Final Synthesis Blog

After this class, it almost seems like common sense to teach literacy in every classroom. If you have to read to teach the material, how do you expect the students to be effective active readers? How to read different types of texts? Texts they really only interact with in your classroom? Saying the reading strategies should be left to the language arts teachers is just lazy.

My two focal content areas are science and social studies. It is much easier to teach reading strategies in social studies than science in my opinion. Social studies has very tangible ideas. This happened because of this: cause and effect. Here is a picture from a long time ago, what do you see? However, with science there is a countless amount of theories and abstract ideas that go with science. So many different multimodal resources must be used and that can be a daunting task. Even so, teaching reading in a social studies classroom is a challenging new idea before this class. I never thought of myself as someone that needed to teach reading as my students will know how to read. However, my teachers probably had that mindset and since then I do not feel like a strong reader.

For most of my life I read like a scanner. “Reading is about comprehension and thinking…these squiggles have to be built into meaningful concepts by the mind of a hard-working reader”, Chapter 2 Subjects Matter. I think it is an extremely cool idea to focus on the fact that there are 27 letters in the alphabet and 40 sounds in the English vernacular that have created every sentence, word, or phrase I have said, heard, or read. However, schools should provide us with the supplies to conceptualize and understand what the things we hear mean and how to convey what we want to say. The craziest part is that we are able to understand a language through a created written text, and there are ways to do it even better.

One thing from class that I find myself intrigued with are the ideas of book club and all of the different aspects or flare I can add to it as a teacher. Since then my mind has been in lesson planning mode I guess, even though I have barely ever lesson planned before. Thinking of different books and different types of worksheets that I could use in my classroom. It is an exciting thing to see real things coming together from my classes, finally. Student collaboration is difficult and as a student, I hated it; therefore, I believe I can do a better job of it. I believe student collaboration is key to peak understanding.

A reading strategy that I will most definitely use in my classroom but also for myself is self-monitoring. I believe sometimes I can read something, believe I understand it, but not be able to retell it. Finding different presentations, worksheets, and group work that teach students to retell, self-monitor, and peer monitor will be a cornerstone of my classroom.

Lastly, the end of Subjects Matter focuses on the specifics of helping struggling readers. This textbook is something I will draw upon in the next coming years to ensure I am always giving my students the most that I can. In order to truly understand a disciplinary you cannot just be explained it but you must do self-research and read on your own. Reading is the backbone of education and as future educators it is important to realize that it is our duty to ensure students receive the most out of our classroom. 

My hopes for my students when they leave my classroom are to understand the curriculum, understand what different types of literacy look like, and to have felt safe to make mistakes and be themselves in my classroom. My hope as a future educator us to be a teacher that can teach different disciplinary areas through my students’ reading, not just instruction.

Adios cowboy

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Journal Club Podcast

Journal Club Podcast

Journal Club Article 3

The Journal I chose to present this week in Journal Club is, Bringing the “Social” Back to Social Studies: Literacy Strategies as Tools for Understanding History by Deborah A. MacPhee & Emily J. Whitecotton, published on the online journal known as The Social Studies. 

The idea behind this article is to present different ways to increase literacy comprehension in the classroom that are not strictly limited to reading and writing. I found myself intrigued by the different methods used in the classroom; however, I felt the article was lacking the implementation. It lacked the best way to use this in a classroom and lacked well rounded examples of such to truly convince me they would all work. Trial and error are going to have to be comfortable in my future classroom. These included the subtext strategy, a tableau, and a two-page guided writing assignment; all methods that interested me but were only used in one example. An overall good journal, but something to take with a grain of salt. I believe I will be able to teach literacy through my content area, with the ability to try out new methods and respond to the way my students learn.

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Deborah A. MacPhee & Emily J. Whitecotton (2011) Bringing the “Social” Back to Social Studies: Literacy Strategies as Tools for Understanding History, The Social Studies, 102:6, 263-267, DOI: 10.1080/00377996.2011.571300

Resource Blog #5

CROSS CONTENT

In my middle school, the school had a widespread subscription to Scholastic. It was something I barely knew about and hardly knew how it changed my time in middle school. I spoke to one of my old middle school teachers the last time I visited home about the resources that have stood the test of time. Scholastic was her first answer. She said the biggest improvement she saw when using the different worksheets, lesson plans, and articles provided through scholastic, she saw an increase in literacy comprehension. She also stated that with these resources students were less likely to give up on an article or concept. This resource is something I believe all teachers, if possible, should have access to.

Teachables Scholastic
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Strategy Assignment: Lesson Planning In-Class Reflection

My group included my classmates Corben and Taylor; we focused on a lesson plan that was aimed at 4^th grade science concept of the Water Cycle. The literacy strategy we utilized was Sketching a Text. The definition of Sketching a Text from Subjects Matter states that students “create a sequence of sketches, drawings, or cartoons to illustrate the ideas described in the reading” (131). We decided to use this strategy because it gives students a visual aid and the water cycle is best understood with diagrams.

We chose two different texts that could be used. We broke students up into groups and they we given limited instructions on how to sketch the diagrams. The limited instructions were on purpose to show different ways of students comprehending the texts. At the end of the lesson we went over the pictures with the students and compared them to the diagram.

Somethings I would have liked to change about the delivery of this literacy strategy include: smaller groups—in order to create more engagement, assigning roles to students—so every student had a voice, and a final demonstration—having the instructor draw the water cycle simply from the text (different from the picture). The room was chaotic at first, considering there was limited instructions; however, I believe with smaller groups and assigning roles the room would be more organized.

Lesson Plan

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Synthesis Blog #5: “Content-area Book Clubs” (SM: ch. 9)

I have trouble remembering how my classroom was “differentiated”, because it was just how the “good” classrooms were run. All I remember, is that it was a classroom that I liked. However, I can distinctly remember the classes I did not like, the lecture classes, the classes that did the same thing every single day. Book clubs were almost religiously used in my social studies classes. It is easy to find a good nonfiction book pertaining to most of the historical topics covered in middle school. There is also a plethora of non-fiction books ready for students to read. However, an idea that I have never thought of is to use a book club for a science class. I think it could be very useful to use a middle grades level science. There are plenty of concepts that could use an extra reinforcement of the science topic being presented. I still struggle to see how a math book club would be conducted but am excited to see where it could go. Book club gives students the freedom and responsibility to learn the importance of the work they are doing. I feel that book clubs, if done correctly, can turn from tedious to exciting for students.

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Resource Blog #4: PhET Interactive Simulations

***CROSS-CURRICULAR***

PhET interactive simulations is a resource that has been and continues to be utilized in my teaching science education (ESCI 4440) classroom. It provides the ability for students to not only see different physics mechanics but manipulate the variables and see the differences. It has not only increased my understanding of physics but would tremendously help in the classroom. This can be used by the teacher at the front of the class going through each part step by step. It can be a homework assignment by using the interactive simulation to produce data and have the student record and analyze it or complete equations. Lastly, it could be group class work where students work together to find answers to complicated physics concepts. This website includes physics, biology, chemistry, earth science, and math. Biology allows moving pictures and understanding of mechanics of biology through visual representation, with formative testing throughout. Chemistry and Math have interactive simulations explaining concepts and provide practice problems throughout and after—very similar to physics. Visual learning has been key for me as a student, especially for complex or difficult subjects. I believe that even the best literacy students could benefit from visual representation—even for reinforcement. PhET provides this and more to teachers and students for free access online, with even more resources on the website then just the simulations tab.

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Link: PhET Interactive Simulations

Synthesis Blog #4: Historical Fiction in English and Social Studies Classrooms: Is It a Natural Marriage?

FOCAL AREA

Summarize:

The article addresses the concerns of using historical fiction in the curriculum. Three important sentiments in the article that are translated throughout include: first, that it is imperative students cultivate background historical knowledge before asking them to engage with historical fiction; second, a critical goal of historical fiction is to create historical empathy; and lastly, pairing historical fiction and nonfiction has benefits in social studies and ELA classrooms. It goes further to say that not only do teachers need to build background knowledge with the students but also contextualize the information and its relativity to the fiction piece. It is much easier when social studies and ELA teachers are able to work together to allow knowledge building and contextualizing in the history class and focus more on historical empathy and reading skills in the ELA classroom. It continues to say that historical fiction should also be viewed as literature of the time, and with nonfiction context, students begin to understand the behaviors and feelings of the characters in the historical fiction.

Connections:

My biggest connection to the article was the continued example of The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak. It continues to be one of my favorite books since middle school. We had to choose a historical fiction book that related to one of the three units we worked on in social studies class—which shows a great connection of teachers. I believe reading The Book Thief  at a young age helped create great historical empathy for me. It focuses on girl around the age that I was also reading it; I put myself in the characters shoes. Historical fiction engaged me in a way that nonfiction never could.

Critique:

This article did not focus on the potential difficulties of always ensuring ELA and social studies classes coordinate. Sometimes that is not plausible. Who then does it fall upon to help students read historical fiction?

Why is this important? :

This is important topic of discussion in the academic world because there are different ways of teaching. There are needs for cooperation in different classrooms that cannot happen in some school districts. Sometimes the standards will not line up between different classes because this partnership between ELA and social studies is new. In conclusion, it is important in my opinion because of how much it affected me as a student. I want my students to make those connections in their own ways and find ways to create their own historical empathy.

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Resource Blog #3: What about assessment?

I heard about Plickers from the cohort above me at UGA and it sounded extremely useful and interesting. The student teachers just one year above me said they were using this resource in their student teaching classrooms currently, so I decided to take a look into it. Plickers is an app you can use on any mobile device or computer. It is a form of formative assessment, or a way to gage the students understanding of the topic that has been presented. It gives students individual QR codes or task cards that are printed on paper that match with their name and depending on which way they hold it the teacher can scan their answers in. (Each side of the square, depending on which side is on top, produces a different answer to be recorded). A fun cool way for students to submit their answers while they do not have to use technology themselves, just the teacher. It would be very useful in a permanent classroom to laminate said QR codes and reuse them throughout the teachers timing. It is an easy way to engage student to where they all need to submit an answer, and the teacher can see behind the screen what students are missing. This is a resource I am excited to employ in my own classroom; I believe formative assessment is the best way to prepare for summative assessment and overall learning.

https://get.plickers.com

https://www.lauracandler.com/plickers-made-easy

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Synthesis Blog #3: How to Use a Textbook

Assigning a whole textbook is in the days of the past. We find ourselves finding new ways to present material to students rather than following the textbook way of doing things. There’s also the notion of being selective with the sources and texts presented to the students; it is always beneficial to present both sides of the argument. Furthermore, by providing different texts it exposes students to different styles of writing including grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary that increases their reading comprehension. After saying all this I am in no way telling you to throw your state mandated textbooks out the window in defiance but to simply only use the parts of the textbook that are useful. Find the big ideas that the text is trying to convey, use what you need, and find some more.

When using a textbook I believe the strategy presented in Subjects Matter Activity 3: Guide-o-Rama Study Guides is extremely useful. This is a way to break up long readings for students; it also adds teacher commentary that would explain the importance of the section, focus on diagrams, and give students a sense of structure instead of just a giant text to read. This allows for teachers to break up the larger reading into sections and not assign everything. Yes, this requires quite a lot of preparation, however, over time the amount of prepared chapters will increase. It can be a learning process as you continue your years of teaching. It creates a personalized way of helping your students at home.

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