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.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
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.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Chapter 9: Vacublary
Oh wow. This chapter really threw me for a loop! All of my vocabulary lessons in high school were the generic way of giving us the words, giving us the dictionary definition, and then leaving it alone until test day. Before the test, we'd breifly go over the words to refresh our memory. But, to this day, I couldn't tell you one word I learned that way. I thought it was interesting that teachers just tell students to look the word up or to use context clues, but what do we do if the students don't know how to use the context? Or how to spell the word?
Something that I thought looked fun was the Vocabulary Tree. I think it's a great way to show how words relate to each other and it gives visual learners something to reference. Another visual reminder is having the students draw pictures for each vocabulary word.
Beers brought up that as a teacher, we need to ask the right questions. I think that this is one of the most important things to learn from this book because if we can't ask the students the right questions, they can't give us the right answers, and in turn they can't as US the questions they need to ask!
Something that I thought looked fun was the Vocabulary Tree. I think it's a great way to show how words relate to each other and it gives visual learners something to reference. Another visual reminder is having the students draw pictures for each vocabulary word.
Beers brought up that as a teacher, we need to ask the right questions. I think that this is one of the most important things to learn from this book because if we can't ask the students the right questions, they can't give us the right answers, and in turn they can't as US the questions they need to ask!
Chapter 8: Extending Meaning, After-Reading Strategies
After reading a text its very important that one can understand what they just read and piece the work together. Not only do they have to understand the plot, but also the motives that drive the plot. I think one of the best ways to exercise this understanding is through Beers's Somebody Wanted But So chart. I think this is a great way to see how the plot is driven forward. It's important though that the teacher ask what happens next, or what else was happening. The only thing that bothers me about this exercise is that it may not work with a book that has a lot of different plots that come together to create the story. You might need a LOT of these charts in that case!
I feel like the It Says-I say- So exercise would really bother me. I'm one of those people that believe it a book says it then its true, so let's leave it at that. I would find the exercise so repetitive because the "I say" section for me would just be me writing whatever the book says or eleaborating on it. However, this is also a good strategy for making the students think about questions that the book doesn't just come out and ask. They have to search for the answers to better understand them.
I feel like the It Says-I say- So exercise would really bother me. I'm one of those people that believe it a book says it then its true, so let's leave it at that. I would find the exercise so repetitive because the "I say" section for me would just be me writing whatever the book says or eleaborating on it. However, this is also a good strategy for making the students think about questions that the book doesn't just come out and ask. They have to search for the answers to better understand them.
Chapter 7: Constructing Meaning, During-reading strategies
I think we've all found ourselves in a situation where we read something and it just doesn't make sense! While most of us will reread the section that we don't understand, some of us skip past it and try to move on. But when skipping our reading, we're not learning. In chapter 7, I thought Beers came up with a few great strategies to "unstick" yourself when you get stuck reading.
My favorite of these strategies started on page 106. In Say Something I think it's great to pair students up to start reading and have them talk about the text while they read it. Not only will this strategy help the students make inferences, but I also think it will bring out different perspectives on the reading. Another idea I had for this was to have the whole class involved. We could read outloud together (one person at a time) and go up and down rows with the next person saying something about our text. The teacher could start to get things going.
Another one of my favorites was the ABC's of comparing and contrasting. I loved how the student would use different colors or writing untensils to compare different characters. I do better when I have different colors to help me tell the difference between things, and for visual learners this would be a great strategy to use. Plus, as Beers says, its a great stepping stone to writing a paper about comparing and contrasting the characters.
My favorite of these strategies started on page 106. In Say Something I think it's great to pair students up to start reading and have them talk about the text while they read it. Not only will this strategy help the students make inferences, but I also think it will bring out different perspectives on the reading. Another idea I had for this was to have the whole class involved. We could read outloud together (one person at a time) and go up and down rows with the next person saying something about our text. The teacher could start to get things going.
Another one of my favorites was the ABC's of comparing and contrasting. I loved how the student would use different colors or writing untensils to compare different characters. I do better when I have different colors to help me tell the difference between things, and for visual learners this would be a great strategy to use. Plus, as Beers says, its a great stepping stone to writing a paper about comparing and contrasting the characters.
Chapter 5: Learning to Make an Inference
In chapter 5, I thought it was interesting how Beers explains that everyone's inferences are different. I actually always had a hard time making inferences and I always thought I was wrong, but reading this I just see that my answers were different because I was reading differently than other students. The list of things to do on page 63 was very helpful in understanding how to make an inference. Even though it seemed so obvious, I never realized that simply figuring out who the pronouns referred to could help out so much.
I think the best tool to teach students how to make inferences is the list offered on page 69 through 71. I especially liked number three because it gives the students hope. I know a lot of people that get lost and can't just find the information they need to make inferences, but when a teacher tells them that the author puts information in the text for them, it can help them find what they need. I also thought that number five was a good strategy because it helped the students interact. Plus, who doesn't love cartoons!?
While it can be hard teaching a concept that isn't as concrete as grammar or vocabulary, teaching inferences is made easy through this list, and by putting examples with what you're asking from your students, it makes life that much easier for the both of you.
I think the best tool to teach students how to make inferences is the list offered on page 69 through 71. I especially liked number three because it gives the students hope. I know a lot of people that get lost and can't just find the information they need to make inferences, but when a teacher tells them that the author puts information in the text for them, it can help them find what they need. I also thought that number five was a good strategy because it helped the students interact. Plus, who doesn't love cartoons!?
While it can be hard teaching a concept that isn't as concrete as grammar or vocabulary, teaching inferences is made easy through this list, and by putting examples with what you're asking from your students, it makes life that much easier for the both of you.
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