Last Entry...
For our very last entry, we must compare our leanrings as a result of this blog to the Course Objectives:
Students will gain knowledge and competency with regards to:
1. the variety of genres that readers and writers use to communicate
2. the role of purpose and audience in writing and reading and the rhetorical voices used to address the desired purposes and audiences
3. the historical and comtemporary theoretical models of reading and writing, including new literacy theories of reading and writing
4. the relationship between the reading and writing process
5. the role of metacognition in writing proficiency and reading comprehension
6. the types of reading and writing assignments that are developmentally appropriate for learners, including digital reading and writing assignments
7. the role of writing assessment and evaluation in determinging student writing proficieny and reading comprehension
Through this blog, I feel that I accomplished objective 5 explicitly in writing posts for this blog. While writing, I was forced to think through my thoughts and reflect on my assumptions and new learnings. This made me develop my metacognitive abilities while writing - I feel more comfortable with analyzing my thoughts through writing. This metacognitve ability showed me how much reflecting on reading through writing can help a person to understand (or start to understand why they don't understand).
The other objectives were also addressed in the blog, in the form of the content, as opposed to the process, of my posts. As we discussed genres of chapters in Hicks, I was able to use this blog to reflect on my learning. Writing helped me to organize my thoughts and ask questions about the readings or discussions or presentations. Since we covered the course objectives in various ways over the semester, I have discussed these items in this blog - and therefore this blog helped me to learn and master these course objectives.
For the genres, we had presentations on what Tompkins (2012) views as the major genres, and we developed our genre pieces project. Both of these covered learning objective 1. However, I was able to write in posts about some of the genres that we covered. My understanding of the journal genre, biography genre, and persuasive genre was expanded through posts in this blog.
Our class discussion on purpose and the genre pieces project help me to develop objective 2, and the roles of purpose and audience. While I did not discuss this topic as much - this blog helped me to direct my focus in discussions in class. I often asked myself, "Who is my audience for my blog?" and "What is the purpose for writing this blog?" in class and when writing. These questions helped me to direct my writing, but they also led me to a fuller understanding of how much influence the purpose and audience have on writing. My posts would have been vastly different for a blog whose audience was outside of my academic classes and whose purpose was to entertain or educate instead of reflect.
The presentations on Hicks has helped me to understand how assessment plays a vital role in writing and reading. When teachers understand what the goal is for students to read and write, they can better develop purposes for reading and writing - which, time and again, is very important for readers and authors.
I have always been a fan of learning logs. Now, I see how appropriate digital leanring logs could be for the classroom. I think that developing interesting and intelligent prompts is a very important part of the process - especially for high school and younger students. This is someting I definitely wwant to integrate into my own classroom.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Learning Log Entry 11
The Genres!
Throughout the semester we have covered various genres in order to develop our reading and writing skills. Learning how to read in the genres has helped me to better write in the genres - and vice versa. By understanding the components that create a piece and looking at well done examples of the genre, I feel more comfortable with reading and writing.
I started this semester feeling that I had a fairly set understanding of the poetry and descriptive genres. As I have shared over the semester, I have written poetry for most of my life and spent a great deal of my first experiences with poetry learning new styles and searching for new authors. I worked with an ELA teacher this past year in writing workshop (I wrote about Deanna and her writing workshop before, I can't remember the post off the top of my head) and learned a lot in her unit on descriptive writing through hearing and teaching many mini-lessons on the genre.
I was most unfamiliar - as odd as it sounds - with the expository genre. I think that because I read and write in the genre so often I have a fuller understanding of the limitations of my understanding. The biggest thing that I want to learn is how to integrate the expository genre with the other genres - which I have developed over the course of the semester, but I still have a ways to go. I think the biggest thing I've learned is that perspective doesn't always have to be the author or even a human form: ie a journal of a volcano the week before it explodes. Or, even better, a double entry journal with a volcano's perspective and a person who lives near the volcano's perspective.
I think I have learned the most about the biographies and personal genres. I never realized that there were so many different sub-sets of the biography genre! Knowing that there were different ways to approach a biography helped me to understand the limitations of a biography - what it means to write a biography, and what falls outside of the category. I can see my students looking at scientists, writing their own biographies through the lens of science learning (kind of following an event or theme through their lives), or creating the biography of a mountain as it is built up and then eroded down to sand and clay.
I never understood the role of the personal genre beyond a learning log (like this!) in a classroom. I have expanded my understanding of how writing from the author's perspective can help that author to develop an understanding of a text. I think that this genre in particular is very good at helping students write to understand reading - a very important aspect of this course. By analyzing their thoughts about a piece, how it relates to them or their background knowledge, by reflecting on how characters feel and how their actions might impact other characters - all of these things extend beyond the text and help the writer expand their understanding and skills to beyond surface comprehension.
I think that most of the genres can and should overlap with one another. I like that I can continue to develop ideas on how to use these genres to teach my content, and use my content to help teach these genres.
Throughout the semester we have covered various genres in order to develop our reading and writing skills. Learning how to read in the genres has helped me to better write in the genres - and vice versa. By understanding the components that create a piece and looking at well done examples of the genre, I feel more comfortable with reading and writing.
I started this semester feeling that I had a fairly set understanding of the poetry and descriptive genres. As I have shared over the semester, I have written poetry for most of my life and spent a great deal of my first experiences with poetry learning new styles and searching for new authors. I worked with an ELA teacher this past year in writing workshop (I wrote about Deanna and her writing workshop before, I can't remember the post off the top of my head) and learned a lot in her unit on descriptive writing through hearing and teaching many mini-lessons on the genre.
I was most unfamiliar - as odd as it sounds - with the expository genre. I think that because I read and write in the genre so often I have a fuller understanding of the limitations of my understanding. The biggest thing that I want to learn is how to integrate the expository genre with the other genres - which I have developed over the course of the semester, but I still have a ways to go. I think the biggest thing I've learned is that perspective doesn't always have to be the author or even a human form: ie a journal of a volcano the week before it explodes. Or, even better, a double entry journal with a volcano's perspective and a person who lives near the volcano's perspective.
I think I have learned the most about the biographies and personal genres. I never realized that there were so many different sub-sets of the biography genre! Knowing that there were different ways to approach a biography helped me to understand the limitations of a biography - what it means to write a biography, and what falls outside of the category. I can see my students looking at scientists, writing their own biographies through the lens of science learning (kind of following an event or theme through their lives), or creating the biography of a mountain as it is built up and then eroded down to sand and clay.
I never understood the role of the personal genre beyond a learning log (like this!) in a classroom. I have expanded my understanding of how writing from the author's perspective can help that author to develop an understanding of a text. I think that this genre in particular is very good at helping students write to understand reading - a very important aspect of this course. By analyzing their thoughts about a piece, how it relates to them or their background knowledge, by reflecting on how characters feel and how their actions might impact other characters - all of these things extend beyond the text and help the writer expand their understanding and skills to beyond surface comprehension.
I think that most of the genres can and should overlap with one another. I like that I can continue to develop ideas on how to use these genres to teach my content, and use my content to help teach these genres.
Learning Log Entry 10
While reading through the more recent blog posts, I noticed that both Kaitlin and Stephanie wrote about persuasive writing and its difficulty in teaching it to younger students. Well, I suppose Stephanie was actually "blessing" or "addressing" Kaitlin... but I would like to "press" them both.
As a student, I had a very positve learning experience with persuasive writing. To this day, my fourth grade teacher remains as one of my most favorite teachers in my whole education. Mrs. Emelson was actually my third and fourth grade teacher because Wheatland was going through this phase where they "looped" kids (kept them in the same class with the same teacher for two years) at every chance they got. I liked it well enough, but that's beside the point. Anyhow. The more I think about Mrs Emelson in terms of my own education as a teacher, the more I realize that she must have been a super teacher. We did these huge inquirt units in science where we got cups of different powders and had to reason out what they could be (sugar, cement...etc). She gave us notebooks to record daily writings in - from what we did over the weekend to grammar lessons to poetry units. I adored her and sobbed my eyeballs out when I had to go on to fifth grade. And we had two turtles that we got to take care of. Sweet.
I remember Mrs Emelson most for introducing me to science and encourging me to explore and ask my questions. I was forever asking questions about everything, and she was one of the only people who not just encouraged me but made it the standard of my education. And for helping me with my spelling because I was (am!) a wretched speller. She would have me circle the words I knew weren't spelled correctly but had tried my hardest and then she would tell me how to spell them and I would practice them until I got them right. She undestood that I hated using dictionaries (which was the mode of choice for every other teacher, and parent) because you can't look through an entire dictionary to find a word - and if you don't know how to spell it then that's your only option. I was crazy literal and logical even then, and Mrs Emelson let me be. AWESOME.
Anyhow anyhow anyhow. Mrs Emelson applies here because she taught me how to write persuasively in the third or fourth grade, using facts that I could relate to, and taking a strong stand. I remember that unit: First she had a writing prompt on the board for our journals - we had to choose if we thought zoos were good or bad. And we had to support it. And when we gathered on the floor to share and I tried to sit in the middle (we had to sit on the for or against side) she made me pick a side and think through why I wanted to sit where I did. We talked about stance and choosing sides and having all the facts before we starting telling people our opinions. After all of that, we had to write essays on something we wanted to persuade someone to do. Mostly we wrote to our parents asking them to let us do something. Melissa wanted to buy a grand piano. Peter wanted to go to Disney World over the summer. I wanted to grow my hair out super long. I never did, by the way. But my mom was convinced enough to let me if I wanted to.
She gave us choice. She related the genre to our lives. She gave us an assignment that used all of the elements that Kaitlin describes in her post - it was just tuned toward things that she knew that we knew. We had to have supporting details, and look at the cons to our point (Mom, I know that you will say that I always complain when my hair gets long, but I think that if it was really long I could do cool things with it and wouldn't complain). I think that what made it successful was that Mrs Emelson took the elements of persuasive writing and tweaked it to fit with younger students.
My press for Stephanie and Kaitlin: What do you think about Mrs Emelson, super teacher, and her lesson as I remember it? Do you think you could come up with something similar for your students?
As a student, I had a very positve learning experience with persuasive writing. To this day, my fourth grade teacher remains as one of my most favorite teachers in my whole education. Mrs. Emelson was actually my third and fourth grade teacher because Wheatland was going through this phase where they "looped" kids (kept them in the same class with the same teacher for two years) at every chance they got. I liked it well enough, but that's beside the point. Anyhow. The more I think about Mrs Emelson in terms of my own education as a teacher, the more I realize that she must have been a super teacher. We did these huge inquirt units in science where we got cups of different powders and had to reason out what they could be (sugar, cement...etc). She gave us notebooks to record daily writings in - from what we did over the weekend to grammar lessons to poetry units. I adored her and sobbed my eyeballs out when I had to go on to fifth grade. And we had two turtles that we got to take care of. Sweet.
I remember Mrs Emelson most for introducing me to science and encourging me to explore and ask my questions. I was forever asking questions about everything, and she was one of the only people who not just encouraged me but made it the standard of my education. And for helping me with my spelling because I was (am!) a wretched speller. She would have me circle the words I knew weren't spelled correctly but had tried my hardest and then she would tell me how to spell them and I would practice them until I got them right. She undestood that I hated using dictionaries (which was the mode of choice for every other teacher, and parent) because you can't look through an entire dictionary to find a word - and if you don't know how to spell it then that's your only option. I was crazy literal and logical even then, and Mrs Emelson let me be. AWESOME.
Anyhow anyhow anyhow. Mrs Emelson applies here because she taught me how to write persuasively in the third or fourth grade, using facts that I could relate to, and taking a strong stand. I remember that unit: First she had a writing prompt on the board for our journals - we had to choose if we thought zoos were good or bad. And we had to support it. And when we gathered on the floor to share and I tried to sit in the middle (we had to sit on the for or against side) she made me pick a side and think through why I wanted to sit where I did. We talked about stance and choosing sides and having all the facts before we starting telling people our opinions. After all of that, we had to write essays on something we wanted to persuade someone to do. Mostly we wrote to our parents asking them to let us do something. Melissa wanted to buy a grand piano. Peter wanted to go to Disney World over the summer. I wanted to grow my hair out super long. I never did, by the way. But my mom was convinced enough to let me if I wanted to.
She gave us choice. She related the genre to our lives. She gave us an assignment that used all of the elements that Kaitlin describes in her post - it was just tuned toward things that she knew that we knew. We had to have supporting details, and look at the cons to our point (Mom, I know that you will say that I always complain when my hair gets long, but I think that if it was really long I could do cool things with it and wouldn't complain). I think that what made it successful was that Mrs Emelson took the elements of persuasive writing and tweaked it to fit with younger students.
My press for Stephanie and Kaitlin: What do you think about Mrs Emelson, super teacher, and her lesson as I remember it? Do you think you could come up with something similar for your students?
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Learning Log Entry 9
This is how I feel about rocks. Also, multi-media presentaions rock!
http://prezi.com/cymdbes6zzli/multimedia-rocks/
Please let me know if the link doesn't work!
Even though my mulitmedia presentation was a little less than academic, I still see multimedia presentations as incredibly worthwhile for the classroom. In my teaching, I bring in a wide range of media to explain topics in science. I might have a PowerPoint to provide organization to my lesson. But within that presentation I might have videos, images, a link to a website... various tools that will help students understand what I am trying to portray. Students can use multimedia applications to help represent their understanding so that they can be assessed, or just to organize their understanding. The new tools available through digital media allow students to explore and expland, keep track off, and represent their understanding.
http://prezi.com/cymdbes6zzli/multimedia-rocks/
Please let me know if the link doesn't work!
Even though my mulitmedia presentation was a little less than academic, I still see multimedia presentations as incredibly worthwhile for the classroom. In my teaching, I bring in a wide range of media to explain topics in science. I might have a PowerPoint to provide organization to my lesson. But within that presentation I might have videos, images, a link to a website... various tools that will help students understand what I am trying to portray. Students can use multimedia applications to help represent their understanding so that they can be assessed, or just to organize their understanding. The new tools available through digital media allow students to explore and expland, keep track off, and represent their understanding.
Learning Log Entry 8
I must admit that I haven't really been keeping up reading everyone elses' blogs. My apologies to my lovely 618 colleagues.
However, as I was perusing through the blogs, Krissy's blog post (http://khorton12.blogspot.com/) from weeks and weeks ago caught my eye. On her post titled "Google Reader and RSS Feeds" Krissy talks about being less than convinced to use Google Reader in her classroom. Honey, I'm blessing this post all the way!!! I had totally forgotten my frustration with that tool until I read your post. When Dr. Jones had us explore Google Reader as a tool to use for our research in writing our genre pieces - I had serious high hopes. I'd heard about RSS feeds before but I'd never used them. When Dr. Jones explained Google Reader as a collection tool to organize and keep track of blogs that you want to follow or websites that update often, I thought it was a great idea. I have a few websites that I visit often - but sometimes I forget. Like http://1000awesomethings.com/ which I used to follow religiously, but then I forgot all about it and now it's ending and I'm SUPER disappointed. Anyhow... Then I actually sat down and tried to use Google Reader. To no avail. Just like Krissy, I struggled becuase many of the sites were incompatible with Google Reader, and I was totally overwhelmed that first day when I had thousands of updates. The idea works, but it fails to help me in realistic function.
So what would I use in my classroom? I think that if I was looking at a particular website every day with my class I would just go right to that site. For example, I like to look at Scott Hetsko's video updates on http://rochesterhomepage.net/weather when I'm teaching my Weather unit. But I think that it is just an extra step to have to go through Google Reader. It's just too much for a classroom to go to multiple websites everyday. Especially in an upper grades classroom. There just isn't enough time. My other thought was that students could use Google Reader for research. But I just don't think that works. I think that it would be easier for students to create a continuous bibliography or references list that they can look back to if need be.
I feel like such a Debby Downer on Google Reader. I just can't find way that it could be a reasonable tool in a classroom.
However, as I was perusing through the blogs, Krissy's blog post (http://khorton12.blogspot.com/) from weeks and weeks ago caught my eye. On her post titled "Google Reader and RSS Feeds" Krissy talks about being less than convinced to use Google Reader in her classroom. Honey, I'm blessing this post all the way!!! I had totally forgotten my frustration with that tool until I read your post. When Dr. Jones had us explore Google Reader as a tool to use for our research in writing our genre pieces - I had serious high hopes. I'd heard about RSS feeds before but I'd never used them. When Dr. Jones explained Google Reader as a collection tool to organize and keep track of blogs that you want to follow or websites that update often, I thought it was a great idea. I have a few websites that I visit often - but sometimes I forget. Like http://1000awesomethings.com/ which I used to follow religiously, but then I forgot all about it and now it's ending and I'm SUPER disappointed. Anyhow... Then I actually sat down and tried to use Google Reader. To no avail. Just like Krissy, I struggled becuase many of the sites were incompatible with Google Reader, and I was totally overwhelmed that first day when I had thousands of updates. The idea works, but it fails to help me in realistic function.
So what would I use in my classroom? I think that if I was looking at a particular website every day with my class I would just go right to that site. For example, I like to look at Scott Hetsko's video updates on http://rochesterhomepage.net/weather when I'm teaching my Weather unit. But I think that it is just an extra step to have to go through Google Reader. It's just too much for a classroom to go to multiple websites everyday. Especially in an upper grades classroom. There just isn't enough time. My other thought was that students could use Google Reader for research. But I just don't think that works. I think that it would be easier for students to create a continuous bibliography or references list that they can look back to if need be.
I feel like such a Debby Downer on Google Reader. I just can't find way that it could be a reasonable tool in a classroom.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Learning Log Entry 7
Our most recent presentation was on the biography genre. It ties back into our first discussion on the first day (second?) of class. We talked about how Tompkins supports author chosen topics because the author becomes more engaged and more interested in the topic. It is so much easier to write when you care about, or are interested in, the topic.
I mean this all in the best way possible Stephanie...
My beautiful presentation partner, Stephanie, came up with an interesting - if accidental - perspective on biographies. She picked up a book from the expoistory genre, contributed by someone who wasn't sure about the guidelines for bringing in books for that class. While reading over the book about coral reefs, Stephanie thought that she could see the book as written from the fish's perspective, as sort of a biography of the fish through a lens of his habitat. It started me thinking...
How could incorporate the biography genre into my students' learning of science. Yes, students could read about the life and times of famous scientists. But honestly, that offers little to no perspective for the students. It becomes just another thing to do, another person to memorize. Writing biographies of scientists is a little bit better, because it forces the students to take on the mindset of the scientist and formulate understanding of why that person did what he did.
But what if I make lemonade from Stephanie's unintentional lemons? What if students took on the perspective of a plant, or animal, or person living through an earthquake? Or the earthquake itself? Or a water molecule as it travels through the water cycle? They would then be using that marvelous practice that we have been striving for: to have students use writing to understand reading. It's more than reading about the water cycle and using that knowledge to create a biography genre piece; it's using the perspective to enhance understanding of the water cycle.
I mean this all in the best way possible Stephanie...
My beautiful presentation partner, Stephanie, came up with an interesting - if accidental - perspective on biographies. She picked up a book from the expoistory genre, contributed by someone who wasn't sure about the guidelines for bringing in books for that class. While reading over the book about coral reefs, Stephanie thought that she could see the book as written from the fish's perspective, as sort of a biography of the fish through a lens of his habitat. It started me thinking...
How could incorporate the biography genre into my students' learning of science. Yes, students could read about the life and times of famous scientists. But honestly, that offers little to no perspective for the students. It becomes just another thing to do, another person to memorize. Writing biographies of scientists is a little bit better, because it forces the students to take on the mindset of the scientist and formulate understanding of why that person did what he did.
But what if I make lemonade from Stephanie's unintentional lemons? What if students took on the perspective of a plant, or animal, or person living through an earthquake? Or the earthquake itself? Or a water molecule as it travels through the water cycle? They would then be using that marvelous practice that we have been striving for: to have students use writing to understand reading. It's more than reading about the water cycle and using that knowledge to create a biography genre piece; it's using the perspective to enhance understanding of the water cycle.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Learning Log Entry 6
I had to do some investigation of the 6+1 traits of writing for our session 7 class. The focus question of the class was whether the 6+1 traits should change when evaluating students' digital texts. Here's my understanding of the traits: (sourced from http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/503)
1. Ideas - theme and details that support the theme. It's important that the details show that the author understands both the basic topic and can take information learned and manipulate it to a higher form of undestanding.
2. Organization - the linguistics of the piece. This is more than just a logical series of events, but must show that the author has rythm and purpose, a direction and sequence that provides the reader information and enjoyment.
3. Voice - the tone and feeling of the author, which can show how the author interacts with writing. The voice also needs to be appropriate for the genre of the text.
4. Word choice - use of precise language to communicate information or describe. (Yay descriptive language!)
5. Sentence fluency - rhythm and flow of the language. I see this as kind of how organization, voice, and word choice come together.
6. Conventions - grammar, spelling, capitalization, puncutation, paragraphing. All the fun stuff.
+1. Presentation - visuals and text, graphics, neatness, handwriting, font selection, borders, overall appearance. Apparently, it's the plus 1 because no one thinks that the way your paper looks should be stressed as much as content and writing ability.
My only experience with this method of assessment was in an ELA class in which I substituted last week. The students took a practice Common Writing Assessment exam and then graded each other's work using a 6+1 rubric. Some problems I had with the activity: the rubric was headed with "6+1" and had five sections - main idea, details, organization, word choice, and conventions; and each table of students was reponsible for grading one trait. I think that each student should have experience with each of the traits. That way, all students understand what is expected, and can look at others' work for ideas (both what to do and what not to do). I would set it up so that first, students start at one table with another students paper. All students would be grading the first trait. Then students switch tables and papers and do another trait. Then switch again, different papers and everyone does the next trait.
So anyway, those are the traits. The whole point is supposed to be whether these traits should change when we assess digital texts instead of written texts. I don't really see how they could change. Except for presentation - which is apparently the lonely step-child of the group. I think the first 6 traits are all really important. The ideas of a text show how the author understands the information, the organization shows that the author has enough of an understanding to be able to manipulate the information in the best way possible. If an author is caught up in his understanding of the ideas, he will not be able to orgainze the ideas in a coherent manner. Voice, word choice, and sentence fluency are concerned with the act of writing, showing how the author understands linguistics. And of course conventions should never ever be put to the side. I had a horrible expeirence once where so many tenth grade students spelled "near" as "neer" that I actually forgot how it was properly spelled. I cried that day. But presentation definitely changes for digital texts. For each new text type, a different set of standards need to be addressed. For example - a blog should be formatted differently than a printed essay, and both should be formatted differently than a wiki. It all comes done to the appropriateness of text as compared to the text type.
1. Ideas - theme and details that support the theme. It's important that the details show that the author understands both the basic topic and can take information learned and manipulate it to a higher form of undestanding.
2. Organization - the linguistics of the piece. This is more than just a logical series of events, but must show that the author has rythm and purpose, a direction and sequence that provides the reader information and enjoyment.
3. Voice - the tone and feeling of the author, which can show how the author interacts with writing. The voice also needs to be appropriate for the genre of the text.
4. Word choice - use of precise language to communicate information or describe. (Yay descriptive language!)
5. Sentence fluency - rhythm and flow of the language. I see this as kind of how organization, voice, and word choice come together.
6. Conventions - grammar, spelling, capitalization, puncutation, paragraphing. All the fun stuff.
+1. Presentation - visuals and text, graphics, neatness, handwriting, font selection, borders, overall appearance. Apparently, it's the plus 1 because no one thinks that the way your paper looks should be stressed as much as content and writing ability.
My only experience with this method of assessment was in an ELA class in which I substituted last week. The students took a practice Common Writing Assessment exam and then graded each other's work using a 6+1 rubric. Some problems I had with the activity: the rubric was headed with "6+1" and had five sections - main idea, details, organization, word choice, and conventions; and each table of students was reponsible for grading one trait. I think that each student should have experience with each of the traits. That way, all students understand what is expected, and can look at others' work for ideas (both what to do and what not to do). I would set it up so that first, students start at one table with another students paper. All students would be grading the first trait. Then students switch tables and papers and do another trait. Then switch again, different papers and everyone does the next trait.
So anyway, those are the traits. The whole point is supposed to be whether these traits should change when we assess digital texts instead of written texts. I don't really see how they could change. Except for presentation - which is apparently the lonely step-child of the group. I think the first 6 traits are all really important. The ideas of a text show how the author understands the information, the organization shows that the author has enough of an understanding to be able to manipulate the information in the best way possible. If an author is caught up in his understanding of the ideas, he will not be able to orgainze the ideas in a coherent manner. Voice, word choice, and sentence fluency are concerned with the act of writing, showing how the author understands linguistics. And of course conventions should never ever be put to the side. I had a horrible expeirence once where so many tenth grade students spelled "near" as "neer" that I actually forgot how it was properly spelled. I cried that day. But presentation definitely changes for digital texts. For each new text type, a different set of standards need to be addressed. For example - a blog should be formatted differently than a printed essay, and both should be formatted differently than a wiki. It all comes done to the appropriateness of text as compared to the text type.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Learning Log Entry 5
Dr. Jones
Well, we've just discussed my response for this week's learning log entry... so I'll try to reiterate the main points, elaborate, and maybe even give you a little more information.
Overall, this class is going well. It is all that I anticipated it would be. Since I have a background in writing workshop, I am interested in the ways that technology can be integrated into the process. And so far, it all makes sense. I feel that I must explain (especially after being exposed in class today!) my real feelings on collaboration. I do not like using digital media for editing or revision comments from teacher to student, which is the point I had hoped to make in the wiki comments. I do support using digital media for collaboration between students during the brainstorming phase. I do support using digital media for creating group documents or sharing ideas or asking questions. I like the Educase Learning Initiative handout that Carly and Keri gave us during their presentation: The scenario that is given in the side column (not just because geomorphology is my all time favorite discipline in science) is what I think to be an ideal case, where students take the initiative to use the tools available to share ideas and clarify understanding. I think that in exposing students to various digital tools, they can be used and applied in more ways than ever considered by the teacher. Students are surprising that way - their potential is unlimited.
I think that this very journal/blog that you are reading is my best example of how writing helps my own learning. I recognize that my own learning is best when I can read or research a topic and then discuss it with others. In writing, I can act as another person, attempt to take an objective stance. I can put out ideas, and then reconsider them as almost a different stance. Play the devils advocate to my opinion. Ask questions or challenge the validity of my statements. And in addition to that, I have a classroom of peers that will add to my writing and provide that group discussion that I crave.
Its really about time that I realize what a significant impact all of that would have on my understanding of everything that I read if I were to engage in that kind of reflective (and almost argumentative!) writing for every topic, every assigned reading, for every class. Even with reflective thinking, it just doesn't compare to the level of cognition that writing has. Meaning that even though I always think about what I read and ask those questions, there is a powerful connection that occurs when I write. It all becomes more concrete and well flushed out.
I have always wanted to include a reflective log as part of my classroom learning, I now I can see the benefits of using a blog for this end. I think that this would appeal to middle/high school students as well, since there is a sense of "fun" that surrounds any work on computers.
I've thought a lot about student choice this semester - in this class and in others. I think that it is important for teachers to define a specific goal that they would like students to achieve in their writing before giving them too much freedom in their choices. For example, instead of assigning students to write about a favorite science topic, a teacher must decide what she wants her students to achieve. Perhaps she wants her students to express their knowledge of descriptive writing. This needs to be expressed to the students so that they can keep this in mind while writing. I guess its assigning a purpose, and students can choose the topic.
I want to know more about the assessments that best fit each genre. How can rubrics be altered to specifically fit each genre?
Well, we've just discussed my response for this week's learning log entry... so I'll try to reiterate the main points, elaborate, and maybe even give you a little more information.
Overall, this class is going well. It is all that I anticipated it would be. Since I have a background in writing workshop, I am interested in the ways that technology can be integrated into the process. And so far, it all makes sense. I feel that I must explain (especially after being exposed in class today!) my real feelings on collaboration. I do not like using digital media for editing or revision comments from teacher to student, which is the point I had hoped to make in the wiki comments. I do support using digital media for collaboration between students during the brainstorming phase. I do support using digital media for creating group documents or sharing ideas or asking questions. I like the Educase Learning Initiative handout that Carly and Keri gave us during their presentation: The scenario that is given in the side column (not just because geomorphology is my all time favorite discipline in science) is what I think to be an ideal case, where students take the initiative to use the tools available to share ideas and clarify understanding. I think that in exposing students to various digital tools, they can be used and applied in more ways than ever considered by the teacher. Students are surprising that way - their potential is unlimited.
I think that this very journal/blog that you are reading is my best example of how writing helps my own learning. I recognize that my own learning is best when I can read or research a topic and then discuss it with others. In writing, I can act as another person, attempt to take an objective stance. I can put out ideas, and then reconsider them as almost a different stance. Play the devils advocate to my opinion. Ask questions or challenge the validity of my statements. And in addition to that, I have a classroom of peers that will add to my writing and provide that group discussion that I crave.
Its really about time that I realize what a significant impact all of that would have on my understanding of everything that I read if I were to engage in that kind of reflective (and almost argumentative!) writing for every topic, every assigned reading, for every class. Even with reflective thinking, it just doesn't compare to the level of cognition that writing has. Meaning that even though I always think about what I read and ask those questions, there is a powerful connection that occurs when I write. It all becomes more concrete and well flushed out.
I have always wanted to include a reflective log as part of my classroom learning, I now I can see the benefits of using a blog for this end. I think that this would appeal to middle/high school students as well, since there is a sense of "fun" that surrounds any work on computers.
I've thought a lot about student choice this semester - in this class and in others. I think that it is important for teachers to define a specific goal that they would like students to achieve in their writing before giving them too much freedom in their choices. For example, instead of assigning students to write about a favorite science topic, a teacher must decide what she wants her students to achieve. Perhaps she wants her students to express their knowledge of descriptive writing. This needs to be expressed to the students so that they can keep this in mind while writing. I guess its assigning a purpose, and students can choose the topic.
I want to know more about the assessments that best fit each genre. How can rubrics be altered to specifically fit each genre?
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Learning Log Entry 4
On the packet of information for the Journal Genre that Dr. Jones gave us in her sample presentation, there are a few questions that we did not formally address or discuss, so I thought I would give them some attention on my own.
What makes the journal genre so engaging?
Authors have a unique opportunity with the journal genre that is more difficult to attain in the other genres: personal perspective. We have already discussed on several occasions the importance of author choice in topic selection. As Tompkins (2012) describes in her writing process, when students choose topics - instead of teachers - they are more motivated and passionate writers. With good reason. I mean, it makes sense, logically, that when able to write about something known or something that one is passionate about, then the writing will be easier, simply because the subject is familiar. For example, when I write about topics in Geomorphology - landscapes - I can produce a decent piece in half the time than when I am directed to write about Paleontology - little preserved dead things that lived millions of years ago. My tendency with Paleontology subjects is to find ANYTHING else to complete first - cleaning, dentist appointments, listening to Kenny G.... I mean anything. Not only am I more motivated when writing about topics that don't make me want to poke my eyeballs out, I find that my writing is better. I am more interested in finding more information, not just enough to get by. Not only is writing in the journal genre engaging because of the author's personal connection to the subject, reading in the journal genre is engaging for the same reason. The author has presented the reader with a way to connect with the characters, the plot, the setting in a way that can be easily related to. Its almost like talking to a good friend about his experiences, instead of reading a dry impersonal account.
How can journal writing be used to engage students in efferent and aesthetic responses to what they read?
The aesthetic response is the easy one for me to answer - journal writing is all about writing down your musings and feeling on a subject. A teacher merely has to direct students to reflect on who they felt about an aspect or the whole of a reading. Students do not extensive direction for this kind of response. While students may need time to develop their abilities to communicate their feelings, most are able to look inside themselves to enunciate what they thought about something (confusion, dislike, hatred, happiness.... easily identifiable and easily written). But what about the efferent? (And as an aside, was I the only one confused by this word? Efferent as in moving away from an organ...the opposite of afferent...as in blood circulation. Or is my nerd showing again...?) The examples that we completed as part of Dr Jones' packet were good examples of efferent responses. Double entry diaries can help to develop predictions, define ideas, and develop comprehension. The simulated journal entry asks students to look back to the text for details and ideas given by the author and apply those to their own writing. The entry must be based on specific information and ideas in order to be complete.
In what ways does engaging the process of composing journal texts improve reading fluency and comprehension?
Tompkins (2012) notes that for emerging writers, fluency can be monitored in analysis of the length of student entries, the presence of "voice", the spelling of words and the increased abilities of these. I remember being in fourth grade and my (all time favorite teacher, by the way) teacher, Mrs Emelson, had us write journal entries every day. I was a terrible awful no good speller, and she had me circle words I knew that were incorrect, and later in the day we would look them up together. Journals can also be used to determine if students understand the information. If they are journals kept between the teacher and student, questions about content could be asked in a more private or personal manner.
Just realized that this is reading fluency, not writing fluency. Something that I remember Dr Jones saying would be a running theme. As in, how does writing in the journal genre help students improve their reading? My fall back for this answer, no matter the genre, is always going to be that writing helps students become conscious of how an author has constructed their text, and therefore helps students become conscious of what the author intends for them to glean from the text that they have composed. However... what about the journal genre specifically? Journals help students define their responses. Sometimes, writing out questions, thoughts, feelings, and the like helps students to later do this while reading, but in their heads. If a student becomes used to using a double entry diary to make predictions and then modify those predictions as they read on, then that same student will start to use that process automatically when reading other texts.
What makes the journal genre so engaging?
Authors have a unique opportunity with the journal genre that is more difficult to attain in the other genres: personal perspective. We have already discussed on several occasions the importance of author choice in topic selection. As Tompkins (2012) describes in her writing process, when students choose topics - instead of teachers - they are more motivated and passionate writers. With good reason. I mean, it makes sense, logically, that when able to write about something known or something that one is passionate about, then the writing will be easier, simply because the subject is familiar. For example, when I write about topics in Geomorphology - landscapes - I can produce a decent piece in half the time than when I am directed to write about Paleontology - little preserved dead things that lived millions of years ago. My tendency with Paleontology subjects is to find ANYTHING else to complete first - cleaning, dentist appointments, listening to Kenny G.... I mean anything. Not only am I more motivated when writing about topics that don't make me want to poke my eyeballs out, I find that my writing is better. I am more interested in finding more information, not just enough to get by. Not only is writing in the journal genre engaging because of the author's personal connection to the subject, reading in the journal genre is engaging for the same reason. The author has presented the reader with a way to connect with the characters, the plot, the setting in a way that can be easily related to. Its almost like talking to a good friend about his experiences, instead of reading a dry impersonal account.
How can journal writing be used to engage students in efferent and aesthetic responses to what they read?
The aesthetic response is the easy one for me to answer - journal writing is all about writing down your musings and feeling on a subject. A teacher merely has to direct students to reflect on who they felt about an aspect or the whole of a reading. Students do not extensive direction for this kind of response. While students may need time to develop their abilities to communicate their feelings, most are able to look inside themselves to enunciate what they thought about something (confusion, dislike, hatred, happiness.... easily identifiable and easily written). But what about the efferent? (And as an aside, was I the only one confused by this word? Efferent as in moving away from an organ...the opposite of afferent...as in blood circulation. Or is my nerd showing again...?) The examples that we completed as part of Dr Jones' packet were good examples of efferent responses. Double entry diaries can help to develop predictions, define ideas, and develop comprehension. The simulated journal entry asks students to look back to the text for details and ideas given by the author and apply those to their own writing. The entry must be based on specific information and ideas in order to be complete.
In what ways does engaging the process of composing journal texts improve reading fluency and comprehension?
Tompkins (2012) notes that for emerging writers, fluency can be monitored in analysis of the length of student entries, the presence of "voice", the spelling of words and the increased abilities of these. I remember being in fourth grade and my (all time favorite teacher, by the way) teacher, Mrs Emelson, had us write journal entries every day. I was a terrible awful no good speller, and she had me circle words I knew that were incorrect, and later in the day we would look them up together. Journals can also be used to determine if students understand the information. If they are journals kept between the teacher and student, questions about content could be asked in a more private or personal manner.
Just realized that this is reading fluency, not writing fluency. Something that I remember Dr Jones saying would be a running theme. As in, how does writing in the journal genre help students improve their reading? My fall back for this answer, no matter the genre, is always going to be that writing helps students become conscious of how an author has constructed their text, and therefore helps students become conscious of what the author intends for them to glean from the text that they have composed. However... what about the journal genre specifically? Journals help students define their responses. Sometimes, writing out questions, thoughts, feelings, and the like helps students to later do this while reading, but in their heads. If a student becomes used to using a double entry diary to make predictions and then modify those predictions as they read on, then that same student will start to use that process automatically when reading other texts.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Learning Log Entry 3
For session 4 of this class, we met with our writing groups for our Genre Pieces Project. Of which I have been mightily skeptical about. Let me give you a little BDA breakdown.
Before writing groups:
Um ok. So I'm supposed to have a peer to edit my papers before I turn them in? I was completely confused by this, honestly. I have a very articulate and critical sister who loves to edit my papers... so why would I ask people who I don't even know to edit my work? What if they don't actually edit anything, or if their standards are much lower than mine? What if they change things about my paper that I really like? Or, worse of all, what if they don't give me any advice at all?
These worries stem from my own high school and undergraduate years. In high school, my very small town world, I was the best at everything. People came to me for edits and advice. I had to rely on my older sister because not one of my peers was writing at my level. In some ways it has made me snobbish in my writing, and skeptical of the abilities of others. My attitude was only justified further in college, when I was forced to take an intro to writing course (much to my juvenile frustration - as if my perfect score on the AP English exam meant squat to Geneseo). My peers failed to provide any comments on my work, even if I provided the most unedited form for their review. These people couldn't even find an errant comma.
During writing groups:
I began to understand that writing groups are more than just editing groups. They help with questions on the assignments, brainstorming for new and better ideas. They are a mutual confusion group, a clarification group. A "stay on task while the teacher is at a conference" group. I wasn't forced to keep pace with others who were behind or ahead of my progress.
I had already decided on my topic - rock and mineral collecting. Two people in my writing group had general ideas, and one hadn't a clue by the start of class. We spent a large portion of time reorganizing the syllabus to better understand the assignment, something that is exponentially helpful with peers (with an obvious carrying capacity). We collaborated and commiserated on finding helpful information on the internet. We chided each other to spend more time searching, even when we thought that we had all that we needed.
After writing groups:
I'm not really satisfied that I am truly "finished" with this writing group, so I am considering my after portion as merely the (not so) profound thoughts I have accumulated after our meeting for the first time.
Writing groups provide students with authentic experiences with the writing process. Since the teacher merely suggests in order to direct, and has expectation of certain tasks to be completed, students look to one another for support and are allowed to develop at a pace that is appropriate for their ability. I'm not saying that I've had a complete and powerful turn of opinion regarding writing groups. I'm saying that I can see their worth in the classroom...and the ways they transcend editing.
Before writing groups:
Um ok. So I'm supposed to have a peer to edit my papers before I turn them in? I was completely confused by this, honestly. I have a very articulate and critical sister who loves to edit my papers... so why would I ask people who I don't even know to edit my work? What if they don't actually edit anything, or if their standards are much lower than mine? What if they change things about my paper that I really like? Or, worse of all, what if they don't give me any advice at all?
These worries stem from my own high school and undergraduate years. In high school, my very small town world, I was the best at everything. People came to me for edits and advice. I had to rely on my older sister because not one of my peers was writing at my level. In some ways it has made me snobbish in my writing, and skeptical of the abilities of others. My attitude was only justified further in college, when I was forced to take an intro to writing course (much to my juvenile frustration - as if my perfect score on the AP English exam meant squat to Geneseo). My peers failed to provide any comments on my work, even if I provided the most unedited form for their review. These people couldn't even find an errant comma.
During writing groups:
I began to understand that writing groups are more than just editing groups. They help with questions on the assignments, brainstorming for new and better ideas. They are a mutual confusion group, a clarification group. A "stay on task while the teacher is at a conference" group. I wasn't forced to keep pace with others who were behind or ahead of my progress.
I had already decided on my topic - rock and mineral collecting. Two people in my writing group had general ideas, and one hadn't a clue by the start of class. We spent a large portion of time reorganizing the syllabus to better understand the assignment, something that is exponentially helpful with peers (with an obvious carrying capacity). We collaborated and commiserated on finding helpful information on the internet. We chided each other to spend more time searching, even when we thought that we had all that we needed.
After writing groups:
I'm not really satisfied that I am truly "finished" with this writing group, so I am considering my after portion as merely the (not so) profound thoughts I have accumulated after our meeting for the first time.
Writing groups provide students with authentic experiences with the writing process. Since the teacher merely suggests in order to direct, and has expectation of certain tasks to be completed, students look to one another for support and are allowed to develop at a pace that is appropriate for their ability. I'm not saying that I've had a complete and powerful turn of opinion regarding writing groups. I'm saying that I can see their worth in the classroom...and the ways they transcend editing.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Learning Log Entry 2
I have had the very fortunate opportunity to work with a writing workshop first hand in my substitute teaching. Palmyra-Macedon Middle School often calls for me to substitute for a special education teacher who is often out for curriculum writing and character education program training. In an effort to keep the classroom as consistent as possible, they use me as her sole sub – and (sadly for her, and luckily for me) she has had maybe three full weeks of classroom teaching days since October. On “B” days, the job requires me to push-in to Deanna’s ELA class down the hall. I knew Deanna from my student teaching days at Pal-Mac, and have respected her since for her persistence to complete all classroom activities “by the book” – ie. research based and tested for excellence. It’s an awesome class to be in: the kids know what is going to happen next, and truly learn reading and writing strategies. The whole ELA department at Pal-Mac Middle School is pretty great.
So Deanna has been doing a writing workshop in her classes for as long as I’ve known her…not very long, but it seems fairly seamless, so I imagine she has worked with it for some time. Every 80 minute writing block that she has (I should note that the kids have writing on B days and reading on A days – so they’re getting some form of literacy every day): they do a warm up for about 10 minutes, with independent reading until all students have caught up; then a mini lesson in some aspect of writing (last week was using adjectives to expand descriptions in their “Hero Story”); and then the rest of class devoted to peer groups to help identify parts of their story that can be helped by the mini lesson topic, teacher one-on-one conferences, and writing/editing/revising time. I can’t wait to push in again with my new knowledge of writing workshop. I never realized that writing workshop had so much to it, and I want to analyze and compare her process according to Hicks (2009), Tompkins (2012), and the other authors we discussed this week.
Since the students that Deanna works with are my students from my last student teaching placement and (let’s be super optimistic here for a moment) ideally my own students when Pal Mac realizes that I’m in training to be the world’s best science teacher and hires me, I’d like to consider Pal Mac for this analysis of students, space, and the subject of writing according to Hicks (2009) chapter 7. And then I’ll add in my “future needs” for my future classroom, and modify it all to fit in my science framework.
Pal Mac students are in the middle of this digital world. They are farm kids at heart (I can say it because I went to Wheatland-Chili – it takes one to know one) and that holds them back from being completely submersed in digital media. Their home communities do not provide them with the resources to be plugged in 24/7. I’m coming at this from the monetary angle: the average family doesn’t have enough money to buy each of their kids an iPad, and an iPod, and an iPhone, and a MacBook Air – unlike the sassy sweet Pittsford middle schooler that I nanny. But most kids have a cell phone, and an iPod. Some may have a personal laptop or other device. The other side comes from the school community. Pal Mac is fairly up to date in terms of school trends (unlike my own farm town alma mater), and has a classroom set of iPads, approximately half of the classrooms are equipped with SmartBoards, and they have an active technology education program set up where students receive lessons in computer use through the library (which includes programs like Excel and Word, as well as procedural use such as citing websites). Students text, use Facebook, and type their essays on a regular basis. But I would doubt that they see blogs as having any sort of equivalence to their DBQ’s. That “farm town” spirit keeps the attitude fairly old-fashioned in regards to technology.
Space is an interesting consideration at Pal-Mac. Single desks are common – double student “lab tables” are most common in science classrooms. There are laptops that can be borrowed from the library, and three teachers have classroom sets of laptops in their classrooms at all times. There are five desktop computers in each classroom and a computer lab adjacent to the library for whole class work. The five desktops are the biggest hassle, in my opinion. They are forever positioned on the table legs, so that students must either straddle the table leg to type, or lean to one side. Not comfortable.
My ideal writing workshop space would have designated places for certain activities. I would set up groups of lab tables – two facing each other, so that there would be four students to a group – on one side of the room. In this area, students could work in groups to edit and revise work, to brainstorm, and other group activities. On the other side, there would be a table for teacher-student conferences. I’ve always wanted a library in my classroom: bookshelves with books about science in different genres, so that students could explore science in other texts besides a textbook. Ideally, I would have a classroom set of laptops in my room – so that students could return to their grouped desks to work.
In terms of virtual space… it all depends on the type of work I’d like to see my students completing. In the past I have wanted to have interest journals for students to work on in down time or when they finish their work before their peers. Recently, I’ve been thinking about creating a wiki or forum where students can continue conversations online on various subjects (homework questions, observations of the real world, “how come did” inquiries, etc). Projects for sure: creating an informative website that explains the finer points of the solar system; creating multimedia presentations about adaptations of animals through time and evolution. But what about the things I’m not as comfortable with? If I had a set time every week reserved for writing workshop, what other ways could I use writing to help students construct meaning in science? Found poems, descriptive essays about earthquakes or cold fronts, biographies of scientists like Darwin or Hutton or Wegner, or a learning log like this one. Then again, why does it have to be text writing the way I’m used to? What about podcasts, musical recordings, poster projects. Writing workshop could be a time for learning outside of the Regents Standard Method. Oooh, what if they used the time to create Regents style questions and then shared with a peer to answer?!
I’m tempted to resolve this post with a neat and orderly ending… but I’m not going to. After all, I sense that “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Thank you Winston Churchill. The end of old school views of writing and text, and even of how I first started to think about writing workshops in science. I’ll be back to this post, to add and edit to my ideas in my comments – isn’t writing a recursive process after all? And really, there is so much more I need to consider to fully implement a writing workshop. Time is a serious nag on my mind - I could a writing workshop every four days with assignments that span topics and time. Or a whole week block of writing workshop for a project, and not return to it for a month. Or, 20-30 minutes out of an 80 minute block every single day. Maybe different units would call for different time schedules. And, of course, I can't even commit to a plan, because I don't have my own classroom, and I don't know what kind of resources, materials, administration, and co-workers I might have.
So Deanna has been doing a writing workshop in her classes for as long as I’ve known her…not very long, but it seems fairly seamless, so I imagine she has worked with it for some time. Every 80 minute writing block that she has (I should note that the kids have writing on B days and reading on A days – so they’re getting some form of literacy every day): they do a warm up for about 10 minutes, with independent reading until all students have caught up; then a mini lesson in some aspect of writing (last week was using adjectives to expand descriptions in their “Hero Story”); and then the rest of class devoted to peer groups to help identify parts of their story that can be helped by the mini lesson topic, teacher one-on-one conferences, and writing/editing/revising time. I can’t wait to push in again with my new knowledge of writing workshop. I never realized that writing workshop had so much to it, and I want to analyze and compare her process according to Hicks (2009), Tompkins (2012), and the other authors we discussed this week.
Since the students that Deanna works with are my students from my last student teaching placement and (let’s be super optimistic here for a moment) ideally my own students when Pal Mac realizes that I’m in training to be the world’s best science teacher and hires me, I’d like to consider Pal Mac for this analysis of students, space, and the subject of writing according to Hicks (2009) chapter 7. And then I’ll add in my “future needs” for my future classroom, and modify it all to fit in my science framework.
Pal Mac students are in the middle of this digital world. They are farm kids at heart (I can say it because I went to Wheatland-Chili – it takes one to know one) and that holds them back from being completely submersed in digital media. Their home communities do not provide them with the resources to be plugged in 24/7. I’m coming at this from the monetary angle: the average family doesn’t have enough money to buy each of their kids an iPad, and an iPod, and an iPhone, and a MacBook Air – unlike the sassy sweet Pittsford middle schooler that I nanny. But most kids have a cell phone, and an iPod. Some may have a personal laptop or other device. The other side comes from the school community. Pal Mac is fairly up to date in terms of school trends (unlike my own farm town alma mater), and has a classroom set of iPads, approximately half of the classrooms are equipped with SmartBoards, and they have an active technology education program set up where students receive lessons in computer use through the library (which includes programs like Excel and Word, as well as procedural use such as citing websites). Students text, use Facebook, and type their essays on a regular basis. But I would doubt that they see blogs as having any sort of equivalence to their DBQ’s. That “farm town” spirit keeps the attitude fairly old-fashioned in regards to technology.
Space is an interesting consideration at Pal-Mac. Single desks are common – double student “lab tables” are most common in science classrooms. There are laptops that can be borrowed from the library, and three teachers have classroom sets of laptops in their classrooms at all times. There are five desktop computers in each classroom and a computer lab adjacent to the library for whole class work. The five desktops are the biggest hassle, in my opinion. They are forever positioned on the table legs, so that students must either straddle the table leg to type, or lean to one side. Not comfortable.
My ideal writing workshop space would have designated places for certain activities. I would set up groups of lab tables – two facing each other, so that there would be four students to a group – on one side of the room. In this area, students could work in groups to edit and revise work, to brainstorm, and other group activities. On the other side, there would be a table for teacher-student conferences. I’ve always wanted a library in my classroom: bookshelves with books about science in different genres, so that students could explore science in other texts besides a textbook. Ideally, I would have a classroom set of laptops in my room – so that students could return to their grouped desks to work.
In terms of virtual space… it all depends on the type of work I’d like to see my students completing. In the past I have wanted to have interest journals for students to work on in down time or when they finish their work before their peers. Recently, I’ve been thinking about creating a wiki or forum where students can continue conversations online on various subjects (homework questions, observations of the real world, “how come did” inquiries, etc). Projects for sure: creating an informative website that explains the finer points of the solar system; creating multimedia presentations about adaptations of animals through time and evolution. But what about the things I’m not as comfortable with? If I had a set time every week reserved for writing workshop, what other ways could I use writing to help students construct meaning in science? Found poems, descriptive essays about earthquakes or cold fronts, biographies of scientists like Darwin or Hutton or Wegner, or a learning log like this one. Then again, why does it have to be text writing the way I’m used to? What about podcasts, musical recordings, poster projects. Writing workshop could be a time for learning outside of the Regents Standard Method. Oooh, what if they used the time to create Regents style questions and then shared with a peer to answer?!
I’m tempted to resolve this post with a neat and orderly ending… but I’m not going to. After all, I sense that “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Thank you Winston Churchill. The end of old school views of writing and text, and even of how I first started to think about writing workshops in science. I’ll be back to this post, to add and edit to my ideas in my comments – isn’t writing a recursive process after all? And really, there is so much more I need to consider to fully implement a writing workshop. Time is a serious nag on my mind - I could a writing workshop every four days with assignments that span topics and time. Or a whole week block of writing workshop for a project, and not return to it for a month. Or, 20-30 minutes out of an 80 minute block every single day. Maybe different units would call for different time schedules. And, of course, I can't even commit to a plan, because I don't have my own classroom, and I don't know what kind of resources, materials, administration, and co-workers I might have.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Learning Log Entry 1
My background is in science education - I realized during my student teaching that there is a huge hole where literacy education needs to be addressed in adolescent content specific classrooms. I couldn't teach about velocity differences between primary and secondary earthquake waves when my students were reading at a fourth grade level, didn't know how to approach a graph, and AIS was considered a time to do homework, not work on reading or writing skills. Thus far, I've identified the problem. However, I recognize that I am just begining to discover the solutions.
My students should leave my classroom at the end of the year with an appreciation for science, and enhanced reading/writing skills. There should be time for reading, writing, and sharing ideas through many forms of communication. I want my students to feel comfortable communicating the sometimes complex points of science through writing. Writing is a continuous process that evolves and improves with time and practice. Which is the same as the scientific method: define a topic, brainstorm all that you already know on the topic, propose a question and an answer to your question, approach data collection carefully and fully, determine if the evidence supports or refutes your proposed answer, return to the question to determine continuation.
Even in these first few classes, I can start to see my future classroom taking shape through a lens of writing practice. Perhaps a classroom website that explores the solar system through student created pages. Reflection notebooks where students can record questions, new discoveries, or thoughts on a science topic. Maybe my students will look forward to long answer questions on the Regents instead of the multiple choice...but that might be pushing it.
Welcome!
Ta-Da! My very first post for LTED 618 - Reading Improvement Through Written Expression at Nazareth College! This blog will develop over the coming semester as a tool for relfection on readings, significant learnings, and thoughts on how writing influences my own reading abilities.
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