I thought this class was so much fun. I actually looked forward to going to class and discussing what we were reading or working on. It was formatted in such a great way too. Beers really focused on finding books that peak the students' interests and letting them choose their books, and this was modeled excellently in our class. We could pick out books that suited us and made us enjoy reading them. We also learned how to hook students' interest by reading and teasing a book. This was even modeled in the class by Dr. Pytash reading parts of books we may find fun to read. I think the best part of the class were the days when we came in to discuss the books we had read. I loved getting in our groups and seeing what exercise we would be doing to discuss them. It gave me some great ideas to use in my own classroom. My favorite exercise was when we had to draw pictures representing the book, and then pick one quote for it. I honestly believe that I will use this in my classroom.
Overall, this class was great. I learned so much by being in it and through reading the textbook! It was the one class I looked forward to being in, and the one textbook I didn't mind reading!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Chapter 14: Finding the Right Book
Earlier in the semester (my first blog post actually) I mentioned how my boyfriend hated to read. Throughout this semester I had been finding all different books for him to spark that little piece of interest in reading. It's funny how it all started with that, and now in the chapter that is assigned, it talks about finding the perfect type of book. Well guess what? I found it for him. Nikki Heat by Richard Castle. He LOVES watching the TV show, and when his favorite character was releasing a book in real life he always showed a little interest. So I went and got it for him. I caught him reading it almost every day until the book was done and now he wants the next one that has been released.
I can see how teaching with Young Adult literature can be so important now because on pages 287 and 288 the list of requirements for books for non-readers explains these books to a T! It states that non-readers want characters their age, characters with tough choices, realistic language, and an easily defined conflict. If that doesn't define a young adult novel, then I don't know what does!
The idea of ways to get stuednts interested in books was interesting too, and I even recognized a one way that Dr. Pytash did this. She used the read and tease to start a lot of our classes and get us interested in different young adult books. I think this strategy really works because I wanted to add almost every book that she read to my "To Read" list.
I can see how teaching with Young Adult literature can be so important now because on pages 287 and 288 the list of requirements for books for non-readers explains these books to a T! It states that non-readers want characters their age, characters with tough choices, realistic language, and an easily defined conflict. If that doesn't define a young adult novel, then I don't know what does!
The idea of ways to get stuednts interested in books was interesting too, and I even recognized a one way that Dr. Pytash did this. She used the read and tease to start a lot of our classes and get us interested in different young adult books. I think this strategy really works because I wanted to add almost every book that she read to my "To Read" list.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Chapter 13: Creating the Confidence to Respond
I really enjoyed this chapter! I think some of the best classes I've ever been in have been classes that felt like a little family. I had a writing class at a community college, and there were about 13 people in the class. We all had become comfortable with each other because we constantly had to read each other's writing. We also had to read our writing out loud, but since we had become so comfortable with each other, we had no problem reading out loud or sharing what we thought about the writings. In this writing class, we also weren't allowed to say anything negative, or if we did it had to be sandwiched in two compliments.
I liked that we had to give compliments, and when I read about the ding-a-ling idea I laughed, but thought to myself, "Oh boy! How true is that!" I think it's great that the students began telling each other not to say bad things because they didn't want to hear the bell ring. I think the ding-a-ling bell transformed the students into people who cared about other's thoughts. just the fact that they were consciously trying to be nicer shows how well this idea worked.
I liked how Beers turned it onto teachers too. Even in a whole room of teachers, there was still shyness and fear of being wrong. As teachers, we're taught to be kind and still teach and try to be open to all answers. So why can't we lose our fear being wrong and set an example for our students? I know I'm not the best one to speak because I know that I get shy in classrooms where I don't know anyone, but I think this is just human nature. It's important that as teachers, we recognize this and make our classrooms open forums for our students.
I liked that we had to give compliments, and when I read about the ding-a-ling idea I laughed, but thought to myself, "Oh boy! How true is that!" I think it's great that the students began telling each other not to say bad things because they didn't want to hear the bell ring. I think the ding-a-ling bell transformed the students into people who cared about other's thoughts. just the fact that they were consciously trying to be nicer shows how well this idea worked.
I liked how Beers turned it onto teachers too. Even in a whole room of teachers, there was still shyness and fear of being wrong. As teachers, we're taught to be kind and still teach and try to be open to all answers. So why can't we lose our fear being wrong and set an example for our students? I know I'm not the best one to speak because I know that I get shy in classrooms where I don't know anyone, but I think this is just human nature. It's important that as teachers, we recognize this and make our classrooms open forums for our students.
Chapter 10: Fluency and Automaticity
When reading aloud in my high school classrooms, I always got upset when the teacher called on a student that I knew would read slowly, sound out words, and read in a monotone and it seemed like my teachers ALWAYS chose those students. From chapter 10, I learned that my fellow students just didn't have fluency and automaticity. I thought it was interesting that Beers explained that students that lack these skills usually need to see the words four times as many times as students that can read fluently. I'm wondering if my teachers knew this, and that's why they called on the students that needed practice?
I really liked suggestion three in improving fluency. The exercise where you would stress different words in a sentence even helped me, a seasoned reader, understand fluency. Something else that I've noticed in students is that they don't always pay attention to the punctuation and read all of the sentences in a monotone. I like the exercise of putting different puntuactions at the end of the same sentence to see how the students changes the tone of their voice with the punctuation.
On a last note, I really found it helpful that Beers said not to correct the students, but to prompt them to figure the word out through sounding it out, finding other words in it, and asking if they recognize the word.
I really liked suggestion three in improving fluency. The exercise where you would stress different words in a sentence even helped me, a seasoned reader, understand fluency. Something else that I've noticed in students is that they don't always pay attention to the punctuation and read all of the sentences in a monotone. I like the exercise of putting different puntuactions at the end of the same sentence to see how the students changes the tone of their voice with the punctuation.
On a last note, I really found it helpful that Beers said not to correct the students, but to prompt them to figure the word out through sounding it out, finding other words in it, and asking if they recognize the word.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)