Blog # 6 Week 3

Freemen and Freemen (2004), hold that there are two approaches in how teachers teach and design their lessons. One approach is through learning and word recognition, which I feel is a more explicit and direct teaching approach. The other approach is an acquisition perspective, where the classroom is more of a collaborative learning environment, and the teaching focuses on making meaning and connections.Here is a list of activities that occur in classrooms that are broken down between what is learning (L) and what is acquisition (A).

From the students perspective:

 L   looking up words in the dictionary to write definition
 A  making a Venn diagram to compare two stories
  L &A practicing sounding out words
  L  read in round-robin fashion 
  L  correct peers when they make a mistake during reading
  A  identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound
  A  grouping cards with classmates' names by a criterion such as first or last letter

A&L Writing rhyming poetry and discussing different spelling for the same sound 
  L  asking the teacher how to spell any word they don't know
  A  read a language experience story they have created with the teacher
  A  working in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences
  L dividing words into syllables

  A  on a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound
  A  make alphabet books on different topics is creative and authentic

The teacher perspective:

  L  preteaches vocabulary
  A  does a shared reading with a big book
  L  makes sure that students read only books that fit their level
  L  has students segment words into phonemes

  L  writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words
  A  asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter
  L&A  uses decodable texts
  L  sets aside time for SSR each day
  L  teaches Latin and Greek roots
  A  has students meet in literature circles
  L  conducts phonics drills
  A&L  chooses predictable texts
  A  teaches students different comprehension strategies
  A  does a picture walk of a new book
  L  uses a variety of worksheet to teach different

Week Two #4

The text I chose to decipher was The Code of Hammurabi at the Louvre museum in Paris. I chose this piece because when I was in Paris I was really looking forward to going to the largest museum, the Louvre. What I actually ended up decoding in reality was the map itself to navigate the Louvre. The exhibit that I was most looking forward to seeing was the ancient civilization exhibits, and within the Mesopotamia exhibit is the Code of Hammurabi. (Seeing that I am a History teacher, I have to include how dorky I truly can be, after all I am blogging!) Hammurabi was a Babylonian King who is credited with writing the first written laws. His laws followed a format of: "If you do this, than this is the consequence..." Obviously I can not decipher ancient Akkadian language, but I expected the Louvre to summarize and explain the significance of the set of laws that they had on display in some kind of caption next to the item itself. Much to my dismay though, everything in the Louvre is in French. Not a single caption next to the millions of items that the Louvre has on display is in any language other than French. Even the map to get around the Louvre is in French. The only thing you can do to get around all of the French is to buy a "whisperer," an ear piece that you take a tour with.
The first thing I did to try and decode the Louvre map and to find the Code of Hammurabi was look at the pictures on the map. From the pictures I was able to figure out what ancient civilization each particular floor the Louvre was featuring. I used my background knowledge to say to myself, "Okay these are pictures of ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses, so this is not the direction that I want to go in this museum, and these are pictures of famous are paintings, and I know that the Code of Hammurabi is a temple like fixture so I don't want to go there."
I scanned the map I was using to look for pictures that reminded me of Egypt. Once I found those pictures, I found that the name of the floor that I was looking for was going to be called "Sully." I figured out that Sully was the name of the floor because it was big and bold compared to the other words on the map. I used the organizational structure of the map to figure out that all the featured exhibits were listed under big bold names. These big bold names corresponded with the many entrances within the Louvre. I also noticed that the map was color coded. Once I found the Egyptian exhibit I knew that the Mesopotamian could not be far. And I was correct. The Code of Hammurabi was on the ground floor in the Sully wing in the orange section. I will admit that I did everything correct in finding the right entrance, but instead of going to orange area that symbolized ancient Mesopotamia, I went into the turquoise area, which was ancient Egypt. Once I was actually in the right area, I could tell because the French word for Mesopotamia is Mésopotamie. The words are close, so I assumed based on background knowledge on cognates I had to be in the right area.
Overall, I will say trying to find particular items in the Louvre is an all day task. The place is so large and foreign! It was really difficult, frustrating, and sometimes disappointing because I could not figure out many of the featured items within the museum because I do not read in French. I had to guess and assume on a large majority of the featured items, and I admit that I gave up reading the captions and eventually went to strictly looking at items. 

Week Two #5

When matching English learners with books, teachers and librarians must consider specific language factors that influence comprehension. The more the book material deviates from these criteria, the more teaching support will be needed to assist English language learners. The goal is always selecting quality literature that is well written and illustrated (Gibbons, 2002).
One book I chose to analyze was Waiting to See the Principal and Other Poems. The problem with poems for English Language Learners is that many poems are deeply symbolic and very abstract. If the poems are meant to be humorous, this could be culturally damaging to ELLs because they might not understand the same type of slap-stick humor. This particular book I chose to look at was highly recommended by the school librarian for getting students involved in poetry. However; I would not recommend this book for ELL students. For starters, the poems involved in the book have nothing to do with the title which could be confusing for ELLs, and many of the poems included parodies, irony, and sarcasm, which is a cultural barricade. In order to accommodate English language learners in teaching poetry,  poems that have a rhyming scheme to it, pictures, and the shapes should be selected (Hadaway, 2002). Some strategies to activate schema around poetry for ELLs would be to pre-teach vocabulary (Gibbons, 2002), talk about the structure of the poem, invite students to interpret and give their perspective on the poem, and talk about the titles to the poem. Poems with titles that lend themselves to culture are ideal in providing familiarity for the sake of comprehension for English language learners.
The second book I chose to analyze was the classroom textbook that I use in 8th grade American History, The American Nation. Non fiction books can be intimidating for English language learners because of their technical vocabulary and their unfamiliar contents. When teaching literature to ELLs in content classrooms, the teacher should introduce text structure. Knowing how to navigate a textbook, the headings, subheadings, indexes, glossaries, makes these books more approachable. Also, the teacher should let the ELL student know that scanning and navigating the text is appropriate and that the reader does not always have read entire pages (Hadaway, 2002). Illustrations and books that are visually accessible should be used to help activate and engage schema. In addition, allowing the opportunity for students to write about previous experiences around topics encourages engagement. Here again, vocabulary needs to be addressed and explicitly taught.

References:

Gibbons, Pauline. (most recent edition). Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Hadaway, N.L., Vardell, S.M., & Young, T.A. (2002). Literature-based instruction with English language learners, K–12. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Week One #3

Reading and oral language development is related. “Reading does not take place in isolation; instead, a child develops simultaneously as a reader, listener, speaker, and writer” (Nagin, 2006, pp. 32).  Pauline Gibbons in Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning (2002) claims that linguists argue that language is involved in almost everything we do, and whenever we use language there is a context, whether it’s a context of situation or culture. Oral language is developed in several ways. It is either context-embedded, everyday language, or context reduced, academic language (Gibbons, 2002). As a child acquires more grammar and vocabulary contexts, then the child’s reading, writing, and speaking capabilities increase.   

             Since reading is a process, readers go through a meta-cognitive step. Students are reading and at the same time trying to make sense out of what they are reading. In this part of the reading process, students are interpreting the text and using meaning making strategies they have learned to decode the text. If the language acquisition is well developed, then this meta-cognitive step for comprehension is easier, and vise verse. 

References

Gibbons, Pauline. (2002). Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Nagin, C. & National Writing Project. (2006). Because writing matters. San Francisco, CA. Jossey Bass.

Week One #2

I have always viewed reading and writing processes as very similar. My undergrad, masters program, and teaching experience have exposed me to a writing process that begins with noticing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. The first step in both the reading and writing processes is activating prior knowledge and setting a purpose. During the reading process discoveries are made, and this correlates to the noticing process in writing. From there writers move into a drafting stage. Readers are making connections and relating what they already know to the text in front of them, while writers are drafting thoughts without worrying about conventions or craft into their writer’s notebooks. The purpose of discovering in reading and writing is to uncover thoughts, feelings, and details (Elliot, 2008).

 Once discovery has happened through reading, and drafts and noticings have been produced, the next step is revision and editing. This part of the writing process differs from the reading process. In the reading process, the reader can go back and revisit or reread passages.  During the writing process, the writer must reread and revise his or her writing. During this time the writer must approach the rough draft with an editorial eyes, identifying and deleting subject matter and material (Fletcher & Portalupi, 2001). “Revision involves structural changes to a text or macro editing –refining content and creating structure by organizing ideas and themes (Nagin, 2006, pg. 26). Editing prepares a piece of writing for the final presentation or published piece. “The process is more important than the finished product-we are teaching the writer, not trying to perfect his or her piece of writing” (Elliot, 2008, pg. 57). The publishing piece of the writing is more about audience and format (Elliot, 2008). A published piece is about giving the writing to someone for them to display or read. After publication or presentation, the ultimate goal is for the individual to develop a process through reading and writing that enables him or her to become independent at both.

References:

Elliot, Janet. (2008). Using a Writer’s Notebook in Grades 3-8. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Fletcher, Ralph & Portalupi, JoAnn. (2001). Writing workshop: the essential guide. Portsmouth, NH:Heinemann.

Nagin, C. & National Writing Project. (2006). Because writing matters. San Francisco, CA. Jossey Bass.

Week One #1

After speaking to a colleague about his philosophies around literacy, I felt very enlightened. He mentioned that he believes that literacy learning should begin in infancy. He quoted, " Like a child's first steps, learning literacy is exciting, fulfilling, and an overall rewarding experience." He believed that teachers should be aware that children come to school with different learning styles and learning types, and that teaching reading and writing should differ from one child to the next. Diversity in cultural and language backgrounds must be acknowledged and addressed when teaching literacy. He mentioned that although a child is capable of being able to teach themselves to read, it is necessary for teachers and parents to create conditions that encourage the reading process. Learning literacy helps children to acquire life long skills, and it is during their literacy experiences that children interact with one another across social contexts. "Without these skills children can not truly succeed to their potential in social environments, and survive in the world that we live in."
Like most teachers, I feel that there is an ultimate need to teach literacy in our classrooms. I believe that we need to focus on research based strategies that support literacy development to ensure student success, and work towards developing high, yet achievable expectations around literacy development for all students.