My six guest included my mother, my husband Shawn, Hitler, Princess Diana, Jennifer, and Dr. Harris. My menu included stuffed chicken breast with ham, cheese, finely chopped bell pepper, and very little jalapeno. This was served with mashed potatoes, corn, ice tea, and peach cobbler for dessert. I picked my mother to cook, Dr. Harris to try this food, Jennifer to make this conversation interesting, Shawn because he loves to eat, Hitler because he would just hate to see the world this way, and Princess Diana because she was such a wonderful person.
Me: Welcome everyone.
Me: Your place mats have your names on them.
Me: My mother and I will be serving you today.
Me: Feel free to chit-chat while we finish getting everything together.
Mother: Is everyone hungry?
Shawn: I am.
Princess Diana: What are we having?
Mother: Stuffed chicken breast with ham and cheese.
Princess: Sounds good.
Hitler: I'm not.
Dr. Harris: Sure, I love to try new things.
Jennifer: I only want dessert.
Mother: I hope you all like this.
Mother: Are you sure you don't want to try this Hitler?
Hitler: No thanks.
Hitler: What a crazy world this turned out to be.
Shawn: I think it turned out good, everyone finally came together.
Jennifer: Me too, I love how we can all get along now.
Hitler: That's what's crazy about it.
Jennifer: I'm sorry you feel that way, but that's how it is now.
Dr. Harris: This food is great!
Princess: A little spicy, I must say.
Mother: I apologize, I really love spicy foods.
Shawn: I also learned to love it, after all these years you get use to it.
Jennifer: Is it time for dessert yet?
Mother: Almost.
Dr. Harris: Dessert sounds great!
Princess: I really shouldn't do dessert.
Shawn: Peach cobbler is my favorite.
Hitler: I really don't want to be here.
Mother: I'm glad you all enjoyed my meal. Hitler you are welcome to leave anytime.
Hitler: Thanks, I will because this does not fit my idea of a perfect world.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
3344: Blog #10
My Amazing Trip
It was a nice, quiet, and dark night when I was having the best dream one can ever imagine when suddenly I was rudely awakened by the sound of my father and my uncles yelling. “It’s already 5:00” yells Uncle Carlos. “Hurry, Hurry, we should have been there by now! Can somebody please wake Shawn up, I don’t want him to miss this trip,” says father. I lied there waiting and thinking to myself; do I really want to go or should I just stay home? I soon found myself walking out the door with my father (Oscar), Alex (my brother), Uncle Carlos, and Uncle Steven. I never imagined I would be walking out the door to have the most amazing trip ever!
We left the house at 5:30am, which was late according to my father. We were on our way to a deep-sea fishing trip which had been planned for weeks now. This was my first time ever going fishing on a boat and I was really excited, but also afraid. I never did say I was afraid because they would make fun of me; I was already 14 years old. It was still dark outside and I could not see anything out of my father’s big, white, work truck. It seemed as if darkness went on forever. I looked out every window and there was no sign of life. At times I could not even see the road. There were no street lights, no buildings, just water. Inside the truck there was absolute silence, then suddenly a loud yell. “There it is! Turn around you just passed it.” Uncle Carlos almost made my dad crash. My heart starting pumping, my hands started sweating, and I even felt tears in my eyes. For a minute I wished my uncle had never seen the place. We pulled up to a little rundown shack. The man who came out of the place looked like an old pirate. “Your late” he says. My father blames everybody else, like usual. “Here are the keys and everything else you should need out there,” says the owner. Wait isn’t he going with us? I felt myself turn red. “No,” says my father. “Uncle Carlos use to own a boat when we were younger he knows what to do.” My day had just gotten worse. I really did trust my uncle with almost anything, but somehow with a boat and me in it was very difficult to do. We began packing all our things into the boat and before you know it off we were in the middle of the ocean. Now all I could see was the water that was in front of the boat, but I could hear much more. Everyone in the boat was talking like there was nothing to be afraid of; I could not help but listen to the sounds of the waves crashing into our boat. I waited for the water to tip us over, but my uncle said there was no way this could happen with waves this small. What was he talking about these waves were huge, or they seemed huge to me.
The sun began to rise a little after we got in the water; this was great news for me. For my father and uncles this was not too good. It seemed like my brother would only go to these trips to eat. He just sits around everywhere eating all the snacks my mother packed for us. I could not even think of eating yet. After be able to see a little more I asked my father if he could help me throw out a line. His face lit up and both my uncles smiled. “You have just become a man,” they said. I just smiled. Why do they say that? I asked my brother. “When you learn to fish in the ocean, you can fish anywhere. To them knowing how to fish makes you a real man,” Alex says while rolling his eyes. I threw out my line and just sat there waiting. How can they find this so interesting, I thought. I was about to see why. My father jumped all of a sudden and yelled, “help.” My uncle Carlos jumped out of his chair and ran over to my dad. They both pulled on the pole as my uncle Steven pulled the fishing line with both hands. I slowly got up from my chair and started to make my way over to them. What is it? Nobody answered. All I could hear at this time was the sounds coming from them as they tugged and pulled to get this thing out of the water. I got closer to the edge of the boat and looked into the water. There it was, a huge fish splashing all over the place. It pulled one way, then the other; it would swim back and forth. It took all three men to finally pull it out. As they brought it closer to the boat my uncle Steven yells, “give me a knife, I need to cut this line!” Cut the line, I yelled, wouldn’t that let the fish go? My brother runs the knife over and we all watch the fish swim away. What was that all about? My father turns to me and says, “not all fish are good, like not all dolphins save people.” All dolphins! How many different types are there? They all laughed. “There are 32 types,” he says. “I can’t tell you about all of them, but I can tell you to make sure you are swimming with the bottlenose if ever in that situation.” “If you get a chance, always look at their nose,” says Uncle Carlos. “This will tell you what type of dolphin it is.” I just laughed. How can you have time to look at their nose if you happen to fall in unexpectedly? I was soon to answer my own question.
As the day went on fish began to fill our tanks. I was just beginning to feel safe on the boat when suddenly, as I walked over to get bait, I slipped on some water and fell overboard. I began to panic. My arms and legs would not stop moving and I just began to yell. I could hear everyone yelling “don’t move, stay still, and calm down!” How can I calm down? I was about to cry when I focused on the swimming object and clearly saw his nose, it was a bottlenose dolphin. I stayed still just waiting to see what would happen next, suddenly he swam under me and began to push me closer to the boat. I had never felt so afraid in my life, but at the same time so safe. The dolphin swam as fast as he could to get me to the boat. I hadn’t realized how far away from the boat I was. The dolphin pushed me up just enough for my father to pull me back onto the boat. As I stood there in shock, I took a good look at him and thought to myself; dolphins are the best ocean creatures one could ever ask for. He made a high pitched sound and was back on his way. I was so glad to have been in the water with him and not any other ocean creature. My father decided to call this a day when he saw how soaked I was.
As we got back home we couldn’t wait to tell everyone what happened. Everyone was waiting for us to get home so they could see all the fish we caught. My mother ran out when she heard our truck pull up. “How was your first fishing trip” she asked me. I smiled and said I had the best time of my life. My brother thought the whole thing was very funny and called our trip “a swim with dolphins.” As we sat there and told her everything she began to cry. I asked her why she was crying and she said she could just imagine how scared I was. My father grinned and told her how excited I was when I got back on the boat. I was glad I had a chance to live this experience and see for myself the wonderful ocean creatures and their personalities. My mother cooked us a good hot meal and we were ready for bed. When I got to my room I went straight to bed I began to think, what if I had never gone to this trip? I would have missed the best experience one could ever have. I must say this trip turned out to be the most amazing trip I could ever imagine.
3321: Blog #9
Historical fiction is a story that has the setting or the scene in the past. This story may have some real people or places, but the main characters and story are fictional. Historical fiction must have a credible plot, historical authenticity, realistic setting, and most importantly the language and the setting must fit with the time period.
In the classroom we can use historical fiction to teach about a specific time in the past or a specific situation from the past. For example the book we got was set after World War II. This fit perfect with the story because it talked about people not having money and how things had to be traded for necessities. It really taught us something about that time period that we really didn't know. We knew that there was no money, but we did not know how things were being purchased at this time.
In the classroom we can use historical fiction to teach about a specific time in the past or a specific situation from the past. For example the book we got was set after World War II. This fit perfect with the story because it talked about people not having money and how things had to be traded for necessities. It really taught us something about that time period that we really didn't know. We knew that there was no money, but we did not know how things were being purchased at this time.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
3344: Blog #9
Part I:
How to Identify Different Types of Dolphins
Into: How do we know which dolphins are ok to be in water with? Do all dolphins like save humans when in trouble? I will tell you which dolphins are safe to be around and how to identify them.
How To: Give steps on what to look for when observing different dolphins and how you should react when confronted by them. I will tell which feature to look at first (the most obvious) and then continue on to the next.
Conclusion: Have closure to this activity and make sure that all steps have a smooth transition. Repeat what the reader was supposed to learn from this "how to" and make sure it shows closure.
Part II:
I really like Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat. I think I would use this book in my classroom to introduce children to poetry and rhyme . This book is also good to teach children they should always listen to their mother. In this book the fish tells them they should not let the cat come in the house but they did not listen and because of this the cat made a mess. It is entertaining and they would not even realize it is a poem. This poem would also help teach rhyme. Children would really like all the activity going on throughout the story and the illustration would really help them enjoy reading the book. This would not only encourage reading, but also give children the positive side of poetry instead of them thinking that poetry is long, hard to understand, and boring like most people think.
3321: Blog #9
Contemporary fiction implies that everything in a realistic story is consistent with the lives of real people in our contemporary world, super natural does not exist, and the story does not need to always be true. Contemporary realistic fiction can be used in a classroom to help children through certain issues that they may be going through at home. These stories can also be used to teach multicultural topics, controversial issues, and people. We should always take into consideration the age group that we will use these stories for. Especially when using these stories to teach controversial issues, we must really make sure that the stories are age appropriate.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
3344: Blog #8
Narrative writing has plots and characters and is used for telling a story. It must tell the sequence of events over a period of time. The most important part of narrative writing is for it to have a beginning, middle, and end.
The beginning part must give an introduction to the story, must have an interesting statement that will have the reader interested in reading this story, and it must also have detail, excitement, or mystery. This is where we must have a "grabber" sentence.
The middle must clearly and completely describe the events. This part must have the majority of detail and must keep the sequence of events in order.
The end must tell the reader the closure to this story. It will also tell the reader what he/she just read. To me this part has to let the reader know that reading this story was worth it.
Writers Workshop was very interesting. I really liked hearing the comments from my group and also giving them some feedback on their work. This was very helpful and also pretty fun to hear some of the things that were being said.
When doing a writers workshop one must first get in a group of 4-5 people. Then the first person will begin to read his/her piece, the others will sit and listen. After the first person is done reading their paper, the other members will begin to comment. This is known as the sandwich theory. During the comments the group members will say what they liked about it, ask questions, give suggestions, and give positive comments. There will be no editing during this time. We may however suggest new word choice, character suggestions, and help with the development of events. During the comments and suggestion, the person reading their paper should take notes on some of these suggestions.
Then the next person in the group reads their paper and the steps will repeat until everyone has had their chance to read their papers. After everyone has read and heard their comments and suggestions, the group members will individually rewrite their papers. The comments and suggestions should help the others when revising their paper.
The last step when writing a paper should be the editing. This is the same during a writers workshop. We must not do the editing until we have gone through commenting on everyone in our group and have revised our paper using some of the comments and suggestions from our group members.
The beginning part must give an introduction to the story, must have an interesting statement that will have the reader interested in reading this story, and it must also have detail, excitement, or mystery. This is where we must have a "grabber" sentence.
The middle must clearly and completely describe the events. This part must have the majority of detail and must keep the sequence of events in order.
The end must tell the reader the closure to this story. It will also tell the reader what he/she just read. To me this part has to let the reader know that reading this story was worth it.
Writers Workshop was very interesting. I really liked hearing the comments from my group and also giving them some feedback on their work. This was very helpful and also pretty fun to hear some of the things that were being said.
When doing a writers workshop one must first get in a group of 4-5 people. Then the first person will begin to read his/her piece, the others will sit and listen. After the first person is done reading their paper, the other members will begin to comment. This is known as the sandwich theory. During the comments the group members will say what they liked about it, ask questions, give suggestions, and give positive comments. There will be no editing during this time. We may however suggest new word choice, character suggestions, and help with the development of events. During the comments and suggestion, the person reading their paper should take notes on some of these suggestions.
Then the next person in the group reads their paper and the steps will repeat until everyone has had their chance to read their papers. After everyone has read and heard their comments and suggestions, the group members will individually rewrite their papers. The comments and suggestions should help the others when revising their paper.
The last step when writing a paper should be the editing. This is the same during a writers workshop. We must not do the editing until we have gone through commenting on everyone in our group and have revised our paper using some of the comments and suggestions from our group members.
3321: Swimming with a dolphin
Oh dear, Oh my!
I thought I was about to cry.
"Stay still," I hear them yell.
I just remember turning pale.
All I saw was one big fin,
Could it be a dolphin?
He swam up close and with his nose,
He pushed me up by my toes.
All he wanted was to play,
I thought I was going to be his prey.
He swam and swam, oh so fast,
I knew I would be safe at last.
Thank you, thank you, I said to him,
I swear, I swear, I'll learn to swim!
I thought I was about to cry.
"Stay still," I hear them yell.
I just remember turning pale.
All I saw was one big fin,
Could it be a dolphin?
He swam up close and with his nose,
He pushed me up by my toes.
All he wanted was to play,
I thought I was going to be his prey.
He swam and swam, oh so fast,
I knew I would be safe at last.
Thank you, thank you, I said to him,
I swear, I swear, I'll learn to swim!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
3344: Blog #7
My MGP is going to be about dolphins for 2nd grade.
§110.4. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 2.
(1) Listening/speaking/purposes. The student listens attentively and engages actively in a variety of oral language experiences. The student is expected to:
(A) determine the purpose(s) for listening such as to get information, to solve problems, and to enjoy and appreciate (K-3);
(3) Listening/speaking/audiences/oral grammar. The student speaks appropriately to different audiences for different purposes and occasions. The student is expected to:
(D) present dramatic interpretations of experiences, stories, poems, or plays (K-3)
Outline:
Narrative: Story about dolphins
Persuasive: Why bottle nose dolphins are the best ocean creatures
Descriptive: Poem
Expository: How to identify the different types of dolphins
§110.4. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 2.
(1) Listening/speaking/purposes. The student listens attentively and engages actively in a variety of oral language experiences. The student is expected to:
(A) determine the purpose(s) for listening such as to get information, to solve problems, and to enjoy and appreciate (K-3);
(3) Listening/speaking/audiences/oral grammar. The student speaks appropriately to different audiences for different purposes and occasions. The student is expected to:
(D) present dramatic interpretations of experiences, stories, poems, or plays (K-3)
Outline:
Narrative: Story about dolphins
Persuasive: Why bottle nose dolphins are the best ocean creatures
Descriptive: Poem
Expository: How to identify the different types of dolphins
3321:BLOG #7
Modern Fantasy is literature that is set in the real world, but the author has altered one or more characters of everyday reality. In a modern fantasy the plot must begin in a real life setting and then be moved carefully into fantasy. This transition must be made carefully. The characters of this story must be believable and their language must help make them sound believable. The setting of a modern fantasy story must have a mixture of both reality and fantasy.
Part 2:
In this worksheet the teacher will provide the student with the first sentence of the story. The student will then use this sentence to predict the setting, characters, and the plot of the story. They will also decide whether or not they think they will like the book or not. It's almost like judging the book by its cover except you get a better and closer look at the story before judging it.
Judging a Book by its First Sentence
Title:
Author:
First Line:
What do you think the story will be about?
Who do you think the characters are going to be and what are they going to be like?
How do you think the story will end?
Where do you think the story is going to take place?
Sunday, March 22, 2009
3321: Traditional Literature
Traditional literature is a form of stories passed on from generation to another through oral storytelling, mostly narrated with no identified authors. These stories are mostly used to explain the origin of natural events and reveal the social, political, and spiritual beliefs of society. The different types of traditional literature include stories such as folktales, fables, myths, and legends.
Traditional literature can be used in a classroom to do many things. We can simply use them for storytelling, explaining certain issues going on in the world, and also to teach values. As teachers we are going to hear of many family problems from the children, especially the younger ones, and we can simply read a book that can help the child feel a little better about the situation. He/She can gain some information from the story or just feel like this can happen to anybody, not just him/her. Another way we can use traditional literature in a classroom is allowing the children to make up their own stories (either in a group or alone). This will allow us to get them sharing stories and motivating them to write. One example was when we re-wrote the Cinderella story using our own culture and interest. You will be surprised what children will come up with. This will allow them to use their imagination and creativity to tell us what they feel at that specific moment.
I definitely will use traditional literature in my classroom because I am very strong on values. These stories can help the children learn certain values and at the same time be entertaining to them. I know when I was a child I loved when my mother would read me books like Snow White, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast. I just love that all these endings ended up as happily ever after. This can be good for many children going through family problems, they can feel like everything will be o.k. in the end. Another thing I like about traditional literature is that so much information can be gained. For example with the realistic tales children will be able to learn about people who actually did exist and with humorous folktales be able to get a laugh or a smile from this kind of folktale. There are many advantageous from reading traditional literature, we just have to pick the right type for that specific lesson we are trying to teach.
Traditional literature can be used in a classroom to do many things. We can simply use them for storytelling, explaining certain issues going on in the world, and also to teach values. As teachers we are going to hear of many family problems from the children, especially the younger ones, and we can simply read a book that can help the child feel a little better about the situation. He/She can gain some information from the story or just feel like this can happen to anybody, not just him/her. Another way we can use traditional literature in a classroom is allowing the children to make up their own stories (either in a group or alone). This will allow us to get them sharing stories and motivating them to write. One example was when we re-wrote the Cinderella story using our own culture and interest. You will be surprised what children will come up with. This will allow them to use their imagination and creativity to tell us what they feel at that specific moment.
I definitely will use traditional literature in my classroom because I am very strong on values. These stories can help the children learn certain values and at the same time be entertaining to them. I know when I was a child I loved when my mother would read me books like Snow White, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast. I just love that all these endings ended up as happily ever after. This can be good for many children going through family problems, they can feel like everything will be o.k. in the end. Another thing I like about traditional literature is that so much information can be gained. For example with the realistic tales children will be able to learn about people who actually did exist and with humorous folktales be able to get a laugh or a smile from this kind of folktale. There are many advantageous from reading traditional literature, we just have to pick the right type for that specific lesson we are trying to teach.
3344: TALK
The definition of talk is the ability to communicate with others. This is very beneficial in a classroom because it gives the students a chance to share their personal experiences and opinions, maintain social relationships, convey information, and to control classmates' behavior.
There are several types of talking that can take place in a classroom. Some examples are small-group conversations. These take place with 3-5 students and are normally the most common. This type of talking allows the students to learn how to begin a conversation, take turns, keep the conversation moving forward, support comments and questions that classmates may have, and deal with conflicts. Grand conversations are more like group discussions. These can also be done in small groups, but are usually done in whole groups. These conversations have two parts. The first is open-ended, where the students talk about their reactions to the book, and their comments determine the direction of the conversation. The second part, the teacher turns the students' attention to one or two aspects of the book that they did not talk about during the first part. Usually after this the students are asked to write in reading logs, or just simply write again after the grand conversation.
Some examples of beneficial talk in a classroom would be like our home-group conversations about different topics. I feel like everytime we discuss something together, in both small groups and whole groups, we get better ideas. We get to hear others opinions and get better explanations of certain information when we all talk about it. We must remember as teachers we must; set a purpose, monitor, have rules, and either assign people roles or let them pick their roles. Student talk must be; meaningful, functional, and genuine in order for this to be beneficial in a classroom. Remember the main point for these conversations is for the students to interpret and gain knowledge from all this talk. Conversations must give the students a feeling of ownership, but at the same time help them comprehend and understand the subject being taught.
There are several types of talking that can take place in a classroom. Some examples are small-group conversations. These take place with 3-5 students and are normally the most common. This type of talking allows the students to learn how to begin a conversation, take turns, keep the conversation moving forward, support comments and questions that classmates may have, and deal with conflicts. Grand conversations are more like group discussions. These can also be done in small groups, but are usually done in whole groups. These conversations have two parts. The first is open-ended, where the students talk about their reactions to the book, and their comments determine the direction of the conversation. The second part, the teacher turns the students' attention to one or two aspects of the book that they did not talk about during the first part. Usually after this the students are asked to write in reading logs, or just simply write again after the grand conversation.
Some examples of beneficial talk in a classroom would be like our home-group conversations about different topics. I feel like everytime we discuss something together, in both small groups and whole groups, we get better ideas. We get to hear others opinions and get better explanations of certain information when we all talk about it. We must remember as teachers we must; set a purpose, monitor, have rules, and either assign people roles or let them pick their roles. Student talk must be; meaningful, functional, and genuine in order for this to be beneficial in a classroom. Remember the main point for these conversations is for the students to interpret and gain knowledge from all this talk. Conversations must give the students a feeling of ownership, but at the same time help them comprehend and understand the subject being taught.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
3344: Listening
My definition of listening is to be able to take what someone is saying and convert it to a way that you can understand it. I think as easy as it may sound, it can be very difficult. There are four different types of listening; discriminative, aesthetic, efferent, and critical. Discriminative is when you pick and choose what you want to hear based on your interest. An example of this would be like when you watch the news and you see a headline that really gets your attention. You may not watch all of the news but you will be ready to listen to that part. Aesthetic listening is what you do for pleasure. An example of this would be like your S.S.R. I usually do this be reading aloud to my girls at home every night. Efferent listening is when your listening for information or simply taking notes. My personal example of this is when we took my father-in-law to the hospital and the doctors were telling us everything that was going on. We currently still have him in the hospital and everyday we have new information to listen to. Critical listening is when you listen carefully and more in depth. I think an example of this is when we did the debate in class. We had to carefully listen to see which point we can argue back and how we can argue back.
During the debate I think the hardest part was the actual listening. We had to use all four types of listening. We had to pick and choose what points we thought were the best to argue back, which were more interesting to us, take notes on what was originally said, and also use our brain to think of how and what we were going to debate. I didn't think it was really difficult until it was time to argue back, I guess this means I really wasn't doing the right type of listening. After the first time I got more into it and was able to pick up on the different types of listening and it made this debate way easier.
After reading choice words, I think the most important "teacher talk" was "Did anyone notice...?" I think this was important because you are showing the children what to look for while reading a book or how to get more involved in discussions. This will also let the children become more aware of new punctuation, allow them to expand their vocabulary by looking up new words they have noticed, and also allowing them to use their imagination by creating new characters or stories. By using this talk we can learn to start discussions and children will feel more involved by us (as teachers) inviting them into these discussions by simply asking this question. This will not only make students more productive readers, but will also allow students to try new possibilities and becoming aware of new things. This will certainly expand their literature world and allow them to notice different things.
During the debate I think the hardest part was the actual listening. We had to use all four types of listening. We had to pick and choose what points we thought were the best to argue back, which were more interesting to us, take notes on what was originally said, and also use our brain to think of how and what we were going to debate. I didn't think it was really difficult until it was time to argue back, I guess this means I really wasn't doing the right type of listening. After the first time I got more into it and was able to pick up on the different types of listening and it made this debate way easier.
After reading choice words, I think the most important "teacher talk" was "Did anyone notice...?" I think this was important because you are showing the children what to look for while reading a book or how to get more involved in discussions. This will also let the children become more aware of new punctuation, allow them to expand their vocabulary by looking up new words they have noticed, and also allowing them to use their imagination by creating new characters or stories. By using this talk we can learn to start discussions and children will feel more involved by us (as teachers) inviting them into these discussions by simply asking this question. This will not only make students more productive readers, but will also allow students to try new possibilities and becoming aware of new things. This will certainly expand their literature world and allow them to notice different things.
3321: Picture Books
Picture books are books that communicate information or tell stories through a series of many pictures combined with relatively slight texts or no text at all. The important thing about these books is that the pictures are just as important or even more important than the text. Many of these books are used for young children but can also be used for the older ones. These types of books can be used for various reasons. Nursery rhymes help stimulate oral language development while wordless picture books encourage children to find objects in pictures, tell their own stories, and become a creative writer. These books are also good to read aloud to your students.
When choosing picture books there can be certain limitations. We must first check the relationship between the words and the pictures. This is where we make sure the picture is just as important as the text. We must also take into consideration the child's age and stage of cognitive and social development. We should also be aware whether the adult has prepared or not prepared the child for this experience, the child's emotional state of readiness is also important. In order to see if the child is interested we should check how many times the child looks at the illustration, a child will always show their interest this way.
I personally like picture books, I think they are more interesting to a child. From personal experience I can see that my children pay more attention when there are more pictures than text. I think it is a good idea to use these in your classroom only because sometimes pictures can explain things better than words themselves. It is also a way to let the child use their imagination when letting them create a story with the pictures, rather than us as teachers reading the story to them. I think picture books are just great and I really don't think that I would leave them out of my classroom library or my personal home library.
When choosing picture books there can be certain limitations. We must first check the relationship between the words and the pictures. This is where we make sure the picture is just as important as the text. We must also take into consideration the child's age and stage of cognitive and social development. We should also be aware whether the adult has prepared or not prepared the child for this experience, the child's emotional state of readiness is also important. In order to see if the child is interested we should check how many times the child looks at the illustration, a child will always show their interest this way.
I personally like picture books, I think they are more interesting to a child. From personal experience I can see that my children pay more attention when there are more pictures than text. I think it is a good idea to use these in your classroom only because sometimes pictures can explain things better than words themselves. It is also a way to let the child use their imagination when letting them create a story with the pictures, rather than us as teachers reading the story to them. I think picture books are just great and I really don't think that I would leave them out of my classroom library or my personal home library.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
3321, Blog #3: Evaluating books for children
I believe evaluating books for children is one of the most difficult things we are going to have to deal with. Not only are we going to face this at home, but also in our classrooms. When doing this we need to look beyond our values. As hard as this may sound, I believe we should all think about this. Not all our students are going to be taught the exact same values. We must take everybody into consideration and teach them all something about each other. I do believe that evaluating books is value-based, but I also believe that other things should be taken into consideration. Another thing we should always remember is that children are very curious and they will always ask questions about new things. We should pick books that we can always explain to that particular age group.
Character and setting analysis are very important. It is what makes the story for the children. This will either make you a part of the story or make you not want to continue reading the story. This allows us to use activities to get the students involved in this reading. We can do activities like making a web about our favorite character, drawing a picture of our favorite character on the favorite setting, or even group discussions about the story.
Character and setting analysis are very important. It is what makes the story for the children. This will either make you a part of the story or make you not want to continue reading the story. This allows us to use activities to get the students involved in this reading. We can do activities like making a web about our favorite character, drawing a picture of our favorite character on the favorite setting, or even group discussions about the story.
3344, Blog #3: Reading/Writing Process
The reading and writing process both have 5 stages. These are really helpful for children when first learning how to read and write and actually come in handy the rest of one's life. The reading process allows us to translate words so that we can understand what is being said.
The 5 stages for the reading process are:
Stage 1: Pre-reading in which we should activate or build background knowledge, set the purpose for reading, and we preview the text.
Stage 2: Reading which should include shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, buddy reading, or reading aloud.
Stage 3: Responding should include things like writing in reading logs or journals, ground conversations, and activities.
Stage 4: Exploring would be things like re-reading the selection, examining the author's craft, focusing on new vocabulary words, or participating in mini-lessons.
Stage 5: Applying would help us to deepen our interpretation and value the reading experience, this would include projects, social justice, and research.
The 5 stages for writing are almost similar, these include:
Stage 1: Pre-writing which allows us to organize our thoughts.
Stage 2: Drafting would allows us to write at least 3 copies before the final draft.
Stage 3: Revising is when we would add elaboration, adjectives, active verbs, and fix sentence structure.
Stage 4: Editing is when we would conduct our spell check, grammar check, and check for capitalization.
Stage 5: Publishing would finally allow us to share, display, or publish our final work.
I believe this is important to me not only as a present student, but also as a future teacher and mother of a student. This will help us make better readers and writers. We will learn how to actually make a story productive rather than just entertaining.
I do believe some teachers would use some type of writing process and when it was being used it really did make a difference in our papers. I don't recall having a rubric for my papers but I do think it would of helped a whole bunch. Writing has never been my strength, but I do put much time into it to make it the best that I can. I think I spend the longest in the drafting stage.
The 5 stages for the reading process are:
Stage 1: Pre-reading in which we should activate or build background knowledge, set the purpose for reading, and we preview the text.
Stage 2: Reading which should include shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, buddy reading, or reading aloud.
Stage 3: Responding should include things like writing in reading logs or journals, ground conversations, and activities.
Stage 4: Exploring would be things like re-reading the selection, examining the author's craft, focusing on new vocabulary words, or participating in mini-lessons.
Stage 5: Applying would help us to deepen our interpretation and value the reading experience, this would include projects, social justice, and research.
The 5 stages for writing are almost similar, these include:
Stage 1: Pre-writing which allows us to organize our thoughts.
Stage 2: Drafting would allows us to write at least 3 copies before the final draft.
Stage 3: Revising is when we would add elaboration, adjectives, active verbs, and fix sentence structure.
Stage 4: Editing is when we would conduct our spell check, grammar check, and check for capitalization.
Stage 5: Publishing would finally allow us to share, display, or publish our final work.
I believe this is important to me not only as a present student, but also as a future teacher and mother of a student. This will help us make better readers and writers. We will learn how to actually make a story productive rather than just entertaining.
I do believe some teachers would use some type of writing process and when it was being used it really did make a difference in our papers. I don't recall having a rubric for my papers but I do think it would of helped a whole bunch. Writing has never been my strength, but I do put much time into it to make it the best that I can. I think I spend the longest in the drafting stage.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
(3321) Blog #2: Chapter 2 Summary
This chapter really teaches us about how literature went through so many changes. Before recorded history (books) oral tradition occurred. Family units and tribes use to sit around campfires and share their group traditions and values through stories. These stories focused on teaching the young tradition and value, even though they were not really appropriate for children. The same problem was happening for books. The early books were not specifically developed to meet children's needs, interests, and reading levels.
Early books came prior to the mid-1400's. It was virtually impossible for children to even get a hold of these books. Not only were they expensive but the children were rarely trusted with them. It wasn't until 1450 that hornbooks were created and were used to teach reading, numbers, and prayers. These books were later replaced by the battledore, which was made from folded paper or cardboard, in the 1700's. These books also contained the alphabet, numbers, proverbs, and prayers.
The 1740's is when a major change occurred. This time is commonly referred to as the time when the idea of children's books began in Europe and North America. Due to people having more time, money, and education necessary for reading, books became more important. This also made a change in family life. The middle class was now centered more on the home and family rather than on the marketplace or the great house of nobility. Childhood was now becoming a more care-free and enjoyable period of life. This opened up a whole other world of literature, fantasy, adventure, and real people books. This allowed authors to create a new type of genre.
The same standards should be met for young adults as well, however, they should have more mature themes and characters who face complex issues that may be faced by contemporary young adults. An example of this would be a fictional book that has characters who overcome problems in ways tat are believable to the reader.
Censorship was also a thing from the past. This has always been around and doesn't really look like it is going anywhere. The only thing that makes it change is time. It never goes away but is influenced by our present social, religious, and political beliefs. Censorship changes with our present morals, values, and beliefs.
This chapter makes it clear that books help shape our children's attitudes, belief's, and family life. Getting to know a little about how children's literature came around and how it has changed, really helps to see how our children are really influenced by what they read or see. It is very important for us to have up to date books, family oriented stories, and books that teach children to become better people for the future. Values are also taught through books so we should really take this into consideration when choosing books to put in our "classroom library". And remember censorship will always be here so be careful with the books you pick.
Early books came prior to the mid-1400's. It was virtually impossible for children to even get a hold of these books. Not only were they expensive but the children were rarely trusted with them. It wasn't until 1450 that hornbooks were created and were used to teach reading, numbers, and prayers. These books were later replaced by the battledore, which was made from folded paper or cardboard, in the 1700's. These books also contained the alphabet, numbers, proverbs, and prayers.
The 1740's is when a major change occurred. This time is commonly referred to as the time when the idea of children's books began in Europe and North America. Due to people having more time, money, and education necessary for reading, books became more important. This also made a change in family life. The middle class was now centered more on the home and family rather than on the marketplace or the great house of nobility. Childhood was now becoming a more care-free and enjoyable period of life. This opened up a whole other world of literature, fantasy, adventure, and real people books. This allowed authors to create a new type of genre.
The same standards should be met for young adults as well, however, they should have more mature themes and characters who face complex issues that may be faced by contemporary young adults. An example of this would be a fictional book that has characters who overcome problems in ways tat are believable to the reader.
Censorship was also a thing from the past. This has always been around and doesn't really look like it is going anywhere. The only thing that makes it change is time. It never goes away but is influenced by our present social, religious, and political beliefs. Censorship changes with our present morals, values, and beliefs.
This chapter makes it clear that books help shape our children's attitudes, belief's, and family life. Getting to know a little about how children's literature came around and how it has changed, really helps to see how our children are really influenced by what they read or see. It is very important for us to have up to date books, family oriented stories, and books that teach children to become better people for the future. Values are also taught through books so we should really take this into consideration when choosing books to put in our "classroom library". And remember censorship will always be here so be careful with the books you pick.
(3344) Blog #2: Chapter 4 Summary
This chapter was very interesting and had very good examples of what exactly they were saying. It started with giving an in-class scenario of how a teacher (Mrs. Kirkpatrick) applies all these new approaches in emerging into literacy. Some examples of this were setting up centers, reading books aloud and responding to them, and most importantly not only providing instruction, but also giving children opportunities to experiment with these new ideas.
Other teachers can also provide the same opportunities as Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Some examples to provide children with the opportunity to experiment with reading and writing were; posting signs in classroom, list classroom rules, write notes to parents, label classroom items, and drawing or writing in journals. This chapter makes it clear that children should not only be exposed to written language but also have experimented with it before entering school. This can be done by simply reading to our children and allowing them to practice with pencil and paper.
This chapter also provided us with the stages of understanding the concept of a word. I guess I just took for granted knowing so many words that I really never realized there were so many stages. There are four stages to understanding the concept of a word: 1st- children don't differentiate between words and things. 2nd- they describe words as labels for things. 3rd- words carry meaning and understand that stories are built from words. 4th- they understand that words are made with letters and they also understand words have different appearances, they can be spoken, listened, read, and written. The first words that children can recognize are those they see most often in their environment. These are called environment print. This is usually how "reading" begins. Most children recognize signs they see most often. For example, me and my family pass by Bill Miller's everyday on our way home, she now knows every time there is a Bill's near by, she also loves their ice tea. The same idea comes to play in writing. Children scribble and later have enough experience that they can turn that scribble into an actual word. We can help their ability to read and write by providing the children productive centers. They can learn to play and learn at the same time. The alphabet also plays a major role in the children's way of reading and writing. I always believed the alphabet was the only important system in helping the children emerge in reading and writing. After reading this chapter four other language systems were introduced: phonological, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic, as well as their own knowledge of things.
There are stages that children have to go through while learning new things. This is also true when children are being emerged into reading. The same stages they go through in reading are also gone through in writing. These stages are emergent, beginning, and fluent. In emergent reading children gain an understanding of the communicative purpose of print. This is where environmental print comes in play. In the beginning reading stage children learn phoneme-grapheme correspondences and begin to decode words. This leads them to the fluent reader stage where they are able to concentrate more of their "cognitive energy" on comprehension. Reading now becomes a learning tool at this point. The same steps are taken for emergent writing. In the emergent stage children use scribbles to represent writing. With some experience they will be able to line up the scribbles from left to right and top to bottom. During this stage children will also be able to tell you what they wrote, "read it to you." In the beginning stage the alphabetic principle comes in. Here they use invented spelling to represent words. In the fluent stage children are now able to write in paragraphs and vary according to genre. In this stage they mainly use correct spelling and other conventions of written language.
I really enjoyed this chapter because as a future teacher it really gives you ideas of you should set up your classroom. This really helps to see how even the posters you hang in your classroom can make a difference. I really liked the idea of different centers in the classroom. I remember having some similar to these in elementary school. I always thought they were the best time of the day. Maybe now with this information I can really make some productive centers in my classroom some day.
Other teachers can also provide the same opportunities as Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Some examples to provide children with the opportunity to experiment with reading and writing were; posting signs in classroom, list classroom rules, write notes to parents, label classroom items, and drawing or writing in journals. This chapter makes it clear that children should not only be exposed to written language but also have experimented with it before entering school. This can be done by simply reading to our children and allowing them to practice with pencil and paper.
This chapter also provided us with the stages of understanding the concept of a word. I guess I just took for granted knowing so many words that I really never realized there were so many stages. There are four stages to understanding the concept of a word: 1st- children don't differentiate between words and things. 2nd- they describe words as labels for things. 3rd- words carry meaning and understand that stories are built from words. 4th- they understand that words are made with letters and they also understand words have different appearances, they can be spoken, listened, read, and written. The first words that children can recognize are those they see most often in their environment. These are called environment print. This is usually how "reading" begins. Most children recognize signs they see most often. For example, me and my family pass by Bill Miller's everyday on our way home, she now knows every time there is a Bill's near by, she also loves their ice tea. The same idea comes to play in writing. Children scribble and later have enough experience that they can turn that scribble into an actual word. We can help their ability to read and write by providing the children productive centers. They can learn to play and learn at the same time. The alphabet also plays a major role in the children's way of reading and writing. I always believed the alphabet was the only important system in helping the children emerge in reading and writing. After reading this chapter four other language systems were introduced: phonological, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic, as well as their own knowledge of things.
There are stages that children have to go through while learning new things. This is also true when children are being emerged into reading. The same stages they go through in reading are also gone through in writing. These stages are emergent, beginning, and fluent. In emergent reading children gain an understanding of the communicative purpose of print. This is where environmental print comes in play. In the beginning reading stage children learn phoneme-grapheme correspondences and begin to decode words. This leads them to the fluent reader stage where they are able to concentrate more of their "cognitive energy" on comprehension. Reading now becomes a learning tool at this point. The same steps are taken for emergent writing. In the emergent stage children use scribbles to represent writing. With some experience they will be able to line up the scribbles from left to right and top to bottom. During this stage children will also be able to tell you what they wrote, "read it to you." In the beginning stage the alphabetic principle comes in. Here they use invented spelling to represent words. In the fluent stage children are now able to write in paragraphs and vary according to genre. In this stage they mainly use correct spelling and other conventions of written language.
I really enjoyed this chapter because as a future teacher it really gives you ideas of you should set up your classroom. This really helps to see how even the posters you hang in your classroom can make a difference. I really liked the idea of different centers in the classroom. I remember having some similar to these in elementary school. I always thought they were the best time of the day. Maybe now with this information I can really make some productive centers in my classroom some day.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Blog#1: 3321
In chapter one we went over the values of literature for children. We learned that children must establish the love of literature at an early age to promote early literacy. I totally agree with this from personal experience. Both my daughters (3 & almost 2) love books. They both know how to take care of books and look forward to reading times everyday. On the other hand, my nephews tear books, hate to read, and totally get bored when you try to read to them. Literature can also helps expand there vocabulary, which helps them communicate better, assist them in their development, and help their personality development. Literature can also help develop them socially.
Literature is just one of the values that one can learn as a child. I believe that a value is something one learns and applies it to our everyday life. Some values are more important to some than they are to others. Everybody values something different due to their life experiences. Some examples that I would consider values are; honesty, respect, and trust. Values are different for everybody because they vary due to our life experiences. For example, I think trust is a big value, but for others who have been hurt before or lied to all the time, they might not believe too much in trust. They have been lied to many times and can no longer trust the same.
I believe they all kind of come hand in hand with one another. I really think that respect is one of my most important ones. I was always taught by my parents to trust others. Respect was a huge thing in our family. We learned to respect our parents and siblings more than anything. Teachers were next on our list. Both my mother and father really praised teachers for their jobs and brought that home to us. Both with very little school were able to see what a good job they were doing with my oldest brother, who knew not one word of English when he started school. Disrespecting an educator was one of the worst things we could do. As a child I really believed this was taking it overboard, but now as an adult, and a parent, I can really see the importance in this. Teachers and parents are really the people who help shape the individual, not only mentally, but also socially. What this person learns as a child will help him/her become the adult that will one day teach others in our world.
I believe that respect can be taught anywhere. If a child simply talks back, the child can be corrected and will see this was disrespectful. Children are very smart and can learn right from wrong quicker than we think. Simple daily experiences give us the opportunity to teach this value, we just need to take advantage of these opportunities.
Literature is just one of the values that one can learn as a child. I believe that a value is something one learns and applies it to our everyday life. Some values are more important to some than they are to others. Everybody values something different due to their life experiences. Some examples that I would consider values are; honesty, respect, and trust. Values are different for everybody because they vary due to our life experiences. For example, I think trust is a big value, but for others who have been hurt before or lied to all the time, they might not believe too much in trust. They have been lied to many times and can no longer trust the same.
I believe they all kind of come hand in hand with one another. I really think that respect is one of my most important ones. I was always taught by my parents to trust others. Respect was a huge thing in our family. We learned to respect our parents and siblings more than anything. Teachers were next on our list. Both my mother and father really praised teachers for their jobs and brought that home to us. Both with very little school were able to see what a good job they were doing with my oldest brother, who knew not one word of English when he started school. Disrespecting an educator was one of the worst things we could do. As a child I really believed this was taking it overboard, but now as an adult, and a parent, I can really see the importance in this. Teachers and parents are really the people who help shape the individual, not only mentally, but also socially. What this person learns as a child will help him/her become the adult that will one day teach others in our world.
I believe that respect can be taught anywhere. If a child simply talks back, the child can be corrected and will see this was disrespectful. Children are very smart and can learn right from wrong quicker than we think. Simple daily experiences give us the opportunity to teach this value, we just need to take advantage of these opportunities.
Blog #1: 3344
I believe there are many ways to how students learn. Some are more visual learners and some can just listen and understand. According to our text, students must actively engage and participate in order to construct knowledge. I agree with this if you are a hands on kind of person. For example me, when it comes to Science, I must do an experiment rather than just read about one in a book.
The six components of language arts are listening, talking, reading, writing, viewing, and visually representing. In order for these to be effective one, as a teacher, must integrate instruction and incorporate opportunities for children to use them on a daily basis. If you really look at these six components they are placed in a certain order. The brain has a process of learning things. Us as college students first listen to the lecture, then discuss it, read about it, write something on it, review, and then present it. This kind of follows the six components. I just found that interesting that it doesn't really change no matter what your age.
I believe that teaching language arts does help children learn because we are learning what approach to take to teach the child. Once we know how the information is going to process better, then we can help the student understand it faster and apply it better. For example; we now know the five strategies to process info, so we can use this to our advantage and help the children even more. We begin to see each child's individual needs. We always knew that each child learned differently, but now we can also see what component works better for them.
As future teachers I really believe we should really take this information with us to the classroom. It can really help out with our everyday teaching. It might help us understand the children better by understanding how they are processing the information and what strategies we must take to help them process this information.
The six components of language arts are listening, talking, reading, writing, viewing, and visually representing. In order for these to be effective one, as a teacher, must integrate instruction and incorporate opportunities for children to use them on a daily basis. If you really look at these six components they are placed in a certain order. The brain has a process of learning things. Us as college students first listen to the lecture, then discuss it, read about it, write something on it, review, and then present it. This kind of follows the six components. I just found that interesting that it doesn't really change no matter what your age.
I believe that teaching language arts does help children learn because we are learning what approach to take to teach the child. Once we know how the information is going to process better, then we can help the student understand it faster and apply it better. For example; we now know the five strategies to process info, so we can use this to our advantage and help the children even more. We begin to see each child's individual needs. We always knew that each child learned differently, but now we can also see what component works better for them.
As future teachers I really believe we should really take this information with us to the classroom. It can really help out with our everyday teaching. It might help us understand the children better by understanding how they are processing the information and what strategies we must take to help them process this information.
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