Molly Grover

[mollygrover-blog]

Class so far

Hey Sherbs! So I really like the videos that go along with our in class discussions and out of class readings. I also appreciate your real world examples from teaching. One of my favorite things we do are the animations. They make it must easier to review and understand the readings. I also love that we are having interactions with pen pals and building meaningful relationships with these children. I appreciate the environment we have created, and how comfortable we all feel discussing our opinions on education. I also liked the multi-genre project! Basically I'm just listing everything we've done in class. 

Along with Maria, I'd like to know about interviewing! 

[kaitlynfelty]

[katieverbitsky]

Markings for Miscue Analysis

[mollygrover-blog]

Sounding Out, Compton-Lilly

"Sounding out" puts a focus on phonics and reading accuracy for children. This can give a false sense of the importance of reading, and students may think that accurate reading and reading skills are more important than the meaning of the writing. They are more focused on "how" they are reading, instead of "what" they are reading. 

[mollygrover-blog]

It's so important to collaborate WITH your students, instead of planning a curriculum FOR them. This adds meaning to the readings and the learning!

[mollygrover-blog]

Crafton- Inquiry and the Iditerod

This article has some great information for future teachers! I really liked the reading strategies Marcia used in her classroom. Specifically, I liked the use of blank bookmarks to record difficult aspects in the reading, and the use of scanning the reading to find certain information.  It was also useful to read of the plethora of materials (both obvious and obscure) that she used for just this one inquiry project. I appreciate that Marcia let the class take the lead on the direction of the inquiry project, even as it shifted partway through. I think this is all summed up in her list of “musts”.

  1. The learning must be child-centered taking into account your students interests, questions, and curiosities.

2. The learning must include time for reading, writing, interaction, and reflection.

3. [The teacher] must assume multiple roles to make the learning work: sometimes teaching directly, other times gathering resources, most of the time watching closely to see how to support what the students are doing. 

[melissazuccarini-blog]

[jsouthmayd-blog]

Differentiation: learners start with whole or bigger concepts and then begin to move toward a specific understanding of how it works (making marks on a page to create letters and words to tell a story)

Decentration: Learners begin to understand that in order for a wider audience to understand...

[mollygrover-blog]

“Stages” of Writing: 

Pictures: 

Working out the relationship between drawing and writing. 

Sees drawing/writing as communication of specific and purposeful message. 

Participation in writing via drawing: reads drawings as if there is writing on them

Writes about life experiences and environment

Example: Picture of trees

Approximation: 

Experiments with marks on the paper and often scribble from left to right. Understands writing and drawing are different. 

Scribbles resemble writing 

Emergent Writing: Using letter-ilke forms or letter strings:

aware that speech can be written down and that written message remain constant

Understands left to right organization of print and experiments with writing letters and words

Realizes that print contains a constant message

Rehearses for writing by drawing

Example: B mdn VWo

Early Writing:

Uses initial consonants and final consonants

Relies heavily on most obvious sounds of the word

Words are separated by spaces

Example: I to h (I like to color)

Transitional Writing: 

Vowel sounds appear

Syllables are represented

Beginning sense of sentence

Example: My favrrit food is appls and makrone.

Conventional Writing: 

Attention to the mechanics of writing

Uses a range of strategies for planning, revising, and publishing own text.

Matches illustrations to text

Multiple sentences and many words have correct spelling. 

Example: Wen I was on vacsshon it was fun was fun to play weth Nicold. She is my baby sister…

[mariashevchik-blog]

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...

[melissazuccarini-blog]

Helpful Website

animated-literacy.com

[mollygrover-blog]

Cooper: Literacy Learning and Pedagogical Purpose

This article focused on Paley and her usage of Storytelling and dramatization usage in her classroom. I happened to learn a lot about Paley last semester, and got to read Boys and Girls for class. I love the idea of letting children take the main role in creating stories and acting them out. It's a great literacy tool for them to "write" these stories by coming up with characters, a plot, a setting, etc. By including dramatization in this process, Paley adds excitement to the literacy process. This also helps the students to gain confidence with social interactions and participation in the classroom.

[mollygrover-blog]

Reading-Like Behavior

Important points for teachers:

-There is an urgent need for all children to be surrounded with a plentiful supply of children's books of proven quality. Particularly, there should be available in every classroom, a library of predictable books

-Daily reading of a variety of "the best” picture books should occur in large and small group situations.

-"Big Books" should be read with all the enthusiasm and expression that the teacher

can muster. As they are read and reread, the active, unison participation of the children is encouraged.

  These points just bolster my current thinking about the importance of reading in a classroom. I grew up with a plethora of picture books in my home and at school. I really formed a love for reading through these opportunities. I remember having read-alouds in my classes, and especially loving the “big books”. I definitely plan to incorporate these aspects as a teacher. 

[jsouthmayd-blog]

The 3 Little Pigs

Featuring: 

Ozzy Osbourne as Narrator

Regina George as Pig #1

Ricky Martin as Pig #2

Tina Fey as Pig #3

Boombox Guy as the Big Bad Wolf

[oflaim29]

Human knot #community #lled

[katieverbitsky]

What Good Readers Do...

Before:

Make predictions 

Enthusiastic 

Introduce the book/author

During: 

Book handling 

Engaged/ask questions/make connections

Animated/intonation 

After:

Comprehension/summarize

Explain the story to someone else 

Take away the message or meaning/gain knowledge/gain new experiences 

Expand horizons/have the courage to read more books or new genres 

[oflaim29]

What Good Readers Do

Before:

look at title and pictures and make predictions

ask questions

During:

make predictions

use imagination

take notes, highlight quotes, write down any questions 

add own voice

engaged

follow sequence of book

After:

reflect

expand on ideas

relate to life/bigger picture

[mollygrover-blog]

Analysis of classroom interactions revealed three critical themes for literacy learning and literacy community building in these early childhood programs: (a) the importance of literacy ownership for both children and adults, (b) the notion of literacy as an inclusive process, and (c) the role of thinking processes in the children's evolving literacy involvement. (pg. 210)

I like this idea of literacy community building because it delves deeper into the process of teaching literacy while still having the students maintain some independence or “ownership” within the classroom. We, as teachers should be assisting the learning of the students while they are using self-discovery. Literacy communities promote social interaction and bolster learning between the students with each other and with the teacher. 

[mariashevchik-blog]

Are you up for the challenge….will YOU take the RISK and bring back individuality in our classrooms??

(via mariashevchik)