Chapter 9 - Kenzie Schmidt

In the last couple of years in my classes, we’ve begun to talk about the physical environment of the classroom. I have been able to observe classrooms and compare and contrast the physical atmosphere teachers have created. I have seen creative ideas for centers that involve enriching activities to help strengthen student’s skills in a particular area. The Literacy center is one of the most important areas to have in the classroom. It includes a writing corner and library corner. These should be a focal point. I think these areas are extremely important for the classroom. These areas allow students to learn how to be responsible and provide more opportunities for them to work with the current classroom content.

On page 386, the book talks about the use of whole-group, small-group, and one-to-one learning in providing differentiation of instruction. I believe students thrive off of learning in multiple settings. In whole-group instruction, students are able to learn from peers and participate in large activities. In small-group instruction, students are able to ask questions they may have for the teacher and gain more one on one instruction. When is the best time to use whole-group instruction? small-group instruction? One struggle teachers have in the classroom is making sure all students are on task while he or she works on remediating certain students. Through the use of centers and small group instruction, students are provided with activities and work to do to keep them on task while the teacher works one on one with others.

I thought it was interesting looking at the half-day program for kindergarten and the full-day program for kindergarten daily schedules. I would love to teach kindergarten one day. I have observed in multiple kindergarten classrooms and have a kindergarten concentration. In the half-day kindergarten schedule, centers still had an important role in the classroom. There was less time spent on instruction than there was on centers. I think this is beneficial because students are able to gain hands-on experiences and practice with content rather than simply listening to teachers lecture about the content. How much time should be spent on centers?

Literacy in the Classroom

A big part of literacy in the classroom has to do with the physical characteristics.  In many of our classes we discuss the different types of stations we can have throughout our classroom to develop literacy. In the book on page 377 it discusses these classroom centers. What we hear very little about is the other aspects of literacy. This includes what we hang on our wall, and what materials we make available to children. My dream is to teach kindergarten. While spending time in a kindergarten classroom this semester I have learned about their morning routine. In my class they go over the calendar, weather, and months. What type of print would you hang in your classroom as a part of your morning routine?

            On page 384 of our textbook, figure 9.4 have a checklist for improving literacy in our classrooms. I was really surprised by the changing of books every two weeks. I thought the felt storyboards were a great idea, especially for young children in kindergarten. What on this list were you surprised by, liked, or would add/change?

             Chapter 9 has a section that discusses ways of selecting children for groups. I find this topic very interesting, because your selection process can change for every activity or workshop you are doing. In my classroom I plan to use a color system for selecting books. It is important that students practice reading books at their level. I will categorize our classroom books into bins with a specific color sticker. On the students reading sheets, they will receive a sticker corresponding with their reading level and they will choose books from that bin. While working in other areas, for example math, I may partner students with high abilities those with lower. These students can support each other, and offers the teacher time to work with small groups. What is your opinion on this topic, and what would you do in your classroom?

            One of the biggest challenges, especially as a new teacher or pre-service teacher, when using stations and guided practice is keeping the rest of the class on task. It is critical to meet with students in small groups, but keeping the rest of your students on task can be difficult. Page 389 in our book offers some tips or ideas for managing students in small groups. It is extremely important to work students up to this task, answering questions, and practicing stations before trying to do guided-reading instruction with other students. I really liked the idea of using a center chart to organize the rotation of centers. The idea of “ask three, and then me” is a great idea for keeping students from distracting the teacher. What organizational idea did you like, and how will you keep students on task?

Organizing and Managing the Literacy Program

"No skill is more crucial to the future of a child, or to a prosperous society, than literacy." This is a quote from the Los Angeles Times.

Literacy is one of the most important things children learned throughout their years in school, especially in their first few years. As educators, it is very nerve-racking for us to think that we are teaching children information that will use for the rest of their lives. We don't want to teach them anything wrong or lead them in the wrong direction. We want our students to learn as much as they posibly can and be as successful as possible. We also want children to know just how important literacy is and that is our job to not only tell them, but show them. On page 374 in our text, there are many examples given as to how we can put emphasis on literacy instruction. As I read the examples, I realize how many were used in the classrooms I was in as a child. One of the most common that we seem to see everywhere is "clap once if you can hear me". It just goes to show that these things do stick with us throughout our lives.

Centers are very popualr in the classrooms. Children love getting to be independent and being able to pick the activity they want to do. So much of school is teachers telling children what to do, so when they get to go to centers (even though they are educational) the children feel a sense of freedom. Centers are also good for teachers. When the children are in centers, it gives the teacher a chance to meet with small groups of students or even maybe individual students. It is important for teachers to make sure the activities in the centers are interesting and fun for the children. We want the children to become "voluntary lifelong readers and writers". Meaning, we want the children to have so much fun doing literacy activites in the centers that they want to do them more often without being told to, to do it for themselves. The centers should also challenge the students, because students maybe on different levels of learning. There should be different materials that accomodiate to different achievement levels and interests. But it should all be so that the children are doing the same activities.

I remember always loving doing centers as a child. One of my favorite centers was the free writing center. In that center, we could write about anything we wanted. The materials in the center were so fun, there were different kinds of letter paper if you wanted to write letters, different kinds of utensils to use and so on. It made me love writing and to this day I still love to write. What was your favorite center as a child?

The text gives an example of a checklist for your centers that you could use to make sure the center is benefitting the students. The checklist should be for each individual center and not just the centers as a whole. I think this is an excellent idea. It is good to take the time to make sure each center is appropriate and fun yet challenging for students. Centers can't just be a last minute thing teachers put together. Thought needs to be put behind the activities for the centers. 

Differenciated instruction is an important topic in this chapter in the text. It is very imporant for teachers to meet childrens needs through differenciated instruction. Since children and their needs are so diverse, teachers won't be able to just generalize the students into one. Teachers can achieve differenciated instruction by small group instruction and one-on-one instruction. As a child, I loved when my teachers had small groups work with them. It maked me feel special and important, more importantly, it made me feel like my teacher really cared. It was like I got a chance to show how smart I was to my teacher. And that is the goal that we want to achieve by this. We want students to feel important, like their thoughts matter and feel like they are intelligent.   

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?