Chapters 10, 11, and 12

In these few chapters I'd like to point out one concept that I really feel passionate about. When it talked about conferencing with a writer one on one, I saw the point of letting the child know one thing they did well. A couple of the phrases that can be used are "One strength I notice about your writing is, or so one thing I notice that you do well as a writer is..." I feel so strong about beginning with a positive in a conference with a teacher, because as a child I can hardly recall moments where my teacher did this. Conferences began with the problem and how to fix that problem. After these types of meetings there really was no way you could come out of them feeling positive about yourself as a student in school. If you begin with the positive at least the child has something to remember, and maybe say...."well I need work on this, however the teacher did say that I was really excelled when it came to this." Next, when working on fixing a problem in writing, I also feel it's best to use the student's work as the example. If I were to use an example of something the student did wrong from an old paper I have in my records, I feel the instruction may be dismissed. But since the work and ideas flowed from this particular student, then they are more likely to understand and connect, and also see how to fix the area they are struggling with. I also agreed with the idea of group conferences which I believe I touched in a little in my previous blog. If the actual lesson was previously taught, and I as a teacher notice a few students who are still having trouble, say adding periods to the end of sentences. There is no need to teach the entire lesson again, but I see it would be more sufficient to conduct a group conference. So in a way I'm kind of killing two birds with one stone, I'm not taking valuable class time away from all students, and I'm still almost giving an individual lesson to a smaller group of students. Which allows for more one on one time.

Chapters 7, 8, & 9

Being a preservice teacher, I'm finding out more and more about teaching everyday. I've heard the term mini-lesson used lightly throughout my educational career, but I've not really had a 'lesson' on mini-lessons. After learning about them, I find them to be great! I remember the video we watched in class with the small group of students were not grasping the concept of using quotation marks in dialogue. While the class was working on individual work, the teacher took a small group of students aside with her, and presented a mini-lesson on using quotations in dialogue. This was a great example of using a mini lesson, because instead of either working one on one with students or reteaching an entire lesson on using quotation marks to the entire class which is time consuming, a short ten minute lesson can be useful to just tie up a few loose ends and adressing only the student's who are struggling. Also, I really liked the idea of using student writings as an example! What a great idea!!! When I have a conference with a student who is doing well in a specfic craft, I can create an overhead of his or her work and use it as an example to the class after I use the example I create. I believe this would be a great way to not only to boost the morale of that particular student, but maybe by using an example of another student it would be easier for the class to understand since it was created by a student of their level. Next, I feel that observations and conferences is one of the best ways to work and improve a student. I think a great example of using a conference would be when they complete an individual writing and there are a few words that are unclear to the teacher, then they can use the conference to maybe draw on what the student is doing to create these types of spellings or ideas etc..

Teaching More Descriptive Writing

After reading this chapter, I found it so interesting that there are so many techniques to teaching writing. Having taken so many writing courses, I guess all of the different techniques that I have developed to make my writing style my own has just become latent knowledge that I recall every once in a while when I'm writing. The one example that I really liked the most in this reading was the idea of using the five senses in creating better writing. First, it's a standard that children need to learn their five senses, so this is a great way to incorporate two different subjects into one over the same topic. I saw that using the topic of a beach is a great way to allow students to really explore all five senses. Their descriptions could range anywhere from the sound of seagulls, to the taste of the salty water, to the sight of the vast and never ending ocean, to the feel of the hot sand beneath their toes. The options are endless! Also, I found that with with just the small writing example that we were given in class that there were so many options on how to help this student in writing! However, I would have liked to know just exactly what order is best to use when presenting these ideas. I know that it would be too intense to just hand a student a list of all of these examples, or to present them into one lecture. So, this is why I would like to know is....After I examine the student's writing do I just pick which one I think they need to elaborate on more? Or is there a sequence to these different specific crafts that we have been presented with?

Coffee Shop Literacy Dig...

While I sat there for thirty minutes in the coffee shop I felt uneasy. I wondered if anyone knew that I was watching them. I do not believe I have ever just sat in a public place and deliberatly listened to someones conversation. Seeing that it was the first week of school, there were many college kids inside the coffee shop just talking. Very few were actually studying, with the exception of a few people on the outside. The noise level inside the facility was a lot louder than normal I thought. The time of day was later in the afternoon, which is one of the factors of the noise level I believed. Also, the fact that many students have almost none of very few studying to accomplish. The coffee shop atmosphere made you relax. There were giant, plush couches for one to sit upon. Which is where most of the people there that were talking about miscellanious topics, such as one girls wedding, professors, and class schedules, were sitting. However, there were actual tables with chairs spread throughout the coffee shop as well. Which allowed for a more formal meeting type setting or single tables with one chair that would allow for a studying or reading type setting. I feel that the coffee shop was set up this was to allow a place for everyone and their interests. However, I have not and still probably will not go their if I ever needed to study, due to the loud noises by the coffee shop's machienes and the closeness of the couches, tables, and chairs. Which for me personally would not allow me concentrate fully on my task at hand.

Developing Spelling Strategies...

CHIEKCSEROS?! (Circus) Wow!!! In my few years of student teaching I had never seen such an elaborate spelling before. I found this article enjoyable to read, due the fact that it addressed several points about spelling that I had never even thought of. Well to be honest, I had not heard of these techniques. I recall in my personal elementary school days, receiving a spelling list of twenty words a week, memorizing them, then being able to spit them back out on a piece of paper. If I missed more than the required amount, I had to take the test again on Friday, however, if I received a perfect score on the first test, I didn't have to take the next spelling test and was allowed to read a book while the Friday test was being given. What I found most interesting in this article was the dicussion on Alison and Erica. Being a pre-service teacher, I would have believed that it would have been unacceptable or maybe looked down upon is a better way to phrase it, for the girls to be asking each other how to spell words, because it is most likely that the words are going to be spelled incorrectly in the end. I would've thought that it would've been better to look the word up in a reliable source to see the correct spelling, but thanks to this article I see that yes, the spellings were still incorrect, but atleast the girls were collaborative in their spellings. Therefore, they both were learning and not doing as I had done as a student, which was just spitting the words back out from memory. Now they have a much deeper understanding of not only the words they are trying to spell, but a greater understanding of spelling as a whole!

That's Online Writing Article...

Well, after reading this article I could say that I have learned a lot. I guess you could call me old fashioned or at least that's the way that feel likenow, because I have never "blogged" nor heard of blogging in my life! But technology is always changing, and I can not become one of them stubborn people who refuse to try new things. So now the real focus of this blog should be the article...
"That's online writing, not boring school writing":Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project.
First, I found it very interesting that IU is using this technology to teach preservice teachers. I love this idea!! I find that the more I am around children and classrooms as a preservice teacher myself, the more I feel prepared for having my own classroom in the future. And with a busy class and extra curricular schedule it is sometimes difficult to get into a real classroom and work with students on a daily/weekly/ or even monthly schedule! Also, I would like to address the fact that my generation is reliant on technology and that pen and paper is becoming more and more old fashioned in a way. From personal experience, I know that when I am forced to write something on a sheet of paper I feel useless and uninspired, however if I am given a computer and say for instance, this new blog I'm working on, I find it much easier to write! I know that if I am this way, then the generation below me is even more reliant on technology, and a piece of paper and pencil is probably unknown to them! Therefore, if teachers of today and tomorrow make a valid effort to keep up with the changing technology that is popular to their student's, the words "take our your journals, it's time for another journal entry," then a loud groan from the pupils should never be heard again!!

Be339

This is my official first blog ever...
Testing 123