Project 1 Final Response

Since my first analysis and lesson plan development for my 4^th Grade buddy after one meeting, I have been able to meet with D. for a second time and learn much more about him as a reader and writer.  In regards to ownership, D. not only enjoyed writing the story about the talking cat but he also often writes funny animal stories for his own pleasure at home on the computer.  He writes them in English rather than in Ukrainian because there are not enough letters on the computer keyboard for him to write in Ukrainian (he would need 36 letters to type in that language).  Additionally, he shared with me that he also enjoys reading animal stories, and that he has a gigantic book full of them at home written in Ukrainian that his dad gave him and encourages him to read. 

The idea for this lesson came from Fox (2008) where there are many suggestions for teaching English language learners including the helpful hint that “older children enjoy creating and publishing their own versions of books”, and also to “not hesitate to share predictable books with older children who are crossing the threshold of English literacy” (232).  Goldilocks and the Three Bears has some predictable, repeated lines, and would give my student a structure to that might actually help free him in using his creativity in English as well as fluency and word choice as tnashty pointed out.

The aspect of the lesson that includes the kindergarten buddies is critical because it makes the project relevant by giving it an authentic purpose and audience (Routman, 2003, 50).  Additionally, Routman encourages a focus on language acquisition “not just letters and sounds” (51).  Routman emphasizes the importance of promoting oral language development through productive talk about stories, and through hearing, speaking, practicing and interacting through language as a whole (51-52).  In Routman’s Writing Essentials (2005) she sates “writing for a real audience (not just the teacher) is one of the best ways to get quality writing” (145).

Cambourne explained the necessity of recognizing the similarity and strong connection between oral and written language learning.  This lesson provides repeated opportunities for D. to hear more advanced English language users vocalize the same story, provides him with opportunities to vocalize the story, and provides opportunities for students to discuss stories with one another. 

I would really like to incorporate tnashty’s suggestion of planning specific questions for students to use with each other about their stories, such as his example, “Why did you feel x was the best word to use here?” to engage D. in conversation about his writing.  This again would help his oral English language development which would in turn support his written English language development, as well as support all students in guided deeper thinking into their writing.

An additional detail about D.’s English spelling skills I would like to add following Leah’s Litmus suggestion, is that from what I have seen of his writing and experienced through hearing him read aloud I would describe him as being in the Middle to Late Letter Name-Alphabetic Stage.  This is because he spells primarily phonetically, with correct initial and final consonants and some blends, omits some silent letters, and reads slowly in a word-by-word manner (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, Johnston).  Based on this there are also some ideas for furthering reading and writing development such as holding students accountable for words and features they have studied, and doing simple editing such as punctuation and high frequency words, and even doing some work with vowel sounds and their families.

Myjourneyasateacher helpfully suggested to state why I think the rewriting of Goldilocks and the Three Bears would be engaging for my 4^th Grade Buddy D.  What I first thought of was that it included talking animals and a human main character, which this student said most of even his own stories at home have.  I think D. would also quickly spot places to incorporate his own creative silliness to enhance his own enjoyment of the story.  He described time he spends playing with and even helping his five year-old little brother and I think that the kindergarten buddy sharing aspect of the lesson would be a challenge that still held a comforting familiarity in the experience.  Myjourneyasateacher also suggested allowing plenty of read aloud practice for him, maybe this would be something he could practice with his own little brother at home for some time first, as well as with his table group in class, to aid in the feeling of a safe fun challenge throughout the lesson.

References

Cambourne, B. (1988). An alternate view of learning. In The whole story: Natural learning and the acquisition of literacy in the classroom (pp. 28-42). New York, NY: Ashton Scholastic.

Fox, B. (2007). Word identification strategies: Phonics from a new perspective (4^th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Invernizzi, M., Johnston, F., & Bear, D. (2004). Words their way. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Routman, R. (2003). Reading essentials. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Routman, R. (2005). Writing essentials. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Group Tasks

I had a super-great learning experience in class this week.  My group and I had felt our data story poster was near completion two weeks ago, but upon seeing it again yesterday with only a data table and no graphs, we decided graphing would help others understand the data and our story better.  It took some hard thinking and discussion to decide how we wanted to show phone subscriptions over time to GDP of different countries over time, but finally decided for a reason we couldn’t really put a finger on, that two graphs would work well: one showing phone subscriptions to time and the other showing GDP of the three countries we chose over time. 

Our brains warmed-up nicely as we traveled the room of posters, discussing our questions and thoughts of the data stories as we went.  At one point we reached a poster that was challenging to understand at first, comparing U.S. military and education expenditures to each other.  After looking and discussing further we did understand, and again, didn’t really put our finger on exactly why the graph had been tricky to understand.  Finally, back at our own poster, we saw a post-it question from another group asking why didn’t we put our two graphs together as one.  That’s when I really got it, that we didn’t put them together because if that meant comparing phone subscriptions to GDP, it might imply that one determined the other.  We didn’t necessarily conclude that GDP determined phone subscriptions, we just wanted to show the trends of each GDP and phone subscriptions over time.  We wanted both to be compared to time (as our x-axis) and would have had trouble combining GDP and phones for the y-axis in a meaningful way. 

This group task of the entire process of creating the data story, representing it in a poster, discussing other posters for understanding, and finally considering where others thought our poster could share understanding better, made me really understand an aspect of graphing quite consciously.  It was more meaningful for me to experience why my group and I felt more comfortable sharing our data in a certain way, considering other ways other groups shared theirs, and then thinking about ours again together that my understanding deepened. 

Now, not only do I have a deeper understanding of graphing, but I also have a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the value of group tasks in the learning process.  I will definitely take this awareness of the value of group tasks for understanding with me into classrooms.  I guess I am just left wondering when does the teacher need to step in if understanding is not coming through the group tasks?  How patient with the process should the teacher be?

Analysis of Student Writing and Lesson Plan - Project 1

Analysis

This analysis is based on one meeting with D., in which he shared with me a short story draft, his own personal stories primarily about his pets back in the Ukraine where he has spent a large part of his childhood so far, and also the spelling inventory.

Meaning of the Piece

In the short story D. wrote about his pet cat that suddenly begins to talk, demanding coffee one morning.  The main character seems taken aback by his cat’s actions, including singing, crying, and insults, even calling the main character “dumbo”.  Almost as suddenly as he begins to speak, the cat dies ending in the relief the cat is gone.   Through the main characters’ actions and dialogue the reader gets a clear impression that the boy is quite logical while the cat is not and the interaction between the two is amusing throughout the story. 

Six Traits Assessment

Ideas:  D.’s topic is manageable because it takes place within a relatively small amount of time, from the sudden realization the cat can speak to within a couple days, the cat dies which also gives closure but leaves questions.   Support is attempted to flesh out the story line, which does go beyond the obvious and predictable, such as the cat ordering macaroni and cheese before it dies.  Ideas are reasonably clear although they could show a stronger sense of purpose, such as why does the cat start to talk and what does the main character think and feel about it? The writer’s insight is experienced when the reader’s attention is immediately caught with a somewhat familiar idea (talking cat) but with intriguingly quirky dialogue and events.

Organization:  The introduction of this story captures attention, “When I was sleeping somebody said, “Give me some coffee,” though a few more details to supplement this introduction as well as the story’s conclusion of the cat’s sudden death, would support the story better.  Transitions could be improved, such as “An hour later I came to school but before that I said to my cat to stay in the house”, where the student could restructure this transition and sequence to be easier to follow.  Pacing is fairly well controlled in that the reader can keep-up, but it is still somewhat abrupt, with the sudden death at the end, for instance.  There are effective paragraph breaks, such as an indent and then transition, “An hour later”.

Voice:  The writer does connect strongly with the audience through the intriguing use of engaging language, “After that my cat said, ‘Didn’t you hear me, I said give me some coffee,” and screamed at me.  I said, ‘ok, ok, fine!”  The writer seems aware of a purpose to write this piece but could be more clear with a more detailed and directed story.  The writer does take risk with the inclusion of personal details that reveal himself, such as, “I told the doctor to give me one hundred thousand million thousand five hundred seventy three dollars,’ and Dr. said, ‘Poopy pants, give me that money,’ and I left.”  This narrative writing is personal and engaging.

Word Choice: Improved word choice could help portray accurate meanings and a smoother flow throughout the story.  Familiar words and phrases communicate but don’t capture the reader’s imagination, such as “I can still remember that day like it was yesterday.”  Language and phrasing are somewhat natural and effective in that the reader is able to follow the story, such as, “my cat was saying, ‘sorry crazy boy.’  I said, ‘Stop it.’ ‘ok’, and my cat went to the treehouse.”  This sentence also shows that there is a limited vocabulary and misused parts of speech that do affect understanding,

Sentence Fluency:  Sentences are awkward in a way that naturally reflects awkward speech, “I cam to my cat and said what wrong?  My cat say’s that’s all your felt stuped!!!”  Sentences vary in length and with different beginnings such as, “Then after school”; “My cat says”; and “I came to”.  Sometimes the reader needed to look for connecting words and phrases to show how sentences interrelate.

Conventions (spelling below): Punctuation is often missing or incorrect, “I came to my cat and said what wrong?”  Most words are capitalized correctly, especially at the beginning of sentences.  Errors in grammar are somewhat noticeable but meaning is still clear.

Ownership

While I will need to ask D. more about his writing ownership, during our meeting he shared with me all about his pet cat and dog he misses a lot because they are both staying with his grandparents back in the Ukraine.  While D. was at first shy to talk with me, he opened-up a lot with enthusiasm during this discussion and was somewhat slowed down with his own struggle to translate his thoughts into English. This leads me to believe that between the stories of his pets he loved telling me and the lively story about a cat he wrote, D. enjoys pet stories.

Spelling Development

In D.’s written piece and the spelling inventory, D. has very strong phonemic awareness; he is able to write words how they sound.  His spelling needs some improvement such as “dishis” for dishes, and “averything” for everything.  Between speaking with D. and reading his writing, it looks like he is writing with the accent he speaks English in.

Lesson Plan

Objectives

• ·      Students will extend and refine their ability to write.
• ·      Students will communicate with English-speaking readers.
• ·      Students will write for a variety of purposes, here, to share a creatively rewritten story with a familiar theme.

Standards

GLEs for fourth grade writing standards:

1.   Student understands and uses a writing process.

1.6 Adjusts writing process as necessary.

2.   The student writes in a variety of forms for different audiences and purposes.

            2.1 Adapts writing for a variety of audiences.

Materials

Photocopied booklets of a simple, illustrated version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears – enough for every student and teacher to provide the model to follow for story structure, as well as proper word structures and patterns.

Identical booklets in size and page number, as well as space for text, but with no text or illustrations – enough for every student and teacher, plus a few extra.  These provide the physical structure of the booklet to ease following the story structure of the model. 

Sharpened pencils to begin immediately, with confidence that any modifications can be made at any time.

Colored pencils or crayons for those students who wish to add color to their finished illustrations, allowing students to express their writing and stories with personally (and enjoyably) illustrated contextual clues for their readers.

Instructional Strategies

This is a lesson that could be for a small group or the whole class.  First, the teacher will explain that students are going to rewrite and illustrate the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears for sharing with kindergarten buddies; that this will not only help improve our own writing skills but will also inspire and excite our younger buddies in reading and writing.  This will give an authentic purpose and audience for the fourth graders’ work.  To provide the structure of the writing, the teacher will supply each student with their own small paper booklet of the illustrated story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

To demonstrate the project, the teacher will read the story aloud and then explain her thinking aloud as she models rewriting her own version with illustrations, most likely for only the first couple pages.  The written story provides the story structure and even sentence structure while the writer is encouraged to unleash their creativity to change the characters and descriptors.  During this time students are listening and observing.

Next, a shared demonstration will have the class collaborating in shared writing with the teacher to rewrite a class version of the story, again, probably only the first few pages.

Students are then each given their own blank booklets and go through a guided practice in which they write and illustrate the first couple of pages of the story while the teacher actively circulates and assists.  The teacher will encourage students to talk together and help one another, while simultaneously noting work that would benefit the whole class to see, such as particularly creative writing as well as writing that is clear and has correct spelling and grammar.

Closure will happen as students get through their first couple of pages. After an appropriate amount of time students will share their story beginnings with one another in partners or small groups.  The examples the teacher noticed earlier will be shared in front of the entire class with the writers’ permission.  Students will have the opportunity to ask any questions as a group and the teacher will ensure all students are clear that their finished version of the story will be due with the entire story completed with illustrations, along with clear writing, as correctly written as they can, ready to share with their kindergarten buddies.  There may be additional class time or the opportunity to work on the project at home as well.  Teacher will continue to assist as needed, respond to questions, and acknowledge efforts.

The final event of this lesson will be reading aloud the finished stories to kindergarten buddies.

Assessment

Teacher will assess students’ progressing abilities to communicate with English-speaking readers.  Teacher will assess word formation such as appropriate suffixes on singular and plural nouns, as well as different verb tenses. 

Teacher will assess spelling with particular attention to long-vowel patterns, which this story was chosen specifically for (“three”, “too cold”, “just right”, etc).  

Mathematics and Creative Writing

I just read the article about using creative writing and literature in mathematics classes, and what stood out most to me was the point that not only do students enjoy it while utilizing math concepts and vocabulary in personally authentic and meaningful ways, but it is also a really good way for the teacher to assess student knowledge.  The examples given made it clear that between the written story plots, descriptions, and graphics, students' mathematical misconceptions can be spotted to be addressed in instruction in ways just as effective as well-designed tests meant to identify misconceptions.

While thinking about mathematics and literature I was reminded of the mathematizing literature assignment from last quarter.  I worked with a small group of 7th and 8th grade girls, and I read a children's storybook to them while we stopped periodically to discuss what math ideas stood out to them and what math they thought younger kids might pay attention to in these stories.  It was quite an exciting endeavor as they considered so much of their own mathematical knowledge and fed off of one another's ideas.

I wonder how the 1st and 2nd graders I am working with in my main placement now might use creative writing in their mathematics studies.

Differentiating with iPods

The prompt for this blog is to write about three different students in my 1st/2nd grade main placement classroom, and how an iPod Touch could support differentiated instruction for them.  I am immediately made aware of how difficult it is to select only three students, especially after reading and seeing how many different ways iPods are already being used in schools for all students.  The first student that comes to mind, though, is very quiet, shy girl whose first language is Spanish.  She specializes in staying under the radar and only seems to do the amount and quality of school work that allows her to stay there.  An idea I have is to encourage her to use the iPod application StoryKit, in which she can write her own versions of digital stories on the iPod.  I would encourage her to do something I had heard suggested, re-create the text for one page and then have a family member do another in any language.  If a language besides English is used it will be valued and can be translated by the student or another app so that any family members and I could read what is being written.  I see this as potentially getting her more excited about literacy, giving her space to unleash her creativity in ways that are hopefully comfortable and allow multiple entry points for family to support her advances in literacy as well.

Another student I can see potentially benefiting from an iPod in the classroom likes to "check-out" from most things academic and even social in the classroom.  To help support him in both areas I would hope offering him opportunities to use a math game app.  My idea here is that he loves games, especially computer games, and he does like playing with other students at recess, so maybe he would like playing a math game to increase his own skills and comfort in math, and then, he could teach other students how to play.  For example, one game I found includes lots of basic arithmetic to practice, and another game involves counting money coins, just like we often do in class.  Usually in class other students are trying to help him complete the math he is uninterested in and I think that it would be empowering and joyful for him to reciprocate and help others with a fun game that encouraged learning at the same time.

Finally, I think of a student who is academically much more advanced than many of her classroom peers, has difficulty maintaining positive social connections, and is desperate for more attention, always.  Maybe, when she finishes her reading and writing work early, she could use an iPod app like Dictionary.com to go to students who need to know a definition or spelling and look it up to share with them.  She could become more of a helper to other students instead of someone who often disrupts community learning.

After thinking of these ideas plus so many more for all of the students, the biggest limitation I saw was when I brought the iPod to school and discovered that the school did not have WiFi.  I could not use any of the iPod applications I had been spending so much time researching, downloading, and experimenting with for this class of students.  In today's world, however, I cannot imagine the school will stay WiFi-less forever.  Then the potential limitations shift, and it seems that most limitations would then come from instruction that wasn't effective in using the technology.  If iPods were used to supplement instruction they must be used equitably and I would want to ensure that they were never a substitute for what the entire class community was doing, that they in no way would ever allow one student to be more separate than the others, but that the technology would aid in community learning inclusion. 

Equity and Algebra Tiles

Using the grid frame with algebra tiles to work through multiplication in algebra blew-my-mind.  It made algebra so much more clear to my head, and I don't remember ever particularly struggling with it, I guess I just never understood there was a bigger concept to understand.  After that activity during our last class, where we experienced many different ways algebra can be thought about, the readings, Group Worthy Tasks (Lotan, 2003) and Orchestrating Discussions (Smith, Hughes, Engle, Stein, 2009), really hit home.  Just as described, I needed time to think about an algebraic equation myself, discuss with others, and work through with manipulatives a variety of thought processes to get to the point where the algebra tiles on the grid made sense to me.  And it was the connection I made myself, just as we talked about in class and was discussed in both readings, that x2 is an area and on the grid I could see an actual area.  If only I knew I was such a mathematical wizard when I was younger, well, I'd probably actually be in the same place, but I would have gotten a lot more of a thrill out of math classes.

I must admit, I am still working through the beans as negative and positive numbers.  Is it that you don't subtract because you can't really subtract in real life anyway, you can just move it or change it?  Money doesn't actually go away, it just leaves one pocket for another; apples that get eaten don't disappear, they go through the digestive tract.  Is all this why we don't subtract, we just add the opposite?

Some points in the readings remind me of the Culture of Power Delpit described, and that when we were talking in class and the readings explained having multiple entry points to the learning, it is about equity, so that complex instruction with group-worthy tasks and effectively organized discussions in mathematics isn't just a good suggestion, it is necessary for equity.

Math Questions

Allowing the time and space for students to work through contextualized math problems is what stood out most to me in our class this week as well as in the readings (Reinhart, 2000; Herbert & Brown, 2000).  Space is the multiple entry points good math problems can provide, and I think that by encouraging small groups to work together with a variety of materials even more space and entry points are provided.  One of the readings (Reinhart) emphasized the importance of allowing some time in the beginning for students to work independently and then work together.  I appreciated this point because I think it is an important part of providing multiple opportunities for students to participate.  The independent work at the beginning is more time to think about the math and provide the space for independent ideas to be generated that can be shared and tried out in the group discussion that follows, even encouraging some metacognition as the student thinks about what they know and what they want to know.

As I engage in a mental wrestling match with the iPod Touch, I wonder more about how it can be used to aid learning and I wonder if it can be used as a tool for this larger question I have had over this week's math class and readings: How do we document progress in learning using these mathematics techniques of group work, questioning and communication?  Maybe digital technology can help.  Because when a student is working as a small group discussing and working with manipulatives together, questioning their classmate's ideas as they deepen their own understandings, how do I document this?  Maybe I could record their communication of ideas to the group?  Take pictures of how they show their thinking?  Should I just go ahead and do written summative assessments along with this complex style of teaching?

I definitely appreciate how what we have been studying this week, especially the importance of student questions in their own learning has brought up many of my own questions, and I will absolutely utilize questions as a learning resource and tool in classrooms.