Steven Krashen article response: C. Evans

As a kindergarten teacher, the part of this article that stood out to me the most was the fifth hypothesis, the affective filter.  One of our goals in kindergarten is to lay a foundation for a child’s educational career. If they have a negative experience their first year of school, it can cause a snowball effect and lead to low achievement down the road. With our EL students it is even more imperative that we make sure they are made to feel comfortable and that it is okay to take risks. As the article mentioned, positive affect alone will not help someone learn a language. However, I feel that at this age it is just as important as comprehensible input.

Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition

I enjoyed reading and listening to Krashen’s video.  One key point that he made was that people only acquire language one way, and that is if the message being relayed is understandable.  Krashen calls this process comprehensible input.  Krashen proceeded to speak in German, while speaking I could pick up on bits and pieces but had no real idea what he was saying.  Once Krashen began using gestures like pointing to his hands and eyes I was able to comprehend the language better.  The video and literature only reinforced how important it is for me to make sure when teaching L2’s that I incorporate as much visuals and strategies that build on background.  In other words if lessons are comprehensible learners build confidence and are much more likely to be able to apply what they have learned.  

Krashen's Theory

I read the article and once again had the thought- "It's amazing we can acquire other languages and become proficient with them at all! It's such a complex idea/process!" (This was prior to watching the video, and after I had scribbled notes on all various filters, systems, and learning processes in the article.)After watching Krashen's video and his demonstration, I let out a little sigh of relief seeing that language acquisition is possible and "manageable" through the use of comprehensible input. I really appreciated his comment that we can only acquire language when it is understandable to us, and the fact that research supports this, and not memorizing rules, vocabulary, rote memorization, etc. was good to hear as well.

Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

The acquisition of language must be meaningful to the EL's like Krashen's opening statement in the video. "You acquire language only when you understand the message." Students do this naturally through communication. I find that is very natural to Kindergarten students. They are not worried about being grammatically correct just that their messages are understood.

Karshen said that those students who use the monitor all the time are over users; those who prefer not to use their knowledge are under-users; and those that monitor appropriately are optimal users. The information that I found interesting is extroverts are under-users, introverts, perfectionists, and those that lack self-confidence are over-users. I see this everyday with my students and didn't really understand as to why some are so conscious over the way their messages will be received. This was my big "aha" moment.

I was reminded from Krashen's video the importance of making the message clear. I need to make sure that I'm always using cues, hand movements, and gestures as I convey a message to all my students instead of just assuming they already know what I'm trying to tell them.

I enjoyed watching the short video about comprehensible input.  It was pretty amazing how much more I understood once Krashen used the hand gestures to go along with his German speech.  I think I learned most of this in Linguistics, but I had kind of forgotten about what one needs to be successful in their L2. One aspect that helps with learning an L2 is self-esteem.  I have a Hispanic boy who does not seem confident in his abilities, and has developed a habit of clearing his throat every time he speaks, which does not happen very often.  He also has a habit of missing school, so his confidence would probably grow if he had more exposure, interaction, etc. 

I'm trying not to get sucked in to watching all of the other videos, but Krashen seems to have gotten funnier as he aged.  Does he have a great plan for teaching grammar other than just making sure the kids understand and are interested in the subject?  I may have to start writing mentor sentences about Angry Birds to help them understands nouns, verbs, and adjectives!!

Krashen made his point in the video by showing how to use nonverbal cues while teaching a foreign language. I only understood a couple of words when he did not use the cues. However, with the cues I felt I understood his message. This really brings home the point of using cues with lessons. I will try my best to include them with the lessons I teach with all children. My students need the same kinds of techniques as ELs do. They need nonverbal cues, hands-on experiences, and information they can connect to their background knowledge.

Thoughts on Krashen

Thoughts on the Krashen Article

Casey Kiel

He did an excellent job summing up his ideas in the video.  Krashen stated, “We acquire language when we understand messages.”  Students must have comprehensible input or messages they can understand.  In the application section of the article the author discusses that teaching formulas and rules is not teaching language; it just teaches language appreciation.  He goes on to describe a scenario where the student is motivated and the teacher is excellent at teaching grammar in a clear and meaningful way.  The student is confident and their affective filter is low.  Even then when language is acquired it is a result of the means and not of the subject taught.  This article drives home the importance of teaching through actual communication and experience rather than just skill and drill.

Response to Krashen Article

I am struck by the idea that the comprehensible input must be of interest for the child in order for the acquisition to occur in L2.  I got the impression that if students want to learn the content/subject and their affective filter is low and the are positive/comfortable with the learning, better results are obtained.  This makes me want to look at what I am asking the children to learn and find out how interested they are in the subject.  It also makes me think of the chapter on science instruction and how inquiry is key to ELLS success in learning science.  It makes me think of the importance of using science as a springboard to meaningful language learning for the ELLS and for all students. All students have questions they want answered, and science lends itself naturally to that.

Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

I agree that a second language is acquired, and that this is a good way for a student to learn his second language. This is really what we do in kindergarten. The children are immersed in their new language. I was impressed with Krashen's hypothesis of the Affective Filter. This is being shown in my class this year. I have a student who came in October with no English but he is motivated and confident. His parents work with him and reward him for good work. Another student has low self esteem, does not really receive help in the home and is not motivated at all. I have never seen this theory in print before but it really makes sense with these two friends of mine. I need to build some confidence in my little friend who is struggling. He is not going to get the help at home, so it comes down to how can I help him with the homework and things we send home. It is my turn to step up and find some time in my day to help him with this. He does not really work well with peer leaders, so I will find some time to help him out.

The Role of Grammar in Krashen's View

"The only instance in which the teaching of grammar can result in language acquisition (and proficiency) is when the students are interested in the subject and the target language is used as a medium of instruction."

This interested me because it made me think back to high school Spanish.  All the rules and the grammar were so confusing to me, but my teacher (although Spanish himself) spoke in English when explaining them, and it was all very rote and meaningless.  He might as well have just left us alone in the room with the textbook.

For me and my teaching, the key is to remember the part about the students needing to be interested in the subject.  That's my job right there - make it interesting and meaningful to them!  Choose books, websites, research, films, etc. that speak to their interests.  And I guess I also need to pack up my gringo-Spanish (which I break out when I feel they're not understanding, hoping to help them) and teach more meaningfully in English.  This section of the article really just had an, if you build it, they will come, feel to it for me.

Krashen's article Post- S. Findlay

"We acquire language only when we understand messages."  This is a quote from Krashen's video.  This is a very powerful statement for me in regards to the students I teach.  All but 2 of my students are English language learners and most have ACCESS score between 3.0 and 4.0.  This article makes me reflect specifically on my grammar instruction.  I have, in the past, taught the grammar rule, practiced the rule, and then tested the rule.  Most often, completely out of a literary context.  According to Krashen, grammar should not be taught this way for ELs, or any other student for that matter, grammar should be taught in the context of reading and writing using comprehensible input.  One level above where they read or write independently.  Doing this, I believe, will dramatically increase my students understanding of the English language and therefore, allow them to more quickly develop their Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening skills.  I would like to try this out for the remainder of the year, and hopefully carry it into next years plans. 

Stephen Krashen's Theory of Acquisition

I watched a few of his videos on language acquisition as well as reading the article.  In one of the videos he discusses how we acquire language without really knowing that we are acquiring our new language.  We listen to someone read a book, watch a video presentation, etc. but we do not know that we are acquiring the new language.  It is done subconsciously and without us really know that we are learning this new language.  Even after we have acquired some of the new language we really don't know that we have learned anything new.  It was interesting when he said that L1 and L2 can be acquired subconsciously and that it never shuts off not matter what age you are learning a new language. 

Learning is knowing about language and that is what is done in school.  This is done more consciously and that we learn about language from our teachers in school.  Students learn that a noun is a person, place, or thing.  A subject and a verb have to agree in a sentence.

It was very interesting when he said that of the two acquisition and learning the most important is acquisition.  It is more important to allow our students acquisition when learning their L2 because it gives us fluency and accuracy.  This is so important in our classrooms because our ELs need to be socializing with other students, working in groups, pairs, or with the teacher one-on-one because this will allow them to gain the language at a quicker rate.  

Stephen Krashen article

Hi guys. Your assignment for this week, along with turning in Journal 2, is to read this article. Then post about it including 1 thing that surprised you (you didn't know this before) and then tell me how it will affect your teaching. It doesn't need to be lengthy. A few sentences should do it.

R. Watson Journal 1

3. Refine – How will I use the information in my classroom?

            I paid more attention to the chapter on vocabulary development since that is an area where I can improve greatly.   I want to do a better job helping ELLs understand the academic vocabulary that is related to Algebra and Geometry.  Once students reach high school, the math concepts are more abstract, including words like algebraic expression, imaginary number and skew lines just to name a few.  These ideas are challenging enough for any student and even more difficult for the student who is seeing these words for the first time in a language other than their native tongue.

 

            The information on word walls included some ideas that I already use such as having students illustrate vocabulary words using pictures.  The idea of creating a multilingual wall dictionary is one that I haven’t tried yet but I would like to try it for the next unit on the Pythagorean Theorem.  I can envision key words such as hypotenuse, leg and right angle posted on the wall in not only English, but in Spanish, Mandarin, French, Vietnamese, Hindi, etc.

Reading both about technology and vocabulary development reminded me of the value animations can add to understanding vocabulary.  Abstract ideas such as an angle, are sometimes better understood through movement.  When students can see the actual rotation of an acute angle through a computer animation, the visual image helps fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle they had formed based on words alone.  I recently tried this strategy to help students understand the idea of rotation. Students used laptops and dynamic software to rotate a geometric shape around a reference point.  They could move the shape all the way around the reference point completing a full 360 degree rotation or they could stop the figure at any moment and observe a particular angle of rotation.

 

Another helpful suggestion in the RWL book was to use TPR (total physical response).   Using body and gestures to illustrate words is something that I do to some extent.  For example, when talking about positive slope and negative slope there is a yoga-like pose that I use to illustrate a line moving downward (from left to right) and a similar pose for a line moving upward.  The “TPR in a Circle” strategy; however, is something that I have never tried that I think would be very effective.  This strategy starts with the students arranged in a circle and the teacher performs an action such as walking.  She then asks the students what she is doing.  When a student answers correctly then that student gets to perform a different action.  This action continues until several of the students get a chance to perform.  This strategy seems suitable for any grade level including high school.  I see it working well with geometry terms such as acute angle, right angle, obtuse angle, parallel lines, perpendicular lines, triangle, quadrilateral, hexagon, perimeter and area.

Thoughts from the article titled "Whose Student is She?" Cynthia Czerwonka

How hard it must be to be exited from services after one year of  help and not be able to communicate the content in a regular classroom that you actually do understand simply because you don't know how to say/write it in English. 

The rapid mainstreaming they mention apparently required by NCLB seems to run counter to the idea of taking years for ELL students to acquire the needed academic language for grade level work. 

The SIOP method may be a good one to  try.  Making content comprehensible is key. 

Journal 1 Reflection

            Since I teach second grade, my students are not emergent readers or writers, but with the idea that I could have a new student tomorrow that is an NEP, or I could be told that I am teaching Kindergarten tomorrow, I can use the ideas in this chapter.

First of all, at one time I thought about having a class teddy bear that could be sent home each week with one child, and the child could write in the bear’s journal about the activities they do together. Since then, my son participated in the same type of activity in the older two-year-old class in daycare, and in Pre-K. It made me think that it was an activity for “little” kids, and my second graders would think it was babyish. However, I am now reconsidering the idea. I realize now that the difference is that I completed the writing for my son’s participation in the activity, but in second grade, the students could complete all of the writing themselves. My ELs could have assistance with the writing from their parents, but most of them are more proficient in English than their parents.

Another example of how I already use or will use the information from Ch. 5 in my classroom is Word Walls. I use word walls for Science, Social Studies and Math words. We also have a “Wonderful Words” chart of fascination, powerful words that we come across in reading. Students also have their own personal “QuickWord Books”, which have many words, and they can add any new words to them. 

Finally, as presented in the chapter, I know that any Word Study skill (phonics, word families), Grammar rule, or even Comprehension skill must be taught in context. Students must be able to see the skill/rule as it is applied in order for it to be meaningful to them.  However, the chapter stated that the text used should be familiar to the students. I always use a familiar text for Grammar and as appropriate with Comprehension, but in Word Study I very often use poetry that is new to them. So, maybe at least for the ELs, I would preview the poem in a reading group before using it to teach the Word Study skill.

Journal 1 Emergent Literacy and Technology Cynthia Czerwonka

Refine                 Cynthia Czerwonka, Journal 1 Methods

            In reflecting on how these chapters on emergent literacy and technology affect me as a classroom teacher, I am reminded again that personal connection, active participation, and scaffolding of student learning for ELL and all students is critical. Zainuddin, Morales-Jones, Yahya, and Ariza (2011) share the importance of scaffolding learning for emergent readers and writers.  I was reminded to use books to which children can personally relate.  Today in class, I read Llama Llama, Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney to my students; it provided for personal connection, active participation in acting out vocabulary words, and scaffolding their telling of their own personal story with a beginning and end.  I realize the need to be more purposeful in my selection of read-aloud books based on the information in the chapter.  The personal connection provided by carefully selected read-alouds, shared reading experiences such as language experience charts and poems do much to provide the ELL students the common background and experience through which the skills and processes of reading and writing can be taught. 

From a technological standpoint, I was very excited to see all the websites and resources listed in the Fundamentals of ESOL text.  Personally, I feel the need to integrate technology in my kindergarten classroom on an ongoing basis.  I have used the Starfall website with students who have had difficulty with visually discriminating letters for recognition and for learning the letter sounds.  This year, I have also enjoyed using Bookflix and PebbleGo with my students to aid in learning content while building reading ability. From the information presented in the Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL text, I realize that I may need to go back to familiar text, whether written or technologically presented to help my students make connections.  Learning of sight words and letter sounds was mentioned as best done for ELL students by use of often repeated text, highlighting letters and sounds in context of familiar words.  I

Emergent Literacy and Technology for ELL Students                                                                           4

am excited to try these strategies mentioned to further all of my students’ progress in reading by use of personally meaningful, often loved texts to scaffold their emergent literacy abilities. 

Peevy_Journal 1

Refine                                                                                                               

Although I do make it a common practice to use books in the classroom, I intend to start using Author of the month books, with the author being a student!  I will probably start this at the beginning of the year, and I might select 2-3 students so that everyone is selected.  I also plan to start using dialogue journals, where students write 2-3 sentences on a topic of their choosing to me, and I respond daily.  Today, I started using the voice recording on the computer- I decided to use it as a fluency tool and a Listening as well as a Reading and Speaking tool.  I also plan to make a simple rubric and have the students check each other’s reading.  I started it today by allowing each child to read for 15 seconds, and then playing each child’s reading back- over the loudspeaker- and having three children say something positive about each reader.  That went really well today.  I also plan to start making more programs on mimio notebook for my lower ELL students.  Before reading this chapter, I was not aware of how much good that does for these students, it truly does boost all literacy skills.  I do want to start using www.prezi.com with my class, I was exposed to that this summer and liked it as an educational tool.  I have been using the presentation tool presented via www.glogster.org this year with my class.  On that site, the students make digital posters.  Students can embed links to other sites, and add information that way.  We usually make these weekly or at least every other week.  I would like to explore the online portfolios more, and learn to start using them and use them next year.  I am checking out www.epals.com currently.  The book mentions that these are good for middle school students; however I believe that my students (2^nd grade) would do well with them.  That sounds like a great program that I could start using right now.  The book mentions the fact that when a student is a beginner with a computer program, they need simple instructions on how to do it or a powerpoint.  I try to do both with my students, and they have not had any problems with technology this year.  Currently they are making powerpoints.  As I mentioned earlier in this paper, I cannot wait to sit down and check out every web site that is mentioned in this chapter!  The section about website reliability is also one I wish to explore further, because many sites have inappropriate subject matter on them.  The site www.teachertube.com is not mentioned here, and I have found it to be a great “clean” version of youtube that is classroom- friendly.

Journal #1- M. Cylar

Refine – How will you use the information in your classroom?

      Chapters 5 and 26 outlined a number of strategies that I believe would assist me in helping my students to promote language and literacy development.  One particular strategy I would like to incorporate is the “literacy backpack/Cylar’s Backpack Leaners”.  By allowing at least two students to take home a special book, game or an activity to share with their parents/family would help to support learning, reinforce skills, build student confidence, and get parents involved. For example when a student gets the opportunity to take home a book that was previously read in class, for example “Goldilocks Rocks!” a fable.  He or she can read it to their parents and act it out.  Learners will also be able to act out parts and act as the teacher by asking questions like “Who were the main characters?” “How do the pictures show how a character feels” and “What was the lesson behind the story?” Students will also get the chance to share their experience with the class as well. 

      The language experience approach to writing and reading would be another way to enhance learning.  With this method students would be grouped with other students from various reading levels.  Higher leveled students would write lower leveled students dictation of short stories (rhymes) previously read on chart paper.  Thereafter, another student would read the story while another learner points to each word (Peregoy, & Boyle, pp. 201 - 202).  I believe this activity will benefit all leaners primarily because each student would get a chance to participate while learning from each other.         

     Technology is a part of our everyday lives. Within the classroom technology serves as a means where all students can take an active role in participating and achieving academic and social success. Enhancing the writing process through the means of students participating in acting out or putting on a skit to a familiar book or poem would be an activity that I would like my students to engage in.  As noted on page 361 (Zainuddin, Yahya, Jones, & Ariza), students would be involved in designing their costumes, taking pictures to show their creativity, and then use “audio-or videotape to write and record their work”. The enhancing writing idea is very similar to what one of my reading groups, the Butterflies are engaging in now (Social Studies Fable Readers Theater).  In this particular reading, students have been practicing their lines for a couple of days.  Next it will be time for them to tape their performance, and then present to the class.  My students are excited about performing the skit and I can’t wait to see them in action.  This activity in connection with each of the strategies outline in both chapters are  great for building vocabulary, reading/speaking and listening development, in addition to building confidence for all students in my classroom.

 

 

C. Evans: Journal Reflection 1

Refine:  How will you use the information in your classroom?

            When planning lessons for my class I tend to look at the “big picture” of what I need to teach in regards to curriculum standards. What is often difficult for me is taking apart the big picture in order to differentiate for the wide range of needs in my class. I think using the scaffolding method of asking who, what, how, and how well mentioned in Chapter 5 (Peregov, 2013 would help me to quickly think about the specific needs of the different groups within my classroom and how I can go about teaching to those needs.

            I also liked the idea of the students having personal word books mentioned in the differentiated instruction lesson. This word book, along with one of the websites listed in chapter 26, (Zainuddin, 2011), has given me an idea that I plan to try with my class next year. One activity that I currently have my kindergarteners do during our literacy block is “read the room.” They get a clipboard and paper and walk around writing words that they can read in the classroom. In exploring several of the ESL websites from chapter 26, I discovered one that had great picture cards organized into categories perfect for young learners. I plan to post a different set of words around the room each month that are related to that particular month (for example in March: spring, wind, leprechaun, clover, etc.). The students would then walk around and write and illustrate these words in their word books. We will also use the journals to add any new vocabulary words that we learn from texts read during read aloud time. The word books would be ongoing throughout the year, and the students can keep them in their book boxes to practice reading during independent reading times.

            I also plan to explore some more of the websites mentioned as well as experiment with using more technology in my teaching.

DMontgomery Journal 1 Refine

Many times ESOL children need to reread books to improve their reading fluency. My school is all about fluency. Children need so much time to read books in order to increase that fluency. The backpack idea mentioned by Peregoy and Boyle (2013) is a great one. My daughter’s kindergarten class had many individual books made at school. The books then came home for children to practice their reading. I would like to twist this idea, and have my students create their own books to take home and read. If they did not return them, it would not be a problem.

I am not currently teaching reading, so I have not made any class books. Having the books children make added to the classroom library is definitely worthwhile. This idea will be utilized in my classroom once I teach reading. This made me think about having children make a book of math concepts for the next unit.

Families should be involved with their child’s reading. Peregoy and Boyle (2013) mentioned teaching families of ELs different read-aloud techniques. This is such a great idea. I am also trying to figure out how to encourage my school to offer English classes for the families of the ELs. So many of the students in the EL program at my school do not speak any English, and therefore, cannot help their child/children with reading. Many of the students have not heard reading in their native language. They certainly have not written anything in their L1. Students read better, when they have experience in their L1.

T. Eison- Journal 1 refine

Refine- How we use the information in your classroom?

            I will definitely be using the idea of “little backpack” for literacy at home in the future. My students use the listening center daily but to have access to them at home as well can only help improve reading fluency. I can’t wait to explore the many different activities I could send home to promote home/school connections. During conferences a couple of my parents told me how they are becoming more fluent in English because of the activities their children are learning at school. I can see this as being an added benefit to them as well.

            The list of books to have in an early literacy classroom made me think about how I needed to add more to the choices that my students already have in the room. My students write individual books a lot during writer’s workshop however I have never had them add those books to the class library. (I know shame on me.) Hopefully this will add ownership to the classroom library by all of my students not just the ELL’s. Some other great ideas are photo album books with pictures labeled, phone books, recipes and sign language books that I plan to add to the classroom library.

            Role play and dramatic play is so important to Kindergarten students and I feel that we are pushed so much to incorporate the Daily 5 into our schedules at Riverside that this is going by the wayside. My goal is to incorporate more opportunities during the week, not just on Fridays, to allow for the students to experience dramatic/role play. When my students are playing family, nail salon, blocks, restaurant and so forth I find their conversation to be so intriguing.

            The use of technology in the classroom is so important since we live in a world filled with computers, smart phones, and tablets. Next school year my students will be allowed to being their own devices to school on designated days. I plan to spend time this summer exploring appropriate apps for them to use to promote literacy.

Rice- Journal 1 Refine

            While reading this chapter I was once again reminded how important and effective using technology can be for my English Learners. When I was a classroom teacher, I considered myself to be a very competent user of “all things” technology. However, since becoming a push-in teacher, I have, regretfully, let technology take a backseat in my small group instruction. This chapter appeared just in time to refresh my vigor for using technology even with my small groups!

            Last week in class, when our classmate showed us how to voice record using our laptops, I immediately knew I wanted to use this tool right away. My fourth grade students are currently learning about poetry, including rhythm and rhyme. I shared with them several books by one of my favorite poets, Shel Silverstein, and also gave them time to read and explore various poems. It turns out that I was not the only Shel Silverstein fan in the classroom! When I gave them the opportunity to choose any poem they would like to practice and recite, they all chose a poem by Shel!

Throughout the next week, we continued our reading groups while leaving a little time at the end to practice reading our self-selected poems aloud. Then, I had each student record their poem using the Sound Recorder on my laptop. The students’ responses to recording their own voice were a great experience!  They were allowed to record their poem as many times as needed until they were pleased with how it sounded. I enjoyed seeing the motivation the students had to improve their fluency and expression once they heard their first version of their poem!

I would like to continue this use of technology, while taking it to the next level. I think one component in recording the students’ voices, whether it be reading poems or stories, will serve as a collection of evidence to use and reflect on how their fluency continues to improve throughout the rest of the year. Also, I would like to see if there is a way to use their voices and create an avatar, so that the recordings could be integrated throughout the subjects and with various language uses.

           

Laura Thomas Reflection #1

Refine – How will I use the information in my classroom

   In reading these chapters, I found some ideas I would like to use in my classroom even this year; although I don’t have any ELL students. I feel by becoming familiar with these activities with the non-ELL students, it will make it much easier to incorporate when I do have ELLs in my classroom. One idea I really liked was the ideas of the dialogue journals. This would give the students a chance to write to me, or maybe even another student on a daily basis. By allowing them to do this it would help them with their writing and reading skills and it would allow me to make casual corrections in their grammar and spelling when I write them back. I would not point out their mistakes, but I would reword what was said wrong in my response to them. For example, if they said, “I am so happi to be in your class.” I could reply with, “I am also very happy that you are in my class.”  This would show them the correct spelling of the word happy without you having to say anything to them about it.

   Another part of the chapter that I felt I need to bring into my classroom more is incorporating the parents to work with the students. I would like to encourage the parents to make sure that their child had a literate environment to come home to. Although I feel that with some students, it might mean that I need to educate the parents on what they need to do to help the student with being more literate at home. This really should not be that hard to do if I work on my communication with the parents and explain to them about having books, magazines, paper, pencils, and other items in the house. I would also explain to them the importance of their child reading and writing to the parent (even if the parent can’t understand what is written or read to them).

   Lastly, I liked the idea of pulling technology into the classroom, such as books on tape. I always shy away from putting my voice on a recording, but I liked the idea of even having the student read the book and have their own voice recorded. Otherwise, it should not be too difficult to find other teachers or administrators to read a book onto a recording device. Then it can be a little game with the student to see if they can figure out who the person was that was reading the book to them. 

Journal One - Refine - How will I use what I learned in my classroom?

Refine – How will I use what I learned in my classroom? I want to touch quickly on the technology ideas in Chapter 26. For myself, I need to use more technology. The first thing I have found to do is add some more assignments to my ELL student’s Success Maker programs. I am also going to do just what I showed everyone to do and add a story page to my class website. I just hope the families use it! Chapter Five had some great ideas in it. Unfortunately, one of the things that jumped out me, as a kindergarten teacher, was dramatic play. I wish we still had dramatic play in our classrooms, but it has pretty much been taken away from us. I feel though that I can try to make up for some of this by some mini readers theater and having the children act out some well- known stories. Right now, the children are taking turns acting out The Three Bears while I act as narrator. They love it! My classroom has lots and lots of writing in it, but I am going to add some more after reading chapter 5. I am going to post a message board. I will post the first message and see if children will respond. I am sure I will need to encourage this at first. I am also going to post our daily schedule. This is already in our room, but I am going to do a more personalized one each day. I love the section on family literacy programs. We make books in class and I am going to go out on a big limb (for me) and send them home for the children to share with their families. Thinking positively that they will come back! We do cooking every Friday, and the children all keep journals, but maybe we could work on and make a class cookbook that could go home with a different child each evening. I will admit, I have “lost” a few books sending them home so this is a big step for me. I really enjoyed this chapter – it reinforced in me why I love literacy so much.

L. Kocks

Refine – How will I use the information in my classroom?

            After reading the chapter I just laughed at the thought of “how will I use the information in my classroom” because when I develop lessons for my classroom the driving force is TECHNOLOGY.  A typical day for me is the use of technology in every lesson.  It gets my students actively engaged and holds their interest throughout the entire lesson.  Below you will find a typical day in fourth grade and how technology plays an integral part.

            This week we have been learning about Ecosystems, Food Webs, and Food Chains.  Students were introduced to ecosystems with a short video on Study Jams as they took notes and drew pictures on index cards for their lap books (graphic organizer).  Then students were actively involved in moving the different animals into where they belong in the food chain and food web on the following website:  http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm.  After the animals are in the correct location on their food chain or food web they can visually watch each of the animals eat their way through the food chain. 

            During social studies I typically use a PowerPoint to teach vocabulary and content.  Students can also watch a short snip-it of a video from United Streaming, today it was about how our government is formed.  Then they rapped to “The Bill of Rights” so that they could learn the amendments to the constitution.

            Math typically consists of a Power Point, Study Jams video or Step-By-Step video, and some type of hands-on small group activity.  Students can also collaboratively work together to play a math game.

            Grammar usually consists with a question and answer type of Power Point.  Today we were learning about irregular verbs, students saw the present tense verb then were called on to name the past tense verb and the past participle verb.  After students added the irregular verbs to their graphic organizers we sang a You Tube video entitled irregular verb song, “Max the Cat,” there are three short videos.  The students loved the tune and enjoyed singing along with the irregular verbs.

            When we transitioned to reading was the only time in the day when I did not include technology.  My student intern and I split the class in half and taught a small guided reading lesson to each of the groups.

            During writing today I finished by showing a Power Point on Westward expansion and why people journeyed west on the Oregon Trail.  It was complete with music, a map and picture of Independence, Missouri, a list of supplies that were taken, and pictures of a wagon.  Students were then read an example of another student’s journal writing about their “Trek West.”  We brainstormed some vocabulary that they wanted to include in their journal writing and wrote them on the board.  After that the students were free to begin writing their own journal entries about their “Trek West.”

 

            As you can see technology is a very important part of my classroom and should be included in all lessons as much as possible. The use of technology is extremely good for ELs but it is just good teaching for all students.  If teachers are intimidated by the use of technology they should start out trying it a little bit each day.  Before long it will be driving their instruction into the next wave of technology use in the classroom.     

Refine – How will I use the information in my classroom?

**Disclaimer: For some reason, the pictures are not displaying like they do in my word document.  I don't know how to make them appear here.  :)

            As a first grade teacher, I spend a lot of time teaching my students about the various word families (ex:  -at, -am, -ab, etc.).  Whatever word family we’re working on, I always try to include drawings/illustrations with each word; but, whenever possible, I prefer for the students to use their own drawings (especially with words I feel they’re more familiar with, such as “cat” and “hat”), so they are constructing meaning for themselves.  However, I always provide options for students who struggle.  Here’s an example of some word cards I might use during a lesson on the –at family:

bat	The bat was scary. I use a bat to play baseball.	cat		fat	She is too fat.
hat		pat	Dad will pat the baby on the back.	rat	The rat was white.

My students love using poems and songs to help them learn.  Here is an example of a poem I used when we were working on the –ug family:

Snug Bug

(Tune:  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)

Lollie’s a likeable ladybug.

She plays all day with bugs and slugs.

She gives her friends a great big hug,

Then pulls her wings with a little tug.

She takes a nap, that sleepy bug.

She’s as snug as a bug on a rug!

Prior to introducing the song I would go over the general vocabulary necessary for understanding poem (examples:  likeable, sleepy).  Then I would make sure students understood the meaning of the –ug words included in the poem, providing visuals where appropriate (especially with words like “snug” and “tug”).  Introducing the vocabulary ahead of time helps them better understand both the poem and the words from the word family.

ladybug		bugs		slugs
hug		tug		bug
snug	The baby was wrapped snug in his blanket.	rug		He swept under the rug.