My Belief Statement about the Teaching of Reading

Well, here it is... I must admit I was a little intimidated by the assignment, but here are seven of my beliefs regarding the teaching of reading.

1. I believe the teaching of reading needs to be supplemented by before reading, during reading, and after reading activities to ensure the students' understanding.

By introducing students to the reading by completing before-reading exercises, they will be primed to absorb more information. Students' interest can be sparked and they may be more willing to learn. During reading activities ensure students' understanding throughout the reading of a novel or other piece of literature. After reading exercises can reinforce what was read and can also serve as evaluations. Using before reading, during reading, and after reading exercises helps to strengthen students' overall reading comprehension.
(William Kist)

2. I believe that students who have a choice in what they read will be more inclined to read more often and therefore will improve their reading skills.

Giving students choice as to what they will be reading in class is a way to encourage students to read things of interest to them. If a student would like to read about something that will aid them in their future, they should be allowed to do so. Teachers cannot continue to assume that the books and reading they assign are the most important readings for the student in their school career. Students who are given the chance to read new things, research things of interest to them, and things that are enjoyable to them will be more willing to read and will ultimately experience their most beneficial reading and learning. (Nancie Atwell)

3. I believe the teaching of reading needs to utilize many different types of literature to ensure students are experience reading comprehension while reading novels, newspapers, articles, textbooks, etc..

Using different types of literature will helps students to learn to read different types of writing and different types and uses of language. Students will benefit from reading scholarly journals and also from reading novels. Teachers should implement different types of writing so students can learn the different types of reading. For example, reading The Great Gatsby and then reading an article about the novel are totally different things and yet are completely complimentary of one another and will help students to form their own opinions about their reading. (No one source used)

4. I believe the teaching of reading needs to be tailored to each individual student in order for that student to get the most of his or her reading and to improve his or her reading altogether.

Giving students the choice to choose their own reading material is not only beneficial to their interests, but also to improving their reading level. Students who need to choose smaller, easier to read texts should be allowed to do so in order to practice and work their way up to reading more challenging texts. Students who read better than average should be able to choose the books that will challenge them as well. Helping students to pick out books that are best suited to their reading level will help to tailor their reading to them. Also, students should be able to complete their reading assignments within different periods of time. An advanced student may read three chapters in 30 minutes while a lower-than-average student may only read part of a chapter in that time. Allowing students ample time to practice reading will only be beneficial to their reading abilities. (Nancie Atwell)

5. I believe that holding conferences with students each day will improve their grades in their reading (and writing as well). By going around to each student on a daily basis, all students will know they are expected to be reading and that they should be able to discuss what they have been reading with the teacher.

Utilizing daily conferences will keep students on their toes as far as completing their reading assignments goes. Having the added support of a consistent meeting with the teacher will give students time to ask questions, reflect on their assignments, and will create rapport between student and teacher. Conferences will help to ensure that students are completing their reading assignments and will the teacher time to help the student to improve his or her reading by offering suggestions, tips, and help. (Nancie Atwell)

6. I believe that utilizing new literacies in the teaching of reading will allow for more student participation, more creativity, more comprehension, and more student connection to what is being read.

Using new literacies during the teaching of reading will allow students to use technology to supplement their reading and learning. The possibilities with the Internet and technology are endless. The amount of creativity that can arise when students' eyes are opened to the world of the Internet and it's possibilities in their learning is remarkable. Allowing students to utilize the different offerings of technology and connect them to their reading and assignments will give students a strong connection with their own learning. Having students use new forms of reading assessment, such as blogs and wikis, will get them away from the standard paper and pencil essays and will improve their new media literacy skills. The possibilities for the students' learning and creativity are endless and students will take pride in their new media literacy learning. (William Kist)

7. I believe that the teaching of reading is imperative to the development of adolescence, both academically and emotionally. Students in a high school classroom are still forming their view of the world, and literature can help them to define that view. Therefore, I believe the teaching of reading is of the utmost importance in a young adult's life and should be carefully planned and implemented.

Students in high school are at a very impressionable age, and "[t]he literature classroom can stimulate the students themselves to develop a thoughtful approach to human behavior" (Rosenblatt). Reading and writing at the high school level can lead students to some very important understandings about the world and the way it works. Students can learn a lot about themselves as people as they compare themselves and their ideas to what they experience in class, in reading, and in reflection to reading. Therefore I believe that the teaching of reading needs to always be relevant to the young adult's life and always teach a second lesson about life. (Louise Rosenblatt)

The End of the Year

I can't believe there is only one more week of class until it's finals week. This semester has flown by as they usually do, but when I look back to the beginning of the 15 weeks, it seems so long ago. I feel as though each semester I'm learning more and more information to hopefully become a good teacher someday. I want to take an opportunity now to reflect on my three favorite activities of the semester in Dr. Kist's class.

Strategy Demonstrations: These allowed each of us to come up with a way to help students learn. For example, my strategy demonstration was a literary reduction. Mrs. Cikra used to have us complete these in her class and it always helped me to break down the important parts of a novel and have them displayed on one colorful, informative piece of paper. I decided to show my classmates that strategy because it always helped me as an English student and hopefully they as teachers can use it someday too. Overall, I liked the strategy demonstrations because it gave each of us INLA students a wave of new ideas to use in our classroom.

The Great Gatsby Lesson Idea Wiki: I am so proud of this thing! I spent a lot of time compiling lesson ideas to use with The Great Gatsby, the canonical text I was responsible for reading this semester. Each of us had to complete 20 lesson ideas for each of our canonical texts and then we all put them into a wiki. Now we have access to at least 220 quality ideas to use with 11 different canonical texts. It was a great assignment!

Check out the wiki: http://canonicalideas.pbwiki.com/The+Great+Gatsby,+Julie+Rudlosky

Blog: I'm thrilled to have been introduced to blogging. I never quite understood what it was, it really just seemed like a diary or a journal to me. Now I understand that a blog can be pretty much anything the writer wants it to be. I will definitely use blogs in my classroom because it allows students' creativity to reach all new levels and it will hopefully keep things interesting for my students.

While I enjoyed every activity and assignment in this class, those were my top three favorites.

Like I said, I can't believe this semester is almost over. But now I feel as though I'm even more confident in what I will be doing in my career and I have more ideas than ever!

Video Poem

In Dr. Kist's class, we have been working on our end-of-the-semester video poems. Our cohort is working with Dr. Bruce's cohort to create short videos depicting meanings from either poems or excerpts from books. We are finally getting to the point where we are working on trimming down footage and assembling it into the right order. We are using iMovie to complete the assignment, and while many of us have taken a videography course at Kent, we are still working on trying to remember exactly how to use the program! So far it is going well.

We shot the footage on Monday of this week using some of Kent's historical, cool, and creepy landmarks. Because we were using an excerpt from Night, we wanted to have a very somber video. We used an old train station down by the Cuyahoga River and then moved to the old cemetery in front of Kramer. For the assignment we were not allowed to use any unoriginal footage, meaning we couldn't use any of the pictures from the internet. Due to the nature of the excerpt used, it would have been helpful to be able to use at least a couple of the images that can be found on the internet. We worked out way around that, however, by wearing dark clothing, shooting slow, thoughtful footage, and we are going to pair those things with a song called "Mad World" by Gary Jules. This song is perfect for our video because it is very slow and sad.
To watch the "Mad World" music video, follow this link:



http://youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4

Dr. Bruce has been pausing class to point out how we can use this project when we become teachers. I think it would be great to allow students to use their creativity to produce video poems and I sincerely hope that the technology and resources for the project are available at the school where I will end up teaching. The only problem for me is that I am not very confident using iMovie or any other movie-making software, so I will have to familiarize myself with the software and maybe have someone on hand who can help if technological problems arise.

Overall, the assignment has allowed my group to take an excerpt from the story of a Holocaust survivor and convert it into a video using our creativity. The assignment got us out of the classroom and working together, which was challenging because of conflicting schedules, but eventually we finished and are pretty content with our footage. Hopefully the video poem will turn out well and I hope others will enjoy watching it!

Virginia Hamilton Conference

On Friday, April 11th, I had the opportunity to attend the Virginia Hamilton Conference at Kent State. This was my first conference so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I was greeted with a folder and an awesome name tag that I wish I could wear around all the time. My classmates and I then went into the KIVA to await the start of the conference.

The keynote speakers were wonderful to watch and listen to; they were full of energy and inspiration and they shared those things with the entire audience. I was intrigued by Jerry Pinkney's illustrations and moved by Gloria Jean Pinkney's sensitivity to life and her journey to share her story. Together the couple made for a completely interesting and encompassing presentation about overcoming possible hardships and finding your voice through a talent that can then be shared with the world. The beginning of the conference was wonderful, and it was the perfect start to what was to follow.

The first break out session was very inspiring to me. The session was basically a conversation between an author and an editor and it explained the journey of the two in creating books for children. I was most interested in listening to the author because someday, way down the road, I would like to try and write something, whether it be a children's book or a young adult book or even a book of poetry or short stories. I liked to hear that she also has a "seed" for her writing, an occurrence or feeling in real life that inspires her to write a work of fiction. I always wondered if that was acceptable fiction, and now I know that not only is it acceptable, it makes for meaningful writing.

The second break out session explained many different YA lit books that can help adolescents to figure out their identity or at least to provide them some comfort with problems they may be having as teenagers. The list of books was extensive and organized wonderfully for easy reference to the subject or topic discussed within the book. The men who ran this session were enthusiastic about the books they were sharing and they seemed to be really knowledgeable about details in the books that may or may not be appropriate for certain people in certain situations. Overall it was a great session to get ideas for books for the classroom.

After lunch when the third break out session came around, I was a little unsure of whether we needed to attend the third one or we were allowed to leave at 2. So, instead of going to a session and leaving halfway through to go to work, I went to the bookstore to look at the books written by the presenters at the conference. I was just so amazed at the talent of the illustrations, the richness of the writing, and the quantity of books flying off of the shelves because everyone else was amazed as well. I wanted a copy of every book there, but because that would a little on the pricey side, I just stood and admired them all. Seeing the author's and illustrator's work impacting so many people really inspired me to the power of books and the power of writing stories.

Technology in the Classroom

In Dr. Kist's Language, Literacy, and Learning class, we have learned some really interesting new uses for technology in teaching. One example of this technology is this blog, created to display some class-related discussion.

I have never considered myself to be very good with technology, so the idea of using it in the classroom with my students was a little intimidating. In Educational Technology we created an online portfolio, but as a coworker of mine just mentioned, it seems like that class was so long ago for me that I forget a lot of the things we learned. It would be helpful if we could have taken it closer to student teaching. Dr. Kist's assignments have gotten me interested in learning more about technology. I was inspired to get back into FrontPage to work on my portfolio, even though I spent hours trying to remember how to update the information. After the portfolio update, I created my first blog for Dr. Kist's class and I completed my second wiki, quite possibly the easiest form of a "web page" there is. I will definitely use wikis in my classroom after having experienced how easy it can actually be to create a wiki and update it over time.

Dr. Kist's assignments have been a wake-up call to me that technology in classrooms is only going to become more prevalent, and we as future teachers can either decide to meet it head on and use it for its benefits, or we could choose to fall behind. Accenting class work with technology through the form of blogs or wikis opens the doors for students to demonstrate not only their understanding of content, but their talent and creativity as well.

I have been showing off my new web pages by putting links in every possible place where people might find them and being able to click on them! I'm proud of the work I've done online, and I hope I can pass that great feeling on to my students in the future.