Buddy Reading (How to)

Building fluency is central to developing good readers in the elementary grades. Teachers are always seeking new and better ways to enhance this process, a popular technique is called buddy reading. Unlike the normal term of buddy reading, this style uses readers of vastly different reading levels to enhance the learning process. Kindergarteners are paired with a more advanced reader, a fifth grader, in order to scaffold their reading much like a classroom teacher would. This unordinary pairing enables children to advance easily in their reading, have a more positive outlook on school, as well as develop higher self esteem. They use common terms such as “sounding it out,” re-reading, and using picture and text context clues while modeling how to be a fluent reader. The key to making this a valuable teaching tool is that the buddies will need to read books on the level of the younger reader. While it seems that this would hinder the growth of the older children, modeling and explaining how to read to the younger student actually helps them decode their own mental process and grow as readers themselves. Also, this learning tool helps the older students learn how to be mentors and role models. They learn how to deal with life situations such as miscommunication, breaking rules, and working together. I am interested in using this in the classroom. I remember doing this in elementary school and was pleased to find out how beneficial it really is. This would be a good teaching method for me to use in the classroom. It seems to me like this would work well with several different grades, as long as they are atleast two grades apart (such as first and third) so that there is a sense of respect between the two grade levels and a distinct difference in reading levels. I have seen some peer helping in the first grade classroom of my lab placement this semester, and it has been very effective within just one grade level so I can only imagine how powerful this could be when used on a bigger scale. Peer tutoring, such as this, is a good way to extend teaching beyond the realm of the general classroom teacher. Having advanced students help lower level students is always good to use in the classroom, so this would definitely work as well.

Shared Reading

Shared reading is an important teaching technique that is often used for the primary grades. Shared reading teaches primary skills through real life texts and provides children with successful reading experiences. A good shared reading experience allows for students to be able to re-read familiar texts such as predictable texts or poems, and then the students focus in on rimes in words used in the poem such as (-ing, -est, or –ly). These kinds of lessons strengthen sight words, vocabulary, and fluency while having an enjoyable class experience. I encourage the class to re-read the selection as many times as possible until it is becoming no longer enjoyable. Varying the reading by dividing into groups and switching reading lines, making motions to go along with it or even reading it one person at a time allows extension of the amount of times reading. Teaching rimes as opposed to phonics allows children to learn to use chunk association to build and recognize other words (such as fate, date, rate). This improves fluency and sight word recognition. There are five steps in the basic shared reading lesson: reading, introducing a skill, working with words, writing, and re-reading. As discussed earlier, reading is done repetitively so that it becomes a familiar text and improves fluency and sight word recognition. Introducing a skill is when the teacher directs the students to identify the specific rime (word ending) of the selection and then determine each rime included in it. Working with the words allows children to explore other words that include the rime of the lesson extending their fluency and building on prior knowledge to form a schema. Writing will use these rimes or the style of the selection so that the students can create a piece of writing inspired by the lesson. The fifth step, re-reading, occurs at a later time. It would be ideal to make a compilation of all of the shared reading selections and later allows the students to re-read it or illustrate the page in their notebook of shared reading texts. The rime lessons are written on a poster during the lesson (all of the words that include the rime) and are posted for future reference around the room.

What is a language arts teacher...

In my opinion, a language arts teacher is ideally a motivator to teach children to immerse themselves in reading and to determine their preferences on reading in order to become lifelong readers. Elementary school teachers should exemplify this attitude. When children are at this stage in life, they can easily become discouraged readers due to struggling to read or simply not finding books they like to read. My mother has been a wonderful guide to model how to get children excited about reading. She teaches the children how to bring books to life and how to choose books based on enjoyment that also teach them at the same time. Teachers need to provide children with a large quantity of reading material as well as time to explore and just have time to read. I do not think that elementary schools that focus on basal readers create environments in which children thrive as readers. These kinds of classrooms do not allow children to read based on their own choices and preferences and take a lot of pleasure out of reading. While it does allow for many small personal successes, I do not feel like students in this type of environment are exposed to as many good reading experiences as those who are in constructivist classrooms do. Children in the elementary years do need to be taught basics, such as phonics and grammar, but I believe this needs to be taught through mini-lessons and explained through real life reading situations. For example, in a lesson on using quotations for dialogue, the teacher would instruct the children about the rules and mechanics, but the children would explore this idea through books read in class. A good book for something like this is a narrative such as Junie B Jones. This uses real life text to portray the idea being taught and allows children to construct this knowledge through their own means.

My social studies philosophy

The curriculum of social studies in the elementary years is very important in the overall evolution of beliefs and character of our citizens. Studying things like relationships, forms of governments, and why one should vote are good reasons that children need to be informed of these events at such an early age. Social studies for the constructivist teacher is an active process. Children need to spend time out of the textbook and in use and application of real life. The relationship of events from the past predict and explain events currently happening and things that may occur in the future. Meaningful experiences in this curriculum help the students take ownership of their world’s history and understand how to apply it to their own life.
Teachers need to facilitate concepts, generalizations, higher level thinking, and dispositions in order to be an effective constructivist teacher. Teachers are not here to transmit information, but to facilitate the aforementioned experiences that cultivate learning. Students do learn facts and information through these experiences, but ultimately they learn to form their own beliefs and change their personal concepts about events, cultures, and theories. In order for these realizations to occur for students, teachers need to understand the learning cycle in order to adapt learning experiences to better suit it. The learning cycle consists of three stages. First, prior knowledge needs to be assessed, contrast this to the current curriculum material, construct new concepts, and then lastly apply them through application and activities. The introductory stage is when the teacher sets the tone for learning and application activities. During the development stage, teachers need to supply the primary information, but allow children to construct their own concepts. Children need to be encouraged to think through their beliefs and explain them, whether they are correct or not. The expansion stage is when students learn to apply previously learned social studies ideas or skills into different situations. Here, teachers need to provide additional scaffolding in order to broaden the range of application. In the elementary school years, children are learning to see others’ perspectives. This is why it is more important for them to have hands on experiences rather than just read stories and facts out of a textbook. Learning is an active process; one cannot simply learn by being told and expected to regurgitate information for a test. Following these three steps allows the children to develop the dispositions, concepts, and higher level thinking that is the overall goal.
It is important for students to have first hand experiences with these concepts in order to form their own beliefs and to personalize the ideas learned. As the social studies curriculum has evolved, this teaching technique has taught teachers the most influential and effective way to devise a curriculum. Using the learning cycle with the ten strands of standards for social studies will lead the class to reach the goals of the formation of personal concepts and dispositions.

Technology in the classroom

Since change is the only constant in life, it is fitting that technology is ever evolving and rapidly changing. Throughout my lifespan as a student, technology has changed dramatically in the classroom. During the primary school years, technology in the classroom was very limited. Now, it is much more inclusive, accessible, and reliable. Understanding the relationship between change and its influence on technology, I can see that the future holds limitless possibilities in this area.
As technology changes, so do our classrooms. As a teacher it is important to remember to use educational technology with the curriculum as the central focus and to use it for effective face-to-face teaching. The benefits of technology far outweigh the difficulty in learning how to use it. The motivation and ownership of learning that takes place when students learn by means of technology allows them to benefit more than a teacher could ever plan for. As experienced in anyone’s lifetime, technology began as a simple start and has evolved to a more encompassing and globally connected realm. The possibilities for growth are limitless and one can only imagine the capabilities of the future.

Collaborative Reports

I had a group assignment for a class this week to present a workshop lecture on a specific language arts component.  Our group researched and presented on collaborative reports.  I thought I would share our findings for other teachers/educators to use.  

Using the umbrella topic of Alabama counties, we had the children break into groups to research the counties (history, geography, etc.) of local counties.  They would research via books in the library, videos, or approved websites.  After finding all of their needed information, they would write a rough draft of the information in their findings.  Things they wrote about included population size, geographic information, famous people, attractions, and natural findings (such as parks).  They would work together then using the writing process. They would edit the paper together.  Then using a publishing program such as Microsoft Word, they would type it into a document on the computer.  After editing it a second time, they would cite their sources and add a picture or make some artwork for it.  The students would turn in their final documents. As a class we made them into a class shape book (in the shape of Alabama)  and publish copies for all of the students to have. 

Letter Writing

Letter writing is one of the most important concepts of writing to instill in children at an early age.  I know that in high school we had many assignments that students would still have to go back and relearn how to write letters for.  Since modern technology, such as emails, text messages, and chatting online has replaced "snail mail,"  this once popular form of communication is now seen as ancient. 

Doing activities such as writing a letter to the teacher, principal, or family member allows one to establish the concept of letter writing at an early age.  Pen pals and buddies are also good motivators to aid in the understanding of this concept.  

The most difficult concept to understand, though, is that of formal letter writing.  Since many people do not write many formal letters (such as complaints, letters to persons of authority, or complements) this has become a hinderance to many children in the classroom.  There are not many resources available for teachers but Time for Kids does have some excellent ones.  Children need to have the opportunity to ingrain this in their mind by using this in everyday situations.  Things such as a classroom letterbox is an easy way to use this in everyday situations.  Students can write letters to the teacher about pros or cons or suggestions in the classroom.   This is proactive and makes them feel involved in the running of their classroom.