Perhaps I feel rushed to write this blog because of all the homework I have tonight. I guess I am glad I can almost type as fast as I can think. Just felt like getting that off my mind since I have been on this computer ALL DAY LONG….trying to get all my homework done

Visual Scaffolding described in ch.2 gets me to think about those visual learners. This strategy helps those who learn best through putting english words associated with visuals. This is a helful way for students to learn new vocabulary in the beginning of lessons. The wonderful resource of technology allows us to copy and scan visual images on transparencies or on the computer for teachers to use in the classroom. I realize that this is important for students who are learning english for if they encounter a word they will know the meaning by a picture that may pop up in their heads.

Imaging can really help students understand word problems in mathematics. Perhaps a situation that can be read outloud to a students as they close their eyes and try to picture it can help job some mathmetical knowledge that can help to solve a problem associated with the situation. Descriptive words really help the students to visualize what is going on like a good book would. As you read it, you try to envision what is going on in the story. This same thing happens in imaging.

After reading these chapters I think that as a teacher  I will help students understand how to read and write math. Even though I have to teach certain content, I think that in order for my students to be successful in math they will need to learn like a whole other language. The language of math is very complicated and unless you know the terms of it its hard to even understand how to do math word problems. I know I struggled with it and thats how I can connect with my students. Let them know that they are not alone, that i struggled with math at times. This was my situation “The students know how to do the math, they just don’t understand what the question is asking.” Mostly this happened to me during tests or quizzes. I knew how to do certain tasks but that was no use if I didn’t know what I had been asked to do. Reading this chapter also made me think of all the math text books that I have had. It seems that it would be hard to write a math text book that even made the vocabulary, illustrations and symbols easy to follow. I don’t think I would ever want to write one because I would be so boggled with making sure that when someone reads the book they would be able to understand and follow along and not get lost in the pages. I think that there should be a course that offers to students the chance to understand reading and writing the language of math at their particular level rather than how to do calculations. This way the students will be able to know how to solve a problem because they will be able to understand what the problem is asking for.

 Chapter 8

Chapter 8 of 50 Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners made me think back to the vocabulary self-awareness strategy. Since areas in academic language are different from what is known as social language, it is important for students to learn vocabulary associated with a lesson first so that the students can better understand what is being taught. This is where a vocabulary self-awareness chart is helpful so that the teacher can also get a sense of what vocabulary the students already knows. The educator must also walk aournd the room and guide and monitor the learning that is going on. this makes me think of the importance of the layout of the classroom fitting the lesson becuase it students are going to be in groups a lot perhaps the furniture that is in the classroom shouldn’t be single desk but round tables that allow the teacher to walk around all areas of the classroom. This layout was used for my seminar class during high school. It really was beneficial because the teacher wasn’t always in front of the classroom (boring!) and was walking around and making sure we stayed on task. Learning academic language can sometimes be confusing expecially in the world of math. Something that is brought to my mind was in chapter 1 of Literacy Strategies for Improving Math Instruction talked about a Hispanic immigrant with limited English skills who thought that whole numbers were those numbers such as 6,9, and 10 that to form them we used sticks and holes. This struggle to make meaning out of the meaning of words is what can make academic language confusing because a student may know the meaning of a word in social language but then in academic language is means something different. This is why it is important to sure students know that there can be two or more different meaning of words depending on the content and situation.

Chapter 43

As I was reading this chapter I thought about the first few days of class last semester when we underlined main ideas, examples, and words we did not know of a text. in order for students to understand how a paragraph works perhaps the educator could also have students underline parts of the paragraph in different colors. These could be the topic sentence, verbs, nouns, capital letters, periods, supporting details, etc. The students will then understand that a paragraph is written as sentences that connect as a cohesive whole. The examples shown in this chapter illistrate a way to have students understand if they are using pronouns correctly. This made me think of something else that could be done. Have students write a paragraph and have another student read it and see if there is any questions that are asked about who is doing or saying what in the paragraph. If the students knows that the pronouns were used correctly. If the sentence sound repetitive then the student didn’t use enough pronouns.

I was able to trade in the Daniels and Zemelman English book for the Math Instruction one. The Math one was cheaper so I was able to get a refund back of $5 (put into a gift card since didn’t have credit card used to pay). Chapter 3 talked about writing in the mathematics classroom which is something that I feel is important. It seems like it would be difficult but after reading this chapter I can see how writing can be very important and not so hard to incorporate into the math classroom. After reading the first section that described the benefits of writing, I began to get excited because that is how I absolutely feel about this blog. Its a chance for me to write and write and write and although I’m typing that is even a plus because I get the chance to write down my thoughts faster than just handwriting them. The author stated, “We can revisit our written thoughts until we can build upon them. Although I start with an overall plan when I write, I do not know where the ideas and words will take me until the process of writing drags them out of me.” I feel exactly the same when I am writing on this blog. I can always go back and add more whenever I want and organize them on my blog wherever I want. As i continued to read I was glad that math is now looked at differently. Growing up my classmate didnt really care about math and viewed it as hard and a waste of time for they could not make connection to math and how it fit their lives. Technology is now growing and so people who are not good in mathematics may not be able to adapt to this kind of change. Math is beginning to be view less as, “a series of arithmetic calculations” and more as”the science of order, patterns, structure, and logical relationship”….The term logical relationship makes me think of logic in math class where this concept can be related to sentences in the English language i.e “I will pass Literacy class if and only if i write a blog about my reading every week” This is a statement that can either be true or false. This same logic is used in math and it makes me see how other subjects are related to math. After reading this chapter I have realized that writing is very beneficial for students to learn math. It provides a measure of student performance, lets the teacher know what type of learning experience to present next, can prepare students for tests, gets them thinking about solving a problem before they do it. These are just some.

What better way for students to take a test when its one they have written the questions for themselves. Its a new way of assessing a students knowledge and incorporating writing into it all at the same time. I think I want to use this strategy for when i am a teacher. It makes creating a test much easier for I wouldn’t have to guess as to what the students know. This kind of assessment makes me think of what the purpose of a test should be. Should it test what the students should know or be kind of easy and just have stuff that the teacher knows the students knows. I know see writing as not just another thing for teachers to have to do in the classroom but a helpful tool in math that can be beneficial in the learning of math and students actually retaining the information!!!

 Chapter 11

As soon as I started reading this text, I began to think back of times that I have struggled with math word problems simply because of my lack of background knowledge of what the problem was describing. I couldn’t create a picture in order to apply math concepts in order to solve it (or a mental picture). This is the problem in many word problems in math. Some use certain vocabulary words of other subjects and topics that require you to know their meaning in order to solve. This relates to the reading because the students were not experienced in seeing falcons dive for rabbits. Did the students know that the falcon was a bird? Either way the students described in this chapter could not picture the situation. For the many situations similar to this is why teachers need to not only be teachers in their subject area but also in other subjects as well. This is why I have made it so dear to my heart to incorporate literacy into my classroom once I am a teacher. Just because I will be a math teacher doesn’t mean that I won’t need to be a reading or writing teacher a long the way.

Who would of thought that reading needed to be engaging for students to understand what they were reading? Who would of thought that students needed to practice reading in order to become more effective readers? I am glad that I along with the many people in this world have realized this and we can now help those struggling readers not be so shy and actually begin to enjoy reading because imagine how much more students can learn from just reading books they enjoy reading.

Important quotes that I liked from this chapter, “I’ve been where you are. I know what it’s like. But I’ve learned and improved, so you can too.” and “The only excuse for not turning in homework is if I don’t call you back.” and “Supportive is not the same thing as easy.”

In the chapter, it talks about think aloud, which I see as very effective. What better way to teach a students how to do something than to model it for them. When I read this section I thought about what students can do as they are reading something. They can do something that I am doing now and write down whatever comes to there mind as they are reading. If it doesn’t relate to the reading then it is time to get focused and reread if they need to. I just thought of this and started writing about this idea based on what came to mind as I read.

Chapter 12

So I’ve noticed while reading this chapter that reading has become more important than ever. Especially for kids to read a wide range of materials in all classes. So as a future teacher I not only need to have the student writing but also have the students reading. Not just from a standard textbook but from newspapers, magazines, books, etc. it is essential for developing vocabulary. “It is estimated that students normally learn vocabulary at the rate of 3,000 to 4,000 words per year, adding up to 50,000 words or more by the time they finish high school.” WOW!….That’s a lot of words. It makes me see that reading is an amazing thing. Reading should also be seen as not only for information but for pleasure. I feel that I read more for information rather than for pleasure theses days. I think that I should go buy a book right now that looks interesting and start reading. The last time I read a book for pleasure was when I was about 14 or 15 and I was in Puerto Rico for two weeks and read the book “Me, Myself, and Irene” from the movie staring my favorite actor Jim Carrey. I feel like it’s time for another pleasure read….seeing is that it’s definitely been awhile.

Something struggling readers might like to hear “Learning improves as they have more success reading.” If a students wouldn’t want to be challenged by reading the harder text, then reading the easy text would just improve there reading, so students who struggle can read text that is at there level…enjoy reading it…because they can read it…improve there reading….and start reading challenging text!…This is so awesome to know!

I totally agree with this…”Thoughtful literacy means elaborating ideas, recognizing implications, and gaining a sense of the larger meaning carried by particular information”

Hello Everyone,

      Another semester went by so fast and my vacation came and went. I decided to keep people posted on my learning through continuing to blog because this website is awesome. I am type as much as I want and pretty much say anything. The Charlton Book that we had to read this week was for informative. I made me realize another task teachers would have to do in the classroom….observe…observe….observe. I learned that as a teacher that I must engage in effective listening. This is the first step in getting to know the students. The most important thing that a teacher should do is get to know their students, what better way then to have lessons be more engaging when they include the interests of the students. There’s no way you are going to find the interests of your students unless you listen to what they have to say and you get to know them. In the book, I thought it was a good idea to use September Notes in the beginning of the school year. These are notes about each of the students in your classroom. These notes give information about what the students is able to do and what type of person the student is. I definitely would like to use these type of note taking especially since I will have so many students to get to know. It may be even difficult to write notes about every student so I think i would also focus on activities that have the students get to know me and their peers.

I notice something strange in the book, I wasn’t sure what the author was doing but I think I know what it could be. If you look on page 24 on the book, there is a paragraph titled “Reading increases in power and flexibility the more is is practised”….key word that I noticed is how practiced is spelled (look how I spelled it in the quote). Is is spelled wrong? Did the author intentionally do this because she herself was writing about the more we read the better readers we become. Or is this just a typo that I just made some connection to what the author was talking about like the sophisticated person that I am? Any ideas people?? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

I think teachers have the hardest jobs these days with all the school closings and expectations of them to create worthwhile lessons and to establish discipline in the classroom. Now after reading this book, there is another important aspect of teacher and that is what the book calls, “Noticing, Searching, and Checking.” Plain ‘n simple…but not so plain and simple. When we are having students read we should be observing and look for evidence of how a student is approaching the text. If there are reading aloud that you are looking to what the student does when he or she reaches a word they do not know. Do they skip it? Do they try to sound it out? Do they substitute with another word that makes sense or sounds similar? These are all questions that we should be looking into when observing our students when they read.

This chapter examines the view of children’s literature (picture books) as a respresentative of traditional print texts and visual text. It pay attention to the writer and the illustrator of these books to create the many meanings that can be seen when reading the book. The illustations and what is written can contradict each other and is no longer seen as a book for students of young ages but also of older ages. For example, books would not view a princess as having blnde hair blue eyes for it would not show those illustration. Another example would involve the book would tell a fairy tale but does not have a happy ending. This is a good idea for books to do, because as students learn from reading these books, they will be learn of the bias view of a princess being pretty with blonde hair, blue eyes. They would learn that the person could have any color hair or any color eyes to be considered pretty. Another thing that these new types of literature do is have the reader guess what has happened to a character. THis is also a good thing to have because the reader will then we brainstorming what could of happened to that character and use information from the book to figure if he or she is correct and would use their imagination. The chapter also explains that these books also change the style of the book itself and gives the reader a new perception about reading a book. For example, the book could be divided into quandrants or sections and each section that tells a different but connected story. This is particularly my favorite because it teaches students that there are more than one side to the story and more than one perspective of it. All these ways of changing to literature encourage the reader to come up with many meanings with reading the book. These metafictive devices help the reader’s literacy. This is because the reader is more engaged in the book and is often challenged. It opens the students eyes to the possible perspectives of a story and is not only for young children but now can be read by older students. It is therefore an advantage to reconsider reading picture books to students in the adolescent ages. They can just be as engaged in the book then those cute younger minds.
The next chapter examines the importance of semiotic systems in order to make meaning out of texts. Semiotic systems are aspects of text that help to convey meaning of it. For example, some semiotice systems of print text would be sight vocabulary, phrase, clause, parts of speech, among others. This is important for a teacher because he or she can see how certain texts are produced and how they contribute to defining what they and their students see as reality. Text was once defined as meaningful units of written, or print, language. But now text is more than just written. It can be visual and multimodal. Visual text can be seen as images that are moving or not moving. It is important to know in what ways the students are literate. They could be coming into the classroom with a background in media and technology literacies. This could happen way before they become print literate. Some semiotic system of visual texts specifically moving images are camera angle, lighting, gesture, setting and dress. It is important to therefore have a balance of text in the classroom and that they reflect the lives of the students. In many students lives they use still and moving images in their everyday lives and it is important to incorporate that in the classroom.
I think that reading books of all levels is important for any grade level and content area. the books that are chosen can give new perspectives to the content area or story. Now that there are new types of books that change the actual semiotic systems of the book, we can also see new meanings being made in the book we read. This is why it is also key to include knowledge about semiotic systems into the classroom so that the students and the teacher can see how these things contribute to their meaning to the text.

p.s. Want to see two lesson plans that I wrote? Go under “My Website” on this blog site under “Cool Site.” I also have a Lesson Plan that I taught in my Math Methods Course this semester located under “Pages”

This weeks article was most appropriate for me to pick because Thanksgiving is coming soon. It’s time to start gathering our turkeys to feast on. The article from New York Times that sparked my attention was about hunting for turkeys and not having to hunt for them in order to get one. These article basically describes the sources of getting Farm-Fresh Turkeys. These farms raise thousands of turkey every year and have been doing it for many decades. I learned that raising turkeys are expensive and buying fresh farm ones can cost up to seven dollars per pound. At some places people can also put a deposit to buy a turkey for next Thanksgiving. This information provides the fact that not everybody has to be a turkey hunter in order to get fresh farm turkeys. Unfortunately I don’t think there are any close to this region (listed in the article anyways).

To view this article go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/11dinenj.html?ref=nyregionspecial2

In writing about the Frankenstein Conference, I kind of have a different perspective on it since I was one of the presenters. Although I was nervous speaking, I did enjoy participating in it. On the other hand, it didn’t seem as though my classmates enjoyed it as much. Maybe because it wasn’t as engaging as it could of been. They were just listening to us talk which I can see can be boring. It had probably been a long day for everyone, I know it was for me. I liked that each person who presented had a different outlook on the book and presented differently than me. I think I should of did a powerpoint as well, which wouldn’t have taken much time since I had created one for when I took the course with Dr. Bloom. I enjoyed listening to her part of the presentation, but I think it was kind of long. Certain I didn’t really pay attention to because I wasn’t actually sure what she was talking about. After this conference I learned many things about the book and can see it in a new light from all the presentations. I’m glad I was able to revisit the essay I wrote (which you can see the full version here under my pages). I reread the whole thing before the presentation and thought it was pretty good (as a grade I got i think a B+) I hope that I can do something like this again.

The article that I decided to write about is more political than education based, which is something new for me to talk about. This article talks about the campaigne Hilary Clinton was in last week and the issue of sexism. The people who are in support of Hilary Clinton say that the questioners are “piling on” on the debate. I guess she was being atacked by the questions for two hours and people are arguing that the questioners were being sexist. Mrs. Clinton’s opponents countered that Mrs. Clinton was resorting to using her sex as a shield against substantive criticism in a hard-fought race. This brings about the questions of if a woman is leading the Democratic field, should she be treated any different from her rivals (males)?

Mrs. Clinton denies playing the gender card in terms of as a woman she should be exempt from the traditional “rough-and-tumble of campaigns.”

“Mrs. Clinton has embraced the idea that she might be the first woman elected president, and has celebrated her candidacy in historic terms — young girls at her rallies are regularly seen wearing “I can be president” buttons provided by the campaign.”

This article made me think about this issue of having a female running for president. Could it be that because she will be the first woman president (awesome regardless) that maybe votes will be altered so that without a doubt she will become president and the a reason for this is because she’s female?? That’s just a question that ran through my head, after reading this article. I think that gender shouldn’t be an issue or something that is negative about her running for president, but rather something to be embraced. If she becomes president is making history, she will be forever known in our history books which motivates me to vote for her, but could that be the only thing that some people are paying attention to and not what good or bad she could do for the country? People that are in support of her, my peers, make sure that you look at what she is for and against, she might make history but is she the best for our country?….we’ll have to do some research.

To see this article go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/us/politics/05memo.html?ref=us