Emergent Perspectives

"Even though the way in which children develop literacy strategies are different from adults they are still logical and understandable, ONCE WE TAKE THE CHILDREN'S PERSPECTIVE." This statement just emphasizes that as a teacher I need to keep an open mind and let my students development in literacy be their own. I am only a mentor, an assistant to help them develop in their literacy. It seems I am not the leader as they will naturally start to decode language at a very young age. I found this very fascinating, that just by listening to an adult make a shopping list or a story over and over again helps build literacy in a child. I wonder than how harder or more of a challenge it is for a child to become literate at home if the adults they are around are not literate? Does it affects the child at all?

I also like the idea, that stems from the aboved mention characteristic of literacy in children in my opinion, that we should teach reading and writing to all children no matter the age as literacy is a developmental skill that changes with a child. I can identify with this change in strategy as when I first went to college I became a more active reader, in highlighting, asking questions, and defining words unknown as I read which in the end led I think to better comprhension for myself.

In my main Dyad placement class, for simplification later on I'll call it Room 20, the master teacher read to the students a book and together they marked main idea pages to understand plot summary with an emphasis on just going over main events. But in the afternoon when only spanish is spoken (Room 20 is a dual language classroom), a book was read to the class but new vocabulary and phrases unknown where identified instead of a board plot summary. Though I think (if my spanish isn't too rusty) a summary was discussed a bit through out by asking questions like "what do you think will happen next?" or "Is this a problem or a solution?" These lessons in Room 20 was a specific example how learning literacy needs to fit the development of the student. If the master teacher structured the spanish lesson the same way she structured the english lesson many students may not have enjoyed the story as much due to their level of spanish. Does structuring literacy this way helps both students who are strong in spanish but lower in english or vice versa to develop their literacy skills? Or not? I wonder how she knows one way or the other.

BEDUC 406 Day Four

There are multiple ways to transition in a classroom with students or get from place to place as well as multiple ways of classroom management. It seems though that the most important thing is to know your students and yourself in order to use what works best for EVERYONE!

I am a detail person; I like to have details. I am anxious to meet my dyad placement teacher since I will be meeting her and her students at the same time for the first time in little over a week.

I am excited to see how a dual language classroom works!

Can I come back in January, to my main placement and pick up where I left off with students in rm 402? Errr... with only seeing them maybe once a week, if at all, maybe not so easy to do?

Book Reports Made Fun!

My master teacher has a great system for book reports. Each student does three a trimester but each book report has to be a different genre. The genre coincides with what assignment they do for their report. For example if a student reads a fantasy book they would write five things that support it being a fantasy book but if a student reads a mystery book they would need to interview the main character about events in the story with at least five questions. All they would rate their books on a 1 to 5 star system and provide reasoning for the rating. My master teacher also emphasized that the report can be as pretty as possible but if details are not given enough so that it seems the student has read the book... Wrong, no credit!

I like this because it enables students to be more creative in their assignment AND writing. Also students end up reading a type of book they might not normally choose to read. This could broaden their horizons and open up new interest in types of book to read!

Drum roll please!

HAHA! The simplest thing can make part of an activity fun. Today Room 402 started on a new country for their caravan unit. Each group was assigned a different country. The group name would be called with a drum roll. Students would drum on their desks, all thirty of them, with huge 6th grade grins; the biggest smiles I've ever seen on some of these students thus far in the year. A drum roll can be more than just noise and interruption it can be a way for students to take a more active way in desicion making. Though yes, this may not work with all students, with this group at the end of assigning groups countries, attention was brought back to the teacher and learning commenced!

Juggling

Perhaps a prerequisite for being a teacher is taking a juggling class because man oh man does a teacher have to multi-task! Between administration meetings, extra community building jobs (social chair...), parents, own family and friends, and oh yeah teaching students how to learn... phew, teachers need to be organized. We could give Santa a run for his money when it comes to making a list and checking it twice.

One thing that I found useful when observing my master teacher is she is really good at knowing what is something she should put on her plate and what is not. For example an email from a parent commenting on how she wants her child in high-cap because her feeling of boredom she has now is not helping with her depression, Erin knew that she couldn't help her if her child had already taken the test or missed the test date. She then forwarded the email to the high-cap teacher and the building principal. She responded by thanking the parent for the useful information and how this new awareness would help her in the classroom as well as confirming that the steps the parent has taken to place her daughter in high-cap are all the right ones. My master teacher also recommended not responding right away, giving herself time to digest and think helps, especially if the email from a parent is not positive. Though I'll have to juggle when I'm teaching I hope I can realize when to delegate and when to charge head on with an issue!

Classroom Map

Room 402 is one of the biggest rooms in the building, big enough that weekly administration meetings are help in it. I like the set up for a couple of reasons. Groups are close together to create easy discussion for major group project that students start the year out with. Secondly it creates a welcoming and social environment at the begining of the school year so students feel comfortable in their new classroom. My master teacher also moves them as groups every two weeks while working on their group project in the fall. Then, I think, in the winter and spring they switch groups every two weeks. Awesome!

P.S. "Your file is corrupt or unreadable." This is over due from tech difficulties. Just be smarter than the computer.

What I know About Students in Rm 402

The students in Rm 402 have similarities and differences from when I was in 6th grade. Overall they are all children on their way to becoming adults.

Some students do not have an easy home-life, varying from abuse, depression to single parents and English not being spoken at home. This was discovered through a variety of ways; past teacher in put, parent meetings and student comments.

On a happier note most love some kind of sport, music, or have a favorite movie/television show and are in the beginning of preadolescence. We passed out a student information sheet and an about-me-sheet to gain general information from student's favorite sports and who is in their family.

Talking to students during transitions, and before and after school also provides great insight. The students aren't that different from myself in worries and things that make them happy. I always look forward to lunch (yum) and enjoy a good football game. I also, like students in rm 402, worry about my family and homework time.

At the end of my teaching day I want to be able to remember this similarities and difference and the big picture of their being more similarities than differences!