New Literacies

I really enjoyed making my digital literacy project. I learned a lot during this process too. The new technology I used was digital storytelling. I had never seen it before but the program was very user friendly. It broke the project down into steps, one for importing pictures, one for adding text to the pictures, adding a voice recording, and adding music. I just followed the instructions step by step. I had never used a computer program for a picture slideshow before to teach a lesson. One difficulty I had was adding music to my project. I learned that the program only accepts certain music filenames. I had to change my music to mp3 format because it was all saved as something else in my iTunes. Another difficulty I had was hooking up a microphone but once I found one it was easy to configure. Overall the program was easy to use and I definitely want to use it with a class one day. I think this technology would be pretty easy for the students to use. As long as we have cameras available for the students then importing pictures would be easy. Adding text is pretty self explanatory within the program. It shows the text being added to the screen as you type it. Also the students can easily rearrange their pictures once they are imported. If the projects are going to incorporate music I would have to make sure the computers they are using have a variety of file types for stored music. I think that using a technology like this will fit in with effective literacy instruction. The students will need to incorporate text into their projects and the students reading one another’s projects will need to be able to read. My project especially fits with literacy because it teaches about another culture and incorporate vocabulary lessons. People reading/watching it will be able to learn the words for certain Spanish things, what those words mean, and how to correctly pronounce those words. This is definitely tied to literacy. This type of a lesson would be good for any class that has a minority group of students in it. One could use it to teach the majority group some of the common words found in the minority group’s language. It is a good project to bring a diverse class together. Overall I think this project was very successful and I learned a lot that I will use in the future.

New Literacy Project

For my New Literacy Project, I chose to make a scrapblog that also incorporated a comic, on environmental literacy. I chose to do this, because I wanted to focus on different biomes and explain human impacts on these biomes. I felt that doing a powerpoint or a scrapblog would be a good idea, so I decided to go with a scrapblog since I already know how to make powerpoints. This was new to me because I had never made a scrapblog before. Environmental literacy was new for me compared to more traditional literacies, because I had never thought of environmental literacy as separate from just the definition of literacy which I had already developed. In order to use the new technology to do this project, I did not realize at first how much time it would take for me to do it. I had to learn how to use the technology and also had to do a lot of research in order to create my final project. I believe that this technology is very easy for students to use and will also fulfill the commitments required for K-8 students as outlined in the GLCEs. This is because this technology will allow students to practice their research, writing, reading and technology use. The scrapblog can be used by many different grade levels, because it can be created without even using any reading or writing. Younger levels would be able to create a project and then present it to the class, allowing them to practice their speech and fulfill GLCEs. Students will be able to use the scrapblog to convey meaning and other students should be able to view the scrapblog to gain an understanding of the meaning of the student’s project. I believe that incorporating technology is very important when it comes to effective literacy instruction. This is because in our day and age, technology is very prevalent and being able to use it will be very important for a student’s future.

When it comes to my understanding of literacy, I believe that my ideas have expanded. While I always knew that literacy incorporated more than just reading and writing, I never really thought about how much more is included in its definition. While it should have been obvious to me that literacy involves more than just language arts, this project has really helped me to see how many different aspects of literacy there are (environmental, emotional, etc.). I had never really thought of environmental literacy or any other type of literacy as a separate distinction from the definition of literacy. I mainly viewed these topics as connected to literacy because you need to read and write to be able to perform across different subject areas in school. This growth has altered my conception of learning in English language arts, because it has shown me how many different ways that literacy can be taught using different technologies. It has also shown me that to correctly teach different types of literature to students, you need to understand the different types of literacy there are and what is involved in those literacies. By viewing other people's projects, I was able to develop new understandings of these types of literacies and ways that I can teach them to my students. I was able to see many different aspects to these literacies and that they are multi-layered. There is much you can take out of these new literacies.

New Literacies

After completing TE 301 I had a new found knowledge about the mechanics of literacy. However, TE 401 has introduced be to the possibilities that literacy can encompass. My new ideas of literacy not only include the maechanics such as grammar, letter-sound knowledge comprehension, etc. but also other topics. Literacy is part of everything and can be expanded to include anything like culture, the enviroment, emotions, etc. Literacies go far beyond knowing and recognizing your ABCs. Those are just the beginning of a long and never ending road that you follow long after your school days are done. This project really helped me understand that. I started coming to this realization after one of the first articles we read. The Leland article made me realize that, not only was that class honing their skills of reading and writing, but they were becoming stronger mentally in their views on the world around them. They were questioning what they were reading; asking Why? This article really set the pace for me in this class and now I'm expanding even more to include new digital applications to my literacy education and schema.
To provide effective literacy instruction to a diverse classroom of learners means to include everyone. Let the students teach about their backgrounds. When I was in fifth grade our final assignment was a presentaion on our heritage. We were given months to research and find information on our backgrounds. I did mine on Ireland. The project included a 15 minute presentation and a 2 page paper. Up until that point I had never had a project that rigorous. However, I learned so much about my own culture as well as the cultures of my fellow classmates. This knowledge included food, language, customs, and so much more. I worked so hard on that and it gave me a sense of pride. Looking back on this and other experiences like it I now understand that I was expanding on a new type of literacy. A literacy that included diversity, social studies, history, and so much more. Projects like these are great for a classroom environment because it puts every student in the spotlight to say, "This is me, this is where I come from." Even though that was a long time ago and many of the digital literacies I've recently learned about were not available, these applications are really a great way to supplement projects like these.
For my New Literacies Project I chose to create a Scrapblog about Cultural Literacy. My focus was the Insider/Outsider debate in Multicultural Literature. This project went above and beyond my traditional literacy knowledge in the sense that I had to teach myself the ins and outs of the presentation method as well as the subject. The digital literacy was challenging for me because I have a rough enough time getting pictures from my camera onto my computer, I have trouble defragmenting my computer when its running rough, as well as many other mainstream issues that come about it the world of technology. Learning about something completely different was a whole other ball game. This project took somewhat of a great deal of effort for me. First of all, I had to complete it twice because of a computer malfunction and my inability to save it correctly the first time (there were two steps to the svaing process...something I failed to recognize). It took a lot for me to not slam my computer shut and walk away. The good thing was I was at work and had nothing else to do for 3 hours. The second time around I got it right! I was also very proud of the finished product.
I think this type of technology could be useful in a classroom environment as a creative way to track and showcase all students' progress within a unit or over an entire year. It will also instill a sense of pride in them which will help with their motivation.
This project further expanded my outlook on literacy in a sense that it was another frontier to cover in the neverending road to be a master at literacy.

Comprehension

While in grade school reading was never a problem for me. I always scored much higher on tests than my grade level. When I got to highschool I expanded my reading skills and was accepted into the advanced English program. Reading was just never a problem for me. Nowadays, depending on the class I am in determines what I get out of the reading I am doing. If I am enthusiastic about the class and am really enjoying its content I'm going to be more inclined to read more deeply into the texts. If I'm discouraged or overwhelmed by a class I have a much harder time focusing and taking away things from what it is that I am reading. My comprehension processes have changed over the years. I now have to go slowly to make sure I'm understanding something. It takes me a little while to get through a chapter of a text or an article and sometimes I'm pressed for time and I don't really retain much of what I read. For good thorough comprehension I need time, space, and I need to be calm and unrushed. Otherwise there is no point to even reading. After discussing with my group and skimming the articles I haven't been assigned I have decided that my comprehension strategies rest heavily on motivation. Tompkins presents a table that explains what effects the motivations of students. I think that the main issue in my strategies has a lot to do with these 8 factors. I think its interesting how much a teacher's attitude can affect someone's comprehension skills. It makes sense though, if I didn't think my teacher thought very highly and cared about what I was reading I wouldn't really be inclined to care about it either.
In my field placement I have observed a very small amount of full class literacy instruction and it is probably because there are so many grades in my classroom. I do know that the children are working on the writing process which can contribute greatly to comprehension because it lets the students express their ideas. I was working with several students on a reading assessment during one of my days there and noticed very vast differences in comprehension levels. Some students read the passages perfectly but then it came to answering the corresponding questions and they received a very low score. Some students could do neither with success and constantly looked at me for help. At one point I asked a student one of the questions about a passage that she had had significant trouble with and she looked at me and just said "Ms. R, I just don't really know...is that ok?" I told her that was fine and we moved on with the assessment. This particular student didn't finish the assessment because she got too frustrated with a later passage. Lots of them were concerned about the stopwatch, one student sped through it so fast I almost had to have him do it again I fell so far behind checking all the words.
In the classroom as a whole I've noticed that the students are split up into specific groups and I am assuming they are based on literacy levels to some degree with behavior tendancies acting as a factor as well. I often find myself wondering how a class with this many literacy levels works together or gets things done. Most of the students are behind for their grade level when it comes to literacy anyways but it seems that there are no 2 students who are right on the same track and each one is vastly different.

Comprehension Processes

After reading about comprehension, I have learned a little bit about my own comprehension strategies. I always scored high when I was younger in the comprehension sections of tests. I am a fast reader and I usually get what I need to get out of the things I read. I use different strategies though, depending on the context or the task. If a teacher gives me an assignment that obviously pulls answers straight from the text then I am what Applegate terms a literalist. I read all of the questions and then scan the text for answers. I usually only use this strategy when I am in a hurry or if it is just a busy work assignment that I won’t really benefit much from. Applegate says that “When we can match the reading profiles of our students with the instruction they need, we can put our children firmly on the road to effective, rewarding, and engaged reading throughout their entire lives”. I agree with this statement and I think it is important to recognize that there are many different kinds of comprehenders.
While in the field, I have noticed some different kinds of comprehension processes. During reading groups, two girls who were at similar reading levels were reading the same book together. Every time that they start reading groups they always read the last page over again of the part that they finished the last time they read the book. This is a great strategy to re-orient them to what they had learned last time they read. Another group I worked with was reading a shorter and lower level book. Each time I sit down to read with the two of them they say, “Let’s start over, I don’t remember anything”. So they start over and each time we read we get to about the same spot in the story when it is time to switch stations. We need to work on a new strategy for comprehension because these two students are not progressing in their book since they start over at each session. We should maybe jot down some notes about the characters before we stop reading so that next time we just have to recall a few facts and then continue with the story.
Chapter seven of Tompkins talks about eight different comprehension strategies. I notice that in my own comprehending I use two of these eight more often than other. When I am reading I am constantly visualizing what I read. This does help me remember things more clearly in the future. I also found that I monitor my reading, no matter what it is that I am reading. I frequently re-read paragraphs or go back to find the name of a less frequently appearing character just to make sure I am thinking of the right person. I go back to check on vocabulary words too. I find that both visualizing and monitoring are two comprehension strategies that seem to help me out a lot.

Reading Comprehension

After doing the assigned readings, I was able to see that there are many comprehensions strategies that I use unconsciously while reading. While I am sure that some of these strategies were taught to me when I was in elementary school, I honestly do not remember being taught them. When I read, I often make connections from the text to my own life. This helps me to understand how the characters are feeling and makes me think about what I would do if I were in the same situation as the characters which I am reading about. According the Tompkins, there are many factors which readers use to comprehend a text (225). The factors which I now believe that I use the most, are activating my prior knowledge, making predictions, making connections to my own experiences, and creating mental images. After our discussion in class, I came to the realization that I never really took into account how my prior knowledge and experiences will affect the inferences that I make about what I am reading. This helped me to see how people can take away such different meanings from the exact same text. I had realized that this can occur when reading things such as texts about history (which I am not very good at, so people often take away much different meanings than I). This weeks readings also helped to remind me how much motivation affects the amount of attention we pay to a text and therefore affects our comprehension of a story. I know that if I don't believe a text is going to be interesting, that I am going to be far less motivated to read it and will pay little attention (I will most likely skim over it).
In field, I am seeing quite a bit related to comprehension processes and literacy instruction. In the Literacy for the 21st Century, it describes how reader factors such as phonics and other skills, comprehension strategies and vocabulary knowledge greatly affect a readers comprehension (224). There are quite a few English Language Learners in my classroom and they have great difficulty when it comes to decoding due to differences when it comes to sound-letter knowledge. This affects not only their reading, but their writing as well. Since some of the students have so much trouble with phonics, they take virtually no meaning from the text since they don't understand the words which they are reading. This then makes it so they have difficulty when it comes to writing assignments which relate to the readings. For this reason, my CT is using a series of intervention books to help them develop their sound-letter knowledge and work on their fluency. Not only this, but she makes sure to go over any challenging vocab to ensure the fact that students are understanding what they are reading. A word wall is posted, with new words being added every week. When discussing books, my CT will also ask students to make personal connections to the text. She does this by calling on students and by also having them do worksheets where they describe how a character in a story was feeling, how they knew that the character felt that way, and if they have ever felt the same way that character did. Much of this work is done with their classmates during literacy centers, which according to Tompkins, more likely allows them to be engaged with reading and writing (236). So far, I have seen a lot of good instructional techniques which I believe can help me to be a better teacher in the future.

Digital Native or Immigrant?

It was no surprise to me that I classified myself as a digital immigrant. While taking the quiz I was familiar with a lot of the terms but for many of them I guessed on definitions or only got them half correct. For instance; I instant message (IM) all the time and on a daily basis but when I download higher versions of AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) its not uncommon for me to get frustrated with simply trying to find out how to set up an away message. My first experience with blogs happened this semester. Again I was familiar with the term but the idea and the actual technology scared me a little. Even now I only type and publish...that's it nothing fancy or over the top. I've added to a wiki but have never actually set one up myself. My TE 301 class required the creation of a Wiki for a massive project. I was able to play around with it and add to it and "make it pretty" but I didn't explore it too much. I would say I am definately an emergent digital literacy learner. I have interest and can get my way through some of the topics but slowly and I get easily frustrated if there isn't a step by step how to. Much like the emergent stage in literacy where students are familiar and interested but its not quite clicking yet.
In chapter 1 of the Tompkins book there is a subtitle under principle 3 called Characteristics of Classroom Communities. I think that all of these characteristics apply to any type of literacy. If I want to become better at technology I need to explore more and take responsibility for my own advances in the topic. All my classes have provided opportunities for advancement such as my Wiki assignment in TE 301 and the blogging requirements for 2 of my classes this semester as well as the New Literacies Project for TE 401. These are just a few of the ways that our own classroom community is being formed within the Literacy section of 401.
To sum up I think that becoming Native to digital literacy is not out of reach for me. This is especially because I have so many opportunities to practice it in the classroom.

Digital Immigrant for sure....

I took the digital natives quiz and I found that I am definitely a digital immigrant. I only knew three terms, one of which I had only heard of but not ever used. I have blogged before, only for classes though, I have used instant messaging and I have heard of massive multiplayer online games. Emergent definitely applies to my own digital literacy. Although my dad is great with computers and has encouraged us from a young age to use them, I still do not feel comfortable with them. Maybe this is because I never experiment with them and I just rely on my dad to fix my computer when something goes wrong. I have played computer games and instant messaged from a young age but I never experimented with new things like chat rooms or wikis or creating website or anything. According to the list we made in class of emergent, beginning and fluent learners I am clearly emergent with regard to my digital literacy. The chart from chapter three of Tompkins shows that children notice environmental print, show interest in books and reread familiar books with predictable patterns. In my case, I think that I do notice environmental technology, I show interest in new technologies and I reuse familiar forms of technology that I am comfortable with. This in turn makes me an emergent digital literacy immigrant. There are commonalities between emergent digital literacy and emergent literacy in general, such as the few that apply to me mentioned above. Despite this, being emergent in literacy does not mean that one is emergent in digital literacy as well. I think that some children might be familiar with instant messaging, massive multiplayer online games and all kinds of videogames but they may be at an emergent or beginning level in regular literacy. After reading the digital literacy article I think it is important that we try to integrate these digital forms of literacy into their learning because it may offer new ways to reach children who are having a hard time with traditional literacy approaches. Implementing digital literacy might give some students an opportunity to learn in ways that are familiar and more comfortable to them. Overall I think digital literacy is a good idea for the future.

Digital Native or Immigrant?

After taking the digital natives quiz, I found that I am much closer to a digital native than immigrant. I knew and have used four of the six terms. The only two which I had never heard of before were "modding" and "smart mobs." For this reason, I would say that the term "emergent" really does not apply to my own digital literacy. I have used technology for as long as I can remember; my parents have always had a word processor or a computer, and I began learning how to use computers at school when I was in kindergarten. When I make this assumption about my own digital learning, I am taking into account Tompkins definition of an emergent learner in respect to literacy. She describes emergent learners as those who are gaining "an understanding of the communicative purpose of print and develop an interest in reading and writing..." (p. 91). She also explains how children are moving from pretend to real reading during this stage. Since I have been using technology from such a young age, I have long developed an interest for and an understanding of how technology can be used, especially for communicative purposes. I have been using AIM since the 5th grade, so I have had much experiencing with e-mail and instant messaging. If I were to categorize myself as an emergent, beginning or fluent literacy learner, I would say that I am fairly fluent. I have taken courses which teach about or use different types of technology (such as blogs, wikis, and digital stories) or which have taught about typing programs or Microsoft word programs. Whenever I have taken these classes, I have picked up quite quickly on using the technologies. I know how to use these technologies effectively and troubleshoot when I encounter problems, just as a fluent reader uses comprehension strategies effectively (p. 95). I do well organizing and creating various technologies and am able to do so with relatively little trouble. From the reading and our class discussions, emergent learners are those who are just beginning to learn how to properly utilize and comprehend the subject which they are learning. I do not really consider myself as a emergent digital literacy learner at all, because I can easily pick up on new technologies and concepts and use them effectively.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Split...What??

My first day of field was a little nerve wracking for me. Upon arriving at field I was told that I was placed in a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade split. I didn't really understand how this was possible. On top of that I found out that it was a special education classroom with behavioral and academically challenged students. There are also at least 14 ESL students in the class. For the first day we just observed for about an hour and a half. We watched how she handled the classroom and took control of the kids that were out of hand. Her way of teaching is pretty blunt, she really just tells the kids what's up which seems to be what they need. The first thing we observed was a math lesson. She gave the students a problem to do together (all grades) and then had the students take her through it. Before doing it as a class she walked around and helped telling students "Well you have the right idea now all you need is the right answer..." Her ways of getting the kids to solve the problem seemed kind of harsh but they seemed to be what the kids needed. They were all paying attention for the most part and she was quick to put a stop to any fooling around. Her strategy seems to be calling out a student for their misbehavior in front of the class to make it so it stops happening. When she returned her attention to the group after any interruptions she would just continue on as if they hadn't stopped.
For literacy she divides them into groups labeled by color. I haven't yet figured out how the groups are put together but she told us she would give us lots of time for questions and she tried to give us little tid bits as she went along like how she likes to run things and what she likes to do to make sure everyone is included. She gives each group sentences with different directions to either fill in the blank, circle the blends, etc. She goes through all sentences for each group as a class and lets everyone be included because it is a learning experience for everyone.
After they worked as a group I finally got to interact with them one on one. A lot of them were struggling readers. One little girl had trouble with all the words on a page which is something I haven't seen before with kids this age. Although I haven't seen how Mrs. M. approaches these problems I'm really curious to learn.
I'm really apprehensive about my field placement but I feel like I'm garaunteed an intense learning experience. I'm somewhat excited and nervous to see how this pans out because I feel like this is a situation that I could take a lot away from.

Classroom Talk

I have not been to my field placement yet, tomorrow is my first day so I have not been able to witness any discussion or scaffolding in the classroom. I can relate it to my own classroom experiences though. In college I think that most classes are lecture based and there is very little student teacher interaction. If questions are asked it is not in a discussion promoting format. In many of my Spanish literature classes we are assigned a passage to read and the next time we meet we “discuss” it. By this I mean the teacher describes what happened in the story and will occasionally ask a question of any random student, putting them on the spot. The result is a one word answer that most others can’t even hear. The “discussion” moves on from there. No one seems engaged, people are not feeding off of each other’s responses and the teacher is not asking thought provoking questions. The questions are usually fact regurgitation, “in what year was this piece written?”, “who is the main character?”. These types of questions do not promote discussion. As the Triplett article says, “vocabulary discussions were very important…”. I agree with this especially in a Spanish language literature class. We need to have more discussions on the particular vocabulary used in the pieces we read. Some students are more aware of traditional Spanish vocabulary than other students and some are more familiar with one dialect over another. It would be beneficial to discuss these types of things. I also think that scaffolding is a very important part of discussion. In the videos that we watched in class the second one had great examples of scaffolding. The teacher encouraged the students to answer and share their thoughts. She used one students answer to build upon another answer and to help explain certain topics and unfamiliar vocabulary. Scaffolding is necessary in any classroom and some students do benefit from it more than others. I am excited to get into my classroom and be able to see and analyze these things first hand.

Talk in the Classroom

On Thursday, September 18th, I went to my first day of field at Reo Elementary School. I am in a third grade classroom comprised of primarily minority (African American and Mexican) children. The prodominant type of talk which I witnessed on this first day was IRE -- Initiation, Response and Evaluation. According to Gibbons in Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning, this type of talk is when a teacher asks what is know as a "display" question (pg. 16) to allow students to demonstrate what they know. An example of this was that my collaborating teacher was doing a lesson on subject and predicates. She first asked the class, "What is a subject?," choose a student to answer, and give the students a response such as "no," "close," or "that's right!" A similar situation occurred during her math lesson when she was teaching about patterns. She would give the first three numbers in the pattern, then chose random students to give the next number in the pattern. Wrong answers were responded to with a "no" and another child would be chosen. In order for response-centered talk to occur in this classroom, the teacher is going to need to make a few changes to her responses. Lea M. McGee describes response-centered talk as discussion which is initiated by comments from the students. For this type of talk to occur, my CT needs to allow students to take charge of their discussions. Instead of giving her opinion or telling the students if a peer's response was correct/incorrect, she needs to ask the students what they think about the answer. If this were to happen, the students could then make their own comments about why they think a response was correct/incorrect and how it needs to be changed. The children will need to be scaffolded by being told that it's okay to give incorrect answers and to help out other students; they must also be taught to build upon other students information. One reason that I may not have seen much of this type of talk was because I did not have the opportunity to witness a book discussion, my CT may use this practice more in other aspects of literacy. A few students in my classroom need to be scaffolded in other ways as well. There seems to be a few students who have a bit of an accent and may be ELLs (I did not have the opportunity to find out for sure yet). One student had a bit of trouble pronouncing the word "predicate" and my CT asked his fellow classmates to help him out. Many of the students seem to need a lot of scaffolding when it comes to math. As the semester goes on, I wil have much more insight as to which students need what types of scaffolding.

Classroom Diversity

Getting to know each and every student in your classroom can be a very overwhelming thing to think about. How does a teacher carry out a lesson that can keep each child engaged and included with so many different personalities and cultures filling the room? How does a teacher express his/her own personality and opinions without stifling those of the students? I feel that encompassing an entire community of learners is a very difficult, necessesary, and exciting task. I feel that succeeding at this would be a very rewarding experience. How to get to know each student and how to get each student to know and understand their classmates can be a tricky task. I really liked the idea of the I am poems. I think that an autobiographical poem is beneficial especially when accompanied by a disscussion. When we were disscussing our poems in small groups we were able to figure out that despite differences in personality and background we all defined ourselves with similar characteristics. Almost everyone in my group mentioned siblings and sports. We all incorporated food into our ideas. We also all had very different characteristics as well. Discussing these created opportunities for us to learn about each other.
On the idea of discussion I found the Weinstein book very interesting. So many teachers are leading a classroom on what they think is discussion based learning but they are incorrect. I found the discussion on recitation vs. discussion really interesting. It worried me in the sense that I hope to never make the mistake of confusing the two. This class, as well as others, is making me realize how important it is for a teacher to step down as leader and step up as facilitator in a classroom because doing so enables the students to come to a higher level of thinking. It promotes the sharing of ideas, disagreements, and the fabulous idea of multiple right answers. I've really taken to heart the idea of not quizzing students as an excuse for discussion. If you pose a question and a student answers correctly and you acknowledge their correct answer, there is no longer any room for challenging, additional information, or disagreement.
The article I was assigned to was the Goldenberg article on Instructional Conversations. This tied many of the Weinstein ideas into it. It discussed proposing a focus topic and kind of getting the kids to share and observe different points of view. I feel that the Weinstein and Goldenberg texts can help to kickstart a classroom community where diversity is accepted, researched, and understood. By taking in different points of view and proposing some of their own perspectives; students not only begin to understand each other but they also give the teacher insight on what's going on with each student and how each mind is working and understanding things.

Blog 3-Diversity in the Classroom

I think that it is a difficult thing for a teacher to get to know each and every student from multiple perspectives but it is also a very necessary thing to do. A diverse classroom is a great thing and to be able to recognize all the students and their diverse backgrounds makes every child feel important and proud of whom they are. I want to know each and every one of my future students in this way. One way to learn about the background of your students is to implement the “I am from” poem exercise. We talked about this in class and I enjoyed making my own poem. It brought about good memories and it made me proud of who I am. I think this is a great idea to use in the classroom in order to get to know the students better. They will love to create their own poems and share them with friends. I really learned a lot from the article by Triplett on book discussions. I think they are a great way to bring together a diverse group of students. Every child might have a different interpretation of a story and if they can all talk about how the story made them feel they can bring different perspectives to other students in the class. Also, in the article Triplett mentions that the vocabulary discussions are important because the students have such varied background knowledge. By discussing key terms a lot of misunderstandings are cleared up. The book discussions would especially be a good idea to have in diverse classrooms because as the article states, “book discussions with elementary students can provide opportunities to discuss their developing awareness of racial, ethnic and gender issues”. I would use these discussions to prompt students to talk about their opinions on these issues and to clear up misconceptions they might already have. Chapter two in the Gibbons book gives examples of activities for English language learners that I think would be excellent for a diverse classroom. These activities can also be very helpful for students who are native English speakers as well. I especially liked the “Find the Difference” types of games. These work well because of the information gap. The children must use their language to find the missing information and complete the puzzle or picture. This is good for not only English language learners but also for young native speakers. Overall I think that there are many ways to learn about and promote diversity in your classroom. I hope to implement many and learn as much as I can about all of my diverse learners.

Learning About Students From Multiple Perspectives

As a teacher, I must imagine that it is very difficult to learn about all of the students in your classroom from multiple perspectives and on an individual basis. Most educational settings do not contain children from homogeneous groups. The students will differ on gender, race, language, socioeconomic status, home environment, intelligence and ability to acquire and use new skills. In our TE classes so far, we have seen just how many differences there can be. In order to learn about the diversity in my classroom, I believe I would start out by giving each student a "Who Am I?" worksheet to fill out. On this worksheet, I would ask questions such as "do you speak a different language at home?" "How old are you?" "Where you born in a different country?" "What do you do for fun?" "What is your favorite subject," etc. This would give me insight from the first day of class to who each of the students are and what they may or may not excel in when it comes to school. I believe it may also be helpful to send a similar activity home for the parents to fill out about their child. The parents of the student may be able to provide extra information that the student may be to young to understand or too shy to leave out (such as educational disabilities, previous areas where students may have struggled and prior education -- e.g. as we discussed in class, if a student was raised reading Arabic, they may struggle when being taught to read from left to right rather than right to left).
In class on Tuesday, we were shown "I am From" poems. In each poem, the author used different places, ideas, sayings, likes and dislikes to describe themselves. I believe that these poems are an excellent and fun way to get your students to open up about who they are and to shed light on their background. Not only do these poems allow students to express who they are, but it also enables them to practice writing poems and to see that there are many different types of poetry. Another way to incorporate these poems is by choosing a "Star of the Week." The students could display their poem on a poster board and include pictures of the things which they believe make them who they are or pictures of things which they enjoy. If there were students who came from different countries or if they had ancestors which were from different countries, I think it would be fun to teach the students a few words from the language of that country. I remember when I was in elementary school, we were required to do a report on a country that our ancestors had originated from. We then presented the report to the class and brought in food from that country. I believe this would be another great way to learn about who my students are and to give the students pride in teaching others about where they are from.
Another perspective which is important to know about students would be their educational background (especially if the child is an ELL), and their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning. In Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning, Gibbons speaks of an interaction known as IRE (Interaction, Response, Evaluation). In this interaction, the teacher asks a "display" question which will allow students to respond and demonstrate what they already know. I believe that this is a great way to learn about all of your students, because it may show where the students are having issues when it comes to learning. It may also show which students are more shy and who may need a little prodding in order to share their ideas. The Gibbons book also discusses how it is very important to speak with the parents of students, especially those students who are minorities or ELLs. If a teacher doesn't have an understanding of the background from which a student is coming from, they may write that student off as "deficient" or "handicapped" in some way, rather than taking into account cultural differences or prior education. For this reason, not only should parents be spoken to, but pre-assessments of the students should be used as well. A pre-assessment will allow the teacher to already see where a student is struggling and what needs to be worked on. Telling the students that the assessment is not for a grade will allow them to feel less stress when working on the assignment and will still provide the teacher with feedback on that student.
There are many ways to understand the diversity in the classroom and to know about my students from multiple perspectives. Doing so is vital to allowing my students to feel like they matter to me as a person and that I am their friend, not just their teacher. It will also give them a sense of security and pride in who they are and what they can accomplish.

A Definition of Literacy

Like we made evident in class, my definition of literacy is just one of many that could work. I think that literacy is being able to read, comprehend, and produce written text on any given level. Understanding what you're reading is crucial to literacy, you also must be able to continue adding to your schema when it comes to this subject because the rules keep changing and things are constantly being added.
However, on top of being able to read and understand; to be successful in literacy, you must also be able to think critically and add your own ideas to what you have read. I found the article by Leland absolutly fascinating. Her classroom atomosphere was improved drastically and set an example for other classroom behavior as well as general human behavior. It was amazing what those kids picked up on at such a young age. Thinking critically and asking questions and applying your new information to life is also a very important part of literacy. In this case Literacy is the reason for these kids' open minds. It taught them history and ways that they can help overcome a repeat of a nations mistakes. It taught them a little bit of compassion as well.
A little of this is also drawn to our attention in the Langer article. Her discussion of the major stances of interpretation are, from what I saw, kind of an outline of the behavior of Leland's students.
Overall I believe that literacy is more than just understanding the mechanics of how to read and write. Comprehension and interpretation are huge aspects of it. Anyone can be taught to read and write words on a page. But if the reader isn't questioned on what it means or how it makes them feel there is no point to the skill.
After reading the Leland and Langer article I came to a realization of how important literacy actually is in a society. I would really hope to have the kind of classroom environment that Leland produces in her classroom. I really liked how she was constantly making connections to the behavior of her students from what they were reading and she was constantly being amazed by their new abilities and thoughts. This is something that I would find intensely rewarding in a classroom of my own. It is proof that they are taking what they learn in school to heart which is hopefully the goal of every teacher; to leave the kids with something they can keep going with instead of just putting something in their heads and hoping it stays there.
Literacy is so important in so many different ways; our class discussion made this quite clear because we came up with so many different but valid points and definitions for literacy.

TE 401-Lit. Noteblog 2-My Definition of Literacy

My definition of literacy has changed since we began discussing it in class and analyzing our readings. At first my definition was vague; I considered literacy as the ability to read fluently and to understand what you are reading. It also involved writing and being able to use written language properly. During class we talked about the five most important aspects of literacy; reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. I had not even considered viewing in my previous definition. After talking with the class I realized that my definition of literacy needed to include things such as applying what you read and write about to other environments, and being able to critically analyze a text. Most importantly it now includes the ability to adapt to changes. What is expected of the writer is bound to change in the many writing circumstances that they will be involved in. Being able to adapt to changes and new expectations is extremely important for a successful reader/writer. Another important aspect of literacy for me is using it to impact others. Weather it is sharing facts, teaching someone or any other form of enlightenment, using literacy to impact others is important. My ideal literacy learning environment definitely includes critical literacy. I really enjoyed the article on critical literacy by Leland. It makes so much sense to talk about issues of race, social class and other worldly things that children have not had exposure to before. The article is evidence that familiarizing children with these topics makes them more compassionate human beings. The students are no longer just listening to happy stories but they are looking at texts more analytically. I think it is so wonderful that the type of literature the students are exposed to can actually alter their classroom behavior and opinion on what is right not only in their classroom but also out in the real world. I hope to include a lot of critical literacy in my future classroom. The environment in which my students will be engaging in literacy activities should be inviting and comfortable and should have a positive attitude toward reading and learning. I liked how in the video of the Boston school so many parts of the daily routine were tied to literacy. The question of the day related to the read aloud, the sensory table related to the theme for the day which was also brought up in the poetry unit. I want to emphasize these literacy connections in my future classroom as well. I hope that through this class I can continue to build upon my definition of literacy.

A Definition for Literacy and my Ideal Literacy Learning Environment

I believe that coming up with a definition for the word "literacy," is a very complex task. One reason for this is that as time continues, the importance of various teachings and ideas is altered. Previously, my definition was based more on the knowledge and comprehension of reading and writing, having an understanding of these tasks across various subjects and genres, and being able to relay that knowledge to others. After the class discussion and our readings, my definition was broadened. I began to see that literacy included not only reading and writing, but also seeing and hearing. According to Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach, literacy encompasses the ability to convey ideas and messages which can be found in illustrations, written text, and speech. In order to be truly literate, one must focus on more than "the surface features of reading and writing" (pp. 11), such as writing neatly or properly decoding written text. In Tuesday's class, there was much emphasis on the fact that in order to be a literate learner, it is necessary to find meaning from written and spoken language and to be able to communicate that meaning to others. Many people are beginning to look at literacy in a much more complex light and this class, along with our readings, has helped me to be able to see how truly multifaceted it is. For this reason, my ideal literacy learning environment needs to be well-rounded. It would need to include all of the different aspects of learning to allow my students to properly develop their literacy skills. I would have different centers around my classroom to allow students to practice these skills. Some of these centers would include listening activities, stations to practice writing skills, and stations in which students would read and have activities which show their development of meaning of the readings. I also strongly believe in the benefit of technological literacy, so I would my ideal environment would include practice with computers. I would like to have many books for students to read, books on tape, and many illustrated books for children to practice developing meaning from pictures. In Tuesday's class, we watched a video about a kindergarten classroom and how literacy was practiced there. I really liked how the teacher incorporated different cultures in her teaching practices, and I believe the use of teaching critical literacy is important as well, whether I am teaching a homogeneous or heterogeneous classroom. My ideal literacy environment would allow children to embrace literacy and to take a leadership role in their learning, just as the students did in the video. I am sure that as this class continues, I will find more aspects which I would like to include in my own classroom in the future.

Goals for TE 401

My goals for TE 401 are somewhat scattered. I share a similar philosophy that is covered in the syllabus which is that teachers are never through learning. I plan on learning from my students every year until I am no longer teaching. I hope that this class will give me the skills to obtain a way of doing this because having to constantly change up your gameplan can get discouraging and tiresome but in this profession it is necessary. I also would like to become more comfortable in a class setting. I have enjoyed each field experience so far in the program but would like a little more practice that goes beyond the relationship of simply helping one student. I would like to be comfortable in front of many students and I would like to gain the skills that make it possible to successfully teach a classroom as a whole and be in control of several students. Sometimes it was hard to get just one student to focus on what I had planned for my time in the classroom. That attitude multiplied by 20 can seem very overwhelming.
In terms of my class performance I want to get a 4.0 in this course. I take my classes seriously at MSU and get very down on myself for grades I get where I think I could have done better. Having a lack of understanding in any class is something I don't like at all and so I strive to make sure I do what I can to make sure I understand the material. I would also like this class to give me a sense of routine and more responsibility. At times I tend to feel a little all over the place and when I become a teacher I don't think that will work. With the level of professionalism stressed in this class I think it will help me become more organized and on schedule.
I plan to complete this class successfully with a better understanding of classroom management as well as obtain ideas to successfully teach the subject matter that is being studied. When I'm a teacher I want to be the kind of teacher that kids would like to come back and visit and I think that it would be really rewarding to have a child say or show me that I really helped them in an area and that they took a little or a lot of what I taught them along with them to the next grade. I would really just like to use this course to develop a stronger knowledge and passion for teaching and for being taught.

Noteblog 1: Goals for my Learning Throughout the Course

In the syllabus, there are three main goals for the literacy component of TE 401. In this day and age, the requirements for becoming a teacher are much more rigorous than in previous years. To be a good teacher who makes learning fun for students, I feel I have many goals to achieve. I believe that it is very important to have a solid idea of the standards which I have and would like to relay in my classroom. In our society, technology plays a huge role in the lives of people of all ages. This is why I believe that it is very important for technology to be used not only by teachers, but also by students in the classroom. Through this course, I would like to be able to have an understanding of the Grade Level Content Expectations in Michigan and to incorporate different technologies to fulfill these expectations in my future classroom. Over the summer, I took an online course about integrating technology into the classroom and I was able to learn different techniques that make teaching fun for me and learning exciting for students of all ages. At MSU, there has always been emphasis placed on diversity and being able to teach to diverse learners. This is something which is very important as our society continues to enlarge it's "melting pot" mentality. I hope that this class will better enable me to teach diverse learners and to use technology to do so. I have already begun to develop a pedagogy and I have the goal that through this class I will learn what I need to do to fulfill the teach philosophy which I have begun to invision. I would like to be able to learn how to alter my pedagogy so that it will be useful to all learners and to be able to assess my learning and my beliefs so that I will be able to run a successful and fun classroom in the future.

Noteblog 1-Goals for the course

Katie Kutney

I have many goals for the language arts component of this class. I am not as familiar as I want to be with the subject specific standards for elementary education. I hope to know them and use them more after this class. I have always been a little bit old fashioned when it come to technology. I usually think that the old methods work just fine because I am not very good at computers. I hope that the experience we will have in this class with technology will help to change my current viewpoints of the importance of technology in the classroom. I hope that by experimenting with it and using lessons and methods in technology that work and are easy to use; I will be much more comfortable with it in my future classroom. Through my previous TE classes I have started to develop my opinion on how I want to run my classroom and what things I believe in strongly. My goal by the end of this class is to have a well developed pedagogy. I think it is important to have strong feelings for the methods that you use in your classroom and why you use them. I hope this course will give me more insight into successful ways to manage the learning of my students. One thing I hope to learn from this course is how to make a thorough lesson plan that covers everything. I am an organized person and I know that lesson planning will be important for me but I need to know what the best method for creating a lesson plan is. I have always thought that I knew myself as a learner but I hope that focusing on this topic throughout the course will help me further understand how I learn best. I also want to learn the types of learners so that I can better understand the wide variety of students I will have in my future classrooms. These are some of my goals for this TE class. I hope that I can meet them all by the end of the semester.