Chapter 14: Unleashing Potential and Emerging Technology

Technology has come such a long way in the education field, and I believe it is a good thing! A problem that I see arising is that teachers are not getting the proper training on how to effectively use technology in the classroom. For example, there are many teachers, like the one in the book, who think using technology means students typing a paper in word and sending it to the teacher. Yes, that does save on paper, but there is so much more one can do with technology. Students are becoming the experts in technology and passing up their teachers. We need to use this power of theirs and use it to our advantage. Google is such an amazing resource to use in the classroom to help with collaboration. This year students in my class used google presentation for their big science fair presentation. We usually have boards that the students make to present their Scientific Method. Now, this usually ends up me doing a lot of the work because I am an organization freak and want it to look nice for the parents. This year I thought "enough is enough." This is the kid's work, not mine. It was like a light bulb went off and thought "google presentation" This worked out AMAZINGLY!! I brought the students to the computer lab about four times, and they were able to complete all their work in that time frame. I assigned each student their own individual slide they were responsible for. They were then able to go to the computer lab, pull up their presentations, and everyone could work at the same time. It was so cool to see students collaborating to make their science projects. They were able to incorporate videos and pictures. It took the work off my hands and put it in the hands of the students, which is ideally what all teachers want to happen in their classroom. Next year, third grade is getting their own chromebooks. I am so excited to research this summer on great ways to use the chromebook! There are an abundance of ideas to incorporate technology into the classroom that goes beyond turning a paper in on a word document. Many teachers are scared for this new shift in education, but as a young, very technology-oriented teacher I am beyond excited!

Chapter 5: Tom Sawyer, Teaching and Talking

In elementary school, it is not hard to get a third grade class to talk. The hard part comes when asking them to stay focus and keep it an effective discussion about the topic given. For example, let's say third grade is reading Charlotte's Web (great book!) and the discussion question could be something like "Let's talk about Wilbur and Charlotte's relationship. What was so unique about the relationship? How did their relationship grow throughout the book?" It may start off good saying that in the beginning of the story Wilbur thought he was going crazy hearing voices, and by the end of the story they were best friends. Students could even talk about how Charlotte saved Wilbur's life. Then another student can go off on a tangent about when they were on a farm and saw a spider and how they don't like spiders and how the spider was thiiiiiis big and there was a pig on that farm too, and it goes on and on and on. Now, of course I don't let it go that far, but elementary students LOVE to tell stories about their life no matter the topic. They have this magic power that no matter what they can come up with a personal connection and go on and on and on about it. Now flash forward to middle school, I imagine when a teacher ask a questions it's silent! Unless there is a really smart student or a brown-noser that answers everything. We all have those students. So how do we get elementary ages and middle school ages to carry on a deep discussion with each other? I really liked the part in the book where it had ice breakers. In order to have a great discussion, students have to feel comfortable in the class. If they think students are going to snicker at their responses then they are not going to answer any question! It is vital as a teacher to create an environment where all students feel comfortable and safe. This is easier said than done! Just like all teachers have brown-nosers, we also have those stinkers that can be mean to students know matter what! The poem activity was great! It got the students thinking about the topic before the topic was even given. I use this type of activity frequently when partnering up students. I give students cards where one has multiplication facts and one has the product. I love the idea to use this in reading as well with passages or poems. It gets the students talking with each other before it is time for the class discussion. Also, I LOVE the post it note ideas. I am obsessed with having the students use post it notes. This year we created reader's notebooks that students used when reading silently. They had a list of prompts to use, but throughout the book they would use their post it's for questions, connections, interesting parts, or confusing words. I could transfer this idea to help me with discussion of a class text. Having students think first of their questions will create a better discussion. The students don't have to think on their feet instead it is right in front of them. I totally understand what the book is saying when you will be frustrated with the questions your students are coming up with at first. I remember first starting the post its and wanted to rip my hair out. I expected more from my kids, but instead I got questions like "What was the boy's name?" and by the end of the year I had questions like "How did the character change throughout the story?" It is amazing to see that type of growth! In reality, students want to have discussions with each other. It just takes time to train students what a great discussion looks like. When you see students start getting it, it is a great feeling!

Chapter 8: English Language Learners in the Classroom

This chapter was a real eye-opener for ELL students. I have had the privilege of having two ESL students in my classroom this year, but they are very fluent in English. They do get extra support everyday for about thirty minutes. I couldn't imagine walking into a classroom not knowing the main language. It has to be a very stressful time for the student. I just think back to all the situations I was in when English wasn't the main language. I felt very left out, like I couldn't participate if I wanted to. We need to make sure our students don't feel left out! I really like the idea of having the student write their idea first, then talk to a partner, then talk whole group. I think that gives the ELL student confidence in their answer. This is also a good exercise for struggling students. ELL students should be proud of their native language. I believe that ELL students should still have some of their readings in their native language. We don't want to take that away from them. I agree with the book when they said that when teaching content areas that ELL students should have text in their native language and to be partnered up in groups with students who speak their native language, if possible. Last year, we had a student come into third grade speaking no English. Her native language was Spanish. The teacher that had her labeled everything in the class. It was very neat to see the students help her and interact with her in her process of learning the English language. Technology has been such an asset in the education field. Students can do so much more now with technology. I really like the idea of the blog for ELL students. Like the book says, it gives the silent student a voice. Being the melting pot, teachers are going to find more ELL students in their classroom. It is our job to be prepared when they enter our classroom. We need to teach them the English language while incorporating their native language.

Chapter 6: Comprehension: Frontloading and Downloading

There are many strategies that students learn to help them with comprehension. To turn kids on to the love of reading, they need to be able to understand what they are reading! Frontloading and downloading will help students secure their background knowledge and clarify the purpose for reading. I use many of the strategies mentioned in this book. Before beginning a book, my class previews the text and make predictions. I believe this hooks the students before they even read the book. It also gives them some background knowledge about what the book will be about. Students are able to use pictures, title, table of contents, and vocabulary words to make a well thought out prediction. We also monitor our predictions. As we read, we ask ourselves if our prediction is accurate and change it if needed. I also use the skim and scan technique. I teach my students to scan for important words to help answer questions. This is useful for high-stake testing. When trying to answer questions, students can skim and scan the text for important words. I really like the "Read and Say" activity. It gives students an opportunity to work together and then make connections. During this activity, students can also ask questions and make predictions. Connections is a hard concept for students. Elementary students can make text-self connections all day long, but when asked to make text-text or text-world they can't do it! We have been working on making good connections all year long! If students can connect to a book they will comprehend the book better! Another way to help hook students is to do an anticipation guide. I use this frequently when introducing a new book. I like to do anticipation guides because it really gets the students thinking about what they are reading before they even read the book. It also helps keep them focus during their reading. They are on the lookout to see if they were right on their anticipation guide. To find the main idea, I tell my students they are to use ten words or less. Finding the main idea is finding the gist of the text. What was the story mainly about? Many students can get very wordy when figuring out the main idea. To help them understand the concept of finding the main idea, I tell them it is like a table. The tabletop is the main idea, and the legs of the table are the details that support the main idea. This visual aid really helps the students. To teach my students how to write a summary, I use the somebody, wanted, but, so, then. This really helps them break apart the story and only get the main parts of the story. A lot of the time students want to write every detail in the story that they remember. I tell my students it's about the quality not quantity when writing. Many of my students want to write the longest paper, but they aren't worrying about what the summary is. This chapter is going to be a great resource to refer back to when teaching different strategies. I am an avid reader, and my goal as a teacher is to create students that love reading like I do!

Chapter 5: Vocabulary: Making Meaningful Connections

Vocabulary in content areas is essential in understanding the text being read. It can definitely be a road block when comprehending content text. This chapter has a lot of wonderful ideas to use in the classroom to help students with vocabulary. In my classroom, we work with analogies daily. Every morning there is an analogy on the board. Some days it is just working on comparing and contrasting words, but many times it is in context area. Students really enjoy these! As the year goes on my students have even been making their own analogies for students to figure out! I love how students start to take ownership. Also, in my classroom, I have a word wall that students can refer to. This is something that is done by the students and posted when we go over certain concepts. For example, when going over math terms like perimeter. Students will make a sign with the word, definition, and picture to be posted for them to refer to later. Another way I help students with vocabulary words is using context clues. I tell my students they are detectives, and it is their job to figure out what the word means. Many times the clues around the words will guide them to the definition. This is a concept that can be challenging for third grade. I model this through think alouds and then work deeper on this concept through small group instruction. The four corners vocabulary reminds me a lot of my Marzano vocabulary I do with my students. My students have four boxes: 1. guess the definition 2. the actual definition 3. non-examples 4. examples. This works very well in all concept areas. I like the many online resources for definitions the book referred to. Dictionaries are becoming obsolete. It is something I still believe is important. Students should know parts of a word, pronunciations, and different meanings for the word. This book has many great graphic organizers to use in the classroom for vocabulary. I am exited to tweak them a little for the elementary classroom!

Chapter 4: Fluency

There is a big connection between fluency and comprehension. If a student has trouble with fluency then they are going to struggle with comprehension. Students who are concentrating on what words they are reading are not comprehending the text. I always tell my students that reading is more than just words on a page. They need to be able to read and understand the words. When this connection happens, students find the love of reading. This chapter had some great ways to teach fluency in the classroom. I have personally used quite a few of them. Many of my fluency lessons are done in small groups since I have such a variety of reading levels.  With some of my groups, I am working on the basic fluency. We are working on reading smoothly and stopping at puncuation. In my other groups, we are working on expression. We do this by using a variety of text and even some reader's theaters. My students love performing in front of the class! Our district also monitors students reading through a program called Dibels. Students are asked to read as much as they can in a minute and do a retell. I have mixed feelings about this test. Some of my struggling readers who are in RTI work on improving in Dibels. Therefore, when they come to small group they are so worried about how much they read so they are reading really fast and not comprehending. We also use a program called Reading Plus to help students with their fluency. This is similar to the teacher putting a laser beam on a word to help students track themselves while they are reading. Reading Plus highlights words and moves while the student reads. As a teacher, I am able to determine how fast or slow the bar moves. It is our job to teach our students how to be successful readers. There are many lessons we can do in the classroom to help our students become fluent readers, which will help their comprehension. One activity I love to do in my class is the book pass. Each child has a book on their desk. This can be books about a certain topic or maybe to introduce some books that are in your library. Students then have a minute to preview the book. Throughout the year, I teach my students how to preview a book. They take these skills to examine the books on their desk. I love how interested my students become in the books. Many times they want more time to check out the book. Steven Layne's book Igniting a Passion for Reading  is a great book to teach you how to teach a student to preview a book. This is just an awesome book in general! Our district had the privilege to listen to him speak for our district. As an elementary teacher, I spend a lot of my reading instruction on fluency. I feel this is something that can't be passed up. If a student doesn't have a firm hold on fluency, they will never read! It will always just be a difficult task teachers make them do.

Chapter 7: Mastering the Art of Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary is essential in reading comprehension that is why it is important to have effective vocabulary instruction. Students need to know what it means to know a word. Are they able to just tell the definition? Are they able to use that word in a sentence? Can they categorize the words? There has been many situations in my class where students know the definition of the word, but they are unable to use it in a sentence. To me, this means they don't really have a grasp of what the word means. I really liked the idea of the nonsense passage. It is crazy how our brains can use the context clues around these nonsense words to be able to understand the passage and words. I think my students would really enjoy the nonsense passages. Students learn new words in a variety of ways. They can learn through direct instruction, experiences, and reading are just a few ways students learn new words. The more students read the more words they will know. I remember seeing a chart of the comparison of students who read over the summer compared to students who don't read. The students who read over the summer had an abundance of vocabulary compared to the ones who didn't read. One area I struggle with is choosing appropriate vocabulary words that will benefit my students. Our district is creating units using commoncore.org. I am working with a team of teachers to create several reading units. One area we had a hard time with was vocabulary. How do we pick out words that will be meaningful and useful? Vocabulary is essential in every content area; science, social studies, math, etc. Science is an area where my students struggle so much with vocabulary. I like the lesson by using a fill-in-the blanks activity using passage from the book. This will give them enough background knowledge to get a deeper understanding of the word. My goal as an elementary teacher is to have students that are rich with vocabulary!