Blog Post Due 1/26

The type of discussion I have seen in my classroom is I-R-E (initiate, response, evaluate). This consists of the teacher initiating a topic by asking a question and the students respond to the question followed by the teacher evaluating the response and initiating another question. While reading the article, A New View of Discussion, I learned that this type of traditional discussion is often called recitation. This is due to the fact that there is no collaborative attempt to construct meaning.

In contrast, response-centered talk allows students to set the agenda for the discussion and become more engaged in a conversation with their peers. It consists of a combination of student’s responses/ thinking and the teacher’s responses/guidance. This is different compared to the type of discussion I have observed in my classroom because the teacher actually steps back and let the students talk about what is on their minds. In addition, the teacher guides the discussion when needed rather than construct the entire discussion.

In order for response-centered talk to take place in my classroom the teacher should step back and allow the students to create their own questions and talk about what they think. I believe this would work well because all students have their own opinion and different views. In addition, they interpret stories differently. If they were able to participate in a response-centered talk I think they would be more engaged in the conversation because they would be able to discuss things that they noticed or have questions about.

Response-centered talk would also be a great way to include students who do not participate actively. This could be done by creating small groups of no more than 4 students and setting requirements such as each student must contribute 2 things to the discussion. Also, some students do not actively participate because they are shy when it comes to speaking up in front of the whole group so using response-centered talk with small groups would not only allow students to interpret the meaning of the story on their own, but also make them feel comfortable within their small group of peers.

Blog Post Due 1/19

In the second grade classroom I work with, literature is included in the literacy curriculum in multiple ways. First, the teacher reads literature aloud to the class almost every day. This past fall, the teacher read James and the Giant Peach and multiple picture books to the students. While the students quietly listen to the stories and react with appropriate expressions, the teacher does not pause in the stories to ask questions or guide students’ listening. In addition to reading, the teacher includes by having students read out loud both individually and in small groups while she assesses their fluency and comprehension. In one example of out loud reading, the teacher included props of buttons and paused to ask students how to organize the buttons using information from the text. In addition to out loud reading, the teacher has a few listening stations where students can follow along with picture books, and the students are required to read silently during certain periods of the day. While exposure to literature is embedded in the curriculum, I have not witnessed instruction in how to actively read or interpret literature.

In addition to the strategies that my mentor teacher uses with her classroom, there are a few strategies from the readings and my experience that could be used in a classroom. First, Leland (2005) introduces the method of incorporating critical literacy in the classroom. Critical literacy involves introducing literature that speaks to social justice and difficult issues in society, and discussing those issues with the class. It also involves teaching students to critically look at texts, asking questions such as “Whose story is this? Who benefits from this story? And whose voices are not being heard in this story?” When students critically look at texts to discuss deeper societal issues, we are using literature to encourage higher order thinking and helping our students become responsible citizens of the world. 

In addition to critical literature, we can incorporate multimodal literature into the classroom, introduced by Hassett and Curwood (2009). This involves using literature that includes multiple modes of representations (differing text styles, cues in colors, symbols in the text, etc.) and teaching students how to interperet these various modes in literature. In a world full of diverse written and technological symbols, this is crucial for our students to learn. In addition to these two strategies, I believe we can use literature to teach interaction skills such as empathy and problem-solving. We can do this by using stories that deal with these issues and asking our classes how they would deal with the complex situations. In sum, there are many methods we can use when incorporating literature in the classroom, and it is important to continue to learn about these methods to become more effective teachers!

Blog 1 Due 1/14 (*Due 1/19)

List of Goals for learning in this course:

• To learn the most effective way to teach Language Arts.
• To be open minded to other opinions and ideas for teaching language arts. 
• Come to class prepared each week.
• To learn different ideas and ways to be a great teacher.

I hope to teach in a school mainly for children with special needs. I would like to work with either children with Autism or children who are cognitively impaired. My ideal job would be to work in a school for children with special needs. 4th or 5th grade is what I think I would like to teach in the future. 

I want to learn as much as I can about literacy instruction. I think that being in a class full of diverse people and ideas will help me to reach these goals as I can hear other ideas about teaching literacy instruction. I want to learn different strategies for teaching literacy instruction as this will also will help me to reach my goals for this course.