Ca never have too much TALK!

In class last week we discussed how valueable talk is. Sometimes in classrooms I believe that talk gets looked over. Children should have the freedom to talk and discuss on topics they feel passionate about, of even topics they don't care about. Talk is a way to communicate that is differentiated. When students discuss and talk I believe it is the teacher's job to make sure that all the students feel comfortable and have equal opportunities to discuess. In Freedom Writers, the teacher let the students discuss things that were on their minds that portrayed to their personal lives. She listened while they talked. I think that this is what we as teachers forget, we need to sit back and listen to the students talk, because we can learn just as much from them as they can learn from us!

The Importance of Listening

I believe that listening is a key component not only of education, but of communication as well. As a teacher you should always listen to your student, and hope that your students listen to you in return. Listening branches off from respect. But, unfortunately listening is one of the most neglected of the 6 Language Arts (talking, reading, writing, listening, viewing, and visual representating).

Within listening there are four different types. These are discriminative, aesthic, efferent, and critical. I believe that on a personal level I exclude efferent listening, which is listening to gather information. We take listening for granted on a daily basis. A lot of times, we want to hear what we want to hear and don't listen to other's point of view. It sounds completely selfish, but it is true. I am trying to make myself more aware of what others are saying and COMPLETELY listen to them. Once I sit down and think about it, I want others to listen to me, s I should listen to others just the same.

There is a difference between listening and hearing. Hearing is when you just hear the sounds and words, but listening is actually processing the information and put it to use. People on a regular basis put the two in the same category and they are completely different.

Propaganda
I believe that this is effective if it is used in an appropriate way. When propaganda is used against others and in a cruel way I do not think it should be used.

Field Experiences

I have been observing Mrs. Kimball's class for the past few months at Wildwood Elementary School. I am so glad that I got to observe her class because she is a wonderful teacher. She adores her students and they love her too. She is always so pumped about teaching and it makes her students even more engaged in learning. She always makes lessons interesting and fun for the students. I have seen writing workshops and reading workshops as well. The students are always wanting to learn more and the class seems very organized. The students have worked on learning the writing process and publishing a piece of work. They have also worked on poems. With reading workshops they have worked on inferring and the author's message. I had a blast every time I was in this classroom, and she honestly made me want to be a teacher even more now.

This was an amazing experience and I enjoyed every second of it!

Give a Mouse a Cookie...

I decided on the book "Give a Mouse a Cookie" because it excites children and is very funny. There are a lot of things that the students could get from the book, this could be predicting what the mouse would do next, concluding what the author's message was, or even writing a new story from the young boy's point of view. The students could do a lot of hands on activities like do each of the activites the mouse did in real life, write down the sequence of their daily life, or even predict what the mouse would do next. This is a fun book and would be an exciting adventure for the class to go on.

I decided to do this book as a literature focus. I chose this because it is all I have seen done in my Reading Workshops that I observed. The teacher I observed does similar activies like I listed above. She would read one book and they would do author's message, infering and predicting, and point-of-views.

Being creative in the schools...

I have been observing a 2nd grade classroom for the past month and I have learned so much from the teacher. She makes learning fun for the students and is always so excited to teach. The last class I went to observe the students were getting ready for the "writing cafe". They had written poems in class and the following day they were to wear all black. The students were going to act out their poems for the class and pretend as if they were a cafe. The students were so excited and I even got a preshow. Everyone was having so much fun, and to think that these students were doing it while learning. I will use a lot of her techniques in my own classroom. Creativity is a key to a successful classroom!

Ms. Kimball's Class

I am observing a second grade class and I absolutely love the teacher I observe. She is not only an excellent teacher, but she is a great friend and role model for the students. I have been to her class during the reading and writing workshops. She is always there to guide their students, but she allows the students to do their own work at their own pace.

Reading Workshop: This was a workshop on inferring. She read aloud to the students and they had to listen for words that they didn't know. After the story was over she called on students to come up and write the words they didn't know. Then they had to use context clues, pictures, and their schema to gather a meaning of the word. And for each word she called on three different students to hear what their interpretation of the word was. Then after "circle time" they went into pairs. In the pairs they had to read to each other and while one was reading the other one had to come up with questions. The trick was that the questions had to be "burning questions". This allowed her the opportunity to observe each student individually.

Writing Workshop: During my visit she had the students write a poem on a topic of their choice. But, they had to use the 5W's, what, who, where, when, and why. Then after they wrote their poem they shared with the class.

This class is amazing because the energy is so high and the students are very well behaved. Each time I have been there the students did not sit at their desks and they were always moving around. And surprisingly they got their work done in a speedy manner and they were in an envirnoment that they personally feel comfortable in!

Write, Write, Write...

I have found throughout my years that writing has come to be a passion of mine. I enjoy free writing and expressing myself through it. I am a quiet person who hold a lot in and can let it all out on paper. As a teacher we have to understand that we will have many students like myself, who express themselves more through writing than any other way. It is important not to put limitations on writing in the classroom, but to give guidelines.

Blogging is a way a new form of journaling. The difference is blogging is usually not as private as a journal is, but is still very personal and informative. I love to blog, but I must admit I still keep a personal journal and that I write my private thoughts in that I will not share with anyone except the paper.

I am super excited to begin writing my book for EDU 300. I believe that my book is going to be about relationships and how they have transformed, grown, and even disappeared. I want it to be about how these personal relationships have shaped my life and allowed me to become who I am today!!