Child Participation and Interest

I recently resonated with two educational videos that seemed to confirm my belief on having the student’s interest and participation drive a lesson. Being in classrooms as a teacher and a student I believe that students learn best if they can resonate with what is being taught. Two ways for the students to not only resonate with but remember the lesson of the activity is for them to participate and have an interest in the topic. Participation requires the students to use more than one sense. Taking part in a discussion, acting out a part, or creating a visual representation of something provides muscle memory as well and intellectual memory. I feel doing something that is accompanied with listening will provide a more memorable situation. That is the same with providing an interest. It is easy for something to “go in one ear and out the other” if the lesson is not engaging. Teachers should try to have their lessons be not only something that they need but want as well. For example in one video a teacher recently came back from maternity leave and they decided to use that opportunity to read about babies. The 1^st graders were listening fully to the book and wanting to ask questions and tell stories relating to the story. This provided a memorable lesson for all.

Five Basic Questions: The Importance of a Teacher’s Role in a Child’s Literacy Choice

 What? The teacher should have an idea on what interests the students in the classroom, provide suggestions of readings that might interest them, and support their choices by expressing a genuine interest in what they have and giving suggestions when students show they can use the suggestions.

Why? As teachers we want to provide the necessary tools to students that will eventually help them be successful in the “real world”. However, for a person to find a balance of success and happiness, she has to know who she is and what makes her happy.  We can’t choose a student’s interest but we can help him or her add to it.

When? We should always try to provide and observe in the classroom. However, when time is available having an open eye for possible interests for the students outside the classroom. Keeping our ear open too is just as important.

Who? Our main priority is to help our own students. However (time and energy permitting) pointing out interests to other students or past students in our community is a good way to spread some happiness.

 

How? Keep our eyes, ears, and heart open. Talk with the students. Observe where their interests are focused. Try to have a vast knowledge of books and resources. Great ideas come from many places and I feel other teachers have them.

Thinking About a Dilemma

How does a teachers do what they believe is best for their students and meet their school’s literacy standards? 

This dilemma was a big focus of the article “Dilemmas and Discourses of Learning to Write: Assessment as a Contested Site” by Karen E. Wohlwend. Reading this article really had me thinking because it is something that I worry about sometimes. Not all of a teacher’s “hows” and “whats” will be the same as the state standards. Personally I can see it being hard because whether it is a heavy course load or a lack of time, there will be restrictions on what and how a teacher wants to teach. So what is the answer to that dilemma and is there one?  I do not think there is. There are only suggestions and tips. Teachers could try to teach it all. They could find time to research different ways and methods. I do agree with Karen Wohlwend’s suggestion, which is to help to policy makers and other teachers “recognize a wider range of early literacy activity as valid participation?” What I take from that quote is to open the policy maker’s eyes and ears to good suggestions from teachers and find a way to incorporate those suggestions into the standards. I feel a teacher’s passion and ideas can cause change and help make this dilemma less daunting. We just need ideas to be given. I know I would be willing to listen.

Assessing Understanding

I like to think of reading comprehension as reading understanding. I do not think only reading words is really reading without understanding. To me it is just reciting. As teachers and guardians we can help early readers understand what goes on in a story such as by pointing out key points but how can we assess their comprehension. Here are a few suggestions that will help teachers know where a child is in their understanding of a story.

Ask the children to tell a section of a story through illustrations.

Ask the children to retell the “major” events of a story.

Ask the children to write a section of the story through the eyes of a another character.

Ask the children tell a section of a story using only puppets.

Ask the children to think of a time where something happened to them that was similar to part that happened in the story.

Ask the children to find the “most important” part of a story and explain why they think it is very important. Ask what makes it important.

Ask two children who have two different “most important” parts of the story to talk to each other about why they think it is most important.

Retell the story with parts that you make up and ask the children point out the fallacies. 

Child's Interest

Children get more out of reading books that they are invested in.

Children are more invested in stories that interest them on some level.

Teachers need to be able to adapt their curriculum to their individual child’s needs and wants.

Teachers should know a little about their student’s interests.

            With these points in mind, I would like for teachers to have knowledge of some good children’s books and try to place a book with a child based on interest. I base this suggestion on prior experience. When I was in the fifth grade the whole class was reading a book entitled Weasel by Cynthia Defelice. Right before we started reading my teacher took me aside and said that she knew that I have trouble staying with stories and that fortunately the book Weasel seems like a book I could get into. Before I left she said listen really close when she reads the first chapter. When she did I was hooked. Honestly I feel it is the best book I have ever read even 10 years later.

              I think I will try this suggestion as well.  I have seen a student in this one classroom who is very bright but likes to get attention through his own brand of humor. He would much rather focus on something funny than schoolwork a lot of times. So I am going to try to suggest Louis Sachar’s Wayside School series. The student can handle the difficulty level and I think the humor in these books will be appealing to him as well. 

             Teachers can make a difference especially if they have the child’s interest at heart. In the article “Let’s Start Leveling about Leveling” by Kath Glasswell and Michael Ford, they believe that children have the right to “be engaged” in what they are reading. A lot of time required reading will not spark the interest of every child in the classroom or even meet a child’s reading level. We want children to not only read but also enjoy reading. So teachers can do their best to advise students to look a certain books. Even if the student does not take our suggestion, at least we try to help them find a constructive interest.

Easeyer

[Easeyer] “Is this how you spell easier?” I was asked this question a while ago in a 3^rd grade classroom. Here were two instinctual answers I thought about saying:

“Well… no. Here is how you spell it.”

“Does it look right to you.”

I think my answer was: “Yes. I mean… does it say easier to you? Yes? I’m glad.”

I am getting closer to finally becoming a teacher and I realized here that there are still some things that I need to make sure I do.

1.     Figure out what to say. As it turns out not correcting him is something that the teacher did not mind. The student is still young but is showing he understands that letters go in the order of the sounds he hears. There is still enough time to polish these phonemic skills.

2.     Figure out where to go. In my own classroom, depending on the age that I will teach, there are goals that I will have for my students. With this particular student I know that he as well as most of the class is very capable of spelling these words correctly. If I see multiple students having trouble with certain words, there are a lot of techniques I could do. For example I might write words that are often misspelled in my class and pin them up on the wall. Whatever I do should be to strictly benefit my classroom.

3.     Figure out how to talk. There is more to teaching than just knowing what to say or teach. Looking back on how I responded to the student, one thing I would have done differently was sound more confident. That is very important. My class will look to me to have an answer. I can give them the answer or help them find it themselves but I need to sound confident. Inflection, based on experience, can be a difference maker.

4.     Figure out the answers to my questions. Being in a different classroom I do have to try to follow the ways of the lead teacher. However in my classroom I have to know my way. What techniques do I like when teaching literacy? Which ones work? Which ones need to be adapted? How will I do this? Whatever my answers will be, I have to content and believe in them.

The time will come when I have my answers. I know it will be soon and I do have a lot of resources in my repertoire. For example I just read a technique in Catching Readers Before They Fall that would be good for students who have a lot of trouble reading. It has to do with taking a sentence that a student said orally and writing it down. After I do that I will cut and mix the words. Then I will order them in the correct way while saying each word and have the student do the same thing. I like this method and I can see myself doing this. By continuing to acquire more resources, have more experience in the classroom, and figure out my way, I feel figuring out the teaching process will get enjoyably easeyer for me.

“Every Mark on the Page” has a purpose.

“Every Mark on the Page: Educating Family and Community Members About Young Children’s Writing”, by Kate Foley Cusumano

The article listed above has great insight and explanations into the mind of young children who are learning to write. For those guardians who worry about their child’s pace of writing progression, this article may help.

One of the first things a teacher should know before stepping into a classroom is to never underestimate a child. Many times the children have the ability to handle progression the guardians may think is too fast for them and they also may have specific reasons for why they write a certain way. Here are a couple of examples.

·      Drawings Followed by Writing- A lot of early writers will have drawings that precedes their writing. This helps children see what they want to write. This is their “planning” stage.

·      Backward, Forward, Upside-Down- I still remember when I would get my “b’s” and “d’s” mixed up while writing. A reason why an “s” may be backward or a “q” will replace a “d” is because they experiment or “explore the limits” with letters.

·      Same Letters, Different Arrangement- When children experiment will letter arrangements they are showing signs of progression. It shows that they understand that 26 letters are arranged to make many words. Over time they will understand the limits of arranging.

What teachers and guardians can do is give support and positive feedback. This can give children confidence to keep writing and keep trying. Kate Foley Cusumano gives a few suggestions on how to do this. Some of these include resisting from correcting spelling mistakes, letting them see writing (texts, magazines) everyday, and thinking of fun writing activities such as providing captions to scrapbooks.

Thank you to Kate Foley Cusumano and her article.