Archive for November 2014
Week 12: Free Write
I
notice that most of the words did coordinate with what my model was displaying.
There was a connection because they were able to notice how the students and
the teacher were in a tight circle, which indicates unity and togetherness.
Although I included a rainbow and unicorn, they were still able to realize that
they were symbols of peace. They were able to connect that everyone was
included in the code of conduct. They used words such as peace, discipline,
teamwork, rules, collaborating, norms, structure, togetherness, idealistic, and
inclusion.
Photo credit to Ana.
I
learned that I was able to convey my philosophy well and that they were able to
understand what my model was about. My model was displaying cooperative
learning and how the students and the teacher have to collaborate together to
create a safe and comfortable learning environment. This will enable students
to follow the rules because they were able to form part of creating them. They
will have a better understanding of how they should or should not behave in the
classroom. They will know what is expected of them because they are able to
cooperate with the teacher. The discipline is set so students behave because it’s
what they desire.
Week 11: Social Studies Mini Lesson
On Thursday, I began to
teach Social Studies in the morning. The first thing I did was tell them to
come to the carpet. One of my mistakes was I did not instruct them to clean up
first and then come to the carpet. All the students came to the carpet quietly and
sat down. The first thing I did was pull out a bag with two items that I
brought from my house. The bag contained items that tell something about me. I
asked for one volunteer to come up and pull out one of the items. I asked the
class what the object might tell them about me. The first item was a stuffed
panda, which indicated that I like pandas. One of the students mentioned this
and I nodded. Then I explained to them that objects can tell us a lot about
history. I asked the class what history means to them and one them told me that
it was “something that happened a long time ago.” I told them that history is
the story of people and events from other times and places.
Photo credit to Wikipedia.
The next thing I did was introduced them to six different
vocabularies, which were history, fact, holiday, culture, character, and
fiction. I held a flash card up with the word history on it. I asked them to tell me what they thought each
vocabulary was and then I provided the definition. When I came to the word holiday, I asked them what holidays we
celebrate this month. They were only able to tell me Thanksgiving because my CT
has been telling them about it. After I completed the mini lesson, I proceeded
to read Junie B. Jones to them. I began to read chapter one using expressive
reading. I read in different voices so the children would enjoy the book more.
I read the boy’s voice in a deeper tone and they seem to have enjoyed it. They
were disappointed when I finished chapter one.
Week 10: Sound Box
On
Thursday, I pulled a group of about four students for a short phonics lesson. I
created a small sound box for each student in my class. I allowed them to take
it home so they could decorate it. I began by having them spell the word “sat”
and I sounded each part slowly. Most of them got the word and one spelled “sai”
instead of “sat.” Then I instructed them to spell sit and gave them a hint that
there will only be one letter that changes. I sounded out both words slowly so
each child was able to hear the sounds in the word. Again, most of them were
able to spell the word except for one of the ELLs that is still struggling with
identifying letters. He calls the “s” a “c,” which indicates he has yet to
visually learn the alphabet. The next step I took was telling them to change “sit”
to “it.” I hinted that they will be taking only one letter out. The students
then began to want to write them on a piece of paper. So I allowed each student
to get a piece of paper and write it down. I got the sound box activity from
Words Their Way by Bear,
D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F.
Photo credit to Natalie and Rachel on What the Teacher Wants.
Professor Wulf dropped in to observe me and helped me work with the students. I observed the way she worked with them and how she pronounced each word. Then, I compared and contrasted her instruction to mine. One of the mistakes I made was not firmly deciding on whether the children should use the sound box or write it on paper. I made a mental note on having them only do one thing so it doesn’t get out of hand. Professor Wulf repeated each word and tried different techniques to get their attention when they started doing their own thing. The ELL student was writing other words and I was unable to redirect him to the activity we were doing.Week 9: Stages of Second Language Acquisition
I have one monolingual
student that is in the pre-production stage of second language acquisition
(SLA). According to the ESOL I Student Assignment Packet, there are four stages
of SLA. The first stage is pre-production, which is students are still “taking
in the new language and are trying to make sense out of it to meet their basic
needs” (2013, p. 35). My monolingual student does not speak the language, but
has recently picked up a few words. He used to say “baño” and now he says “bathroom.” Most of the time when
my student says a word in English, I give him a hi-five. He is still in the “silent
period” in English, but still communicates in Spanish. He is able to follow
simple commands such as getting his books out, moving his clip up or down, and lining
up. He also points out when I ask him a question about something. He
comprehends some of the stuff he is learning, but only when I translate the
material to Spanish. I try to not only repeat the words so he can repeat them,
but translate them so he is aware of what the word means. He now says “paper”
instead of “papel.” According to the ESOL I Student Assignment Packet, as a
teacher I must use strategies, which include “simplified speech, gestures,
pointing, acting out, frequent repetition, props, visuals, modeling and
demonstrating.
Photo credit to Ana.
I have another ELL
student that is at the early production stage of SLA. He easily follows
directions that are told to him. Sometimes I would have to rephrase what I ask
him because he might not grasp it the first time. At the early production
stage, students “will begin to respond with one or two word answers or short
utterances” (2013, p. 35). He still struggles with identifying his letters and
sounds. I administered the spelling inventory spelling test on him and I put
him at the late stage of emergent. He did not get any of the words right, but
he would just write random letters. He is able to respond to me though with yes
or no. He sometimes points to what he wants to show me and tries to talk about
it. This indicates that he has a “need to express themselves and be given a
chance to produce language in a low anxiety environment” (2013, p. 35). As a
teacher, I must not direct error correction at this student. I would have to
model or demonstrate the “correct responses in context” (2013, p. 35).
On Thursday, I was able to co-teach with my CT during literature block. I took the lead by calling each individual table to the carpet and had them sit flat on their bottoms. When they began to chat, I used the "give me five" attention getter to get them to quiet down. I instructed them to open their Journey's book to the page where the story began. I repeated the page number slowly and said the numbers separately. I then asked them whether they remember the characters of the story. I called on a few students to answer. My CT wrote it down on chart paper. Then I proceeded to tell them that the story is fictional fantasy and the definition for fictional fantasy. I told them what the object of reading the story was, which was for them to retell the story. I told them to use their fingers to point to the words as we read together. I stopped on every two pages to ask what the setting, beginning, middle, and ending were. My CT wrote each of these on the chart paper so students will be able to use it when they turn to their partners to share what has happened in the story so far. I was able to also do a read-aloud on If You Give a Pig a Party, since it was the book we were going to use for Book-A-Ween.
On Thursday, I was able to co-teach with my CT during literature block. I took the lead by calling each individual table to the carpet and had them sit flat on their bottoms. When they began to chat, I used the "give me five" attention getter to get them to quiet down. I instructed them to open their Journey's book to the page where the story began. I repeated the page number slowly and said the numbers separately. I then asked them whether they remember the characters of the story. I called on a few students to answer. My CT wrote it down on chart paper. Then I proceeded to tell them that the story is fictional fantasy and the definition for fictional fantasy. I told them what the object of reading the story was, which was for them to retell the story. I told them to use their fingers to point to the words as we read together. I stopped on every two pages to ask what the setting, beginning, middle, and ending were. My CT wrote each of these on the chart paper so students will be able to use it when they turn to their partners to share what has happened in the story so far. I was able to also do a read-aloud on If You Give a Pig a Party, since it was the book we were going to use for Book-A-Ween.
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