Literacy Instruction and Teacher 'Finesse'

One piece of advice Routam offers in Chapter 7 is to introduce the writing process as a whole, rather than step-by-step. This may seem odd as several of our other Language Arts instructional strategies involve mini-lessons focusing on one concept then banking these concepts which build off one another. She justifies this by noting there is not research out there supporting the use of drills or worksheets. Rather, having the whole presented to the student at once allows them to learn more easily with more meaning. For this example, it is key for the teacher to know each part of the writing process fully and be able to model using each part rather than telling the students about each part. I have found that this idea of showing rather than telling is successful, but sometimes hard for me to carry out. When my students are not understanding a concept and I have run out of ways to show them or have them notice something that I want them to notice, I turn right to direct teaching; I will tell them. While I believe that student discovery is more authentic than me just lecturing to them, it requires a special set of teacher-skills that develop with practice and restraint. I am trying everyday to focus on providing opportunities for my students to be discoverers. What are some strategies that allow students to learn authentically without me telling them what to learn? Is there anything in particular that works for you and your students?

Another key piece of advice Routman suggests is to make writing meaningful to the students. While not a hard concept to grasp, or even disagree with, finding ways to do this take practice and thought. How can you help students chose meaningful, but also worthwhile topics to write about? My mentor teacher helped scaffold this very idea in my student’s writer’s notebooks. She took a page, divided in into 4 sections and had them write down some things that 1) they liked, 2) they didn’t like, 3) scared them, and 4) were some of their hobbies. This allows students to have a reference for when they need to write about something and can’t think of a topic. Routman suggests in Chapter 8 to allow time for students to share their writing with peers. As a teacher, we need to discuss with students how to listen to their peers and respond with constructive comments and how to ask questions. What are some ways to facilitate this in a productive way? My students have a hard time with constructive peer interaction when it comes to writing or any other content area. They have a difficult time knowing what to say to their peers. Usually they take turns reading their writing piece and sit to talk about irrelevant topics.  Are you seeing your mentor teacher provide opportunities for your students to compose authentic writing? If so, what and why do you think it works?

There are several opportunities to ‘finesse’ the literacy instruction in my classroom as described in the Kersten/ Pardo article. I am seeing my mentor teacher do it every day. We have several curriculum programs for language arts: DWA, DRA, Making Meaning and Word Study. In each, my mentor teacher puts her own little twist on the instruction to make learning meaningful and personal for our students. How can a set curriculum fit each and every student? There are always little tweaks that need to be made and accommodations that need to be accounted for. I know for Word Study, the activities going along with each unit are do not take a lot of effort on the student’s part and do not challenge their thinking; sometimes, not even requiring the students to know the meaning of the word they are studying! In order to accomplish the missing goals from the Word Study curriculum, I could incorporate an activity that applies the learning in a new context. For example, asking the students to write a sentence or paragraph using several of the words. I would be looking for correct usage, as well as spelling accuracy. This way students are studying for a purpose and will be able to extend their learning after the spelling test at the end of the unit. What are some ways you see your mentor teacher deviating a tad from a set curriculum? I know my mentor teacher and her co-teacher have some strong feelings about some curriculum and have no problem ‘finessing’ their instruction. Do you feel comfortable as a beginning teacher to do the same or do you think being able to do that come with experience and reputation?

9/11

The biggest dilemma this year is going to be classroom management. The students like to talk a lot and do not stop even when I am talking. Using the attention grabbers does not work because they just continue to talk. I am concerned that this is going to take away from my learning how to teach because I am going to be so focused on getting the class's attention. I probably will not be able to implement many of the comprehension strategies that require students to work in pairs or groups because it will be too big a distraction for them. In Strategies That Work it states that teachers work with a small group while the rest of the class works on the same activity. But with my students they need the teacher to be constantly watching them and keeping everyone on track.

I am also nervous that since I have to constantly keep the students on track and tell them to be quiet I am going to build antagonistic relationship with some of the students. So I am going to have to work to stay positive and work one-on-one with students where I can work on making positive productive relationships with my students.

Even if my students were well behaved I am still new to teaching a class and balancing everything is a challenge. I have a hard time remembering to explain everything in detail because I am so  preoccupied with making sure I get everything done. In Strategies That Work one of the teachers mentioned that when something went wrong with the students work is was because she did explain the instructions in enough detail. This is something that I am going to learn with practice and time.

In my class there is something called Making Meaning, where the teacher reads to the students a specific story and there a predetermined questions during the reading. The students have practiced turn and talk where they turn to a partner and discuss their answers, the class then comes together and a few students volunteer their partner's answers to share with the class. I like doing this with the class because the students are right in front of you so they behave more and most students actually participate. Having these lessons go well gives me more confidence to work with my students.

Unlike last year I am much more confident talking in front of the class. Talking to the class comes much more naturally, so that is one less thing I need to think about while teaching. This allows me to have more of my attention on showing and telling what I want the students to do and learn. I am fairly confident writing lesson plans because of the practice from last year. I am familiar with writing out each part and the reasoning behind each section.