Vocabulary

Vocabulary in my opinion is something that should be learned or taught naturally. I feel that during my tutoring sessions the vocabulary words that I pick are always basically useless. On many occasions they are words that he is already surprisingly familiar with. One strategy that I found very effective was the self collection. We read through the story and found words that the student did not know the definition. We talked about the word, used context clues to come up with our own definition, looked the word up in the dictionary, and talked about what the word means in the sentence. I also used this method un knowingly during my social studies lesson. As I listened to the students read, the words that they stumbled over we would go back and indirectly discuss what that word means and what it tells us about the story. This is the way that I best learn vocabulary. To be completely honest, I would just memorize a definition for a test and forget all about it the second after I turn the definition in. The only way to know if your student really has learned something is to assess them on an application level, and no, this does not mean using the word in a sentence. Receptive vocabulary may be greater than expressive, but expressive can be enhanced if we teach our students how to use words, model good vocabulary, make connections, use authentic teaching, and encourage students to use a higher level of vocabulary in their daily life.

         Guided inquiry is by far my favorite way to teach a lesson! Questions are such a good way to help students learn. It is amazing to me sometimes how a student will aleady know the answer to something but they still ask the question. My student that I am tutoring will ask me questions and in turn I ask him a related question and he ALWAYS figures it out. In my opinion students should always be taught through guided inqury.
         A past teacher that I had used this method with us and we absolutely hated every assignment until the end. We would fuss and complain how she just wouldn't tell us the answer and she only gave us hints in a round about way and it frustrated us to no end. The funny thing is that at the end of that class, I looked back and realized how interested and motivated I was to find those answers. I honestly learned so much from that teacher because of her teaching strategy.
        The section in the chapter that mostly caught my attention was the higher order questions. Although it has never been required of us to use blooms within our lessons, I have always tried to use questions that followed the levels of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. My mother is an elementary teacher and this was just a little tip that she gave me. Throughout the few lessons that I have taught in a clinical setting, those questions have been very effective and beneficial to the lesson. Not only does it require students to think for themselves, it initiates discussion.

What are some questioning techniques or examples for a social studies lesson?

Chapter 7 Note Taking

Chapter 7 discussed note taking and note making. Note making has always been more beneficial for me. Note taking in general have always been a challenge for me because they are too much of a distraction. No matter how much I am trying to pay attention, as soon as I start writing, I lose track of everything else that is going on around me including the lecture. Note making on the other hand helps me organize my thoughts and highlight key points. The most effective method of note taking that I have ever learned was in math.  It was different than the mathematics note taking discussed in the book.  Mr. Williams used a method of note taking that was based on vocabulary. My Algebra 2 teacher in high school would require us to write out our thought process beside every problem. It was similar to the method in the book in that we folded the paper and organized our ideas on each side. But in the note taking method I learned, you worked out the problem on half of the paper and explained the thought process and steps on the other side. We were only required to do this on the first two test. I think the teacher was making a point by doing this because the note taking strategy was so effective that everyone and I mean everyone continued with this strategy throughout the rest of our high school math career. My social studies teacher on the other hand, would lecture and we would have to listen and take notes along the way in our own way. I absolutely hate this way. In my opinion, how do you know how to set up and organize notes if you have never been presented the material before. This method did not work for me as well as it did for Jeremy Merrill’s students. What did actually help for me was note making before class, then note taking during class. By reading the book, I could write somewhat of an outline and be ahead of the game by the time note taking took place. Basically this whole notes thing has been a struggle for me.

How can I basically eliminate the boring part of note taking for my students and encourage them to try to learn better not taking skills?

Read Alouds

Read Alouds

I found the article to be somewhat informative. I basically know this content already. The one thing that I liked was the example questions and student responses in table 3. The components and text to talk approach in table 3 was also good information to look over. I believe that initiating questions is a great way to keep students engaged. I know from personal experience in my world literature class, that if it were not for our random class discussions initiated by questions from the professor, I would have been clueless about the story. Some students may need a little help in getting the gist of the story. Read alouds followed with questions are a great way to at least get students interested in the story initially. In chapter 4 I was mainly focused on the section that discussed reading text aloud for specific subjects. I think that this does not just mean text books but books that can relate subjects across content area. I love finding a good book and then asking the students to tell me how it relates to different subjects and what they can learn from this book. Relating new content to prior knowledge is a great way for students to learn. It also keeps them more interested in my opinion.

Comparing Writing to Learn and Ch. 8

The article, Writing to Learn, is basically stating that writing enhances students thinking and learning. Writing about a topic can deepen a child’s understanding of the particular subject. When writing, students already know enough about the topic and use writing to broaden their ideas, ask questions, and think critically, or they are unfamiliar with the topic and have to research to learn more about the topic. There are many different strategies used depending on the learner and the topic. Chapter 8 discusses how writing to learn differs from learning to write. I agree that learning to write is very important so that writing to learn can take place later in a child’s education. I somewhat disagree with the structured process of prewriting, drafting, peer review, revising, editing, final, and publishing. In some cases it is important to have structure, but there are also other useful writing strategies to use such as the ones discussed in the article Writing to Learn. I do agree however, that content area teachers should use writing in their classrooms. But, in my opinion, a teacher should only be picky about a student’s writing if that teacher is teaching English. Other teachers should support the students ideas and encourage them to want to write. Students will learn by practicing, and if every teacher in every subject discourages their writing ability, a students will lose interest in trying to write. Teaching a child to write is very important, but using writing as a way of expression is also important. Chapter 8 discusses man prompts to help students get their foot in the door with a particular topic. It also has ideas on how to incorporate writing to learn in every subject.

Moss

In my opinion, content area literacy should be included on all learning levels. Teachers can make informational text interesting for students to read. In my classroom, instead of forcing students to read only informational text provided by the teachers, students will be encouraged to use technological resources to read and find information on topics of their interest. I personally have to give google credit for approximately 35 percent of my educational knowledge. Education is an area that sparked my interest, therefore I am constantly researching and reading about education. This same concept applies to many students. Content area literacy could spark the interest in a child and encourage them to research more information in their own time. The article also discussed how k-12 should be reading content area literacy. I agree with this mainly because it is an effective use of instructional time. When students begin to learn about something new they become more interested or curious about the topic. If a student is reading a fictional story, there is no further learning taking place other than reading. Informational text can get students interested, which leaves a classroom open for inquiry and discussion. Basically, I feel that content area literature promotes authentic teaching opportunities by covering a number of topics, getting students attention, and striking their curiosity.  

What types of content area literacy can be used in a kindergarten classroom?

Should students be allowed to find their own idea of "content area literature" to bring to class? There is no way for a teacher to know if what the child is reading is grade level appropriate for every student, but it would encourage students by giving them some freedom.