Vocabulary

As I read this chapter and think about my vocabulary learning, the thing I remember most is that I always loved vocabulary. It was like my favorite thing to test on. Notice I said, “test.” Given the fact that I hate test and am the worst test taker ever, I have to think about why I liked to test on vocabulary. The only reason being that it was the easiest subject to memorize since all I had to do was recognize the context clues or find a word in the meaning that made the most since. I was never asked to actually use any of the words. Maybe that is why my sentences and anything to do with writing was never quite up to par.

Since I am aware of my lack of vocabulary skills (I blame my elementary teachers), I want to take this and learn from it by using word walls, vocabulary cards, word list, journals, shades of meaning and many other strategies. Vocabulary is so important for background knowledge, reading comprehension, and writing. It even affects the way we speak and how we understand others. It doesn’t help that we live in the South and slang is so common. There will be students who come from all different environments who have different dialects and it will be our job to facilitate and expand that part of their vocabulary. Some students may say they do not like to read when all it boils down to is they do not like to read what they do not understand. If the vocabulary is easy to understand, the text will be more fulfilling and more easily comprehended. My favorite strategy to use when teaching vocabulary is breaking down the word. It is so when you can understand where a word comes from and why it means what it does.

With all of the different types of students who live in various environments, how do you know how big of a word range to use and how many different strategies to use in one lesson? I feel like that didn’t make any sense. If you have Billie whose parents didn’t finish high school, work two jobs, and have no books in the house versus Anna whose parents both have a their masters, choose their own hours, and have a personal library, how in the world do you differentiate instruction? Mind you this is only two people. Twenty-three people is a whole different ballgame.

Questions

When  I was growing up in school, questioning was a word that would make me cringe. I absolutely hated having to answer questions in any way. Most of the questions I was asked weren't exactly higher order thinking. I mostly remember memorizing everything and giving definite, straight-forward answers. I never cared to change my ways because I was being awarded with good grades for this behavior. As I moved on to college and nursing school I noticed that questioning is much different and I had to actually use my brain to think about what I was being asked. It wasn't just memorization anymore. In high school it was cool and all but then I began to resent those times and my lack of effort because I was never taught how to answer higher order thinking questions.

Some of the strategies used in chapter 5 (SQ3R, reciprocal) are helpful to know and use for when I become a teacher. I have learned that I should have been pushed to think about questions and answer them fully and should do the same for my students. What good is it doing to ask closed questions? And even if a question is open-ended, it should make students think, question, infer, discuss, and on and on. I think I need to go to a siminar for this because I was taught poorly and never did anything about it. Students also can learn so much from one another and should be able to ask one another questions and discuss together in order to learn how to ask questions themselves.

I really liked the video Tuesday. I am SO not a math person. I was one of those students that he was talking about who was scared to talk about math or answer anything in front of the class in fear of not knowing the correct answer. I like how he brought a literal situation to the classroom to get everone involved rather than reading a word problem out of a book and having to look up the answer. I can only hope that I will learn to be that inventive so my students will not feel the way I did. We can do away with those questions at the end of a chapter in a geometry book for all I care. If you are like me, you looked up the answer in the back and never really learned how to do it or what the point was.

Graphic Organizers

"When the purpose of a graphic organizer becomes filling it out correctly, it is nothing more than a worksheet." I chose this quote because I have seen this in just about every classroom I have been in. It happened to me and is still being done. I think as teachers we get so caught up in teaching for the tests and giving students worksheets to fill out that are supposed to help with the tests. People are saying more and more to think outside of the box and not to teach for test. So, in turn, some people think that a graphic organizer is a cool way to use other resources and not just a worksheet. It can be, but not if students are just filling in answers. I think that there are a lot of people may be confused about what a worksheet really is. Just because the name is different, it doesn’t mean it is not a worksheet. Being a visual learner, I think that graphic organizers are great to use in the classroom if used appropriately.

Graphic organizers can be really helpful for some students but what about the students who do not benefit from them? I guess I am asking how are we supposed to get everyone on board using graphic organizers?

I kind of already touched on this above. My experiences with graphic organizers are mixed. I hated worksheets in class and that is what most of them ended up being; however, the more I learn about graphic organizers, the more I like them. I am a visual learner, so everything I can get on one page in order for me to see it altogether is great for me. I honestly would like to learn a lot more about them so that I can use them the correct way in my classroom.

Text Talk

For the record, every time I wrote something down that I wanted to say about this article it was stated in the next paragraph. Needless to say, I think they covered this topic pretty well. Growing up, I had a really hard time with comprehension and I think it had a lot to do with popcorn reading and the setting of the classroom in general. If there are people who are not reading fluently, I cannot for the life of me listen, much less understand the story. Also, if people are in the room looking around or talking I pay more attention to them than anything. With that being said, the only reason I started to develop comprehension skills and enjoy reading has a lot to do with a teacher who read aloud to me. We were in a much smaller group setting in a library and the way she read was mesmerizing the way she made the characters come to life. Stories made much more sense when she read and her questions brought out the highlighted portions of the text in order for me to stay on track with the story.

What I'm getting at is that I think reading aloud is an amazing way to get students to comprehend. This way students have a model for fluent reading as well as what questions to ask yourself and what things you should notice. Students can learn that the pictures help paint the story for visual remembrance, but they do not give the whole story and are only supported by the text. For read-alouds to be effective, the right questions need to be asked. Limits need to be pushed to think critically and formulate new questions. Reading above the level of the students also helps with vocabulary. Sometimes if I hear someone read aloud a word in a sentence that I do not know the meaning of I understand it better. I definitely think that "text talk" is beneficial for reading comprehension and helps students enjoy reading,

I noticed that a Text Talk strategy included withholding pictures after the student understand what is read. Why exactly is that? (I read about it but I just don't get it) I just think that pictures help with comprehension so much because I am a visual learners.

Also, I wonder how far to go regarding reading above reading level?

Writing to Learn

I really liked reading about the topic of using writing in the classroom. Using strategies to make students write allows not only the opportunity to assess students but for students to really think about what they have learned to put into words. It has always been hard for me to put what I know down on paper; however, it makes me think so much harder about what I know. Students will ultimately remember what they have learned if they can write it down. I never would have thought to incorporate writing in other subjects such as math. Now that it has been brought to my attention, I probably would have been a better math teacher had I used these strategies in elementary. Writing can be used to write prior knowledge before a topic is discussed and students can share with one another to prepare themselves for the topic. I enjoyed this topic of writing!

Content Area Literacy

I was one of those students who had all A’s grades 1-3 and had the hardest time as soon as I got to the 4^th grade. I still had good grades, but I began to fall behind in reading. The cause of the problem had everything to do with reading comprehension. I never even really thought about the problem or how it could be corrected for those who had the same problem I did until I read this article. It makes so much sense to start with expository text rather than springing it on 4^th graders. I also like the idea of using other texts such as newspapers and internet materials rather than the popular textbook for informational reading. It will definitely take some extra time in learning content knowledge and going through what will be appropriate for the students and the age group. I also think that teachers are going to have to work together to find a way to scaffold the use of informational texts and find ways to teach students to use it.

Students are being asked to think critically at a younger age every year. Critical thinking questions need take practice to answer and have to be taught at some point. What better way to gain more knowledge and vocabulary than to use informational texts at a young age. I think this is definitely something that should be researched further and implemented in order for students to be the best student they can be as they move up.

Would expository texts serve as supplemental texts or as the primary textbooks in the younger grades?

If the use of the computer for these informational resources is going to be implemented, how much time is going to be taken away teaching how to use the computer?