Reflecting on a Semester of Literacy

I have learned so much this semester about reading and writing.  It has been a large focus throughout my time in the education program, but this semester we definitely went a lot deeper.  I was also able to solidify some teaching beliefs that I will go with me when I become an educator.  How I use and work these beliefs in my classroom may change, but the beliefs themselves won't.

One thing I have a different viewpoint on now, after taking this course, is assessment.  I have always been worried about how to assess students in writing; and I think this class along with the books we have read have given me a better understanding on how to go about assessment.  We were even given the chance to do an assignment surrounding assessing writing, and I think I have a better idea on how to do it.  It may not be perfect, but I know I'm on the right track.

Something I wasn't really prepared for in this class, was the amount of technology work we did.  I have never blogged before, nor have I spent time using Pinterest in a professional manner.  We were able to do both in this class, and I really enjoyed it.  I was able to see how we, as teachers, can use something that is popular with our students in an educational way.  Through this, I have gained multiple ideas on how to incorporate technology into my class that will be beneficial to my students.  These projects have shown me some great ways to embrace technology and websites our students are using in their daily lives instead of pretending it doesn't exist during the school day.  I will definitely keep these projects in mind when I become an educator, and hopefully be able to use them with my own class.

Finally, my biggest take away from this class is being able to reflect.  Not only reflection on my students and lessons, but reflection on myself.  I have learned how important it is for a teacher to look back and think about what they did as the instructor in order to improve in the future.  Education is always changing, and I believe reflection is vital for teachers to change with it.  Because of this, I really like the idea of keeping a journal on what I do with my students and how I worked with them.  I think this would be a great way for me to look back and remember everything that happened throughout a lesson, and decide what can be done to improve it for next time.  I know I am not going to be able to remember every little thing that happened, so I think writing it down will be extremely beneficial for me.

Overall, this class was great and has helped me improve as a future educator.  I can't wait to use what I have learned in the classroom and, as scary as it sounds, that will be very soon.  If you want to read any of the books I have talked about in my blogs take a look at my Shelfari on the left side.  It has all the books we read for this class, as well as a few others that are extremely helpful. 

Instructional Conversations: The Practicum Student Experience

So...... I did my instructional conversation, and I think it went pretty well!  If I haven't said before, I am in a first grade classroom doing my practicum.  For this conversation, I worked with three boys from my excelled reading group.  The students from this group are reading at an extremely high level, but don't really get a challenge that often.  I chose them because of this, and I was thoroughly impressed with how they did.

Lucky Beans by Becky Birtha--goodreads

My purpose for the conversation was to discover and discuss underlying themes in a story.  We read the book Lucky Beans by Becky Birtha.  This book is set during the Great Depression.  It is about an African-American boy whose father has lost his job, and whose mother is doing a little work sewing clothes for people in the neighborhood.  There is a contest at a local store, where whoever can guess the number of beans in the jar will win a brand new sewing machine.  The boy ends up entering in the contest and wins.  The book has some major themes about the struggles of living during the Great Depression and helping out family.  There is one point in the story where a girl tells the main character he can't participate in the contest because of his race, but the whole story doesn't focus on this theme.

We read the book together, and I started our conversation by just asking what they thought of the story.  I wasn't sure if the students would really say much, since a lot of time I do get one word answers like "good" or "okay", but these boys surprised me.  They started the conversation by talking about the parts they liked, when one of the boys brought up the scene with the girl.  He began talking about how he didn't like how she treated Marshall, the main character, and that it isn't right that everyone wouldn't be able to participate.  The boys began discussing this, connecting it to things like allowing everyone to play at recess or sit at the lunch table with them.  I was impressed with how they brought this up and related it to things they have been discussing during guidance.

Another really cool thing that happened is the boys started talking about what they thought happened after the story ended.  They were shooting out ideas about the parents getting good jobs, the family getting enough money to buy a bigger house, and even the girl apologizing to the main character.  They were so excited about all of their ideas that I ended up changing the end of the lesson and giving them the chance to write and extended ending to the story.

I definitely think I had a successful experience with an instructional conversation, and it is definitely a huge relief.  As I said, I was a little worried as to how this was going to go, but these boys did great and even  went further than I thought they would go!  This lesson really solidified how much I like instructional conversations.  Of course, they probably won't all go this well but I still think they are more useful and educational in the long run.

I would love to hear if anyone else has done an instructional conversation and how it went.  Comment below!

Instructional Conversations

When I heard the words "instructional conversation" for the first time, I assumed this was what every teacher did, all day, every day.  But after learning more about it, I realized that I was very wrong.  There is so much more that goes into it, and it is definitely worth it for your students in the long run.

First off, I should probably explain what an instructional conversation is.  According to Claude Goldenberg, in his article Instructional Conversations: Promoting comprehension through discussion, an instructional conversation is an engaging interaction between students that "promote analysis, reflection, and critical thinking" (317).  These types of discussion focuses on teaching something through open conversation with the students.  The students should be working off of each other, instead of the teacher asking a question and one student answering.  He explains how this kind of interaction creates an optimal learning space, and the students have to use higher order thinking skills throughout the conversation.  During this, the teacher should have some questions and/or talking points prepared for when the conversation dies down, but overall the teacher should sit back, be a mediator, and let the students lead.

After reading Goldenberg's article I realized that this definitely doesn't always happen in the classroom.  It is very difficult and time consuming to set up a classroom like this, and I think that is why a lot of teachers don't do it all the time.  Also, it is very difficult to think an instructional conversation could be used during a subject like math; where there is actually one right answer. 

I definitely get how hard this can be to implement, but I am going to try to use this in my future classroom as much as I can.  It is a great way for the students to use critical thinking, and to practice social skills that will be important later in life. 

I will be doing one of these instructional conversations for my class, so stay tuned for how it goes.

Here's a couple of links to websites and tips for instructional conversations:

Education.com IC article
Summary of Goldenberg by Ronald Gallimore

Writing Analysis

This last week I got to work on writing with my students.  Their assignment was to create a creature, brought about from the book they are reading, and to write at least five details about it.  The students I worked with thought up some amazing creations, and had a lot of fun writing them.  For example, one of my students created a stub person who can shape shift, do magic and live in Wyoming (I had to laugh when I read where he lived because it was so random!).  Another student created a falcon that changes size based on whether they smell something clean or stinky.  I was incredibly impressed with everything they were thinking up as well as how motivated they were to write about them.

When it comes to talking about their writing, many of these students wrote with lots of detail.  They have been working on adding adjectives and more detail to their sentences in class, so I focused this assignment on this.  They wrote a lot about what their stub people could do, where they lived, and their appearance.  I expected these would be the topics they would write about, but they really surprised me in the amount of detail some of them added.   

Another thing that surprised me was the flexibility these students had. They were coming into roadblocks when it came to spelling, and they didn’t get frustrated by words they couldn’t spell.  Any time a student couldn’t spell a word, and asked me how it was spelled, I redirected them to other ways they could find how to spell it.  They started asking each other how to spell words, they looked through book, and then began helping each other look in the dictionary that I provided for them.  I observed this happen throughout their work time, and was impressed at how quickly they stopped asking me to get an answer; but used other resources to figure it on their own.

These students worked so hard on their writing, and it definitely shows.  I think they had a lot more ideas that they shared through conversation with their peers and me that they didn’t write down.  At first, I was worried by this.  When I began to see the difference between what they were discussing and what they wrote down, I thought they were just avoiding the assignment or something along those lines.  After thinking about it, I decided that wasn't the case.  I realized that even though they were doing more talking than writing, they were still learning through their discussion.  They discussed ideas and details, and asked for help when needed.  Even though they didn’t write down everything they discussed with their peers, it still shows that they learned through their responses to each other, and how they worked through the assignment. 

I thought this writing assignment went really well with these students, and they have begun to ask if they can create more.  This is really exciting for me, since I was a little worried about how they would take this assignment on.  I'm definitely going to keep this in mind when creating new assignments for these students!

Some reflection....

Throughout this semester in Lit. III I have gained a ton of information that is just adding to my sureness that I have chosen the right career.  We have discussed a lot of big ideas surrounding teaching, and I have been able to firmly establish some overarching teaching beliefs that will be the basis for how and why I do what I do in my future classroom.  Even with these beliefs there have been a few things I still struggle with sometimes. One of those things I find the most important is assessment.

Yes, assessment.  That word that people seem to cringe at now-a-days.  I don't want to come off sounding like I think assessment is bad, because I don't.  Assessing the students in your classroom throughout the year is extremely important.  It can serve as a way to obtain background knowledge of what your students already know, a way for you to determine how you should begin a unit or lesson, as well as a way for you to decide when your class is ready to move forward.  On top of that, assessment gives you insight into how you, the teacher, are doing.  You can use it as an assessment of how you are teaching and if you need to make adjustments.  

Assessment doesn't have a set of steps or rules, or a nice little "how-to" book that every teacher is given during their first year of teaching.  It varies between districts, schools, teachers, etc.; and is almost always based off of research from many different viewpoints.  Because of this, everybody has a different idea on assessment and how it should be implemented.  This is pretty easy for me to accept because, to be honest, what part of being an educator doesn't come with about a hundred different opinions and ways to do it? The hard part is how do you decide which opinion is best? 

I think this is the most difficult to figure out when assessing a student's writing.  Writing is such a broad subject to teach, and is portrayed differently by everyone.  Of course, as a teacher you can set some boundaries or expectations of your students' writing such as having them write in a certain genre, giving them expectations, etc.; but you won't see one finished paper that is the same.  This is what makes assessing writing so difficult for me.  You are supposed to somehow take a writing assignment you gave to 20+ different children, then assess every single one the same way.  So, I come back to the question how do I do this?

We have discussed this question a lot in class, and great ideas have been passed back and forth that I fully agree with and think would be great to implement in my future classroom.  A lot of the ideas I really like come from the one and only, Debbie Miller.  She is a firm believer in formative assessment.  In her book, Teaching with Intention, she talks a lot about the different ways a teacher can assess a students' writing by consistently checking in with them throughout the writing process.  I love this!  This kind of conferencing, throughout the student's writing process, keeps the teacher informed as well as gives them the ability to assess progress instead of just product.  By using this, a teacher can keep record of what each child is writing, where they are getting stuck, and what is going on in their minds while writing.  A teacher can also gain a relationship with each student, and the student is able to learn and practice how to reflect on their own writing.  How much of that would be obtained by just looking at a finished paper? 

Miller has given me some great ideas on assessing writing, and I know that a lot of what I have read from her is what I would like to implement in my classroom.  Even though, I am still struggling with exactly how I will do this, I know this will definitely be something that I keep looking to.

I also am open to more tips and knowledge from others on this topic.  I always love to hear new ideas to make myself better!

Here's a link if you would like to take a look at Teaching with Intention

My Thoughts on a Think-Aloud

As I get farther into this semester, the work I am doing with my first-grade practicum students is definitely becoming more and more rewarding.  I am able to see these students grow and learn, and it definitely has solidified why I am going to be a teacher.  An example of this was when I did a think-aloud with one of my students. 

For this think-aloud, I was able to work with the same student I worked with for my miscue analysis.  My cooperating teacher and I discussed this a lot.  She wanted me to work with him again, because she was really interested in seeing how he would do.  My CT helped me with choosing a book, and was able to give me even more details into his background as a reader, which helped tremendously when it came to preparing for this.  The book we ended up choosing was Horrible Harry in Room 2B.  This book was a little on the difficult side for him, but when discussing it with my CT she thought he would really enjoy reading it.

I started the process by discussing what we were going to do.  I had asked him if he knew what a think-aloud was--knowing that he had never done one before.  I was impressed by his response, since he had gotten the gist of what a think-aloud was without ever experiencing it before.  I have to say I was a little relieved knowing that he already sort of understood, and was more than willing to work with me.  After we discussed this I assured him that I would go first, modeling reading the first few pages and openly stating anything I was thinking, questioning, and strategies I was using.  I was going to go back over what I had read, but before I could he beat me to it.  As soon as I finished, he went off connecting to some of the things I had said as well as answering some of my questions with his own ideas.  I was extremely surprised when these comments came willingly from a student who would barely talk to me earlier in the semester. 

Then it was his turn. He began reading, and at first didn't say much.  He started out by just stating words he didn't know, or saying that he liked a part.  I thought this was a great start for him, and I assumed there would be words he didn't know since the book was pretty difficult.  What I didn't expect was for him to stop reading at one point and tell me he wanted to go back.  I let him work through it on his own, giving him just enough to aid in his thinking.  He told me he got a little lost and didn't get what was going on in the story.  I was so surprised when I heard this.  I would have never expected him to stop and go back because from my time working with him he has never done that before.  I was impressed with how much he has grown from just the miscue analysis we did, as well as how much he actually obtained from our conversations. 

This think-aloud proved to me how important it is for teachers to do these.  I have seen how using this strategy can keep a teacher informed on how a developing reader is doing, as well as gaining insight into what works best for each student.  When it comes to the student I worked with, I feel as though it went more like a check-in with him after doing his miscue analysis.  He showed me through this think-aloud what strategies he kept and some that he has been using more to better his reading.  I feel that using this strategy with students lines right up with my beliefs on the release of responsibility and using a student-centered learning approach.  It gives the student a chance to reflect on their own learning, and overall become a better reader.  I definitely will be instilling this in my future classroom after what I experienced with my practicum. 

The Dreaded Miscue Analysis

So the miscue analysis is over, and all of the Lit III students can take a deep breath.  I am definitely making this assignment seem more dramatic and difficult than it actually was.  To be honest, I really enjoyed this type of miscue analysis.  I have only done one miscue analysis before this one, and it was way more intense.  It was very formal, and I felt as though I was testing the poor student, then just sitting down and listening to her read.  This time around was completely different.  I was able to talk to the student more this time around, get a sense of how and why he might have made a miscue, and teach him a little something during our time together. 

To start, I worked with a first grade boy from my reading practicum classroom.  He is an average reader and is in one of the middle level reading groups.  My cooperating teacher chose him for me when I discussed it with her.  She chose him mostly because she was interested in the results, and he had never done something like this.  He read Our Bakery by Melissa Wagner.  It was a leveled picture book about a family opening a bakery.  It was a good book for him, it had some challenging words in it, and I was able to get some great results and discussion ideas.  When we talked about some miscues he had made, our discussion focused on reading strategies.  He only used one or two while he was reading, and when we talked about it, he said it was his favorite.  I was able to take one of his miscue words and teach him a new strategy to use and he was so excited about it.  I loved that I was able to show him something new, and that he responded so well to it.  This showed me that he is very motivated when it comes to reading, and is more than willing to listen, learn, and try it out himself. 

Even though the discussion of miscues went really well, I think the retelling portion could have gone better.  My student did his retelling but only had one or two very minor details in it.  I really think he knew what happened in the story, but he maybe just didn't want to explain it to me.  Even though I asked leading questions about different things he had said, he was very brief and only went into a lot of detail once.  Looking back, I think I could have asked him better leading questions, to get a better understanding of what he remembered from the story. 

This miscue analysis change my entire opinion about them.  I was pretty against them after the first one because I felt like it was very long, and not authentic.  In this miscue analysis, I was able to have valuable discussions with the student, and actually gain real information about him as a reader.  This type of miscue analysis, for me, focused less on numbers and more on discussion.  I love this because, in my opinion, the discussion I had told me more about the first grader I worked with than the percentage of miscues that went uncorrected and had meaning change.  I was able to get to know this reader, find out what he excels at and what he needs work on, and help him become a better reader. 

Overall, I think it went really well.  I learned a lot about a student in my practicum classroom, as well as some ideas I would like to apply to my future classroom.  I am extremely excited to use this type of miscue analysis with my future students in order to learn more about them as readers.  I know not every miscue analysis will go as well as the one I had with this student, but I am sure with time I will be able to learn more and be prepared for any kind of miscue analysis.