blog #2 Writing Instruction I Received

As a young student I remember writing in school, but don’t remember learning how to write.  From what I do remember, I was not ever taught grammar explicitly.  I was taught what nouns and verbs were, but don’t remember learning other parts of speech specifically.  I don’t remember ever learning how to diagram sentences or how to construct a good sentence.  I do remember one teacher showing us examples of paragraphs that she would construct.  As I got a little older, I remember being given a topic that we were to write about, and being expected to do an outline, rough draft, and final copy.  Peer editing or collaboration with peers was not part of our writing instruction.  

I would say that this takes on more of an acquisition view although there was no peer interaction and I’m not sure that the writing was always authentic, but more scripted.  Another aspect that I would say followed the learning view more than acquisition was our weekly spelling tests.  We were given a set of words each week that we would practice for homework and test on at the end of the week.

Looking back at my own writing instruction I think there could have been more of a balance between the two methods.  I do feel that acquisition allows for more authentic and creative writing, however I do think that students need to learn the different parts of speech if they are to be successful with academic language.  I know that for me, writing academic papers has always been very difficult because I don’t know when I’m making grammatical errors.  I also have found that I have a very hard time peer editing for people because I can’t find their errors.  I think there needs to be a balance between learning and acquisition tasks so that students can explicitly learn certain skills, but then have many opportunities to practice and go deeper with authentic reasons for reading and writing.  

Blog #6 learning vs. acquisition

When looking at the difference between whether certain tasks were learning or acquisition there were a few times where I was uncertain which to choose and really felt that depending on how the task was presented, could possibly be both.  There were a couple tasks in particular that I struggled with.

The task of making a Venn diagram to compare two stories, I put (A) because I was thinking that the students really had to use higher level thinking to look at specific aspects on two stories and determine how they were alike or different.  To me this could take on looking not only at characters in both books, but also plot or problem/solution.  I think that it is really asking the student to go back into the text and pull out information that might not be surface knowledge.  Each person can get their own meaning from the texts and their Venn diagrams could take on different aspects and meanings depending on the directions and guidelines given.

After discussing this task as a group I did add the (L) because my teammates did bring up that many times the teacher assigns the books so there is little choice for the students.  The part of the story that is to be compared might also be teacher-chosen and the students might be limited in what they are able to construct meaning from and therefore might be comparing surface knowledge information.

Another area where I was unsure was the task that said to work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences.  I felt this was (A) because the students are using background knowledge to create meaning from the cut up words.  Working in pairs allows the students to talk about how the words can fit together and use their combined knowledge to make complete sentences.

Again, after speaking about the task, I did add an (L) because if the chant is something that is memorized or known very well then there may not be as much meaning needed to construct the sentences, but more recall of the lines of the chant. 

After completing this assignment, I can see that there are many tasks a teacher can assign that can take on both learning and acquisition depending on how the task is assigned.  I believe that there will be both types of teaching going on in most classrooms.  Some things need explicit teaching and phonics instruction does help with decoding.  It is also important to teach strategies that students can use when silent reading in order to help with comprehension.  I think that balanced literacy instruction doesn’t use just one view of writing or reading, but uses the strategy that will best suit the students and goal of the lesson.       

Reading texts of different languages

I chose one book that was about how babies are conceived and born. I recognized some Spanish characters like the upside down question mark.  I also recognized the ‘los’ and ‘Ninos’ in the title.

• I was completely overwhelmed and really used the pictures a lot to even know what details the book went into.  I could tell when picking it up that it was about a mom having a baby but didn’t know until really looking through the pictures that it was also about how they are made.  I knew this when I saw the more technical pictures. 
• As I looked further at the text and not just the pictures, I did notice words that looked similar to English: bebes, mamas, and septiembre.
• As I got into the technical parts I did recognize the word huevo and knew that it meant egg, which I only know from restaurants.
• This book, although written for children, seemed quite information heavy and although there were pictures, it was quite frustrating trying to figure out what the information was saying. I knew since it was non-fiction that the captions were talking about the pictures so could guess at what that chunk of words was talking about.
• I would have liked to have a dictionary to translate or another person to bounce ideas off of.  It was something that was hard for me to just put down because I wanted to figure it out, but it was also driving me crazy.

The second book I chose was a Korean book so there aren’t any letters, it is all characters. 

• The pictures helped me see that it was a book labeling different nouns.  I do recognize the same characters from page to page with the same couple of words appearing on each page. 
• I am struggling with the fact that I can’t figure out what the words are and just keep seeing those two and can name the objects but can’t tell what those words are.  In my mind it could be a couple of things.  I think it is a repeating text, just from my knowledge of books and the appearance of the words.

After looking at these texts I realize that as a teacher I must be aware of my ELL students and what background knowledge they may or may not have on the subject we are studying.  I found that I was relying almost totally on the pictures in the text and adding my own meaning using my background knowledge on the types of text and the subject.  I would have loved to have had a peer to talk with and realize just how important it is for ELL students to be able to have someone to help and share ideas with.  I was very glad I didn't have to get up in front of anyone and have to explain my thoughts on the text or have to try and read it aloud.  The more I'm learning about our ELL students, the more I'm in awe of how they get through each and every day without shutting down or giving up.

After speaking with a coworker about her philosophy of teaching literacy, I found many areas where our thoughts were the same.  Both of us felt that in order to teach literacy successfully teachers must have use an approach that includes each component of reading as well as incorporating writing.  There must be differentiated and explicit instruction.  Therefore the literacy program used must take into consideration the teaching of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  In second grade we hope that the students already have a solid base with phonemic awareness and we hope to make sure that they can then use their phonics skills to increase their fluency to become readers who no longer learn to read but can read to learn. 

• She stated that she believes that small group and whole group instruction is needed to successfully differentiate for every student in the class.  I agree and feel that in order for students to get the targeted instruction they need, especially at a young age where their knowledge of phonics can vary greatly, teachers must be able to instruct to small groups some of the time.  
• We both feel that students need to have the opportunity to have choice and use authentic reasons to read and write in order to be engaged in their learning.
• Assessment needs to be used in order to drive instruction and measure learning
• Students need to be able to get exposure to different genres of reading and writing and must have an opportunity to choose what to read and write 

I agree with many of the aspects that my coworker felt were necessary in order to successfully teach literacy in today's classroom.  The conversation made me reflect on the difficult task of teaching literacy and how important it is for teachers to stay current on best practices.  I believe that it is important for me as a teacher to show my students that I continue to learn as I grow older so that they know it is something that never stops and that we can always grow.  I also want them to enjoy reading and writing and see the magic in words and language.  I need to take the components necessary to teach a balanced, differentiated literacy program and figure out how to incorporate the love and passion for learning into it as well.  This is something that I will continue to try to achieve for each of my students.

Blog #3 oral language and the reading process

Oral language is something that all children, regardless of culture or language, use from a very young age.  Young children use oral language for things that they need or use in their everyday lives.  Freeman says that although children aren't given direct instruction, they quickly learn how to communicate in the environment that they live in.  As children get older, they begin to understand that they need to use language in different ways for different situations. 
It's this development of oral language that can then help children when learning to read.  Children can use their background with different ways of using language to make sense of the text that they see written on the page.  As young readers, oral language helps connect a sound with the grapheme it goes with.  As readers grow they begin to use their knowledge of language to make meaning of the different types of sentences they come across.
Not only can oral language help children learn to read but reading can also enhance a student's oral language.  The more types of text that students come across, the more they can use oral language in different contexts.  Gibbons states that not only is it necessary to have the right grammar, but students must also be able to determine the appropriate language and context needed for a particular situation.  Children can learn a lot of vocabulary from the text they read and increase their knowledge of how and when to use it. 
Oral language and reading go hand in hand and each one can help improve the other.