When Learning in School Meets the Home

If there's anything that I am a firm believe about, it's family literacy (or even just family instruction). Growing up, my parents were always strong supporters of my learning, and always helped me outside of school. This not only taught me responsibility and the importance of not procrastinating, but it also helped me be able to grow closer to them while they helped me with my school work. Specifically, family literacy is important because it brings children and families together to help them with reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Family literacy is not just helping with homework though. Family literacy also encompasses opportunities and learning together. For example, an ideal family that shares literacy would bring their children to museums or the library, or any other type of exhibit. This not only promotes learning and literacy in a fun and interactive way, but it also helps students and their families learn together. After all, families are the students' first teachers!
Last year, I was involved in an Immersive Learning program called Partners in Literacy where our main focus was actually on family literacy. We made exhibits with literacy stations for local families to come participate in, and we spent the entire semester covering the importance of family literacy and how to encourage families to do so.
One drawback of family literacy is the fact that not all students have a picture perfect family. In fact, probably over half of the students you have will be from split or broken homes, so it could be more difficult for children to work with these families. One thing that a teacher could do is give some opportunities for students to stay after school and work with you or go to the library or exhibits with you. Another thing you could do would be to reach out to the families, or the students themselves, and ask who would be willing to work with the child.
How would you encourage parents to participate in family literacy? Do you think it's important to the child's learning process? What would you do about students who lacked a stable family to do this with? Would you somehow provide them with opportunities too?

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?