Writing to Learn Blog

I learned some valuable insights about these writing strategies. All five strategies were new to me and I can see the benefits with using each one. The first writing strategy I worked with was the Metacognitive Journal using the Vacca and Vacca article. This was a great way for me to create a list of what I thought was important. For example when they state, “When teachers integrate writing and reading, they help students use writing to think about what they will read and to understand what they have read.” I think this is so important because teachers need to see how these two academic areas are interwoven.  To ensure that students comprehend the text they can use writing to map out their ideas and thoughts along the way. There are several metacognitive journals to choose from. In my classroom, I would like to incorporate the activity sheet that says, “I got stuck when…, so I…, I learned…” This would be an activity I would use with my higher guided reading groups on a complex text. This activity would open the doors for conversation to take place about what reading strategy they could be using when they get confused about something in the text. They can also help one another to think about what they can do to help with their understanding of the reading. This would support the students in becoming strategic readers.

                                                       

I think the GIST strategy is a helpful approach to having students think about what they have read. The idea of this strategy is for students to divide a text into smaller parts. The students read the first selection and write a summary using 20 words or less, then after reading the second section they must write another 20 word or fewer in a summary. This continues until all sections have been read. The students’ goal is to then write a summary of the entire text in 20 words or less. I believe this would be a great approach to reading and writing in intermediate, middle, and high school. This would have the students think about the important aspects of the writing piece in order to write their extremely short summary.  After reading the Writing Next article the most important theme to me was the different recommendations the authors Steve Graham and Dolores Perin provided.  I used the GIST strategy using 20 words to summarize the article. It is as follows:  ‘Elements of effective writing: strategies, summarizing, collaboration, goals, processing, sentence combining, prewriting, inquiry, models, process writing approach, and content.’

As Dr. Manderino explained in his webcast, writing to learn allows students to reflect on what they know and the learning that is taking place. With this said, students are able to demonstrate their knowledge and comprehension of the text. I believe that all these writing strategies would encourage students to read at a deeper level and to be active participants in the reading process in order to complete reading activities successfully.

In my first grade classroom, I think good writing is a slow and steady progression throughout the year. The process begins with the students being able to write and not focusing on their writing conventions at this time. As they become more familiar with the writing process, they can then begin to focus on their writing conventions. The last step in the writing process is having students connect the fluidity and mechanics into their independent writing. I think good writing instruction has to include a read aloud, demonstrating valuable skills and techniques. The students need to view authors as mentors. The teacher then needs to model this skill and allow students time to try the skill independently. Writing time also needs to incorporate time for collaboration and conferencing.        

Class of April 10^th – Makeup Blog

While listening to last week’s recording, I found many useful strategies in teaching vocabulary in my classroom. The first presentation on Vocabulary Rich Classrooms I found very interesting. I liked that the group of presenters informed us that we need to use sophisticated language with our students to ‘add significant breadth to students vocabularies’.  Using sophisticated words will help students develop and grow more sophisticated vocabularies. We also need to be scaffolding our vocabulary terms as well. I enjoyed how the group gave the example of scaffolding by changing ‘weather watcher’ to ‘meteorologists’.  The Marzano’s 6 Steps strategy would be very beneficial for all students. The activity sheets that go along with this strategy would support the understanding of the key vocabulary terms being taught. I think the aspects of drawing a picture, writing their own meaning, discussing the opposite meaning, and using the word in a sentence gives the students the opportunity to gain a stronger comprehension of the word.

Marzono’s 6 Steps

1. Give a description, explanation or example (don't tell definition)

2. Have students restate and write the description in their own words

3. Students draw pictures, symbol or graphics that it represents

4. Regularly use the term in classroom activities

5. Ask students to use the word when talking to each other

6.  Regularly play games with academic vocabulary

The fly swatter game would be a fun and exciting for students. Having students come up to the board and ‘swat’ the word when the definition is read is an interactive approach to having students demonstrate their understanding of the vocabulary word.

The second group of presenters discussed the importance of close reading and creating dependent questions. The students need to show evidence from the text to support their claims from the books they are reading. Text dependent questions need to be asked by using the text and using their background knowledge, and not by looking outside the context of the book. I enjoyed the example the group showed on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Showing us text-dependent and non-text-dependent questions made it clear on what specific type of questions we should be asking our students to draw evidence from a text.  When the group was showing us the activity about figurative language, I liked how they would have the students find the figurative language used in the reading, label them and then change it to make their own figurative language terms to replace the original terms. This would allow the students to demonstrate their understanding, along with taking ownership of the activity. In my fourth grade classroom last year we completed something similar to the first part of the activity. With my class, I used the song ‘Fireworks’ by Katy Perry. The students were able to listen to the song (which they loved) and find the figurative language terms used within the song. I set the purpose for my students to find those figurative language terms. Below you will find the activity pages, which can also be found at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Firework-by-Katy-Perry-Song-Lyrics-Poetry-Terms-Figurative-Language-111909

As Dr. Manderino was discussing teacher questions it made me think of the questions I ask my students and the questions I have them ask. In my first grade classroom we are continually asking questions about the text. We ask questions before, during, and after the reading. In fourth grade last year, I had my students ask green, yellow, and red light questions. The green light questions are those questions that could be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, yellow light questions could be answered by information found in the text, and red light questions would make the students infer the text.  These different levels of questions showed the students the different type of questions they could be asking as they read. Here is the activity sheet I used with this strategy.  

            
                  Encourage Students in Classroom Discussions
           
            There are many ways to encourage discussion in the classroom setting. In the article Discussing Shiloh: A conversation beyond the book, Lane W. Clarke takes a deeper look in the discussions that happen during literature circles. She gives some excellent ideas on how to improve literature circles and the conversations that happen during this time. She says teachers should address gender roles. She states, "By purposefully choosing books to be read in literature groups, I was able to raise student awareness about how they enacted gender roles and how stereotypes influenced their own interactions." Clarke also says we should videotape our students’ discussions and have them watch themselves to see who is talking more and who is silent. I think this would be a valuable way for the students to visually see themselves as participates in their conversations. 

            I know I fall victim during classroom discussions by leading my students too much towards the answer I want or talking too much. However, I should be allowing more time for student conversation to take place. As Vacca and Vacca state, "The talk that students engage in during class discussions supports content literacy and learning in powerful ways." In the same article Vacca and Vacca discuss 'turn-taking' and the drawbacks to this approach. They point out this approach is not built for discussion, rather the teacher asking questions, students responding, and teacher providing feedback. In my first grade classroom I use the approach ‘turn and talk’ several times a day. The students are assigned a talking partner during our whole group reading time. They sit next to their partner and when I ask a question or want the students to share their thinking on a book I say, “Turn to your partner and discuss.” The students know to turn only to their partner and discuss what was asked. After about 30-45 seconds we come back together as a class and I call on two or three students to share their or their partner’s thinking. This gives each student a chance to talk about their thinking, even if they can not share it with the class. I also often times allow my students to ask questions to their partners and then we discuss those questions as a class. I find that turn and talk activities work very well in science and social studies class. The students enjoy discussing the information with their partner and then coming back together as a class and talking about their conversation.

         Another approach to encourage discussion in the classroom setting is through a discussion activity called ‘The Wingman’. This activity focuses on those students who are reluctant participants in classroom and group discussions and is geared more for middle and high school students. Below you will find a video that demonstrates how this approach is used in an English classroom.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/strategies-for-engaging-students