What does it look like to teach reading and writing in an elementary classroom? How do you use a Writer's Notebook? What is a Multigenre Research Paper? How do you get kids interested in writing?
These are all questions that I wouldn't have been able to answer well at the beginning of the semester, and to be honest, I think I still have a lot to learn about what this looks like for me as a teacher. However, I have made great strides this semester toward discovering the answers to these questions. Both in my cluster classes and in my field placement I have gathered many strategies, methods, and activities I can't wait to try out in my future classroom.
I think one of the most important things I learned about this semester is how crucial it is to give children choices in reading a writing. Let them make choices not only about what they read and write, but how they demonstrate their learning to you. I think it is also so important to help students make the connection between what they are learning in the classroom and their lives outside the classroom. Giving students choices is a great way to bridge the gap that is too often present between these two.
My field experience teacher was a wonderful literacy role model for me. A lot of what we learned in class she does in her classroom. All of her students have Writer's Notebooks in which they can write about anything they want. At the beginning of Writer's Workshop, the teacher teaches a "mini-lesson." The kids are then encouraged to try what was discussed during the mini-lesson in their writing. Recently the students have been getting one piece of writing that they got to chose ready for publishing, which they will do on the school laptops. They are also working on a "How-to" book. This writing is a little bit more structured than the normal writer's workshop, but the students are allowed to chose whatever they want to write their how-to book on. My field placement teacher has taught me a lot about what reader's and writer's workshop can look like in an elementary classroom.
All in all, I have learned the most this semester than I have learned any other semester here are IU. I am very glad I have this blog to help me remember all that I learned this semester. I guess I just hope that I won't forget it all by the time I have my own classroom. I have learned so so much this semester that I hope my brain can retain it all and it will all come back when I need it to. I think that right now I have a good foundation to build off of and now it just comes to me tweaking things while I figure out what works best for me and my students.
I said a lot of similar things in my blog-- I learned so much this semester, more than ever before at IU and I feel as if I have made great strides as well in learning how to incorporate effective reading and writing strategies into the classroom. I agree though, that there is so much information and I hope that I will remember all of it by the time I am teaching and actually need to use it! Even when I begin teaching I don't think I will feel completely prepared, but I guess that's part of the learning experience and there is so much we can't be taught but that we will just have to figure out when situations arise!
ReplyDeleteI also said similar things, I learned alot this semester. I didnt see the kind of literacy i would have loved to see in the classroom and there wasnt much choice for the students. But i have learned that this is extremely important! thanks anna!
ReplyDelete