Graphic Organizers

Graphic Organizers are discussed in chapter 6. Graphic Organizers are extremely helpful tools for both students and teachers. As a student, I always loved filling in bubble maps and creating maps for the bubble map fairs that the school would host. Graphic Organizers provide a creative way to take notes that are a much more reader friendly way of studying. For teachers they can be a good way to asses for a student's depth of understanding. However, one thing i remember from school is that the bubble map was overly used. Bubble maps are awesome for description, but I swear I never laid eyes on a flow map until junior high. There are DOUBLE (gasp, i know right?!?) bubble maps that can be used for comparison. Flow charts for chains of events, tree charts for classification, etc. The possibilities are endless! I must admit, until today when I was reading through chapter 6, I had never even seen of a story grammar chart. It's the mother of all maps. Im not even sure i could follow that map as a senior in college. But i cant wait to use it on some unsuspecting students! Another thing mentioned in chapter 6 is that graphic organizers are just another tool in the belt. You wouldnt use a screwdriver on a nail, and in the same way graphic organizers, as wonderful as they are, cannot be used universally in any given situation. Teachers need to use them purposefully as they would any other strategy. They must be used properly to be effective. According to a survey, "82 % (of teachers) recommended that graphic organizers like concept maps should be used frequently, only 59% admitted that they used them often." The surveyors suggest that the difference may fall in that teachers percieve that graphic organizers are difficult to prepare in advance. Graphic Organizers seem pretty simple to me, but if this is the case, how can more teachers be convinced to use graphic organizers in their class?

Text Talk

This article presents the different types of classroom conversations that can come from read alouds and reading from a common text. The author discusses the different types of "text talk" that can take place in a classroom. In most of my experiences, the text talk has iinvolved those "constraining questions" that only require the students to recall a fact. -n intermediate block, we were required to insert these types of questions into our reading lessons in order to check for students understanding and to attempt to engage them in the reading experience. I hated doing this. I could only remember as a child having someone read aloud to me, and getting so annoyed when they would pause the story to ask stupid questions like, "okay class! Who sat in the big pink chair?' Well of coarse, jane sat in the big pink chair.. You just said that 5 seconds ago! Now as a teacher candidate, I understand tha there are students that need that type of support when reading, but I also know that there are students out there like me that just wanted to snatch the book away and finish reading the book without any more ridiculous interruptions. I believe that there must be a better way to approach comprehension that this. I believe that this is a situation where differentiated learning should take place, but even as I stand on my pedestal and harp, I have to wonder how could a teacher differentiate a whole class read aloud experience?

I do enjoy looking at pictures with students and drawing conclusions or making predictions. As a teacher, it is remarkable what type of responses the students will give you from looking at an illustration. But thinking of it as a student, even if we are interrupting the book already on page 3, at least we are doing it for a good reason. Pausing for a pretty picture could never detract value from a story. It only enhances the experience.

I think that using background knowledge as a tool to "text talk" is one of the best ways to lead into the conversation. Granted, it has its drawbacks in that every student wants to share their experience, whether it has to do with the topic at hand or not. However, it causes students to make connections from the text to their lives and even if it leads down a bunny trail, the student is doing some higher level thinking than simply recalling that jane sat in a pink chair. They are remembering sitting in their grandmother's pink chair which may bring a student to wanting to talk about his grandmother, but the teacher must remember that the student is still making connections and he or she simply be ready to guide the conversation.

For the most part, my experiences with text talk has been as a student. Not too much of it has been very interesting. It is either too simple, or much too complex and not very engaging.and even though, I have very strong convictions about boring story interruptions, I am guilty of the crime as well. I can see my practicum students looking at me incredulously with that "did she just ask us that, don't she know we are 3rd graders?". So this just leaves me wondering how to break the cycle and make "text talk" more engaging for the students?

Writing to Learn

I really enjoyed this article. It made me reflect on my own experiences with writing. The author asserts the difference in learning to write and writing to learn. In middle and high school, I struggled with learning to write. Eventually, I got it. However, I cannot remember one experience where I was writing to learn. The emphasis was ALWAYS on grammar and following the writing process to the letter of the writing process law. I cannot remember one time when the content or thought process was really taken into consideration. I can look back and think on so many lessons where the activities listed in this article would have been more interesting and thought provoking than the same old routines of copying the definition, pop corn reading the chapter, and struggling to summarize. By the end of high school, I had mastered the writing process, and I was a fanatic about correct grammar usage. but here comes the big BUT, in my college courses, they expected me to do more of this writing to learn thing than actual fluffy essay writing. Get this. I was having to write in classes that weren't even English classes. Crazy huh? blogging.. powerpoints.. article critiques.. reflections.. Can you sense my concern? I was in over my head. It wasnt until my junior year of college that I saw how easy it was to incorporate these writing to learn strategies into lessons in all the content areas.

For example, exit tickets. Simple. Quick. Nausea Free. These are a simple way to check for understanding or to prompt a student's thinking that does not require a mini lesson on run ons and comma splices. So.. Why was in my 6th semester in college before I was introduced to this method?

Or.. ABC list. I chose to do this activity in my literature circle last semester, and I absolutely loved it. I cannot wait to use this method in my own classroom. It sounds very basic, but this activitiy called for me to do some heavy duty thinking, as well as make connections. Some of them were some very stretched connections, but I did more thinking than I would have if I was simply called to write a summary.

I also especially like the framed paragraphs. I believe that this guides students who are not especially strong writers. It makes a way for them to think about the critical things that they should be thinking about without sweating the small stuff. I believe that grammar and good writing skills are important, but I cannot help but wonder.. Which is more important, that a student can think critically and use writing to express deeper thoughts - granted there are some grammatical errors? Or is should the focus be on standard English? I am sure that the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Also, as a future teacher, How can I find the balance in incorporating these techniques and still teaching the importance of standard English?

Article by Moss

This article brings to light the growing concern over student's ability and opportunity to read and become familiar with informational text. The author asserts that changing trends in education such as stadards- based education, the emphasis that has been placed on standardized tests, and the growth and implementation of technology has called for more effective content area literacy instruction.

I thought it was an interesting point that the ability to read informational text should be addressed at all levels. The article states that the issue is even being addressed as far down as kindergarten. I believe that this is absolutely necessary. This gives the students more opportunities for independence.

I was surprised to see that such little attention has been paid to the matter. I found the "fourth grade slump" extremely surprising. Especially in that one of the explanations was that some reading difficulties may have been deemed "unimportant." What stumbling block is ever unimportant when education is concerned?

I completely agree with the statement that early exposure to informational and exposition is necessary. I also found educator's previous assumptions that students were incapable of understanding informational text appalling. Is it just me, or is this a serious understatement of children's abilities. If they do struggle in the matter, as teachers shouldn't the answer to be to provide more support for the skill?

This makes me think of our instructors constantly harping on us to use a wide variety of text in our classroom to broaden the students' horizons. Before reading this article, I had a basic understanding of the necessity for students to be able to read and comprehend informational text. However, I was not aware of all of the benefits. It enhances domain knowledge, and helps students become more strategic readers of informational text. It offers inquiry based experiences. These texts can also be tools for teachers in building background experiences for students.

This article caused me to reflecto on my own past experiences. I cannot remember that much emphasis being placed on informational text. In fact, many teachers would read the text to us so that we could understand. This article made me more aware of student's abilities, and caused me to think about how I could incorporate more informational text other than text books into my classroom setting. It also made me aware of the benefits of making this knowledge available to the students.