#content literacy

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Another Listly Post on Content Literacy

Another Listly Post on Content Literacy

Content Vocabulary ties in to online learning experiences since teaching the vocabulary is teaching the content. It also makes for a nice introductory unit to any online module/course work sequence. If consistent throughout all courses offered it can also be a nice predictable element for students within courses.

This list contains more than enough to start learning about how to teach reading in…

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Final Thoughts 4/15/14

The End is Near

Well, my time in this class is coming to a close. I have learned not only a lot about content literacy, but also ways to incorporate it into my future classroom. Tovani's text has taught me a lot on how to handle situations and some great solutions to overcome them. I learned not only more about teaching in this course, but also a lot more about my classmates. I love how we are so passionate about teaching and the kids. I am excited to see where education takes the next generation. I feel like there has been so much advancement in material and the children are being taught things at a younger age than in the past. Everyone and everything is growing at such a quick speed, I wonder if we will be able to keep up or just pile on more and more information for students to learn. It is a little scary to think about. I hope,as a teacher, I really focus on my students' needs and their learning more than how education is changing. I think that is a huge point in teaching, that honestly some teachers forget. They forget what matters the most, and that is their students.

New Beginning

I start student teaching next year and I am very excited/nervous. I'm excited for the learning process and how much I will grow from it, but I am nervous about how well I actually teach. Because we all know there are teachers who are very knowledgeable of information, but not so good at explaining it. I just really hope I can teach in a way my students can understand me and want to know more. Teaching is a scary profession because we have such an impact on students' lives. We can direct them towards finding what they are good at or completely opposite to where they feel like they can't do anything. But I am one to care so I will try my best to not let that happen. I want to be able to push my students to see that they are all very smart at something, even if it is not the subject I teach. Students need a motivation and when they find something they are good at, you can build off of that into your own teachings. I am excited to see where teaching takes me and how much I grow from it. They always say, teachers end up learning more than their students do and I expect to learn A LOT!

[teachertalesblog]

Group Work and Other Strategies

Most of us can attest to frustrations having to do with group work. There was always one person who would slack off, so one of us had to pick up the slack.  We might have been in a group without our friends, and group work was awkward.  Naturally, if we felt this as students, so do our students! In the text, Tovani discusses group work.  I love that she thought to ask her students how they felt about group work.  Students listed frustrations, and Tovani was able to create student and teacher actions based off of those frustrations.  I think this is really helpful because students can feel included.  She created very real practical steps to take to avoid problems with group work, including giving separate grades, and requesting different groups. I think that group work is incredibly beneficial for students, but in order for students to know that it is beneficial, they have to be in a good environment to learn from each other.

Introducing a new strategy in a classroom is great, but it needs to work in order to be able to continue using the strategy.  Tovani says that students should be able to understand why they are using a strategy, which can mean that they need a good understanding of metacognition.  While students are reading or writing, they can monitor their thinking by writing down what they are thinking and feeling. Students can also come up with their own strategies that they find themselves using to understand a text.  Teachers should also be assigning work that monitors students understanding.  Assignments need to be just as important to teachers as they are to the students. 

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Thoughts on Thoughts on Thoughts 3/30/14

My Thoughts on My Classmates' Blogs

This week, we are supposed to read several of our classmates' blogs and find something interesting in each that we would like to discuss a little more about. I think this is awesome to be able to do because if you haven't read some of my classmate's blogs, they are awesome as well. Being able to relate and connect with your fellow colleagues is such a big factor in any work force, but especially in education. Building off each other's ideas and finding deeper meaning to things all for the glory of educating future generations. So enjoy my thoughts on my classmates' thoughts on well known educators' thoughts! (Hence the title.)

"Who decided that 50 multiple choice questions was the “fairest” way to judge the competence of our students? And how is picking ABCD showing complete understanding of something?"

                   Source: http://piapplepi.tumblr.com

I think all educators would strongly agree that multiple choice tests are not the BEST way to see what our students have learned, but I also think that most would agree that they are the EASIEST way. So when does it become okay to sacrifice students' knowledge with teachers' effort? I am by no means "downing" multiple choice tests because I will most likely use these types of tests in my own classrooms. But saying multiple choice tests are not the most reliable way of measuring our students' actual knowledge, I will agree on.

"Recitation, as Finley describes it in his article “Rethinking Whole Class Discussion,” is where the teacher asks the questions and then evaluates the students responses. I view class discussions differently than recitations."

                 Source: http://peachyteachy123.tumblr.com/

I would agree with this statement about recitation and discussion within the classrooms. Recitation is more of a way for the teacher to see how well she has taught the material to her students and how they understand it. While discussion is more involving students' responses and building off one another. A class discussion should almost have no boundaries. There is such thing as getting "too off topic", but if the student has a question that seems off subject, there is a reason that he/she thought of it. And that thought may help other students think differently about things as well. While recitation is good in the classroom, I think class discussion is much more valuable.

"I think too often in my content literacy class, I only relate the things we are learning to science, because it is more natural for me to think of ways to apply content literacy to that subject. But we cannot forget about math."

                 Source: http://teachingfortomorrow123.tumblr.com/

AMEN! Science and social studies are so much easier to relate to content literacy because it seems there is so much more out there to just read. There are not many interesting articles on math problems that could help students understand material better. But I think the most rewarding thing math teachers can teach to students is not things from other materials, but simply HOW TO read a math textbook. If teachers give a little insight and hints on what to look for in math textbooks, students might have a little easier time comprehending information.

"Without being in my content literacy class I never would have been able to apply this type of knowledge to a real situation because it would not have ever crossed my mind that some of my students my not have had much practice with listening."

                   Source: http://gneissteacher13.tumblr.com/

I feel as if listening can be described in two ways. One being listening and applying, while the other is the old saying "in one ear and out the other". I think people confuse the words listening and hearing. Most students can "hear" fine, but are they really listening to you? I, myself, would have never really thought of the difference between the two until this course and what a huge difference it would have been in my own classroom. Having your students actually listening to you can have such a big impact on how you teach and how they learn. Teachers need to be more aware when their students are not listening and think of another way to draw their attention.

"Reading is already hard, but understanding what you read is even more difficult.  Students need strategies to help them think."

                  Source: http://teachertalesblog.tumblr.com/

I think teachers underestimate how hard it is sometimes to read something that is difficult to understand. This applies especially to content area teachers. The material you teach is almost second nature, so a lot of times you are confused when students do not understand it as easily as you do or did. Students need help when understanding texts, especially those with a larger vocabulary. When there are so many words in a text that they do not understand, giving up is usually what happens. We, as teachers, need to help our students find what works for them and help them be able to not only read, but understand what they are reading.

That is all for today! Hope you enjoyed reading an excerpt of some of my classmates' blogs!

[teachertalesblog]

Where do you even start with content literacy? 3/27/2014

We talk a lot about how important content literacy is and how we need to make sure that our students are learning about reading and writing across content areas, but how do we get there?? 

In Cris Tovani's text, she gives many good ways for students to understand what they are reading while they are reading. It's similar to metacognitive strategies. You know, thinking about your thinking? Only, this time students can be thinking about their reading rather than trying to remember everything they read at the end of their reading.  Reading is already hard, but understanding what you read is even more difficult.  Students need strategies to help them think. I love the Mark Twain quote that Tovani uses, "No one is smart enough to remember all that he knows." We need help.

A good place to start is allowing students to sit down with a pen and a text at hand. They can learn to mark on the text. They can underline quotes, and then talk about those quotes with a partner.  Tovani also recommends sharing a statement about the text emphasizing what the students believe or think about the text.  

Taking notes while reading a text requires much patience.  Thinking about what you're reading takes time and effort that we don't usually expend.  Tovani accounts for this too, so she gives helpful tips to keep students involved in the text without giving up.  I'm just going to quote her here so I don't botch her words:

"1. Trust the author. Don't panic if at first the text doesn't make sense. The author will slowly reveal clues. 

2. Ask questions....

3. Slow down. Give yourself time to read, reread, and paraphrase what you've read.

4. It's okay to go back. Sometimes readers go back and reread confusing parts of texts. "

I love those tips. I think they're even helpful for me as I learn! How great (and humbling) is it when we realize that things we want our students to do are incredibly beneficial to us as teachers as well! Tovani gives some practical ways such as sticky notes and double-entry diaries to help students walk through a text towards the end of the chapter, as well. 

So happy reading, y'all! 

[teachingfortomorrow123-blog]

But what about math? Blog 10 3/24/14

In class, we constantly discuss this idea of content literacy. Whenever we are introduced to a new teaching practice or strategy involving content literacy, I always try to think of how I can apply them to my content areas, math and science. I can always think of ways to apply those practices to a science classroom, but what about math? It sometimes seems like teaching practices for math are entirely unrelated to those of language arts, science, and social studies. However, I learned from my class that students have to learn to read math just as they have to learn to read a novel or a science text. Just because math deals with numbers does not mean that we have to use entirely separate teaching practices. 

I wanted to focus on a teaching practice we talked about last class, discussions, and figure out how I could use it in a math classroom. Whenever we talked about discussions in a middle school class, we mostly talked about reading an article and having questions prepared to ask the students. However, I do not necessarily think that math students will greatly benefit from reading a mathematics article and discussing it. Yet, I believe that a different sort of math discussion is crucial. I found an article entitled, What Does Research Say the Benefits of Discussion in Mathematics Class Are? I think the title pretty much tells you what the article was about :). The author of the article argued that, "language use is at the root of learning."  When students engage in a math discussion with their peers and teacher about math, they have to communicate their ideas. I know for me personally, whenever I can verbally explain something to someone else, I understand the idea. After all, one aspect of content literacy is speaking. The article provided an example of a classroom discussion where the teacher asked a question and the first student who answered got it wrong. Instead of immediately correcting the student, she asked for other answers. Whenever she received several possible solutions, she asked those students to explain how they solved the problem. She let students ask questions as well. This showed how students were listening to their peers. After hearing several different students' explanations, the class came to a consensus on the answer.  What I really liked about the example was that it seemed like it was more of a student led discussion and the teacher was just there to facilitate. I think this will help students feel as though they have a bigger voice in the classroom. The article provides several more examples of how math discussions help students learn. 

I think too often in my content literacy class, I only relate the things we are learning to science, because it is more natural for me to think of ways to apply content literacy to that subject. But we cannot forget about math. Students have to learn to read, write, speak, and listen in ALL subjects, and math discussions are a great way to build students' speaking and listening skills. In the future, I am going to try to be more deliberate in relating content literacy teaching practices to a math classroom.

Talk to you soon!

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Keeping Up With Content Literacy 3/18/14

My Understanding of Content Literacy

When most people hear the words "content literacy", their thoughts usually immediately go to books and/or reading. That was my initial thought when I had to register to take this class. I thought it would be a lot of readings and ways to incorporate reading into other subject area classrooms. And even after being in this class for several weeks, my mind still stuck to just books/magazines/articles etc. I never really thought of using technology (besides online articles/websites that included more readings) to help with content literacy. But then I thought about fun activities like computer games or virtual assignments that could help them better understand material and connect to the text. With technology being such a big part of this generation, we should be able to find ways that students can use to help them learn.

Content Literacy & Technology

http://www.teachthought.com/featured/21-literacy-resources-for-the-digital-teacher/

I found this website that provided many ways (21 to be exact) to use technology in your classrooms to help with implementing content literacy in your classroom. It provides examples of online dictionaries/thesaurus', websites to make virtual flashcards, games, activities, and so much more! This list can help with teachers who are do have the advantage of being able to use technology in their classroom and to keep up with the latest trend of this generation. 

Making Technology Fun

http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2014/feedback-from-computers-doesnt-have-to-be-boring/

In the link above, Dan Meyer talks about a challenging, yet entertaining way to help students think about graphs. Carnival Function is the name of the game/site and it helps students predict what a graph will look like from watching a carnival ride. This seems a lot more fun than just telling students what to graph or giving them a handout with instructions. It allows them to enter a "virtual world" and help them better understand why a ride may have that graph. Now, although Carnival Function is strictly for math and graphs, there are many other activities like this that could apply to other subjects as well. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and step in to what could make teaching a lot easier for you and something your students will remember and learn from. Technology is growing daily, we need to accommodate our teaching methods to this generation!

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What's the Purpose to This?

Purpose for Content Literacy

I am still in my content literacy class and am learning more examples of how to incorporate content literacy into my future classroom. I blogged in an earlier post about how my first reaction to having to take this class was "Why do I need to take a content literacy class when I am going to teach math and science?" Some students might say something similar to this in your classroom about something they are learning as well. My professor has provided many reasons why this class is important, so now I am convinced that there is a purpose to this class. We need to teach this same "purpose" in our own classrooms.

Providing a Purpose for our Students

In chapter 5 of Tovani's text, she states that we need to tell students the purpose of why they are reading a certain text and even limit their thinking to primarily, what a teacher expects. A lot of teachers do not like that idea because it doesn't allow for the student to think on his or her own. However, I have to ask myself how many times I have read through something with no intended purpose and forgot what I was reading halfway through. Students need to have a guide for what a teacher is looking for. When they have that guide, they have that purpose for why they need to read the text. It is up to the teachers to decide what they think is important to learn and focus in on and build off of that when teaching the material to the students. Providing a lot of information in a little amount of time can be overwhelming. However, if you scale it down to cover the bigger topics for students to understand, they might not be learning as much information; but they will learn a lot about that specific topic, in hopes to make inferences about similar topics.

Tovani, Cris. ""Why Am I Reading This?"" Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?: Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2004. N. pag. Print.

Order Has a Purpose

I read a post from "Math with Bad Drawings" about Permutations and Combinations. This website is interesting because the blogger teaches math antics using what he thinks are "bad drawings", hence the website name. But I thought this blog post followed along with why providing a purpose is so important. The difference between permutations and combinations is that with permutations, the order of the numbers does not matter, and with combinations, the order does matter. As you can see, if you do not know the purpose of these two, your calculations for a problem can be completely wrong. For a math teacher, showing this example to your students would be a good indicator that the purpose does, in fact, matter. Everything we teach has some sort of purpose behind it, or we would not teach it. When we provide that purpose to our students, it is like providing a hint to a riddle. We are not giving them the answer, just a little more insight behind it.

http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2014/02/17/permu-combi-what-now-or-the-mathematics-of-my-wedding-playlist/