December 12th, 2014
Jared Weisberg
I was extremely fortunate enough to have been apart of the technological era when it comes to the school setting. Meaning, I grew up when the Smartboard became the popular new use and seeing a chalkboard made the school seem 30 years older than what it actually was. We see technology changing and advancing everyday around us and the best part is that in can be both beneficial and educational. Technology can be used in the classroom in numerous manners. First and foremost, my favorite part about the Smartboard was the educational games you could play with them. For instance, you can create Test, Quiz, or final review games such as Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, or Deal or No Deal. These games engage the classroom in a fun, educational, and exciting manner. I can personally state this because I've witnessed first hand how useful these games are and how much fun countless students have with them. On the other hand, technology through smart apps has helped us greatly. Whether it's apps being used to help individuals with disabilities or apps used like Quizlet to help us review, we acknowledge and emphasize how vital apps truly are. The main message I'm trying to point out is that technology has increasingly help us improve our educational setting. Despite the fact, it can also hurt us in a few aspects. For example, although technology is very useful and engaging, it may also be a tool used for "the easy way out". Meaning, students may take for granted how thankful they're to be able to use such desirable technological tools and as a result, they don't put as much dedication or hard work into a homework or project because they know how easy they can use technology to find the answers. This would be my main worry as a future educator since I want my students to put a 100% effort into everything they complete. I will have to manage a proper amount of technology use in my classroom so that students don't heavily rely on it as much. As a conclusion, as one can observe, technology has countless benefits but their are always some red flags with so many benefits. In order to maintain proper balance of technology in my future classroom, I will have to carefully organize a proper lesson plan each day that allows the right amount of usage with technological tools. I want students to always be on their toes and ready for any challenges with or without technology. I strongly believe that if I maintain a equal balance of technology use in my future classroom, then I will get the best out of each and everyone of my students. Technology is beautiful but we need to make sure we respect it and use it when it's the right time, we don't want to rely on it so heavily that we become a robot ourselves.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Donald Graves Chapter 7 and Chapter 4
Jared Weisberg
November 3rd, 2014
Donald Graves did an outstanding job with informing us how important writing is in the classroom and what we need to do as future teachers to get the best out of each and every student in writing. In Chapter 4, "Day One: Help Children To Write and Keep Writing" we acknowledge and observe that their are three main elements when dealing with writing in the classroom. Those elements are discovering topic, conducting writing conferences, and sharing your writing. When students are discovering a topic to write about they are putting passion and personal interest into their writing since they get to choose what they want to write about. As a result, you will observe students writing more and putting passion into their work. Then we conduct conferences with our fellow peers if they are of proper age or we conduct conferences with the teacher. During these conferences teachers will be able to observe were their students stand and what they need to work on and improve. Lastly, we share our work with the entire class or other classrooms so we can allow a different set of eyes to view the work. Doing this will not only give the reader more ideas about his or her writing but it also allows the reader to give suggestions and tips for the writer. As one can see, students are getting the most out of their writing by following these three simple elements. I personally believe that these three elements are a fantastic way to introduce writing into the classroom since I have experienced first hand in my past Elementary classrooms.
Chapter 7, "Conditions For Effective Writing" was very intriguing and helpful to me because it explains the importance of writing everyday and what your going to get out of your students by doing that. For instance, this chapter emphasized how you should always dedicate a sufficient amount of time per day for writing. By doing so, your allowing yourself to stress the importance of writing to students but to also make time for Mini-lessons, conferences, demonstration, and self-evaluation. I can vividly remember never writing everyday during my past experiences but after reading this article, I wish my teachers did allow us 45 minutes per day to write. I feel that if my past teachers followed this same method, I would have been a more developed writer a young age since I had so much practice and experience on my hand. However, luckily this chapter stresses the importance of writing everyday and how much you can gain from it. Now I understand how I want to conduct my future classroom when it comes to writing because this chapter showed me how much one can learn from writing each and everyday.
November 3rd, 2014
Donald Graves did an outstanding job with informing us how important writing is in the classroom and what we need to do as future teachers to get the best out of each and every student in writing. In Chapter 4, "Day One: Help Children To Write and Keep Writing" we acknowledge and observe that their are three main elements when dealing with writing in the classroom. Those elements are discovering topic, conducting writing conferences, and sharing your writing. When students are discovering a topic to write about they are putting passion and personal interest into their writing since they get to choose what they want to write about. As a result, you will observe students writing more and putting passion into their work. Then we conduct conferences with our fellow peers if they are of proper age or we conduct conferences with the teacher. During these conferences teachers will be able to observe were their students stand and what they need to work on and improve. Lastly, we share our work with the entire class or other classrooms so we can allow a different set of eyes to view the work. Doing this will not only give the reader more ideas about his or her writing but it also allows the reader to give suggestions and tips for the writer. As one can see, students are getting the most out of their writing by following these three simple elements. I personally believe that these three elements are a fantastic way to introduce writing into the classroom since I have experienced first hand in my past Elementary classrooms.
Chapter 7, "Conditions For Effective Writing" was very intriguing and helpful to me because it explains the importance of writing everyday and what your going to get out of your students by doing that. For instance, this chapter emphasized how you should always dedicate a sufficient amount of time per day for writing. By doing so, your allowing yourself to stress the importance of writing to students but to also make time for Mini-lessons, conferences, demonstration, and self-evaluation. I can vividly remember never writing everyday during my past experiences but after reading this article, I wish my teachers did allow us 45 minutes per day to write. I feel that if my past teachers followed this same method, I would have been a more developed writer a young age since I had so much practice and experience on my hand. However, luckily this chapter stresses the importance of writing everyday and how much you can gain from it. Now I understand how I want to conduct my future classroom when it comes to writing because this chapter showed me how much one can learn from writing each and everyday.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Every Mark On The Page
Jared Weisberg
Article "Every Mark On The Page"
October 26th, 2014
"Every Mark on the Page" was a very interesting article with countless beneficial information for primary teachers. I state this because in this specific article we were given examples of what kindergartener's writing would look like and how it effects parents. For instance, it was clearly demonstrated that parents become very displeased and worried when their child has numerous spelling errors, fluency issues or grammatical errors. As a result, this upsets parents because they feel as if their child should be succeeding at a higher level and it makes them think that their child won't be prepared for the next grade level. Despite the fact, what the parents don't understand is that it's all about the development of the child as a writer and not how many mistakes they make. Meaning, this is extremely common for students in the primary grade levels to struggle at first and it's important that parents understand that. If parents don't, then they may put to much pressure on themselves as well as their child and take the fun out of writing because they make it to serious. Without mistakes, children are unable to grow as writers and learn from their errors. I thought this article did an outstanding job of how to prepare primary teachers to react to parent's who seem extremely worried about their child. Specifically, the idea of an open house. Open houses are a terrific way for teachers to connect with parents and explain to them one on one were their child is and the progress he or she has made. These conferences help calm and relax parents since they realize this is the norm and they get personal advice from the teacher on how to encourage their child at home with writing or reading practices. As stated in the article, "good parent education is part of a quality spelling program. However, I would like to expand that to say 'and a quality writing program as well'" (Cusumano 17). As one can see, parents can help their child's building capabilities at home once they speak to the teacher at open house. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article because the author made some critical points. I strongly believe that parents can have a major impact on their child's educational growth and it's important as future educators that we make sure that impact is on a positive way. Just because their child may not be succeeding at such a high level doesn't mean that haven't progressed as a learner. Parents needs to understand that mistakes are a great thing because it helps the student grow and become a stronger educator since they learn from their mistakes.
Article "Every Mark On The Page"
October 26th, 2014
"Every Mark on the Page" was a very interesting article with countless beneficial information for primary teachers. I state this because in this specific article we were given examples of what kindergartener's writing would look like and how it effects parents. For instance, it was clearly demonstrated that parents become very displeased and worried when their child has numerous spelling errors, fluency issues or grammatical errors. As a result, this upsets parents because they feel as if their child should be succeeding at a higher level and it makes them think that their child won't be prepared for the next grade level. Despite the fact, what the parents don't understand is that it's all about the development of the child as a writer and not how many mistakes they make. Meaning, this is extremely common for students in the primary grade levels to struggle at first and it's important that parents understand that. If parents don't, then they may put to much pressure on themselves as well as their child and take the fun out of writing because they make it to serious. Without mistakes, children are unable to grow as writers and learn from their errors. I thought this article did an outstanding job of how to prepare primary teachers to react to parent's who seem extremely worried about their child. Specifically, the idea of an open house. Open houses are a terrific way for teachers to connect with parents and explain to them one on one were their child is and the progress he or she has made. These conferences help calm and relax parents since they realize this is the norm and they get personal advice from the teacher on how to encourage their child at home with writing or reading practices. As stated in the article, "good parent education is part of a quality spelling program. However, I would like to expand that to say 'and a quality writing program as well'" (Cusumano 17). As one can see, parents can help their child's building capabilities at home once they speak to the teacher at open house. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article because the author made some critical points. I strongly believe that parents can have a major impact on their child's educational growth and it's important as future educators that we make sure that impact is on a positive way. Just because their child may not be succeeding at such a high level doesn't mean that haven't progressed as a learner. Parents needs to understand that mistakes are a great thing because it helps the student grow and become a stronger educator since they learn from their mistakes.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Teaching Phonemic Awareness
Jared Weisberg
October 19th, 2014
Phonemic Awareness
The article that I have read and I'm willing to elaborate more on is, Teaching Phonemic Awareness, written by Rasinski and Padak. In this article we were introduced to phonemic awareness and what exactly the definition is and how to incorporate strategies into your classroom. Phonemic awareness refers to, "a person's awareness of speech sounds smaller than a syllable and the ability to manipulate those sounds through such tasks as blending and segmenting sounds in words" (Rasinski and Padak 43). As on can assume, phonics is almost the gradual step into what separates the great readers from the poor readers. As a result, it's in our best interest as Elementary School Teachers, we implement these strategies and activities into the classroom in order to help each and every student become stronger phonemically. I can recall a moment in Elementary School when our teacher gave us a sheet with sentences that hard words very similar to one another but one wasn't correct while the other was. The objective of the worksheet was to have the students acknowledge the similar syllables and how the words can rhyme but being able to word recognize what was correct. I found this worksheet to be helpful but wished we did more like this in order to increase our knowledge on phonemic awareness. Overall, the main point I gained out of this article was phonemic awareness is essential for phonics and reading success, however, in order to find great success in your classroom we need to have a wide variety of strategies, activities and techniques in order to teach all children and find success.
October 19th, 2014
Phonemic Awareness
The article that I have read and I'm willing to elaborate more on is, Teaching Phonemic Awareness, written by Rasinski and Padak. In this article we were introduced to phonemic awareness and what exactly the definition is and how to incorporate strategies into your classroom. Phonemic awareness refers to, "a person's awareness of speech sounds smaller than a syllable and the ability to manipulate those sounds through such tasks as blending and segmenting sounds in words" (Rasinski and Padak 43). As on can assume, phonics is almost the gradual step into what separates the great readers from the poor readers. As a result, it's in our best interest as Elementary School Teachers, we implement these strategies and activities into the classroom in order to help each and every student become stronger phonemically. I can recall a moment in Elementary School when our teacher gave us a sheet with sentences that hard words very similar to one another but one wasn't correct while the other was. The objective of the worksheet was to have the students acknowledge the similar syllables and how the words can rhyme but being able to word recognize what was correct. I found this worksheet to be helpful but wished we did more like this in order to increase our knowledge on phonemic awareness. Overall, the main point I gained out of this article was phonemic awareness is essential for phonics and reading success, however, in order to find great success in your classroom we need to have a wide variety of strategies, activities and techniques in order to teach all children and find success.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Field Experience
Jared Weisberg
October 6th, 2014
Field Work
Field experience this year is completely different from last year and I'm glad because I'm able to get vital experience. For instance, last year I was a helping hand in the classroom rather than being assigned to a specific student. Meaning, last year I would make copies, help students who struggled, and sit in the classroom to observe the teacher. On the other hand, this year I'm actually assigned to work one on one with a specific student. The classroom I'm assigned this year is the advanced learners which means it's the students who are ahead of their grade level and complete work that's more difficult. As a result, my specific student is a very strong reader but dislikes writing very much. He reads very lengthy chapter books that look as thick as a Harry Potter books but thinks writing is very boring. I've started off by having him write a personal diary each time we conduct our meeting. He can write what ever is on his mind but the only rule is that he must write for a full 10 minutes without stopping. By doing this, I'm trying to slowly engage him into the writing aspect of school and show him that writing isn't so bad. He has written two diaries thus far and hasn't complained once about writing. I'm shocked because I was expecting a little rebuttal but I'm pleased he hasn't argued yet. Overall, I think my child is a terrific young man but I hope I can get his passion for reading into his writing!
October 6th, 2014
Field Work
Field experience this year is completely different from last year and I'm glad because I'm able to get vital experience. For instance, last year I was a helping hand in the classroom rather than being assigned to a specific student. Meaning, last year I would make copies, help students who struggled, and sit in the classroom to observe the teacher. On the other hand, this year I'm actually assigned to work one on one with a specific student. The classroom I'm assigned this year is the advanced learners which means it's the students who are ahead of their grade level and complete work that's more difficult. As a result, my specific student is a very strong reader but dislikes writing very much. He reads very lengthy chapter books that look as thick as a Harry Potter books but thinks writing is very boring. I've started off by having him write a personal diary each time we conduct our meeting. He can write what ever is on his mind but the only rule is that he must write for a full 10 minutes without stopping. By doing this, I'm trying to slowly engage him into the writing aspect of school and show him that writing isn't so bad. He has written two diaries thus far and hasn't complained once about writing. I'm shocked because I was expecting a little rebuttal but I'm pleased he hasn't argued yet. Overall, I think my child is a terrific young man but I hope I can get his passion for reading into his writing!
Podcast Response
Jared Weisberg
October 6th, 2014
Podcast Review
The Reading Recovery Podcast was extremely informative and taught me countless strategies to use in small groups. In this podcast we have three key note speakers whose names were Pat Johnson, Diane DeFord, and Mary Cappellini. Each of these speakers covered different aspects of literacy and informed us how to use these strategies in a small group setting. It was very intriguing to observe what each speaker emphasized because I was noticing a lot was already discussed in our EDUC-BE 339 course and in the texts we have been reading. As a result, it seemed to me that this podcast was almost review and a helpful reminder of the important literacy skills in small group work.
The podcast began with the first speaker whose name was Pat Johnson. Pat was emphasizing the importance of teaching children how to read and what goes through the thought process of a reader. The first thing she stated that really grabbed my attention was, 'teach the readers, not the book'. This meant to me that we concentrate to much on selecting a book and not valuing what the readers would get out of the book. It's vital that we take note of this strong message because we observe to often teachers teaching the book rather than the students. To go along with, Pat stressed the importance of how students have a wide variety of strategies they could use with literacy. However, they don't know they exist until we guide them to incorporate these strategies into their reading. Strategies that consist of questioning, meaning, syntactic, and visual. Lastly, Pat informed us that we need to give students enough practice time to actually allow them to improve. This means encouraging re-readings, giving opportunities to talk, and assigning work that will keep them more than busy. As one can see, it will take time to develop students but teachers need to be patient because the outcome is much greater.
The second speaker was Diane DeFord and she discussed four main points of instructional decisions. Her first main point that I thought was the most important was knowing the strengths of your readers. In other words, understanding your reader on a more personal note. I feel as if this was the most important point Diane made because students want to read and write about topics that spark their personal interest. Assigning them topics that don't spark their interest will result in poor work and not getting the best out of each and every student. As a result, focus on what your students already know rather than what they don't know. Lastly, the last main point Diane made that is vital for every reader to understand is that each story conveys a specific message. Meaning, authors of texts purposely convey a message for the reader to better understand but want you to find the meaning by implementing a literacy strategy.
The third and final speaker of the podcast was Mary Cappellini who discussed her personal research with English Language Learners. This means she was working with students whose first language was not English. As a result, the teaching methods of working one on one with a student who is an ELL is very different than a student who is not. She emphasized that ELL students should concentrate more on the visual aspect of literacy. Meaning, use the pictures that are given to better help them understand the meaning of the text. Lastly, she also stated that it's very vital we have inclusion of ELL in every classroom. Despite difference they may hold, its important we don't segregate these students because people would be shocked how quicker they catch on to the native language when they're surrounded by individuals who are experts in it.
Overall, this podcast was more than informative and I'm thankful to get the advice from these terrific three speakers. Thanks to Pat, Diane and Mary I now have a better understanding of how to incorporate reading activities into small group work.
October 6th, 2014
Podcast Review
The Reading Recovery Podcast was extremely informative and taught me countless strategies to use in small groups. In this podcast we have three key note speakers whose names were Pat Johnson, Diane DeFord, and Mary Cappellini. Each of these speakers covered different aspects of literacy and informed us how to use these strategies in a small group setting. It was very intriguing to observe what each speaker emphasized because I was noticing a lot was already discussed in our EDUC-BE 339 course and in the texts we have been reading. As a result, it seemed to me that this podcast was almost review and a helpful reminder of the important literacy skills in small group work.
The podcast began with the first speaker whose name was Pat Johnson. Pat was emphasizing the importance of teaching children how to read and what goes through the thought process of a reader. The first thing she stated that really grabbed my attention was, 'teach the readers, not the book'. This meant to me that we concentrate to much on selecting a book and not valuing what the readers would get out of the book. It's vital that we take note of this strong message because we observe to often teachers teaching the book rather than the students. To go along with, Pat stressed the importance of how students have a wide variety of strategies they could use with literacy. However, they don't know they exist until we guide them to incorporate these strategies into their reading. Strategies that consist of questioning, meaning, syntactic, and visual. Lastly, Pat informed us that we need to give students enough practice time to actually allow them to improve. This means encouraging re-readings, giving opportunities to talk, and assigning work that will keep them more than busy. As one can see, it will take time to develop students but teachers need to be patient because the outcome is much greater.
The second speaker was Diane DeFord and she discussed four main points of instructional decisions. Her first main point that I thought was the most important was knowing the strengths of your readers. In other words, understanding your reader on a more personal note. I feel as if this was the most important point Diane made because students want to read and write about topics that spark their personal interest. Assigning them topics that don't spark their interest will result in poor work and not getting the best out of each and every student. As a result, focus on what your students already know rather than what they don't know. Lastly, the last main point Diane made that is vital for every reader to understand is that each story conveys a specific message. Meaning, authors of texts purposely convey a message for the reader to better understand but want you to find the meaning by implementing a literacy strategy.
The third and final speaker of the podcast was Mary Cappellini who discussed her personal research with English Language Learners. This means she was working with students whose first language was not English. As a result, the teaching methods of working one on one with a student who is an ELL is very different than a student who is not. She emphasized that ELL students should concentrate more on the visual aspect of literacy. Meaning, use the pictures that are given to better help them understand the meaning of the text. Lastly, she also stated that it's very vital we have inclusion of ELL in every classroom. Despite difference they may hold, its important we don't segregate these students because people would be shocked how quicker they catch on to the native language when they're surrounded by individuals who are experts in it.
Overall, this podcast was more than informative and I'm thankful to get the advice from these terrific three speakers. Thanks to Pat, Diane and Mary I now have a better understanding of how to incorporate reading activities into small group work.
Chapter 7 Catching Readers
Jared Weisberg
October 6th, 2014
Chapter 7
This chapter was very eye opening for me in the aspect that I was unaware of how many terrific suggestions their were for teachers. But what I found to be most intriguing was the story of Rachel Coelho who was a first year teacher trying to teach children whose first language is not English. When reading what Rachel had to deal with it made me wonder if I would ever be placed in her shoes. I'll admit that I would be very nervous and worried because I've always thought that every student whose first language is English wouldn't struggle with reading. However, this is not the point the chapter was emphasizing. This chapter informed me that we as teachers need to understand we can face many obstacles and one of the major ones would be teaching children to read whose first language is not English. When reading this chapter I was catching myself reflecting on my past Elementary School memories and the times when I struggled as a reader as well as observing friends who struggled too. For instance, when I was younger I only wanted to read picture books because I was intimidated by longer texts with words I wouldn't understand or know how to pronounce. As a result, I had to work one on one with a special teacher who taught me to step out of my comfort zone and she challenged me as a reader. What she did that I noticed the chapter discussed for teacher suggestions was, she was always finding books that sparked my interest. She would ask me whose my favorite athlete, sports team, food or other similar topics and she would come back with books that had the topic of my personal interest. She slowly engaged me into the easier books and would always give me positive feedback making me feel like I was becoming a better reader. Then after a few weeks of working with this special teacher, I was acknowledging that I had become a very strong reader because I was beginning to read chapter books on my own with no pictures! As one can see, what this teacher conducted was two simple suggestions this chapter stated. First, always celebrate every learning achievement your struggling reader makes and secondly, take the time to know your students and use this knowledge to connect with them. If I implement these teacher suggestions that the end of the chapter stated, I have a great deal of confidence in myself that I will get each and every one of my students to become stronger readers.
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