The readings for this week were really relevant to me because in my classroom we have just went over both of the skills of visualization as well as questioning and how they can be helpful while reading. Through our Making Meaning mini-lessons both of these techniques were covered using the picture books that followed along with the lessons. My teacher also incorporated anchor charts based on the students understanding of how to visualize or "make a movie" in their mind, which is now hung up inside of the room. In Strategies That Work, the lesson that develops the understanding of showing not telling was one that I found to be very important. A lot of my students have difficulty in description in their writing and have a lack of use of sensory details, which is something we have begun to work on as well in our classroom. I like how this chapter explains that students should be able to visualize while the read as well as how they can transition this skill into their writing, it should be something that should be a skill for both areas.
I really liked the strategy that was described that helps students to understand and define unfamiliar words. I feel in my class it is very likely for the students to continue to read without understanding a word and then this will mess up their entire comprehension of the passage. I liked that this was something that they could do individually while they read and can look back on later in case they encounter the same word in a different context, it is like making their own dictionary. The modeling of this lesson I feel is extremely important so students can see first hand that it is not something to be upset about if they encounter a word that they find unfamiliar, but that there are other strategies that can be taken to understand the definition of the word beside a dictionary; which more times than not provides another definition that they will not understand.
History is a very dry subject in my classroom and it usually consists of lecture and notes followed by a discovery channel movie that reinforces the content that has just been discussed. I would really like to try the introduction of a picture book to teach historical content because I want to further develop my student's abilities to draw inferences and ask critical questions. I think that this would be a great way to change the pace of the way social studies is working in my classroom in order to develop a greater interest and ability to remember the content. Students are more likely to remember information if it is presented in a way they will enjoy instead of a way that bores them.
The use of sticky notes in books while my students are doing Independent Reading Time is a skill that my teacher encourages, so they can remember their questions later. I liked the introduction of the I learned/I Wonder chart because this causes the students to think on the next level and to begin to question text at a deeper level and not just rely on asking surface questions.
Elizabeth, I agree that visualization is an important skill for students to be able to transfer into their writing. One of the biggest issues that I've noticed with the writing in my class is that students struggle with giving enough detail to "show not tell" as you said. Just last week my mentor presented a lesson about "exploding a moment" to help students give more details in their writings. After modeling how to pick one moment from their story about a time with a special person and then exploding that small moment so that it was very detailed my mentor had students do this one their own. I noticed that students still struggled with this even after the mini-lesson my mentor gave. I think that saying some of the things you've mentioned (make a movie, show don't tell) would help students understand the importance of fine sensory details. I like to tell students to make me feel like I am there while they are writing. One thing that I noticed my MT didn't do was have students share some of their ideas about how they were going to explode their moment. This was something we saw in the video and learned that was one of the 4 components of a mini-lesson. I think that doing this would have cleared up some confusion for the students that struggled most.
ReplyDeleteHIstory is something that is pretty dry in my classroom too. My teacher tries to incorporate BrainPop videos to make the lessons more interesting, but it doesn't always work the way we would hope. One thing we are doing now is starting a unit on the election. Students are really responding to this well because it relates to what is happening in their lives right now. We are starting a project in which the students research each candidate and then vote in our class election for their choice of president. I think that making the lesson more personal and relatable is what is making it more exciting for them. So, along with introducing a picture book to teach historical content I think that it is also important to make the information relatable to our students' lives.
The sticky notes are a cool idea for use during independent reading time. Are their questions/notes looked at by your MT, or are these just for their personal use? I think that looking at the questions students are asking is a good way to see whether or not they are comprehending what they reading.
Elizabeth and Meagan -
ReplyDeleteI see the use of sticky notes during independent reading time everyday in my classroom. We have the students write about what they are reading either as a personal response or a letter to us. They use their sticky notes to write down their thoughts at that point in time or just to mark a good spot in the book that they can write about. We do not look at their sticky notes; it is just for them.
We are also working on adding descriptive details and dialogue to a story to make it more exciting and to feel like we were there. Like you both said, my students are not 100% there yet. We are also doing mini-lessons on these things and stating the importance of adding detail.
I love the idea of incorporating the election. That is the exact opposite of what we are doing. We are starting with the Native Americans and making our way into America today. On Constitution Day, we made a classroom Constitution, which I thought was pretty awesome and meaningful to them. They really got to understand what a Constitution was all about.