EDRD 7718 Module 4

Instructional Methods and Strategies

      The majority of the information from this module were concerned with the RTI program/process, as well as the Common Core's effect on reading. The Response To Intervention (RTI) program/process is something we begin learning about in our undergrad and then experiencing within our schools. It is a program implemented by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that ensures that all students needs are being met within the classroom. The original tiered program has three tiers, but Georgia's RTI model has four tiers: tier one ("standards- based classroom learning"), tier two ("needs based learning"), tier three ("SST driven learning") and tier four ("specially designed learning"). This program is intended to get help for struggling students before they are classified as "Special Education". 

      The sections about Common Core and Literacy were of utmost interest to me because it is something that has been a hot topic within grade level meetings. Our students were just given an interim assessment from the county to see where the students are assessing at this point in the semester and as a team we noticed that there was a whole bunch of content specific reading from areas such as Social Studies and Science. Instead of being full of simple narrative comprehension tests, the interim test had more content specific comprehension questions. As we noticed from our scores, the students did not do as well on the reading due to the amount of informational texts. We have begun to teach our students how to read and understand these informational passages because, as was discussed within a view of the articles, just because a child can read does not mean they can understand this specific sort of writing. 

EDRD 7718 Module 3

Encouraging Enthusiasm for Reading 

      I thought this was a very sweet video about children and reading. I loved the quote "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents" by Emilie Buchwald. I think that starting to read to children at a young age is a great way to instill the love of reading within them. Another way to encourage children to read is to read for pleasure yourself because children look up to their parents and if they see that you read they will also want to read. It is vital that parents model reading for their children.

SMART Table- Touch. Learn. Together. / HATCH Smart Table

      This was by far the coolest thing I have seen for a classroom. I have never heard of this but it is such a great, innovative piece of technology. I find myself limited when it comes to using either the SmartBoard or the Promethean board because only one person can use it at a time. This table would allow for the students to actually work together toward a common goal instead of working individually and taking turns in a group setting. This would work great with online manipulatives during math centers or even multiplayer educational games. The Smart Table could be used to create timelines, and match definitions in Social Studies, as well as manipulate passages in Reading.

Science and Math Integrating Literacy in Early Childhood/Expository Text Article 

      This was mentioned in the video but I also know from experience that students love learning about Science and it is something that has interested them for a long time because it is something they can see and understand. As discussed in the expository text article, I found out quickly that having my students read through textbooks on their own was not beneficial at all because they did not understand the way they were set up. The science textbooks can be difficult to read and understand without teacher scaffolding due to the elevated and content-specific vocabulary. Therefore, whenever I introduce new topics or when I am trying to clarify other topics I will find children's literacy that has to do with the topics because they are easier to understand. For example, we read through The Lorax when we were talking about pollution. When we were learning about Georgia Habitats, I rented habitat specific books that went into detail about the animals and landscape. These books told just as much information as the textbooks but were written in a more child-friendly way. Therefore, I have found that it is beneficial to read and discuss the text book, but then reinforce the information with other forms of literacy.

Development of Literacy Strategies

      While I was reading through this PowerPoint presentation, it reminded me of when we were finding our initial information regarding our action research project. We had to know exactly what type of information we were looking for, while also making sure that the information we were gathering was valid and relevant to our study.
   

EDRD 7718 Module 2

4-Information Literacy/Learning Theories PowerPoint

      This PowerPoint was very interesting to me because it really put differentiation into perpesctive for me. I understand differentiation, but this put it in a manner that made everything that much clearer. There were two awesome analogies used within this PowerPoint to describe differentiation. The first one discussed the millions of species in our world today and how this can look messy. The other discussed the replicating of cells. Cells replicating can look extremely messy with no central authority while acting to their environment. At first, learning was looked at as very, very structured and mainly used organizational charts and outlines. Along with these outlines came tons of information. However, as we know this is not cognitively appropriate for our students. We need to teach our students by making learning a building process and allowing the students to learn new information by constructing it from the information or background knowledge they already have. We need to apply the earlier analogies to our classroom by making the classroom more student cantered with constructivist learning and discovery. Georgia has now begun to take part in the Common Core which puts a lot of focus on differentiated learning and allowing the kids to take charge.

Planning Strategic Reading Lesson

      The pupose of this PowerPoint is to discuss strategic reading. I have actually never heard of strategic reading before, but it is led by the teacher who chooses various text for the students to dive in to. Eventually the work the teacher has chosen will lead to student-directed work through activities such as literacture circles. I did get to experience literacy circles during my student teacher, but it was also an experimental year for my host teacher so I do not know if I got the full experience. However, the ability-grouped students would all be reading one book and every few days they would have different tasks they would need to complete and then discuss with their group-mates. They really enjoyed it and I feel like it allowed them to grow independently. Since the teacher chooses the books, the students will get to read various genres and learn different strategies for reading those genres.

Literacy Practice: Promoting Content Area Reading

      Content Area Reading most closely means text books. I completely undertstand that my students would have a hard time reading the text books because there can be difficult content-specific vocabulary and knowing the fact that I continue to have a hard time reading some text books. However, this does not mean that they should not be used, it just means that the students need assistance reading through these types of books. The PowerPoint discusses the concept of scaffolding which means that the teachers supports the students throughout the entirety of the lesson by modeling different reading strategies. We are there to assist the students while they read. As teachers, we need to be sure that we can read and understand the text books before we give them to our students to read, so that we can thoroughly and accurately assist the students and make sure that this text is actually something the students will understand even with assistance. Before reading the text, it is also our responsibility to determine the readability to ensure that the text features and clear and understandable. If after reading the text, the teachers realizes that it is too hard for the students then we can modify the content and put it in context that is understandable for the students at their current levels. As far as vocabulary is cnocerned in the text books we use, I believe that they do a good job of not introducing too many new words at one time. Each lesson usually has five or less new words throughout its length. Usually I introduce the vocabulary first before the student begin to read because that way the students have at least a little background knowledge. I do not recall teaching text features last year in my student teaching, but this year it was a standard that we needed to teach and after having finished the lessons I realized how much they helped the students understand the structure of the text. After the students have completed their reading, we need to do something that will allow for the students to put what they have learned in their own words in order for the information to mentally make sense to them.

Goals for Differentiated Instruction Video

      Differentiated instruction was something that was of upmost importance in my undergrad, so I am glad to see that this is something that is being discussed a lot because I feel like I learn more and more each time. Differentiated instruction is a new way of thinking about the teaching and learning process. None of our students are exactly the same, so we should not treat them that way. In order to effectively meet our students needs, we need to focus on their specific learning styles and needs. We also need to get the students involved in their own learning by setting goals. Within each of our lessons, we need to make sure that each student is being challenged and has found an interest in the current topic. In my undergrad, our lesson plans consisted of an entire area dedicated to differentiated instruction. In each lesson I had to discuss how the lesson was differentiated: content, process or product. If the students are engaged and interested in the topic they are more likely to pay attention and retain the information because they have connected the knew information to something they already knew. 

The Story of Differentiation Video 

      Carol Tomlinson began by discribing her first years of teaching at a school that had a very diverse population. She stated that she had students who were four years below reading level and students who were four years above reading level and that she had no students in the middle. Tomlinson realized quickly that it was pointless to teach to the middle because the students would lose interest due to lack of understanding or boredum. She began implementing classroom rotations where the students were in what she called "flexibility grouping" which means that the leveled groups are interchangeable. She did not want to keep the "low" students together because they would not get as much out of that group as they would if they were pushed academically by their peers. After moving on to the college level, she realized that other teachers were experiencing what she went through, so she started teaching them about the big picture instead of focusing on how to teach the "lower" students. She want to show them that we can allow the students to work twoards the same goal with varying academic levels.