Authentic Questions

In these chapters, the authors discuss many manners of questioning the text. In my classroom this week, we discussed text-to-self, text-to-world and text-to-text connections each on a separate day. Then we asked students to work on making these connections in their own reading immediately following the mini-lesson. I noticed that some of our third graders were able to do this pretty easily (I believe this to be because they had this instruction last year too) but that the second graders really struggled. I noticed that some of the second grade students (as well as some third grade students) made a connection on every page and others made no connections at all. They also only focused on the type of connection taught that day. How do we know when to introduce each type of connection and when to ask students to begin using more than one connection at a time? and what makes you think that?

I feel that doing three types of connections three days in a row is too fast for second graders but I do not really understand how to know that they are ready for the next type of connection. I also feel that introducing the idea of using multiple types of connections while reading one text should be introduced as soon as the second type of connection is taught. In our room we encouraged students to focus only on the type of connection we taught that day but I feel that this could discourage them from ever using the other types of connections.

The other chapter we read this week focused on visualizing and inferring while reading. In our classroom we often ask inferential questions about the texts we use as read-alouds but we have not discussed visualizing. In what situations is visualizing taught and discussed?

I feel that visualizing should be reviewed in all grades as students sometimes forget that this is part of reading. In addition, each type of text involves a different type of visualization and this is a type of strategy that should be reviewed in each genre. We have not done a genre study yet in reading but I will be interested to see if we work on visualizing. In addition, how would students show their visualizations? If they discuss their mental pictures, they are nearly retelling the story and if they draw a picture they may not have the artistic talents to express their ideas. How else might they share their visualizations?

Inquiry 2 Part A

Ashley Colovos

-I will be working on writing instruction; working on revision and editing.  We do our writing from 10:40-11:30, so I will have about 20 minutes of direct instruction, which leaves 30 minutes for the students to write, while I walk around.

-Students will use different strategies to generate more focused, informative and engaging pieces
                - Ask and answer such questions as who, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate
               understanding of key details in a text.

-Editing and revising writing is an important step in the writing process. These students love to write so it will help them improve the depth and greatness of their story. Students will learn the importance of reading over and editing their writing pieces. They are learning about literacy by learning about the importance of writing with details, and reading over and improving their work. They are learning literacy by learning how to read and write with fluency and comprehension while expanding their vocabulary, and students are learning through literacy by examples modeled in class. Through examples students are learning the way their text should look, and then editing their work to make it their best work.

-Classroom talk will be teacher-led with student involvement. It is important for the teacher to model what the class will be working on, and for the students to share their ideas. The teacher should give an example by showing the correct way to revise and edit a paper. The students can then help point out the different ways the teacher revised the paper.

-I want students to be able to be able to write more engaging pieces by writing detailed texts that bring the reader in. Students will be able to do this by revising and editing their work, and making sure that it involves all the components that we have talked about. This will help contribute to my own professional learning by learning the correct way to show students how to revise and edit their writing.

-I will have the smart board available to me along with printouts from the common core. I will also have several books in the classroom which will help assist me with my lesson planning. We also have a writer’s workshop book to follow.

- I will pre-assess my students in my target area by looking at previous writing samples they have done. We have already begun writing, so I have been doing informal assessments since school began. I will need to find out what writing level each of my students is at before this lesson. Many of my students are great writers, but many of them get hung up on the spelling of their words. Some of the students have a hard time sounding out the words with the correct ending digraphs.

Inquiry 2 Part A

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching. My target area for guided lead teaching will be Vocabulary Acquisition, Use and Assessment. I will be teaching Word Study as my Core Practice. It is important for students to be able to say the word, spell the word, and write the word. The words for the week will have a pattern. For example, one week we will be doing “short a” words. They will learn also learn word families for each of the word wall words.

2.     Approximately how much time per day is allotted for you instruction in this area? Only 30 minutes a day is allotted for Word Study.

3.     Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

a. Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.

b. Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

c. Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

d. Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.

e. Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences.

f.   Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

4.     How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy? Students need to learn word parts, how to decode words, and recognize word wall words in order to be able to read. You need to know how to read when you shop, do other subjects of academics, know instructions, know the ingredients in food/how to cook, etc. They are learning to read all words by learning these individual words through vocabulary instruction because they can take words apart, recognize beginning sounds, make word families, recognize ending sounds, and relating the context of these words to unfamiliar words. They are learning about literacy because they are learning to apply these strategies to writing and reading. They have to say, write, and spell the words and put them into sentences. This can also feed into other subjects by putting these words into science and social studies and mathematical contexts. For example, our students are having trouble with math value placements because they are having trouble reading the math vocabulary/numbers in word form. By incorporating these words into our word study we are improving their math literacy.  

5.     What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)? In this area, it is mainly the teacher talking and the students responding. The teacher holds up the word and the students read it, write it, and spell it. I am going to set up the norm not to talk unless called on. This does not necessarily mean they have to raise their hands. Sometimes I may have all girls spell in unison or all the boys. They will not be able to leave the classroom during instruction time since our time is so limited already. Another norm will be to ask questions if needed by raising their hand or to raise their hand if they need me to slow down. Everyone’s questions will be welcomed and respected. I also am going to set up the norm that everyone needs to participate at least once. This will be hard to enforce but I will try my best to call on as many different students as possible.

6.     Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning? The core practice I want to work on developing is explicit instruction and authentic application activities: Word-study concepts, Word-study activities, Word-learning strategies, Developing word consciousness, and Word choice in writing. This contributes to my own professional learning because I am developing an ability to see patterns within words. By showing my students these patterns they are able to apply this strategy for any words they encounter in the future. I am also learning how to create meaningful activities that connect the word with its proper use. I am learning how to give clear concise instruction and give my expectations up front. I have a short period of time so I have to get right to the point so students can start their activities.

7.     What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area? I have other teachers in the building that share their word wall activities, I have a list of words given by the district along with a packet of possible activities, I have the internet that I can research activities and use typing to practice spelling the word (spell check will underline if incorrect), I have the success center where students that are having trouble can go during recess or another lesson, and I have the reading interventionist who works one on one and in small groups on vocabulary/reading.  

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain? I need to obtain the worksheets for spelling tests and I need to look into how I can use vocabulary lessons to engage a higher level of thinking.

9.     How will you pre-assess your students in your target area? I will give them a pre-spelling test. I will read the word out loud and they have to write it the best they can. This will give me insight as to who knows what words and what words we need to work on the most.

10.   What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching? I will need to find out which students have trouble with decoding when reading and writing (can look at their conference notes). I will also need to find out how much time they typically they need for each activity so I know how to pace the lesson. If I move too fast I could lose a lot of students. If I move too slowly I will lose necessary time.

11.   What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching? I want to learn the proper order to these concepts and activities (if there is one). I need to learn how much time an activity was written for and how I can plan my time in the most beneficial way. I also want to learn how to properly assess the core practice throughout my teaching. Are there assessments already pre-made?

12.  What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit? What happens if I run out of time and don’t get to finish all of my activities? What happens if I access at the end and I realize a lot of my students still do not know the words?