Now I become myself.  It’s taken

Time, many years and places;

I have been dissolved and shaken,

Worn other people’s faces,

Run madly, as if Time were there,

Terriby old, crying a warning,

“Hurry, you will be dead before–”

(What? Before you reach the morning?

Or the end of the poem is clear?

Or love safe in the walled city?)

Now to stand still, to be here,

Feel my own weight and density!

The black shadow on the paper

Is my hand; the shadow of a word

As thought shapes the shaper

Falls heavy on the page, is heard.

All fuses now, falls into place

From wish to action, word to silence,

My work, my love, my time, my face

Gathered into one intense

Gesture of growing like a plant.

As slowly as the ripening fruit

Fertile, detached, and always spent,

Falls but does not exhaust the root,

So all the poem is, can give,

Grows in me to become the song,

Made so and rooted by love.

Now there is time and Time is young.

O, in this single hour I live

All of myself and do not move.

I, the pursued, who madly ran,

Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun!

~ Mary Sarton

If not for the cat,

And the scarcity of cheese,

I could be content.

~ Jack Prelutsky (If Not For the Cat)

If not for courage,

Knowing thyself and learning,

What would teaching be?

~ Beth Frye – inspired by Jack Prelutsky

the drum

daddy says the world

is a drum tight

and hard

and i told him

i’m gonnna beat out

my own rhythm

~ nikki giovanni

Each one of these poems touched me in a special, yet different way.  I simply wanted to post them to my blog because I feel they are a part of me; who I am, who I have become, and who I am going to be.  I feel like all of my life experiences have mixed, molded, and shaped into who I am today.  Now, that I am culminating my experience as an undergraduate college student, I feel that I can reflect on these things and really recognize who I have become.  Now I Become Myself really opened my eyes to these wondrous epiphanies.

I also liked the new features and ways of looking at texts to discover implicit meaning.  Like Dr. Frye said, reading, processing, and understanding vocabulary is something we do almost effortlessly at this stage in our educational careers.  However, we need to remember that we are going to be teaching children who need more experience with exploring texts.  Therefore, we have to take notice of text feature and text structures.  I have never thought of it like this, but the way something is written does create a sense of how that character feels or acts.  For example, if something is written in italics, bold, or includes certain types of punctutation marks at the end, the reader can take a great deal of information away from these subtle clues.  I also learned that giving students activities such as a character sketcher before they read will actually help them learn at a much more effective and efficient rate.  If they are able to preview the material and questions before they read, then they will be able to keep this information stored as they read.  Doing this helps students set their purpose and focus their attention on the reading.  When they find something that may fit, they can refer back to the questions and make the connections.

I also learned how to “kill two birds with one stone” concerning vocabulary instruction.  Not only can I make vocabulary instruction fun, by incorporating games, points for prizes, challenges, and many other interactive teaching methods; but I can do this while teaching material which may be present on the End-of-Grade Test.  I do not simply have to lecture on EOG material, but I can incorporate this material into the vocabulary instruction, making it applicable and much more memorable for students.  However, the learning experience cannot stop after the lesson is over.  It cannot be remembered for a test and then forgotten soon thereafter.  It has to be revisited, and students have to “marinate” themselves in this vocabulary.  Students need multiple exposures to vocabulary words by seeing them time and time again, using them in their writing, and practicing incorporating them into their everyday conversations.

Vocabulary can take you on an adventure.  It was so neat to study how words such as politics or politician (noun), politicize (verb), political (adjective), and politically (adverb) are all related.  Words such as this can connect students to cross-curricular studies such as social studies and science.  It can help students create more in-depth, meaningful explanations and connections with these words, thus improving their rate, accuracy, and comprehension of texts.

P.S. – On a side note, I was wondering if there was a synonym for vocabulary.  I found “lexicon” to be my favorite!

Below is a picture of the town.  The Nu Wray Inn is the large, white, L-shaped building on the left, middle side of the picture.

http://www.main.nc.us/yancey/Picture_Tour/burnsville_fix.gif

I even learned some advantages to having self-contained classrooms.  So often we think, “Oh well, we’ll let the art, music, or physical education teacher teacher that.”  Hello?!  We can incorporate and integrate some of the very things they will be teaching in our own classroom.  It will also be much more applicable to students when they see every concept coming together and forming a mosaic of sorts.  I am all about some applicability!  I also learned a great deal from the discussion and fishbowl strategies.  Having a discussion every three days allows students sufficient time to question, sort through, and grasp concepts before they are asked to discuss them.  The fishbowl strategy accomodates several types of learners.  It gives the high-achieving students a chance to model effective instruction, while it gives lower-achiving students a chance to observe, model, and practice these skills.  It is team work, and I love it!

For me, modeling was an important component in my journey to becoming a reader.  Although it was somewhat different from what is being described here, its worth is still valid.  My mother, who is currently an elementary school teacher and has been for 34 years, read to me from the time I was born.  Hearing her read, seeing her point to each word, processing the information I heard, and listening to the inflection and emphasis she put on certain words, helped me become an early, strong reader.  At one point, around the age of 2 and 1/2 years old, I had listened to her read “Cinderella” so many times that I could sit down with that book, point to each word, and read it aloud.  I was actually able to read, not just have the words memorized, around age 3.  Word recognition and using text structure and text features (although I did not know it at the time) have always been important methods which have aided in my reading abilities.  Therefore, my experience, and I’m sure many others, can serve as a success story to the practie of modeling.  As an elementary student, I remember using the shared reading strategies, such as echo reading, choral reading, and cloze reading.  As a preservice teacher, I have found that cloze reading is extremely effective, especially when having students read certain vocabulary words (that are phonetically related) independently.  This gives them practice, and as we know, practice makes perfect.

I really like the fact that the article explained which strategies were used most often.  It served as a guide to help me know which ones I should focus on the most.  I did not find it surprising that comprehension was the most frequently used strategy to model reading.  As we know, authentic reading is based on comprehension and is vital if reading is to be meaningful.  I found the examples of the ways teachers modeled reading comprehension to be like Text Talk, a type of reading comprehension lesson we used in Dr. Schlagals RE 3030 class.  I only have one question, before we read a story and share our thinking with students, should we ask them to pretend like they are asking these questions?  If we encourage them to think as if they are “in our shoes,” will this serve as an even greater modeling strategy?  I think it would.  I also found many similarities or ways the reading comprehension questions could be used in a double entry diary.  For example, on page 550, the Charlotte’s Web example reminds me of questions and connections someone could ask themselves or make when completing a double entry diary.  It also allows students to connect their own opinions with the literature.  I really like the multiple ways in which this could be used.  The term, metacognition, seemed to play a huge role in reading comprehension.  This was interesting since we just discussed it in RE 4040 with Dr. Frye.  It means using “big thinking” which is exactly what comprehension is.  Students can read a passage and know what they are reading, but not have to pay attention to this fact (by picking apart each word).

The second strategy of shared readings is vocabulary.  I think this is extremely important, and its value in upper elementary school classrooms cannot be ignored.  The three systems included in this strategy are context clues, word parts, and resources.  These strategies reminded me of the phrase “ask three before me” used by my teacher at my internship.  She encourages the students to ask three students around them before they ask her.  Using these strategies help students become independent learners.  As teacher, we have to remember that “we are guides, not a sage on the stage.”  Encouraging students to become independent learners can help them in all facets of life.  I also found it beneficial that each system meets a standard course of study goal/objective.  Learning how to find context clues focuses on discovering definitions, synonyms, antonyms, comparisions, contrasts, descriptions, and examples.  Teachers can use these strategies simultaneously to meet several goals.  I also found the system of word parts to be intriguing.  Knowing what different parts of a word means and being able to put those together to create the meaning of a single word is pretty awesome.  Making real-life connections to these parts of words is even more interesting to me, and I would like to know more about how the brain works in processing and making connections with these things.  Using valid resources is also another skill students need to develop.  They can practice this skill here by using the Internet and books to find out the meaning of a word.  The point is, vocabulary study can be fun.  Using games or songs will help students remember vocabulary much better by making meaningful connections.

The third section, concerning text structures, was very familiar to me.  I feel as if I use text structures constantly in my reading and writing practices.  I used organizational features to organize my thinking, especially when reading or writing notes and blogs.  As modeled in this blog entry, I have divided my responses according to each section used in the article.  (It would really confuse me if I just wrote one large paragraph.)  Highlighting these sections and reading and discussing their information step by step, provides students with a strategy they can easily use on their own.  It helps them not become overwhelmed, as well as helping them make sense of information by categorizing it.  The can also use these categories when organizing and double entry diary.  Taking notice of certain features such as plot and climax in a narrative selection will also help them become better analyzers of what they read.  For example, processing information in this way could be the deciding factor on how well they do on the End-of-Grade test.

The fourth section is modeling with text features.  Teachers can model how to use text features by going through the chapter and simply reading all of the headings.  The teacher could then conduct a KWL with the students, asking them what they think they know and what they want to know, before they read the entire passage.  Afterwards, the KWL could be completed with what the students learned.  Text features also provided multiple learners with resources to aid them in their reading.  For example, some students have great comprehension strategies, and by simply reading a text can comprehend it.  However, others need graphs, pictures, and charts to help them make connections.  Pointing out these features is a great way to include all students and force them to think on a higher level.  My favorite way to use text features involves the writing connection.  Studying the way an article or book is written is a great way for students to model and use these organizational strategies in their own writing.  As we can see, modeling should not be something we discourage.  It should be encouraged.  How can we become better writers if we do not learn from the best?  I love the term, “marinate,” that Dr. Frye uses, and I think it is the best way to model good reading and writing practices for our students.  We have to “marinate” our students in good, solid pieces of work.  They have to read it, study it, and practice using it.  Maybe it’s not just that pracitice makes perfect, but focusing on exactly what they are practicing.  I thinking “modeling makes perfect” would be a better phrase.

Finally, I also like how each of the four strategies provided examples of being used in a lower and upper elementary classroom with students who have multiple intelligences.  It encourages teachers to start simple and then build on what students already know how to do.  I am currently interning in a fourth grade classroom, and I can connect these ideas with several different ways they could be used in my classroom.  However, I was also able to find ways I could implement certain strategies in a kindergarten classroom.  It was also nice to find that these strategies can be used simultaneously.  Modeling just one at a time would make the process cut and dry, not lending itself to a variety of ideas.  Therefore, the reading comprehension strategies work just as our minds do, sorting through hundreds of ideas and focusing on the most important.  If some students are not able to handle this, one teacher suggested that she uses the guided instruction time to focus on specific strategies with such students.  This helps meet the needs of all students.

I was also very interested in three stages of learning to spell.  The semi-phonetic stage, the phonetic state, and within-word pattern stages seem to follow a logical sequence, and I believe it makes teaching and learning these steps much more plausible when they are grouped in these categories.  I can relate my knowledge of these stages to last semester’s RE 3030 class with Dr. Schlagal.  During our internship, we administer several of the reading assessments.  As a child, I remember I always wanted every word I wrote to be spelled correctly.  I also see this tendancy coming out in my teaching practices.  I like every student’s writing to be grammatically correct.  However, it is important that I realize and practice this notion of spelling phonetically correct.  A kindergartener or first grader who spells the word sleep as “slepe” is still understanding the concepts and processes of phonics.  Through these assessments, I can take what they are having trouble on and use this as a guide for what I should teach them.

Overall, I think it is a wonderful idea to split students into groups and give them varied spelling lists.  It would be a major disservice for teachers not to promote their differences in order to help them gain an academic advantage.  I also really like the data information provided after each assessment.  I found it extremely reliable that a set standard was placed on the reading levels, which makes it much more reliable for teachers to use.  They are not using a guess and check method, but using actual data that has been gathered and studied.

I thought the “organizing for spelling instruction” section was the most beneficial.  It gave me actual ideas and resources I will most certainly ues in the future.  I also enjoyed see the break down of the days of the week with the activites that were involved in each day.

Finally, I can see how implementing the multi-level spelling instruction practices can be vital in the early elementary grades.  Without an early, firm, strong foundation in these types of spelling, reading, and writing skills, the word study practices discussed in the intermediate grades will not be valuable for students.  Therefore, early elementary education teachers have a high sense of responsibility to set their students up for success by putting them in appropriate ability level groups.

Interestingly enough, we don’t often think of having to do a word study in the intermediate grades.  We often think students have already learned all those things and now it is time to learn comprehension strategies.  However, I learned that even comprehension strategies can be supported through a word study.  For example, the “Roots and Branches” chart can be used to break down the meaning of the Latin or Greek root word.  It expands beyond that to include a variety of words and their definitions.  Having this visual aid can help students see how all these words are related.  This is a very important concept in the intermediate grades.  The possibilities of using a words study are seemingly endless which is a really exciting proposition for me as a beginning teacher.

The first thing I noticed about the article was that it reviewed a great deal of the word patterns.  We learned these extensively in RE 3030, and it was refreshing to know that I recognized these and knew how to use them.  It was also very helpful because as I reviewed each one, I was able to think of ideas and ways to teach each type.  It not only reviewed the word patterns that should be learned in the intermediate grades, but it discussed the basic word study patterns such as C-V-C and C-V-C-e.  I made the connection between the fact that they included these beginning word study patterns because not all students will be instructionally ready to learn concepts such as syllable juncture pattern in the fourth grade.  They may still be grasping the concept of C-V-C and C-V-C-e.  Therefore, elementary teachers have to know a wide variety of word study patterns used across each grade (K-8).

I also found it interesting that students build reading, writing, and spelling concepts through oral language.  Teachers should integrate these concepts and make a sequence of events where it flows smoothly from one to the other.  Students should be able to see how each concept is related.  By doing this, it will greatly increase their retention rate.  This also supports the fact that students should learn the word study patterns in a sequence.  It is foolish to think a fourth grader can learn homographs-syllable juncture stage when they haven’t even learned all of the simple vowel patterns.  It should be a process of mastery, where students master a concept before moving on to the next.  I believe that is one of the huge problems in schools today.  We are rushing to get through the material so quickly that we just learn general bits and pieces while forgetting the rest.

The thing I enjoyed the most was finding that a word study can be modified to meet the needs of multiple students.  For example, on page 252, the article mentions teachers became more comfortable with the word study as they used it more often and became familiar with making changes to fit individual students.  I connected this with the social studies/reading article as well.  For instance, if you have three reading/spelling groups, it should be no different for word study.  The word study activites you give a student should be based on an individual level of achievement.  I also like that the word study promotes placing students at their instructional level.  By providing just enough challenge in the appropriate sequence, teachers can scaffold kids learning and see improvements almost immediately.  By taking little extra time, which will be well worth it in the end, you can help all your students work at their instructional level.  Overall, I thought all the ideas, such as the homophone dictionary and the homograph concentration, were superb.  I plan on keeping this article as a resource for the future.

The section of the article that really struck a chord with me was at the beginning.  I have always been a good reader, and I never had trouble comprehending what I read.  Therefore, it is difficult for me to relate to the student, Jon, who was mentioned in the article.  However, as a teacher, I will need to empathize with students like Jon and create real solutions to help students like him.  The section I learned a great deal from was when it discussed Jon, who was unmotivated and quite frankly, beaten down by the instructional strategies employed by his teacher.  He was at his frustration level, proven by the fact that he couldn’t read very well and when he read out loud he asked the teacher when his turn was up so she could pick someone else.  I got the feeling of frustration right along with him as I read this section.  It only makes sense that giving students materials that are too hard to read would weaken interest and cause frustration. 

I also made several connections between our discussion in class today and this article.  Since we know that a poor reading rate will affect motivation, it should also make sense that a poor reading rate will affect comprehension.  This is exactly what we discussed in class today.  If a student can not automatically decode a word, then their ability to comprehend a passage with those words is weak.  This was proven on page 5 which states, “Over time, this restricted reading practice (due to the fact that he can’t read very many words per minute) contributes to deficits in sight vocabulary, fluency, and content knowledge.”  If a student is not at their instructional level, reading material that is not too hard, but not too easy, then they will never make gains.  We want “maximum development” (page 6) to occur.  This can only occur when students are challenged, successful at these challenges, and never frustrated.  As a child, I remember how I used to feel when I would get frustrated doing something.  I didn’t even want to try it again.  This is exactly how our students will feel if they are placed in the wrong grade level.  I also learned that the instructional level is not just giving them “easy work.”  It providing them with work that may require some instruction but comes next in the sequence of their developmental process.  Picking instructional level books also help students practice vocabulary or concepts again and again (page 11).  For instnace, if they see a word pattern they are having trouble on, the teacher can easily scaffold them by using this pattern as a part of their spelling test.

I also learned specific strategies on how to treat each reading level group of students.  On page 7, it discusses the three reasons most children have reading disabilities.  They are lowered expectations, lowered levels of reading practice, and lowered motivation.  I can definitely identify with the fact that lowered expectations have a negative affect on reading.  I was always involved in the A.G. program during my school career.  I can distinctly remember a time when the A.G. students were having to do a different project than the other students, although it was similar.  I will never forget a teacher telling the A.G. students she had high expectations for us, while she did not expect as much from the other students.  One of the students in the other group said that she did not want to workon this project and if the teacher didn’t care, she didn’t care.  We can never, ever give the impression that students at lower levels should not have high expectations for their work.  Most of the time, students want to please, and if we set the bar high, they will more than likely surpass it.

I also really identified with the suggestion that a teacher should get to know a student personally before helping them pick their trade book.  Even though I try to pick books that will broaden my spectrum of thinking, I know that I tend to pick books that I can relate to or am interested in.  A book about the South, the Civil War, a love story, or an adventure are sure keepers for me.  I never realized how important this method would be, and I most certainly plan on using this strategy in the classroom.

After reading this article, I also have some questions.  My mother is a second grade teacher and last year, she had a student in her class who could read any word you put in front of her.  She could decode that word and say it correctly.  However, even when she was reading at her grade level, she could not comprehend what she was reading.  When answering comprehension questions about something she had just read, she was not able to answer the questions.  What does this imply?  How do you find an instructional level for this student?  Also, is it a good idea for students to keep a “continuing dictionary?”  In it, they will write down words they do not know while reading their instructional materials and look up the definition in the dictionary.  Below the definition, the teacher could even have them write what the word means in the context of the story.  I think this would provide students with an opportunity to learn on their own, without the teacher telling them the answer straightforward.

Finally, I think the human aspect of it all is the most fascinating.  So often we get caught up in the academic part of teaching that we do not see the personal side that is so very important.  In fact, most of the reasons students have reading disabilities relates to personal issues such as motivation, practice, and expectation: items that can easily be fixed with the right instructional materials.  As I perused through the list of books, I found some awesome books that I most certainly will use in my classroom.  However, it is interesting, and exciting, to know that I might use books from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade all in the same classroom.