Learning Goals:
I am not completely sure we are supposed to write our learning goals here, but I do believe the schedule mentions to do this as part of the week 1 blog. For me my goals for the course are pretty simple. I would like to become more adequately prepared to teach literacy. While becoming more prepared I would also like to push myself to become more interested in reading. Normally I would consider myself one who doesn't read. But, recently I have come to the realization that I read constantly. Especially ESPN.com and The Detroit Tigers Official Site! Not to mention sports magazines. In the future I hope to show students like myself that they can participate in reading of literacy in other ways than simply reading books.
Readings:
What can I say that you guys have not already mentioned about the Maple article? It is simply ingenious. I like every part of it. Any response at all from the parents including no response at all can help to teach you so much about the students. Especially if the parents don't respond you could take a sensitive approach to the student and ask them to explain why the think their parents didn't complete the homework and be on their side which they likely may need. Instead the students could explain what they think their parents may have written in the letter.
In the Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning book I found it especially interesting how they took an approach to ELLs as if they were young children learning a language. I also enjoy the idea of scaffolding students and helping them work towards the goal. At first they may need lots of help, but before long less help will be needed and eventually they will be capable on their own.
Finally, probably my favorite article in terms of future usefulness was the Assessing English-language learners in mainstream classrooms. I will most definitely use the Predictability log questions or a form similar to this. To me it always seems like were talking about ELLs, but that is all were doing and it never goes anywhere. With some questions which can be answered it would give a teacher a good base to work with and build off of when teaching and assessing. This type of quesitonare may even be something that could be incorporated with an assignment like we talked about in the Maple article.
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I never posted my goals so I will post my goals as part of my comment. I pretty much have the same goals. I want to learn techniques for teaching reading and writing but I also want to become comfortable and confident with the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteI can also relate to the fact that you don't consider yourself a reader. Somewhere along the way I lost an interest in reading and really regret that now. I have a goal as a teacher to show students the importance of reading because it follows you throughout your entire life.
I can't get over the fact that I don't consider myself a reader. As I look back on it I really wonder where it was that reading no longer became an interest for me. At a very young age I had the drive to read and over the years I lost it. I have some ideas what caused me to lose interest. However, I really hope that this course can some how teach me some ideas to consider where I may have lost the drive. That way in the future I can help students like myself avoid these bumps in the road that could set them off course like they did me.
ReplyDeleteBrad had some good comments on the articles. I particularly agree with Brad about the idea of sending home the assignment to the parents was a great idea. I will do the same thing so I can get an idea of who my students are and what their parents are like. It is so hard in this day in age when everyone is so busy and they cannot meet to talk with their son or daughters teacher. This assignment provides a way to get to know the parents. If they want to schedule a meeting then that would also help to learn about them and their child.
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