Seedfolks

We so often spend life looking through our own lenses; we fail to realize others around us and the ways separate lives are lived differently yet impacted by many. Seedfolks is a book that is built around this concept. Developed around a garden that brings a community together, this story coves the lives of about 12 different people. Each person tells his/her own story within each chapter. As you read the chapters you realize that most of the lives inter wind with one another, just seen from a different perspective. One aspect of Seedfolks that made it interesting is the fact that all the characters are from a different ethnicity. There are Koreans, African Americans, Caucasians, Haitians, Hispanics, etc. A simple read with a deeper meaning; this would be a wonderful story for a 6th grade class. The activities we did in class gave me a good understanding of how you can take this book to the next level; good activities make all the difference in a students comprehension and application.

MGRP Process

The Multi Genre Research Paper is one of the best academic projects I've ever done. It allows the researcher to have such a vast variation of topics to use and genres to do. The genres are really what makes this project so unique. In all typical research papers topics are picked, multiple resources are used to gain information, and in the end and findings are reported in a paragraph/ document format. These same aspects of a research paper still apply in the MGRP, but instead of stopping there things get took to the next step. The genres that can be used range from journal entries to movie trailer clips. A majority of genres like this allows for the students to pick how they want to complete the assignment; they allow for variation. My topic was learning/teaching in poverty and activities that allow variation are what these children need. Overall this project helped me as a teacher. I was able to pick a topic that will relate to my future and not only held my interest but also taught me a lot on the issue. I give the experiment/assignment an A+...perfect for any area, any class, any student!

The Donut House

Never put a limit on a child's ability to understand. After reading this article I realize that children can comprehend more than adults think. This article was about applying real world literacy into the classroom. A urban kindergarten class created their very own donut house in their classroom. What made this activity so spectacular is that the children went through the real-life process of starting a business to start their donut house. The teacher set up a trip for them to go see how donuts are made, they wrote letters to banks for funding, had a building expection, etc. Once the project was done students "felt a sense of accomplishment after they had worked toward and achieved their goal". This type of 'real-life' learning allows the student to feel like their doing something that matters in the world. I know we can all remember the times when we were little asking the teacher if what we were learning would ever be used in the real world...creating lessons that are built around real-life situations ensures that the answer to that question can be yes!

MGPR Project: Learning/Teaching in Poverty

I want to cover the topic of learning/teaching in poverty. As a teacher, one already has an idea of where they want to teach and the students that the environment will bring. Growing up in an inner city/ urban area allows me to understand the students that are in the shoes I was in. I've always wanted to work in a public school setting. Teaching in poverty is hard, but learning in that environment is even harder. The students that are in these schools have backgrounds that many children shouldn't have to experience. They may have parents that work multiple jobs in order to survive (leaving them alone to work on homework and study), they may be responsible for their younger siblings (cutting time away from their school work), or they may go home to an environment where nothing positive is present. All children are different and the situations that I listed above are unfortunately typical situations. I want to do my research paper on various ways to connect with these students, help them, and make them grow. No child should receive less of an education compared to the next; they shouldn't be punished for their parents situation (not saying that it's always the parents fault either). Teachers have such influences on children and I want to be that teacher that makes a difference. I want to expose my children to life outside of the city, allow them to see the potential that each of them have, and get them on the right path to a better future. The research I conduct and the results that I find will definitely be put into use in my future classroom. I want the best for my students...which teacher doesn't??

Week 4 Blog: Shared Writing

This week (week 4) I wasn't sure if we were suppose to write a blog for homework or not so instead I'm writing about class. I want to discuss shared writing. It's funny how you do things that you never notice you do. I've been to many classes where they demonstrate shared writing, and I've done activities myself where the classroom is doing shared writing, but not once have I actually examined the technique and saw what all it is good for. Shared writing is when the whole class writes as a whole or in small groups. This is very common in the earlier grades of elementary. The example that we watched in class was of a class writing a thank you letter to one of their visitors. Shared writing allows the students to learn from one another and to grow as a group. The importance in shared writing is to keep all students engaged. Lets say one student comes to the front of the class to write the heading to the letter; while that student does that the other students can practice the same thing on their leg or hand so that everybody is doing some sort of work. As the teacher you must make sure that as many students as possible become involved in the writing. For Example, each sentence can developed by the whole class but wrote by 2 or 3 depending on length. Another big aspect of shared writing is what to do when the student is wrong? This will have a big effect on the student. If a student comes to the front of the class and writes the wrong thing or spells the word incorrectly, then what does the teacher do? As a teacher, you have to make sure to correct this student, but do it in a way that he or she does not become embarrassed. The student is now in front of his/her entire classroom/peers, this means the embarrassment has now doubled. Give praise to the child for their good try then ask if they may help you to correct the issue; sound out the word if its spelling, rewrite the word if its wrote wrong, etc. Shared writing can take students a long way; you just have to know how to use it properly.

Specific Craft (ch. 4 & 5)

This concept of specific craft is outstanding. When it comes to teaching children there is so much that needs to be covered; using specific craft allows all of that information to become somewhat organized. In my opinion specific craft could probably be used with almost anything. Out of the 5 main topics that were presented in chapter 4, the five senses has to be my favorite. This concept can take a child's writing to a completely higher level. As they mentioned in the story, by 3rd grade most students know and understand their five senses. When writing, if you focus on these, your able to make your writing more realistic and draw the reader in. Another reason I like the senses one so much is because it is so simple. The classroom could focus on one sense a week. Each week you pick a sense and in all the writings done that week you could put emphasis on a certain sense. When all 5 weeks have passed you can put together one great story. The options are endless with specific craft. Chapter 5 began to talk about working on punctuation. Punctuation seems like it would be a harder task for the children. Everywhere students may read they can find punctuation, they might know what it is, but this doesn't mean they understand it. Developing activities with specific craft and punctuation can slowly help students to grasp the concept. If using specific craft, by the end of the year your students should be sure to improve and impress you.

Wilde: 5 Major Spelling Strategies

Spelling is a major aspect in writing, without proper spelling a writer may not be able to get their point across to their reader. Teaching a student how to read, write, and spell is a difficult task. There are 5 different strategies that students can use, or anybody for that matter, in order to improve their spelling: placeholder spelling, human resource, textual resource, generation monitoring and revision, and ownership. Being older and higher in my education, I use a combination of all techniques. Textual resourcing is probably my main technique. When writing on the computer you automatically get a spell checker that allows you to notice what you've spelled wrong and then gives you options for possible corrections. This probably isn't the best technique because you're getting the answers fed to you instead of figuring it out for your own, but it gets the job done. There are times when spell-check can have defects. There may be a word that is spelled right but is not being used in the proper way; in a case like this spell-checker will not inform you that you are incorrect. Overall one spells the way they're the most comfortable, as long as you're getting the job done, all well ends well!