Vocabulary

          The past few semesters, we have learned how to use strategies to teach vocabulary. Before that, I thought of teaching vocabulary as giving a student a list of words and a dictionary. That is all I can remember doing when it came to vocabulary. If the word was not part of my everyday vocabulary, I lost it. I only committed the definitions to memory long enough for the test. In fact, I can remember attempting to do this my senior year of high school. My teacher would give us a packet. Each day, we had to complete a page of the packet. Most of the words for the week were words I had never heard before. I couldn't even pronounce most of them. The only practice we got for vocabulary was what we did in the packets. Therefore, I never learned the vocabulary. The vocabulary test was pre-made test that was combined with our spelling so not all of the definitions were on the test. Because of this, I would barely pass the tests. If it would have included all of the definitions, I would have never made it.  There was only one year I can remember receiving proper instruction for vocabulary throughout my career as a student.
            My ninth grade year, my teacher would give us a list of twenty words each week. We were responsible for writing a definition and a sentence for each word. After we had a chance to do that, we would go over each word as a class. As we discussed each word, we would come up with one word that would help us associate the word to the definition. This made learning vocabulary so much easier and very effective. It is definitely a strategy I would consider using in my future classroom.
            During our tutoring sessions, we have been using different strategies for learning vocabulary. One of the strategies we used resembled one of the strategies the book used for math. The word would go in the middle. To the top left of the word, the student would write a simple definition. To the top right of the word, the student would write synonyms of the word. To the bottom left of the word, the student would use the word in a sentence. To the bottom right of the word, the student would illustrate the word. I found that this helped my student learn the word and remember it easily. I have also seen this strategy used in science when I tutor at work.
            I feel that it is important for teachers to implement as many strategies as possible to help students learn vocabulary. Students need these strategies to help commit these words to memory. This will help aid the students in comprehension. If the student is able to learn the word and use it correctly, achieving academically becomes easier.   

chapter 5

Now, that I'm a future teacher, it's funny to see how my views have changed. Now, I am all for higher order thinking questions; however, when I was in high school, those were the kinds of questions I loathed. I did not want to hear a question where I had to put two and two together in order to get the answer. I wanted it cut and dry. I remember in high school, I had a Biology II teacher that would ask several higher order thinking questions to help us learn the material. In fact, if he asked a question, he would not go on until it was answered; he refused to give us the answer. As much as I hated it then, I see now how much that helped me learn. Because I wasn't just given an answer or asked a question that required a simple answer, I retained more of the material. Not only was he helping me learn Biology II, he was giving me strategies that I could use in other classes in order to better myself as a student, although I did not realize that at the time. Now, that I am going to be a teacher, I see the importance of having students think for themselves. One of the reason school was so boring was we were mostly just handed answers. We did not have to work for much. After reading chapter 5, I have learned some new strategies to help my students become genuine thinkers. I find that the SQ3R strategy can be useful when reading to learn. I feel like if I would have used this strategy before now, I would have done a lot better on some of the quizzes I have taken throughout my student career. Also, I love all of the mathematical strategies because I personally am a math person and plan to teach math. I personally like the reciprocal teaching method This allows students to learn from other students. It also make students feel important becuase they discovered how to do something on their own. Also, I am a firm believer in you learn 100% what you teach. Also, I think that it makes you feel better when you learn something on your own. Contrary to what I said before about how I like questions to be cut and dry, when it comes to something I am intersted in, I like to figure it out on my own. It makes me feel like I have accomplished something, and I feel good about myself. Why not give our students this opportunity?

Note Taking

I like how the article states, "Although it is important to teach students how to take and use notes effectively, educators also have a responsibility to organize their lectures in ways that make it possible to create notes." I couldn't stand when I had a teacher that would mostly lecture the whole class period and talked non-stop, which didn't give you much time to record notes while listening effectively. Then, on top of that, their lecture is unorganized. I like to have my notes organized by topics, and if I'm taking hand written notes, it's hard to go back and insert pieces of information because the teacher is skipping around. I also like how this chapter models for us how we can help our students become better note takers and note makers. When I was in high school, I can't remember learning how to take notes from a lecture. Most of the time, the notes I had were either handed to us to study, or they were guided notes to follow along with a power point or chapter. If we ever did have to write anything, we were told, "Write this down." I feel like we were babied too much and never learned how to become independent note takers. or note makers. When I came to USM, I learned real quick that I was not an effective note taker. I can remember being in CIV 101 and missing have the lecture because I was trying to write down everything the instructor said instead of the things that were most important.  I knew that I wasn't supposed to write down everything, I just had a hard time deciphering what was important and if the things I thought were important were the same things that he thought were important. However, this instructor did something that helped me with taking effective notes. Before each lecture, he would write a list of key terms on the board in the order that they would appear in the lecture. This not only kept him organized, but it also helped me keep my notes organized.  There was another instructor that I had at USM who taught calculus. When he would write examples and definitions on the board, he would write it on the board in an organized way in which we could mimic. He would also tells to write something down if it was something that we really needed to make sure that we knew it. Although I took that class 2 years ago, I feel that I could look back on those notes and be able to know how to do the operations. In conclusion, I feel that it is important that teachers model for students how to take notes so that the students can look back on the notes later and actually understand what they wrote.  Saying that, the teacher also needs to make sure that her lecture is "note taking friendly" to ensure that the students are able to take effective notes.

Picture This! Reflection

1. "...when the sole purpose of a graphic organizer becomes filling it out correctly, it is nothing more than a worksheet."  I picked this quote from the book because it made me think of how we used graphic organizers in school. Most of the time, it was something we turned in for a grade, and we completed them like a worksheet. I think that considering how the graphic organizer is to be used is very important. I think that we need to know how to use them in the classroom to where they will be beneficial to the students instead of using them as a worksheet.

2. How do you keep a graphic organizer part of everyday instruction without it turning into a worksheet?

3. Last week I substituted for a third grade class, and I had to go over concept maps. I made one on the board to model for them how to create one. After they completed their concept map, they had to use it to write a descriptive paragraph about their topic. My favorite was one a little boy did. He brought his to me and asked me to look at it. He decided to do his on Spiderman. They only had to write six things to describe their topic, but he had ten things. I handed it back to him and said, "This is great. You sure do know alot about Spiderman." He looked up at me and said, "Well, yeah, I'm kinda his biggest fan." This chapter brought me back to that experience since it was all about graphic organizers.

Text Article and Chapter 4 Reflection

                Read alouds have always been one of my favorites. I like how read alouds put every student on the same playing field. Since below level readers may stumble over words and struggle to get to the end of the paragraph, they generally do not worry about comprehending the text because their goal is to finish reading the text. However, when they are able to listen to the text being read to them, they do not have to worry about getting the words right. They are able to clear their mind and use their listening comprehension. Another key aspect of read alouds is allowing the students to communicate with each other about what was read. I like this because it allows students to feed off of each other. What one student got from the text may not be the same as another due to different background knowledge and experiences.

                After reading the article, it made me realize how hard it is for elementary students to focus on the main ideas of a book because they pay more attention to the pictures. However, don't teachers bring this upon themselves? When introducing a book, do they not do a "picture walk" and ask the students to predict what is going on by looking at the pictures? Teachers condition the students to pay attention to the illustrations of a book to help them with the story so why would read alouds be any different? If teachers want the students to focus more on the text, then teachers need to teach the students how to hone in on important details. As a teacher, it is our job to teach the students how to think more  in debt into the text.  As the article started talking about questions to aid in comprehension, I thought about past experiences. Most teachers that I had in elementary school asked the one word answer questions and then praised us for getting it right. Then, they were content with thinking that we were comprehending what the story was actually about. I like how the article emphasized asking questions that stimulated critical thinking and then using student answers to come up with more questions to guide their thoughts. I also like that the article also stated that it is important to allow the students time to think about what was just read.

                After reading chapter 4, I became more familiar with how to use read alouds in a secondary classroom. At the beginning, the chapter mentioned how important it was for the students to have a copy of the text or at least be able to see it. I also feel that is important, but I do not feel that if you are doing a read aloud that it is imperative for the students to follow along with text. As we saw in class last Tuesday, some people were able to comprehend the text being read aloud better because they had it in front of them, whereas others, were distracted. The chapter also mentioned allowing the students to talk about the text either whole group or small group. Again, I think that this is important because you get to see others' perspectives.

                The chapter talked about a strategy called "zinger questions." The students come up with questions for other groups to answer. If the other groups cannot answer the question, then the group asking the question gets a point.  I thought that this was pretty cool because it motivates the students and appears to be a strategy that forces students to learn without them knowing they are learning. Another strategy mentioned in the chapter that I liked was the peer tutoring. The reason that I like this is pretty simple: if you have to teach it, then you learn it 100%. Finally, I liked how the chapter stated that as a teacher, you cannot go into a lesson or in this case a book not prepared.  In order to give your students the full  benefit of a read aloud. Students know when a teacher is just winging a lesson and has not put in his full potential. This shows students that it is acceptable for them to do it, too.  

Chapter 8

I have never really given much thought to putting math and writing together. Although I do know the amount of pressure that is forced upon teachers to incorporate writing into all content areas. I have always thought of math as just numbers. It is a lot easier to see how writing fits into other areas. For history, the students can write an essay about people, major events, etc. In science, students keep logs of their experiments and take notes on their observations. Then, English is all about writing, and reading and writing complement each other. But as for math, I thought that this is where students got a break from writing. The only form of writing I have had to do for math is write an essay about a mathematician. However, this chapter has showed me how incorporating writing is important.

                One thing I liked about the chapter was it talked about having the students write down everything they already know about a topic and any questions they have about the topic before it is discussed. I like this because it prepares the students for learning. This also lets the teacher know exactly how much the students already understand about the concept, which lets the teacher know where she needs to begin her teaching. However, if the students are doing this at the beginning of class and are writing about the day's topic, when does the teacher have time to read the students' responses before teaching the concept? If the idea is to use the responses to gauge where you begin teaching, then, doing it the morning of defeats the purpose. I think I would do this at the end of the class period before I planned on teaching the concept. Then, I would be able to use their responses to shape my teaching.

                Another thing I liked that the chapter mentioned is explaining how and why you answered a math problem the way you did. I like this because it lets the teacher know that the student truly understands what he is doing or if he is just guessing. I also think this is a great way to help students gather their thoughts and keep their thoughts organized without becoming overwhelmed.

                The reason I have mainly focused on math is I want to be a fourth grade math teacher. Therefore, the ways to incorporate writing to learn math stuck out to me the most. However, I did like the RAFT approach which can be used in all content areas. I think that this would have helped me tremendously in history because I had a hard time concentrating on the main idea. All I did was memorize what I needed to know for the test and then I forgot it. I feel that if I would have been given a strategy like RAFT, I would have been able to actually learn what it is I needed to learn. Ina conclusion, I think that the ideas in this chapter should be carried with us to our future classroom because using writing to learn is instrumental in helping students understand. This chapter also left me with a question. What can you do for the students who struggle with conveying their thoughts through writing?

Response to Moss article

The article focuses mainly on giving students the opportunity to read more informative text at a younger age. I agree with this to an extent. I feel that when children begin to learn how to read, they need to read something that sparks their interests. The students should be allowed to read whatever it is they like to read in the early years, whether it be a children's book or a baseball card. Before students begin to read for comprehension, they need to be fluent in their reading so I do not think it should matter what they are reading as long as they are reading. However, I do not object that the students should have more access to informative text. I feel that students should have a variety of text available to them. Once students are able to comprehend what they read, why would they not be able to comprehend informative text if they can comprehend narrative text?
     The article also mentions that a majority of the time, teachers read informative textbooks to the students. For our lab today, we talked about this. Teachers read the textbook or a book to the students while the students follow along in their book, and then, the teacher ask questions. When the students reply with the correct answers to the questions, teachers think that the students are comprehending the text. When in reality, the teachers are only testing their listening comprehension. This practice does not ensure that the student could read the same text on their own and comprehend it. While discussing this, we tested the readability of some elementary textbooks. The textbook that I had was for a fourth grade science class. Its readability turned out to be on a ninth grade level. In fact, a majority of the text books turned out to be way over the grade level. How can you expect a fourth grader to read this information on his own when it is not even on his grade level? 
       Another thing that stood out to me in the article is it mentioned several strategies to test a student's comprehension. I substitute a lot, and I see that schools use Accelerated Reader to get students to read more. They read a book and then take a test to determine if the student is comprehending what they read. As they answer questions correctly, they gain points. Once the student has earned so many points, they get a prize. Each student has a goal, and if he doesn't meet his goal, he is penalized by not being able to participate in something fun. I am sure this started with good intentions; however, I see that students are merely picking up a book, not reading it, and taking a test on it to see if they can guess correctly enough to get points. I think they would be better off by using some of the strategies mentioned in the article like learning logs, fact books, alphabet books, etc.
     Finally, the article made the comment that elementary children choose to read informational texts over narrative text almost half of the time. If informational text is what motivating students to read, then why not allow students access to it? In conclusion, I feel that students should be exposed to a variety of text throughout their reading experiences.