Through the readings I have done this past week, I have become jealous! I am jealous I never had a teacher who taught writing in the way future and current teachers are learning to teach it today. I feel as though teaching children different writing crafts and having conferences to discuss what students can do to improve their writings is such a great idea!
There were so many great ideas to include in a future classroom and I can't wait to try to use this style with children myself! The idea I love the most that Elizabeth Hale introduces is the idea of the Try-It section of the writers notebook. I feel as though this is a great idea to quickly observe the students and make sure they are on the right track. It is also a great resource for students when they are looking for ways to spice up their writing. Many times while I was a young student, I would learn different ideas through lessons the teachers would present, and forget them as soon as I learned them. Through the children developing a try-it section, forgetting becomes almost impossible. It is hard to forget about a writing technique when it is placed in the back of the notebook where you produce your writing.
Through this book, I have become super excited about teaching writing to future students. I feel as though I have become more confident in my ability to access student writing. I am looking forward to reading more helpful, insightful pieces of literature in the coming weeks!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Crafting Writers!
After reading a few chapters of Crafting Writers by Elizabeth Hale, I have become more aware of what it takes to make writing more of an art. Children tend to write a lot about a certain event in their life but leave out many descriptive words and/or creative ways to describe an event.
Many children are often excited to tell a story to the class, friends or the teacher aloud and view writing a story is the same. When children tell a story out loud, they are not typically going to inform their listeners about the smell, visuals, or other senses that were invoked during their experience. I believe this is the problem for many writers. Many people sit down and write the same way they would tell their story aloud. I think to help with the crafting of writers we need to have children begin by telling stories aloud by including how their senses were alive during the moment and try to structure their sentences differently. If children are becoming aware of what it takes to make stories more exciting through speaking, the writing will come naturally. Because of times constraints, it won't be a possibility for every child to speak every thing they are going to write about aloud but just having mini-lessons or conferences and having the children practice speaking more descriptively I feel will help in the crafting of an excellent writer.
Many children are often excited to tell a story to the class, friends or the teacher aloud and view writing a story is the same. When children tell a story out loud, they are not typically going to inform their listeners about the smell, visuals, or other senses that were invoked during their experience. I believe this is the problem for many writers. Many people sit down and write the same way they would tell their story aloud. I think to help with the crafting of writers we need to have children begin by telling stories aloud by including how their senses were alive during the moment and try to structure their sentences differently. If children are becoming aware of what it takes to make stories more exciting through speaking, the writing will come naturally. Because of times constraints, it won't be a possibility for every child to speak every thing they are going to write about aloud but just having mini-lessons or conferences and having the children practice speaking more descriptively I feel will help in the crafting of an excellent writer.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Beginning and Early Literacy Education
After reading selected chapters from Sound Systems by Anna Lyon and Paula Moore along with an article entitled Every Mark on the Page: Educating Family and Community Members about Young Children's Writing by Kate Foley Cusumano, I was reminded of my first teacher's aid position which took place in four different kindergarten classrooms. When I began working in the classrooms it was the beginning of the spring semester for the students and they had already learned the letter sounds and many could read simple books aloud without any assistance. I was amazed at the reading and writing ability I was observing 5 and 6 year olds present to me.
The type of phonic and literacy instruction the school was using was a program called DIBELS and the children were taught letter and chunk sounds through Tucker Signing. I was completely amazed with these programs! The DIBELS program, which stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, is used to help children become phonically aware. Most of the children I worked with loved the program. The children would gather on the rug and the teachers would run through short lessons to assess student knowledge. Tucker Signing which was used in the classrooms was very bizarre to observe for the first time! It is designed to teach children their letters and chuck sounds by designating hand motions for each sound letters or chunks make. It was interesting to see the children use these hand motions to remember the sounds of letters and chunks to help them figure out how to pronounce words. The teachers would even sign words to the children without saying anything and the students were able to figure out the words. It was very interesting and I enjoyed learning it with the children!
In the article by Cusumano, I had to laugh to myself when I read about parents wanting to change words students had misspelled on their homework because it reminded me of when I first began working with the kindergarteners. I was walking around the classroom and helping children with sentences they were assigned to write when I started to tell them how to spell words I had noticed were incorrectly spelled. The teacher, of the classroom I was in, noticed me doing this and explained to me how important it is for children to try and sound out words. I completely understand why, but at the time I had not even thought about how important this was for a developing writer and reader. If we are constantly hovering over students and telling them how to spell words, we are removing the fun from writing.
I greatly enjoyed both of these readings and plan on keeping them for future resources. It is important to be able to assess a child's writing and reading ability and be able to help them grow into stronger students.
The type of phonic and literacy instruction the school was using was a program called DIBELS and the children were taught letter and chunk sounds through Tucker Signing. I was completely amazed with these programs! The DIBELS program, which stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, is used to help children become phonically aware. Most of the children I worked with loved the program. The children would gather on the rug and the teachers would run through short lessons to assess student knowledge. Tucker Signing which was used in the classrooms was very bizarre to observe for the first time! It is designed to teach children their letters and chuck sounds by designating hand motions for each sound letters or chunks make. It was interesting to see the children use these hand motions to remember the sounds of letters and chunks to help them figure out how to pronounce words. The teachers would even sign words to the children without saying anything and the students were able to figure out the words. It was very interesting and I enjoyed learning it with the children!
In the article by Cusumano, I had to laugh to myself when I read about parents wanting to change words students had misspelled on their homework because it reminded me of when I first began working with the kindergarteners. I was walking around the classroom and helping children with sentences they were assigned to write when I started to tell them how to spell words I had noticed were incorrectly spelled. The teacher, of the classroom I was in, noticed me doing this and explained to me how important it is for children to try and sound out words. I completely understand why, but at the time I had not even thought about how important this was for a developing writer and reader. If we are constantly hovering over students and telling them how to spell words, we are removing the fun from writing.
I greatly enjoyed both of these readings and plan on keeping them for future resources. It is important to be able to assess a child's writing and reading ability and be able to help them grow into stronger students.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Let's Go For A Literacy Dig In A Grocery Store!
This past Labor Day, a group of classmates and I went to a grocery store to see literacy in action. When I first heard about this assignment I was a bit nervous. I was going to walk into a grocery store, observe people and not feel/look awkward while holding my pen and paper? Sure..... Even though I was very apprehensive about the project, I am now happy to have completed it. It seems easy enough to say literacy is everywhere but to actually be looking for its usage is an eye opener.
My role in the literacy dig was to observe and record bits of talk. It was interesting to complete this task because I felt like an undercover spy. I would stand in an aisle and pretend to be looking at food but in all actuality I would be listening to conversations others were having. When my group and I first walked into the store, it was pretty empty. This allowed for a lot of the workers to be standing idle and making conversation with one another. The conversations the cashiers were having with one another seemed like polite, simple conversations. It was a lot of simple questions responded to by simple answers. Since it was Labor Day weekend, the discussion, between the workers, seemed to surround what each of them had done that weekend. I am sure the workers all know each other and their conversations are much more in depth at times but this was the bit of conversation I happened to pick up on when I first entered the store. Conversations between the workers may have been generic because a manager may have been present or because customers had just entered the store. Whatever the reason, it is important to note the role literacy plays with cashiers. Cashiers must be able to read the words on the register, how to search for product plu's and how to enter certain bits of information. Without the ability to read, running the register would be impossible.
After listening to and observing the cashiers in their roles, I ventured to the deli. Near the deli of the store, there is a salad bar. It is a self-serve salad bar and it was not yet set up for public use. The workers were discussing back and forth among each other what still needed prepared for the salad bar and where each food item was to be placed. I personally have never made my own salad at a grocery store but there was signs around the bar explaining how much a salad cost per pound. I'm not sure if a person who couldn't read would be able to understand the way the salad bar is designed to be used. It helped me understand the process tremendously. The final bits of conversation I picked up on in the deli, involved customers and workers conversing back and forth. A customer approached the seafood portion of the deli and was asked what he wanted. The man wanted salmon and preceded to inform the worker how many portions of it he wanted. Without being given direct instructions on how to place an order at the deli, the customer was already knowledgeable about the ordering process. Before ordering, the man was only informed about the type of fish he was looking at and the price per pound, but this is all the man needed to know to place his order. It is interesting how little literacy is necessary for certain processes. I think this is because we have gone shopping with other people as children and learned how certain interactions occur, such as ordering at the deli.
The last type of conversation I noted was on my way out of the store. A customer was checking out and was questioned by the worker how their shopping experience had been. After all the groceries had been totaled, the total was given to the customer and a thank you followed. All in all, the conversations between workers and customers was very polite. Everyone seemed cheerful and grateful for one another. It is these types of conversations which seem common between workers and customers in any store.
Overall, I found this project quite interesting. It was neat to see how all literacy is important for both workers and customers in the grocery store setting. Workers need to be literate to be able to ensure the register is being used properly, people are receiving the items and amount ordered at the deli, and that customers are picking up the food needed and receiving what they want from the workers. It is important for each and every one of us to not take our ability to read for granted because it plays such an important role in everyday tasks.
My role in the literacy dig was to observe and record bits of talk. It was interesting to complete this task because I felt like an undercover spy. I would stand in an aisle and pretend to be looking at food but in all actuality I would be listening to conversations others were having. When my group and I first walked into the store, it was pretty empty. This allowed for a lot of the workers to be standing idle and making conversation with one another. The conversations the cashiers were having with one another seemed like polite, simple conversations. It was a lot of simple questions responded to by simple answers. Since it was Labor Day weekend, the discussion, between the workers, seemed to surround what each of them had done that weekend. I am sure the workers all know each other and their conversations are much more in depth at times but this was the bit of conversation I happened to pick up on when I first entered the store. Conversations between the workers may have been generic because a manager may have been present or because customers had just entered the store. Whatever the reason, it is important to note the role literacy plays with cashiers. Cashiers must be able to read the words on the register, how to search for product plu's and how to enter certain bits of information. Without the ability to read, running the register would be impossible.
After listening to and observing the cashiers in their roles, I ventured to the deli. Near the deli of the store, there is a salad bar. It is a self-serve salad bar and it was not yet set up for public use. The workers were discussing back and forth among each other what still needed prepared for the salad bar and where each food item was to be placed. I personally have never made my own salad at a grocery store but there was signs around the bar explaining how much a salad cost per pound. I'm not sure if a person who couldn't read would be able to understand the way the salad bar is designed to be used. It helped me understand the process tremendously. The final bits of conversation I picked up on in the deli, involved customers and workers conversing back and forth. A customer approached the seafood portion of the deli and was asked what he wanted. The man wanted salmon and preceded to inform the worker how many portions of it he wanted. Without being given direct instructions on how to place an order at the deli, the customer was already knowledgeable about the ordering process. Before ordering, the man was only informed about the type of fish he was looking at and the price per pound, but this is all the man needed to know to place his order. It is interesting how little literacy is necessary for certain processes. I think this is because we have gone shopping with other people as children and learned how certain interactions occur, such as ordering at the deli.
The last type of conversation I noted was on my way out of the store. A customer was checking out and was questioned by the worker how their shopping experience had been. After all the groceries had been totaled, the total was given to the customer and a thank you followed. All in all, the conversations between workers and customers was very polite. Everyone seemed cheerful and grateful for one another. It is these types of conversations which seem common between workers and customers in any store.
Overall, I found this project quite interesting. It was neat to see how all literacy is important for both workers and customers in the grocery store setting. Workers need to be literate to be able to ensure the register is being used properly, people are receiving the items and amount ordered at the deli, and that customers are picking up the food needed and receiving what they want from the workers. It is important for each and every one of us to not take our ability to read for granted because it plays such an important role in everyday tasks.
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