Module 12 Blog Entry

Hello everyone!

The semester is really winding down! Although the blog is optional now for our class, it still helps to talk about what I have learned each week. The modules are shorter now but needless to say, I still learned a lot. As a future teacher, I know that I will have to establish a positive environment for literacy workshop and understand that I will have to conduct culturally relevant practices. The information in this module did a great job of highlighting that.

Guided Reading
I remember reading this document in previous modules. It is evident that this is important information since we keep seeing it and keep reading about it. I think it really gives a lot of helpful ideas when assisting children with their reading. I also like that it answers a lot of questions about the guided reading process such as “What is Guided Reading?,” “What do I need?,” and “How do I begin?” I know these are questions that I would ask myself! It’s great that the document gave a lot of ideas on how to help different types of learners improve their reading abilities. It focused on giving strategies that would help struggling readers and even gave ideas of what to do to allow the fluent readers to make progress. I know this document will come in handy once I begin teaching!

Teaching Children to Care PowerPoint
I really liked this PowerPoint presentation! The quotes on the 2nd slide rang so true because I’ve always felt that school should be a place where children and teachers feel happy to work and grow together. Teachers also need to focus on being the best role models they can be for the children. I like the idea given on slide 3 and 4 of holding regular class meetings. As it was said, I think it can help eliminate and prevent a lot of problems. Ultimately, I feel that it builds a sense of community among the students. The sample Reading Workshop schedule presented on slide 5 was great! It looks like each element would help students grow in a lot of different areas. I liked the many ideas given for different literacy centers to conduct for the workshop (slide 6-11). It was really interesting to read the information and reasons (slide 12-15) for not saying “Good Job!” to students. I will say that I am quite guilty of this. I didn’t think that doing so would hinder their abilities with other tasks they complete. As slide 16 said, a little praise can go a long way. This is definitely something to keep in mind! Slides 17-19 reminded me of what I learned in my Foundations of Education class before starting in the education program at UNCW. As a class, we developed our own rules and discussed the importance of turning the negative rules into positives. I learned that in an elementary class, all of this helps children become hold responsibility for their own actions. I really liked the idea of The Circle of Friends on slide 21. I can see this benefitting all children involved. It like how it addresses the appropriate actions students can take to help their peers who have different needs. I believe this can help prevent a lot of issues that cause bullying. I think this is a great concept! It was helpful to read the rest of the PowerPoint about making the classroom environment positive and free of distractions (slides 22-25).

Workshops and Centers
This document gave some very helpful information! I know that the many ideas given here for different centers to use in a reading and writing workshop will come in handy for future reference!

Developing Culturally Relevant Practices
This article gave a lot of interesting information regarding the need for teachers to become aware of the different cultures students may come to class with. It is important for teachers to learn about student’s home and community practices and recognize differences within English Language learner (pg. 62-66). It was nice to have a short overview (pg. 67) of what the characteristics of Culturally Responsive teaching are. I especially like the last point given where it says that teachers build on what the child knows but takes instruction beyond what they are familiar with. I really liked how the article listed a lot of different multicultural authors. Teachers can refer to this list to potentially find books that would help students relate to a particular student’s culture (pg. 69). It was interesting to be reminded that when leading instruction, a student’s primary language should be addressed when conducting literacy events (pg. 70). Reading the different accounts of how read alouds were conducted in culturally diverse classrooms was interesting (pg. 73-76). It was interesting to be reintroduced to the term: kidwatching. I have heard of it before but this article did a great job of describing it further. Ultimately, it is the act of observing students as they learn and work. I noticed that the rest of the article covered information about how to assess students while kidwatching. A lot of the assessments reminded me of the ones I learned about in module 2 and used on my tutee!

Of course the information I read in this article caused me to begin thinking about how I would create a classroom that creates a sense of community and is “culture friendly.” I can see myself using the many ideas the author presents. I think using the list of multicultural authors is a great item to have when choosing a book to read aloud. Also, I feel that having the students from different cultures share their personal experiences and customs can be beneficial for everyone—teachers and students! As a teacher, I know that I will have to address the different cultures each student comes to class with. This is something to keep in mind!

The Reading Workshop
As always, I enjoyed reading Serafini’s work! I recall reading chapter 3 in a previous module but it was great to be reminded of some of the things mentioned in the text about promoting a sense of community in the classroom and making a space where readers can focus on reading. I like how Serafini describes the importance of displaying books around the room and having a classroom library. I like the suggestion of having different opportunities for sharing such as singing, making food together, and having class discussions (pg. 33-34). I had never heard of shoebox autobiographies or “wallfolios” but I can see how these would be great items for students to showcase their personalities and the different cultures they may come from (pg. 34).

Chapter 4 was also a chapter I remember reading back in a different module. I recall learning about how Serafini selects and develops a focus unit in the reading workshop. I liked how he chose to use the popular children’s book: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and compared it to similar books about children escaping reality and made his own focus unit. I thought it was great that his students could make their own impressions, connections, and wonderings from the various texts.

I learned a lot of interesting information this week! I hope you all have as well. Thank you for reading my blog! See you next week!
Kelsey