I really enjoyed reading about the self-efficacy of a student and how to support this, but what really got me thinking was the challenge presented when we give students different genres of work. I feel that the common core standards really push non-fiction in the classroom and this leaves little time for other types of work. Sure, poems, essays, novels, movies, and songs can all be nonfiction and so I think providing this variation is crucial, but students miss so much when they're not exposed to fiction. One of the reasons I never read in high school was because I had not discovered a genre I liked. Even with books that were assigned, I would cliff note and spark note because nonfiction was just so boring. If my teachers would have taken the time to introduce a variety of genres and varying types of literature, I really think I would have enjoyed reading much more. Then again, I may not have acquired the "skimming" skills I have today :p. It seems so unfortunate to me that the common core does not allow much time for fiction because this type of literature also fosters creative thought which can translate to expanded creative writing. Thank goodness for creative nonfiction.
The chapter on group work was interesting. I feel like a lot of it has been talked about so much, but the feeling of unease is never going away from the participants of group work. I hear all time, "I hate group work" from college students, and it's usually because someone thinks that they'll end up doing all the work. What's interesting is that if everyone is complaining about the same thing (doing all the work), shouldn't people be excited to have 3 others in their group that want to contribute as much as they do? I think there is just such a negative stigma that a lot of people aren't willing to look at the benefits anymore. I'm glad Baca takes the time to outline how necessary group work is. I also have heard more times then once that assigning rules can be key to ensuring that all students are equally accountable. In my classroom, we have introduced group work by having students read parts of their book in groups. The next step was discussing the book in groups and doing small collaborative assignments that could be finished by the end of the class period. This is all leading up to having students work on a larger group project together at the end of the school year. For 8th graders, this has been a great progressive series in introducing them to group work and the expectations for working in a group.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
LLSS 436 Adolescents on the Edge Chapters 1-2
"My goal is to keep their heads down." [grooooaaaaaan]
I loved that this chapter starts out with the importance of learning through communities. NACA's entire philosophy is based on community ties within and outside of the school community, and I think with these ties students feel so much more accountable for their own learning and the outcomes of their outside communities. Some of the outcomes this chapter outlines are increased morale, lower absenteeism, and sustain, transferable learning. Trust is so important to this process, and I couldn't help but think that a lot of my students may come from families that have a mistrust for Anglo institutions because it was not so long ago so many of them were let down themselves by teachers only seeking to anglicize their own communities.
I really like the idea of letting students make the classroom their own. The book suggests that the students have their own folders, bulletin boards with student work displayed, or allowing students to make decisions about due dates or procedures. My favorite was allowing students to write their favorite or most questionable/ thought provoking quotes on the whiteboard.
Engagement is different then entertainment.
Cambourne's Conditions for Learning as a Model of Engagement - I'm only going to talk about a couple of these since we are all reading the same book and summary is less necessary.
Immersion
If you want your students to be engaged, you must immerse them in what you want them to learn. This goes beyond providing lecture, but creating a community within the classroom that fosters and supports the learning process. Play music from a certain time period, include text other than novels (movies, poems, songs, drawings).
Responsibility
I really like the suggestions this section makes for having students take responsibility for their own actions, but I think a big one is also taking responsibility as a teacher for having students that are disinterested. Perhaps you are so tied to a book and love it so much you don't want to let it go, but what benefit is it to your students if 5 years into teaching the book only a handful of students really enjoyed it.
Approximation
I've heard this so many times as well, but stop focusing so much on right and wrong and allow students to learn through exploration. Teaching that mistakes are normal can be so beneficial to the learning process. One example of this is modeling for students. When modeling writing, students can see that even adults spell things wrong, or have to erase and start over. Once those barriers are knocked down, writing and discussing becomes so much more rich and rewarding.
I loved that this chapter starts out with the importance of learning through communities. NACA's entire philosophy is based on community ties within and outside of the school community, and I think with these ties students feel so much more accountable for their own learning and the outcomes of their outside communities. Some of the outcomes this chapter outlines are increased morale, lower absenteeism, and sustain, transferable learning. Trust is so important to this process, and I couldn't help but think that a lot of my students may come from families that have a mistrust for Anglo institutions because it was not so long ago so many of them were let down themselves by teachers only seeking to anglicize their own communities.
I really like the idea of letting students make the classroom their own. The book suggests that the students have their own folders, bulletin boards with student work displayed, or allowing students to make decisions about due dates or procedures. My favorite was allowing students to write their favorite or most questionable/ thought provoking quotes on the whiteboard.
Engagement is different then entertainment.
Cambourne's Conditions for Learning as a Model of Engagement - I'm only going to talk about a couple of these since we are all reading the same book and summary is less necessary.
Immersion
If you want your students to be engaged, you must immerse them in what you want them to learn. This goes beyond providing lecture, but creating a community within the classroom that fosters and supports the learning process. Play music from a certain time period, include text other than novels (movies, poems, songs, drawings).
Responsibility
I really like the suggestions this section makes for having students take responsibility for their own actions, but I think a big one is also taking responsibility as a teacher for having students that are disinterested. Perhaps you are so tied to a book and love it so much you don't want to let it go, but what benefit is it to your students if 5 years into teaching the book only a handful of students really enjoyed it.
Approximation
I've heard this so many times as well, but stop focusing so much on right and wrong and allow students to learn through exploration. Teaching that mistakes are normal can be so beneficial to the learning process. One example of this is modeling for students. When modeling writing, students can see that even adults spell things wrong, or have to erase and start over. Once those barriers are knocked down, writing and discussing becomes so much more rich and rewarding.
LLSS 528 Getting Started With Literature Circles Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8: Extension Projects
Chapter 8 is the final chapter in this book and it covers possible extension projects when the class is finishing a book for their literature circle. Some examples include creating a book report, a book accordion (selecting 6 scenes from the book and recreating them), abc book, story quilt, or create a bookmark.
One of your first steps should be setting a purpose, planning for teaching, and setting a time frame. The next step would be planning and implementing presentations and assessment. The most important thing is that extension projects create the opportunity for reflection, interpretation, and possibly even re-reading.
The rest of the chapter reviews the process for creating story quilts and bookmarks. I think that these two projects are pretty self explanatory, but the book made a special note that the bookmark project can be one for both younger and older students. For younger students, the project may be a bit more lax, but with older students, the bookmark can focus on a specific character, theme, tone, or setting that is critical to the story. Though the book was for elementary age children, I can see how a bookmark project could be made more complex for older students.
Overall this book was good, however, it is important to note that literature circles are more geared towards younger children. It would seem socratic seminars are more for older students, but I can definitely see some overlap and how literature circles lead into bigger and more complex discussion groups. I think the core values are important to note and review at the beginning of the school year just so the expectations are set in stone. If you guys are interested in getting the book, it's available on Amazon at the following link:
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Literature-Professional-Teachers/dp/0926842978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383519908&sr=8-1&keywords=getting+started+with+literature+circles
Chapter 8 is the final chapter in this book and it covers possible extension projects when the class is finishing a book for their literature circle. Some examples include creating a book report, a book accordion (selecting 6 scenes from the book and recreating them), abc book, story quilt, or create a bookmark.
One of your first steps should be setting a purpose, planning for teaching, and setting a time frame. The next step would be planning and implementing presentations and assessment. The most important thing is that extension projects create the opportunity for reflection, interpretation, and possibly even re-reading.
The rest of the chapter reviews the process for creating story quilts and bookmarks. I think that these two projects are pretty self explanatory, but the book made a special note that the bookmark project can be one for both younger and older students. For younger students, the project may be a bit more lax, but with older students, the bookmark can focus on a specific character, theme, tone, or setting that is critical to the story. Though the book was for elementary age children, I can see how a bookmark project could be made more complex for older students.
Overall this book was good, however, it is important to note that literature circles are more geared towards younger children. It would seem socratic seminars are more for older students, but I can definitely see some overlap and how literature circles lead into bigger and more complex discussion groups. I think the core values are important to note and review at the beginning of the school year just so the expectations are set in stone. If you guys are interested in getting the book, it's available on Amazon at the following link:
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Literature-Professional-Teachers/dp/0926842978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383519908&sr=8-1&keywords=getting+started+with+literature+circles
LLSS 528 Getting Started With Literature Circles Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7: Focusing Lessons: Incorporating Literacy Strategies
What is a focus lesson? A focus lesson targets instruction in one area and emphasizes strategies used in authentic situations. Another term that may be more commonly used is "mini lesson". Basically, this type of lesson teaches a critical skill, then allows time for students to practice that skill. One example from the previous post might be explaining the what the journaling prompts mean. Looking back at all of the previous chapters in the book (or the blog posts), the following can be turned into focus lessons:
Literature Circle Procedures
- How to choose a book
- How to start a discussion quickly
- How to listen attentively
- How to keep the conversation going
- The role of a discussion group member
- What to write in your response journal
- What to do when you don't understand
- What to do when your group finishes
- How to mediate conflicts
- How to spice up a lagging discussion
- How to tie projects back to the book
Reading, Writing, and Response Strategies
- How to predict what is going to happen next
- Asking yourself or the text questions
- Comparing and contrasting
- Choosing a topic for your journal
- Elaborating with details
- Developing criteria for effective writing
- Incorporating ideas from your post-it notes
Literature Qualities - Story Structure, Literary Elements, Memorable Language, Genre Characteristics
- Story structure (climax, endings, problems)
- Memorable language (action verbs, simile/metaphor)
- Literary elements (character, plot, tone)
- Genre characteristics (fantasy, poetry, legend, biography)
What is a focus lesson? A focus lesson targets instruction in one area and emphasizes strategies used in authentic situations. Another term that may be more commonly used is "mini lesson". Basically, this type of lesson teaches a critical skill, then allows time for students to practice that skill. One example from the previous post might be explaining the what the journaling prompts mean. Looking back at all of the previous chapters in the book (or the blog posts), the following can be turned into focus lessons:
Literature Circle Procedures
- How to choose a book
- How to start a discussion quickly
- How to listen attentively
- How to keep the conversation going
- The role of a discussion group member
- What to write in your response journal
- What to do when you don't understand
- What to do when your group finishes
- How to mediate conflicts
- How to spice up a lagging discussion
- How to tie projects back to the book
Reading, Writing, and Response Strategies
- How to predict what is going to happen next
- Asking yourself or the text questions
- Comparing and contrasting
- Choosing a topic for your journal
- Elaborating with details
- Developing criteria for effective writing
- Incorporating ideas from your post-it notes
Literature Qualities - Story Structure, Literary Elements, Memorable Language, Genre Characteristics
- Story structure (climax, endings, problems)
- Memorable language (action verbs, simile/metaphor)
- Literary elements (character, plot, tone)
- Genre characteristics (fantasy, poetry, legend, biography)
LLSS 528 Getting Started With Literature Circles Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6: Response Journals
This chapter starts out recognizing that it is more natural to talk about a book then writing about it. Though we may stop to tell someone how great a chapter is, it is less natural to stop reading to write about what is going on, but once this process is embraced, a whole new world is opened up.
To start out with journaling, a clear purpose must be established. Some teachers use journals as a way for their students to explore feelings, predict outcomes, or personally respond to the book. Because the form is so free in these type of journals, assessment is limited to participation points only. In any case, students should feel comfortable writing while group reading and discussing is happening at the same time.
Focus can be hard, especially with new writers, so a couple things to keep in mind are as follows:
Use open ended prompts
- I liked...
- I noticed...
- I wonder...
- I felt ________ because...
- I think...
- This story makes me think of...
- I wish...
- I was surprised by...
Use questions that come up in discussions
Use questions from outside resources
Consider other forms of response
- Draw an entry, feeling, or remembered passage
- Draw or write cause and effect relationships
- Letters
- Character web
One thing I really like that the book points out is that beginning journal entries will mostly look the same, "I like it" or "I don't like it". Don't let this discourage you, rather start to encourage entries to include the word "because"..."I like it because" or "I don't like it because".
For assessment, the book's first recommendation is a rubric. Though I'm not the biggest fan of rubrics, one teacher wrote a rubric with her student's suggestions that came from a similar conversation to student expectations for literature circles. They book also recommends self-reflection and sharing entries. My personal recommendation would be participation points and depth of writing/drawing/brainstorming as long as there is a progression over the course of the school year.
This chapter starts out recognizing that it is more natural to talk about a book then writing about it. Though we may stop to tell someone how great a chapter is, it is less natural to stop reading to write about what is going on, but once this process is embraced, a whole new world is opened up.
To start out with journaling, a clear purpose must be established. Some teachers use journals as a way for their students to explore feelings, predict outcomes, or personally respond to the book. Because the form is so free in these type of journals, assessment is limited to participation points only. In any case, students should feel comfortable writing while group reading and discussing is happening at the same time.
Focus can be hard, especially with new writers, so a couple things to keep in mind are as follows:
Use open ended prompts
- I liked...
- I noticed...
- I wonder...
- I felt ________ because...
- I think...
- This story makes me think of...
- I wish...
- I was surprised by...
Use questions that come up in discussions
Use questions from outside resources
Consider other forms of response
- Draw an entry, feeling, or remembered passage
- Draw or write cause and effect relationships
- Letters
- Character web
One thing I really like that the book points out is that beginning journal entries will mostly look the same, "I like it" or "I don't like it". Don't let this discourage you, rather start to encourage entries to include the word "because"..."I like it because" or "I don't like it because".
For assessment, the book's first recommendation is a rubric. Though I'm not the biggest fan of rubrics, one teacher wrote a rubric with her student's suggestions that came from a similar conversation to student expectations for literature circles. They book also recommends self-reflection and sharing entries. My personal recommendation would be participation points and depth of writing/drawing/brainstorming as long as there is a progression over the course of the school year.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
LLSS 528 Getting Started With Literature Circles Chapter 5
"Talking is one of our most personal and natural responses to reading."
I love how this chapter starts. Discussion is at the heart of literature circles and an effective discussion helps people experience literature in a more rich way so the question is, what are you trying to accomplish in your discussion? There should be goals for both yourself and your students and those goals should be known by all. If you're not sure on where to start with goals, why not just ask your students, "Why do we talk about books?" I bet 9 times out of 10 you'll get valuable and personal goals that can easily relate to the discussion.
If this is a group that is new to discussion, you may want to start with a mini lesson on discussion skills where you address the following questions:
What do I talk about?
How do I gather information to share?
How do I participate in a discussion?
Once this is established, the most important question for kids to answer is, "What is meaningful to you?" The book suggests straying away from the status quo questions because the whole point is for students to bring their own ideas, puzzlements, discoveries, and insights to the discussion. If you ask the same old, "What's the theme" and "What is the mood?" your discussions will get boring quick. Rather, have kids start by sharing their favorite part of the chapter or pose a question they want answered. One great and obvious way to start is, "What did you think of the story?" but to get a real conversation going goes beyond this by providing students with quotes and questions, prompts, guided topics, and student generated questions.
Unfortunately it is not a reality that all students will get their own personal copy of the discussion book to underline and write notes in, so another great way to make notes as your read is with post-it notes. Another way is with bookmarks or discussion logs. I personally prefer the post-it method.
Student must also be taught how to participate in a discussion so show through brainstorming what works in a discussion and what doesn't. Kids work in groups starting in elementary school so you'll be pleasantly surprised with the expectations the students set for themselves and let discussion guidelines stem from this.
When assessing individuals during discussions look for:
Asking questions
Listening actively
Thoughtful response
Predicting (noticing foreshadowing)
Retelling - main ideas and supporting details
Supporting ideas and opinions with text
Elements of literature (plot, setting, etc)
Making personal connections
Connecting to other books
Lastly, don't forget to ask your students what worked well for them during discussions and what was difficult. Then build on those answers during the next discussion.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
LLSS528 Getting Started With Literature Circles Chapter 4
Chapter 4 is all about choosing books for your literature circle. The beginning of this chapter seems pretty duh, but I suppose it should be repeated that a good book will be meaningful, have substance, and offers something worth talking about. Pretty obvious, right? But what is also important is mechanical stuff. How many pages does the book have? Is it broken by chapters? You may also want to choose something that explores multiple tones and moods, the characters are realistic, and if it's a younger class, make sure the pictures are vibrant and they support the story.
It is good to start with what is available in the classroom. Sure, it might be ideal to base a book off of your desired outcomes, but sometimes schools just don't have the resources we need, and so you will want to ensure that all of your students will have access to the book being read. Also, consider multiple items as literature, don't just limit yourself to books. There are journals and articles that can be photocopied. In this newer day and age, video clips, songs, websites and more can all be considered literature, and those things might be more easily accessible. The book gives a great resource for literature circles: http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html. One question that is asked is how to obtain multiple copies of a piece of work. A couple ideas include sharing book sets with other teachers, use bonus points when ordering books, work with libraries, obtain grants, and search garage sales or other used book sources. One of my personal favorites is Savers because they actually arrange the books by category.
I really liked the suggestion that teachers should let go of the idea of reading at grade level. I think this is especially true with inclusive classrooms, and it's not to say give a bunch of 12th graders Dr. Seuss for the entire year, but the idea is that even with a range of readers at different difficulty levels, the students will help each other understand concepts.
I will leave you with this final thought. Let go of harping on finding the perfect book and let your students enjoy what you have.
It is good to start with what is available in the classroom. Sure, it might be ideal to base a book off of your desired outcomes, but sometimes schools just don't have the resources we need, and so you will want to ensure that all of your students will have access to the book being read. Also, consider multiple items as literature, don't just limit yourself to books. There are journals and articles that can be photocopied. In this newer day and age, video clips, songs, websites and more can all be considered literature, and those things might be more easily accessible. The book gives a great resource for literature circles: http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html. One question that is asked is how to obtain multiple copies of a piece of work. A couple ideas include sharing book sets with other teachers, use bonus points when ordering books, work with libraries, obtain grants, and search garage sales or other used book sources. One of my personal favorites is Savers because they actually arrange the books by category.
I really liked the suggestion that teachers should let go of the idea of reading at grade level. I think this is especially true with inclusive classrooms, and it's not to say give a bunch of 12th graders Dr. Seuss for the entire year, but the idea is that even with a range of readers at different difficulty levels, the students will help each other understand concepts.
I will leave you with this final thought. Let go of harping on finding the perfect book and let your students enjoy what you have.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)