EDRD 7718: Module Five

I enjoyed all of the videos and readings in this module. I especially was interested in the video about the first graders sorting through cards and working hands on with a partner. My second graders would benefit greatly from activities like those. It is so valuable to make sure they are constantly being entertained and intrigued by the activity they are doing so they do not become bored too quickly. Literacy centers are also a great way to individualize learning along with keeping students entertained and active in different literacy lessons. There are many ways to incorporate this in a classroom and it is very important to keep the students active in their reading and writing, making sure they are focusing on the skills being taught in the classroom.

            I think classroom layout is key in creating a successful learning environment for all students. It is important to make sure that all students feel comfortable to ensure their learning potential. Being well prepared is also a key component to making sure that your lesson will be successful.

            I also liked watching the video about “Spaces and Places.” It is so important to make sure that your classroom is accessible and practical for different types of instruction to be successful. You want to make sure that the children are able to have independent work space and small group space. My current classroom has a great flow to it. We have many different “nooks” for reading or different small group activities that students love to work in. I enjoyed watching Debbie Diller’s video. I learned many new and great tips from her! 

I had never seen a talking word wall, but what a great idea! My second graders would benefit greatly from hearing the correct pronunciation of the word along with re-reading the correct spelling of the word. I found this to be a great tool for many classrooms. 

EDRD 7718: Module Six

While reading through Module 6, I learned many new and helpful things. I appreciated the PowerPoint about presentations. It is always a great reminder to know how to present your material in a professional and easily understood manner. In particular, the section about good and bad graphs was very helpful because we are beginning to  compile all of our action research into our results section so this was a good tool to know which types of graphs I should include in my paper. I also appreciated the research tutorial. We have had to use those databases often during my graduate career, and at times, they can still be very confusing or difficult to find “full text” articles. Therefore, your presentation will remain a great resource when I am researching more the rest of this semester.

            I agree with the powerpoint from Duke that your slides and Powerpoint presentation should not deter from your presentation, rather they should compliment and aid your presentation. I have witnessed presentations that do distract the audience and take away from the speaker due to the colors, animation or over concentrated information.

             I had never heard of “Kid Pix” before, but it seems like a great program for students to use. Any opportunity my students have to get on a computer and create something, they become ecstatic. So utilizing a great tool such as Kid Pix, would allow them computer exposure along with creating a unique way to present different information they have been researching. My students just finished a unit on the Georgia Regions and using a program such as this would’ve been a great way for them to present everything they have learned this year.

            Lastly, the web 2.0 tools were very helpful to all have in one place. I will reference them again and introduce them to my students. They will welcome the chance to work with computers and learn something new! 

EDRD 7718: Module 4 Summary

Literacy is a vital component in all subject areas. If a person is not literate, then they are unable to expand their learning through all different domains of their development. This is why reading and comprehension are so important, but don’t just need to be emphasized in the reading or language arts courses. It needs to be taught in a well rounded, all subject manner so that every student can still thrive in the arts, sciences, or literature courses to the best of their abilities.     

            Throughout this module, I learned many things about RTI. Since I am currently teaching in an private school, we do not have much exposure or use of RTI. However, in my internship in Alabama, the school did have an RTI program in place. I had never learned much about RTI in my undergraduate education, so seeing different students being pulled randomly out of the classroom with little explanation as to what they were doing or where they were going, I am glad to have read over these articles and become exposed again to this program.

            One key point that Brozo points out in his article is the importance of ensuring that content learning and literacy go hand in hand. When a student is unable to apply further and more in depth learning to a concept that they understand, then they have missed the main underlying point of it all. A student yes should master the key content and become as much of an expert as possible in the subject, but if the student is unable to then apply that learning further, communicate it in different ways or relate it to further discussion, then the child has not fully mastered the concept. After reading this section, I realize why it is so important for us to encourage our students to think critically about certain texts and subjects, to really understand all aspects and apply that thinking and learning to grow the knowledge. Hopefully a program like RTI is able to successfully achieve this.

            In continuing my reading on RTI, I was unaware that for the middle and upper school grades, most programs require them to come up with their own form of intervention and leveling of instruction. However, I see how this type of program can being implemented in very challenging due to the difference of curriculum and scheduling in the older grades versus in elementary school. Therefore, I wonder if that is any way to implement this program through special education teachers or the learning specialist on campus that can make their own individual schedules with particular students during a free period or break perhaps? I have never really thought about this program in regards to the older grades, so learning about this issue is very interesting for me.

            Discussing RTI in Georgia was new information to me because of attending a college in Alabama and due to my current job being a private school. Looking through the charts and realizing that GA has four tiers was interesting. I found it more appealing that all students somehow participate in the program. I feel as though this could be more successful helping everyone be on the same page and not making certain students feel excluded or cast out. Throughout all of the articles, it appears to me that RTI is a program that is aiming to benefit struggling students. However, in the upper grades, this program may not be implemented as much due to the struggles in different curriculum demands. I learned a lot about RTI and appreciated this new knowledge due to my current job not involving this type of additional support program.

Rainbow Reading Video:

            I had never heard of this rainbow reading program, but I think it seems fantastic. It is a fun and engaging way to get children interested and excited about reading due to all the possibilities reading can bring to young children. I am glad to have seen this new video and hope to learn more about the rainbow reading program.

Writing Express with First Graders:

            I think what Dr. Spivey is doing to determine the sentence structure is fantastic. It is so engaging having the students come up with the subject and the action in the sentence. They are making sentence and do not even know it. He continuously repeats what they are trying to achieve, making it a continuous reminders that our subject just did something. The first have to “name something” and then tell “what it did.” This is a very fun and exciting way to get students involved in the lesson. Each child holds their trunk, making a whole part and having it all come together. The children’s actions relate to his graphic organizer on the board and making a whole “tree” together is making a whole thought and a very involved sentence. Adding on the “where” the something happened is a branch, etc. This was a great way to view how to make a sentence structure. My second graders would tremendously benefit from interacting and coming up with their own sentences. I really enjoyed watching this video!

Literacy and reading strategies:

            Initially, I appreciated the review of phonics and phonemic awareness. So often these two concepts can be easily confused or mistaken, so it is always great to review them and look back at the components that make them up. In my school, we use a program called “Word Study” to help our students become more educated on letter sounds, how they connect, and then how to spell the word. This is why decoding is so valuable because if a child is unable to decode, then they are not aware of certain letter sounds, why the vowel may sound a certain way, etc. This is why workshop learning and providing centers for students keeps them engaged and excited about their learning of how to decode and then develop into their comprehension skills. I also found the WebQuest section to be very interesting. I too utilize this in my classroom and students just love the opportunity to get online and get involved in something.

           

            

EDRD 7718: Module 3 Summary

Module 3 Summary:

            I found all of the videos to be very interesting and engaging. The initial video that hopes to encourage parents to read with their kids was very sweet. Reading is one of the most important things to share between parents and children, so encouragement of furthering that interaction is very important.

            Also, watching the videos about the smart table was very interesting .At the school I did my internship in, they had two smart tables for the school, so occasionally we placed it in our classroom. The students were immediately drawn to the table and were so interested in the lesson or skills being assessed. They loved the hands on effect and the fact that it is a huge, touch screen tablet was very exciting to the students. We used different programs such as long vowels sounds or puzzles with different shapes, but despite what we were doing, the students really enjoyed the activity. I would recommend smart tables to all educators, despite the topic being studied.

            The final video about literacy was a great explanation of what it means for a young child to be literate and also, the reminder that assessments aren’t tests; rather they are great means of observing and helping students improve on what they are struggling with or identifying that struggling area. I enjoyed watching the video and learned a lot from it.

            The graphic organizer that explained the five expository text structures was very interesting and helpful. At times, I can have a hard time trying to determine what different key aspects I need to be teaching my students, but reviewing over this chart made it much more clear the different features I can focus on when teaching particular reading lessons. I think teaching these different expository text structures are so important because they cause our students to think outside of the box. Through reading these types of texts, students are also learning many different ways to become informed and educated about a certain topic. Through making connections or building new knowledge, students are learning how to interpret and understand certain texts that are filled with information and detail, versus a narrative type of text. We use a lot of these strategies during our non fiction unit. The students benefitted tremendously from learning detailed information and applying very specific and informational methods of understanding these types of texts. I plan to use these graphic organizers again the future. 

EDRD 7718: Module Two Summary

Module 2 Summary:

“Learning Theories” powerpoint:

            I found this powerpoint to be very interesting. It was a good reminder to reflect on the appropriate ways to teach in a classroom and cater towards everyone’s different learning styles. I found the “6 A’s” to be a great reminder of just how our instruction should always be. We should always be aware, asking questions, accessing, analyzing, application and assessment. I think these are all important components in having a successful and involved classroom. It reminds me of what measures to take to ensure success in my classroom.

“Planning Strategic Reading Lessons” powerpoint:

            I think strategies reading lessons is a great way to make reading more interesting and exciting for students. When the learning eventually becomes student led and driven, that is when it is apparent that the student is learning on their own and is taking ownership of their learning. This type of learning teaches the students purpose in their reading and gives them a reason to continue reading and learning. I think incorporating this type of learning in my classroom would be extremely effective. By interacting with the text before my students read, they will develop a greater understanding, learn more background knowledge. They will also become more involved due to understanding the purpose for their reading. I hope to incorporate this in my classroom during reading workshop time. I think it is an attainable goal to assume that my students could learn in this manner and enjoy reading more because of it.

“Literacy Practice: Promoting Content Area Reading” powerpoint:

            Much of this powerpoint discusses the value of scaffolding and providing steps for instruction, allowing the student to gradually measure and master the new concept given. I attempt to scaffold my students in most of our daily instruction. By providing them with explicit instruction and the proper steps to succeed, they are immediately that much more able to find the answer and better themselves in the process. I mainly found the Content Reading Techniques to be most helpful. These are all great ideas and I often incorporate some of these strategies in my own classroom.

            I found the two videos on differentiated instruction to be very interesting and helpful. It is always helpful to learn new techniques about differentiated instruction. This way you are catering everyone in your class to their needs and helping them learn in the best ability. We try to do this in my class by including a lot of small groups, that are catered towards certain reading levels or ability, that way while we teachers float throughout the groups, we can cater instruction and help certain students on certain skills. Through this type of learning, we can also help students by appealing to their interests and the topics of their choice. I found the video by Tomlinson very interested as well because it was interesting hearing about her process of learning how to adapt lessons and help all the different learners in her classroom. I learned a lot from her on how I can make my classroom more open and available to all my learners, exactly where they are in their development process.

            I also found the graph provided to be very helpful. It is a great reference of the ways we should and shouldn’t be scaffolding our students. I will definitely refer back to the chart at times to ensure that I am helping my children in the most positive way possible. Lastly, Bloom’s Taxonomy was a great review of what students are capable of in regards to the appropriate category of instruction. This diagram will also be a helpful reference in the future.

           

           

Module Five: PPT (Phonics, etc.)

Powerpoint Summary: “Teaching phonics, high-frequency words, and fluency”

           

            This powerpoint initially began with building the word lesson plan. I found all of these steps to be very helpful and interesting. It is interesting to learn how intricate and detailed some of these lessons can be. I think it is important to realize the many different ways a teacher or instructor can teach phonics, high-frequency words, and fluency. Through multiple processes and means, students receive a well-versed and cultured education rather than a simple, redundant explanation day after day. The flexibility in this education also accommodates many different types of learners.

            I liked the idea of creating “little books” to help students with their phonics and fluency. Creating an individualized learning opportunity that specifically caters towards learning new spellings, etc is very helpful to young learners. In my current classroom we use word walls and I find those to be incredibly helpful to my students. It is a great reference for them to simply look across the room and see how to spell the word. Also, in our class, due to certain spelling words being on our word wall, our students are forced to memorize that word, creating automaticity with those commonly misspelled words.

            This lesson provided me with many great ideas of how to teach phonics, high-frequency words and fluency in many more effective and interesting ways. This powerpoint is a great frame of reference and I enjoyed learning more about new methods of instruction in this topic.