Entry #8

 I would first like to say that reading these blog entries makes me feel more confident in my own ideas. This sharing of concepts and ideas really allows us to see things from different perspectives. In my opinion it also sparks questions that maybe weren't asked before. Reading other peoples posts have also given me a little more confidence in writing my own posts. To know that there is a connection between my ideas and other peoples ideas is always something that has been very important to me. There is something about the validation of having new or similar ideas to your peers that makes you more confident in your work. This also got me thinking about why collaboration among teacher is so crucial and beneficial.

Bless

I would first like to bless Matt for his mentioning of early writing before the written word and making connections with the text by mentioning the things he was missing before. I really resonated with this piece of the Deeper Dive as well because I thought it was very interesting. When I grew up my mother would always tell me when children write or blabber they are actually trying to say something. When children "read" stories they "write" that look like scribbles and then they recite the stories I always thought they were just pretending. I knew that there was a want to write within the child but I never made the connection to this piece of scribble actually being a form of writing. I knew that children learn by watching and copying what adults do but I honestly thought that's all that it was; copying and not truly understanding what it is they were doing.

Address 

When Matt was discussing the early signs of learning to read and write I began thinking about how the progression of this learning would change do to the interaction the child has with the adults they are learning from. If we don't acknowledge their "scribbles" as writing and become engaged with this play based learning, will this change the progression of learning phonics, phonemic awareness, learning to write, and read?

Press

Matt mentions that Tompkins discusses the formation of letters and the making of "words" during his entry. I wonder if he thought of the part in Tompkins that discusses the activity where children make their own words with their own meanings. Is that healthy for children to do? Is that an appropriate way of learning to read and write? Should we just stick to letting early learners make "letters" and then correct them over time as they learn their alphabet and to read and write?

This weeks Deeper Dive readings discuss fluency in reading and writing. How does the early learning formation of letters, reading, and writing evolve into fluent reading? As discussed in Tompkins and last weeks readings we understand that phonemic awareness and phonics are large contributors to this. Tompkins and Rasinski's article deepened my understanding of what fluency truly is. I originally thought fluency was to be able to read without a stutter, clearly, and without hesitation. Come to find it is so much more than that. Fluency assesses the students ability to spell words, read words, read and write in a timely fashion, AND use expression. I knew that words and speed were a large contributing factor but I had no idea that expression was a contributing factor to a person being fluent in reading and writing. 

As a child I felt very stressed about the way I read and wrote. I was always feeling behind because I was never able to read as fast as the other students. When I would take tests I would always feel rushed and I was told to work on time management. I wanted to be right when I read words and sentences so I was mor concerned with that than reading fast. I also wanted to understand what I read which I was never able to do while reading fast. This article and Tompkins chapter made me realize that we can take this process of becoming fluent and teach students ways to become fluent. I feel as though we always worry about finishing something because THAT is the goal but students need to be confident in their reading and that begins in the early learning stages with those scribbles that mean something to the kids. This week's readings and Matt's post made me think about how I will treat the process of my students becoming fluent in my classroom. I think it really is important to hold students to the same expectations but to also acknowledge that they each learn at a different pace and in different ways. So they may be reading correctly and with confidence and know all of their words but maybe they don't know how to be expressive when they read. Maybe they have a hard time reading at a good pace because they feel like they racing the clock.

Tompkins, G.E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7th Edition). Boston,    MA:Pearson.

Entry #7

In Tompkins chapter five phonemic awareness and phonics are discussed and how to approach teaching them. In reading the corresponding article, Everything you wanted to know about phonics (but were afraid to ask) I began to think about how teachers teach in different ways such as mentioned in the article when discussing teaching whole language versus basal reading. As we are learning about all of the ways to teach phonics and phonemic awareness we are looking to do it in the most effective and efficient way possible. However, we are all new coming teachers and we are all learning this but not all teachers may have learned the same thing. If we are teaching these lessons throughout the year, that is only one grade; one year. What happens if the teacher in the following year focuses on only one way of teaching their students or doesn't read to them much? What if I am the teacher who gets the children from a classroom that only taught phonemic awareness and phonics in a certain way but didn't make it engaging for the students so now they are disengaged? Will I still be able to provide that joy in a classroom when I am building on a less positive learning experience?

Further analysis on the readings made me realize that students learn phonemic awareness and phonics in a sequential manner. I think before I was overthinking the idea that not all children will come into my classroom at the level they should ideally be at. The article and Tompkins gave me some incite in how to address this. At the Kindergarten level I will definitely have students coming in from all different places in their education in general, however by the use of repetition, games, practicing, and a variety of teaching methods, the children can all get to where they need to be. As educators it is our job to get the students where they should be at the end of the year. Phonemic awareness is the first step. Children should be able to understand the sounds of letters. With an almost stepping stone approach, students will use what they know and continue onto the next part of learning how to read and understand the words they are reading. 

Before reading the article and the chapter in Tompkins I became stressed when thinking about phonemic awareness and teaching phonics. The words themselves seemed so complicated to me. The idea of teaching children to make sense of words and build their reading and writing skills gave me anxiety because it was hard for myself to learn that as a kid so it seemed even more difficult to teach. i think the one thing I got out of this Deeper dive the most is that I know that I shouldn't be teaching everything at once, this is a gradual learning process that builds upon each other. I worried about having to do it all as an educator and I know now that it isn't even good for children to have so much thrown at them at once. The methods mentioned to teach phonics and phonemic awareness made me start to think about what I can do in my classroom. I can incorporate play, movement, games, activities, etc. to get my students engaged in the learning of this piece of their education. I got nervous originally that I would have to teach the lessons strictly with a pencil and paper like i had to when I was a kid but I was relieved to learn these new ways that can engage the students in ways the paper and pencil wouldn't.

Tompkins, G.E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7th Edition). Boston, MA:          Pearson.

Stahl, S. A., Duffy-Hester, A. M., & Stahl, K. A. (1998). Everything you wanted to know about phonics (but were afraid to ask). Reading Research Quarterly, 33(3), 338–355. https://doi.org/10.1598/rrq.33.3.5 

Entry #6

 

The quote from Tompkins, “Teachers regularly observe children as they look at books and reread familiar ones to monitor their developing knowledge about written language concepts” (Tompkins, 2017, pg. 119) got me thinking about the change that is happening with how we evaluate our students. I know that there is the standard grading that we have been doing for years that evaluates students ability to learn skills and recite information. Participation is based on who raises their hand and speaks during the class discussions. Is this the best way to evaluate what the students are learning or are we just teaching them to retain information? Is this active learning? The evaluation methods are changing so that we are looking at each of the childrens successes as well as areas of growth. Tompkins states, “Teachers also create .....

Tompkins, G.E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7th Edition). Boston, MA: Pearson.