Kudos for Class!

 Below is a list of my reactions to everyone's first lesson plan presentations!

    Sarah: I loved the books that you found called Jabari Jumps! The small moment graphic organizing worksheets will definitely help them finding out what idea they would like to take further. I am sure students' will really enjoy it!

    Abby: The process that you are planning to take seems fantastic! Starting out with the bubble map will definitely help them to tap into prior knowledge. Also, I love that there are so many different lessons the books can take. I believe it is important to integrate social emotional learning whenever possible. 

    Tiffany: I loved your use of the writing journals as well as prompts that you gave to them. By using prompts like this you will generally receive a better response with student's participation and excitement for the lesson. I think your Unit is off to a great start!

    Lynna: The dust bunny activity is so cute! I loved you idea have working with them on rhyming. As we discussed in class, nursery rhymes are such a great way to accomplish it! I am sure you student would absolutely love it!

    Anna: Your idea of going over the five senses to help descriptive writing sounds great! By doing this, they will have a deeper understanding of all of the details that they can include to be descriptive in their writing. Lastly, the students will love the nature walk and it will hopefully increase engagement! Good job!

    Sally: It's so funny that we both decided to use the book I Wanna Iguana for our lessons! Truthfully I am not all that surprised since we are both creating a unit of persuasive letters and the book it almost perfect! I am sure that the student will get a lot of help from the notecards. Your plan sounds like it will be great!

Thank you everyone for sharing all of the great books to use in the future. You unit plans seem fantastic! 

-Ashten

What is a Grand Conversation?

    Have you ever heard of the term "Grand Conversation" used in a classroom? If you have not, this week's post will explain exactly how they are used and why they are beneficial. Grand conversation is actually a strategy for classroom discussion. The whole point is so that students are the leaders and the ones who facilitate the entire process. While it might seem easy, there is a lot of background work to ensure that students get to the point where they are able to have a grand conversation that is meaningful to their development. 

    The process of grand conversation includes the students leading a class wide discussion. During this discussion, students will be in charge of all aspects such as exchanging their thoughts and perspectives. Also, they will be expected to close out the discussion summarizing what they read or drawing conclusions. Since teachers should intervene in grand conversations as little as possible, there is a lot of preparation that comes into play for students to be able to accomplish this. 

    Grand conversation is not as simple as students exchanging their thoughts. They need to be able to facilitate conversation. To prepare for this, teachers need to give students these resources. One resource would be sentence starters such as the picture above shows. These allow the conversation to flow and gives students the chance to properly give insight to their peers ideas. Another important step is teaching students how to conclude their discussion through either reflecting on what they read or summarizing. 

    Overall, I really like this strategy. It seems like it would be a lot of work to start up but I believe that it would be very beneficial for students in the long run. Grand conversation allows students to see how they can respectively voice their opinions. Also from what I have experienced many students excel when they are able to conversate with their peers rather than directly answering questions from their teacher. 

Thank you for reading

-Ashten

Sources:

Najam, Farah. “Grand Conversations Give Teacher Opportunity to Deepen Content Knowledge.” LinkedIn, 4 Feb. 2023, www.linkedin.com/pulse/grand-conversations-give-teacher-opportunity-deepen-content-najam#:~:text=A%20Grand%20Conversation%20is%20a,facilitate%20and%20scaffold%20the%20conversation.

The Importance of Word Walls

 Word Walls are a key aspect of any elementary school classroom. But what are they and how do they positively influence the literacy development in our students? There are numerous benefits that we can obtain from word walls within our classroom. One way students might gain is by grasping sight words. This is probably the most common way that I have seen word walls used, especially in younger grade levels. Another tool is by creating an area of vocabulary that students can use to refer back to when they might need to do so. Overall, word walls are extremely important to a literacy based classroom. 

 

    Above you can see three examples of common word walls within a classroom. Generally speaking, word walls have an area in the classroom dedicated to them specifically. An average word wall begins with a list of the letters in the alphabet, with enough room in between them to grow. Below each letter you would then add words overtime and place it underneath or connected to the letter that correlates to what the word begins with. 

    While most word walls look the same,  there are also creative new takes on word walls such as the two I have attached above. Even though they are set up in a different way, You will notice that they still consist of the same aspects as the first set shown. In the first image, the teacher has taken your average word wall, cut it out, and hung the list from the ceiling. The second image that I found is not technically a word wall, but I believe that it can be turned into a really fun one. It would be easy to write the letters in the boxes then fill the pouch with the correlating words. There are so many things that you can do with word walls and it is a tool that your classroom would greatly benefit by incorporating! 

Thank you for reading!

-Ashten

The Science of Reading... Is It Effective?

    For those of you that are not aware, The Science of Reading is a balanced approach to reading instruction that was formulated and tested over a long period of time. There has been a lot of controversy and arguments for the best way to teach our students, but in the last 20 years the Science of Reading has become more prominent within the classroom. (Nessy, 2021) The idea behind The Science of Reading boils down to a not so simple equation. This being that decoding x language comprehension = reading comprehension, this can be seen in the photograph below that has been provided by the We Are Teachers website. Each of these areas has multiple underlying areas of content beneath them. Decoding is the process of interpreting words and letters and associating them with sounds. Language comprehension focuses more on the vocabulary and fluency area of the equation. The Science of Reading says that incorporating both of these will in turn give the outcome of reading comprehension.

(We Are Teachers, 2024)

    Apart from the equation, the next largest aspect of The Science of reading is the five pillars of literacy. These are the key components that make up the science of reading. These five components include: phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. These five pillars of literacy ensure that students are prepared across the board when it comes to reading. Below you can see an image from the We are Teachers website showcasing the five pillars of literacy. (We Are Teachers, 2024)

(We Are Teachers, 2024)

    As far as my opinion of the matter, I would say that from my knowledge on the topic of The Science of Reading it is extremely beneficial for our students' development. I love that it showcases the importance of each of the five pillars of literacy and expands their knowledge across the board. While I have not been a permanent fixture in a classroom at this point, I believe it would help to improve my students' literacy development. After reading through many articles I also believe that decoding x language comprehension will in turn have a positive impact on a student’s reading comprehension.

Thank you for reading!

-Ashten

Sources:

Pressley, T., Allington, R. L., & Pressley, M. (2023). Reading Instruction That Works (5th ed.). Guilford Publications, Inc.. https://ccis.vitalsource.com/books/9781462551873

Jill Staake, B.S. “What Is the Science of Reading?” We Are Teachers, 22 Jan. 2024, www.weareteachers.com/what-is-the-science-of-reading/.

Person. “What Is the Science of Reading?” What Is The Science of Reading?, 28 Oct. 2021, www.nessy.com/en-us/dyslexia-explained/how-to-help-dyslexia/what-is-the-science-of-reading.