Eats Shoots and Leaves.

After reading a charming little book that I had never seen in my life, it was apparent that there are so many different approaches you can take to teaching kids something as simple as punctuation. This book took a light hearted and humorous approach, as well as adding in illustrations that made the different changes in punctuation among the sentences more apparent. I also liked that when reading these different sentences, changing the emotion or inflection in your voice was a must to get the point across when there was no picture visible. It made me really accentuate what I was saying and add more expression to my reading. After doing an activity with my field experience students where they were to read different passages to me with an assigned emotion, I really think a book like this would also help to get students to change their voice patterns when reading...while also paying attention to punctuation. It's a win win.

Welcome to University Elementary School

As the first day of field experience at University School was wrapping up, I realized I had already learned so much in a short amount of time. I was placed in Mrs. Mori's 4th grade classroom with two other classmates. Since the 4th graders go to specials during the first hour that we are there, all of the IU students placed in the 4th grade were able to take part in the 4th grade teacher's meeting to discuss reading standards and skills. This meeting gave me a much better understanding on things such as the RTI model. Mrs. Mori takes the remediation group into her classroom after specials to work on skills that the students have not yet mastered. Although the time in the classroom is cut short by specials, I really hope to further understand the process the 4th grade uses to assess literacy skills and standards.

A New Outlook on Spelling

How could anyone ever guess that teaching kids to spell had so many different methods and approaches? In an everyday classroom spelling when one is observing, it may seem somewhat simple or less abstract. But, in today's class we learned different. I had no idea there were so many approaches that ranged from sound strategies to visual strategies. When I was in Elementary school learning spelling, I admit it did come pretty easily to me. It was one subject that I did not have many troubles with, but I know that many students do so these methods are crucial in order for these students to succeed. I was quite unsure what the hen to fox method consisted of, but when I fully understood it, I felt that it was a great way for children to learn multiple words while learning their spellings as well. I think that if I went back in time, one of my teachers could have very well used this method...

Let's Get it Started

As the first class meeting for E-339 came to a close, I began brainstorming what I would post on this new blog of mine. I went home and began reading the assigned text, A Writer's Notebook. The first page had me quite confused, wondering why I was reading about creatures being stuck in a ditch. By the second page, I already had a better understanding of what exactly a writer's notebook is from the excerpt: "A writer's notebook is like that ditch-an empty space you dig in your busy life, a space that will fill up with all sorts of fascinating little creatures. If you dig it, they will come. You'll be amazed by what you catch there." As I continued reading, it also became clear the main difference that I could not differentiate between earlier in class- the writer's notebook vs the diary/journal. It's almost as if anything that pops into your head, random or not can be recorded in this writer's notebook. Being prone to liking unstructured ways of life and freedom, this made the idea of the little notebook thing a bit more intriguing. I must say I'm curious as to what the end product will look like, and well.....I might like this after all.