My Teaching Philosophy

While I still don't know a lot about what I believe, here is a list of things I've learned about what my own teaching theories this semester. 

• Children learn best when they are motivated.

• Children are motivated to learn when there is a purpose for their learning.

• Children’s learning should be guided by their own innate curiosity.

• Children should be encouraged to explore the world around them, and my job as a teacher is to guide this process – not to direct it.

• Children can surprise us if we raise our expectations about what they are capable of.

• The student-teacher relationship crucial. Mutual trust and communication are key to success in the classroom.

Specifically regarding literacy, I believe: 

• Children should both read and be read to every day from authentic, meaningful texts. “The most important discovery that children make about books is that they serve meaningful functions.” (Owocki & Goodman, 38)

• Children should write every day in authentic, meaningful ways with a purpose and audience in mind.

I will assess children using mainly informal assessments, such as portfolios of their work and observation of their activities. I believe that conferencing is key to assessing and teaching literacy, so I will be doing reading and writing conferences during independent reading and writing time with as many students as possible. I will do some formal assessments such as a Gentry Spelling Analysis now and then, I would like to use them sparingly and not attach any kind of value to them - they will be used only for instruction. 

I cannot believe that my time with these wonderful students is almost over. I hope to see them again one day, and that when I do, they've become the wonderful readers and writers I know they can be. 

Guiding Questions Revisited

As the semester comes to a close, I decided to revisit my guiding questions from the beginning of September and investigate what I've learned.

1. Which literacy theory is best for me to use in my future classroom? How will I discover this? How will I modify it to best suit the way my students learn?

I believe that with experience I'll eventually discover a way in which I believe teaching is most effective, and how to best modify it to fit my students needs. I think this is something I cannot read in a book, or as someone else about, it is something I need to discover on my own as I grow and learn as a teacher. I already have so much more of an idea of what I want my classroom to look like in the future (see my next post) because of everything I've seen this year. I now realize that keeping this guiding question was immensely important to my growth as a teacher. The choices I made regarding my instruction of not only Leo, but how I interacted with the children and their classroom environment revealed many opinions I didn't know I had regarding literacy instruction. I believe literacy teaching should be child-centered, meaning it should be based on a child's interests and goals - leading to motivation. It also needs to be authentic and purposeful for a child. Without these things, I do not believe children will learn to love reading and writing, and I think that children who love reading and writing are probably going to be better at reading and writing. 
2. How do children's ideas about literacy and self-efficacy regarding literacy affect their learning? How do they develop this efficacy and can it be changed later in life?

I was not able to focus on this aspect of my guiding questions. It still interests me - but since my target child had reasonable self-efficacy regarding his reading and writing skills (he knew he couldn't read, but it didn't seem to bother him) I wasn't able to examine how if affected him.
(Added October 5th)
3. How do I help children who lack motivation? How do I get a child excited about books and open their eyes to the wonder of reading?

As I learned with Leo, motivation is key to learning. I now believe that children's choice in what they read and write is absolutely crucial to their level of motivation. Leo would not exhibit the same enthusiasm he has for Star Wars books or books about cats if they were basal readers like Dick and Jane. I believe this motivation also comes from a purpose to their learning, and when it comes from real and authentic sources. 

What's Missing From This Classroom?

I think it would be helpful to think about what I want in a classroom by describing Leo’s classroom – because it is not what I want. While it’s not the opposite of the kind of class I want to teach one day, it’s missing many characteristics I’d want to include.

First of all, as I’ve stated before, this classroom does not use invented text. The children are aware of most of the features of print, and are learning high-frequency or “no excuse words.” They also are gradually learning phonics and word-solving strategies, such as “stretching out” words to hear all the sounds. This last technique is the most often used in our classroom and is best described in the next chapter: “Say the word slowly, listen to the sounds, write the sounds in order with each sound represented by one or more letters.” I have seen it taught and witnessed the children using this strategy multiple times. The most important skill I believe these students need to learn and are not being taught is “risk taking” with their spelling. Snowball states, “If children are not allowed to attempt words they do not know, they may become safe spellers rather than good spellers.” (Snowball 11). I am worried that the lack of encouragement of inventive and “fearless” spelling has already had an effect on many students in our class. When the students went outside to observe their playground the other day, they were expected to label their pictures with words. While I saw many wonderful spellings, I was saddened by the many children asking me incessantly, “is this right??” One little girl who I know is quite bright but very preoccupied with being “correct” spelled only words that I knew had been used in previous shared writing lessons. When she asked me how to spell something she didn’t know and I told her to try her best on her own, she ended up switching the word to one she did know. Another child wrote strings of no-excuse-words on her paper that obviously did not relate to the picture she was drawing. However, noting these issues has not led me to a conclusion about what I could do to help them get the idea our of their heads that being “right” isn’t important if it keeps them from writing what they want.

Another aspect missing that is probably my favorite aspect of writing instruction is a Writer’s Workshop. I don’t know if it’s because this is the beginning of the year and they’re only in kindergarten, but my field classroom only has about 15 minutes of independent writing per day. Children can write and draw whatever they want, but to my knowledge, their drawings and labels will stay within their bound notebooks – and will remain the same. I believe, like Katie Wood Ray, that children need to see their work validated in some way in order for them to feel validated as writers. I sincerely hope that some time this year they have an opportunity to further develop their work, and that they will have more time to work on it. I know that my teacher has using a skills-based approach to teaching the children, so it’s possible that more open curriculum like free reading and free writing has been given a lower priority. I understand that skills are important, because many of the children are behind, but I still think that writer’s workshop can be nothing but beneficial to children. They are still writing, aren’t they?

             

Book Choice : Do Students Know Best?

The other day, the Scholastic Book Fair came to our school. The students were extremely excited, running into the library with their slips of paper to write down the books they wanted to buy. Leo wanted Star Wars books (of course) and wrote down several titles, some of which came with a lego Luke Skywalker. While I'm not exactly sure these were the most interesting or enriching books he could have chosen, he was interested in them, and that's what matters.

A chapter we read in the beginning of the year came to mind when thinking of the appropriateness of popular culture in the classroom. Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones: Six Literacy Principles Worth Fighting For, by Thomas Newkirk, discussed the trend children have to appropriate pop culture. They create "permeable curriculums" in which they draw upon their lives, our of school resources, etc. while doing school tasks such as writing. Newkirk makes the point that it is important to allow and even encourage children to bring in media such as Star Wars and items from their lives to school. There is an unfortunate trend for teachers to ban popular culture and material that middle class deems as "low class" or "uncultured" from the classroom. Personally, I see no reason not to let children bring popular culture into the classroom, if it's what they're interested in. When cultural resources familiar to children are dismissed over the middle class/professional class type of "literature," the result is alienating. Children use familiar cultural themes to feel at home in the classroom, and if they're not able to do that, they will feel out of place. In my opinion, if a child wants to read Spongebob books, let him read Spongebob books. At least he's reading!

In fact, reading familiar texts that remind a child of their home life or reflect their interests can be beneficial. Reading from Johnson and Keir's Catching Readers Before They Fall, I came across this quote by Junko Yokota: "Books can be mirrors into our selves, our culture, our life experiences, and our community. Seeing oneself represented in literature engenders a sense of pride." (Page 102). If we want our students to be confident with themselves and their abilities, letting them choose their own books is a necessity.

Choosing appropriately-leveled texts is another issue. I believe that children do not always have to read at their own level. If they are interested in a book, and it's not wildly out of their range of ability, let them pick it up! It could serve as a motivational tool for them to practice their reading. However, it appears that many people don't share this opinion. An article we read the other week, among other things, said that "students need to be matched with books they can read" (Routman, 2). While I agree that students need appropriate texts during instruction, I don't think teacher should discourage children from choosing books beyond their skill level for recreational reading. At this same Scholastic Book Fair, I witnessed a student, very much like my own target child in ability and personality, pick up a book, clearly excited about it. He had heard about it before, as it was a known title, and he wanted to read that book. But his teacher told him, "Can you read that? You need to pick out books you can read." He sadly put the book back. Besides the fact that I think he could read that book, what message does it send to kids when a teacher tells them they can't do something? Aren't we supposed to be telling them they can do whatever they set their minds to? I was amazed at the effect that comment had on this boy, and it greatly saddened me. I believe that he could have read that book, if he practiced enough. I'm sure he would know some of the words in it. And if he didn't, eventually he would be able to.

This semester, I also learned that children like to reread books. The amount of times that Leo has read "There Are Cats in This Book" is staggering at this point, and he never gets bored of it. But he loves it! And he really is learning. Read it Again, by Brenda Parkes states, “During repeated experiences they deepen their involvement in many ways as they notice details in illustrations, internalize the rhythm of the language, enter into a dialogue with the books, and relate the content to their own experiences.” (Parkes, 63) I now know that a revisited text is not a waste of time because it's familiar, and that a student gets something out of each reading. In addition, rereading familiar texts boosts children's confidence, as they sometimes begin to recognize words and "read" them. This is absolutely crucial to their identities as readers. 

Lesson Reflections

After my guided writing lesson plan, I was fairly nervous to get feedback from my host teacher. Not only had I not exactly followed her directions, I hadn't extended the lesson to a point that I believed was enriching for the children. However, after discussing the lesson with her, I felt much better about taking the liberties I did with her suggestions. She told me, "you didn't do exactly what I told you, you made it your own. You took the initiative with the kids and went with your gut." While I know if it had been my classroom, the students would have been using inventive writing instead of copying sentences, I was heartened by her words. It's possible that this classroom isn't quite as schooled-literacy based as I'd thought, and I appreciated the freedom to go further than a worksheet.

Even though my lesson didn't exactly push me to my creative limits, planning it gave me a lot of insight into what I think teaching should be about. Looking at those worksheets my teacher had given me and trying to plan a lesson with them felt wrong. I just couldn't do it. It wasn't fun for the kids, and it wasn't relevant to them. I now know that I believe that reading and writing needs to be interesting and relevant for children. Without this, they are not going to be motivated to learn anything.

Reading Mem Fox's Radical Reflections: Passionate Opinions on Teaching, Learning, and Living, over Thanksgiving break also brought me to several realizations about my own beliefs on literacy. Many things Fox pointed out, I hadn't thought about, but immediately clicked with me. In the beginning of the book, she explores why people write. What drives writers? She investigated her own feelings towards writing. First of all, she discovered that she wanted to demonstrate worthiness to those who asked her to write. She wanted to create a reaction in her audience - these people she was writing for. She used the phrase "ache with caring" to illustrate the way she felt about this - she ached with caring about what she was sharing and the response she was trying to achieve.

After reading this book, I realized what I wanted my own students to feel was similar to this. I wanted them to "ache with caring" about what they were writing, and the response they wanted to gain from their audiences. In order to do this, they need an audience. In this way, writing experiences must be authentic. Whether they are a letter or a story, children need to be writing with someone and some purpose in mind.

This lesson didn't sit well with me because it didn't hold with my own beliefs about writing. It did not have these four elements. If I had designed the lesson exactly the way I wanted in my own classroom, it would have been interesting, relevant, authentic, and purposeful. The students would be writing for someone, if only themselves. And because of these aspects, I believe they would have enjoyed the lesson and learned much more than they ever could from a worksheet.

Final Spelling Assessment

I administered the Gentry Spelling Assessment to Leo once more - it's only been one month since the first time he'd done it. However, I was astounded by the progress he has made.

1. Monster = mostr (phonetic)
2. United = ynited (phonetic)
3. Dress = jes (phonetic)
4. Bottom = botum (phonetic)
5. Human = h_____m (semiphonetic) Leo knew other letters were in this word, but he didn't know what they were so he spaced the letters out to signal something else went between them.
6. Eagle = Egul (transitional)
7. Closed = klosed (phonetic)
8. Bumped = bmt (phonetic)
9. Type = tip (phonetic)

Leo's spelling on the last lesson was almost entirely semiphonetic (one level down from phonetic), with one precommunicative (two levels down). But this time, they were phonetic, except for one semiphonetic and even a transitional spelling, which is a level UP from phonetic. This means Leo has moved up an entire level in just one month. He is beginning to hear vowel sounds, even the correct vowel sounds in many cases, and always hears beginning and ending sounds in words. The amazing thing is that no one is teaching him these spellings explicitly. He's simply noticing and absorbing information from all around him - in the classroom and in the world around him. This is why it's so important to have an enriching environment not only in school but in a child's home - because they learn all the time, not just at school.

Writing Conference 3

Kindergarteners' learning is not usually gradual, but often happens in leaps and bounds. Just a few weeks ago, I saw them labeling single letters on their pictures. But today, they were writing words, some even sentences! We took them outside to draw some observations of the schoolyard, street, and surrounding area, and the results were amazing. I saw long strings of letters, and kids stretching out words fearlessly. I only got a few "is this right??" questions - most of the students were confident with their writing, as they should be.

I was especially pleased with Leo's work. He (morbidly) decided to draw the cemetery next to the school. I sat down with him, and reminded him that he needed to start writing words instead of single letters. As usual, he tried to tell me he only knew labels, but I told him I'd seen him write words before and that I knew he could do it. Then, instead of staying with him to make sure he was writing, I decided to leave him alone to see what he could do on his own. I'm so glad I did, because when I returned, he'd spelled "sun" and "graveyard" in the picture below. Graveyard is the word on the right - it's missing the "g," but if you read it bottom to top, he wrote a fair number of sounds - even a vowel! He read his writing back to me with pride in his voice, explaining that he'd add more words later, once he could think of other things to add to his picture.

Another thing: In morning meeting, as soon as I walked in, Leo turned around and whispered conspiratorially across the room: "I went to the library and got the cat book!" This was easily the best part of my day. I'd like to read more books with him that pique his interest, so that he learns that books can be rewarding and fun. I hope that with this book, he'll be able to foster a greater love of reading - and I really think he will.

Reflection

As I learn more about different styles and philosophies of teaching, it becomes increasingly apparent that I am not in a classroom that teaches the way I would if it were mine. When I first entered the class, I was enchanted by how adorable the children were, how kind and welcoming the teacher was, and the fact that finally, I was in a classroom, and I got to TEACH. But once the initial excitement wore off, I started to realize that I did not enjoy many of the worksheets the children did, copying the same letter over and over again. And a few weeks ago, my host teacher excitedly told me that they were now writing words instead of letters on these worksheets. I couldn't help thinking: what's the difference? These aren't their own words, or even their own letters. They're copying. I don't mean to say that they're not learning valuable skills - many of us were taught like this and obviously turned out fine. But I wonder if there is a way that they could learn the same things in a more interesting and creative way. Unfortunately, I have to write a lesson plan that goes along with this method. It's not at all what I would like a guided writing lesson to be.

However, I'm struggling with whether or not my own ideal is really possible in a Kindergarten classroom. Most every example we've read about, seen in class, or watched on a video has been from at least first grade. The students can draw independently, and write some letters. But many cannot. In my classroom, there are several students who don't know all their letters and have fairly poor fine motor control. While I know that in my own class, I would give all the students more freedom to write independently, it's possible that I would have issues justifying my method to other teachers and faculty, as well as how it meets up with standards. I can just hear them telling me, "They're just drawing!" As a result, I'm interested to see how an older classroom operates and if it would be easier there to implement a more holistic writing curriculum.

After reading a chapter in Kidwatching: Documenting Children's Literacy Development, by Gretchen Owocki and Yetta Goodman, I got a better idea of the kind of classroom I want to have, and it gave me faith that it's really possible. The authors belief that learning in school should be purposeful and meaningful. This is achieved when "children find the curriculum relevant to their personal and social words; own their learning activities; and make choices about what and how they will learn." (Owocki and Goodman, 22) They believe that instructors should let students questions, interests, and ideas drive the curriculum. I wholeheartedly agree with this idea. In my classroom, I want students to feel like there is a reason for their learning above all things. If they have a reason, they will have motivation to learn.

Writing Conference 2

Today, I managed to steal Leo away between the fire drills and other classroom interruptions to have a quick discussion of his work. The students had all completed K/W/L charts (something I've done myself this semester!) about turkeys. I was pleasantly surprised upon examining Leo's to see an apparent random string of letters - he was generating his own text! Once I asked Leo what he'd been writing, the words made perfect sense - in the first column, he'd written "they lay eggs," and in the second, "Do they scratch?" Leo got the majority of the sounds in the words, and even spelled "scratch" correctly.
I reiterated my previous teaching point, which was that I'd wanted him to try and write words himself, and he had gone above and beyond my expectations. I will continue to check his writing for evidence that he's writing, and next conference I think I will work on reading with him.

Kidwatching: November

November 8th
The kids have all gone outside to observe trees with their 5th grade buddies. It's so much fun to watch them interacting, working, and learning together, despite their age differences. They have a lot to learn from each other. On the way back, Leo asked me, "Did you bring the cat book? Can we read it??" I replied that I did, and we could read it at "Read to Self" time.

When the time came, we curled up in the book nook to read "There Are Cats in This Book." We read the whole thing, and Leo was completely immersed. He asked me what each and every speech bubble said, and started to reply to the cat's questions. After the story, he took the book and put in his book box. I was worried I would have to take it away from him, especially when he said jokingly, "hey, so I have this new cat book..." However, I explained that it was from the library, and that I would give him the name and the author so he and his mom could find it there. Once I said that, he took it out and gave it back to me. But if that had been my own book, I'd have given it to him in a heartbeat.

Reflection

On our first meeting before we started fieldwork, our professor Anne Denney gave us this advice, which she said was “the most important thing you need to know when you’re in the classroom.” She said we needed two things in order to set the stage for effective teaching. The first thing to build relationships. You need to show children you care about them, not tell them about it. The way you act towards them each day and the way you listen and ask questions will show them that you care about them. The second thing we need to do is establish mutual trust. This begins on the teacher’s end, and takes time. We need to initiate this trust, and build it by treating children as if what they are saying is important (because it is!) We need to trust them to make decisions about their learning, and give them the time to do this. 

Thinking back to this conversation, I realize that any success I've had with Leo would not have happened without the relationship we'd built. He is very slow to warm up to new people (the first day I worked with him, he told me to "go away and never come back." But today, he gave me a hug when I left. As a teacher, I am going to make my relationship with my students first priority. How can they learn from you when they don't know you or trust you? It seems like second nature to those of us who love kids, but I have seen teacher forget about their love of children because they're so stressed about teaching for standardized tests, or making sure their students are learning all the phonics rules and sitting still on the carpet during long, boring lessons. I am going to try extremely hard to avoid this by taking time each day to enjoy the children and the marvelous things they say and do. 

There are Cats in This Book

This week was fairly unproductive, in terms of my conferences with Leo. The class had a field trip on Tuesday and Thursday was fairly rough, being the day after Halloween. The kids were somehow both rowdy and tired at the same time... Too much candy + not enough sleep = disaster. They didn't do any independent writing, either, so I was unable to talk to him about it. However, I managed to pull Leo aside for a minute and read to him. I could tell from the smile on his face and how he eagerly turned each page himself as I read that he was enjoying it immensely, and about halfway through he started asking me what the text in the speech-bubbles said. At the end, he looked up at me and said, "I liked that book!" I told him that I would bring it back so we could read it again next time, and I'd also bring another one I thought he'd like.

If he likes books like this, I am going to see if I can get him some more picture books in a comic-book format, with features that engage the reader like pop-ups and commands to "turn the page!" etc. Even though we were supposed to be conferencing, I feel like reading to him is just as beneficial. Reading books he likes will build his trust, and show him that books CAN be fun.

Reflection

I have been very conflicted about eliminating my first guiding question. It didn't seem to fit in with the others, and I wanted to focus on how I can help Leo develop his identity as a reader, not my own beliefs. Those could wait, and so far, I felt a bit stumped about them.
However, my professors urged me (after exchanging looks) to keep the first question. They didn't specify why, but seemed sure that it all would come together in the end. It reminded me of The Karate Kid - Mr. Miyagi tells Danny to do all these things that don't make any sense, but later on he has unconsciously become a karate expert. So I went with it, and my question remains.
I was also advised to get some new books for Leo, about space, Star Wars, or whatever he's interested in. So yesterday, I went to the Columbia library. I was getting books for another project, so I picked up a few for Leo as well. I wanted to see if he'd read any non-Star Wars books before I caved completely, so I got him two hilarious Jon Scieszka books, and a command book called "There Are Cats in This Book." It has lots of flaps, energetic and colorful illustrations, and witty text. I hope he likes them! I will do anything to get this kid excited about reading and writing.
I also spoke with Leo's teacher. It appears that his parents are divorced, and he spends most of his time at his mom's house, who works. It's very possible she does not have the time to read to him, which would explain his indifference to most books.

Writing Conference

Today was my first official writing "conference" with Leo. However, I have been having conversations like this with him about his writing all semester. My goal today was to see if I could stretch his learning beyond his comfort zone - he usually draws pictures with one-letter labels. I wanted to encourage him to try and sound out more than one letter in his words. He does not take risks with his writing, and I'd like him to start doing so.

I used Katie Wood Ray's format for the Architecture of a Conference, which starts with assessment. I saw that Leo was drawing a picture of a volcano. He added various elements, such as an eruption, lava streaming down the sides, and several dinosaurs. I asked him when he was going to label it, and he told me that he didn't have to until after he colored it. However, I told him that if he wanted, his teacher wouldn't mind if he labeled it before he colored. He labeled "D" for dinosaur. Now came my teaching point. I asked him, "Do you think you could stretch out that word to hear some other sounds?" He immediately did so completely independently, and was able to spell out "DNSR." This helped me to see that he is in fact able to hear and identify consonant sounds, and needs work on vowel sounds. For now, though, I asked him for next time to try this out on his own. This is the "Clear Vision" part of Ray's conferencing technique. Next time I conference with him, I will look for whether or not he is trying to write out entire words instead of the first letter.

Reflection
The way writing is taught in this classroom doesn't exactly align with my own beliefs. Reading About the Authors, by Katie Wood Ray and Lisa B. Cleaveland, brought my attention to the fact that writing should be specific and intentional. This means that the decision making plays a huge part in the writing process - something I hadn't thought about before. I now see that a child knowing exactly what they want to write and taking the steps to do so independently shows that they are real writers. Just because a child can put letters on a page doesn't meant they are a writer, and it certainly doesn't mean that they are interested in writing. It's still a bit unclear to me how I could facilitate this independence, however. the idea that evaluation of a student's writing (instead of an assessment - by evaluation I mean placing a score or value on it) is harmful and places value or lack of value really stuck with me. I'd never thought of it that way before. Spelling tests and red marks were always a part of my life that I'd accepted as a child, but now I'm questioning whether or not that's the way it should be. I don't think I would want to use these kinds of assessments in my own classroom. However, I do know that what Wood Ray describe as a "writer-centered" curriculum is the one I want to use. That is, a curriculum in which students guide their own learning by investigating what interests them and what they want to know.

Progress?

After reading about Writer’s Workshop in Katie Wood Ray’s “About the Authors” this week, I realized that I should revisit Leo’s journal. Before, I had looked at each piece separately, but the reading had given me the idea to do another assessment based on his work over a period of time. Looking at all his pieces as a whole, and examining how they developed over time would be a valuable process if I wanted to see if anything had changed since the beginning of the year. The book states (p. 140) that children often repeat work in order to feel safe and competent as writers. This is completely understandable – I’d rather do something I’d done a million times that I knew I was good at than try something scary and new. This uncertainty causes kids to do things like draw the same house over and over (what I’d seen a little girl doing in class a few weeks ago when flipping through her notebook - she had nothing but identical pictures of houses on each page).  However, it is our job as teachers to push them out of their comfort zone, and into a zone where they can learn (Vygotsky, anyone?)

            With this knowledge, I saw Leo’s notebook with new eyes. His Star Wars pictures of Yoda, C3PO, and Darth Vader were clustered towards the front of his notebook – what had been the beginning of the year. His most recent drawings depicted other things, such as a Christmas tree, a frightening bug creature, a bear, and an extremely detailed pirate ship, complete with several pirates and even a parrot (labeled with a P). He characteristically told me, “I only need to label P once because P is for parrot AND pirate.” I couldn’t tell if this was a wonderful use of his knowledge of P sounds, or just laziness, but it’s clear that Leo has progressed since the beginning of the year regarding what he is choosing to put in his "writing." 

            

Questioning Leads to More Questions

This week was a kind of “free week,” where we could choose to do another type of assessment on our target child, or do something else. I chose to spend this time building my rapport with Leo, as it’s starting to seem like all our one-on-one time is spent assessing. This Saturday, I attended a teaching conference, and something one of the teachers said stuck with me. She said that above all else, it was important to have a relationship with your students. This seems obvious, but it had never really occurred to me before as a first priority. Now I realize that it makes perfect sense that student trust is critical – to learn from someone who they have a relationship with instead of someone they don’t know is a no-brainer for kids. So, this Tuesday, I attempted to get to know Leo a bit better.

            However, after I talked with him, I had more questions. He never talks about his Dad – is he in the picture? Do his parent(s) read to him? I remember having asked him that, but he answered very vaguely. His concept of reading and mine could be different – I realize that not all parents sit in bed with their children to read books every night like mine did. However, I was again saddened by the fact that Leo does not demonstrate a great interest in reading. This is what leads me to believe that he does not read at home. I will conference with his teacher next week, as she could give me some valuable information regarding Leo’s home life.

            

Spelling Assessment

For my spelling assessment, I decided to use the Gentry Spelling Assessment on Leo. I believe it was appropriate because while Leo cannot yet write words independently, he appears to have enough phonetic knowledge to know beginning sounds of most words. I wanted to see if he had any knowledge of consonant sounds or ending sounds as well. The words on the left are the conventional spellings, and the words following are Leo's interpretations of those same words. The words in parenthesis indicate which stage of spelling development these words indicate.

1.) Monster = MsTR (Semiphonetic)
2.) United = tn (Semiphonetic) He heard the T first, and then the N upon repeating the word.
3.) Dress = S (Semiphonetic) He couldn't figure out what it started with, but he knew end sound.
4.) Bottom = B_______d (Semiphonetic) He left a space because he knew there were other sounds, and the B represents the T sound, as they are often confused in early spelling development. 
5.) Hiked = T (Semiphonetic) He could only figure out the end sound - d/t.
6.) Human = 0 (Precommunicative) "I'm going to write a zero because I don't know that one."
7.) Beagle = B___g (Semiphonetic) Heard some sounds and left a space between then purposefully
8.) Closed = L (Semiphonetic) He said he also heard the beginning sound K, but he couldn't remember how to write it.   
9.) Bumped = B____T (Semiphonetic) Similar to #4
10.) Type = T (Semiphonetic) Knew beginning sound - I'm not sure he knew what this word meant

Leo shows mainly semiphonetic knowledge, but it's apparent that he has trouble with beginning sounds. This makes sense, because his teacher has placed him in the reading group that works on this skill. He was inventive during the assessment by placing spaces between sounds he knew, because he knows that there were other letters in the words. He repeatedly told me that the sounds he was writing down were the only ones he knew, which also shows that he's aware there are other letters - he just doesn't know them yet. Once he has mastered one-to-one matching, he will have a better understanding of the way words look and the sounds that they start and end with.

Leo does have a lot of knowledge about writing in general. Orthographically, he knows how to write most letters (and most definitely recognize them) and has a good sense of directionality. He knows what a letter and a word is, and understands the function of many kinds of writing. He also uses talk and drawing in his writing, which I learned from reading Kidwatching, create meaningful messages. Drawing, which he always does in his writer's notebook, "helps children rehearse and develop ideas for writing, supplies information about characters, settings, and events; and disambiguates text; and it helps others understand what has been written" (Owocki and Goodman). Although he has not yet started to add complex text, I learned that drawing is a precursor to what will eventually develop into conventional writing.

Kidwatching: October

October 9

• Leo has a LOT of pictures of Star Wars in his writing journal. He has not labeled many of his drawings, especially at the beginning of the year
• He shows me "Goodnight Moon." The first time, he flips through the pages and names all the objects, narrating: "You stole my cats! You stole my bowl of sugar!" etc.
I wonder where he got this idea? 
• He flips through it again and tells me to look for the mouse on every page. When I asked him how he knew to do that, he said that he's found them before.
He likes picture search books - I think he'd love the "I Spy" books.
• Small group: Leo is working on the letter N. He volunteers "nice" for a word that begins with N, and the children copy the words on their own pages.
• He writes his "a" backwards and pauses between each letter to look up at the teacher's word list. He writes bottom up, instead of top-down.
• They then draw nests in a box on the page. Leo's is attached to a tree and shows detail.

October 11

• During introduction to handwriting lesson: "I knew it was going to be "Mom" because we wrote that in summer school!"
• Leo and his friend Nick are reading together and singing the fireman song from their class poem book.
During "Word Work"
• "O is my favorite page!" he tells me - he likes the octopus. Instead of tracing the letters, he colors the octopus's eyes red and tells me he has red sunglasses on.
• "Hey, this arrow is showing me the way to go!" (He has noticed the arrow pointing on the letters he should be tracing. Once noted, he traces all the letters on the page)
During group work
• He missed school yesterday, so the others fill him in on "The Log Hotel."
• He does not point to the words they are reading and is picking his nails and staring into space
Does he have one-to-one matching? 
• He still volunteers "No excuse words" during the actual lesson, but did not exhibit interest in the story.
For the record, it was a terribly boring book. 

Some of Leo's artwork

Book Handling Assessment

Leo’s responses are in italics

1. Show book; title covered by hand. “What’s this?”

I don’t know this book. It’s a famous book because it has a badge (points to Caldecott award on cover).

2. Display book. What do you do with it?”

Read it. Sometimes you just look at the pictures if you don’t know how to read.

3. “What’s inside it?”

Pictures.

4. Hold on to a page. “Show me a page in this book.”

Leo is able to show what a page is.

5. “Show me the top of the page. Show me the bottom of the page.”

Leo is able to show the top and bottom of the page.

6. Present book upside down and back toward child. “Show me the front of the book.”

Leo indicates front page, and knows “title.”

7. “Show me the beginning of the story. Show me the end of the story.”

Leo shows the title page and the end page.

8. Turn back to the beginning of the story. “Show me with your finger exactly where we have to begin reading.”

Leo starts wiggling in his chair, and will not indicate the first page.

9. “Show me with your finger which way we go as we read this page.”

Leo indicates left to right, says, “I would read this way.”

10. “Where will we read then?”
Leo indicates top line to bottom line, with return sweep.

11. “Read the book to me.”

Leo declined

“Pretend to read it.”

With me reading every other page, Leo reluctantly hypothesizes what is going on in each picture.

12. Read one page. “You point to the story while I read it.” Read slowly.

Leo does not match spoken with written words.

13. Turn to a page with print and a picture on it. Turn the book upside down. “Can you read this now?”

No, because it’s upside down. And I can’t read.

14. Show student how to use masking cards to close “curtains” over “window.” Ask child to close curtains until they find one letter. Now two letters.

Leo was not able to complete this activity due to lack of attention

15. “Show me the first letter in a word. Show me the last letter in a word.”

Leo indicated both first and last letters.

16. Comprehension: “Tell me something about the story.”

I didn’t like it. Because I don’t like books, except Star Wars books.

Reflection

Last week, I came to an understanding about Leo, one which is probably true regarding many of the children in his class. Leo doesn't like to read - and I have no idea what to do about it.

After our literacy survey, I had an inkling that he wasn't entirely enthusiastic about reading, but this week's observations have given me a fairly solid view of his ideas on books and literacy. He is fairly evasive when it comes to talking about reading. Last week, I gave him a book handling assessment. Trying to get him to tell me about the story based on the pictures was like pulling teeth, and he displayed the same avoidance of the subject matter by talking about Star Wars instead of the questions I was asking him. After reading "Snowy Day, I asked him what he remembered about the story. He said he didn't know, and when I pressed him, he told me, "I remember that I didn't like it." I was shocked. Leo is a great kid, and I know that he's smart, but his response took me completely by surprise. I do not believe children can be good readers unless they are excited about what they read - so how do I get him excited about reading? And how do I broaden his interests beyond Legos and Star Wars? I think children should be able to read about whatever they are interested in, but there will come a time in their lives when they have required reading. This time is when many children lose their love of reading - and I think that's a tragedy.

I've also noticed another pattern with Leo. While he is a good student, and does exactly what is expected of him, he does no more than that. He just doesn't seem excited about learning. It seems that he's mainly extrinsically motivated, which is why he follows directions so well.

These recent observations have caused me to add another Guiding Question to my list - how can I motivate students? How can I get them interested and excited to learn - and most importantly - how can this motivation come from within?

Kidwatching Notes : September

These are a summary of notes over the course of the month of September. My personal thoughts are in italics throughout the notes.

13 September, 2012

• Leo has chosen a class book for his independent reading. He is flipping through "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," and "If You Give a Moose a Muffin." Is this because they are familiar to him? They focused on Chicka Chicka Boom Boom at the beginning of the year. 
• Appears to only be looking at the pictures, due to speed of his page-flipping
• During Read-To-Self, he reads a "Maisy" book, and is also flipping through the pages quickly. He reads it twice, and points to the pictures. He's now staring into space.
• During handwriting journals - Leo self-talks to find the "J" page. He says, "Juh Juh Joe."
• Good oral and conversational skills, as well as fairly high vocabulary.
• During group activities, Leo sits very still and quietly
• He raises hand and participates
• During group writing: Leo writes his name on his whiteboard at the suggestion of the teacher. After he finishes, he looks around and does not write any more. He participates at writing time, and does not have difficulty forming the appropriate letters to label their picture.
• During sharing time: He is silly and shares that his favorite song is "mashed potatoes."
• Being very social today - whispering to neighbors, not raising his hand as much due to the fact that he is busy socializing, instead of paying attention to the lesson. 

20 September, 2012

• Library day: Leo has forgotten his library book at home, so he is unable to check one out. He is sitting at a table and reading a "Clifford" book. I ask him what it is about and he tells me, "Clifford." He is reluctant to tell me the plot details of the story, shows me the pictures and tells me to read it myself.

25 September 2012

• Tells me, "Guess what?? I played Star Wars with my brother IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT."
Star Wars become a recurring theme with Leo.
• During morning meeting: Leo has been thanked a number of times for sitting very nicely on the carpet. Is he paying attention, though? It's hard to tell with him. 
• During shared writing: He is very focused on his own work and follows directions well - raised hand to volunteer answers.  He doesn't usually raise hand for "what does this word start with?" questions.
• Raised hand to suggest an addition to the picture: "ball of yarn" to add to the cat picture, but did not know what it started with
• Volunteered "baby cat" for more detail as well

27 September 2012

• During prediction-focused lesson, he is able to participate in the story.
• He saw a brown image and a claw and predicted the bear in the shed. I'm not sure if he actually did or just said that after he already found out it was a bear, though. 
• During Daily Five: Leo is in the green group, which means he needs help with letter sounds. He is doing a listening activity and following along with the correct pages
• After listening to the story, he can tell me what it was about.
• He plays a letter game and gets all correct answers.
• During another letter game, he doesn't know the first letter or possibly word for a picture of an "envelope," so he checks the answer on the back before he answers.
• During read-to-self: He looks at the pictures, and points to each animal and invents the story, narrating silently.
• When I ask him if he can read it to me, he tells me he doesn't know how to read.
• When I ask him to predict what is happening based off the pictures, he reluctantly tells me, "maybe the gorilla is telling him where to go, maybe they're scared..etc." Why does he start all sentences with "maybe?" Is he possibly afraid of making a mistake? 
• When he comes to a page with many mice on it, hidden in trees and shrubbery, he tells me he's going to find all the mice. I think he's making the connection between a picture-search like Where's Waldo and applying his knowledge of that kind of literature to this book.

Labeling

Leo made this drawing during independent writing time. He's displaying a good concept of labeling his pictures (B for bear and L for lunch - "it's a dead person.") and feels confident about his work. However, when I asked, he refused to label any more parts of his picture. I still don't know him well enough to tell if this is because of a specific concept he had for his drawing or an avoidance tactic. I'm quickly realizing that while he is very good at following directions and meeting expectations, he doesn't often go above and beyond them. I need to investigate this further. 

Literacy Survey

Literacy Survey

This discussion with Leo went well. He is extremely talkative and enthusiastic. However, what he was most enthusiastic turned out to be not reading, but legos. Leo LOVES legos. I wonder if this could be incorporated into his reading? Perhaps if he was given some Lego books, he'd be more interested.

1. Do you like to read? Why or why not?

 Yes.. and no. I don’t like it when it’s thunderstorming and hailing. When it’s sunny and cloudy I like it.

2. What do you like to read?

Toy magazines. With Legos. I have like, one thousand Legos. So many that we need TWO DRAWERS. (Proceeds to describe drawers and their compartments, and which Legos go in which drawer/compartment)

3.Reading at home:

    Do you read at home?

Not very much. When I was reading this book, or maybe it was flashcards, it was when I was three… I thought I saw the word “house” but really it was the word “home.”

    Who reads to you at home?

My brother. But he’s only done it like two times. My mom reads to me too.

   What do you read at home?

“The Poo Kicker and the Ponga Tree” (?) I also like “Clifford”

(I previously observed Leo reading Clifford at the school library on library day. He had forgotten his book that week so he couldn’t check it out.)

4. Do you think you’re a good reader? Why or why not?

Yeah. (Nods) Yeah.

(Leo launches into story about his Ninjago legos, and tells the backstories of several characters. It’s a long and complex story and I was surprised that Leo remembered all of it.)

5. Who is a good reader you know? Why are they a good reader?

Pass

6. Do you like to write? Why or why not?

(Nods) I’m really good at drawing. I like to draw cats and I’m really good at drawing them, and I like cats. I’m good at adding detail like balls of yarn and mice.

7. What do you like to write about?

Cats, centaurian goulash… that’s like an octopus, ninjagos…. But that’s kind of hard.

8. Writing at home:

    Do you write at home?

Yeah… I’m a drawer, I go back in a little place where I draw a lot but I don’t do that anymore because I have too many games. I have too many Legos to play with that I don’t draw

9. Do you think you’re a good writer? Why or why not?

Yeah. I can write ghosts. I’m good at vampires. I can draw a ninja turtle.

10. Who is a good writer that you know? Why are they a good writer?

Smithers. That’s my brother.

11. What do you like to do for fun?

Play with my Legos. My favorite thing to do is play with Legos. My second favorite thing to do is play with Legos.

12. What are you good at?

Building Legos.

13. Do you like school? Why or why not?

Yes but I don’t like it when it’s lunch time because it’s sad. It’s sad because I miss my mom. M         is my best friend. Playtime is my favorite part.

Favorite Show: Ninjago and Kung Fu Panda

Favorite Movie: All of them

Favorite word to write: My name, because I’m good at it. When I was three, I thought it was spelled (spells name incorrectly) but now I know that it’s (spells name correctly)

Guiding Questions:

1. Which literacy theory is best for me to use in my future classroom? How will I discover this? How will I modify it to best suit the way my students learn?

2. How does children's ideas about literacy and self-efficacy regarding literacy affect their learning? How do they develop this efficacy and can it be changed later in life?

(Added October 5th)
3. How do I help children who lack motivation? How do I get a child excited about books and open their eyes to the wonder of reading?

Initial Feelings

This is a poem I wrote as one of our reading responses in class. Filling in sentences that started with "I worry" and "I hope" helped me to sort out some of the feelings I was having about the start of the year.


I wonder about the future
I see the faces of the children I will teach
I hope I can answer their questions
I worry I won't be able to
I feel excited, nervous, overwhelmed
I understand I can have an impact
I can change lives
I want to be respectful, honest, and accepting
I dream that one day I will be


In this audit trail, I hope to discover myself, both as an individual and as a future teacher. I have a lot to learn about my own beliefs and how they will influence my teaching, and I hope that I can come out of this experience a more informed and self-aware teacher.