Blog #10 Rationale for Homework

The homework debate has been around for years, but has recently resurfaced in a different way.  Today's families are harried, what with parents working just to stay afloat in this current economy, and students having multiple extracurricular activities and responsibilities outside of school.

Johanna Sorrentino, in her article "The Homework Debate" wrote about a school in Arizona in which the school policy is to "make sure learning remains a joy for their students, not a second shift of work."  I think that many teachers often lose sight of this, and give students unnecessary work to do at home.  In my opinion, homework should have a purpose.  It should be given as a follow-up to what the teacher has instructed and to what the students have learned.  Local and state standards must be addressed as well, and so homework can never be given as busy work.  If teachers cannot come up with the reason for their homeowk assignments, then perhaps they should not be given in the first place.

In my classroom, I assign homework in one form or the other almost every night; some assignments are follow-up worksheets that accompany the math curriculum, while others are on-going things the students must do, like read every night for at least fifteen minutes, and study their differentiated lists of spelling words.  I have seen both sides of the debate personally; some parents want more homework for their children and some want less.  There is no pleasing everyone, it seems.  As a rule, I follow the general guidelines of ten minutes for every grade in school, so my students have no more than thirty minutes a day.  Special projects may be given from time to time, but students are given ample warning of due dates.  Third grade has recently assigned a volcano project, and the students have a month to complete it.  Feedback from me comes in the form of graded work on which I have corrected student mistakes so that they know what their errors were.  One to one conversation about their work is also something I do in my classroom.

As for technology, my students have access to a website that lists their spelling words, current basal stories, and activities that go along with them.  One assignment I give is to reread the story midway through the week on this site.  I find it very useful because the site lets the students hear the words as they are being read out loud.  The words are also highlighted so that slower readers can track the words.  I also have my own page where the students and parents can see what assignments are coming up. Students and parents can communicate with me on this site every day if they choose to do so.

Homework has value when given with purpose.




Sorrentino, J. (n.d.). The homework debate. Retrieved from http://education.com.

Blog #6 Language versus Acquisition

Learning: (the students)

• look up words in the dictionary to write definitions
• practice sounding out words
• read in round-robin fashion
• correct peers when they make a mistake during reading
• divide words into syllables
• on a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound

Acquisition: (the students)

• identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound
• group cards with classmates' names by a criterion on such as first or last letter
• ask the teacher how to spell any word they don't know
• read a language experience story they have created with the teacher
• make alphabet books on different topics

Both: (the students)

• make a Venn diagram to compare two stories
• write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same sound
• work inpairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences

Learning: (the teacher)

• makes sure that students read only books that fit their level
• has students segment words into phonemes
• teaches Latin and Greek roots
• conducts phonics drills
• uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills

Acquisition: (the teacher)

• does a shared reading with a big book
• writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words
• sets aside time for SSR daily
• has students meet in literature circles
• does a picture walk of a new book

Both:(the teacher)

• preteaches vocabulary
• has students look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter
• uses decodable text
• teaches students different comprehension strategies
• chooses predictable text

My Rationale for the choices:
With the learning view, language is taught directly by the teacher so students produce the "right" answers.  Language is broken down into parts (ex. pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary). Students are taught to reach mastery in a skill before they can move on.  Oral drills and worksheets are used to practice the language.  Partners and small group settings are used only to practice the current topic of study.  Teachers correct student mistakes ASAP so that language is used correctly from the very beginning.  Students are very aware that they are doing learning activities.

With the acquisition view, the goal is for language to be used for different reasons.  Understanding, speaking, reading, and writing the language is to be practiced in true to life settings that hold meaning for the learner.  Students have opportunities to make mistakes more freely with this view.  Students may not be aware that they are learning because it takes place in ways that hold meaning (ex. role playing or small group discussions).  The teacher guides students rather than directly and explicitly instructing them.

Proponents for both views note that patterns exist to help the learner, both in oral and written form (ex. rhymes/chants or spelling patterns).  There are different strategies available for teachers to use in order to help the learner, and they may overlap into both views.

Blog 9.5: Helpful Website

Relating to the other night's topic of good websites, I found a new one today that fellow students might like to check out.  Go to www.funbrain.com.  Look for the "Reading" section.  It has "Mad Libs Junior", where students play an interactive game of filling in parts of speech.  At the end of their game, they can print out the stories they created.  This activity would be best suited for higher language ability learners.  Grades 3-5 would enjoy it the most!

Blog #9: Fiction/Non-Fiction Texts

For this assignment, I chose The Girl and the Wolf (fiction) and Journey of the Kon-Tiki (non-fiction), both of which were written by Katrina Van Horn. 

1. Fiction: 

• The text tells a story with  the recognizeable beginning of "Once upon a time". Most cultures have similar fables or cultural stories to compare the story to.
• The graphic features/illustrations complement the text on the pages and make it easier for ELL students to understand the action going on in the story.
• Key vocabulary words are highlighted for the students so they know special emphasis will be put on these words.

     2.  Non-Fiction:

• The text is more specific, with more difficult vocabulary.  Most students, let alone ELL students may not have any background knowledge of this story. 
• Text features like headings, captions, italics, and table of contents are available for the students to use.  These could be used as clues by the students.  Seeing them within the book could tell them that there is special emphasis on the particular sections they are reading about; this is helpful to them, especially when they are trying to grasp such important concepts as main ideas.
• There are graphic features such as maps and photographs.  ELL students would gain a better understanding of where the story took place, and who the important characters were.

      

Blog #8 Sheltered Literacy Video

While watching this video, I noticed a number of things the instructor did with her students.  One of the first things she did was to write the point of the lesson on the boardas well as the goal for the end of class.  This gave the students an idea of what she would be looking for suring group discussion.  She activated their background knowlege while discussing key vocabulary, and previewed it before starting the story which helped with her lower  ability language speakers.  She provided synonyms of the vocabulary words to make the more complex terms easier to understand. for the students.  She chose a story that her students could relate to.  she also held discussions where the students could share their native leanguage with the class and relate it back to the story.  She previewed the story with the students, and even assigned them to find the main idea from chapters.  she created and discussed a graphic organizer.  She gave them reading strategies to use such as inferencing and seraching for context xlues, and was sure to point out any words she thought the students might need help with.  There was also adequate wait time between her questions and the students' responses.  In terms of what I saw the students doing during this video, I saw some of them sing the words of a song encountered in the story using their own native language of spanish.  They made personal connections to the text, and were just very involved in participating in the story discussion.  The students who were not very outspoken during class were likely her Preproduction level students.  Students who gave shorter answers were her Early Production students.  It seemed as though most of the class was made up of Intermediate/Advanced language level students because they were all participating more fully.  It was obvious to me however, that the instructor scaffolded the lesson so that all of her students would meet with some sort of success, no matter how small or large.  She provided a safe environment for them to increase their comprehension abilities.

Blog #7 Running Record/Miscue Analysis

For this assignment, I ran records on two fifth grade students, both of whom came from Hispanic backgrounds.  My first impression was one of grateful surprise, for it was very interesting to me to hear higher grade-level students read aloud.  I am used to third grade readers.

In terms of specific errors made, the male student made slightly less than the female student did.  He mostly made substitution errors such as using "election" for "elective", and "these" for "there's".  He left out only two words, and I think that it was mainly due to fluency and not for lack of trying.  Retell of the story was good.  There were no vocabulary issues involved.  Fluency rate was adequate for his grade level.

The female student made more errors in terms of adding extra words to her sentences.  For example, instead of saying "This time it was a white elephant", she said, "This same time it was a white elephant."  She left out three words completely within the passage, "time", "of", and "acres".  These are simple words; I think in her case it was her rush  to get the story done that caused her to make mistakes.  There were higher-level vocabulary words within the passage, and she said them just fine.  One mistake she made stood out to me when she substituted the word "seats" for "stands".  Although it had to be counted as an error, it showed that she had the ability to use another word with the same meaning in place of an unfamiliar word-hurray for her!

My suggestions for helping these two students would be to have them continue their daily oral reading at home every night so that their fluency rates do not fall.  When time allowed, perhaps the homeroom teacher could discuss the errors she saw in their oral reading, especially after the required Dibels testing.  Together, they could look at any mistakes and discuss what impact leaving out words, substituting words, or any other mistakes had on their comprehension of the material.

Blog #5 Comprehension in Children's Books

The first book I chose for this assignment was Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall.  It was written by an Australian author.  The first area in which ELL students might face challenges is in the vocabulary.  For example, kookaburras and gum-trees are not well-known items outside of Australia.  As an effective instructor, I would provide pictures as to what the items were.  Verb choice would be another area in which ELL learners might face difficulty.  The author describes a talkative area in the bush as " twittering" with news.  For language learners, I might act out what a word such as this meant, and provide a word web with similar-meaning words.  Spelling differences pop up throughout the book, and could cause challenges for ELL learners who are trying to learn English in an American classroom.  Students could not perhaps understand why "favorite" is spelled "favourite" in this book. The use of dictionaries or thesauruses could prove useful to the students in this case.  Finally, the formality of sentences could prove confusing to ELL learners.  The author's description of a character acting with vigour and "fairly flying round the shops" could be rewritten in a way so that language learners could understand it, perhaps "The character moved with a lot of energy" might prove easier to comprehend.

The second book I chose for this assignment was Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.  The story takes place in a different era of American history, and is set in the South.  One area in which ELL learners might face difficulty is in the choice of vocabulary words.  Many language learners might not understand what oppossums, corn bread, and hounds are; I would have to provide pictures of them.  The choice of verbs would be another difficult area.  For example, "cooped up" might not be well understood by the learners; drawing the phrase on the board in picture form or acting it out would be beneficial to the students.  Regional activities such as hoeing corn and raccoon hunting could cause confusion; a class discussion would be needed to boost comprehension.  The formality of sentences in the book would, like my earlier choice, have to be rewritten on the board and explained during a class discussion.

Blog #4 Meaning from Unfamiliar Text

For this assignment, I chose a text in Spanish to read.  I have just a smidgeon of understanding of the language, probably enough to understand the basics of written text.  Speaking in it would be another matter altogether.

There were several strategies I had to use in order to make meaning from the text.  The first strategy I used was to look for any familiar base/root words.  If there were any similarities to words in English, it made it easier to understand the material.  I also relied on picture clues whenever possible.  I looked at punctuation marks such as commas to determine where emphasis on words fell.  I noted any highlighted or italicized words or captions to also gather any potential meaning.  If I had access to a foreign-language dictionary, I would have used it as well as the other strategies.  Doing this assignment put me in the ELL position, so that now I have more of an understanding as to what ELL students must endure every day.  Effective teachers need to be aware of the needs of their ELL students.

Blog #3 Oral language and the reading process

I thought that Gibbons had a good point when she wrote that ELL learners do not study a language in a separate context; they study a language by immersing themselves in it. I also found it fascinating to read that children are born with language understanding, no matter what country they live in.  They are prewired so to speak to be able to talk and read with some sort of common understanding that is developed as they continue through school.  I find it interesting that a student can come across a sentence while reading and have the natural ability to rearrange it or rethink it in a way that makes sense to him or her.  Hearing language being spoken out loud and being able to communicate with others builds upon not only the verbal ability of an individual but also his or her ability to read and gain meaning from text.

Blog Entry #2 : Writing instruction reflection

Thinking back on my early writing experiences, I can't help but recall my eighth grade English class.  The teacher had us diagram sentences.  I was not a big fan of doing this because it seemed too restrictive.  In my young mind, I already knew how to talk and put sentences together; why was I being asked to do something I already understood?  Now after reading about Chomsky's theory of surface and deep structure sentences, I can see how being able to break down a sentence and put it into order is important.  I ponder whether students still diagram sentences in classrooms of today.

Literacy philosophies

In a conversation with a fellow colleague, she stated that for successful literacy teaching to occur, all five of the components must be taught.  She expressed frustration that phonics skills for example, were lacking in her third grade students.  The students had holes in their learning that she felt she had to fill in.  They had missed something in their previous schooling that was now becoming a problem as fluency and comprehension gained more importance.