Reflection Journal/Blog for Cadet Teaching Week of February 21-24, 2012

This week in cadet teaching I helped kids with their work, greaded papers, stapled togeather book orders, went to the petting zoo with them, helped one to take a test, and helped with certain students in class with notes and such. The petting zoo was fun and I think the kids enjoyed it. Helping the students doesn't really bother me and somtimes I learn something new. Also, greading paper and putting togeather the book orders is fine, too.

Chapter 2: Word Study

In chapter two the book talking about word study. Word study provides insight inot how words work. It helps indentify wich parts of speech they are to analyze their structure and to spell them. Word study is the knowledge of roots, affixes, homonyms, and other vocabulary, spelling, or grammatical features.
This chapter talking about six lessons including root meaning-mystery, parts of speech (clinquain-synonyms)-survival, homonyms-biography, suffixes-fantasy, parts of speech (diamante-antonyms)- the Holocaust, and prefixes-poetry. In the lessons they talk about each have the same stages wich are: teacher directed whole-group insturction, teachers-gudided small-group instruction (student facillitaed comprehension centers and routines), and teacher facilitattted whole-group reflection and goal setting. In these lessons for each stage the book changes too, esxcept for poetry. Word study builds on student's knowledge of language, including grammer and phonics. This will help because at the end it talked about how each teacher also did this with specail education kids, which I help sometimes.
Research-Based Reading Lessons Grades 4-6 by Maureen McLaughlin, Amy Homeyer, and Jennifer Sassman

Journal/Reflection Blog for Cadet Teaching Week of February 13-17, 2012

This week in cadet teaching I helped a kid with comm arts mini quiz, and reading classwork. I graded mulitplication quizzes and helped print off papers for a kid. I also helped with their Valentine's Day party. In comm arts they were doing verbs. I really liked the Valentine's Day party it reminded me of when I was in grade school and middle school. Grading papers and helping the kids can be really fun.

Chapter 1: Teaching Research-Based Reading in Grades 4-6

This chapter discussed ways in which to teach kids reading comprehension. They talked about three stages in which teacher-directed whole-group instruction, comprehension strategy practice, and teachers-facilitated whole-group reflection and goal setting. In stage two you can use teacher-guided small group instruction or student-facilitated comprehension centers and routines. They talked about different ways in which to teach this and check assessment. One activity you may use is literacy centers in which you can break down into literature circles where a group of students with the same reading level and interest in books join to make a group and inside the group there are different jobs and the students take turns doing the different jobs. They also suggest doing cross-age reading with different people like older students, or teacher aids. This will show kids how to read fluently and work with someone older to form ideals and discuss what was read. Also the older one can help the younger one with learning to read and reading tougher text to learn reading. It talks about wanting to include thematic instruction since most kids knows this best from classes before. Also to evaluate the kids fluently and guide them to the best. If they "out grow" the group they are in you can move them on to another. This chapter was mostly an overview of research-based guided comprehension models for the intermediate grades. This chapter will help me with working in small reading groups or helping the kids in reading class.
(Research-Based Reading Lessons Grades 4-6 by: Maureen McLaughlin, Amy Homeyer, and Jennifer Sassaman)

Reflective blog/jorunal for week of 2/6-2/10 2012

This week in Mrs. Wilbers class I helped one kid with his reading vocab on "Heat Wave." He had words like weather vain, seign, and temperature. I also helped that kid on a reading worksheet, spelling packet,  math worksheets, and common arts worksheet. I helped a group of kids in like a study group to get work down that wasn't already down. I, also, worked with a group of kids over a reading comprehesnion passage and questions. I graded papers on spelling, where they had to write the word correctly in curssive three time, and multiplicaiton table. In spelling this week they had words like shawdow, groan, glow, grow, and mild. In math they were working on mean, meadian, range, and mode. In common arts they were doing verbs and the past, present, and future tenses. I really like working the groups the best. Working the kids is fun but hard not tell them they have the wrong answer. The math though I had a hard time because I forgot how to do that. Grading papers really doesn't bother me and is fun and the time goes by so quick.

Chapter 5: Test Comprehension Instruction

In this chapter comprehension is said to be the for reading. Good readers will be purposeful (learning, entertainment, instruction, etc.) and active (use prior knowledge and experience, figure problem and solution). Text comprehension can be improved by instruction that helps readers use specific comprehension strategies. These strategies include: monitoring comprehension, where the kids are aware of what they do and do not understand and how to fix it; using graphic and semantic organizers, pick out maid point or thing and tell info about it; answering questions, teacher ask questions over what they read; generating questions, is teaching students to ask their own questions about what they just read; reconginizing story structure, is knowing how the content and events of a story are put into the plot; and summarizing, summing up what they just read. Students can also learn comprehension strategies. Explict or direct stragtegy instruction is the best used diect by direct explanation, modeling, guided pratice, or application. Can also be taught through cooperative learning. Using effective and mulitple-strategy instruction really helps kids and teach them different ways. Comprehension instruction should begin as soon as they begin reading; do not wait until the basics are fully known and understood. Also, making use of prior knowledge will help teach kids, along with mental imagery. This helps me because sometimes they have reading class when I am in there or helping with their reading homework or late work. It shows the many ways kids learn.
(Put Reading First The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read by: Bonnie B. Armbuster, Fran Lehr, and Jean Osborn)

Chapter 4: Vocabulary Instruction

Kids have four different types of vocabulary listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, reading vocabulary, and writing vocabulary They can learn vocabulary indirectly and directly. Indirectly by oral language being spoken, people reading to them, and reading on their own. Directly by specific word instrution {teaching individuals words before reading},and word learning strategies {refrence aid, word parts,and written clues}.Students should be taught words that are important to what they are doing, useful words for understanding what's being read or spoken a lot and difficult words like words with multiple meanings. Students sould at least be acquainted with words they are using.Word learning include 4 differant kinds: learning a new meaning for a known word, learning the meaning for a new word representing a known concept, learning the meaning of a new word representing a unknown concept, and clearifying and enriching the meaning of a known word. This can help show new ways of understanding the words they read instead of just trying to find context clues in the sentance that explains the meaning or just telling the students.
(Put Reading First The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read by: Bonnie B. Armbruster, Fran Lehr, and Jean Osborn)

Chapter 3: Fluency Instruction

Fluency is being able to read a passage or story correctly knowing when to stop and pause, the correct sentences, no choppiness, and be able to comprehend and while unfluency readers read and have unstructaul rhyme to what they read; they, also, can't understand it. Ways to help is repeated and monitored oral reading. Reading can be good and proven effective to help studedents but silently reading on their own may not be to beneficial since their is no feedback. You can hlep by providing kids with models of fluent reading. Also, if you read a passage or paragraph fluently then have the children reread it on their own like you read it you could help them read more fluently. Poems are the best to teach kids with but you should have them  read a mixture of stuff. One thing that won't help as much as thought is having them do words isolated because it is harder to identify in a book. You can monitor students reading by timeing how many words they get correct a minute, Informal Reading Inventuries, miscue analysis, and running rewards. It is good to keep track because it is useful in evaluating insruction, setting instructional goals, and can motivate students.This can help me when we are in groups reading and I do popcorn I could have it if they call on me then they will have to read it togeather after me until they get correct or something.
(Put Reading First The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read by: Bonnie B. Armbruster, Fran Lehr, and Jean Osborn)

Chapter 2: Phonics Instruction

In this chapter it discussed 5 ways to teach the relationship between graphemes and phonemes, which are the following: graphoemic relationships, letter-sound associations, letter-sound correspondences, sound-symbol correspondences, and sound-spelling. For this to help you will need to teach some groupd togeather like ph can sound like f in phone. Approaches to teaching phonics instruction include: synthetic phonics, analytic phonics, analogy-based phonics, phonics through spelling, embedded phonics, and onset-rime phonics instruction. Reseach has shown that systmeatic and explicit phonics insrtuction is more effective than non-systematic or no phonics instruction, signifying improves kindergarten and first-grade children's word recognition an spelling, significantly improves children's reading comprehension, effective for children form various soical or economic levels, particularly beneficial for children who are having difficulty learning to read, and who are at risk for developing future problems, most effective when introduced early and not an entire reading program for beginning readers. This all summed up means that this program is good for kindergartens and first graders and should only take 2 years to teach. It can be taught any way in classrooms, individually, or in a small group. Also, it is not a full program for teaching, reading, or spelling. For any kids over those ages can use this but doesn't help too much for spelling past that age. When teaching this you need to be able to have kids use it reading, forming sentences, and writing their own stories. Some programs though do not use systematic phonics instruction which include: literature-based programs, basal reading programs, and sight-word programs. Systematic mens the plan of instruction includes a carefully selected set of letter-sound relationships that are organized into a logical sequence. Explict phonics means the programs provide teachers with precise directions for the teaching of these relationships. This help me by showing me how I could help teach them phoincs when we do little reading groups or helping with spelling worksheets.
(Putting Reading First The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read by Bonnie B. Ambrsuster, Fran Lehr, and Jean Osborn)

Chapter One: Phonemic Awarness Instruction

This chapter talked about phoneme, grapheme, phonics, phonemic awareness, phonological, syllables, onsets and rimes. It, also, compared and contrast those. Phonemic awarness includes: indentifying and making oral rhymes, identifying and working with onsets and rimes in spoken syllables, and identifying and working with individual phonemes in words spoken. Some of the ways to teach phoemic awareness include phoneme: isolation, identify, categorizing, blending, segmentation, deletion, addition, and subsituion. It tole about phoneme manipulation, bleding, and segmenting was. It, also, talked about how to learn by his/her reading ability, and that you know the child's reading ability to teach this in small groups with each group containg that level of reading. This helps me by reading with them. I can show them how to figure out  the word without haveing to ask. Also, when they ask how to spell a word I'll have a better way of telling them and sounding it out. It helps me because it shows me a new way that they know cause I was taught this differently.
(Put Reading First The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read by: Bonnie B. Armbruster, Fran Lehr, and Jean Osborn)

Journal/Blog of week 1/30-2/3

This week in cadet teaching I worked with a group of kids on a reading paper over a story like Cinderella. I worked with kids on their papers due. I helped picked out papers for one of the kids to do that was like bell work while others did the class work. I graded papers, too. I helped graded spelling worksheets and test, multiplication table quizzes, and jump start worksheets. In spelling this week they did words like globe, hole, whole, and grape. Their jump start worksheets were over math. The grading was easy. Working with the students on the book was fun and showed me what it would be like to be a teacher when some kids follow along, some work ahead, and some doesn't keep up. It felt somewhat like a puzzle or game trying to keep them all working together. Working with the kids on papers is usually pretty easy cause there is only one or two and they know what they are doing, usually, and all you have to do is keep them from getting distracted and answer questions they might have on a meaning of a word or something.