Blog 6

In this chapter the author discusses vocabulary and how to teach it to students effectively. To me this chapter seemed geared toward an English class rather than a History class. I think that there is a difference between teaching vocabulary words and the terms that you use in history. I think though that many of these points that the author makes can be easily adapted to a history classroom. For example I thought that graphic organizer called Context Plus could be easily used in my class. Some of the sections may have to be changed but for the most part it would be a good tool. The students would be able to say what they already know about the word and what they associated with it providing a better understanding. There was also a chart in the book titled “What Do We Know From Research” which provided me with some other ideas. For example one thing in the chart was discussion leads to vocabulary learning which I believe is essential for understanding. I have mentioned that I felt this was chapter could be more easily used in an English class so I thought I would share my ideas on how we learned for vocabulary. My senior year my teacher (who also happened to be my 7^th grade Science teacher and 8^th grade English teacher) used something new in the classroom for vocabulary that I had never heard of. It was his first year in the high school and he was looking for ways to improve our vocabulary. He used Flocabulary which is pretty much vocabulary in a rap song. These songs are filled with numerous vocabulary words and they are very catchy. Most of the words you can even figure out the meaning based on the context used in the song. We would start off every class by singing the song that contained the vocabulary words for the week. I can honestly say I learned more vocabulary that year than any other year. To this day I still use the words, and I even remember the songs. Needless to say, he found a very entertaining way to teach us our vocabulary words. He even created a lesson where we had to come up with our song using our words that week. We could either use a tune that we already knew or create our own. It was something fun and different that really helped the class to learn. This is the link for more information on Flocabulary http://flocabulary.com/. 

Blog 5

This chapter, titled “The Essence of Understanding”, gives a prospective teacher a lot to think about. It makes one think about teaching a lesson in a way that students will not only understand but in a way that they will remember it as well. I can’t tell you how many things I have learned in school that I no longer remember. I remember them long enough to take the test and then forgot about it. As much as I hate to say it, I still do it today in college. The only things that I chose to remember were those that I actually wanted to learn about. For example I remember a lot about history and that is something that even today I enjoy learning, and it is something I remember. The author of this chapter said that she went into a school and taught the students in a different way in which they say that they learned more and actually understood it in a way that would help them to remember. Since it wasn’t that long ago since I was in high school I can’t help but question whether it was the fact that she taught the lesson in a different way or the fact that she was a guest in a classroom. I know that I was more likely to pay attention and learn from someone other than my normal teacher. I think that is something that is important to take into consideration. Overall I think that finding a way for students to understand the information is important. In high school and even now I hear numerous students say “I just learn it for the test, after that it doesn’t matter.”

Blog 4

This section of reading has allowed me to reflect on the literature that I read growing up. In the chapter 6 of Adolescent Literacy the author discussed how schools are starting to change which age students read certain books. I couldn’t help but notice that the books that the author was saying were being read in lower grades are the grades in which I read them in. For example I read The Giver when I was in eighth grade and The Outsiders when I was in seventh. Even when I was in high school I could see the changes. As a senior I read To Kill a Mockingbird and at the same time the senior class was reading it so was the sophomore class because that book was being moved down to a lower grade. Seeing that made me realize that the literature we read in schools is constantly changing and that the teachers need to be aware of this. If the other book, Reading Reminders, it brought up to use SSR in your classroom. When I was in middle school we used SSR, however we had absolutely no discussion with it and no way to write about what we read. The class was specifically called SSR but we did nothing other than read. Reading that section made me think back to how little I got out of the class, I do not remember reading any specific book. One other thing that book talked about was reading out loud. I think that even at the high school age level that it’s important. Students often get a better understanding when they are following along silently and also hearing it allowed. These techniques can easily be used in any type of classroom. Reading these selections had made me see how the times are changing and how important literature can be in any classroom. 

Blog 3

Children today learn literacy skills not only through what they are taught in school but also through the internet, video games and other forms of media. This chapter of the book brought up some great points about the other ways that children are learning literacy. I grew up in a generation where computers were something that everyone had in the house, and instant messaging was a big thing. This was how everyone communicated and I could clearly see that the language that was used in instant messaging made its way into schools and into schoolwork. In this chapter of the book there was a point brought up on how the world would be today if video games were invented before books were used. I could only imagine how it would be if that happened. I am sure that there would be a number of experts who would argue that books are bad just like video games. So what does this have to do with my classroom? Growing up in this generation I have been able to see that computers have impacted literacy and kids writing abilities. Often time children only know how to read what they read with their friends on the internet and even in text messages. Using shorthand like u, r, lol, ttyl, brb, symbols and other things have made their way into schools today. It is a teacher’s responsibility to teach students how to properly read and write, even if it is not an English class. 

Blog 2

Reading this chapter of the book has taught me about the variety of ways I can improve my classroom in order to prepare the kids of the future. I enjoyed listening to what the author had to say about the people that she had come in and speak to her classroom. I think it was great for the kids to be able to see that no matter what your profession you will always need to be able to learn. Technology is constantly changing, the world is advancing and everyone needs to be able to continue their education in order to change with the changing world. I agree with the part of the chapter “Thinking to the New Literacy Skills”. This section brings up a good point that we are always going to need new literacy skills and the students need to understand that. The explanation of the “Flat” World was interesting to me. It helped me to understand exactly what students need to be able to do and how I can implement each of these things into the classroom. One of my favorite explanations of the things students need to learn was the adapters. It made me see that once you are a part of a profession you still must be able adapt to the job and be able to change the way that things are done. I’m sure that a lot of teachers think about this but I am not sure if they how to adapt their classroom to fit these ideas. A lot of my teachers in high school were stuck in their old ways and were not willing to change anything, even if it could improve the work of students. This whole section of the book would be something that I would like to keep in my class as a useful tool to come back to and reread. 

Blog 1

The first chapter in Adolescent Literacy gave me a lot to think about. It gave many examples of problems that we have in our education system. I have written a paper and given a speech before about the use of standardized testing in school and why I don’t think it is a good idea. This chapter would have helped me a lot with this argument.  This chapter talked a lot about the NCLB and the AYP. These are both things that were intended to help students but inadvertently hurt them. The example that the author gave about Derek and how he improved his tests scores but did not reach the level that he needed to is not something that happens on a rare occasion. This is something that occurs all the time. These students are improving but at the same time are being told that they are not good enough. This is something that needs to change. We need to find a way to reach out to these students and let them know that they are making great progress and that they are doing an awesome job. We can’t continue to allow these kids to think that they are not good enough. The point about the poverty gap was an important section in this chapter. It showed that many kids in the school system today to not have a home life that sets them up for success. This is where the school must intervene and find a way to help these students who are struggling. Over all there are many problems with literacy in schools today. This problems need to be fixed so we can insure academic success among all students.