Choral Reading!

Before this class i had never experienced Choral reading and if i had then i did not know the proper name for it. I think that choral reading is a good thing. Last Wednesday we were rushing, especially towards the end but i think that what we learned was important and i would like to know more about this type of reading.

One thing that we did that i thought was important was that each group got to figure out the proper way their group wanted to read their book. For older grades i think splitting students into groups and having them present their ideas is a good thing. It allows them to think of the different mechanics that go into choral reading and choose which ones would best suit their book. For the younger grades i think that it is good because the students can get the ideas of magnitude, rhythm, tone, pitch and the basic mechanics of choral reading. This will help them in future classes where choral reading assignments, like the ones we did in class, are implemented into the classrooms. 

I wish that we had had more time in class to go over everything. Because we were rushing i feel as if i am still kind of lost on the subject of how exactly we implement choral reading into the classroom. Are we suppose to teach them pitch, rhythm, magnitude before we try reading a book out loud or are we just suppose to try it and see what happens.

Choral Reading

I really enjoyed trying choral reading in our class on Wednesday.  Even though it has been discussed in one of my CEP classes before, I do not think that I have ever actually tried it.  I liked being able to actually plan how we were going to do it (i.e. how it would be read, what would be read and by who) and then actually implementing it.  It was interesting to see all of the different ways that choral reading could be done with different books.

The handout that we were given in class (that we used as a guideline when discussion how our group would implement the choral reading for our book) was very useful and contained information that I was unaware of.  From the last time that I learned about choral reading, the book only discussed choral readings in small groups.  The students would simply pair up with another student and keep reading their section of the book.  Instead, this handout talked about the different ways in which the students and text can be organized and still be using choral reading.  Before this class, I was unaware of there being multiple ways in which choral reading can be done.

After trying this activity and enjoying it so much, I would like to see if I could try choral reading in my kindergarten field placement.  I think that this is something that the students would like to do because it would be something new and different.  The only type of choral reading that I see in the classroom right now is when the students are reading a book that has a repeating chorus.  The teacher simply reads the text that variates and then the students read the chorus line that repeats, in unison.  I think that the students would enjoy trying something other than this with different books that they do not usually read together.

Choral Reading Response

Choral reading is actually something I have never learned much about. I knew what it meant, but I hadn't learned how to implement it or what the benefits of it were. I know we were really pressed for time on wednesday, but I would be interested in learning a little more about it. Are there are times it may be more beneficial to use choral reading, and are there are times it may not be as appropriate? I would also like to know what the benefits of using this style of reading may be, and if it is a method that may be difficult for students who are slow readers, or students who have trouble sounding out words. Is there an age range that this works better for?
Some of the the thoughts I had from what we learned were that choral reading is a way to teach kids about the rhythm, pitch, and other components of reading, Some students may not be familiar with when to raise their voice, or how to read in a steady rhythm, Choral reading would help these students learn these techniques through modeling, and encouraging them to speak similarly to the rest of the class. I also think choral reading would be beneficial for students with attention difficulties because they may be more intrigued by the reading if it does in a more interesting way, or if they are watching for the part where they speak versus the teacher speaking.
I enjoyed doing this activity because it allowed me to see what it was like to actually read in the choral reading style. As I said earlier, I knew what choral reading was for the most part, but I don't think you can really understand it until you have experienced it. After doing this activity, it made me think about the fact that not only have I never read chorally in the past 20 years of my education, but I have never observed choral reading in my placement. I hope that this is something I could maybe introduce to my classroom.

Choral Reading

In previous teacher education classes at MSU I have learned the basics of choral reading. In these classes I learned that it is beneficial and helpful for emergent and beginner readers. However, I have never witnessed or partaken in choral reading. I have also never learned how and why to implement it. After Wednesdays class I was quite pleased on how much I had learned. I finally feel as if I truly understand why and how to use choral reading.

During class on Wednesday I was able to actually learn about choral reading instead of just being told it is a great practice to incorporate into the classroom. I like how choral reading not only familiarizes students with words but it also looks at tempo, rhythm, juncture, and pitch. I began to see choral reading as a great tool to help children be able to think about what is written and how to read. Take pitch for instance. The idea of pitch, as I understand it, is the change of tone in your voice as you read. A very common example of this is reading a question, where a question mark lets you know to raise your voice. Students who know how to use pitch as a result of choral reading can begin to read aloud to their peers letting their peers know simple things such as when a question is being asked. In a sense I see choral reading as a first step in scaffolding the reading process.

Response-Centered

In the 1st grade classroom that i am in i have noticed many things about their reading. I was recently asked by my CT to take a group of students to a corner and listen to them read. I was to count how many words each student got wrong and then help them sound out the word correctly. There were many things while i was sitting with this group that made me think about their literacy teaching. I noticed both good and bad things.

I noticed that many of the students that i was in the group with had memorized part of or all of the words in the book. This is not difficult seeing the way they were reading. We went through the book once and each child took a turn reading a page. This showed me that the there is a possibility that the students may not have read all the book before. 

One thing that i did notice that was good was that i got a chance to go through the book and ask the students to find specific words and then "frame" them for me with their hands.

Beyond doing that i have not noticed many response centered talks related to literacy. Although students are given a chance to do response centered writing. My CT asks the students to write about a small moment that happened to them over the weekend and/or the previous night. This gives the chance for the students to write whatever they want while still saying in a set parameter of beginning, middle and end but letting them write what they want. 

Other then that i am going to start looking for more response-centered conversations in my first grade classroom.

Discussions in the First Grade

I am currently placed in a first grade classroom. In this classroom, the majority of the morning is devoted to literature. At first I was skeptical of so much time being focused on literature while math, science, and social studies, in my opinion, suffered as a result. However, I have been very wrong about the other subjects suffering. Math is the primary focus during calendar time and their technology class that meets twice a week. The subject of science has very little time in the scheduling block but all benchmarks are met by the end of the year by each student. Finally, as in science, all of the state benchmarks are met in social studies throughout the year. Knowing this, I have felt very comfortable about the amount of time devoted to literacy. However, these readings assigned this week have caused me to question the literacy education these first graders are receiving.

Today, I no longer concerned about the fact that some much time is spent on literacy, but instead on how literacy is taught. The majority of literacy is in the recitation form. Students answer simple questions about a story. The teachers do not encourage students to discuss what questions and thoughts they have about the pieces of literature they read. This recitation form of literature discussion disappoints me simply because the students are not being given the maximum amount opportunity to succeed when it comes to literature education.

In order for my CT and her student teacher to begin the scaffolding process of response-centered talk to take place I feel that they need to sit back and let the students guide the conversation. Currently the “discussions” consist of the teachers asking the students key questions (“What happened at the beginning?” “What happened in the middle?” and “What happened at the end?”). In addition to these key questions, most of the time the teachers correct the students’ responses to better fit what the teachers are looking for. To change this would be very difficult but possible.

Overall, the majority of the students in the classroom I am placed in could participate in discussions or response-centered talk. Not only would these students be able to participate but they would also succeed as a result. There is only one girl that is an exception. I could see this not benefiting her at all for the time being. This girl has made drastic improvements since the start of the year in all subjects. However, there are many times still today that she struggles to catch on.

From what I have observed in my classroom my teacher uses both "Dicussion" and "Recitation". Sometimes the students seem to be freely sharing ideas about a bog they have read, and other times the teacher is prompting the students with questions or things to think about. Often time to get discussion going the teacher asks the students if the book they had just read reminds them of anything that has happened in their lives. This gets the students to relate the book to themselves, and share their thoughts and ideas about the book. I see my students doing more of the recitation when they read a book that has to do with abother subject, like a history or science book. When they are reading one of these types of books the teacher is looking for more specific answers and facts.
I think that for response centered talk to take place there is some scaffolding that needs to take place. Some students will need more scaffolding then others. Some students will be open to share anything they can think of where other students may not be able to think of something to talk right away. For these students you can scaffold by prompting them with a topic, or sharing an idea or thought of your own that may spark something in their mind.

Classroom Talks

In my kindergarten classroom, I am seeing recitations (versus discussions) occurring on a daily basis.  The teacher poses almost all of the questions, the students are expected to answer the questions and then the teacher evaluates the responses.  On the fourth page of the Almasi article, the conversation that the classroom in focus had is very similar to what is said during a typical classroom talk about a book at my field placement.

For response-centered talk to take place successfully, there is scaffolding that the teacher must do with the students.   If needed, a teacher must help students become involved in the conversation.  A teacher can also scaffold by interrupting a talk with an interpretive question to keep them on track.  

In my field placement, there are many students who would need scaffolding in order to learn how to carry on an effective discussion.  Many of the students express ideas with the class and they are not clear either due to a language barrier or disjointed ideas.  When this does happen, it would be appropriate for the teacher to step-in and restate what the student is trying to say.  Also, it would be important to scaffold by prompting students with interpretive questions and also by prompting students to respond either with their opinions, ideas or questions.  Scaffolding would be an important component here in my classroom because the students have never experienced anything like response-centered talk before in the room.

Goals for the semester

1. Gain a better understanding of ways to integrate literacy into my classroom

2. Learn the importance of teaching literacy, and how to teach my students the importance of literacy

3. Become more confident in teaching in general, and in teaching literacy

4. Get experience

I'm looking forward to learning more about teaching literacy. I have never been very confident in my literacy skills, so I have been nervous about teaching it. I hope this class will give me ideas and strategies to improve my teaching. I am also looking forward to getting expereince in placement teaching and working with students on literacy. 

My Goals for the semester

I hope to accomplish many things throughout this semester.

1. I hope that I will be able to distinguish between good and poor pieces of literate and hopefully only bring into my classroom the good pieces of literature. 

2. Be able to find other sources to help me while I am having troubles.

and

3. learning about how to incorporate literacy not only by itself but in other subjects as well.

Goals for Learning in the Course:

While completing this course I have several goals I would like to meet. Many of my goals relate to the fear I have of teaching literacy. I feel that these fears will prevent me from being the best literacy teacher I can possibly be. By learning to over come these fears in this course, I feel that my ability to teach literacy will improve.

My first goal in this class will be to become more knowledgeable on the subject matter of literacy. I hope to become more familiar with the terms of literacy so that I can more easily teach my students about them.

My second goal is to become more knowledgeable of literary sources that I can reference when I am stumped. With this, I would also like to learn of groups or councils for literacy teachers to join so that I can continuously learn out in the field as a certified teacher.

My final goal for this course is to become a better teacher. This simply means I would like to learn how to relax when I teach. Thus far in the field, I feel like I am not doing a satisfactory job of helping the students in my CT’s classroom.

By meeting these goals in this course, I feel that I will become more knowledgeable of literacy and a better teacher.

My Goals

1.  I will feel confident when incorporating English language arts into other subjects.  

2.  I will know how or where to find appropriate resources for English language arts.

3.  I will know know how to use technology (successfully) as a part of teaching English language arts.

Huh?

Lets see if it is working?

Hey guys

Hey,

I just wanted to see if it worked!