Module Six Blog Entry

Hello everyone!

Wow! So here we are at the end of week 6! We are almost halfway through the semester! It’s hard to believe it! As always Ashleigh and I agreed that there was a lot of information, however, it was all very helpful. Together, we discussed the weeks’ “problem” tried to come up with an explanation of what literacy really means. I was harder than we thought since there was so much information! Nevertheless, we considered all the readings when forming our ideas. Ultimately, we feel that literacy is being able to understand and communicate written word in many different contexts. We learned that choosing the appropriate text is essential when helping students develop literacy skills. There is so much more we discovered!
*Note*—As you may notice, I have set up my blog entries a little differently. I felt that putting subtitles would help make reading through my entries a little easier.

The Reading WorkshopFirst, Ashleigh and I followed the module guide and started off the week by reading Chapter 4 of The Reading Workshop. We always enjoy reading Serafini’s work, so it was exciting that this chapter revealed a lot about what a typical focus unit looks like in the Reading Workshop. Serafini described his method of creating a Focus Unit based on the well-known children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are and I thought it was very interesting how he noticed a pattern of how most children’s book focus on the idea of children creating their own worlds, so he came up with the focus unit of “Escaping Reality” (pg. 41-42). This was fascinating to me because I never would have thought to make up my own focus unit but it does make sense! I was drawn to the fact that Serafini was able to get his students to get a lot out of this story. After reading Where the Wild Things Are multiple times, students were able to compile a list of many impressions, connections, and wanderings about the story (pg. 42-44). It was interesting that within this focus unit, students were also able to make comparison charts that compared the book to a few other pieces of children’s literature that centered on the idea of escaping reality (pg. 46-50). I think having the students use poetry and other forms of expression to create different “multigenre” writings such as brochures, maps, and letters to the main character Max, helped them develop a better understanding of what messages the story reveals (pg. 50-51). What a great idea! Serafini did a great job of highlighting what literacy is all about!
The Daily 5

Next, I read through chapter 4 of The Daily 5. This section focused on the importance of “reading to self.” Ultimately, I gathered that giving students opportunities to read to themselves is just the beginning step of the gradual release of responsibility. It was interesting to read that when students begin to read to themselves, they learn 1) to read and talk about pictures in the book, 2) read the words, and 3) retell a book that they have already read (pg. 47). When teaching children to “read-to-self,” I was introduced to the idea of having them create “I-charts” to record appropriate behaviors when reading. Here, students are able to list the responsibilities they carry as well as the teacher (pg. 50-52). As I went through the chapter, I couldn’t help but notice that there is a lot of practicing and reviewing when it comes to self-reading. It was great that the children mentioned in the text seemed eager to learn and enjoyed reading to themselves! As a future teacher, this makes me feel very hopeful about literacy instruction in the classroom!

Chapter 5 of the Daily 5 shifted the attention from reading to self to reading to someone else and listening to reading. I like how the text focused on the importance of reading to others because it reminded me of a lot of things I have learned in previous modules such as guided readings, read alouds, and shared readings. I was glad to learn that reading to someone else is one of the most favorite strategies children like to use. Additionally, it increases a child’s reading rate, fluency, and motivation to read (pg. 60). I thought it was great to learn about various “read-to-someone” strategies such as EEKK and “I Read, You Read” (pg. 61). I feel like I will be able to implement these strategies into my literacy lessons in my future teaching. I enjoyed reading about the daily focus lessons the authors chose to include in the text. I like how they shared their daily routines and how they instructed their students how to read to others. Particularly, I liked the focus lesson for day 6. It centered on the idea of students having a “reading coach” or partner to help them work through their difficulties with reading. The ideas/strategies they put on the coaching sheets they develop were very interesting (pg. 74). Lastly, this chapter focused on the importance of providing students plenty of opportunities to listen to reading. Again, I was reminded that read-alouds and shared readings are essential during the literacy development of a child. The need to listen to reading can be met by listening to books on tape/CD/computer or by simply listening to a partner. As the text mentioned, students come to school with various exposures to reading. Unfortunately, some children are rarely read to at home and miss out on valuable “lap time” as the book describes it. Ultimately, the authors mention that reading aloud 1) helps us become better readers, 2) helps up learn and understand new words and stories, and 3) makes reading fun! Ashleigh and I agree that this is exactly how we want literacy instruction to be in our future classrooms! We certainly learned a lot from these two chapters! They were very insightful!

How to Read A TextbookThe information Ashleigh and I learned in the talking video about reviewing a textbook was very interesting! I used the website Dr. Powell was using (Cuesta College) to review a Social Studies book about North Carolina (published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill) that I borrowed from the Education Lab. I will say that this was a helpful task because I know that choosing the right textbook for students to use is extremely important! Below, I have listed a few of the different things I found in the book I chose.
By following the steps listed on the Cuesta College website, I explored this textbook for vocabulary, analyzed for comprehension, and synthesized for understanding. The book has a very detailed Table of Contents so students would easily be able to look up a specific chapter and turn to the right page. I liked this particular book because before introducing students to any type of lesson, they are given several pages entitled Social Studies Handbook that gives them things to think about when reading the book, tips on using visuals, using maps and globes, and other information about North Carolina and the United States. The pictures provided in this textbook are very helpful and are relevant to the information given on the page(s). I noticed that important vocabulary words are highlighted throughout each lesson and then listed again in the “Review and Assess” section at the end of each chapter. As I analyzed for comprehension in the text, I noticed that it seemed to have a nice pattern in terms of how each unit/section was set up. Each Unit had chapters and each chapter had different lessons. For example, Unit 1 entitled “Geography of North Carolina” introduced the chapter 1 called “A Special Place.” The 3 lessons within this chapter discussed that North Carolina being a place 1) “Where You Live,” 2) explained how it is “A Southeastern State”, and 3) focused on “North Carolina Connections.” I liked this layout because I think it can help students identify that there are a lot of different topics and concepts to discuss about the state of North Carolina. I think this textbook would be a great resource to help students develop an understanding of the ideas being learned. Although it gives a lot of information, I think it is written clearly enough so that young students are able to read it, take notes on it, and study it to prepare for an assignment or test. I think this is a great textbook to use in an elementary classroom! I enjoyed reading through it!

Although the website I mentioned is intended for college-aged students, there is no doubt that the information given applies to everyone, especially elementary aged students. Dr. Powell also stressed the importance of helping students understand reading flexibility and examining the paragraph structure of a text book. The many tools made available on this website were very helpful because it gave me ideas of things to look for when reading through a textbook. The site lists possible signal words that may indicate whether or not a textbook chapter is written in chronological order (words such as next, later, first, etc.) and also lists words to indicate that a part of a textbook is a definition piece (words such as refers to, defined, term/concept, etc.). I was also able to look at other helpful links on the site such as information about study strategies and finding the main idea. I know that this website will be useful if I ever have input into what textbook I use in my future classroom.

Primary Source Documents
Speaking of finding appropriate texts, I recall Ashleigh and I discussing the fact we will be responsible for teaching students using other types of books other than textbooks and children’s literature books. The links to the UNC Chapel Hill Library was helpful for searching primary source documents. It’s great that these resources and documents are right at our fingertips and just a click away! I enjoyed exploring the docsteach.org because it allows educators to choose from a plethora of primary sources to use in the classroom when teaching specific content areas. Information about historical events such as The Great Depression, The American Revolution, and World War II can be found on this website. Dr. Powell was right—having this resource comes in great use for teachers when as they teach North Carolina social studies! I will definitely keep this site in mind for when I begin teaching!

Textbooks—the New GenerationAlthough this module stresses the importance of carefully choosing the right textbook, it’s ironic to me that the point of switching over to “electronic textbooks,” or e-textbooks, was also highlighted. There is no doubt that this is becoming more and more prevalent within our schools today. We are growing more comfortable with establishing ourselves as 21st century teachers and learners and a 21st century society. With such a change come changes in technology and a shift from traditional learning to high-tech learning. I will say that I tend to favor reading traditional books versus reading books on an iPad or tablet. Nevertheless, when it comes to giving students instruction, I would want to use whatever would help them learn more efficiently and more effectively, even if it means providing them with e-textbooks. I liked learning about the different features these gadgets have that can help enhance the learning experience. The iPad can help teachers bring lessons to life using the many different apps they can download and share. As I explored the Apple’s website on teaching with the iPad, it was amazing to hear about all of the possibilities a ideas there are for incorporating the use of the tablet in the classroom. I skimmed through some real-life stories of how elementary teachers used the iPad to help their students learn to read and develop a deeper understanding of different subjects. It was interesting to read about how such technology is used to help students with special needs and learning disabilities. After reading about the use of iPads in the classroom, I would say that we might be seeing more and more entering classrooms to promote learning. With all the technology children are exposed to at home, it may seem like it’s becoming harder and harder for students to stay focused in class. Many kids today have their own tablets or use their parent’s iPads at home, so I think having them use on in the classroom would make them feel comfortable and open to exploring many different ways of learning information at school.

Literacy WITHIN the Content Areas PowerPointThe PowerPoint presentation about Literacy WITHIN the Content Areas was very informative. First of all, I like how slide 3 stressed the idea that integration is not about integrating all subject areas, but it’s about integrating children with their world. I think this is so true, especially since teachers must make things relevant to the learner. Slide 4 reminded me of some of the things I learned last week in module 5 about reading comprehension. Students must learn early on to think about what they are reading and understand the content they are to be learning. This is an essential step when reading. The question posed on slide 5 asking whether or not students should read more nonfiction books got me thinking. As I learned in a previous module, the standards have been raised to require students to read a certain percentage of nonfiction text. It is important for students to be exposed to the many different types of texts and having them read more books that incorporate things like science, history, and social studies may be beneficial. The various examples of content reading strategies (slide 7) were very familiar in that I used many of the same textbook reading strategies when I was in middle school. The ones I remember most were underlining and highlighting, summarizing, comparison-contrast, and opinion-proof. As I read through the PowerPoint, I was reminded that I addition to the different strategies I will use to teach the major subjects of math and reading, there will be many other strategies I will use to teach the other content areas (science, history, etc.). Slides 11-13 provided helpful information and examples about scientific literacy. Similar strategies used for learning how to read are also used when learning other content areas. Predicting, describing, posing arguments, and evaluating are all things teachers can remind students to do when reading through a textbook (slide 14-15). I noted that slides 17-19 highlighted the familiar steps within the 5Es when discussing the subject of civics—a social science. Similarly, this was done with the subject of history in sides 20-22. It was interesting to think about slide 23’s question about what it was like for Abraham Lincoln to read—they taught themselves! I think this goes to show that anyone has the ability to read and they don’t have to have another person by their side all of the time to drill them on reading. A lot of it may have to do with motivation and having a desire to read but I think if teachers and adults let go and allow students to explore reading on their own, they may pick up on more things we are not teaching them. Engagement IS an important aspect of reading in the different content areas. Having students engage in meaningful tasks and encourage meaningful talk/discussion is a vital step when teaching any subject. With all the information presented in this PowerPoint, it was interesting to think about how I will teach literacy within other content areas. I can see myself using discussion and many of the strategies in this presentation to introduce and teach the different subjects.

Long Range Planning for Integration PowerPointThe next PowerPoint presentation I looked through extended on idea of engaging students in the classroom through an Inquiry Model. I think it’s interesting that the past few modules have touched on the use of Inquiry, so I can see just how important it is! The model on slide 2 was helpful because it does a great job of showing what exactly the role a teacher is. Dr. Powell’s voice over explanation was even more helpful as I studied the model. As I mentioned earlier, I think making learning any subject meaningful for a students is essential. Slide 3 of this presentation emphasized this idea. Just as Dr. Powell mentioned, this is important when considering the responsibilities of 21st Century teachers. I like how slide 5 listed the model of knowledge because it is so simple and basic. When I think about it, knowledge requires the use of understanding big ideas, concepts, and facts. I can see that many of processes we use to help students gain knowledge have drastically changed from then and now. Although we still use reading, speaking, and listening to learn, teachers today must also incorporate learning, innovation, and technology skills (slide 6). I thought the rest of the PowerPoint was very helpful in that it provided many other models for Inquiry learning that I can see myself applying to my future teaching.

Informational Genre HandoutAshleigh and I talked about how the document on Informational Genre was very helpful. Again, I liked it because it was very basic and explained a lot without giving too much information to read. Dr. Powell’s description of this was just as helpful! I think this is an easy tool to use to look at a particular genre and determine examples of it, its features, and the structure it has. I learned that once I become a teacher, I will be responsible for teaching students how to write three specific genres: personal narrative, argument text, and informational text. Since there are many different types of text, I know I need to become familiar with all of the types of texts described in the video.

The Science Notebooks WebsiteThe Science Notebooks website was indeed a great resource to learn about! It is so neat how you can search for Science resources and narrow your results by grade band, discipline, publisher, student context, and entry type. I played around with it and came up with a ton of different items that students created! I wanted to see what else this website had to offer, so I clicked on the Teacher Resources link. It gave me different links to other helpful websites and even information written in Spanish. This would come in extremely handy if I ever have an English Language Learner (ELL) in my class. Ultimately, I think this website helps teachers find new ways to incorporate reading, writing, communication, and mathematics into the subject of science. This is something I will keep in mind for when I begin teaching!

Engaging Students in Active Learning VideoI learned a lot by watching the video about engaging students in active learning in the Annenberg Learner video. There was a lot of information given about how to make learning Social Studies fun for students. Immediately, I was reminded that no matter what children are learning, they need to be actively engaged. Authentic instruction and cooperative learning were both teaching strategies mentioned in this video. Also, I was glad to hear the use of another teaching tool to use—mini lessons. I think the example they gave of developing a mini lesson based on the Pledge of Allegiance is great (around 3:20 and 47:24 in the video). I liked how the video showed a group of teachers asking and answering thought-provoking questions. It was interesting to hear their different ideas about social studies instruction and their thoughts about the different elements of authentic instruction (ends around 19:20). The video also stressed the importance of asking students questions to stimulate thinking. I was introduced to many great strategies that can help students develop a better understanding of their own thinking. The videos of teachers using these different strategies were very interesting! It was helpful to see how these ideas inspire students to ask themselves questions to build on their own learning. The use of graphic organizers seemed to work very well for David student’s (around in video). Ultimately, I learned that it is vital that teachers to start instruction with what students know, helping them share what they know with their peers, and use a variety of materials to create meaningful projects (around 57:00 in video).


Big 6 Research StrategiesIt was helpful to learn that if I were assigned to teach Kindergarten, one of the things the Common Core requires me to teach them is the task of researching. I’m glad that Dr. Powell provided us with the Big 6 document which gives a step by step guide on how to help Kindergarteners develop the skills necessary to conduct research using technology such as a computer. Task Definition, Information Seeking Strategies, Location and Access, Use of Information, Synthesis, and Evaluation are all important strategies to consider using when teaching children to research information. I think the Q Matrix chart is a great tool to use in the classroom to help students ask themselves questions about what they read on the computer. They can use this chart to answer the important Who?, What?, When?, Where?, How?, and Why? questions and put them in different categories to predict, imagine, and decide on facts or possible answers. I think this is a great tool and one I would consider using for other grade levels!



As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, I think this module helped Ashleigh and me see what exactly literacy really is. It is so much more than just focusing on reading for 90 minutes a day—it means being able to interpret, understand, and communicate written information. With that being said, this is why it is so important for teachers to choose the appropriate books and other pieces of text they will read in the classroom. Ashleigh and I will definitely take all the information and ideas learned in this module and apply it to our future teachings!

Thanks again for reading my long post! I always have so much to share! See you next week!
Kelsey