English Resources:
LIT.1.1 Understand unfamiliar words that refer to characters or themes in literature or history.
Vocabulary.Co.IL
This site has countless kinds of games in every category of vocabulary imaginable---which even includes ESL games. If a student were to peruse this for a mere half hour, they would undeniably learn a lot in that short period of time.
Vocabulary.com
This site is geared toward people who would like to quickly improve their vocabulary. It includes games, an online dictionary, and a way to track your progress on your vocabulary building process!
KidsPlayGames.com
This very flashy and vibrant site harbors a wide array of extremely fun and imaginative vocabulary games for kids of all ages to strengthen their skills. There is even a special section for teachers and parents for them to do their part.
MyVocabulary.com
This website is fantastic for both middle and high school students. It has everything from root word lesson plans, puzzles, word lists to even test prep and assessments---all vocabulary-oriented!
Academic Vocabulary
This is a K-8 website that boasts vocabulary cards, lists and more based on the subject matter---for instance, they even have vocabulary activities and cards for Math and Science words.
ProTeacher!
This is a great site that has everything from something called the “Einstein Club” to help motivate students to learn new vocabulary words, as well as a synonyms and antonyms section, and a variety of vocabulary games.
Sheppard Software
This website has a lot of enjoyable activities and is for kids of all ages. It has SAT vocabulary, grammar tutorials, and much more!
SuperKids
This site is a great asset to 6th to 9th graders---it offers students “words of the day” in addition to a wide range of other vocabulary builders which includes SAT vocabulary for older students.
VocabTest.com
This site could be a very vital tool for students from 6th grade to high school---it has vocabulary games, vocabulary workshops, and countless word lists that are embedded into various activities.
ManyThings.com
This is a fantastic website for namely ESL students---but any student can benefit from it. There are matching quizzes, English vocabulary word lists with games, English vocabulary games with pictures and much more!
LIT.2.1 Analyze both the features and the rhetorical (persuasive) devices of different types of public documents, such as policy statements, speeches, or debates, and the way in which authors use those features and devices. [11.2.1/12.2.1]
Virtual Salt: A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
This is an extremely thorough website which contains every literary devices imagine for students to peruse and become familiar with---and countless of examples of using the devices are included.
The Forest of Rhetoric
This is a wonderfully thorough website and it’s very easily to navigate as well. It has everything essentially, including persuasive appeals, rhetorical pedagogy and much more.
Rhetorical Devices
In spite of the fact that this website is geared toward English majors, it is a fantastic source for high school as well as middle school students. Some of the sections in this site include: syntax, figurative language, drama, and wordplay.
AP Rhetoric and Writing Resources
This is a fantastic sources for high schools students who are taking AP courses in English,
harboring everything from persuasion analysis to figures of speech to lists of rhetorical terms.
Rhetorical Devices: Utah Education Network
This fantastic site is very unique in that it has a section on “Shakespeare’s Grammar” which would be very useful to English students. It also has a “top 20 figures of speech” section and a glossary of rhetorical terms with examples, and much more.
James Tomilson Communication Studies
This is clearly a website for a college course, however what’s very interesting about it is it has a long list of rhetorical devices and includes examples from various interesting historical sources such as statements said by Julius Caesar and John F. Kennedy.
More Rhetorical Devices: Psychological and Related Fallacies
This website looks at rhetorical devices from a different angle---from more of an emotional appeals angle, which is rather interesting. Various sections of this website include: psychological fallacies, glossaries, flashcards and more.
Handbook of Rhetorical Devices from a Blog
This is a more interesting approach to education oneself on rhetorical devices.
Rhetorical Devices
This is a site directed toward AP students and there are countless of fantastic examples, definitions and other recommended websites.
Shakespeare’s Grammar
This is a great site for those who are having problems comprehending Shakespeare (he is even rather challenging to me and English is my field of study.) There are great examples provided and they are always explained and connected to the devices.
LIT.3.1 Evaluate characteristics of subgenres, types of writings such as satire, parody, allegory, and pastoral that are used in poetry, prose, plays, novels, short stories, essays, and other basic genres.
[11.3.1/12.3.1]
The Onion
This is probably the best site possible a student can delve into if they want to learn more about what satire actually is and some fantastic and hilarious examples of it.
Scripts for Children and Teens
This would be a fantastic site for kids or teachers who are interested in having a Reader’s Theatre in the classroom. There are countless of scripts from all kinds of works of literature---some more fun, some more educational---and for all grade levels. There are many genres to choose from as well.
Magma Poetry
This is a fantastic poetry site which offers a great, thorough description of poetic satire along with very good examples.
Writing Center: Analyzing Plays
This is a great site that offers a kind of how-to guide which has a number of sections and shows what to look for in terms of characters, plot, themes of a play, and the like.
Short-Stories.co.uk
This is a very thorough site with many short stories from all kinds of genres that include: nonfiction, humor, horror and fiction.
American Literature
This site boasts over 2,000 short stories to study and be shared. It is a fantastic site for not only students, but teachers and parents as well.
Teen Poetry
This is a great site to peruse poems at as well as practice writing poetry and leaving your poems for others to view and critique.
Poetry Class
This is a great site to find tips for writing poetry as well as peruse opportunities of places to submit your poetry in different contests as well as read many other poems.
Young American Poetry Digest
This site shares young people’s poetry with the world, and gives students the chance to have their work published.
Education World: Poetry
This site gives a great introduction to poetry and offers a number of very useful sites for both teachers and students.
Flocabulary
Learning Theories and Diverse Learners:
Active Learning Practices for Schools
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains
Learning Theories
Online Learning Laboratory: Social Learning Theory
Learning Styles Online: Visual and Spatial Learning Style
Edutopia: Games and Different Learning Styles
Brown University: Teaching Diverse Learners
ASCD: Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners
Technology
Education World
Internet for Classrooms
Edutopia: Technology
Tools for Teachers
Classroom Management
Teaching Ideas: Classroom Management
NEA Classroom Management Tips
Smart Classroom Management
Bridges4Kids
Start of School Icebreakers: (from WorksheetLibrary.com.)
| 1. Self-Portrait. Have your students draw themselves. After they have done this, collect the papers and hang them up for the whole class to see. Now have students try to guess who the artists was for each picture. 2. Letter Writing. At the beginning of the year, write a short letter about yourself as the teacher. Tell the students where you live, what your hobbies are, and if you have any children, pets, etc. Hand out your letter to each student in your class and ask them to write you back with similar information about themselves. 3. The Mingle Game. Give each student an index card. Have them write a question that they would like to ask the other students in the class. Examples might include, "What is your favorite song?" or "What is your favorite sport?" Next, have the students get up and walk around the room. When you say, "stop," students have to stand beside the person closest to them and ask the question that is on their own card. Both students have to answer the questions. Now have them mingle again and meet a new person. 4. The "What Am I?" Game. Have the students get into a circle. Give each student a post-it note. Have each person write a noun on the post-it note. Then stick the post-it on the forehead of the person standing to right of them with the noun showing. Now have student take a turn to ask the group a "yes/no" question that will help them guess the noun on their forehead. If they do not guess correctly, the person on their right gets to ask a question. Keep going until all of the noun have been guessed, or your time limit has expired. 5. These are a few of my favorite things. Pass around a sheet of paper and some pens. Ask the students to write their name and their favorite TV shows (you can come up with your own topic for favorite things). Collect the papers and pens. Begin reading the answers, but have the class guess who wrote the response. 6. Birthday Lineup. Call out any month of the year and have all students born in that month come up to the front of the room. It is up to the students to decide who stands first, second, etc., so they are standing from the first day of the month to the last day of the month. Now call out another month (don't call the months in order), and have those students try to position themselves correctly by day and by where they should stand as an entire month. This is a great way to get kids working together and knowing each other. Once all of the kids have lined up, test them to see if they are correct. 7. Icebreaker Pictionary. Have the students draw pictures about what they like to do, what their favorite foods are, and what is their favorite subject in school. Have each student come up and show their pictures to the class. See if the students can guess what each student drew that tells a little bit about themselves. For instance, if a student draws a yellow M, can anyone guess that she likes McDonalds? 8. Show and Tell. Don't forget about this old time favorite part of class. Instruct students to bring in something that they cherish, or just want to share with the class. Give each student a turn to come up and tell about the item that they brought in. This way the class will get to know each other and something that makes each student happy. 9. The Snowball Activity. Have students write three things about themselves on a piece of paper. Then have them crumble up the paper to resemble a snowball. Let the students have a snowball fight for about one minute. Now everyone grabs one of the snowballs and has to try and find the person who wrote on it. Once they find their partner, they have to bring that person up in front of the class and explain what they learned about their new friend with the three facts written on the piece of paper. 10. The Observation Game. Line up the students in two lines facing each other. If there is an odd number of students, you can play the game, too. Give students 30 seconds to look each other over really good, paying attention to all details about their partner. The students in one line now turn facing the other way while the other line of students changes something about themselves. For example, a girl might take off a hair bow, or a boy might un-tuck his shirt. When the kids in the first line turn back around, they have to guess what their partner changed. Now switch and let the first line make the change and the second line guess the difference. |
Assessment Info:
1. Formative Assessment Examples:
http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21/ExamplesofFormativeAssessment.html
2. Links to Examples of Formative Assessments:
1. Formative Assessment Examples:
http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21/ExamplesofFormativeAssessment.html
2. Links to Examples of Formative Assessments:
Types of Formative Assessment
eHow: Types of Formative Assessment
Community Stuff: Field Trips, Speakers
3. Authentic Assessments from Edutopia.org:
http://www.edutopia.org/10-assessment-tips-for-class
http://www.edutopia.org/10-assessment-tips-for-class
4. Tips for Making Assessment Rubrics:
http://flightline.highline.edu/wac/tips_on_rubric.htm
Misc:
Literacy Handbook from ED 408:
Lyons motivation:
What was so great about article was how organized it was and how it broke apart each of the components that were necessary in order to be intrinsically motivated and the gradual process that it took to reach that point. The “journey” so to speak that this article took us on started of at the most basic realm possible: defining motivation and essentially discussing what it is exactly, next was “briefly review seminal and current theories of motivation”, then “discuss the relationship between attention, motivation and emotion,” then “identify conditions that support and develop motivation”, and then last but not least: “describe one child’s transition from being a reluctant, unmotivated student to an intrinsically motivated learner.” (page 1.)
I really liked these very straightforward steps that led us as readers to the an actual case study of a student. For me, the case student---about a young, unmotivated boy named Matthew was very inspiring and illustrated to me even more how important is to cater to the students’ interests. Matthew loved dogs, just like the student I worked with this semester, and so the teacher enthusiastically showed him a book called, “Pat’s New Puppy” and Matthew immediately lit up at the sight of the book and excitedly began to talk about his own experiences with his dog, Max.
Beers chapters 1, 2, and 3:
I think Beers truly sets us up with a “expect the unexpected” kind of mindset---she, like myself is Middle/Secondary so naturally it never crossed my mind that I may have students who are unable to read. Sure, of course I know I’m going to have lots of students who detest reading; and that I’ve been learning all these years how to deal with. As for having illiterate students, in the upper grades, that blew my mind! But Beers kind of made me realize: you never know what’s going to happen. Expect everything and anything!
Moreover, it’s interesting that Beers had the same mindset that most people have. When trying to instruct a child how to read she would initially tell them to “sound it out.” But really, what does that mean? What about the comprehension of reading? Vocabulary? The variety of sounds that accompanies many letters/parts of words? In a similar vein, I found the ways to distinguish an independent versus a dependent reader rather subtle---in a way. Although it’s fairly self-explanatory: autonomous readers take the initiative when they’re confused, whereas dependent readers are lacking in that vital confidence so they just kind of stop.
Here’s an interesting one I found that is indeed rather subtle: independent readers employ as many strategies as possible in order to get through a text successfully, while dependent readers just read on through not actively reading whatsoever and not retaining anything. Furthermore, I found it very interesting that who we peg as struggling readers just don’t exactly have much knowledge of reading strategies or alternate ways to comprehend something well, given they have never practiced any outside of the traditional realm. Chances are, they were never taught to look outside of the box so to speak.
Beers ch. 4:
This chapter dealt with “explicit instruction in comprehension” something that was vital to me given that I still harbored some questions in the form of, “how can one tell that a student has actually comprehended something? What are the signs?” Also, here Beers explains the difference between “telling students what is happening” versus “teaching them the strategies” in order to aid comprehension. Essentially, this is something I’ve been hearing in English classes for as long as I can remember: “show don’t tell!” Evidently, we need to do the same with our students.
Additionally, I was very glad to see “visualizing” as one of the most important strategies to model and then relay to our students. Visualizing is something that just helps any student, regardless of age. I feel like everyone is a hands-on, visual learner to some extent. I certainly am. I remember best when I actually get to see something in front of me, and if it’s acted out, even better and if I get to converse with someone about it, well, that’s even better!
Moreover, I found it fascinating (and it kind of struck a chord with me) when Beers said that “it’s not enough to provide instructions...instead we need to explicitly model and have students practice the strategies using the steps outlined above.” Hence, the major significance of modeling!
Johnson ch. 5
Beers ch. 6, 7, & 8:
This chapter delved into various pre-reading strategies we can employ with our students in order to launch ourselves into a certain text in the most effectual manner possible. Foremost, she discussed anticipation guides (which I’m always a fan of) and how it forces readers to ponder various possible themes and main ideas in a text before starting it. An example of an anticipation guide would be: writing down a variety of statements and write either a “yes” or “no” next to the statement, saying if you believe it’s true or not. And then after reading, you do the same thing, and your answers will most likely be very different---then you can compare and contrast.
On a different note, during reading strategies were discussed as well. One that was mentioned that I’m not a fan of was the overused “rereading one”. I feel that strategy is rather tedious, dry and not engaging enough to appeal to students, so I personally would avoid it while teacher. I much prefer the post-its strategy (that could be really appealing for students---you can give them each a stack of multicolored post-its perhaps) or the “say something” strategy where you’re encouraged to jot down questions, predictions, things you wonder, what you don’t like, what you do like and so on and so forth. Everyone loves sharing their opinions so this is a great way to allow opinionated younger folks to do just that! As for after reading strategies, I liked the idea of the scales. I never heard of this one before and I think I may want to give it a whirl someday. It seems like it’s a typ eof anticipation guide and students read statements that are not “yes or no” questions and say whether they agree, disagree, etc.
Beers ch. 11, 13, 14:
Chapter 11 goes more in depth in regards to “how do we go beyond just sounding it out?” and how word recognition plays a role into this. Also, Beers stated here how phonics is related to comprehension---and I realized that a lot of people don’t realize it. A lot of people purely think of learning how to read as merely phonics---I mean look at those commercials/infomercials for “hooked on phonics.” That’s only a small component to reading! People forget about comprehension far too often.
Also, Beers went on to delve into a topic that may even be the most crucial for teachers as well as for students: instilling the necessary confidence within your students, and how important it is to be supportive, enthusiastic, and the like. We as teachers must mold this “emotional confidence” in the growing readers no matter what age they are! My favorite point she made was to “create a classroom that encourages risk.” This is great---because I’ve had plenty of teachers who acted sometimes like a) I wasn’t smart enough to be in that class or b) Couldn’t succeed, no matter how hard I worked. So clearly, they did not appreciate the potentially huge risk I had taken to take the class (for instance, an anatomy and physiology class in high school. My teacher was extremely jaded.) As for “finding the right book”, I found the best suggestion was to take your kids into the library so they can browse on their own---hands on learning at its finest!
Beers ch. 9:
Ah, vocabulary. During my tutoring sessions with Adriana, she despised vocabulary at first but as time progressed she grew to love it for some reason and was incredibly enthusiastic when I did our biggest vocabulary activity of the semester which was associated with challenge words from the book “Sounder.” Also, as for the suggestion to “assign fewer words and use them in your speech” this reminds me of a teacher I knew of in high school who I didn’t have, but my friend had.
She had the greatest method ever I think for vocabulary: she assigned a small amount of words each week: perhaps around 5 and every Friday would quiz her students on the words and have them write them out in sentences---essentially everyday statements that they would utter to a friend for instance. Well, naturally, my friend learned a lot of vocabulary that year and didn’t forget any of it either!
In addition, for the vocabulary suggestion #3: “use logographic clues” I’m kicking myself now wishing I had used this with Adriana. Sure, we used/drew lots and lots of pictures and came across a lot of new vocabulary words but I never thought to put the two together. So I certainly have to make a mental note about this. I can even see myself doing this with a middle school or high school class I teach someday. Again, the importance of visuals and visualizing being stressed in the classroom.
Beers ch. 10:
The chart that Beers included here in regards to fluency was a bit much---I know it’s most likely used for assessments and obviously, measuring fluency to see if the student is at his or her proper grade level and not below the average, but I cannot see myself ever using this. However, I did really like the “prompt, don’t correct” suggestion this is a lesson I for one had to learn over the course of my tutoring sessions. When Adriana would stumble upon a word and before she had a change to correct herself or ask a question I would sometimes jump in (at the beginning of the semester) and tell her the write word instantly. This clearly is futile in their learning as opposed to asking those necessary probing questions such as “do you see a part of the word you recognize?” It seems the show, don’t tell nonsense rears it’s ugly head yet again here!
Again, modeling is mentioned in this chapter and I never realized how important modeling is! I never even heard the term “modeling” before ED 408. Not that I recall at least---as mortifying as it is to say. But thank God I did---I just kind of had an “aha!” moment in fact in regards to how crucial read alouds are, and how much students can learn from them. Perhaps my reading aloud to Adriana truly helped her learn how to self-correct as well as learn how important it is to ask questions (and not be afraid to ask those imperative, burning questions!)
Beers ch. 15:
I never knew that there were different types of confidence. This kind of blew my mind that there are three different kinds and I found this rather enthralling. First of all there is what’s called “cognitive confidences” which, if possessed, one can comprehend texts, monitor their understanding and determine the meaning of words and of course, read with fluency. Whereas social and emotional confidence mostly describes eager and enthusiastic readers and participants in the “reading community.” As for stamina and enjoyment, these are the kinds of readers who are clearly lifelong readers and will always love it, do it for fun and have a wide array of genres or authors they are interested in and enjoy a challenging text.
And this is a bit of an arbitrary point, but it is a sign that a reader is struggling when he or she “reads haltingly, one word at a time” this reminds me of Adriana on a couple occasions. When she was having a bit of an off day and was distracted I noticed that sometimes she would reader slower and with less fluency and “flow” on these certain days. However, she was far from a struggling reader. I personally found her to be advanced for her age group---for instance, I never met a child her age who could recall so many details about the plot and the characters. Very impressive! I never ceased to be amazed by her!
Johnson 1&8:
It appears that there are three very straightforward steps as to how to deal with a struggling writer. These steps are as follows: 1) figure out what is blocking the student’s progress. 2) teach that strategy to the child and then 3) slowly back off so they can take over for themselves. This last step to me appears to be the “gradual release of responsibility” which essentially is scaffolding.
Moreover, Johnson shares some of the common struggles of well, struggling readers. Many of the bullet points I recognize from Beers as well, including the children who “read word by word.” I like how she stresses later on that there is never just one way to help a student. I feel like this would be a very naive to think anyway. You have to mix and match and get creative in order to conquer a problem!
The best statement of chapter 8 was undeniably, “my assessment should uncover the strategies the child uses or neglects.” This made perfect sense to me and was yet another “aha!” moment for me, as well. I feel like we as teachers should relay this statements to parents as well, to kind of debunk the myth that assessments are purely multiple choice/standardized type tests---when thankfully this is not true whatsoever!
Johnson 3:
This chapter stresses the the most common strategies, it seems to mold students into the most successful readers they can possibly be. This includes: observing, reflecting, modeling (but of course), and letting students go on own once using strategies taught automatically. Moreover, scaffolding is also discussed in terms of being an asset to support students’ active participation in their own learning processes. I really liked the statement at the end of the chapter that said, “the way we model, support, prompt, reinforce, and praise children can either aid or hinder them in becoming active participants.” This is definitely something to keep in mind in terms of modeling---hence why modeling is so crucial. If we model in the wrong way, it can be incredibly detrimental to our students.
Furthermore, “explicit demonstrations are necessary to turn passive readers into active ones”---I feel as if this is along the same lines as modeling. We must be very thorough and “explicit” in our demonstrations yet very simple and straightforward which to me means: don’t skip over any important information! And modeling of course goes hand in hand with that support system we must be for our kids and that we should always be their biggest cheerleader, so to speak.
Johnson 5:
I feel as if many people feel like the student has finally reached their goal once they are able to read chapter books. But they are forgetting: what about their comprehension with these books? They still have so much more room to grow! Even when you’re old and gray there is still room for improvement. Also, non-fiction books were mentioned here which triggered something for me: in the classroom that I observe for my ED 398 class with Dr. Boop, (I’m at Northview Middle School), the class did a non-fiction unit for a couple weeks and my mentor teacher, Ms. Floyd, was struggling to make it an engaging unit for her students.
Yet, when I was conversing with her about it, I strongly felt that her activity that she did was certainly something that I would have done. She had the desks set up in several stations, each with a different book. Then, the students were instructed to go from station to station discussing what they learned from flipping through the book, identifying the type of non-fiction work it was and answering some other questions. Some of course were more dry than others, but they seemed to find it at least bearable!
Johnson 6:
This chapter dealt with self-monitoring and kicked off with various questions students should ask themselves if something doesn’t seem right: did it sound right? Am I reading the punctuation correctly? Where are these characters? Whose talking now? Active readers would certainly ask these questions to themselves frequently. Most of us have probably had these questions floating around in our mind while reading a certain text for a class. But when readers are not asking these questions to themselves, then you know a red flag has probably shot up. Moreover, I like the reading method of underlining the parts of a word/sentence that a child pronounces correctly that way they know they should go back to that word and re-evaluate it. This is a great way to ingrain a necessary “reminder” in the child’s brain.
Johnson 4:
The portion of this chapter on fluency that caught my eye the most was the section on “intonation and fluency” because I must admit I had no clue what intonation even was. I knew it had something to do with the flow of our voices (or something along those lines) but I never quite got a legitimate definition. As recognized in the book, “intonation is the rise and fall of our voice at appropriate times or the emphasis we place on one or several words in a sentence. Sometimes the meaning of a sentence requires a certain intonation in order to be understood.” This certainly makes sense---many words need that very specific intonation in order to as clear as possible to others as well as to themselves. Naturally, this is a component of what fluency actually is.
Johnson 7&9:
This chapter epitomized everything I had in mind for this class given that I’m Middle/Secondary and am going for my ESL certification as well hence why I chose to take ED 408. Anyway, one sentence that truly stuck out to me that I never thought of before had to be, “just because a child is learning English does not mean that he will struggle with the process of learning to read.” This reminds me of a discussion we had in class one time, actually. We mentioned how an ESL student from China for instance could have been an A student in China and was an avid reader there and just devoured books but when they have to the U.S. without knowing any English, naturally then the child is scared stiff. Hence, we have to keep our eyes peeled for all of this and acquire the necessary background knowledge of the student. As for chapter 8, which was on assessment a lot of it just gave me flashbacks to the DRA and I really didn’t care for that. I prefer assessments that aren’t in a typical test/standardized test format. In fact, I prefer formative assessments above all else---projects, papers, conversations---I truly think you can learn what a child has learned the best from this kinds of things.
Instructional Strategies for Supporting Reading and Writing:
- Scaffolding: this is essentially a theory that all students need a great deal of support throughout their learning careers and in the beginning, learners are not even close to being autonomous in their learning yet so they need as much support as possible. In turn, this support is slowly taken away from them so they can be more independent learners, seek out knowledge on their own and on their own terms and not rely so heavily on “authority figures.” And if students do not quite grasp something, the teacher steps back in to delve back into it with them until they accomplish the necessary goal of comprehension. Or in other words, they are reeled back in until that lightbulb goes on.
- Modeling: modeling is essentially a teacher working to demonstrate certain skills to their students in a manner that helps them to grasp it in the most thorough and successful way possible. Modeling can be done in all areas of teaching reading: through activities on the board, through explaining concepts, discussions, writing activities, brainstorming, graphic organizers, and reading out loud of course. It is a notion that is very beneficial to incorporate into all areas of teaching. The goal is, to be blunt, for students to “mimic” or model what you are doing.
- Cooperative Learning: I love this one primarily because it emphasizes the most significant element of successful learning: social activity and conversing with peers or teachers. This strategy is also incredibly simple: students will be instructed to read, write, complete an exercise, or accomplish many other tasks by working together (and learning the art of teamwork) with their fellow students, or even sometimes with their teacher.
- Responses to Literature: this is vital strategy to employ given that it promotes creativity within our students and allows them to express themselves which is one of the most important things a teacher should yearn for in their classroom. Essentially, this can materialize in a number of ways: from response papers, to write out scripts with themes found in the book and then act them out for the class, to make a movie for class based on a book read, and so on and so forth. There are endless possibilities.
- Modes of Reading: this is a technique that I undeniably stressed with Adriana: there should be a wide array of different manners in which you approach reading with a student. I feel like the more the better. For instance, I would read aloud to Adriana, we would share read, and she would read by herself to me---and this was all in one session. This keeps everyone engaged and spices things up a bit so the students don’t get antsy and bored. Also, these ideas can certainly be altered in order to resonate best with certain students. For instance, some students may learn best from what they read aloud by themselves to the teacher. Therefore, the teacher would go off of that and focus on that more than other approaches.
Critical Resources Important to Personal Learning:
- YouTube/the Internet/technology: technology on the whole is just such a crucial component to successful learning yet sadly, I’ve found it does not get used nearly enough even in this year of 2011! Essentially, technology goes hand and hand with visualizing. Like it or not, but YouTube clips completely aid the comprehension process and help us make the connections necessary to be successful.
- Toys/Costumes: this goes along with the imperative social aspect to learning. Why sit on your duff and read a text silently to yourself when you can dress up with your peers in costumes and use props in order to act out the latest scene from Macbeth for instance? I’d say go the acting route to ensure a full understanding---therefore, you will be stuck no longer with this marvelous hands-on technique!
- Drawings: yet another wonderful way to visualize our learning. For instance, I played with the idea of making a comic strip with Adriana that connected to the text we were reading at the time. Unfortunately, I don’t believe we had time to get to that activity but I certainly know students of all ages would jump at the chance to do an activity like that. Think of how much a student will be able to recall from this as opposed to reading out loud to his or her class.
Book List for Emergent, Developing and Adolescent Readers:
Emergent:
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle: a story that every young student is guaranteed to love---it is a classic. It is about a caterpillar who seems to have an unusually large appetite and eats a wide variety of foods and at the end, turns into a beautiful butterfly.
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault: another classic children’s book which is about personified letters, A through Z who are attempting to climb up a coconut tree...that is, until the tree comes crashing down.
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White: E.B. White, who also wrote “Stuart Little” and “The Trumpet of the Swan” is a classic children’s novelist. “Charlotte’s Web” is about an adorable little pig named Wilbur whose life is saved by a very shrewd and mysterious spider named Charlotte who also lives on the farm with him. Charlotte saves Wilbur’s life by writing letters to the farmer in her web in order to persuade the farmer not to kill him.
- Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar: a hilarious novel for young kids (and was one of my favorites in fact) that revolves around the shenanigans of the students at the overwhelmingly bizarre Wayside School, along with their oddball teachers and of course, the janitor, Louis.
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway: Arguably Hemingway’s (who is from my hometown) finest work about a man named Jake, a World War I veteran who currently works in Paris and in the beginning, he tells the audience a little bit about his friend, Robert, who is a writer. Jake on the other hand, is a journalist. Soon enough, the pair end up with some other friends in Spain to watch bullfighting.
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger: Holden Caulfield, the cultural icon of rebelliousness and unconventionality has been kicked out of countless boarding schools. Upon leaving his last school, Pencey Prep, because of his inability to mesh well with all of the “phonies”, he enters an excruciating and eye-opening journey of self-discovery and adolescent angst and confusion.
5 Websites:
- Children’s Storybooks Online: http://www.magickeys.com/books/.
This was a wonderful tool that I used frequently with Adriana and she loved it. There are countless books to choose from from all grade levels. Some of them even have an option of being read to the student, and they can follow along with it.
2. RIF Reading Plant: http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet.htm
2. RIF Reading Plant: http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet.htm
Another amazingly fun site that has four fun areas you can explore which are: “game station”, “activity lab”, “book zone” and “express yourself.” It’s a very vibrantly colored website and your students will have a hard time picking which realm they want to enter first.
3. Kids Spelling, Grammar, and Writing: http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/writing/Kids_Writing.html
3. Kids Spelling, Grammar, and Writing: http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/writing/Kids_Writing.html
This website boasts more options than RIF Reading Planet, including everything from a “media literacy” tab to a “brain gym” but does not have as creative of options or games as RIF. Still a solid site though! Definitely worth a look, especially for teachers.
4. Scholastic Games for Kids: http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/writing/Kids_Writing.html
4. Scholastic Games for Kids: http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/writing/Kids_Writing.html
This is a fantastic website, kids will definitely be able to peruse this for hours! The options are endless and it’s brightly colored, fun and attention-grabbing. There is even a tab for various book and author suggestions for students to browse through and find a few that interest them.
5. Kaboose Reading Games: http://resources.kaboose.com/games/read2.html
5. Kaboose Reading Games: http://resources.kaboose.com/games/read2.html
Kaboose boasts a wide variety of games for kids from ages 3 and up---I was impressed that they even offer some for preschoolers. They may not have as many as Scholastic, but they certainly are quality games---and very imaginative! I’m certain that many children would find themselves very pleased if they took a gander at this website.
