My friends, Frey and Fisher

While reading this text for this blog the very first sentence was so profound that it took my breath away.  It really is amazing what humans can do and how we can read little squiggles on a page and understand and learn from it.   Frye and Fisher make a great point about how the goal of education is to incorporate language in everything that students do, from comprehension to shooting a basketball.

I really enjoyed the authors' way of setting the scene and providing a way for the reader to feel like they are in actually in that classroom. I also noticed in this passage how there were many really vivid verbs to describe what the students are doing. (adds, wonders, identifies) It made the passage so fun to read.  The multiple uses of strategies in this classroom really were amazing and such a great portrait of what a true classroom should be,

By using these strategies students are able to respond in a completely different way because they experienced the information rather than just hearing it.  Listening is only one aspect of learning that is generally overused by teachers.  It's important for students and teachers to know strategies that work for them as individuals.  Students also wear many different "hats" in the classroom - they were a historian hat, a scientist hat, an artist hat and so on.  Each of these hats require specific skills for the subject, but all incorporate comprehension and reading.

In the text styles section of the first chapter, importance is placed on students learning literary devices so students know how to decipher fictional reading.  I found this particularly important because I was never fully aware of what all of the literary devices meant until high school.  I was never taught the ups and downs of vocabulary.  Vocabulary is important in all subjects, especially science.  Science vocabulary is really crucial for students to grasp on to - it keeps building.  I also learned in the chapter that students really need to build on their prior knowledge when reading historical text that is a very journalistic style; even the titles are hard to grasp.  Math is the hardest text to understand and breakdown.  ELL students are more confused with this layout than any other text that they come in contact with .  Math is also the hardest subject for me to actually read with purpose - I'm so clueless mixing words with numbers.  In this section I really enjoyed how each subject was broken down and addressed - even PE and art! These text forms offer students a rich variety of experiences.

While reading about comprehension I was really pleasantly surprised to see how a lot of reading does not equal great comprehension although the way schools teach reading would make you think otherwise.  There is such an emphasis on students being able to read fast and accurate rather than read with meaning.  Developing a good sense of metacognition is key to comprehension.  Students need to be able to breakdown, understand, and evaluate what is being read in the text.  Students learn to become better learners. readers, and listeners.  The questions provided in the passage were really helpful especially to me, even during these chapter readings. They helped me stay on track with my learning.

Conversation is the life of a classroom, like heartbeat if you will.  It allows students to share information, it fosters growth in all areas, and improve social interactions.  These strategies listed in this section are all ones that I've participated in during my college experience and they are also quite useful everytime I've used them in a lesson.  My personal favorite of the three strategies would be the Jigsaw.  I used this in Dr. Hanna's class and it really helped my learning to have to teach and be taught.  I love how this strategy allows the student to become the teacher and take charge of their learning.  My least favorite strategy is the pair and share tactic.  This strategy never really engages me personally and it also doesn't always allow for accountable talk.

Powerful Pens:

Writing to learn is a powerful phrase.  This allows the writing process to be used in cross content areas and it is a great way for students to also get feed back on their ideas from ideas.  Students can also recall, clarify, and question their new found knowledge.  Low stakes writing was a new concept for me to read about.  The text states that it helps promote thinking and involvement in the subject, as opposed to practicing the most proper writing.  I think that this form of writing allows students to jog their memories without worrying about the technical format of writing.  I would certainly use this in my own classroom for students to explore their own knowledge.

The 3 Kinds of Knowledge in Writing:

• Declarative - basic DOK 1 knowledge, consists of labeling, listing, and recalling.
• Procedural - application of declarative knowledge, describing ways of doing things and giving directions.
• Conditional - when or why something is done

The different models of writing reminded me of what we did in class with Dr. Bishop and our biopoems. I really love the idea of the "I am" model that Dr. Bishop showed us from Hawkins - those children are so talented and gifted.  I think that framed sentences are also a nice tactic to help students become comfortable with writing.  

The section that I was most interested in while reading Chapter 8 is why writing is neglected.  I have no idea why any teacher would neglect writing in their classroom since students should be encouraged to use these skills.  Writing shouldn't be reserved for just reading and english, but every subject.  Writing is a universal way of communicating and it should be exercised anytime possible.