Choral Reading

Bridget Daugherty: 01-30-08 Choral Reading Blog
During the choral reading activity my group read The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. When reading the story we looked at different aspects such as pitch, tempo, tone and rhyme. After talking as a group and re-reading verses of the story several times, we came to several conclusions. First we decided that the tempo we were reading at was fast. We next looked at pitch and found that repeating words such as “feet, feet, feet” were higher and faster. We also noticed that there was a lot of stress put on the rhyming words because they were fun to say.
After looking at the eighth grade GLCE’s I realized that by working in our small groups and listening to the class I was able to extend my speaking, listening and viewing skills. When my group was discussing The Foot Book, we talked a lot about how much focus we put on the rhyming and repeated words, a writing style Dr. Seuss is famous for. We talked about how students can learn from this particular structure of writing what rhyming words are and how to best emphasize that they rhyme; such as using each rhyming word at the end of a sentence. After looking at each factor that determined how we were interpreting the writing, we were ready to deliver our presentation through a choral reading.
After performing our choral reading session, I was able to watch and listen to other groups perform theirs. It was amazing to know that we were all performing some styles of choral reading and to listen to how different they all were from each other. After watching all the groups go, I took note, that this type of reading would be a great way to reach out to different types of readers. With the great amount of variety, it would reach out to both strong and weak readers.
Overall, I believe, choral reading could be very successful in the classroom .By taking the time to perform the stories in TE, I truly saw the benefits. It was hard to believe, well reading through the GLCE’s, that such a small activity, covered speaking, listening and viewing skills.

11/30 post

During this activity we read “The Foot Book” by Dr. Seuss. We did choral reading in the form of small group reading. One person in the group held the book and each person in our group read one page of the book, or one stanza of the poem. Then we discussed the characteristics of our reading and shared what we found with the class.
After viewing the handout: Michigan’s Grade Level Content Expectations, It was clear that the choral-reading activity required me to use or develop certain speaking, listening, and viewing skills. When working on the activity and presenting to the class, I used speaking conventions. I used the tone of my voice and changed the pace of my speaking while reading the poem to enhance the meaning of specific words or phrases. My group noticed that we usually raised our voices and spoke faster during the repetition words of our poem. For speaking discourse, after reading the poem as a group we discussed the poem and the features of how we read it to socially construct meaning for it. We also had to plan and deliver an informal presentation to the other groups in the classroom to show them how we read the poem and explain the meaning we found behind it.
The GLCE handout also includes expectations for listening and viewing. I believe I used the listening and viewing conventions when we had to listen to the other group’s presentations. During these informal presentations I listened for key factors and compared/contrasted them with the key factors of my group’s choral reading experience.
Almasi and McGee both noted that choral reading should improve student’s knowledge by helping them grasp meaning and share insights. Although I didn’t grasp a deeper meaning of the Dr. Seuss book itself, I believe I got a deeper meaning of the coral reading process through our class discussion. We also had the ability to share our personal insights about the benefits of choral reading after our group experience reading the book and then also with the rest of the class while comparing and contrasting our experiences. For working toward capacity goals, I enjoyed being able to experiment with oral language and expression. Our group found ourselves trying to read the poem differently to see how it sound and felt. I also believe I was able to internalize the rhythms, patterns and lyrical qualities of language during this exercise.
When reflecting on my participation and learning during the choral reading activity, I realized that as a teacher I will need to first scaffold my students so they know what I expect of them during class discussions. However, once my students understand interpretive discussions I will need to back off and let my students take control of the discussions. As I plan and teach my language arts lessons I will also need to pay attention to the Great Lakes Content Expectations to make sure I am teaching my students about what will be expected of them in the future for other grades and state-wide testing.

Choral Reading 1/30/08- Carrie Podrasky

The activity consisted of listening to other groups present their choral reading to the class. The audience members had to listen to specific items like tone, pitch, and rhyme as the group presented. The benchmark that relates to this activity is (first grade) L.CN.01.03 (listen to or views knowledgeably while demonstrating appropriate social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive, supportive) in small and large group settings; listen to the comments of a peer and respond on topic adding a connected idea). This benchmark relates very closely with this activity for obvious reasons. As an audience member during this activity, I was responsible for actively listening to all of the other groups. The McGee article related closely with this activity as well. McGee talks a lot about staying away from general fact based questions and relying more on probing conceptual questions. The questions that asked and centered on the choral reading exercise were probing why questions. The questions were not simple factual questions, they were questions like “why do you think you changed the pitch at this certain point?” These questions make you think and have to dissect your own behavior. This allowed for conceptual change. I felt supportive within our community during this activity. I thought everyone was really involved and participating in the activity. For my future lessons I want to pay attention to my students’ personalities as I plan. If I have a very passive class, I will make sure I take extra care while promoting discussion based lectures and lessons. If my class is very outgoing and does not need a lot of coaching from me I will let them take the lead and stay out of productive conversations. I also want to pay attention to their own likes/dislikes and interests. Many of the students make sure similar interests and I can use that to my advantage. As I reflect on my own learning it makes me realize the importance of exposing students to various ways to discussion and learning. Every day needs to be different for them. There are many different discussion formats and many ways children can feel involved. Since every student learns differently and feels comfortable doing many different things, changing up the routine can be very helpful for everyone in the classroom including the teacher.

My goals...

This is the start of a new year, and with that the start of a new semester. Many of my college peers would begin the second semester of their senior year of college knowing that it is the last semester of school, but I (for better or worse) have made a pledge to be in school for much of the rest of my life. So this is just another start of another year of school. Beginning new semesters is much like starting the New Year; people like to write out New Year’s resolutions and goals for the coming year and finishing school. I on the other hand rather dislike those practices. I have found that what I want to accomplish at the beginning of the year is rarely even close to my goals, needs and ambitions by the time the year is up. I like to start each year with a few simple goals in mind: be open to new practices, try my very best, stay focused on the task at hand. These are the three goals I use to help keep me centered and focused, and they are the goals I will keep in mind for this class as well.

Response Centered Talks by Bridget

Bridget Daugherty - During my time in the Okemos School district I have had many opportunities to see literacy talks take place, with reading and writing being one of the districts main focuses. The most common type of talks that I see in my first grade classroom are response centered talks. The first grade class is fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work in small reading groups (about seven students) with the help of MSU seniors (myself and Katie G.) and parent volunteers. In these small groups students make predictions about the story they are going to read. Next each student takes a turn reading. When they are done the group begins the discussion by talking about their favorite parts of the book. During this time it is clear that the students are making connections between what they read, what they see in the illustrations and sometimes they make inferences. Next we read the reader’s response question which is an inference question that follows the story. The students have to use their gap filling and problem solving skills to answer the question. I allow the students to openly talk about the question. This is often times difficult however because I feel like students are talking out of turn or getting off subject and I intervene more then I probably should. (I need to work on this!) The students typically come to a common response to the question however this is not always the case. When students do disagree however the conversation is often more in depth because they are more eager to get their response across to their classmates. After working with the students for almost four months doing this style of talking I was never actually ware that it was called “Response Centered Talking.”
Working in small groups away from the rest of the class is a great opportunity for both the students and the teacher. It allows the students the chance to have more input then what they may in a larger group setting. It also provides the teacher a chance to develop an understanding of how the students are critical thinking about the stories they are reading. The approach of having students think critical about the text is a great way to learn. The style of talk that focuses on understanding the plot, characters, theme and ect. is beneficial, however response centered talks allow the students to on what lies beyond the text itself. Response centered talks are truly the window on children thinking.

Response-centered talk

The more I observe and participate in my TE 402 placement, the more I find I look up to my CT, Mrs. Trice, and hope to one day teach as well as she does. I am often jotting down notes about ways Mrs. Trice keeps control of the classroom, interesting lessons she presents to the students, and also the ways the students and the teacher communicate. Response-centered talk occurs very often in this classroom. I have witnessed my teacher many times asking her students to make inferences about different things they have discussed in class. She also encourages the students to make text to text, text to self, and text to world connections, allowing the students to interrupt the middle of a lesson or reading to share these. Currently, the students are reading the book “Bud, not Buddy.” I was able to observe the students in a discussion about the themes of this book where the students worked in pairs to construct deeper understandings of the book rather than recalling direct information from the book. During this particular exercise, it was apparent that some students still require scaffolding. Beth raised her hand and began reading a passage directly from the book to her partner and Mrs. Trice. Mrs. Trice politely interrupted her and asked her to explain how she pictured this in her head. When Beth continued to struggle Mrs. Trice guided her further by asking questions such as, “what does the woman look like?” “What is she doing while she says that?” “How do you feel when you read this passage?” “How do you think Bud feels?”…etc. Mrs. Trice then asked Beth to think of other parts of the book that made her feel this way and hinted to the two girls to use those passages to think of a main theme of the book. There were also students however, who seemed comfortable with the discussion of themes and the response centered talk. I overheard Kenneth discussing the topic of mothers with his partner, Chris. Kyle suggested that “a mother’s love is always” could be the theme because although Bud’s mother passed away, he seems to always know that his mom loved him. Christ then added that Bud spends a lot of time in the book looking for his father, so he suggested that a father’s love is important too. The two boys made a couple connections to their own families, along with other books they had read in class, got very excited, and decided to agree that a family’s love in general was important and that could be a theme for “Bud, not Buddy.” I haven’t witnessed enough literacy in the classroom to be aware of specific types of students requiring specific types of scaffolding, but it is clear that there is a wide range of literacy learners in the classroom from this one activity and I am excited to observe and learn more.

Today's readings: 1/23/08

Carrie Podrasky: After reading today's articles, I thought a lot about the types of things I have seen in my classroom at Gier Park. After reflecting on my time spent in the classroom, I realized I have actually seen a lot of response-centered talks. There have been several instances where I have been in the classroom during group reading time. My CT will gather the students as a class and assemble on the literacy rug in the back of the classroom. He will then read a book from the theme of the unit that they have been currently studying. Usually prior to reading the book, he will have the students make predictions about the story from the pictures on the cover. After the story has been read, my CT will usually open up the floor for discussion. For example, this week's theme is "doing the right thing". So after reading today's story, he asked the class to give examples of doing the right thing in the story. This usually spirals the students off into discussions about other things. I like how he asks a broad question to begin with but this introductory question has somewhat of a right or wrong answer just to get the students started in the right direction. Scaffolding concepts prior to conducting a discussion is necessary. The students must have an idea of how the discussion is going to play out. They must also be familiar with the expectation of going further than just setting, character, theme and so on. The students must also know what to know what to look for in the story beyond the usual traits. If the students do not know what they are looking for it is unfair to ask them questions about concepts they might not have known to look for. As a teacher, you must draw their attention to the important aspects of the story at least for the first couple times this type of discussion is used. After reading this particular article by McGee and learning about the response-center discussion concept, I realize this idea is exactly how I want conduct discussion in my future classroom. Opening up the discussion to opinions and new ideas instead of simply facts quoted from the story is exactly how I want my class to run.

TE 402, Section 2, Goals for class

After reading the syllabus I realized that instead of a few large goals I have a large amount of small, specific goals for literacy this semester. There are many goals I have for this semester to improve my knowledge about myself as a teacher as well as many goals to improve my knowledge about my students as learners.
In regard to what I would like to learn about myself as a teacher, or ways I can improve my teaching practices I would like to learn a lot about research-based teaching principles. In previous classes we have learned about the topic of research-based principles but rarely about specific principles. I would also like to learn about how to integrate a wide range of technology into my classroom that I can use as well as technology that my students can use, to maximize my students’ learning. I know a little about developing learning communities but I would like to get a clearer sense of how I specifically plan to create my own learning community. I would like to learn more about specific assessment strategies, which ones are required, and also those that aren’t required but recommended. Lastly, I have heard multiple comments about how our first few years of teaching usually involve straight following the curriculum. I would like to learn more about following curriculum while including your own creativeness into your teaching.
There are also many aspects about my future students that I hope to learn about this semester. I would like to learn more about lesson planning as I feel that I haven’t had much lesson planning practice thus far. I also would like to learn more about behavior management, especially in the context of accommodating individual needs while keeping control of the entire class. As a future special education teacher I would also like to learn about working with students with identified disabilities as well as those with unidentified disabilities. Lastly, the syllabus discusses learning about teaching language arts to diverse learners, and I would like to learn more about accommodating diverse learners while fulfilling all of the curriculum requirements and maintaining a productive classroom.

My Goals for TE 402

Bridget Daugherty: TE 402, Section 2, Literacy Goals for Class
One of my goals for this class is to build on my prior ideas for teaching literacy. Literacy was a difficult subject for me when I was a child, therefore as a teacher I would like to strive to find multiple strategies, tasks and resources for teaching literacy to diverse learners. With these resources I believe I will be a better teacher of literacy to my students in the future.
With student teaching fast approaching a second goal of mine is to understand myself better as a colleague. Working and communicating with others, I feel, is going to be a major part of next year. Having the opportunity to reflect on my actions as a member of a group will be very beneficial.
My last goal for this class is to become more comfortable in front of my first grade students when teaching lessons. I believe this will come from developing better preparations skills and methods. Understanding my students better would also help me when preparing lessons.
Overall I would like to better understand ideas behind teaching literacy, become a better colleague and become more comfortable when teaching lessons. Literacy is not only a subject within itself, it is essential when leaning many other subjects. For this reason I am hoping that this course will help me reach my goals and become a better teacher overall.

Post for January 16th, 2008- TE402

Carrie Podrasky: Te402 Section 2- Literacy Goals for 402
My goals for this class are different than for most other classes. This course will hopefully continue to prepare me for life in the real world of teaching. My main goal is to understand different ways students learn. I want to be able to better learn methods of teaching literacy for all types of learners. I think being able to teach in a variety of ways is a very important skills for teachers to have when teaching younger children or ESL students. Another goal I have to is become familiar with a variety for genres for children's literature. Usually I tend to focus on the genre that I like best but as a teacher I need to expose students to all different types. I also really want to learn some strategies to help students who are struggling with literacy. Since I am most interested in teaching young children, I want to learn some helpful skills and techniques to coach students who are struggling.
Another goal I have for this course is to learn methods for lesson planning and instructing. I am eager to learn more about constructing Literacy lesson plans. I also anxious to learn more about classroom management involving literacy instruction. Literacy is such a big part of the school day in every grade that it would be helpful to learn more about planning for instruction.
A goal I have concerning this course and my field placement is learn more about my students and my CT. The students in the class continue to teach me a lot every day. Prior to this semester I have seen very little literacy instruction so with that changing this semester, I will be able to learn a lot more in my field placement.
Something I want to learn more about during this course is Michigan Standards for Literacy. I am not familiar with the standards for this subject area and since next year is quickly approaching, I feel it is important for me to learn more.
Overall, I hope to increase my knowledge through the concepts of literacy. I hope to see many examples of effective literacy teaching in the field and I hope to understand more what literacy means through the Michigan Education Standards. I hope that by preparing myself in these different ways, I will be prepared to actually teach in a real classroom.