/or reading. Sometimes, this is due to frustration, while other times, it can be due to poorly planned activities or lessons. On page 321, the author describes how simply giving students choices in how they conduct an activity can maintain students' motivation. According to the text, choice has an effect on a child's intrinsic motivation. I work with infants and toddlers, and choice is very effective when working with such young children. I've found that choice can be effective at the more intermediate grades as well. With reading and writing, choice opens windows of opportunity for students to plan for their own success. What experience do you have with using choices as a motivator, if any? Do yo u have any other specific experience with motivation?

Figuring Out Words

Figuring out words for us may seem simple but figuring out words for a five year old child is not an easy task. There is a lot of skills that go into teaching a young child to figure out words. According to Morrow, "Instructional activities designed to help youngsters learn emergent literacy skills and about the function, form, structure, and conventions of print should involve a wide variety of learning experiences" (Morrow, 145). There are four skills that need to be used by teachers when teaching a young child to figure out words: (1) Children need to be socially interactive when they are leaning about print; (2) Children need direct instruction with models to emulate; (3) They must learn through experiences that are meaningful and connected to real life; (4) Lastly, the experiences must incorporate what the children already now.
A teacher must remember when using one of these strategies or any other strategy that he/she must must forget to tell the children what the skill they are being taught is and what is is used for. Next, the teacher must model the skill and demonstrate what the skill is and how they are to used it. Then, the teacher must allow time for guide practice with himself or herself, which is followed by independent practice. Lastly, the teacher must review the skill that was taught often. With all that being said there are four strategies that can be used to help teach young children how to figure out words: Environmental Print, Morning Message, Language Experience Approach, and Using Context and Pictures.
Environmental print is a familiar print found in the child's surroundings. Environmental print includes: logos, food labels, road signs, and signs for restaurants. The most popular examples of environmental print for young children nowadays are the signs for McDonalds and Walmart. "Several researchers have found that children as young as age 2 can read familiar environmental print" (Morrow, 145). Environmental print is truly the first step to helpful children figure out words. In the classroom, environmental print may look like each student's name on their desk or cubby or labels such as book and chalkboard hanging around the room. The more children are introduced to words, the easier it is going to be for each of them to begin figuring words out.
The morning message is strategy that is used often in many elementary classroom but it must be done correctly to be beneficial to the students. This strategy gets the students into a routine of looking of the message of the day from their teacher. From this strategy, students can learn many different skills but one of the most is important skill a student can learn is that print (words) carry meaning. During the morning message, teachers can model writing, have students find a certain letter, or even have students had to the letter. All these skills used during this strategy will be helpful to students when trying to figure out words. Morning message can be used with other children too. When using this strategy with older children, one can incorporate more content into the message than if using the strategy with young children. Students are never to old for a morning message.
LEA, also known as Language Experience Approach is another strategy used to help children figure out words. "The language experience approach helps children associate oral language with written language, teaching them that what is said can be written down and read" (Morrow, 149). Along with connecting oral language to written language, it also helps children understand that writing goes left to right. LEA is used often when it comes to ELL students due to the personal aspect of the approach. A teacher can create vocabulary for an ELL student that is related to their culture. Also, a teacher can allow ELL students to create their on books to help them connect oral language to written language. Multiple skills and strategies can be used in the LEA approach.
The last strategy for helping children figure out words is using context and pictures. This strategy is a well known strategy and it is strategy that children pick up on quickly. Many children use the pictures of a book they are reading to help them figure out words. To model this strategy, a teacher can read to the class as a whole or small groups and really emphasize the fact that the illustrations and print are closely related. This technique is really useful when using a Big Book. Teaching children to use context clues works best when reading a well known book that repeats itself. A teacher can allow students to participate by having students fill in the blank of the text while she/he is reading. By having students fill in the blank, a student is using their prior knowledge of syntax and context to predict the word.
Overall, these four strategies are helpful strategies for every reader. Figuring out words is a process that must be taught. It is not a skill that just comes to a reader. If a teacher teaches strategies such as these to their students then it is likely that their students will have a head start in figuring out words. Being about to decode and figure out words leads to fluency which leads to comprehension. And comprehension is the main goal for a reader.

Motivating Children to Want to Read

Chapter 8 discussed ways to motivate children to read. This is something that is very important to me as a future teacher, because there are so many benefits to reading for pleasure. Knowing that there are endless benefits to students and people who read for pleasure, this is something that should be a high priority to teachers everywhere.

            The book states that increasing motivation for our students to read is a key to encouraging them to read for pleasure. It states that extrinsic motivation (external rewards such as praise and good grades) is a good start, but the main focus should be on building students’ intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to engage in behaviors for enjoyment, challenge, pleasure, or interest. In my future classroom, I plan to have reward systems set up for reading, but I will always make it optional. I think that forcing children to read can often cause them to lose interest in it, and can cause them to have negative feelings towards reading because it becomes more of a chore. I will discuss and choose the reward with my students so that I can make sure that it is something that will actually motivate that unique group of students. I think that having a log of some sort would be a good technique to help focus on the extrinsic rewards for reading. The book lists several ways to support intrinsic motivation such as modeling literacy behaviors, providing students with literacy activity choices, reading to them in a positive and relaxed atmosphere, and providing time for multiple literacy activities. What are some ways that you will motivate your students in your future classroom? Have you thought of any systems that you will use for extrinsic motivation regarding reading? What are some of the main ways you will encourage intrinsic motivation for reading?

            The book also states that it is important to give students choices in what they read. Often, teachers will assign a book to students regardless of whether or not the students are all genuinely interested in the book. There may be occasions where this is most appropriate, but whenever it is possible, teachers should give their students the opportunity to choose the books they read. However, the book also states that students should be set up for success in reading in order for them to read out of enjoyment. If students feel like what they are reading is too hard (or conversely, too easy), their motivation to read will be low. In order to give students the choice in what they read but also ensure that they choose books that are in the correct lexile, there are subtle ways to get students to choose from their lexile range. A way that I have considered going about this in my classroom is by having books separated by reading levels in colored bins, and having students’ names on the front of those bins so that they know which bin to choose from. This way, they will still have freedom of choice with their reading, and they will also be set up for success by having a book that is at the appropriate level for them. How do you plan to set your students up for success and give them choice in regards to reading and literacy?

            The book also states that literacy centers are an important system to have in a classroom to foster literacy development and to encourage students to read for pleasure. Literacy centers should have a library corner, confortable area for reading, and an area for writing. Literacy centers can be extremely beneficial if set up properly. The book states that children in classrooms with literature collections are 50 percent more likely to read and look at books than children in classrooms without them. I have already started a collection of children’s books, and take advantage of free books at every given opportunity. I remember in my third grade classroom, my teacher had a corner set up with a bookshelf, a small sofa, a soft chair and some beanbags. The real furniture in the classroom was a subtle way of extrinsically motivating students to read, because we were only allowed to sit in it if we were going to be reading a book. I plan on having a system similar to this one in my future classroom. I want to provide a comfortable area for students to read in my classroom that they will look forward to being in. Have you started a literature collection for your future classroom? How do/will you get your books, and how will you make sure your students have a large enough selection to choose from? Do you plan on having an area set up for your students to read in? If so, what do you imagine this area being like?

            Are there any other things you want to add about encouraging students to read for pleasure? Are there any other things you plan to do in your classroom?

Reading and Writing in the Classroom

Chapter 7 had some of what I found to be the most important information we as teachers should take with us into our classrooms. I believe that reading and writing are the foundations to not only our education but also to our lives. Without reading and writing communication would be very difficult for young children, well everyone for that matter. 

            I really liked how it pointed out that making mistakes as teachers can actually be very beneficial for the children. Making simple spelling errors, capitalizations errors, and others such as spacing gives children a chance to make the correction. By letting them see the error be made and knowing how to fix it we are allowing them to learn on their own. They would probably catch on that you are doing this on purpose because they automatically assume we know everything at a young age. Knowing we are purposely making errors would more than likely cause them to pay even closer attention because they want to be the ones to fix the mistake. 

            I also find it very interesting and helpful to know how closely writing and drawling really are. Drawling can encourage writing in very beneficial ways. Asking a child to draw their favorite animal would be much easier for them to grasp then telling them to write a paragraph about it. After drawing their favorite animal most children would be more than happy to tell you about what they drew and why. Free writing is also very important. Just allowing them to write and make mistakes is actually a really great thing at a young age. Just taking a pencil and paper and being allowed to express themselves will go a long way. 

            In my time at Appletree so far I have noticed a lot of this going on when the children have time to sit down and draw. If you watch them you will see them drawling and almost telling a story about what it is they are drawling out loud. I will definitely take this knowledge with me into my own classroom. 

            Some questions to think about: Besides drawling and allowing them to try writing on their own what are some other ways we can encourage young children to write? What are some ways we can encourage young children to read? Such as choosing books and topics they are interested in (cars, sharks, etc.). Do you feel as though the literacy center approach is a good method? Would you use it in your classroom?

"Reading Can't Be Fun" - Motivating Children to Read

When I was a child, I found a joy in reading and still do to this day. I always had a book in my hand. That isn't because I was told that I had to read things and was forced to. The reason that I read for pleasure and enjoyed it is because my teachers, especially, motivated me to enjoy reading and view it as fun.

Extrinsic motivation is a good strategy when starting to try engage students to read, but after awhile they may not want to work as hard. Stickers, pencils, and praise may not be a good motivation strategy for some children, especially as they grow older. Intrinsic motivation is a great strategy that teachers should incorporate into their everyday lessons. 

Children find joy in challenges, especially. I know that when I was a child and a teacher introduced a "game" where they would be teams or even you against everyone, I would try to do the best I could so that I could win, and I actually enjoyed and remembered these tasks the most. Challenges in the classroom should be achievable, they shouldn't be too hard, but they shouldn't be too easy. We don't want the children to get to be uninterested, but we don't want them to become frustrated. Scaffolding will help students to engage in the activity correctly and gives the teacher a chance to show what the students should be doing. Challenges and games are what all children look forward to in the classroom! Who doesn't love a little competition? 

Children should be given choices in what they read. If you give a child a book, they will read it, but there may be no joy if there is no interest. Children should be able to choose from different genres in the classroom, as well as be able to check out books and take them home if they wish to. Teachers should also be reading books to children in the classroom. When I was in elementary school, my teachers had big rugs in their classrooms. We would sit on the big rug and the teacher would sit in a big chair and read to us. That was a pleasant and relaxing environment to be in. All teachers should have a reading area where they read to the students that is inviting and exciting. Children should also be able to have reading areas that are comforting when they do independent or partner reading. 

A few different ways to make reading interesting are:

- Choral reading

- Use puppets or props

- Chalk talks (storyteller draws story while telling it) 

- Digital techniques (videotaping the students and letting them watch it) 

- Incorporating sound

- Felt boards and magnetic boards with characters
What technique do you find most interesting and would like to try? 

One issue I would like to address is using technology in the classroom. In this day and age technology is big and exciting for children. When I was younger, we would read a book and then take a short test over the book on the computer. This is how you reached a certain number of books that were supposed to be read throughout the semester. Students today are known as digital natives and teachers are known as digital immigrants in this generation, because of the fact that so much new technology has developed in the last ten years. Children can use electronic books, computer software, tablets, digital whiteboards, various internet websites, and the teacher of a classroom can even make a website that houses classroom announcements, newsletters, and other things. How will you incorporate technology into your classroom?

There are so many ways that teachers can make reading enjoyable for students. If teachers do not use different techniques in the classroom and make reading something to look forward to rather than only having reading for tests, homework, and things that don't seem fun then children will not understand the importance of reading. When I read, I feel as though I am taken to a different world. I enjoy reading for pleasure and for information. My teachers promoted motivation for reading when I was a child and when I am a teacher I will foster a literacy-friendly atmosphere that motivates the students in my classroom. Although some of them may come in with the mindset that reading can't be fun, they will leave with the mindset that reading IS fun!
Now that you see that there are so many ways in motivating children to read, which ones do you think would be most fun to try? 

Motivating Children to Read and Write

     I learned many important points and information in this chapter that will help me as a future teacher. The chapter discusses the concept of establishing good reading and writing habits. The best way to ensure that a child has good reading habits are by allowing them to read texts of their choice independently. The books that children read should also have a high literary quality. Children should be able to read books on a daily basis at school and interpret them through discussion. One great way to practice at home is by children reading books to their parents. Just like reading, good writing habits are ensured by having children write about their topic of choice. Children can share their writing with their classmates. Children can write in different genres including stories, digital texts, narrative texts, poems, and functional text. These good writing and reading skills are important to begin when a child is young. It is the start to build a solid foundation. The more practice the child has with it, the better he will become at it.

     The teacher plays an important role in motivating students about literacy. Teachers need to read and tell stories to their students on a daily basis. After a story is read, there should be good discussion that follows it. Also, teachers can ask questions throughout the story and have students predict what they think will happen. One way to increase a student’s interest in literacy is reading different stories by the same author. Teachers can do thematic units and incorporate literature into these lessons. For example, if a class has a caterpillar, the teacher could read a book about caterpillars. In a preschool classroom, teachers could read short stories and nursery rhymes to children. There are many different activities that go along with reading books. Children could draw a picture of a character or different events that occurred in the story. In the elementary grades, students could do a sequence chart and either draw or write about what happens at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. I am in an immersive program this semester and I assist in a first grade classroom. I did the sequence chart activity with the first graders and they really liked it. I always enjoy putting into action what I learn in class. I appreciate how our professor gives us creative ideas to use in the classroom.

     I believe that literacy centers are very important. There are a variety of stations that students work at. In the first grade classroom I assist in, they do literacy centers everyday. In some of the centers, the students are able to practice their spelling words for the week. They write out the spelling words with a pencil, pen, marker, and colored pencils. Sometimes the students rainbow write the words. As it states in the book, literacy centers allow children to have choices. Children can also collaborate and work together. In the classroom I help in, children work together to complete a worksheet or when they listen to a story on tape. An important quote from the book is, “Children in classrooms with literature collections read and look at books 50 percent more often than children in classrooms without such collections” (Morrow, 323). The better designed and organized a literacy center is, the higher the number of motivated children there are to participate in them. Literacy centers will look different in each classroom.

Have you seen literacy centers occur at Appletree or in other classrooms? If so, what were they like?

Why do you think literacy centers are so important? 

What are other ways that teachers can motivate their students to read?

How to let children be motivated in reading and writing

Reading is not easy thing to do for young children. They cannot be attracted by words document without any interesting pictures, so one of our jobs is to discuss a way to motivate children to want to read, and provide ideas that help children to be engaged in books. According to Literacy Development I the Early Years: Helping Children Read and Write by Lesley Mandel Morrow, “… without the motivation or desire to read, it is unlikely that a child will learn to read well. Children need to know why they are learning to read and the benefits they will have in later life as a result of being able to read.” (P320)

            On page 320, the author provides several techniques for motivating reading and writing. This list of techniques can be used to develop and help children’s intrinsic motivation. There are a total of 10 different techniques with detailed explanation. Such as make children in a literacy-rich environment that many choices of literacy materials are supplied; model literacy behaviors; provide chances for children which allow them to participate in collaborative and independent reading and writing; reading in a comfortable environment, and so on. My top three ideas that could be used in my class are:

First one is immersing children in a literacy-rich environment, with choices of literacy materials that are challenging but achievable; the second one is reading with children in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere; the third one is using technology as a source of motivation in reading and writing.

Those three techniques are truly useful in my class. In my opinion, the more reading materials are supplied; children have more chances on reading and falling into it. Children will find what they really like and they know what types of books they need, then they will find out and go independent reading or getting into a group to discuss. Second, to build a comfortable area for children to read is a part of teacher’s job. A messy and dirty reading section cannot make children be interested in reading and writing. So some teachers might think: How can I engage my students on reading and writing? Therefore, if teacher can provides a clean and ordered bookshelves or a comfortable environment to them, children will be happily to read at least. By checking the labels of books which are divided by types, levels, and subjects, children can easily find what they need that use these material to help them in studying and be satisfied.

The last thing is using technology to help children in reading and writing. I went to Burris Laboratory School and saw in the classroom, the iPads have became main studying materials which assist teacher to develop children’s reading: children usually use iPads to read some short texts which are relevant with their textbooks. Besides, the teacher will assign some questions to let students to answer. Furthermore, teacher can play some interesting videos and pictures to children: on the one hand, it is used for introducing the class content clearly; on the other hand, it is a good way to drive students be excited and more interested on the learning subjects.

Also, I found some good resources that can be used in class for motivating children on reading and writing:

·      Motivating Students to Read and Write in All Disciplines

·      5 ways to Motivate Young Writers and Readers

·      Motivating Children to Read and Write: Using Informal Learning Environments as Contexts for Literacy Instruction

I suggest my friends to pay attention on first article, the author give nice detailed content to explain and he/she also lists six strategies that can practice children or young readers’ reading and writing.

Well-Designed Literacy Centers

It is important that when teaching emergent literacy that we as teachers not only motivate our students to read, but that we provide meaningful opportunities to implement that skill. One way to do this is to incorporate literacy centers into our reading blocks during the typical school day. According to Literacy Development in the Early Years: Helping Children Read and Write written by Lesley Mandel Morrow, "A classroom literacy center is comprised of a library corner and a writing area. In literacy centers children have choices, they collaborate, and they face challenging tasks and help each other to succeed with them," (323). 

Morrow mentions several necessary furnishings to literacy centers. These include, but are not limited to: a rug, headsets and audio stories, puppets, literacy posters, an "Author's Spot" for writing, a library corner, felt or magnetic boards, elements of softness (like stuffed animals), and many more. 

With emerging readers, I enjoy each of the above mentioned aspects of literacy centers because they allow students to have independent and creative interactions with the stories that they are reading. For example, felt of magnetic story boards allow students to represent the characters that they are reading about in their own creative ways. One aspect of the literacy center that I would add in my own classroom would be an illustration area that allows students access to drawing materials and different types of paper. This would allow students to represent what they are attempting to read physically if they are not yet of an ability level where they can read and write down their own ideas. This also allows for creative adaptations and interpretations of each story that a child reads. 

The library corner of the classroom is one of the areas that I feel is most important to well-designed literacy centers. According to Morrow, "The library corner is the part of the literacy center used for storing books," (326). Although fairly straightforward, Morrow also discusses different ways to display the books for the students, as well as different types of books that should be in the library corner. A few organizational arrangements include shelving the books with their spines facing out, but another organizational arrangement includes organizing the book by category or theme, and placing the books in categorized bins so that students can decide what to read based on a topic that may be of interest to them. For emerging readers, I think the latter method would be quite effective because students are likely to have a greater vocabulary of topics in which they are interested, which can lead to better comprehension of these particular stories, and can grow their individual vocabulary, as well as content-specific vocabulary. In sorting books in this fashion, they do not always have to be sorted by category, their type or genre can be another form of classification. For example, I would separate picture books from informational books or traditional literature, because students at a lower reading level would likely prefer picture books. 

In my classroom's literacy center design I would include a rug, pillows, and bean bag chairs for students to free read, a technology center for students to interact with e-texts and participate in software and online reading enrichment activities. I would also include white boards and felt boards for the students to interact with, along with an illustrator section. Each student in my classroom would also have a notebook where I would ask them to practice being an author during our literacy center time. I would include a center option where students can listen to audio recordings of stories as they read along. I would organize my library corner with my books set by themes that we will discuss during the year, and all other books will be organized alphabetically by title. If students choose to read these, they will place their name book mark in the place where the book was located so that when they return it, they can see where it goes. In this way, I can also monitor what the students are reading. I would also have the students ensure that each day of the week they participate in a different center so that they are not constantly participating in the same literary experiences each day.

Overall, teachers are responsible for designing their literacy centers based on the needs of their students and experiences that they believe would be most beneficial to them. Above are aspects and ideas for a well-designed literacy center approach, but each classroom will differ. 

A few questions to think about:

Which aspects named in the text would you incorporate into your own literacy centers?

What will you be doing as the students are participating in literacy centers?

Are there any aspects of a well-designed literacy center approach that you do not agree with?

writing, spelling, & literacy

Early in the chapter it talks about how similar learning to read and write are. I could not agree more. Working around 2 year olds at Apple Tree, there are often times when the children will sit on their own and look at books, turning each page, looking at the pictures, and then moving on to the next page or even book. They all do so in a manner that you know they are not reading the actual text but they are looking at one page long enough that you know they are creating their own stories based on the pictures in the books. It is the same observation when the children are drawing. Just like with reading books, the children will go get their notebooks out of their cubbies in which is a sign I need to provide them with markers or crayons so they can draw. While drawing they will make up scenarios and tell stories out loud of what they are drawing (even though to anyone else its just a mess of colors). Even the younger toddlers who are not very fluent in their vocabulary are making noises while they are drawing. These observations go along with Vygotsky's theory that literacy starts with drawing.
By working and observing with a range of young children at Apple Tree, I have noticed many of the developmental stages this chapter has discussed. By working with my classroom of children right around the age 2 and then observing in the classroom of children around the age of 4 there is actually a very noticeable difference in developmental stages. The 4 year olds are full of stories and want to express every little detail to you. For example, one of the 4 year olds wanted to draw a picture of her mom one day because she said she missed her while she was at school. Her picture was very clear and even if she had not told me what it was or who it was, I would have been able to tell it was an older female she knew very well. Along with her drawing, she told stories of her mom the whole time.
Both of these experiences go right along with what is discussed in this chapter. Drawing is a form of literacy because its a form of communication. What are some other strategies that teachers and adults can use to keep students as interested in writing when they get older as they were when they were younger and just starting? Why is drawing becoming "less and less privileged" when we know children naturally enjoy it?  

Chapter 7: Writing, Spelling, and Literacy Development

In Chapter 7, the very first line states that children learn to write before they learn to read. This specific line stuck out to me, because I think that we don't give our students enough credit in the classroom. Children want to be given the opportunity to explore things through writing not just reading and comprehension. In a lot of instances, I think we just don't give children these opportunities because we are afraid they might fail, but how will they ever learn this skill if we don't allow them the chance to fail or exceed. When you start looking at older grades, you see reading and writing being clumped together, but on the other hand, many times you don't see writing at all in the younger grades. We just expect them to express what they know through drawing. I personally believe this could be detrimental to their learning experience. In the book it says that while children are reading and writing they are engaging in very similar activities, so why not link these two content subjects together and tie in whatever you possibly can. From the reading, I learned that children's early literacy experiences are embedded in real life experiences of thermally and community. Writing development is part of a child's literacy development. So, we should remember that even though drawing is the first step in a child's literacy development journey, writing should also be important in curriculum. From this chapter I have learned that the first stage consists of drawing, then writing, and lastly reading. So when we are planning what our students should be engaged in, we should keep this in mind. In your future classroom, would you encompass all three of these things. How would you go about doing this? Do you believe it's important for children to write at a young age?

Writing Development

When I think back to my early years as a writer, I never remember not being able to express what I was trying to say. This is because writers develop through a process of pictures, scribbles, and then letter forming.

Children begin communicating through drawing because they have not learned how to write letters or form words quite yet. After the drawing stage, children begin scribbling. Scribbling is the child’s form of writing, which is a step closer to forming real words. Children then begin to make formations of letters, although they may still be scribbles. Then children begin early steps of word formation and writing by using the letters in their own name or familiar words to create letter strings. These sometimes look to resemble words, but are usually just the same letters mixed up and repeated multiple times. Then students begin to write using invented spelling, or writing the way that they hear the words. This is one of the first stages where we begin to understand the written language of children. Lastly, children gain enough practice and background knowledge to begin writing with conventional spelling, or how we as adults write.

This long process of writing is very important to understand as a teacher because we cannot expect our young students to automatically be able to communicate through writing. It is unreasonable to expect young students to write about their favorite things, but it would be more reasonable to ask the young students to draw their favorite things, because that would most likely be accomplishable by the young students.

Our book describes several strategies for which to teach writing development from as early as infancy through third grade. One strategy that I have been taught from my other classes that the book also describes is to ask students about their work and to ask the students to talk about or describe their work. It is very important to not ask exactly what a particular drawing or symbol means or represents because children are encouraged to explore their drawing and writing abilities and figure out for themselves if the markings they have made represent certain letters or pictures. What is one way that we as teachers can assess early writing abilities but still encourage our students to explore their own creativity?

Teaching writing development is a very daunting task, and I admit that I am not entirely prepared to teach my students how to read and write, but the strategies from our chapter really do open my mind to how teaching writing development looks like. Have you seen any of these strategies mentioned or used in your practicum experience at Apple Tree? I know I ask students if they would like to describe their drawings to me, but are there other ways I can encourage writing development in the classroom?

Chapter 7 Writing, Spelling, and Literacy Development

     I found many things interesting in regards to The Mechanics of Writing in chapter 7. Chapter 7 discussed how it is important to spell words incorrectly on purpose so that the students have a chance to identify the mistakes. Teachers can also eliminate spaces, not capitalize words, and eliminate punctuations. This will also allow students to identify the mistakes which will improve their writing and spelling.

     I found it interesting how important it is for students to write their own thoughts without being concerned with the mechanics of writing. I knew it was important for students to have the opportunity to write freely, but I was taught that you should always worry about whether or not you spelled everything correctly, used accurate punctuation, and accurate spacing. Chapter 7 states that there is a time for free writing, where children should not have to worry about the mechanics of writing. Chapter 7 also states that there is a time for edited writing, where the children need to worry about the mechanics of writing. I agree with the idea that Chapter 7 presented: not all writing assignments should be turned in because this will help children with their writing and build their confidence since there is not a grade for it.
     Chapter 7 provided many useful spelling games that are easy to use in the classroom. Many students will be more willing to learn and participate in class if you make the subject matter a fun game. I personally liked the game Trace a Word. This game is when students "write" spelling words on another students back using their pointer finger and they have to guess what their partner wrote on their back. I use to play this game outside of school, so it makes sense that teachers would incorporate a game children enjoy inside the classroom.
     I found it interesting that Chapter 7 included the use of a keyboard under the subject of Handwriting. When I think of handwriting, I think of a student with a pencil and paper. It is important that students are exposed to keyboards at an early age and learn how to use the keyboard. If students are not exposed to keyboards until second or third grade, they may end up teaching themselves the incorrect way. Students who teach themselves how to use the keyboard usually end up pecking which is an inefficient way of typing and very difficult to change.
     It is important that we teach the students the correct way to write at an early age or else they will have a difficult time later on in their education career.

It's O.K. to Spell it Wrong

In a kindergarten practicum classroom, the two lead teachers told the practicum teachers to not tell the students how to spell words, even if they asked! At first this struck me as odd, and somehow wrong, I mean weren’t we supposed to as teachers correct spelling and fix mistakes, but the lead teachers explained that it was important and ok for the students to have invented spelling and at this age it was preferred. Now of course the students could look at the words around the room and copy certain words, guaranteeing they correctly spelled the word, but no teacher in that room was going to tell a student how to spell ‘rainbow’. Instead the teachers told the students to spell the word the best they could.

            In chapter 6 this idea is supported and another reason I found to encourage invented spelling is that some students at this age, who may have not had much experience writing unconventionally may be afraid to write conventionally and not spell words correctly for fear that this writing will not be accepted. This is not an attitude we should be expressing to our students but instead that their writing, no matter at which stage is accepted, because at the core, writing is used to communicate a message. Every child has the right to communicate and so its important for us as teachers to encourage students to right even if they are afraid that no one will be able to ‘read’ it, because the truth is, you are there to teach them little strategies to make it easier for other people to be able to ‘read’ it.

            One way to help students is model writing, we already model reading so similarly it is important to not impose subjects or sentences, just like we consider students interest in picking out texts, on students but instead begin with a discussion and write their ideas or sentences down in front of them, write exactly what they say, read it back to them from left to right, and encourage the students to read the sentence themselves.

            Another way to help students when they practice writing and more specifically with spelling certain words, is to tell students to break a word into parts and listen for those parts, then tell students to use their knowledge of letters to choose the letters they hear and write them down in the correct order. This is a simple strategy and most often students will be spelling the word they are thinking of incorrectly but it helps them practice phonics with sound manipulation and gives them confidence in spelling on their own. Gradually students will realize their invented spelling is not the correct spelling and will ask how words are spelled, which is a good thing and the next stage in the process. It is important that they ask as they are gaining a new word for them to add to their growing spelling vocabulary.

            Children should be writing before they can fully read independently and writing for various purposes, and encouraged to write as much as they are encouraged to read, as practicing one helps with learning and growing in the other, and remember to tell your preschool and kindergarten students that their writing does not have to look like adult writing and its ok if it doesn’t. 

Comprehension

     

       The biggest concept in chapter 6 is comprehension. Concepts of print/about books start out the chapter, explaining different examples such as being able to identify the different parts of a book, knowing that the book is for reading, knowing where to start reading, knowing which direction to turn the page, and knowing what a title, author, and illustrator all do. (p 200). We've seen a few different examples of teaching concepts of print in the videos we've watched in class. Assessing our AppleTree student on their knowledge of concept of print was one of the first things we did in the field. After Phonological Awareness, concepts of print are important for your students to learn, because it's everything physical about a book.
      There are different materials that you can use as a teacher to be effective in teaching COP. Big Books are one of the most well known, because they're effective and so easily accessible. Holdaway thought that Big Books help children get involved by using big pictures and large text. The large print helps teacher teach concepts because students can watch pointing on larger text, and it's easier to follow along as a child.
     As previously stated, comprehension is the most important part of reading. If you don't understand what you're reading, then what good is it? Comprehension is defined as the 'active process in which the reader or listener interprets and constructs meaning about what he or she reads or listens to based on prior knowledge about the topic, thereby making connections between the old and the new. (203) So basically, reading and understanding and making connections sums up comprehension under a general umbrella. Comprehension is advanced by interaction with others while reading. This makes sense to me, because if a student doesn't understand what's happening, he or she can look at their neighbor and listen to their answer and make connections. Being aware of how your own learning is taking place is called metacognition. (204).
     I think that as a teacher, teaching comprehension is difficult because not every child learns the same. That's the main point of emergent literacy, as we've discussed all semester. As teachers, we have to cater to the learning needs of our students while still following a lesson plan and schedule for the class as a whole. Teaching in small groups has been proven to be the most effective, something we have also talked about in class. If you try to teach the class as a whole, there are too many students to try and teach the concept to in their own unique individual way, but one on one time would take entirely too long, so we teach in small groups as to maximize time and efficiency.
   I feel like this chapter was mostly review of what we've talked about in class, but it was still very helpful in explaining what we have to do as teachers to be affective and meaningful.