Farewell

You are ready to reach for the stars now and I wish you all the best of luck! Please continue to use the class resource pages: Reading Links
Enjoy the summer! Sue

After Class Twelve

For our last class we will be in room EDB 8620F (opposite the CET), meeting from 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. Please bring two or three of your best ideas for teaching reading to share with the class for our Literacy Fair.
Christine F. also had the great suggestion of everyone bringing a snack.
After all your hard work this semester, I think you need a few laughs. Teaching rule #1 : Always keep your sense of humour handy! (Feel free to post your own jokes!)

After Class Eleven

"The Zoo" by Prajita S., age 10, West Bengal, India. (This is a wonderful website for children's art: Natural Child.com )
We are in room EDB 7610 for the next class, meeting from 1:30- 4:30. (Can anyone play the piano?)
Also, if you are interested in seeing previous 473 classes' lesson presentations, here are the links: 2005-1 2005-2 2005-3 2006a and 2006b. Lots of good ideas here!
Lastly, I've been getting some questions about the Portfolio. Here are the criteria again: I will be looking at the progress or changes you have made from the original three assignments to the revised assignments. Please submit your original assignments (A.1, A.2 and A.3), the revised version of each assignment and a rationale for each assignment. (If you submitted the original assignments via e-mail, you do not need to resend.) The revised assignments should consider the feedback. Each rationale should discuss the changes you made and why, what you learned, what the writing process was like for you, how you might use it in your classroom, etc. If you decide not to make any changes in the revised assignments, please discuss your reasons in the rationale. I'm looking for a minimum of two paragraphs of discussion in the rationale. I would like you to demonstrate an awareness of how the revisions helped you to advance your understanding of the material and/or the process of writing.
Enjoy the weekend!

After Class 10

Hope everyone is feeling much more comfortable now!
Just to let you know, I will continue to post information related to our class on the blog. Your postings are optional from this point onward.
**Reminder: the blog entries/reading logs are due next week, Wed., July 18. Please e-mail them to me or bring a paper copy to class.
Also, the Portfolios will be due in two weeks, on Wed., July 25. I will try to return your third assignment, related to the short stories, as soon as I can so you will have time to consider the feedback.
Lastly, we will meet in the same room next week, EDB 8651, at 1 pm.
Stay cool!

After Class Nine

This is our last blog entry! :( I've truly enjoyed reading your comments. You will have two weeks to edit or catch up on your postings. Please e-mail one document to me with all your dated postings by Wed. July 18. (You should have nine entries in total.)
***Reminder: Our third assignment is due next week, Wed., July 11. Please have a look at our updated class website for choices for the third assignment and the notes from today's class. (Scroll down until you find Class Nine: 473 CLASS NOTES )
Lastly, we will be in the same room, EDB 8651, for July 11 & 18. Hopefully we can take advantage of the deck again.
Enjoy the summer weather!

After Class Eight

Thanks again to everyone for being adventurous and trying out the Writers Workshop activity today. For next week, try and write your own story -- it can be in the form of a short story, children's story, personal narrative, poem-story or other creative form -- I would just ask that you try to put together some kind of story. Please e-mail your draft to me by Tuesday evening, July 3, and also bring a copy to class on Wednesday. (Let me know if you prefer not to share. We will be taking a look at how peer editing works.)
Enjoy the long weekend!

After Class Seven

**Please note: our next class, Wed., June 27, will start at 1:30 p.m. in a new room, EDB 8620 (directly above our current room). Hopefully we will be able to find another available room and can continue to start at 1 p.m. I'll let you know as soon as I do.
Due on Wed., 6/27, is the second assignment, an essay on your choice of topic related to teaching reading.
Again, thanks for such effort and creativity in the spontaneous lessons on reading comphrehension! Amazing!

After Class Six

A big thanks to our second presentation groups. We saw many creative, worthwhile and fun lessons. (Please scroll down below this posting and find the prompts where you can put your feedback for each of the groups.) It was a big treat to see all the lessons -- this class is awesome! All the lessons are now online at: Lesson Presentations It was also great to hear about your favourite books and share our enthusiasm for children's literature. Please post your title and author in the comments area of this prompt.
Reminder: A.1 is due next Wed., June 20, for the groups who presented this week. And a heads up on the due date (June 27) for the second assignment, which is your choice of some aspect of teaching reading that you would like to learn more about. Have a great weekend.

Group Five Phylum Digest

Ackie, Hamid, Jami & Jennifer

Group Six Kindergarten - Friends

Christine H., Denise, David & Laura S.

Group 7 Alliteration

Mollie, Laura H. & Trista

Group 8 Introduction to Comprehension Strategies for Literary Circles

Brenda, Tracy & Raymond

English to Algebra

(Chantel, Heather, Justyna & Gareth)

Thanks very much to the first four groups for getting us off to a great start. To those groups: 1) Please send me your lesson plans asap, b) Your first assignment (A.1) is due next Wed., June 13. Write a 2-3 page reflection on the experience -- what your group did well, what you might change next time and respond to any feedback that interests you.
Everyone in the class should choose one thing in each presentation to comment on. Please put these comments in the proper prompt's "comment" areas.
Lastly, please bring your favorite work of children's literature to share with the class. If you can't get ahold of the book, just recall what it was about the story that moved you.
Hope you are living on dry ground this weekend. :(

Words Their Way - Class 5

Lindsay C., Neha, Sherman & Christina A.

Derivational Patterns - Class 5

Erin, Bethany, Josh & Melinda

Readers' Theatre - Class 5

Carmen, Christine F. & Lindsay G.

After Class Four

Next week our first four groups will present their Reading Lessons. Those groups should e-mail me one copy of their lesson plan on Tuesday. Also, I had one request for a TV/DVD player for next week. Please let me know if there is anything else I should get. Looking forward to seeing the lessons. Maybe we should do them at the beach!

After Class Three

It was amazing to see how quickly everyone put together lesson plans and came up with some worthwhile reading activities for their grade levels. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Reading Lesson presentations in a couple of weeks.
As promised, here's the Hinky Pinky website!
http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/jacob_wismer/leahy/2001/hinkypinky/hinkypinky.htm

After Class 2

Thanks to everyone for giving a "book review" today. Just a reminder that we will be meeting in the NEW ROOM starting next week, May 23, in EDB 7600 (front half). Also, note the NEW START TIME - 1 p.m. (From now on, class will run from 13:00 - 16:50.) Also, if you could bring your CMCM textbook to class next week along with the photocopied chapters I handed out today for our next activity.
Hope everyone has a great Victoria Day weekend!

Link to class notes

The notes from Wednesday's class are now on our website.

http://www.sfu.ca/~smbarber/473notes.htm
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Plunging In

During our first discussion time yesterday, we were each given a picture to use as a metaphor for learning to read. My group had the picture with the three boys jumping off a dock into the water. Two were wearing inner tubes around their waists; one was not. The photo was dynamic and full of emotion and action. Between the three of us, my group easily put together a metaphor of “plunging in” and taking risks in order to learn. In case you forget the details of what we said, we talked about providing the necessary support, doing the activity with others, persevering and trying again, among other things.
I certainly saw evidence of these aspects of learning to read in my practicum, as I’m sure many of you also did. For example, one of my grade four students could read, but his processing time was considerably slower than the rest of the class. In my teaching, I felt as though I offered him an inner tube to support him in doing the same work everyone else did. He was also able to work with the learning support teacher to complete some assignments. During the three months that I was there, I saw a remarkable improvement in his confidence. He is coming to trust the inner tube—he knows that his teachers will make sure that he is prepared to “jump.” And in knowing this, he is willing to take the risk, he is willing to climb over the railing and plunge into the water. Not only that, but he’s willing to try it again and again.

brenda perusse

Brenda Perusse Journal Entry 1 May 10/07
In class, the point was made that the most important part of teaching reading is to make reading a pleasurable experience. This should motivate a child to want to read, and for those children who have difficulty with reading, will give them the incentive to keep working at improving their reading. This makes perfect sense to me because I think it’s human nature to do those activities that bring us pleasure and to avoid those activities or situations that are not pleasurable or are stressful. It makes me think of a situation I had in my practicum where a student with learning disabilities actually risked getting up and reading for the class.
I had been working with the class on a personal planning unit and used stories as my lead in. With each lesson, I’d read a story and then have the students do group activities to share what they took from the story. The students all had an opportunity to write their personal discoveries and come to a group consensus. These were grade 7 students, and they hadn’t been read to in a long time. They seemed to really enjoy both the “story time” and the activities. While reading the story, I’d pause throughout and ask their feeling or connections they had with various parts of the story. The boy I’m speaking of would always raise his hand and want to share some off color remark. I used humor rather than annoyance with him and once in a while he’d make a really thoughtful comment for which I’d thank him.
The really fascinating thing that happened is that when doing a socials lesson, I’d have the students take turns reading from the text, this boy raised his hand to read. It was slow and painstaking for him, but he did it voluntarily. These are the moments that mean so much. To me, being able to read is the most important thing for children to learn because it opens the world to them. My hope is that I can make reading pleasurable so that even the children with learning disabilities will persevere and learn to read.

One Best Method

Thursday, May 10, 2007

We read about the idea of "one best method" or a method that would work best in any situation. In my practicum I was pushed to use an approach known as student centred learning. This method puts the students in charge of their own learning, with the teacher acting as a facilitator. The students are given basic instructions with a supplementary handout and work in small groups to complete the assignment in class. My SA’s had discussed with me why this was important. Some teachers get in a habit of using what is called the “chalk and talk” method, which can bore students into a mundane routine. With student centred lessons, the students themselves become like mathematicians, they discuss math with their peers as they try and figure out a solution. I wouldn’t say this is the best method, but it does help the teacher and students. It allows the teacher to walk around and discover more about the students; it gives more time to talk about life (outside the classroom), and it allows the students to hone their problem solving skills.

Welcome to Educ 473!

I hope you will join me in the spirit of sharing ideas and teaching each other. At the same time, we can try out a bit of modern technology. We'll find out together what a blog can do towards understanding ideas and whether we want to use it in the future with our students.Enjoy!