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Digital Literacy

The civic and civil dialogue video was a deep and conversational analysis of an Obama campaign speech. I appreciate how the student defended her position and used the critique of others to further her description of the event instead of running off topic to discuss policy. Our politicians could learn from her analysis.

The Oakland State of Mind video was thought provoking for me. The widespread popularity of the Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s hit makes this not only applicable but also engaging for students. They learn from pop culture, so why shouldn’t we use that influence to show them the good in it and use pop songs to teach. The youth of Oakland will never forget producing this video. Assignments like that are what engages students today.

Likewise, simple things like the blog posts would be so easy to accomplish in a classroom. The classroom where I taught in NZ had a class blog. The students were a 5-6 year old combination class, so the blog was updated by the teacher. The students maintained choice about what was published and the captions/blurbs/etc. This scaffolded blog approach allowed the students to receive comments on their work even though they were mostly too young to independently type everything they wanted to say.

Digital literacy is such a fascinating topic of study because I see future classrooms heavily integrating technology into daily activities. I’m pumped and terrified to see this progress.

Struggling 5-7 and CCGPS (3rd grade)

The different theories on effective spelling have always fascinated. I have a friend who writes and receives grants for his profession, but he is a terrible speller. He is extremely articulate and loves to read. When it comes to spelling, he really struggles. Thus, he has several people read his writing before the submission deadline.

Invented spelling: It's hard for some writers to use made-up spelling because while they know their spelling is incorrect, they are unsure how to correct it. This is an effective strategy if writers have the skills and patience to go back and discover the true spelling of the words they invented. Oftentimes that is a frustrating practice which does not build the confidence poor spellers need.

The analysis on page 117 about how "Good spellers have a sense of spelling as a system" illustrates the massive struggle writers have to learn spelling conventions. It's hard for me as a teacher to keep a lighthearted, "This is one of those words that doesn't quite fit the normal rules" attitude when I watch students become increasing irritated when they learn their spelling of a word was once again incorrect. I fight to show them that as long as the reader understands his/her message, the spelling can just be a part of our editing process. I also try to encourage them that we all have weaknesses, and they simply need to allow enough time to figure out the spelling after the ideas are fully formed.

The CCGPS standards for 3rd grade were interesting for me to read. I moved from being a 3rd grade paraprofessional last year to a 5th grade long-term substitute at the beginning of this year. The shifts in 3rd grade curriculum were subtle. Students will still produce writing from the narrative, persuasive, and informational genres. However, there are more specific guidelines as to the effectiveness of their pieces. For example, in narrative writing they should "establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters." Narrators were not included in last year's writing. In general, I feel the standards are more sequential and build on each other throughout the year in a more logical way. The expectations of teacher/student knowledge is explicit which I appreciate. Honestly (and not to have a cop out answer), I would have to teach with the standards for a month or so to really judge them effectively.

Struggling Writers Ch. 1-4

I completely agree with the authors’ point that writing instruction should be frequent, intensive, explicit, and individualized. So many teachers assume that writing workshop is a hands-off time where writers sit wherever they want and write whatever they want with no accountability. This is just not true. I would argue that writing workshop is more hands-on because you as the teacher are meeting with each child at an appropriate level for them.

I started the list on page 6. This would make a great mini-lesson on the purposes for writing. While reading the suggestions, I saw a poster titled, “Why do we write?” If given enough think time and maybe prompted with some well-phrased questions, the students could come up with most of these reasons. If they have ownership over their purpose for writing and a voice in their writing, I see all writers succeeding at a higher level.

I also really appreciated the sample lesson plans. Sometimes writing workshop seems very complicated and chaotic. Reading her plans assuage several fears and inspired me to embrace the idea of empowering writers to create in their own way.

Ladybugs 9-10

The simplicity of making connections is my favorite thing about teaching. I love when a student blurts out their connections because they are so excited they can’t keep it inside. I don’t like the blurting, but I thoroughly enjoy when students understand the connectedness of our world. Social studies is often a time when students see the network of knowledge. The idea of leading them through guided inquiry projects excites me. Maybe I’m naïve because I haven’t experienced 160 days with the same students, but the potential of classroom set up in the Ladybug lounge way with students discovering and exploring topics of their choice is thrilling. Portfolios of student work and the other assessment ideas seem so logical. I’m drawn to the simplicity of this organized chaos and look forward with anticipation to the day I can foster this kind of learning with my own students.

Ladybugs 5-8

I LOVE teaching with "I wonder?" posters. This idea is something I learned my first time through Ladybugs and found to be highly effective. I recently started a Civil War unit with my kids with an “I wonder?” poster on the SmartBoard. Throughout the few weeks I taught the class, we added questions. When we were reading, doing group projects, or researching through independent study, they took notes of answers they found along with page numbers. We added their answers to the SmartBoard document. If they had other questions, we wrote them on the Board as well. At the end of my time in that classroom, I glanced through the document and had a WOW! session of all they learned. It was a fantastic organizational strategy.

Alexia’s Starfish on page 97 was such a personal example. I was a parapro in third grade last year. I rotated between the five 3^rd grade classrooms and provided an extra set of hands. One of the classrooms was the ELL room, and I saw my students’ faces as I read this example. We did a similar project with animals. They chose an animal, did some research in the library, and created a brochure. While this wouldn’t be my first choice of products, I remember watching the bilingual students whisper in Spanish about how to write their sentences in English. I wish. I wish. I wish! I could have led the students through that project. It has such potential, but the highly-control brochure was really difficult for them.

Ladybugs 1-4

These chapters had so many ideas I cannot wait to use in my classroom. The use of thumbs on your chin instead of raising hands is brilliant. I often will call on students who raised their hand simply because they saw other students raising their hands and didn’t want to be seen as not knowing the answer. The only potential issue was that I might not see the thumbs of some students. It is similar to the issue of kids who raise their hand at chest-level though.

The dialogue on page 48 was so inspiring. I was thrilled to see how the teacher used a common occurrence (students making something and wanting to show it off) to scaffold her writing by encouraging her to immediately seize the moment and write a short story. This “teachable moment” can be life changing for students. 

Even the way the teacher said, “You know how to end a sentence, so you can do that yourself” empowers the child to independently write what she can without the expectation that the teacher will do it for her. It is a fairly common struggle for teachers to patiently wait for a student to write something that the teacher could write much faster (like fixing punctuation). HOWEVER... speed and efficiency is not the point of teaching! We already know how to write exclamatory sentences, so taking over a student's work is counterproductive! If a student can do something, take a step back and let them do it. [mini-rant over]

I also enjoyed reading the chapter on launching readers. Although not much was brand new information, I like the reinforcement of ideas/techniques. When authors I trust agree with each other, I feel more justified in my pedagogy and more certain of the expression of these ideas to administrators.

Ray 14, 15, 17, 19

The chapter on conferences was so enlightening, especially the idea that we “can’t plan ahead” because a conference is “in response to” the student’s work. It goes back to our pride as a teacher and the “rightness” of teacher. It’s reassuring that I can just take my “small fist” and as the student’s work develops so can my knowledge to challenge them further because “everyone needs teaching”.

Instead of having a classroom of writers, I want to be part of the group of writers. The perspective that we are all writers and can help each grow is powerful for students (and teachers too!) in a world of changes. Where else do they hear “Your work is valuable and worth paying special attention to”?

I really emphasize character in my classroom. Instead of saying, “I can’t write well” I teach (or try to teach) my kids to ask who/where they can find help for their “I’m stuck” moments. Ray says that when she makes the rounds doing conferences, her students know that “if they run into difficulties, they will just have to solve them on their own.” That’s awesome, and I follow that principle as well. However, what do you do with the student who sits for the entire writing period with his/her hand raised and sighs because it’s not his conference day? She says that “we have to deal with them about this issue,” but I’ve never been in a classroom long enough for students to see that I’m serious when I say they have to figure it out. They haven’t realized that my expectations for them to produce writing includes them struggling through their issues like every writer does.

Part of my reading strategies is to put a set of quotation marks in the margin of a text when the author says something I think is phrased well for the actual classroom. I quote Ray a lot in the margins. I love her writing style and the way she includes questions (like pg. 165-166) in the text. Replicating her real conversations with students helps me visualize how her classroom runs. Likewise, the topic ideas on page 180 about how to make share time better were helpful.

One specific quotation I made was the bulleted list on page 255. I wrote in the margin, “Such a good break-down. I bet this would help older students understand the flow of writing.”

I have no idea where I was the first time I read this book. Maybe I didn’t have the maturity to read for depth and application. Maybe I was so overwhelmed by how different writing workshop was that I couldn’t fathom its function. I’m not sure, but what I do know is that Ray’s book encourages my teaching pedagogy because I love the ideas behind her classroom and the value she places on her students. 

Ray 11-13

One of my favorite things about blogging is the ability to go back and view what I wrote about a topic years later. If I had my reflections in a class notebook, they would be packed in the back of my closet with all of my other undergraduate notes. I'm saving them for the day when I have a classroom and need to find "that idea we talked about in that class that day".

However, having the ability to view posts from yesteryear allowed me to see the things I was pondering as I read through Ray the first time. I liberally mark up my textbooks with notes in the margins, boxes, underlines, double underlines, and the rest of my complicatedly organized system. One of the questions I had all throughout my notes and blogs is how does this work in real life? Reading about it is inspiring but training students to write about this that matter, fill their own time, write for an audience, etc. seems daunting.

The second time through I was surprised at how much I missed the first time. Maybe I was too busy or reading too quickly. Either way, I love how Ray gets really practical with her advice. While it used to overwhelm me, I think picking from a huge list of options is easier than creating something from theory. Asking students to "simply carry on with the writing lives and projects they have going, carrying with them what they have learned in the lesson" is awesome! That solves the differentiation issues completely. I'm meeting the students where they are as writers, coming from the perspective of another writer, and challenging them to reach further with advice centered around THEIR writing instead of my topic.

My only remaining issue is how does this fit with the time-intensive ELA common core standards? Does writing workshop need to be completely separate from the CCGPS ELA time? Is that possible?

I'm also mulling over the idea of doing writing workshop as a Daily 5 rotation. It could work because I could do my focus lesson at the beginning of the period instead of the CCGPS mini-lesson. The students have choice over their time (except for a scheduled guided reading group for one rotation period). If every rotation is only 20 minutes though, I worry that they won't get in a grove in that short amount of time. Also, when will I conference? I have about two days per week when the guided reading group is more of an independent literature circle. Maybe I could conference with writers during those two days and do guided reading groups the other three? Scheduling writing has to be a priority, so I'll just need to remember that when I set my daily classroom schedule.

Ray 1-4

"where they have been as writers and on where they are going."

As a teacher, this is the hardest part for me. I can teach mechanics all day long, dozens of different ways until someone gets it. I struggle to teach how to think about writing. For me, and I think most, those thoughts come through practice. I wrote, then I thought about it. The more I wrote, the deeper I analyzed. The deeper I examined, the better I wrote. I'm not claiming to be close to the world's best writer, but I do think about my words and challenge my choices.

My favorite thing about writer's workshop is that it's not another version of the 5 Step Process with a 5 paragraph essay at the end. Ray says, "When I say, 'I'm writing,' my husband knows what that means." We all have a style of writing. Mine is semi-chaotic. I start with a list (if even that) then write everything related to those topics in paragraphs. I revise for excessiveness [there was a huge sidenote here that was too ironic to leave], and finally edit for grammar and mechanics. My teachers hated my process, but I understand the kids who says, "I can't think of what to put in my bubble map." 

How do I as a teacher encourage that student to pursue their own writing process and trust that they will produce quality writing? I guess that's the whole writing workshop deal... letting them go and advising along the way instead of dictating every pencil scratch.

The questions of Katie Wood Ray

Although I would typically organize my thoughts about a group of chapters by discussing them one at a time in paragraphs, I analyzed in more of a themetic way as I read Chapters 5-10.

I typed out a list of phrases I found interesting or important. Then I organized them on my classroom SmartBoard during specials. I saved them, and as I came back to the lists and moved and categorized and processed and moved these ideas again, I came up with the following organization. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it shows how I interacted with the text this week.

Teacher Goals:

ritualistic

eachdayness

junior-high-type, fifty-minute-a-day schedule

negotiated... gotten rid... give over

beauty in repetition

peace of knowing what to expect

lose the comfortable feeling of directing

Teacher Hurdles:

specific teaching and inquiry

beyond our control and a little messy

[feeling] beyond our control is a litmus test

easy trap of assumptions

can't know it all

give as much responsibility to students

balance

passively accept

Student Goals:

highly productive writing

thinking time for themselves

writing is something you do

craftspersons

more possibilities...than time to talk about

work that interests

do what writers do

worksheet slacker

finding material out in the world

accomplished and acclaimed writers... still learning how to write

Classroom Set-up:

things that teach

surrounded by things to learn from

carry my notebook to every conference

real power of homework

three red markers that smell like strawberries

more sophisticated in use

rooms equipped like real places

projects/plans

don't need to learn... before [they start]

workouts

Day 15… Queenstown to Christchurch

Another long day on the bus… it was a 9 hour trip with quick bathroom breaks every couple of hours. We drove through snow-capped mountains though. I mean seriously... you never can see enough or get sick of the views in New Zealand. It's all stunning!

I'm addicted to the sight and taste of glacier water. It's indescribable.

Kelsey and I explored Christchurch some more and visited their Botanical Gardens. I could have stayed in the gardens for days. It was so gorgeous.

This flower bed was huge and reminded me of my mom because it displayed about 20 different purple flowers. She and Kelsey both love purple.

Kelsey and I "splurged" on a nice hotel for our last night. We stayed in little backpacker hostels the entire holiday and were quite ready for private shower and sleeping quarters. It was such a fun room with lots of high-tech gadgets. We took showers in a circular shower stall. We had a fire crackling on our flat screen television. We woke up to the gradual rising of the sun... the light above the bed gradually turned on and the alarm music increased in volume over a 5-min period of time. If that doesn't wake you, the television turns itself on to the hotel's complimentary "Good morning" station 10 minutes after the alarm time starts. It was a crazy experience and the perfect end to our holiday.

Day 16 was our 6:20am (yikes!) flight to Auckland, a shuttle bus ride home, and a blessed homecoming to my fantastic family. I missed them!

Day 14... Queenstown/Gibbston Valley/Arrowtown

Today was a kind of bum around the town day as 1. we were sore from our day of skiing adventures and 2. the weather was yuck. We rented a car with our friend James and drove out to Gibbston Valley. NZ is known for its dairy, so we visited the best cheesery. Our sample tray was fabulous!

On the way back to Queenstown, we visited Arrowtown. Several Lord of the Rings scenes were filmed here... including my favorite when Arwen carries Frodo across the river on horseback (in The Fellowship of the Ring). She turns, looks at the enemy, and says "If you want him, come and claim him." James and I took a picture in front of that river to commemorate the occasion.

This sign is all over NZ. I love how environmentally friendly they are.

Day 13... Queenstown

I went skiing once when I was about eight years old. All I remember is doing lots of slow runs on the bunny slope and the fun rope lift uphill. Then my Dad took me for one run on the easy slope. I remember flying downhill, not knowing how to stop, crossing my skis and sitting down. It was terrifying, and I didn't like that feeling of being out of control.

Fast forward to today… Kelsey and I went skiing. I had a fantastic lesson in the morning. My ski instructor was awesome, and I really enjoyed the bunny slope. Kelsey and I met for lunch at the lodge (she did the level of lessons that start with the chair lift runs… superwoman.) Then I decided to go on an easy chair lift run with her. It was exactly like I remember. I flew downhill, leaned forward (not backward like you’re supposed to), and ended up doing some impressive vertical splits as my legs flew over my head.

So I think skiing is not my thing. I would like to try it again, but wow. Quite the experience. Kelsey and I walked around town and ate really nice pizza. I really like this wall I saw in Starbucks.

Day 12… Invercargill to Queenstown (Milford Sound)

Today we took a boat tour around the Milford Sound. Much of the Lord of the Rings films were filmed here. It was raining the whole time but still stunning as you can imagine. We got to see several waterfalls that only appear when it rains and a few hours afterward. The whole trip was breathtaking. Mountains rise from the water next to you. It's another one of those times when a camera can't capture it... sorry. This waterfall was HUGE, but it looks tiny in a picture.


We saw yellow-eyed penguins and more seals. Part of the boat tour was a trip to an underwater observatory. To make a long explanation short, we saw plants, coral, and other animals at 10meters that are supposed to only grow 50-60 meters below the water surface. This is a picture of the very rare black coral and an eleven-armed starfish.


We ate Fergburger for dinner and walked along the lake before going to bed.

Day 11… Dunedin to Invercargill

Today was a ridiculously long day on the van. We switched drivers in Dunedin. Our new driver really likes to stop at every nature sight. We stopped at least once an hour. This made a 3 hour drive a 12-hour day on the van. I saw lots of cool nature things but honestly got a bit numb after a while.




The majority of the trees below are growing on this water algae plant thing. I was a horrible person and zoned out in the middle of his speech. It was super neat to watch our driver gently push a tree and see the roots shift below the water.



We saw fossilized trees...

and a sea leopard...

This is going to be a locket... I'm excited.

Needless to say, Kelsey and I were a bit tired and stir-crazy from the day, so we got pizza from Domino’s (NOT the same as American Domino’s by the way) and watched License to Wed on television before bed. It was a nice way to redeem the night.

Day 10… Queenstown to Dunedin

I had a bit of a shock this morning when I realized that instead of the 50+ person charter bus we were traveling on, we would do the Bottom Bus pass on a charter van. The only other passenger was a lady named Anna from Italy. She is so sweet although I don’t feel like I had an opportunity to talk with her.

I got a raspberry milkshake at this little cafe in nowhere. It might have been the best milkshake of my life, or I may just have really intense cravings for Chick-fil-A milkshakes. Guess we'll never know.

Our driver grew up and went to university in Dunedin, so it was fun to tour the city with a true local.
We walked up Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world.


It was a day of record-breaking things because we also visited the Clyde Dam. It is the biggest concrete structure in NZ… woohoo! It was so exciting that we decided to stay in the van and take a photograph from there... hence the green tint.

Day 9… Wanaka to Queenstown

Today we stopped at a beautiful waterfall on the way to Queenstown. One of my favorite things about the bus is that the driver stops at all the hidden sights worth seeing.
It’s nice to not worry about directions, gas, getting lost, etc. and have the expertise of a local Kiwi.

We also stopped to view the perfect mirror reflection of Mt. Cook and the Southern Alps on Lake Matheson.

We were definitely feeling sore from the ice hike and tree climbing adventures. Instead of doing the hour and a half hour hike around the lake, we walked about 30 minutes to the lake and sat in admiration for an hour. That of course led to a photo shoot.



We arrived in Queenstown before lunch. I immediately loved the youthful energy and busyness of Queenstown. Kelsey and I had a quick pizza lunch then rented kayaks to explore Lake Wakatipu.

Then Simon, Kelsey, Brittany, and I made french toast at the hostel for dinner. I LOVE eating breakfast for dinner, so that taste of home was great. After a quick nap, we went downtown for a last bus hooray. We planned on leaving fairly early but ended up dancing with everyone for over four hours. It was sad to see everyone going separate ways, but I think Kelsey and I will enjoy the Bottom Bus pass.

Day 8… Franz Josep to Wanaka

New life goal: stand in as many bodies of water as I can. It's cold and sometimes silly but fun too!We had a semi-long day on the bus today and got to Wanaka about 3:30pm. After dropping our bags in our room, Brittany, Kelsey, and I went exploring around the town.

Wanaka is one of my favorite towns… it’s average size with a lot of energy and character. We ran into Simon and another guy from the bus at a local coffee shop (gotta have my coffee fix). Simon wanted to climb the trees that line Lake Wanaka. Climbing trees is one of my favorite things to do, so off we went. We got so high!



We went back to the hostel for their $5 dinner deal, climbed some more trees, looked at the stars, and went to bed fairly early. Another great day.

Day 7… Franz Josep

Today was the full day glacier hike, which was an indescribable experience. We rented clothing, boots, and crampons from the hiking shop.

I literally cannot explain how incredible the hike was… a once in a lifetime experience for sure. The glacier is 12 kilometers tall. It looks pretty small until you look at the red dot at the bottom of the glacier... that's a person.

Here are a couple of pictures to try and demonstrate the scale of how massive this glacier was. Look at how small the people are at the top left of this one...

... or the top right of this one...

Our guide was pretty adventurous and took us into several ice caves and canyons. You can tell he has posed for one or two pictures similar to this one before.

Check out some pictures because words aren’t working…




This would have been my mom's favorite spot because it's a small space really high (sarcastic)

Some more pics...




This bird is the famous NZ parrot--a Kea. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kea] They are very curious, intelligent birds but are considered a pest to tourists because they will pry the rubber parts off cars and fly off with light-weight objects.

Our hiking team...

From the bottom... From the top...

Included in our hiking pass was admission to the local hot pools and spa. They had three hot pools… 36, 38, and 40 degrees Celsius. Talk about the perfect way to relax after climbing a glacier for eight plus hours. There were no signs (like in America) about the dangers of staying in a hot tub for more than 20 minutes, so I enjoyed it without guilt until I was quite wrinkly. It was glorious. Please save the lectures because it was 3 degrees Celsius outside this morning.
We ended the day with dinner then headed to a local bar for dancing and pool. The neat thing about traveling with a bus full of people is that there is always something to do and someone to hang out with. I met a woman from Poland named Patricia. She’s so much fun and a great dancer. Kelsey, Brittany, Patricia, and I have been roommates for the last few hostels, and we all have a lot of fun together.