Maria Shevchik

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YO SHERBS...READ DIS ISH

1. Values: I am a strong advocate for permeable curriculum. I love the fact that this philosophy involves the teacher being flexible within their curriculum to adjust to the various needs of their students. It also includes capitalizing on students interests which I feel create such an amazing sense of community amongst all learners. It truly gives every child a voice, and one that should be heard!

2. I really love the animation groups! Not only do they help reinforce the material within the readings, but they really bring our whole class together as we share our values and opinions about our future teaching experiences! - we should also go to the Waffle Shop more...just saying

3. I think it would be awesome if we talked more about how to truly foster every child's learning style within our classroom. I feel like it would be very difficult to present a lesson that is "fitted" for every child. How can we overcome this? Also, if possible (sorta of unrelated to this class) but to touch base upon the teaching interview process (points that we should mention within our interview about out philosophy of education)

peace.love.LLED

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Routman: Chapter 8

When Teaching Writing:

-Establish a genuine purpose and audience - children need to be knowledgeable about a topic in order to write about it

-Demonstrate - writing out loud;  sharing examples and others writing

-Gradually release responsibility to students - give them time and space

-Celebrate, respond, evaluate, teach, and move forward - progression is key! - celebrate successes and respond appropriately to each child's written work

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Kyle and the Basilik: Understanding Children's Writing as Play

"These questions are felt with particular urgency now, working in an era wherein teachers have to justify their uses of time in the classroom in relation to predetermined and measurable academic outcomes." (page 9)"

HOLY HELL I LOVE THIS QUOTE: "Learning grows out of individuals; experiences and expressions, and that curriculum and pedagogy must therefore emerge from the children's interests and their lives." (page 10) -This quote completely defines my philosophy of education. As teachers we must capitalize on our students interests, ACTUALLY CARE about what they see to be important, and revolve our curriculum around what they know and what they have come to wonder. I am such a strong proponent of  having a student-based curriculum and unfortunately within schools today this philosophy is dwindling right in front of our eyes.

We need our students to be able to use writing for exploring and experimenting with the nature of reality, for personal and social pleasure, for the development of creativity and an appreciation of social diversity, and grow an active and engage public" (page 11) - why does writing have to be looked at as something of just correction. Why do teachers always solely focus on the wrongs within children writing. We must overcome this stereotype and allow children to truly appreciate writing, by allowing them to explore, and workshop their thoughts onto paper.

"Children who are constantly faced with an over-emphasis on rationality and convention ....such demands from important adults have been seen to interfere with the child's ability to develop a sense of efficacy, possibly leading to the child's disengagement with creativity and the share social world" (page 12) - disengaging children from creativity is a crime!!! We need to enhance their fantastic expressions and allow all children to develop an appreciation for wanting to bring fantasies and desires into consciousness and language. (page 12)

"The central aspect of language and learning is often lost sight in the rush and greed of the consumer-oriented world, often sacrificed when resources of time and money are insufficient" (page 14).

"Through writing, children can work on making the world a place that has room for them" (page 15). This is awesome. Students need to be aware of their importance within society, and what better way than to allow them to demonstrate their importance than through writing. They will learn the importance of their voice and their positions in relation to others. This is a life skill that students need, and it will allow them to realize their significance within the larger world.

CHILDREN NEED OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE, SAY AND DO THINGS!!!!! - they need time to explore and construct. They need to find purpose for their learning through literacy. They need to be released from such academic constraints - and we need to give voice to their true inner self as they use writing as a form of play meaning-making (page 16-17)

GIVE EVERY STUDENT THE ULTIMATE GIFT: time and space!!! This will spark trust!!! - trust that every child's writing has purpose!!! And teachers need to see potential for creativity within each student they encounter- allowing them to value literacy from numerous aspects, and provide them  with the want to learn in order to exceed expectations set by most curricula.

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Miller: Schema and Digging Deeper (Chapter 5 & 7)

Things to consider: We need to be prepared, as when we exhibit proper planning this prevent poor performance. We need to exhibit precise language, and offer insightful responses for our children to model

BE AUTHENTIC!!!! IT MATTERS! It must be genuine!

The teacher and the student should think through the text together! They should bounce ideas off of one another, and really develop an insightful meaning as to what the text is representing.

Be sure to document your students thoughts...because they MATTER! Use charts, sticky notes, overheads, anything that will visual represent their in-depth thinking and critical analysis of the text.

-Allow children to apply their learning in new contexts- text to text connections, and text to world connections!!! This really embeds their newly acquired knowledge and really shows why what they are learning is important

-Individual and group work are both important - have your students think out loud to one another and have them listen and learn in new ways!!

-Work activity time is when children can put what they learned, into practice. Allow for demonstration of learning

-Students need to be THE LEADERS OF THEIR THINKING. They are the ones that need to do the investigation, and really challenge the facts

-Play is so important, and is something where children can incorporate their learning into their play activities- have them challenge their understanding of meanings and allow them to work out their problems through the means of play.

-Overall: opportunities need to be provided to ALL children where they are able to read and share. This sharing is really when textual understanding develops and can really foster deep thinking and amazing connections that may not have been discovered if they have not been given such time to share their knowledge and new inquiries.

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Crafton: Inquiry & Iditerod

-Give your students many opportunities to RESPOND to literature - every child has a voice, and it is important for us, as teachers to allow that voice to be heard

-Careful selection of books: loved the book and knew it would elicit strong discussion - also had the potential to lead them into a new area of inquiry

-Acquiring authentic content = encourage students to ASK QUESTIONS, and then based on those curiosities, explore the topic from multiple perspectives! - Interest based curriculum, then expand upon these concepts

-PARENT INVOLVEMENT- brainstorming; multi-media connections = what they are learning in school can be seen in the news, on TV. Such topics can be discussed with their parents, allowing for further inquiry about the Iditerod

-You need to make due with the materials and resources that you have: Marcia solved the problem of having too many readers and too few texts by: reading out-loud from an online copy each day as the students followed along. Having more experienced peers engage in shared reading with less experienced readers. Taught students to use reader-selected miscues= record difficult words on sections of the text on a blank book mark. Taught them how to use the scanning strategy, on top of predicting, confirming, and rereading. 

-Interested in helping her students understand the research process and the different ways of gathering information

-Observation: the use of professional journals: process, attitude, and sharing knowledge were the set "criteria"

-When a classroom problem arose, I loved how Marcia allowed for the answer to this problem lie within the hands of her students. She made them do the brainstorming and trial and error. She gave them the freedom to come up with any solution that thought would be effective. This empowerment can really enhance any students learning and problem solving and will provide them with the confidence they need in order to overcome numerous obstacles within not only school, but life.

Creating a learning experience for students: the learning must be child-centered taking into account your students interests, questions, and curiosities. The learning must include time for reading writing interaction and reflection. Also, must use multiple teaching roles to make the learning work! I am a huge proponent of all three of these values as I strongly believe we our curriculum should not be mandated by standards. It should be based around each child's individual interests where their learning is seen as important and something that is applicable to the real world. Their learning needs to take multiple modalities, as not every child learns and understands in the same way. We, as teachers, need to recognize this and make the proper adjustments and modifications to our lesson plans in order to fulfill this value.

-It is our duty as teachers to encourage MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES on a topic. We "must strive to promote similar thinking abilities for all students while honoring their diversity must encourage students to generate questions while remaining open to a shift in personal interests" (Crafton, 92)

-I love this quote!!!! " We as teachers cannot only be concerned about knowledge and transmitting strategic skills. Rather, we must also strive to engender a critical disposition" (Crafton, 93). WE NEED OUR STUDENTS TO BE CRITICS. They need to read, visualize, challenge, agree, disagree, investigate, and question everything. These skills are timeless and are ones that every teacher must provide ample opportunity for their students to engage in such practices!

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Differentiation and Decentration

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DIFF v. DEC

Differentiation: learners start with whole or bigger concepts (like marks on a page that tell a story) and then begin to move toward a specific understanding of how it works (i.e. letter create words that tell a story) - story is broken into smaller parts by labeling the objects in their drawings, and then the more kids are exposed to writing, they process that the story goes under the pictures - NEED TO GIVE KIDS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO THIS! READ TO THEM, EXPOSE THEM TO WRITING, BE INVOLVED!!!

Decentration: learners begin to understand that in order for a wider audience to understand their writing, there is a need for shared conventions -trying out letter sounds (inventive spelling): how kids play with sounds to help them tell their stories

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Teachers need to find out what children already know about written language in order to tell where effective instruction can start."

-show them that you CARE, and get to know each one of your students in order for them to have the most beneficial learning experiences

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Viv, youzzz muhhh girl

After reading this article, I had a very positive response as I have gotten the chance to really study Vivian Paley's pedagogy in my past academic courses. I absolutely love the fact that Paley's curriculum consists of allowing the child to first dictate his or her OWN story to the teacher, and then the class is given the opportunity to join in, as this story is then dictated to the class. This involvement within dramatizations is so fascinating to me, as it is truly amazing how such action can really allow a child to develop in numerous areas. Giving a child a leadership role, allowing them to express their emotions, and setting free their creativity is what Paley is all about, and I too, stand behind this designed curriculum full-heartily, as it has proven to enhance every child's academic experiences. Additionally, this article tied into what we talked about last week, regarding capitalizing on your students interests. Allow them to incorporate what is of importance to them! Give meaning to wanting to work out their problems, and their past experiences, and allow them to invent new scenarios that they have once imagined.

Paley suggests that we should us storytelling as an extension of play, allowing all areas to develop, and build upon previous knowledge. Make them ask questions, and find meaning in their play. Making these connections is what Paley is all about. She does not want us to look at play as a transition activity, or a time filler, she wants us to look at play as an opportunity to allow our students to soar, invent, and create. This is a time where language is developed. Where children are given the CHANCE to verbally and emotionally express themselves. They will develop dictation, and oral language. They will enhance their vocabulary and sentence structure. They will begin to realize how stories develop, and how to use their imagination to make the story go even further. They will develop a sense for reading for meaning, and be able to make their text match their intentions.

NOW ADMINISTRATION....!!! Is play really useless like you think it is?? does it really not have any developmental or literacy value??? -------That is all BS! What I stated above is proof of why play should be incorporated within every classroom, and why administration, everywhere, needs to get off their high horses and take a moment to realize the true benefits that play has to offer our children! And now it is up to us as teachers, to stand behind these ideals, and allow our children to experience both holistic learning experiences and innumerable academic opportunities.

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Reading Like Behavior: Its Role in Learning to Read

Children's early reading experiences: that they have been read to very early in their lives and that they have grown up in book oriented homes - read to on a regular basis

Interaction: joy, enthusiasm, parent-child relationship, children tend to emulate the reading behavior of their parents, enjoyment of this experience, deeply rewarding, developing high expectations for books and reading, see books as a personal pleasure, attempt to gain mastery of reading experience, a powerful inner drive to want to learn and to read

Assumptions: that learning to read is a secondary or derived language learning process, dependent on some predetermined level of competence in the use of oral language - BUT NO SUCH THING as a period of "reading readiness" for children

In order for children to learn how to read they MUST BE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS!!

Teacher Implications: Teacher must also need to be aware of the crucial importance of children's home experience with books! Encourage parents to read to their children!!! - also, we need to be aware that not all families have structure like many of the ones that we were fortunate enough to grow up in. Be sure to get to know your students and where they are coming from, and if they lack this parental involvement it is OUR DUTY to go out of our way and provide them with this support so that EVERY child has the opportunity to be read to, and in turn be provided with the want, to want to learn how to read so that they can appreciate such reading moments like children who have a nurturing home reading environment.

Also it is necessary for children to be surrounded by a plentiful supply of children's books in the classroom! NOT ALL BOOKS THAT ARE CONSIDERED "CLASSICS" ARE THE BEST! - capitalize on YOUR students interests and supply them with books that meet those needs

Teachers also need to explore ways that children are able to bring the features of shared book experiences of the home into their classrooms

Teachers also need to realize the importance of shared book experiences that should be associated with an active program of "learning to write by writing" where the same principles of of experimentation and approximation prevail

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Chapter 2: Playing School and Learning to Read

The role of the teacher is CRITICAL in allowing children to really be able to make connections within the text to which they are reading, while also giving them the opportunity to ask questions, and become CRITICS of the information being presented to them Teachers also need to make their students feel appreciated and valued. This chapter presented a great example of that by how the teacher allowed the students to be fully engaged with the text, she allowed them to repeat phrases, and identify words that they knew! She also respected their comments and allowed their voice to be heard. Every child deserved that chance!

Shared Meanings: interpretations of events or texts that are discussed and collaboratively accepted

sociodramatic play, or enacting adult roles in imaginary work settings allows children to create their own contexts for explokring cultural practices and to make sense of these practices through shared meaning-making

Approximating Text: when children drew upon personally meaningful contexts, memorized buts of familiar books, and emerging knowledge about alphabetic print...knowing a story "by heart" allowed children to match memorized phrases to illustrations, words, or lines of print on the page - As children read they often share strategies with each other as they worked to coordinate their inventive sense-making with their knowledge about conventions of print.

invented sensible stories to match book illustrations, tracked print with plastic pointers to sing and read along with an audiotape, framed words for closer inspection, retelling with props, and re-reading their own written books with personally memorable spelling patterns

Player Negotiation: play expectation for teachers/student roles reversed classroom identities (ex: Lubna offered a shared reading teaching strategy to Adam- where she said the first part of the sentence and then let Adam fill in the rest) - this is truly amazing to me as the abilities of children to assist others, especially with reading, is quite remarkable. I want to let this happen more often in my future classroom, as this gives every child more confidence within themselves and their abilities as an overall student and essentially peer teacher.

A New Basis For Play: “Rather than recognizing the imaginative power of children’s play as literacy that expands meanings and encourages collaboration, recent accountability measures (e.g., No Child Left Behind in the United States) challenge kindergarten and primary teachers to justify play activities within an increasingly academic curriculum.” (p. 44)

 This quote really struck me as through my schooling I have been presented with how important play truly is, with regard to a child's development...and to think that state standards are now having teachers even justify WHY they are incorporating play into their curriculum is absurd, as play should never be looked at as a "time filler" it should be seen as a developing act, where children use their imagination to create meanings, dialogue, and memories that expand their knowledge and literacy abilities.

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"What teachers make"

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Go Green! The Language of Multiliteracies

http://greenreview.blogspot.com/2011/06/importance-of-teaching-children-about.html

This article really pointed out the importance of teaching today's youth about environmental problems. It stressed how easy it can be to incorporate issues like these into our curriculum through writing essays, specific activities, even informal discussions and conversations. This article emphasized how important it is for students to utilize resources available to them, such as the plethora of technological resources our students can gain access to today. Also, this article proved that by using media, children can gain an appreciation for how their images and words, when combined, can emphasize a specific point they are trying to make. It is a way for them to communicate and express their opinions, knowledge, and concerns revolving around the numerous environmental problems seen within society today. This technological expression is right at the tips of fingertips, and it is our jobs as teachers to allow our students to grab a hold of these resources and use them to communicate their thoughts through a "language of multi-literacies." (print, visual, digital, and other: movement, gestures, music, drama, and facial expressions)

*Remember that technology makes it possible to connect and communicate globally, and curriculum must expand as well**

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Integrating Pop Culture Texts in Primary Grades

-Superheroes

incorporate within the subjects of reading and language arts through the use of identify standards

 allow your students to brainstorm types of superheroes that they are familiar with, bring in books, and allow them to read these books that have the superheroes in them, and indulge in a conversations about the characters within these books and the certain traits that they have

let your students interests guide what should comprise the units of your particular curriculum

find the balance between celebrating students pop culture and critically analyzing it

-Musical Bands

Common interest

allow students to read the lyrics - allow them to comprehend the meaning of the song to demonstrate their understanding

allow the activities to grow based on how your students are responding to the activity

community based activities strengthen peer relationships and should be utilized within every classroom

-Scooby-Doo

compare and contrast

allow your students imagination and creativity to soar within literacy based activities

the use of multimedia to open their eyes to different genres of literary elements - community funds of knowledge

-it is most important to take into account the needs of students!!! The key word is ADAPTATION!!! This must take place, not just from year to year, but from class to class to really offer the best learning environment for each child we come in contact with.  TAKE YOUR SET CURRICULUM AND MAKE IT UNIQUE!!!! The power of creativity and ingenuity is amazing and we, as teachers, have this amazing opportunity to make learning come to life through the interests of our students, and really give them the best learning experience possible by connecting their pop culture interests with our instructional techniques. MAKE THIS CONNECTION WITH YOUR STUDENTS HAPPEN!

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Miller: Chapter 2 - In Septmeber

I absolutely loved the fact that Miller pointed out the importance of creating a community within your classroom. No child is able to learn unless we are able to provide for them an environment that houses mutual respect, genuine relationships, and trust. I am such a strong believer that every child is so deserving of a learning community such as this, and I vow to, for the very start, create this environment for each on of my students so that they are able to learn to their fullest potential without the worry of a negative, and stigmatizing classroom.

Another amazing value is the importance of showing our children that we care. This is something so little, and minute, yet it may make all the difference in how a child performs and acts within the classroom. Showing each and every student that we care is intertwined within a respectful classroom community as we must demonstrate to our students that every person is valued and that their opinions and beliefs are of utmost importance to us.

Not only do we have to demonstrate this nurturing environment, but we must make sure that it is always maintained. We must know that creating this community takes time, and patience, but the effort put forth in making this happen will be well worth it. As teachers, we must be able to show our students that we care through making an effort to trust them in overcoming challenges that they face, yet being their crutch when they need support the most. Allowing every child the ability to think and solve problems for themselves, while also knowing that they have someone that they can lean on for support, will create a classroom environment that every child is so ever deserving of.

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Children's Everyday Literacies: Intersections of Popuar Culture and Language Arts Instruction

Popular culture is equated to mass media...it ASSUMES that the audience lacks the ability to interpret for themselves the messages that the media produces.

"The media is like a virus. It infect everything it touches, but it also, in turn, changes what it comes in contact with-it mutates. " - This quote really stood out to me in this article as I loved how it visualized the word media. Often times, and most recently, we have viewed information in the media as being "bad, harmful, and/or something that our children should not be exposed to in schools." BUT, why the hell not?? It is ridiculous that so many administrators and "standard makers" look to the media as a fault within the walls of our schools. It is a shame that the use of media within our classrooms has not been looked at as a way to "get-ahead" or to advance learning. It is more often than not linked with school shootings, and violence. But, with proper use of social media and popular culture within our classrooms, we are giving our children a societal advantage. They are learning how to construct new meanings that break the paper and pencil molds that are so structured within our set-curriculms today. We are offering them a discourse to learning that allows them to self-reflect and become critics of the information presented them. It gives them the opportunity to extend their learning and reference information that goes beyond a textbook, and gives them the motivation to explore and engage within new material that may challenge their previous beliefs. Isn't this what we want every child to grow into?? A wall-rounded individual, who indulges within self-exploration and challenges their own beliefs.....I would think so!!

-the first and most important step for teachers to integrate students' pop culture interests into literacy teaching and learning is to learn about their own children's experiences with pop culture! We need to take the time to LEARN about out students as individuals. This goes for any subject. We must individualize our classrooms and capitalize on what makes our students motivated to learn. Take these internal drives, and structure your lessons around them in order to given your students the mind-set that their interests are valued and what they are learning is important.