Hypothetically speaking...I first set up my multimedia projector showing my students some pictures (pictures I have permission to use) based on the topic deforestation. If the projector does not work I would have printed pictures ready -my contingency plan!!Then initiate a discussion using the pictures of areas that are deforested. I would then record the students' observations. After which, I would elicit a definition of the term deforestation. The students will then discuss the negative and positive aspects of deforestation. The students will be provided with a graphic organizer, a table labeled, positive and negative effects of deforestation. The students will use this graphic organizer to record their ideas. Students will then be given a sheet with information on deforestation to review the table. I will place the students in groups of four to creatively produce an informed podcast (the students would have a prior knowledge of a podcast) defining deforestation and outlining the positive and negative effects of deforestation. Oh! I nearly forgot my contingency plan. I could allow the students to do a performance for the class presenting their information.
It is a work in progress!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
My Woes....
I have a group of students in my class who I would describe as the weakest students. In light of our classes on ebooks I have allowed this group of students to explore level F on the site www.raz-kids.com, it is a great site and it is under the umbrella of learninga-z.com which includes site such as readinga-z.com which offers a plethora of books that you can download and print for your children there are also projectable books. I encourage anyone to subscribe to these sites, however, if you have a child at home I recommend raz-kids.com since it offers a host of ebooks along with questions. My group of weak students I allowed to explore their level, initially the children rushed at the activity every evening they would ask for the computer to work on their reading and time would be of no consequence. However, after some time their excitement ceased, they rarely ask for the computer and I had to ensure that it was done.
I was also beginning to feel that may be I was wasting time but from my readings the authors have always insisted that continuous reading will develop fluency which improves comprehension. I really hope this works because I really do not have the time to give them that they really need to improve drastically, in time for the exam.
Open to ideas that would not be a time constraint; a site I can perhaps allow students to use to improve their reading and comprehension skills. Take into consideration that these students have an exam to take next year.
I was also beginning to feel that may be I was wasting time but from my readings the authors have always insisted that continuous reading will develop fluency which improves comprehension. I really hope this works because I really do not have the time to give them that they really need to improve drastically, in time for the exam.
Open to ideas that would not be a time constraint; a site I can perhaps allow students to use to improve their reading and comprehension skills. Take into consideration that these students have an exam to take next year.
Continued Comprehension....
In the previous blog I shared the sentiment that the students' results in comprehension usually brings down their marks in language arts on a whole. For some reason children are entering this standard four stage without possessing what I will refer to as the factors which influence reading comprehension (you can read the previous blog to get an idea of them).
The assumption is that these 'comprehension problems are limited to disadvantaged' or children who are described as struggling readers. There are students who we describe as avid readers who are not able to comprehend text especially the passages give at the standard five level which sometimes have vocabulary that we, adults have to seek a dictionary.
When teaching comprehension we should follow principles for teaching comprehension
• Solid fluency allows the mind to concentrate on making sense of what we read.
• Broadening vocabulary increases comprehension and helps further learning, and
• Possessing a wide background in domain knowledge (prior knowledge) increases fluency skills, further expands vocabulary and enables the learner to have a greater understanding. (Hirsch, 2003)
Using these principles as a guide along with the factors that influence reading comprehension we could better structure activities to get the most out of every teaching moment.
References:
Hirsch, E.D., Jr. (2003). Reading comprehension requires knowledge of words and the world. American Educator, 10-29
The assumption is that these 'comprehension problems are limited to disadvantaged' or children who are described as struggling readers. There are students who we describe as avid readers who are not able to comprehend text especially the passages give at the standard five level which sometimes have vocabulary that we, adults have to seek a dictionary.
When teaching comprehension we should follow principles for teaching comprehension
• Solid fluency allows the mind to concentrate on making sense of what we read.
• Broadening vocabulary increases comprehension and helps further learning, and
• Possessing a wide background in domain knowledge (prior knowledge) increases fluency skills, further expands vocabulary and enables the learner to have a greater understanding. (Hirsch, 2003)
Using these principles as a guide along with the factors that influence reading comprehension we could better structure activities to get the most out of every teaching moment.
References:
Hirsch, E.D., Jr. (2003). Reading comprehension requires knowledge of words and the world. American Educator, 10-29
Factors that Influence Reading Comprehension
As a teacher at the SEA level I realise how crucial the ‘Comprehension’ section is to the student’s final mark. For those unaware, Comprehension accounts for forty out of the total, one hundred. Unfortunately, we sometimes do not concentrate on this area until the children reach to this level. Reading has been traditionally done as ‘Round Robin’ where children stand and recite passages for the class. Sometimes we are guilty of not making comprehension an important aspect of everyday lessons.
Children should not reach the Standard four level lacking the “four important factors influence reading comprehension:
• Command of the linguistic structure of the text,
(readers need to know how to decode text easily so that their cognitive energy is not drained)
• Adequate vocabulary in the content area,
(when a reader stops frequently to determine the meaning of a word , comprehension suffers)
• Degree of metacognitive control of the text, and
(readers must know how to self-monitor and reflect on their level of understanding during the act of reading)
• Adequate domain knowledge
(background knowledge helps us to connect to the text we are reading)”
We have to first overcome these challenges to positively influence children’s reading comprehension skills.
References:
Tankersley, K.,(2005).Literacy Strategies for Grades 4-12:Reinforcing the Threads of Reading. Alexandria, VA, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Children should not reach the Standard four level lacking the “four important factors influence reading comprehension:
• Command of the linguistic structure of the text,
(readers need to know how to decode text easily so that their cognitive energy is not drained)
• Adequate vocabulary in the content area,
(when a reader stops frequently to determine the meaning of a word , comprehension suffers)
• Degree of metacognitive control of the text, and
(readers must know how to self-monitor and reflect on their level of understanding during the act of reading)
• Adequate domain knowledge
(background knowledge helps us to connect to the text we are reading)”
We have to first overcome these challenges to positively influence children’s reading comprehension skills.
References:
Tankersley, K.,(2005).Literacy Strategies for Grades 4-12:Reinforcing the Threads of Reading. Alexandria, VA, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Ebooks and Fluency...
Some time ago I tried making 'something' on the computer I feel it was supposed to be an ebook, after class I realised how simple it was to put together an ebook by using a simple program that we use so often.
We do not always consider that children have different learning styles. The learning styles could be descrided as visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile. Visual learners prefers to have a picture to view when something is being described to them; ebooks help to achieve this since they have pictures to view with the written information. Students, on the other hand, who are auditory learners remember best through verbal repitition and also remember verbal instructions well, through the use of ebooks students who may be auditory learners will be able to comfortably use the technology. Ebooks offer the repition of words if needed by the struggling reader who may be an auditory learner. The ebook can be used for retelling which will eventually improve comprehension skills.'Retellings and other response activities encourage students to create versions of text of their own language. Students reconstruct stories they practice sequencing events',which is a compehension skill that also helps with writing, one of the writing traits being organization.(Milby & Rhodes, 2007)
References:
Milby, T.M.,& Rhodes, J.A.(2007).Teacher-created electronic books:Integrating technology to support readers with disabilities.
The Reading Teacher,61(3),255-259.doi: 10.1598/RT.61.3.6
We do not always consider that children have different learning styles. The learning styles could be descrided as visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile. Visual learners prefers to have a picture to view when something is being described to them; ebooks help to achieve this since they have pictures to view with the written information. Students, on the other hand, who are auditory learners remember best through verbal repitition and also remember verbal instructions well, through the use of ebooks students who may be auditory learners will be able to comfortably use the technology. Ebooks offer the repition of words if needed by the struggling reader who may be an auditory learner. The ebook can be used for retelling which will eventually improve comprehension skills.'Retellings and other response activities encourage students to create versions of text of their own language. Students reconstruct stories they practice sequencing events',which is a compehension skill that also helps with writing, one of the writing traits being organization.(Milby & Rhodes, 2007)
References:
Milby, T.M.,& Rhodes, J.A.(2007).Teacher-created electronic books:Integrating technology to support readers with disabilities.
The Reading Teacher,61(3),255-259.doi: 10.1598/RT.61.3.6
My Student Blogged
I was so excited when I checked my gmail account and realised that one of the students in my class had posted a comment on the class blog. I set up a blog based on the book that we are currently doing in class 'The Chocolate Touch'. I demonstrated how to use the blog and I went further to send that student a link. She is the only one in my class who has an account and the internet at home. She is also one of the students in my class who is a struggling reader but she tries.She only gave one line but its a start and I am so excited.
Throughout the ICT classes I felt a sense of dissappointment in the system in which I teach, we do not have the necessary technology to ensure that Web 2.0 tools are used in the classroom.
I have been reading the articles and came across a teacher who teamed up with preservice teachers who were willing to participate in the project as 'reading partners with the children'.The preservice teachers set up blogs and over a period of time interacted with the children.(Anderson & Balajthy,2009)This would be a great way to put learning in the hands of the students, the teacher only has to guide the discussions to an extent,since the professor was also guiding the blog posts of the preservice teachers.
My little step towards this goal was a bit of a relief, maybe one day I will be able to truly engage in a project as I described.
Throughout the ICT classes I felt a sense of dissappointment in the system in which I teach, we do not have the necessary technology to ensure that Web 2.0 tools are used in the classroom.
I have been reading the articles and came across a teacher who teamed up with preservice teachers who were willing to participate in the project as 'reading partners with the children'.The preservice teachers set up blogs and over a period of time interacted with the children.(Anderson & Balajthy,2009)This would be a great way to put learning in the hands of the students, the teacher only has to guide the discussions to an extent,since the professor was also guiding the blog posts of the preservice teachers.
My little step towards this goal was a bit of a relief, maybe one day I will be able to truly engage in a project as I described.
Vocabulary Rich Classroom
According to Lane and Allen (2010)'promoting incidental learning and word conciousness through frequent and deliberate modeling of sophisticated vocabulary can add substantial breadth to students' vocabularies.'.Students who engage in daily activities where they use 'sophisticated' vocabulary will have a larger 'word bank'.
'Mrs. Barker assigned classroom jobs at circle time'to her kindergarten, the jobs assigned simply identified at the beginning of the school year,September, but by February she changed the names of the duties such as zookeeper became "animal nutrition specialist", the cleanup helper became the "custodian" and the line leader was the "class movement coordinator". By changing the names of the duties the sudents are now aware of synonyms of the words they were using originally and since the duty has not changed they are very much knowledgeable about the the meaning of these new sophisticated words.
All teachers should 'model sophisticated vocabulary use' like Mrs. Barker. We should not 'dumb-down our language' for the students, 'simplistic vocabulary may be appropriate for initial instruction, as a supportfor students' understanding of a new concept. But once students develop a basic understanding, it is time to elevate our instructional language to enhance our students' vocabularies'(Lane & Allen, 2010)
'Sophisticated Words to use:
correct: accomplished, appropriate, exemplary, masterful, precise, proficient, proper, superior, suitable.' (Lane & Allen,2010)
Reference:
Allen,S.A. & Lane,H.B.(2010) The Vocabulary-Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth. Reading Teacher,63(5),362-370.doi:10.1598/RT.63.5.2
'Mrs. Barker assigned classroom jobs at circle time'to her kindergarten, the jobs assigned simply identified at the beginning of the school year,September, but by February she changed the names of the duties such as zookeeper became "animal nutrition specialist", the cleanup helper became the "custodian" and the line leader was the "class movement coordinator". By changing the names of the duties the sudents are now aware of synonyms of the words they were using originally and since the duty has not changed they are very much knowledgeable about the the meaning of these new sophisticated words.
All teachers should 'model sophisticated vocabulary use' like Mrs. Barker. We should not 'dumb-down our language' for the students, 'simplistic vocabulary may be appropriate for initial instruction, as a supportfor students' understanding of a new concept. But once students develop a basic understanding, it is time to elevate our instructional language to enhance our students' vocabularies'(Lane & Allen, 2010)
'Sophisticated Words to use:
correct: accomplished, appropriate, exemplary, masterful, precise, proficient, proper, superior, suitable.' (Lane & Allen,2010)
Reference:
Allen,S.A. & Lane,H.B.(2010) The Vocabulary-Rich Classroom: Modeling Sophisticated Word Use to Promote Word Consciousness and Vocabulary Growth. Reading Teacher,63(5),362-370.doi:10.1598/RT.63.5.2
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)