Growth in Language Arts

Over the semester, I have learned a lot more about language arts and how to use it in my future classroom. This class was very useful, because it gave me a lot of resources and different ways I can teach specific topics such as the writing process and reading process. I feel that I am more knowledgeable about a variety of topics in language arts and that I will definitely be able to better teach this topic in the future.

I have never done a blog before and at first I thought it was kind of silly, but over the semester, the weekly journaling has allowed me to express my thoughts and feelings and better develop my writing skills. I really enjoyed when we were able to do free writing blogs because it allowed me to talk about whatever was on my mind, rather than just answering a question.

I also enjoyed being able to make the book, because it put everything I learned about the writing process into one final project. It also allowed me to create a personal story and add whatever I wanted to into it. I was able to use every step of the writing process, create my own digital book, and add pictures to make it even more personal. I hope to someday use this in my classroom, because I think it is both a fun and educational way to apply the writing process.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this class and I have taken a lot from it. I am definitely saving the book as a reference because I think it has some great tools and ideas in it and it will help me out a lot in the future.

Field Experiences

I have really enjoyed my placement in Mrs. Hixson's first grade classroom at Durant Rd. Elementary School this semester. I have enjoyed all of the observations and I think that Mrs. Hixson does a wonderful job of incorporating a variety of literacy techniques into her classroom. I was very impressed about how she made accommodations for each student and focused on each child's needs. I was able to see how she does her reading groups and I have been able to gather a lot of ideas from her that I can use in my future classroom. I also liked the fact that all of her centers revolved around literacy, but she uses a variety of activities that are both fun and educational for the students. She also helped me with whatever I needed and made me feel very comfortable in the classroom. I just did the interview with her this morning and she was able to tell me a lot of great things that are happening in the classroom. Overall, I really enjoyed this placement and I learned a lot from the experience.

Planning for reading and writing instruction

Being in a kindergarten classroom right now for a placement, I have seen a lot of different thematic units that they have focused on. A huge aspect that I have seen every week I have been there has been about weather. I think it would be a lot of fun to incorporate different books about weather while studying weather because it would allow the children to expand their knowledge about weather and it would promote more literacy. I have been impressed with the different number of activities I have seen the teacher incorporate about weather and this allows the children learn that there are many different ways to learn about weather. Last week, I had to teach a physical lesson and I decided to do it about weather and teach them a thunderstorm dance. This variety allowed the children to explore how their bodies could move like weather. By reading books about weather, they would be able to talk about different things they have done in the classroom and expand their language skills as well. Some books that I might use include: What will the weather be?, Wild Weather Soup, Weather Words, and Weather Forecasting. I think that I would definitely incorporate this into a thematic unit especially since I have seen so much of that this semester and I feel that I already have some great ideas that I can use in my future classroom.

Recent Thoughts

I guess I have been feeling very confused lately and I constantly have been wondering and worrying about my future. Right now, all I can think about is school because I am really trying to do well this semester, but sometimes it's so hard because all of my classes are very important and it's been hard for me to split up my time devoting time to each class. Whenever my friends want to go out or hang out, I feel bad by telling them I really can't and I don't understand how they seem to have all this free time to do whatever they want. Even on the weekends, I'm either working or studying or I simply just want to catch up on sleep! I also keep going back and forth as to what I want to do after I graduate. I cannot even fathom that I am graduating college next year and it seems quite crazy to be entering the "real world" and some days I get really excited about it, but then there's others where I don't seem to feel ready for that and I think I'm not old enough. I tell myself well I'll just go to grad school for 2 years and that way I'd have more time to let it all sink in and then maybe I'd be more prepared after that. But then there's days like yesterday where all I want to do is get out of school and never sit in a class again. While I do enjoy learning more about Education and Child Development, sometimes the frustration builds up and makes me want to give up. I know that I'll be extremely grateful when I get into a classroom and I've had a great education, but right now, things are just very overwhelming. I think I'm also stressing out because there are only 5 weeks left in the semester and I keep thinking about everything I have to accomplish before then and it freaks me out! Even after being in college for 3 years, the end of the semester always seems to sneak up on me and makes me one big ball of stress. I am definitely grateful for the placements I have had this semester and everything that I have gotten to experience thus far, but right now I'm looking forward to summer vacation! But even then, I'll be in summer school...I know I shouldn't complain because college is a great opportunity and I'm grateful that my parents are spending every penny they have at Meredith College, but I guess my big question is, Where did the time go?

Stages of Spelling, Writing Process, Personal Writing

Over the years, I have definitely had a lot of experience with writing in which I am very grateful for. I had excellent teachers in Elementary School who taught me the basics and prepared me, I had fairly good Language Arts teachers in middle school, and I had one English teacher in High School in particular who was absolutely amazing and inspired me to want to write and learn as much as I could. Personal writing has always been my favorite because I can write about what I want and how I'm feeling and that is much easier for me than to write about something I am not very interested in or I have a hard time with. While that does prepare me educationally, I would much rather write about personal things in my life. It has been pretty nice having this blog, because I have been able to practice more writing (which always can use more practicing) in a pretty easy way. I have always preferred writing over reading, but it is definitely becoming more clear to me that both of them are very important to achieve either one.

At first, I had no idea what I wanted to write about for my book project. But after thinking for awhile, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. My book is going to be about my experience in the marching band in high school. The beginning will discuss about how I was unsure about joining, the middle will describe how much I hated it at first and I was convinced I would be dropping out, and the end will talk about how much my feelings about it changed and how I ended up doing it for all 4 years and how much I took out of the experience...

Social Skills and Language Arts

When children have special needs especially reading and writing skills, it makes it difficult for them to express their thoughts, ideas, and feelings with others and it may hinder their social life. But in other cases, children may have very normal social lives. I truly think it depends on the child and how much encouragement they are receiving and how much help they are getting with their disability.

My younger brother has a learning disability and especially when he was younger; it was obvious that he was having trouble keeping up in class and that the bigger environment was not helping him improve his reading and writing skills. When my mom pulled him out and put him in a private school, he was in much smaller classes so he had more one-on-one help, which in turn made his social skills stronger. It is important that parents and teachers work with the specific child for their individual needs.

As a future teacher, I think that the most important thing is meeting the needs of every individual child. When a child has special needs, it is the teacher’s role to do everything they can to help the child reach their full potential and achieve goals that are developmentally appropriate for them.

Reading Wars

When I was little, I learned language in a variety of ways. I believe that the number one way to learn language as a child is to simply pick it up from adults and by interacting and hearing other people. When I babysit and observe young children, it is amazing to me to see how much they can easily pick up just by listening. They expand their vocabulary each and every day just by hearing new words. I also learned language because my parents always kept our house filled with books and I can remember my parents reading to me every night before bed. This not only helped me expand my language, but it also helped me to learn how to read as well. I don’t think learning language ever stops because I am constantly learning new words through classes, books, and every day conversation. Language is one of those tools that anyone can always improve on.

I think that as time goes along and children learn how to read, they do end up creating sight words. Because sight words are some of the most frequently used words in the English language, children pick up on these words more easily. I think it is a great idea to have “word walls” in the classroom especially for the younger grades, because it gives them a reference of some common words. A teacher that I observe has one of these and the students do use it when they are writing in their journals. I also think it is a great idea to pick one or two sight words per week to focus on because it helps the students to better understand these commonly used words.

I believe that symbols are one of the most important tools to impact literacy learning because children are able to connect words through pictures. I always loved looking at picture books when I was younger because it gave me a sense of the word was and for visual learners, symbols are a great tool. I think that this reinforces new words and old words for children who are beginning to read and it will help them remember it easier. I have seen in various classrooms, specifically preschool classrooms, teachers will label things around the classroom, so the children are learning the words and symbols at the same time. Everyone learns literacy in different ways, but I think that using symbols is very effective.

Writing

Writing is one of the most efficient tools of communication that we use in our society. People are able to express their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and a variety of other things to the world. I think that by reading people's personal thoughts, you can feel a connection to that person and have a better understanding of that person.

As a future teacher, I find writing very important and I am always learning new ways to incorporate writing into my future classroom for my students. I want my students to know that their writing matters, and I think it would be a great idea to just have creative writing some days where the students can write about whatever they want. When I was in elementary school, I always enjoyed when the teacher let us write about whatever we wanted to because it allowed for free expression and I could write about what was on my mind or simply something I wanted to share.

I believe that anyone can learn from reading other people's writing. Even now, I will read something that my roomate or a friend has written, and it helps me to better understand them. I have always been better at expressing my feelings through writing rather than talking, so I definitely feel that writing is worth reading.

The Reading Process

Aesthetic reading and efferent reading are both very interesting, but very different. Aesthetic reading means readers focus on the lived-through experience of reading. They focus on the thoughts, images, feelings, and associations evoked during reading. Readers tend to do this when they are reading to be entertained because they are using their imagination. Efferent reading concentrates on the public, common referents of the words and symbols in the text. This means they are focusing on the basic information found in the text and the illustrations, rather than the experience of reading. I think I have an easier time with efferent reading because I tend to read literally and I tend to just take in the information. I do enjoy aesthetic reading, but it takes me longer to figure out the symbols and feelings behind the words and pictures.

There are five stages of reading and they are all important in their individual ways. Stage 1 is called Prereading which involves the reader preparing to read. They must have background knowledge, set purposes, and have a plan for reading. An example of this is to plan how much to read each day. Stage 2 is Reading and this can be done in a variety of ways. Reading can be done with a buddy, through shared reading, guided reading, or by listening to the text read aloud. Students are able to benefit by using all five types of reading because everyone learns differently and it makes the process more fun when there is a variety. Stage 3 is known as responding and this is when students comprehend the reading by writing about the book or talking about it. This allows the students to have a better understanding of the book and it also helps them to discuss it with other people. Stage 4 is called exploring and this is when teachers lead the students back into the text to analyze it more. This includes rereading the selection, examining the author's craft, focusing on new vocabulary words, and also participating in minilessons. This stage allows the students to dig deeper into the text and they are able to pick up on things they may have missed the first time around. An example of this is picking out new vocabulary words and writing sentences incorporating them. The final stage is called applying and this is when readers continue to deeper their interpretations and value the reading experience. They are building on previous experiences and they may create projects to better comprehend the reading. This can include numerous things, but one example would be creating a mural about the book.

There are four factors that contribute to developing capable readers. The first one is called word identification. A capable reader has a large vocabulary and they can immediately recognize these words as they read. The second factor is called fluency. A capable reader is able to read quickly and efficiently and this includes speed, word recognition, and prosody. To be considered a fluent reader, they must be able to read at least 100 words per minute, and this is typically reached by the 3rd grade. Fluency definitely takes a lot of time and practice but it makes a better reader. The third factor is vocabulary. Capable readers have a large range of vocabulary and they typically learn 7-10 new words per day. They are progressing developmentally and they eventually learn how to use certain words in different ways. The most efficient way to expand a child's vocabulary is simply by reading to learn new words. The last factor in making a capable reader is comprehension. Readers must use their past experience and the text to deepen their comprehension. When a reader is reading, they are actively thinking about what they already know about a topic. They then set a purpose and make inferences from the text. Along with comprehension comes strategy. Capable readers are very strategic and they use a variety of aspects to comprehend what they are reading. All four factors combined together is what makes a capable reader and teachers must incorporate all of these into the reading process in order to promote reading in the classroom.

There are many different ways children can read and use the reading process in the classroom. The five most common ways of reading are shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, buddy reading, and reading aloud to students. All five ways contribute to children's learning and I believe by providing variety in the classroom, all children can benefit. All children learn in different ways, so by setting up different activities, all children have the chance to learn to the best of their ability. Teachers can use these five ways through literature focus units, literature circles, reading and writing workshops, thematic units, and many other things. It is important for teachers to focus on each child while teaching reading, because each child learns differently and it is their job to meet the needs of each child

The 6 Language Arts

When thinking about language arts, most people assume it only revolves around reading and writing, but it was interesting to discover there is so much more than that. After discussing the areas of listening, talking, reading, writing, viewing, and visually representing, I have learned that all of these areas are important in teaching language arts. Throughout this class, I truly hope to learn how to better teach these methods and use the information I learn and bring that into my future classroom. I want my students to appreciate language arts and I am hoping to learn a variety of techniques to teach it best to them.

This day and age, technology is a huge part of our daily lives. When my parents were in college, they did not have their own personal laptops or even cell phones, but today is much different. Our society has grown to rely on technology, and we are now able to do things that were not possible just a few years ago. I believe that technology in the classroom can be very beneficial and there are so many ways to use it efficiently to better teach students. I am a firm believer in all people learn differently, and viewing and visually representing can truly help the visual learners and can keep their attention. I am certainly not saying that technology should be the only thing used in the classroom, but demonstrations are definitely a part of language arts and can make learning fun and educational.

As a student, I have always preferred a variety of techniques used in the classroom because I feel that if a teacher does the same thing every single day, students get bored and know exactly what to expect. I want my students to experience a variety of learning activities and to be excited about doing different things. Saying this, I believe that all 6 of the language arts components are important in their own individual way. In my personal experiences, I tend to take the most out of listening and talking because I enjoy working with other people and it helps me to learn information better. Reading and writing are definitely crucial because students are able to practice their language arts skills and become more proficient in this area. Although I prefer writing over reading, I do have goals to read more and become better at it. Like I mentioned before, I do feel that viewing and visually representing are important aspects in language arts and they can make things fun and interesting for children.

So far, I really do like the book, Sahara Special. It sounds like a very interesting book and I am looking forward to what is to come. I do feel that too many "labels" are placed on children and this should not hinder their education. Every student is special in their own way and I believe that teachers have to do everything in their power to make sure each student is getting the proper education and they are working towards their full potential.