Chapter 10

Observation:

I think that this chapter is dealing with something that a lot of basal and skills-driven classroom are neglecting to do. This chapter deals with making meaning from the text, texts that interest the students, texts that encourage and develop a student's love for reading. 

Connection:

As a personal connection, I remember doing a lot of the example activities back when I was in high school. These activities encouraged me to read more and sparked curiosity in terms of other books that I have not read yet. I just wish I can do this more often with my students.

Question:

I can actually see doing this during my small groups. I am just wondering what are the suggested classroom management strategies can one use when introducing these sort of activities? What should the classroom atmosphere be like? The classroom text sets needs time to build, if you are introducing this for the very first time, what websites can you recommend to help you organize your classroom sets?

Surprise:

What surprised me is the thought that this strategy is doable even when you are using the Open Court Reading Program. It is one method that  a teacher can utilize to encourage better comprehension of themes that Open Court uses. 

Chapter 9

Quotes:

1. With a portfolio as evidence of a student's learning process, it is possible to construct a portrait, "one that a teacher and student can learn from long after the isolated moment of assessment" (Wolf, 1989, p.39)

2. According to K. Goodman (1969), miscues are not random errors, but are based on predictions and hypotheses the reader has about the different cues.

Questions:

1. I agree with all of the alternative assessment examples, however, as a teacher, when should or can you write down your observation or record comments on what each child said, especially if you have 30 kids in the classroom?

2. What other examples and ways you can do alternative assessment? 

Issue:

1. If you are working for the district, and you have mandated assessments to give your students, how can you do these alternative assessments that you like? 

Chapter 8

Quotes:

(p.228) Calkin (2001) talks about how books that are most appropriate for working on fluency in intermediate grades are those that are relatively easy, have long sentences, use authentic and natural language (language that is similar to how we talk), and contain many high-frequency words.

(p.246) Bomer (2001) said "children need to know how to have a good conversation that build on and follow a line of thinking... they need to learn how to listen and respond to one another in a way that creates connections and builds a conversation history over time.

Questions:

1. While reading this chapter, it just makes me wonder how important is fluency in reading? If reading is to make meaning? Is it important that you are able to read fast?

2. How can you explicitly teach students to be aware of how they are thinking when they are reading a story? 

Issue:

For ELD 1 or 2 students who are in 3rd - 5th grade, how can you balance the four-resource model without emphasizing code-breaking or one other component? 

Chapter 7

I wonder...

• This teacher showed literacy as a socially constructed event by creating and building context or schema for children to draw from, allowing the children to experience different scenarios and activities so they can make sense of what they are learning in the classroom.
• Reading big books, creating a writing journal, drawing pictures based on the story discussed in class, exposing the students to meaningful environmental print [words in the book was posted in their word charts, word walls], and providing access to picture dictionaries.
• When students see the connectedness of activities, and not just separate chunks of skills being introduced, literacy becomes more meaningful and relevant to them. When students then get a book, they don't see it as a task "they have to do" because it helps them become better readers, in terms of their fluency, etc. Instead, they see the book as a tool to create meaning of the world around them. The book is a source of knowledge that can enrich their lives. When they write in their notebooks, they don't see it as something that they have to do, but instead, they will see it as a form of self-expression, a way to extend their learning, a way to put down their thoughts that they can revisit, review or even edit at a later time if they want to. Oral retellings is not viewed as a way to measure how good you are in the English language, but instead will be viewed as a tool for self-expression, a way to share out your ideas, thoughts, and wonderings even.
• When beginning readers see predictable texts, or see books using a predictable pattern in language, they will not stress over the complexity of the word form itself, but will try to make meaning from the pictures or illustrations in the book. This will give them a lower affective filter in trying or attempting to read books. Reading becomes enjoyable and less stressful.
• Ms. Simon's method in teaching reading is similar to my experience when I was beginning to teach kindergarten in my country. A lot of reading books that we have access to needed a lot of background building on my part. There are a lot of words in the books that we read that we are not familiar with, or is not part of our environment. I had to create scenarios and make sure my students will at least have an idea of what we are talking about. I recall these experience because I had to exert an extra effort to do so, and it was very time consuming for me. However, I also know that I want my students to have authentic materials in the classroom. Therefore, towards the end of the year, my class ended up creating our own books, from stories and folktales we have in our country. I saw that my students, when I give them the free time to pick a book and read, almost all of them go for the books we made. It just made sense!

Questions for Further Reflection:

• I feel that code breaking practices have dominated beginning reading instruction because it is viewed as a prerequisite or an instrumental component in the reading process. When students are not able to decode, it is assumed that they will have a harder time making meaning of what they are reading. In the prescriptive (traditional) approach, code breaking is seen as a stand-alone part of the curriculum that can easily be implemented by teachers using a scripted curriculum. 
• It is important to have a range of text materials in the classroom library to expose students to different genres, themes, as well as literary elements. This way, students have a wider base in terms of background building, as well as, wider choice to what interests them.
• I have observed some of the classroom experiences and illustrations mentioned here. However, there are not too many classrooms that provide students with flexibility in making choices, opportunities to be exposed to themes that is not mandated in their curriculum, or even allowed to make meaning to what they are reading. If students do not think, speak, or write the way 'the curriculum' wants them to, these students are viewed as different and needy students. They are seen as students needing help or needing intervention, sometimes even special education.

Chapter 6

I wonder...

• Kadin knows that reading is a meaningful process. He constantly refers to the picture to make sense of what he is trying to read. He knows that when he gets stuck, his mom is a good resource to help him get unstuck. 
• Some of the textual features that contribute to Kadin's reading process are predictability of texts, repetition, use of rhythm and rhyme.
• It is evident in this vignette that Kadin knows that stories have a beginning, middle, and an end, especially he knows when to say, "The end." He also knows that the stories that he read used repetitive phrases that helped him read the books better and faster.

Further Reflections...

• If I were to create my own preschool, I have to make sure that the environment is print-rich. It has centers that promote literacy. This preschool will also utilize technology as one of its teaching tool as well as a resource for both the teacher and the students. The environment must also be reflective of the different cultures represented in my school. The decorations and materials I will use will be "authentic" and as much as possible, not commercially produced. 
• The underlying theories of emergent literacy, which states that literacy emerges before children are formally taught to read and that the social setting for literacy instruction is not ignored, matches guiding principle #1 which states that literacy practices are socially and culturally constructed. A student who comes in the classroom brings in his/her culture, ways of life, and different literacy practices in the home. Students, even before you teach them how to read, has a whole lifetime of experience that he/she brings along as he/she enters the classroom. Principle #6 says, literacy practices expand to include everyday texts and multimodal texts also aligns with emergent literacy theory that literacy encompasses the whole act of reading, not merely decoding. When a student reads, the student creates meaning or sense with what he/she is reading. Reading is not merely a book and reader activity, reading is involved in all the aspects of a students life. 

Chapter 5

I wonder...

• She realized that her students can enjoy reading, and has enthusiasm in reading texts that they are interested in. She realized that sustained silent reading does not work for her students because students need to talk about what they are reading. Students need to interact with the texts they are reading to make sense of what is on the text. 
• I think that the guiding principle Ms. Binn was using at the beginning of the vignette in working with her struggling students is that, "Learning is about skill building." She believed, as practiced in her school, that sustained silent reading was helpful and beneficial to her students. She thought that since SSR is an activity widely practiced at her school, it will work. She thought that if students will read independently for long periods of time, it will improve their reading skills. She thought that if they achieve their goal of reading 25 books, they'll be better readers.
• Since she realized that reading should be an enjoyable, meaningful and purposeful activity, she allowed her students choose a variety of texts, texts that interests them. She allowed her SSR time to be a time where students can discuss with each other what they are reading. She let them interact with the book. She allowed her students to engage in activities that are meaningful to them. When students engage in such activities, it develops literacy in the classroom as well as develop enthusiasm in learning itself.

Questions for Further Reflection

• After reading this chapter, and based on my experience in implementing the Open Court, my question has always been, what are their provisions for individualization? When students don't get "it" with the basal reading program, what then? This has always been my frustration because a lot of students get referred to special education just because they don't get "it." When students are reading way below their grade level, teachers in the general education classroom think that there is something wrong with "the student" and not try something else, because MAYBE...the program does not work for this particular student. Also, a lot of the texts that basal programs have, are not culturally sensitive. 
• After reading about the reader/writer workshop model, I still am not confident that I fully understand how it works. I do like the approach though, because it is "student centered." It allows individualization and it also shows cultural sensitivity. However, I still need more instruction to understand the mechanics because this approach requires tremendous planning and precise implementation. Specifically, more knowledge on how to conduct reading and writing conferences, mini-lesson, and independent reading and writing.

Chapter 4

I wonder...

1. What connections does Ms. Yang Herr see between theory and practice?

Ms. Herr sees the importance of theory as a guiding principle and a basis for a teacher's practice. Ms. Herr asserts that if a teacher knows the reasons why she uses a certain method in the classroom, if it does not work, then she will have the flexibility to try out something else that will work. These theories can also back teachers up when they need to explain to parents or administrators why they are doing certain things or why they are practicing certain strategies and methodologies in the classroom. 

2. How do you see theory playing out in your own teaching practice?

I have been teaching for a long time and I have studied about these theories a long time ago, too. Sometimes, due to this length of time, I have forgotten exactly the theories that affected my way of teaching. However, as I read through the different explanations in the book, it refreshes me on why I am doing certain things. 

I believe that these theories have certainly affected me in a way because in my teaching practice, I always regard the parents of my students as important stakeholders. I always include them in my planning, they have to be involved. This is due to the theory that nature and nurture plays an important factor in the development of a child. As a special educator, I have also seen how my students go through different developmental stages or milestones throughout their life. This theory also help me in identifying if my students have needs that require support services since they are not developing as their typically developing peers are.

3. What learning theories are you familiar with?

- Piaget's stages of development

- B. F. Skinner's behaviorist theory of learning

- John Locke & Jean Jacques Rosseau "tabula rasa" theory of learning (I don't agree with this!)

Questions for Further Reflection

1. What were your beliefs about teaching reading before you read this chapter?

I believe that teaching reading is a process where students read by mastering different sets of skills. I believe that decoding is necessary to create meaning of the text. I also believe that texts that should be available to the students are texts that contains students' interests and culture. The classroom should be a print-filled environment and that the teacher will set-up the room so that students can work collaboratively with each other.

2. What do you now understand about literacy learning and development and instructional choices?

I now understand that the instructional choices that a teacher makes on literacy learning and its development reflect an underlying theory. It does not happen just because. I also saw through the different theories that were discussed in the book that there are advantages and disadvantages to each one. Not one is perfect. It is up to the teacher, or the district, or the state, to implement a certain program. I also can see why the country tries to stick to the bottom-up theory and not give districts, or even teachers the freedom to choose their literacy program in the classroom. Literacy is power. If the whole population will be literate, will be motivated to learn, will reach its utmost potential, then it becomes a threat to the ones who are holding power now. 

3. Which theory or theories might you ascribe to as you develop your own teaching beliefs and practices?

As I was reading, I was looking for a theory that will match my belief. I agree with the critical theory and critical literacy. I like the four-resource model because it provides the student all aspects that are effective in literacy instruction.