Final Language Arts Post

As hard as it is to believe, this will be my last blog post for the purpose of language arts education. Over the past semester, I have learned so many amazing things to implement in my future classroom. By gaining an understanding of the reading and writing processes, I will have a greater idea of where my children are and where they should be going. After all, we have to meet children where they are to bring them to the next level. I also learned different types of reading to incorporate in my classroom. I think time for children to read should be worked into the classroom every day. Reading aloud to my students is also on the agenda. I have enjoyed listening to Sahara Special, and I can remember my elementary school teachers doing this as well. Even in younger grades when all of us might not have been reading chapter books, several of my teachers would read a chapter book aloud every day. This was always one of my favorite parts of the day; I feel like this encourages children to read and work their way up to chapter book reading. Also, I think that making the book really helped me gain a better understanding of the writing process and is a great tool to use in the classroom. The digital book could especially be useful in a listening center. Children could listen to each other's books, which I think would be enjoyable.

Also, this past semester I have gotten to know the art of blogging. At first, I did not enjoy this at all and almost forgot nearly every week. Now, I look forward to expressing myself through writing. It helps me make sense of the material and specifically apply it to my life. Even though I was not a fan of blogging before, I want to keep up the blog while I'm in Denmark. I think it will be a great way to let family and friends know about my travels, so I am glad I have everything already set up!

Overall, I have really enjoyed language arts this semester. I have learned so many new things to put in my classroom one day!

Magic Talk

Magic Talk involves writing a statement on the board and having students respond only by writing back. This can be very useful for children who are especially shy and do not enjoy speaking up in class. However, I feel that it should only be used every now and then because otherwise students would take it for granted. I think it should be a "special" activity in the classroom. It would be great to use to introduce topics. The teacher can put a picture up and have the students respond using written words. I also think that magic talk requires students to be more thoughtful before speaking. I know I found myself examining the words on the board and analyzing what I wanted to say. For some reason, words seem to have a sense of permanence when they are written down as opposed to when they are just spoken. It also can help students synthesize their thoughts. I know some students can talk in circles trying to express their ideas, so this could help them make their thoughts more concise. Magic talk is definitely something I plan to use in the classroom one day. I feel that this can even be used during younger grades, even if it was simply word association or drawing.

Listening

In language arts, there are four types of listening: discriminative, aesthetic, efferent, and critical. Before discussing this in class, I didn't realize there were four types of listening, but once you think about it- it's really obvious. I feel that some teachers do not incorporate all styles of listening into their classroom, but this should be done. I think for the sake of time and because of standardized testing- aesthetic listening is often left out. Aesthetic listening is something that I definitely want to incorporate as a daily part of my classroom.

I believe people often take listening for granted. There are so many times when I think I am listening, but when someone gets done talking I find myself having no clue what they just said. If anything could possibly distract me, it will. Actually, I was just listening to one of my best friends tell a story as I was writing this and couldn't even tell you what she said. This just goes to show that just because you hear someone, does not mean you are listening to them.

Propaganda and persuasion are two reasons we should be especially careful listeners. I for one know that I fall victim to propaganda every day. I love commercials- and I especially love infomercials, but let's be real, if every exercise program was as simple, easy, and effective as they made it out, no one would be overweight. I loved the propaganda activity we did in class. Some of those commercials I see on a weekly basis, but I never realized how ridiculous they actually are. By teaching children to be critical listeners, we will be preparing them to differentiate propaganda. I think commercials would be a great and fun way to to teach propaganda in an elementary classroom as well.

Field Experiences

I have been observing a Kindergarten classroom at Washington Elementary school for the year, and this semester I have been paying particular attention to language arts instruction. Usually, I am at Washington on Monday mornings for at least an hour and half. When I am there, the students are coming back from specials, have morning meeting, centers, and meet again before lunch. Mrs. Brown is so great to observe. She has been teaching for more than twenty years, and it shows in her natural ease when working with children.

My favorite thing about the semester had been watching students grow and developing relationships with them. In addition to observing language arts, I also help Mrs. Brown out and work with individual or small groups of students. Usually the students I work with need help in a particular area, so it has been so interesting to see how they have improved throughout the year. It has also been great practice figuring out what works and what doesn't work. I have been able to see activities I want to adopt and activities I don't particularly like.

There has not been a visit I did not enjoy. Each time I leave, I take away something positive. I am constantly seeing course applications, especially Language Arts, but also in my Child Development and other education classes. I am so excited and thankful to be getting this experience early in the game.

Planning for Reading and Writing

One book I have always loved is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I feel like this book would make an amazing literary unit because there are so many different things you can do with it. First of all, this is a great book for making predictions. Students can predict what they think the book may be about based on the title or taking a picture walk through the illustrations. Also, this book gives a lot of opportunity for writing. Students could write a letter to Alexander to make suggestions on how to turn his day around, which teaches students empathy and coping skills. Students could also write and illustrate about a bad day they have had. This book could also be tied into math. Students could list of all the things that happened to Alexander or what makes them have a bad day, and then vote and make a graph on which one is the worst. Students can also practice sequencing with this book. I always enjoyed reading this book as a child and think it would be really fun to incorporate it into my classroom one day. The classroom I work in at Fuller Elementary recently went to see the play Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I think that would be a great way to finish out the unit.

Decisions.. Decisions...

It would be par for the course for me to change my mind about what I want to do three years in. My past three years of school I have been 100% sure of my life. Child Development major. K-6 Licensure. Done. Well, several factors have gone into me questioning these decisions. Don't get me wrong, I still love child development and I still want to teach, but I have been toying with the idea of adding on a B-K licensure. After meeting with the Preschool Coordinator of a great school system, I have started to envision myself in a special needs Pre-K classroom. Also, working at the Ellen Brewer House has only solidified my love for the 'little ones.' The period form B-K is extremely important developmentally, and I would love to be a part of this process. Now I must make the difficult decisions regarding which classes to take next year, and to be quite honest, it's stressing me out. The main advice I get is, "Do what your heart tells you." Unfortunately, my heart seems to be telling me two different things.

On a lighter note, I will be studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark for six weeks this summer and I could not be more excited! I am sure this will be such an amazing experience and bring great insights to my classroom.

Spelling and Writing

Throughout this week we have learned a lot about the writing process and spelling development. While we were discussing the writing process and as I was preparing for the mini lesson, I found myself reminiscing about writing when I was in elementary school. When I was in school, especially when the state writing test was involved, we always practiced the writing process. We had writing workshop folders that we kept all of our work in. We would always brainstorm, put those thoughts into a thinking map, write a rough draft, peer edit, and the write a final draft.

My opinions on writing haven't especially changed over the semester. I have always felt that writing was a great way to present ideas and thoughts, but never especially enjoyed it in a school context. Writing papers always makes me feel overwhelmed, even with the writing process involved. However, when I was a junior in high school we had to keep a journal. Some days we had specific things to write about, but other days could be free writes and we were able to fold the page over if we didn't want the teacher to read it. I always enjoyed that assignment.

I have enjoyed having a blog. It has helped me reinforce course concepts and relate them back to my personal and professional life. At first, I was not at all excited about having a blog, but I have really came around to the idea. I think it would be interesting to use in upper elementary and middle school as well.

I haven't finalized what I want to write about yet, but I think I will write about my experience at being a camp counselor at Camp Friendship. Camp Friendship is for children with cancer and their siblings. I did this for Junior Enrichment for Teaching Fellows, and at first I was dreading going. However, it was an amazing experience that changed the way I view a lot of things in life.