Assignment 5

Chapter three in our textbook was a great review on the importance of vocabulary. Vocabulary is essential to our students reading comprehension. I found the research on struggling first year college students very interesting that "vocabulary knowledge was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than cognitive ability." It really made me ask myself what is happening from elementary to secondary instruction with vocabulary? 
As soon as I began to read about the social and academic vocabularies, and English language learners I immediately thought about the presentation we had at the professional development seminar last Friday. It is amazing to me that there are some teachers who automatically assume that just because a child can talk to his friends or say that he wants pizza for lunch in English, that they should be able to fully participate in the classroom. I understood many of the words the ladies were using in their spanish lesson on apples, but it was still difficult and frustrating. So I can only imagine how frustrated our ELL students are in our classrooms.
I think it is a good idea to think of vocabulary in the three categories the textbook suggested. I feel like general vocabulary is where many teachers focus and perhaps if teachers made a slight shift toward more specialized and technical vocabulary, there would be greater improvement on the secondary level and above. Many of the strategies such as word walls and connecting concepts that we have learned about in previous classes were mentioned in this chapter. One strategy that I found interesting and cannot really remember talking about is the expanded vocabulary word list. I think this is a great idea to use with older students and the "said is dead" was a really catchy phrase. I would also like to use the "shades of meaning" strategy with my students. I think it would be a neat way to incorporate art into vocabulary instruction. I also liked the "Quiz Me" cards. I think having students ask adults around the school to quiz them on their vocabulary would be a great way for students to practice using their words and would also benefit students who may not have help at home. This chapter had a lot of great ideas on how to teach vocabulary in our classrooms.

Assignment 4

While reading chapters 1 and 8 in our Fisher and Frey textbook, I found it very interesting that most teachers feel like it is the job of the language arts teacher to teach "writing". If writing is an important part of learning, then does that mean students are only learning in the language arts class? This information really bothers me because children should be writing in every content area.
In the first chapter, the authors discussed many different comprehension strategies that we have discussed in our literacy classes. They also discussed the importance of using "scaffolding" to slowly release responsibility to the students. I feel this is very important because as teachers we cannot always be around to explain things to our students and we need to show them the importance of being independent learners. Another idea that stood out to me was the example of children reading a science textbook. Vocabulary is a very important area of language arts but, it is also very important in other content areas like science. When a child is reading a passage from their science textbook, if the vocabulary words are not already known, or if a thorough definition is not easily accessible then the child may become confused.
In chapter 8, Fisher and Frey gave great examples of how to use the different comprehension strategies in content areas like science, social studies, math, and electives. I really liked the example of Mr. Haydens's geometry class using writing to "talk" through the math problem from beginning to end. I feel like this is a great way to truly understand what the students are thinking as well as for them to understand. I loved the "I am" poems and I also the RAFT strategy would be very easy and useful to incorporate into all content areas.
I was talking to a lady the other day about students writing in the classrooms. She has two children, both who suffer from autism. One child has difficulty writing, and it has gotten to the point where he refuses to even try. So my question is, how do we as educators get students who either struggle with writing, as this child does, or get students who simply refuse interested in writing? Also, as for students who feel like they do not need to learn how to write with a "pen" because they have computers, phones, and all other types of technology to "write" for them, interested in using a pencil and paper?

Assignment 3

The article by Barbara Moss was very interesting. I was setting next to my mother-in-law when I opened the article and I looked at her and said, "I have a hard time reading textbooks or other informational pieces of literature, I just can't get myself focused." She agreed that she has the same problem and through reading the article by Barbara Moss I realized why that may be. I cannot remember reading an expository text until my first year of college. I completely related to the part where Moss talked about teachers just reading the information or giving the information directly to students. I cannot remember using a textbook (other than a math book that was just for obtaining problems) in school other than to look up definitions. They were never used for "reading to learn".
This article really made me realize the importance of having students begin reading informational texts in the primary grades. Early exposure to informational material such as magazines, websites, textbooks, etc. allows the student to get used to reading material to learn. This is a really important skill since we spend most of our reading time as we get older reading to learn. I also agree that it is important to connect reading skills across all content areas. Now days with the emphasis on standardized testing, teachers do not have the classroom time to spend on content areas like social studies for example. By incorporating reading and writing instruction with material from subject areas like social studies, the students are practicing both learning to read and reading to learn.

Peer Blogs- I looked at Lauren's blog and thought it was really interesting that we were both previously design majors. (She was a graphic design major and I was an interior design major). I also liked that we'll both be using all of those intentsive art courses for an art endorsement! I also looked at Laura's blog and realized that we both "share the fear if you will" of intensive writing. I do not consider myself a fabulous writer. I have all of these great ideas in my head but tend to have difficulty writing them down.

Article- I really enjoyed the article by Knipper and Duggan. I related to this article because I completely agree with students/people in general, writing to comprehend. Personally, if I want to remember anything from a lecture, article, what we need from the grocery store or whatever I have to make notes. If we reflect on what we're learning about we do remember more about it. I also liked the part about writing in all subjects. My endorsements are social studies and science and I think using learning logs, quick writes, and reflections are great ways of getting students to comprehend what they're learning without being drilled with the usual "copy these notes from the overhead" that was the norm when I was in school. I also feel like if I would of had rubrics to follow for my writing in high school that I might feel more comfortable about it. As the article stated, teachers do not have the amount of time it would take to give appropriate feedback on each students intensive writing. However, if they have a rubric to follow, it is easier to give helpful feedback.

Assignment 1

I am very excited about our CIR 411 class. I have never had a pen pal before and I think the Elizabeth town project is going to be very interesting. I'm looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to the service learning project with Hawkins elementary and learning more about it.