Blog Post 2
February 24,
2014
Having spent two weeks in your clinical
classroom, you have become acclimated with the literacy instruction in your
setting. Draw on that knowledge in this discussion.
What have you noticed about literacy instruction and assessment in your setting? When does it take place? What does literacy instruction encompass? During literacy instruction, what does your CT do/ say? What do students do/ say? How do they respond? What are your opinions/ feelings about this? How does what you observe about literacy at this site connect with past clinical experiences/ early childhood theories/ and or literacy practices you have been learning about at ISU? How does knowing this inform what you will do when teaching and assessing literacy (either this semester, next semester in student teaching, and/or next year)? What other additional reflections/ concerns/ questions/ musings do you have after spending these last few weeks on the site? Use your own experiences, especially those from your activity log for the last few weeks.
What have you noticed about literacy instruction and assessment in your setting? When does it take place? What does literacy instruction encompass? During literacy instruction, what does your CT do/ say? What do students do/ say? How do they respond? What are your opinions/ feelings about this? How does what you observe about literacy at this site connect with past clinical experiences/ early childhood theories/ and or literacy practices you have been learning about at ISU? How does knowing this inform what you will do when teaching and assessing literacy (either this semester, next semester in student teaching, and/or next year)? What other additional reflections/ concerns/ questions/ musings do you have after spending these last few weeks on the site? Use your own experiences, especially those from your activity log for the last few weeks.
Literacy in My
Clinical Setting
The literacy block in Ms. McGraw’s classroom
takes place in the morning. The students go to library after they arrive at
school and then come back into the classroom around 10:15 a.m. Students then do
snack and calendar when they get back. After the students are settled, my CT
starts calling off names for the students to make their choices for daily 5.
Lately, Ms. McGraw has been letting me call off the students’ names and write their
choices on her name chart. I love doing this because it makes me feel more included
in their day, as a teacher.
The
students can choose from buddy-reading, D.E.A.R., listening, word work, or
writing. There are a few students who specifically have to do a phonics program
on the computer, called Lexia, for at least one round of daily 5. My CT tells
those specific students which round they are going to do that program. Those
students were picked to do this program based on assessment she has previously
done on their phonics skills. The students usually do three rounds of daily 5,
for 20-25 minutes each round.
While the students are doing their daily 5 rounds
Ms. McGraw usually pulls a small group of 5-7 students who are in need of
additional help for various content areas. For example, if a few students are
having trouble with fluency, she will ask specific students to meet her at the
carpet during the first round of daily 5. The first day I saw two different
small groups being taught. The first group she called over she had the students
read a specific small story she gave to them, on their own. After the students
had all finished, she brought them back together to talk about the story. She
asked questions to further their comprehension of the story. All the students
participated in the discussion of the story. The second small group she called
over she sat with the students on the carpet and handed each of them a
different book from the first group. She first asked the students to do a
picture walk of the book and what they think it will be about. Then the
students each read one page out loud. As the students were reading, my CT sat
and read along with them. If the student had trouble with a word she would ask
them to go back to it later. Once the story was over she did a quick wrap up of
it and asked the students a few questions about it. My CT had to guide a few of
the students when their answers were heading in a different direction. After
she met with the groups I asked her why she had the first group read the story
on their own and then discuss, compared to the second group reading the story
as a group. She said, based on previous assessments, the second group of
students has lower reading levels and she wanted them to practice as a group.
She said the first group of students have higher reading levels and don’t need
practice on fluency. This made me think about differentiation. It is stressed
so much in our classes on how important it is for teachers to do this and I
felt my CT did this.
While the
small groups are being conducted, the other students are working independently
with the choice they made for that round. If they chose buddy-reading they are
out in the hall, so the inside of the classroom is a quiet working environment.
From what I have witnessed all the students do a really great job with working
hard during this time, independently. I think this is a great system for
literacy instruction. The students are able to work on reading skills and
writing skills all in one day. I do believe a separate reading and writing
workshop would be better for the students, but the second grade GLT decided
that this would be best for their students and schedule.
Compared to last semester clinical, this is
completely different. Last semester I saw little to none literacy being done in
the kindergarten classroom I was placed in. Yes, it would have been a little
differently set up for kindergarten compared to second grade, but there wasn’t
much literacy instruction at all. What I mostly saw was students tracing their
letters and learning how to write their full name. Sometimes during center time
I would see some students go around the room and write words they see. This was
something the students decided to do on their own, which I thought was great
and showed how much they wanted to learn more. When I was there I was asked to
do read-alouds to the class. The students seemed to really enjoy this and I did
also.
Last semester I learned about different literacy
practices a teacher could do in the classroom, and daily 5 was one of them. I
have watched videos and read articles about the pros and cons of daily 5 and I
am looking forward to seeing it every Wednesday in clinical. My CT also does
mini lessons she calls, Interactive Notebooks pages, but I have yet to see this
so I am interested to see how this goes. I think if daily 5 is done correctly
and efficiently, then it can be great way for children to grow and learn their literacy
skills. I feel seeing literacy done in this way will give me a better idea for
my future of how I want to teach it.
Combining what I see and what I have learned in
my classes through ISU will help me determine my literacy block in my own
classroom. I am hoping to see another form of a literacy block in my student
teaching setting, so I can learn from that experience in a different way. I am
looking forward to seeing the types of assessment my CT uses this semester for
literacy and in student teaching. I know there are so many ways to assess
literacy, so I want to be able to see and experience it before I get my own
classroom one day. I wouldn’t be opposed to doing daily 5 in my future
classroom, but it could also depend on this district I get a job in and how
they do their literacy block or if I have freedom to choose my own way. I am
looking forward to seeing more literacy done in my clinical and in the future
in student teaching. Some musings I still have about the literacy block would
be what type of assessments she uses and when she uses them. We have talked
about other forms of assessment she uses through the district, but I am looking
forward to seeing her own uses of assessment for literacy practice. One
additional reflection I have would be her classroom management. I feel she set
up a good way to keep her class managed and that is why daily 5 runs smoothly.
Students know what to do and when without problems being started between
students and the teacher. It would have been interesting to see how she did
this in the beginning of the year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esGZVXdwLJc
This is a link to an example of daily 5 done in a second grade classroom. It is not exactly the same as my CT's, but it is similar and will give you a better idea of how daily 5 works.
