Vocabulary

Strategies that help students to build their vocabulary are an essential learning tool for students. Teachers should look to utilize any strategies that are available to help students expand their knowledge of words. There are many strategies that are available to help students broaden their exposure to various words. In my tutoring session this semester I was able to use different strategies to help my student. My must effective strategy used was the exclusion brainstorming strategy. In this strategy I allowed my student to view a list of related and unrelated vocabulary words. I told the student the topic and allowed the student to identify and define words and determine if he thought certain words had anything to do with the topic then the student read the story and the list again and give more comments about the vocabulary. I like this strategy because the student knew that the words I gave were essential to the story so the words had meaning or a purpose. At the end I always ask the students to tell me which words would he probably use or see in the future. I tried to explain to the student that words serve a purpose and that he should incorporate some of the new words into his writings. Most importantly I think that teachers should use words that the students may use in the future not just random ones.

Chapter 5 Why Ask? Questioning Strategies in the Classroom

Questioning Strategies in the Classroom

Questions are a good way to help students with comprehension. I think of questioning as a way for teachers to assess,  then evaluate the students level of comprehension with the text. Questions can also be viewed as a motivational tool. From my experience of observing, students tend to enjoy open ended questions that allow them to answer using their own opinions. Probing questions can also help students to figure out for themselves the material that they already know and the information that is still unclear.

Teachers can use any kind of questions to get students thinking about the text but,the right kinds of questions can lead to  a greater depth of understanding. The most effective questions that  are the ones  that lead to a higher order of thinking. It may be easier for the teacher to ask simple questions in order to see if the student knows the content. The harder questions force students to  analyze the text and make inferences based on the material. Although the higher order questions may be termed as more difficult they help the students to develop critical thinking skills.

If done correctly higher order thinking questions will create a problem or situation that require the student to investigate and solve. The type of questions can lead to a hands on activity where the student may be required to pick a part text in search of context clues and supporting evidence. It gives the students an opportunity to reflect on their own thought process and interpret meanings of the reading. A teacher who ask the right questions could get some interesting perspectives and ideas from the class that could lead to future discussions.

My famous quote from the text is  “Unfortunately many students have little practice in answering implicit questions and may be ill-equipped to formulate and respond to questions requiring critical thinking.” (p. 81)

Chapter 7 Getting it Down: Making and Taking Notes Across the Curriculum

Famous Quote from the chapter “Taking good notes train students not only to pay attention but what to pay attention to. It teaches then to evaluate the importance of information and the relationship between different pieces of information.”

 I believe that note taking is beneficial to the writer and therefore should reflect the way that individual process information. If I could pose a question to the author about the chapter I would ask: How can teachers find extra time to teach multiple note taking strategies without conforming students to just one method?

As a student I do not remember being taught how to take notes. I think that most teachers assumed that students knew what to do. I do remember needing to take notes in some college history courses. One of my worst experiences was when a history professor gave no study guides, outlines, or copies of power points, but He required students to take notes and study for test. He came to class spitting out facts and flipping through slides at a record pace. I spent most of my time writing and flipping through my notebook I rarely looked up at the pictures or maps.

My most positive experience came from another history course. Although the professor did not give any outlines or power points, he did write the terms and dates on the board before class and listed each term in a sequential order. This helped me to keep my notes organized and to provide a heading for new topics. This method made it easier for me to study and flip through my notes when looking for information.

Chapter 4 Well Read Promoting Comprehension Through Read Alouds and Shared readings

I like the idea that teachers can read text to students that vary in complexity.  This process is a good way to expose students to informative text beyond their current level. This is also, a good way for the teacher to model fluency.  In the shared reading and read aloud strategy the spotlight is on the teacher to model, help interpret information, and to teach comprehension strategies. Typically, text complexity is raised in secondary school and problems with comprehension become more apparent as the student handles more complex readings. I like the read aloud strategy, but I lean more toward shared reading because as a teacher I would want to target all areas of comprehension. Student’s should listen, speak, view, and write while exploring text because it may help them to process the information better. At the end of the chapter the author suggested that teachers should choose text to read based on content and from the attention that is drawn to a particular strategy. It also said that instructional time should not be used on unrelated readings. If the goal of the teacher is to introduce variety of text that range in complexity what things should be considered when searching for the right text for engagement? The chapter also, talked about the think aloud process. I had problems last semester trying to incorporate a think a loud in my lesson plans. I wonder what are some good ways to throw a think a aloud in the shared reading process?

Writing to Learn Article and Chapter 8

         Writing is an important skill that will follow you throughout your life.   As a college student I understand the pressure associated with writing to produce a final document. I like the concept of writing to learn because the writer is writing to process information and to organize thoughts. I think that this is an important strategy that will help student learn about themselves and how they learn.  This type of writing is also beneficial to the teacher because the teacher can see what students know or do not know about a topic. The article talked about reading and writing working together to help students.  Reading a passage does not say that a child understood the material but if the child writes about the passage the teacher would have a greater chance of  identifying comprehension problems. The strategy that I liked the most was the quick write. I think that it is a good way to starts students thinking about the upcoming topic or tapping into their background knowledge.  In the chapter it talked about using prompts to generate writings. Last semester I saw a teacher use this technique during bell ringer work. Every day she had a new or old topic on the board.  The students would write down what they knew or learned about the topic in their journals. The teacher would walk around and read some of the writing and ask individual students about their writings.  At the end of the chapter it talked about teachers getting a glimpse inside the child’s mind and the thinking process my question is how can teachers create rubrics and checklist that allow the child to process information as well as meet the requirements?

Barbara Moss Article

I understand the overwhelming need for teachers to start early with literacy instruction in the early grades. But, I do not think that standarized test should be the only driving force. Students will need comprehension skills no matter where they end up in life. If teachers are always teaching to the test how will they find the extra time to help student with life skills? It is important that teachers spend time helping students make sense of the world and how things are interconnected. I think that some teachers get stuck just trying to expose students to the different kinds of  practice test that they forget to teach important problem solving strategies. I think that teachers can get a early start by extending the topics used by basals to  build  comprehension skills. Personally I believe that comprehension is the key to effective literacy instruction and if students cannot understand the material then they will naturally have poor scores as a result. With the new expecations on teachers I wonder can teachers teach to the whole child and still maintain a balance?