Observations for our NEW READING GROUP
Who did you observe and what did you notice that pertains to our work together in this course? What strategies did you see in action? You can also just post a copy of the Thank you that you wrote to the colleagues that you visited.
I will be completely honest and say that I don't remember this ever being assigned. I've checked with others and found the same response. This is certainly something I would remember because I would've needed to get coverage for this. When I'm able to do that, I will post onto this blog. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteLesley,
DeleteIt is listed right on your syllabus given on the first day of class under requirements. We looked over and discussed the syllabus at the first class.
Tomasen
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ReplyDeleteDear Liz,
ReplyDeleteWow! I have great respect for you as an ESOL teacher. I applaud you for the wonderful job you are doing teaching reading to your students. I observed a 5th/6th grade reading class. Not only do you have students of varying ages in the same class, but also students of varying academic abilities. The fact that all of your students do not have the same native language and the fact that they have varying degrees of mastery of the English language only complicates the challenge of teaching reading!
Throughout the lesson, you were able to draw this diverse group of students together, keeping all students invested in learning. The students have been reading a novel together in class – A Dog Called Kitty by Bill Wallace. In this lesson, students were guided through a review of the story that has been read so far. A timeline served as a visual to guide the students in their response to questions regarding the sequence of events that have taken place in the story. The timeline was simple and easy to follow. Major events were highlighted in the timeline with a brief label containing a “blank word” to be filled in by students. Events were discussed as a class and the blanks filled in as students responded. The timeline served as “just enough” of a reminder to prompt the students in recalling the story events and the labels served as a guide for students to respond in English. As the class reviewed the story by completing the timeline, your questions guided the students to think about sequencing, find cause and effect, and make inferences. One timeline – many reading strategies.
The second part of the class involved writing. Each student was provided with a blank postcard. A brief discussion followed concerning why people write postcards and what sorts of messages can be written on a postcard. Creating a postcard is an effective way to draw out the writer in students with limited English language ability. For this assignment, the students were to each assume the role of the main character in the story. As Ricki, the main character, each student was to write a postcard to someone else Ricki had previously met in the story. (Or someone we can infer Ricki knew in the past.) In modeling this assignment, you referred to the story timeline to again remind students of the events that had already taken place in the story. This made it easy for the students to visualize what they could write about. As you showed by marking an arrow on the timeline, a student could select an event they wanted to write about, and then look back to choose a person from Ricki’s past they could write to. Next, you did exactly what I have heard as a loud and clear message from both Kylene and Tomasen – you modeled the assignment. You thought aloud about how you would choose the event and the person you would like send a postcard. Then, as you continued to think aloud, you wrote out a large postcard so all the students could watch as you created your message. As you were doing this, the students were engaged in helping to create the message, making suggestions as you wrote. Modeling the postcard not only made the assignment clear, it also generated excitement. After your postcard was reread in its entirety, the students were anxious to begin on their own.
One thing was completely clear in your class. As Kylene points out in the book, “the reading skill is the product…. the strategy is the process.” Thank you for allowing me to observe the strategies you use to teach reading to your diverse group of students.
Thanks!
Melissa
Hello all,
ReplyDeletebecause of my son's hospitalization and my ongoing absences, I have been thinking creatively about how to do a couple of things...I am thinking about either responding to some lessons viewed on the DVD, or perhaps, I may observe a few master teachers on youtube. If anyone has any advice or suggestions, let me know. I've been working when I am able, and WHEN I am there, I simply need to be with my kiddos and my wonderful-ever-giving intern. Thoughts? Do these ideas sound good? I also have an old Harvey Daniels tape I might watch if I can find an ancient VCR player somewhere. :)
Thanks for everyone's support during this time. DMS is a fabulous place filled with loving and giving people.
Kim,
DeleteI would review the DVD from Penny Kittle's book and respond to that.
I had the opportunity to observe Meaghan O'Dell. I would like to thank her for allowing me to come into her 7th grade LA class. She gave me a lot of ideas that I would like to use in my classroom. The first thing I'm going to change in my room is the set up of the desks. I like how Meaghan had all of the students sitting in a square. I thought that this is a great idea for class discussions. Everyone can see everyone while they're talking. The other idea I'm going to use is a daily warm up. I like this idea because it gives the students a task for the first couple of minutes of class and it allows them to reflect on what they learned the previous day.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed sitting in Meaghan's class and listening to the students talk about immigration and how it related to the book they were reading in class. Meaghan encouraged all students to participate in the discussion. She made each student feel like they had something important to say.
I hope that I can go to a different classroom and get more ideas from another teacher. I always feel like I can learn more strategies for my classroom.
Susan M. Says...
ReplyDeleteObservation Reflection
I had the opportunity to observe a 7th grade language arts teacher. First, her room was setup for real class discussion. Everyone could see and hear each other easily. She used pre-reading and frontloading strategies for the main idea in the article about American culture. To activate prior knowledge, the class discussed ideas that referred to culture. The class developed a dynamic – ongoing word wall to brainstorm ideas related to culture. They wrote their ideas on a large sheet of paper. The paper was in the front of the room during the class. Students developed logographs (a visual symbol) as well. They made cut outs of their hands and wrote the five factors that they thought most impacted culture. The hands were decorated differently and the factors written on them were as diverse as the decoration. Before reading the article, students defined the vocabulary words in the article. During the reading, students referred to the vocabulary lists. The article itself was very high interest. The students not only read the article but continuously tried to figure out what was happening in the article.
After they had finished the article, students started to discuss where the article was taking place. Many students had ideas and started to unravel the main ideas. They used the rereading strategy to pick up clues about what was happening. While the students were reading, Megan used the think out loud strategy. She modeled her thinking and asked students about what they were thinking.
From the observation, I realized how important the choice of reading material is to the students. I could see how interested the students were in figuring out what the article was talking about. I also see the value of rereading out loud with the students in class. It was a great way to model for the students what “good” readers do. You could see the students working to try to understand what the topic was for the article.
Dear Megan,
Thank you for having me in to observe your LA class. It was fun and very interesting. The students were very interested in the article you chose. I noticed all the students were actively engaged in your class both the reading of the article and the class discussion after the reading. I noticed that the students were trying to figure out the culture the article was referring to in the article. I liked the way you and your students reread parts of the article to analyze what the article was saying and representing. I also noticed your large white paper and the hands on the walls with your classes’ ideas about culture that was prepared even before you read the article.
I wish I could continue with your class as they begin to read the novel about diversity. You already have their interest, and I’m sure they will have dynamic discussion as they unravel the characters in the novel.
Thank you again.
Susan
Mrs. Smith,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for having me sit in on your language arts class today. It was perfect timing as I am also having my class work on poetry. D
id you notice I said” work"???? This is what hit me the most about your class today. They were not "working" per say, but got a whole lot more out of it
!! You had them browse through poetry books and you discussed whether they liked it or not- no wrong answer- they were free to be honest about how they felt. You acknowledged how they felt and said you had felt that way before too (they said it was boring). By the end of class they had found poems that they couldn’t wait to share. The class was laughing, reading sharing! They "worked " on it and didn't even know it!!!!!! Fantastic observation!! Thanks
I had the chance to observe Mary Jo Smith. I chose to observe a sixth grade teacher because I wanted to see how other teachers were teaching the same material. One of the first things I noticed right away was that her students were so quiet! It was such a nice change of pace from my chaos :)
ReplyDeleteMary Jo was reading aloud to her class while her students were working on Rev It Up. I was kind of surprised that she was having them do work while she was reading aloud. I asked her about this later. It turns out she was purely reading aloud for fun! What a concept, I thought! I’m so ingrained, I guess, that when I read aloud to students that they should stop everything and listen to me so that when I ask questions they know what I’m talking about. Prior to this experience, I guess I always felt that everything I do should have a specific purpose, and it does, but I’m forgetting about the “reading for enjoyment” part. I want my student to read for enjoyment, and yet I don’t model that in class. I need to give myself permission to read aloud without the expectation of completing comprehension questions, figuring out themes and finding vocabulary.
The topic of onomatopoeia was introduced next. I was excited because, at the time, I had not yet taught this form of figurative language to my class, so I was curious to see other ways to do it. Well, let’s just say, Mary Jo’s class (and later mine) had a good time learning about onomatopoeia using the old Batman fight scenes. I loved it! It was something so simple, but so much more exciting than just having the class list examples (like I was probably going to end up doing). That’s one of the things I love about observing colleagues… it’s picking up new strategies, skills, anything to put into my own “bag of tricks”.
So to Mary Jo, I say thank you! Thank you for letting me share in your teaching, learning, discussion, sharing, etc. I found the experience very valuable and useful toward my own teaching. I truly appreciate your thoughtful ideas and suggestions when I asked (and as I continue to ask to this day). I admire your professionalism and willingness to help out a less experienced teacher. You have no idea what it means to me. Thank you for all you have done for me in the past and for what is still to come!
I am amazed at how many teachers have planning time at the same time in our school! :) It was not easy to find someone to observe. I was lucky enough to be able to observe Kathy Wotton teaching Language Arts.
ReplyDeleteWhen I entered the classroom, the students were engaged in silent reading while classical music played in the background. On the board, Kathy had written activities for them to complete such as finding similes and metaphors, finishing an I Spy letter, and using sticky notes to write down power words and similes and metaphors from the Harry Potter books the class was reading together. While the students were doing their independent work, Kathy was walking around making sure everyone was on task.
After a little while, Kathy joined the kids and read silently as well. Later she asked the students to share their power words and how they were used in the passage. She took the power words and put them on the wall to be used for spelling quizzes and poems.
Next the students took out their I Spy letters and several students shared what they wrote. She also had the students share the poetry samples they brought in for homework. The students then got into partners and they completed a “Say Something” activity and chose a poem they wanted to work with for their next lesson.
I enjoyed watching Kathy incorporate several of the techniques we used in class into her own curriculum. She has a wonderful atmosphere and learning environment with her students.