CDLP

Toward New Media Texts

It is a great thing that we now have the opportunity to teach students literacy through visual representations and technology.  However, it is very common for teachers who have been in the work force for some time now, to be very intimidated and feel under-qualified to use the technology that is provided for them in the classrooms and in their school.

This text also infers on page 71 and some others that English composition teachers have continued to privilege alphabetic text.  These teachers are often not comfortable with new technology and revert to the way they were taught and the things they are comfortable with.  The question is, does it truly matter which method the students are taught with as long as they are getting the information they need.  However, i believe that in this day and age, the teachers should be up to date on the technology that is available to them and know how to utilize it and make it effective in the classroom.

Often times administrators and big wigs in the community think of technology and the last place they think to put it is in a literacy classroom.  I think it is vital for administrators to be able to understand how to use the technology in the classrooms and how it is very versatile across disciplines.  When teachers have the support of administrators, they are more likely to utilize the things that are available to them.  I believe that technology in the literacy classroom can help students understand the material they are learning about, get them out of the classroom and out of their desk, and allow them to think outside of the box.  Through digital literacy, students can really grasp the pose of poetry, and voice of short stories, and many other things that are very important in the literacy classroom.

Chapter 11

On page 307 the book talks about students who leave high school and are not well prepared for the writing demands of the work force and college life.  When I first read this my thoughts went back and forth.  One one hand i feel that I was well prepared for college writing, and on the other hand i feel like some of the writing i did in high school was no where near as complicated as some of the things i've done in college.  Then, I feel like writing comes naturally to me for some random reason, or maybe i was just well taught. Also, i've thought that maybe i was prepared in high school, to learn more in depth information in college.  Maybe that is why students who go into the job force are not able to write as well as expected by the employers.  As you can tell.  I think there is more than just one option here.  It greatly depends and maybe some students are well prepared by their high school for what they are about to learn in college.

Honestly, as i continued to read on page 308 i was blown away.  The writing demands of the work place are things that as an adult about to graduate college, i would be intimidated to do.  I think it is the professionalism of the writing that intimidates me the most.  Having my audience be superiors, and knowing that my letter needed to be very professional and error free would freak me out.  I can see how students coming straight from high school would be very unprepared and feel inadequate for what they are required to do.

There were several sections where Conley was discussing how to effectively teach writing to students.  On page 314 the chapter talks about guiding students writing.  I think the suggestions listed here are very good and effective.  Some of them are quick write, brainstorming, and stop and list.  These are also all strategies i feel we have used in this class in the past week or so as we have started the writing process ourselves.  Even in our class, as college students, i feel like the strategies are great for helping us get started and thinking on many different levels about what we want to write.  I can see how if this is beneficial for us, it would be very beneficial for students in high schools.

smart board vs promethean board

I have to say that i am with Lauren on this one.  I feel like i dont really know the difference between the two, so therefore, my knowledge and understanding of them must be pretty low.  My first experience with a promethean board however, was in a kindergarten classroom that i was observing.  The teacher that i got to watch use it was AMAZING!  It was like magic watching her work this thing.  She did her math lesson on it and she was teaching shapes.  She would pull her her work, sling things around with this pin, use an application that had all the students names stored in it to call on students, and if the color wasn't right she could click on some thing and choose another color. It was pretty much awesome.  Then, she had the students answer questions to measure their understanding by having them use their remote and choose the best answer.  After they finished she could print out the results. I was flabbergasted. 

Chapter 7

(Disclaimer) This might be a bit of a soap box, but it is also honest and heartfelt!

So right now i have the opportunity to go to a certain high school in the Hattiesburg public school district.  At this high school i constantly see students not doing their work, not caring, ditching class, trying to get the teacher off topic, etc.  This past week when i was there, i almost fell asleep in one of the classes i was observing.  My eyes were literally getting so heavy, and i was STANDING UP!  This immediately began to make me mad.  The teachers of this school are doing NOTHING to make school fun, interesting, and desirable for these students.  They tell the students to turn to a page in their book, do the work and turn it in, all while they are seated at their desk eating, talking on the phone, and playing games on the computer!  These teachers are feeding the fire of destruction in each of these students lives.  These students and teachers are all stuck in this bubble and world that they complain about constantly yet do nothing to better themselves. These students don't even know how to better themselves, because the very people who are supposed to help them and teach them how, are holding them back! UGH! It angers me. I know everyone really doesn't care to read my dissertation on this so i will move on.

Needless to say, motivation is very important to me.  I believe school should be fun, something students look forward to, and feel held accountable for.  School should be the place where students learn not only their academics, but who they are, what they love, and how to do exactly what it is they want to do.  Nothing makes me more angry then week after week watching this one student in particular look like he is so miserable he would rather be dead!  This is where the teachers come in.  We as teachers need to provide an environment for our students where they feel challenged, yet not intimidated.  They need to be motivated, assisted, and guided when doing their work.  Every student needs to feel that they are a needed and valuable part of the community of learners.  This is when students begin to learn, and desire to explore the world of knowledge around them.

Something in the book that made me say AMEN! 

"Teachers who are skillful in understanding their students as individuals and a product of their experiences are in a good position to motivate.  When teachers fail to acknowledge what students know, they risk alienating them by ignoring a big part of their personal identity."

(Pg.190 under "The prior knowledge-Motivation Connection)

First of all just the heading makes my heart happy.  Of course there is a prior knowledge motivation connection.  Not every student is going to be motivated the same way.  Not every students is going to be motivated for the same things.  Find out what the students enjoy, what they are good at, and what will wake them up in the morning excited to go to school.  For some students it is as simple as getting an A on their report card.  For some students, its getting a better grade than their friend.  For some its race cars and dirt bikes, others may be horses and teddy bares! For some students, the teacher needs to dig  around and see what experiences they have that they can use to motivate them. "When teachers fail to acknowledge what students know, they risk alienating them by ignoring a big part of their personal identity."  This is some good stuff!!!!!

Lesson Plan

Curriculum Standard:

3. The students will express, communicate, or evaluate ideas effectively.

c. The students will compose a narrative text with a beginning, middle, and end. (DOK3)

Big Idea:

The students will compose their own narrative about a time when they or someone they know experienced really bad weather.

Preparation:

1. Read the book to the students.

2. Introduce the concept of writing their own narrative.

3. Have the students start a brain storming list.

4. Have the students discuss a time when they were in really bad weather, or someone they know was in really bad weather. This will allow for ideas to begin to spark, and for students to reflect back on their experience.

5. Discuss the type of audience they are going to address.  The audience will be the entire class.

6. Explain to the students that they will each have an opportunity to read their story to the our class and the other second grade class.

7. Write a sample narrative essay about a time when they or someone they know was caught in bad weather.

Guidance:

1. Students list ways to brainstorm, and begin brainstorming.

2. Students will write a sample narrative essay.

3. The teacher walks around the classroom helping students write their essay.

Application:

1.Have the students read their essays to the classes.

2. Examin their essays according to the guidelines.

Assessment: 

The teacher will give the students a rubric/outline to follow when writing their narrative essays.  The essay must be one complete paragraph and meet all of the guidelines listed.

Teachers Blog

Teacher Blog

This is the teachers blog i found.

Chapter5

It is extremely important to motivate students and encourage them to enjoy reading.  Through motivating students to read, teachers are constantly breaking down barriers, and overcoming reading anxiety.  As an effective teacher, it is important to motivate students even when the text is not complicated.  Before reading anything, I believe teachers should explain the text, ask the students questions about the content in the text, and get them excited about what they are going to read.

I belive teachers should expose students to all types of informational text.  Often times we do not realize we are reading or gaining information from the things we read.  For example, on Laurens Blog, she explained how we even gain information from reading the back of a toothpaste tube.  As effective teachers, we should show our students the amount of information they are gaining indirectly by reading things like billboards, logos, and food packages.

Chapter 4

It has been stated many times before that most people learn through experience.  I believe that teachers should allow their students to learn through experiences they have in the classroom as well as out of the classroom.  We as teachers need to implement the things that are going on in our students lives outside of school in our curriculum so they will be aware of the knowledge they are consuming through interactions with others, activities, and even television.  Through these experiences, we can give our students the opportunity to be living in an ongoing assessment.  Also, teachers should be aware of the ongoing change in each of their students lives to provide the diversity in the classroom and assessment as needed.  Through the experiences students have in and out of the classroom, teachers should create new and inventive ways to informally assess their students literacy and understanding.

Personal assessments is one of the many ways to provide the ongoing assessment for the students in a classroom.  Through interviews, conversations, surveys, and observations, a teacher can gain a better understanding of what is going on in the students life in and outside of school.  Also, when gaining this information, the teacher can informally quiz or test the student(s) by helping them realize what they have learned through their experiences.  For each student, the things the teacher does could be different.  The teacher can have the students bring their prior knowledge into the lessons to make connections between their lives and the information they are gaining in the classroom.

Authentic test are a great way for teachers to realize the knowledge and understanding students have of particular topics or subjects.  Through authentic assessments, the book explains that students are engaging in writing and literacies for real purposes.  This is extremely important because through these real life situations students are excited about learning, they are driven through positive motivation and the teachers are able to assess their learning using these motivators.  Really and truly, anything teachers can bring in the classroom that is authentic to the students is better for them in the long run.  It helps the teachers with ongoing assessment as well as helping the students understand the material and motivating them in their learning.

Chapter 3

Reading about text-book based big ideas reminds me of how things were when i was in elementary and middle school.  My teachers ideas of us learning was reading the chapter, doing a worksheet, answering the questions at the end of the chapter, looking up the vocabulary words, and then testing us on it.  One good thing about NCLB is that now teachers have to use research based technology to teach and are held accountable for what they are teaching and most importantly what their students are learning.  The fact that the teachers are responsible for teaching the state standards and using them as their "big ideas" to pin point the intimate details in the subject has renovated teaching.

Something else that jumped out at me from this chapter was the small paragraph on critical literacy.  This is something that first crossed my path in the 9th grade.  When my teacher was helping us dissect the material that we were reading, it gave us an understanding of the depth of the text.  Often times when students, and even adults, are reading, they are unable to realize the multiple meanings that the text can contain.  As an effective teacher, no matter which subject, the teacher should help the students dig into and comprehend the many different angles that text can contain.

The other thing I noticed that caught my eye is the small paragraph on building community.  I think that building community is possibly one of the most important things the teacher can do in the classroom.  It is important to realize that building community is important inside and outside the classroom.  It also must involve the parents of the students.  Getting the parents involved in the students academics is not easy, but very necessary.  The teacher can do things such as giving the parents things to do to help their child with homework.  Not all parents are able to come into the classroom so it is important to provide them with the same opportunity as every other parent.