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.