Vocabulary and Writing for tests

No student likes taking tests. However the textbook brings up some very interesting ideas that made me think more about them. For example, I never really realized how students write their responses to teachers, but now that I have read that, it is definitely true. Just last semester I had to "write a letter to a congressman" and I definitely doctored my letter so that my professor would approve. I like the idea of doing oral presentations in order to combat this limitation. I think that would be a good alternative assessment. I think the way tests are designed are very important. I agree with the authors of the textbook who say we should focus more on the big ideas that should stay with students for a long time. I think this is very applicable for history class especially. I always appreciated when teachers did not expect you to list dates, but wanted to see that you get a big concept as a cause and what the various effects of that particular event were. I'm not sure I am completely sold on the idea of take-home tests. I always saw those as a gift from God as a student, because I knew I could get my mom or dad to help me if I was in dire need of it. It is important to keep in mind that take home tests may incorporate some knowledge that is not unique to the student, so personally I would prefer to make a test shorter, but allow more class time to complete it.
Many of the graphic organizers that are given in chapter 8 can be very useful. I think not only useful for definitions of words, but definitions or explanations of events as well. From a history stand point I could easily use something like a CD word map for students to show me what events like Watergate or the Battle of Gettysburg are. I think these graphic organizers can also be helpful in a history classroom if students are reading some kind of primary source text where the vocabulary is a little strange because it is an old text. These tools can be a way for students to learn what they mean on their own so that they can get a better understanding of the meaning of the word itself as well as the context it is being used in.

New Literacy and Public Writing

With the current "technology age" we live in, it is very common for the youngest of kids to be astonishingy tech-savvy. For example, over spring break I saw my four year old cousin successfully operate an ipad on his own to play angry birds or something like that. As teachers,  we need to be aware of the world of technology and how it effects our students. Even right now, who would have thought that we would be doing homework via blogging? We need to be aware of the many options out there to make learning fun for students. One thing I really noticed in my field experience was how excited students got when the teacher would use the smart board. It almost seemed like these students would only choose to participate and interact with the material if some form of technology was used. One thing I thought was interesting from the chapter was that students always say they want to "read books on paper" but there is a decline in the amounts of reading on paper for adolescents. I find myself saying that frequently, but I actually do prefer to read things on paper. I always print articles from the internet out rather than read them on the screen. I wonder if print-based texts will be extinct in the not so distant future, but it is understandable that with the growing age of technology there would be expectations for students to be techno-literate for their future careers.
Writing I feel is one thing that will never change. Whether you're hand writing or typing, people will always write. I really agree with the textbook here when they talk about how the "wow" factor that comes out of a students' writing. Even when I edit my friends' papers I experience that feeling where you can't believe that guy wrote something so well. I think the classroom factors are important for kids to write that includes providing some kind of choice, time to write in class, and response to the writing. I love writing, but don't like when I am forced to write on a specific topic. Taking time in class is important as well because it allows students to stay focused on the material, and not drift off to looking at facebook or staring off into space. Response is important as well because students need to be reaffirmed with their writing or else they could give up. I did not really realize what "good models" for writing would be. I expected them to say classic works of literature or reading a "great" textbook (as I have heard from many teachers). I did not expect the authors to consider good models being  public articles like Time or Newsweek. I thought that was very surprising.

Historical Vocabulary

Colony
Revolution
Expansion
Civil War
Abolition
Industrialization
Depression
Communism
Cold War
Containment

With the exception of one word listed above, all of these words not only pertain to United States history, but also Modern World History. Knowing the definition of each of these words can help guide students to a better understanding of the cause and effect of history. About half of the words above are causes and half are effects (I did not notice that until just now). For example, the Cold War led to a policy of containment, and colonies often time lead to colonial revolutions. For U.S. history, these words are the main ideas or main issue of an era in the U.S. Without understanding what these words mean, students would not be able to understand anything in that era. For example not knowing what a colony is would make understanding the American Revolution virtually impossible. It was difficult to only choose ten words, but I feel these are the most important because they can be applied to all kinds of history, not just American.

Resource

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Teach-to-a-Diverse-Classroom-of-Students&id=436

Culture

Chapter 3 from Content Area Reading brought up some very interesting ideas that I have to say are things that I have not really thought about. Growing up, I did not really experience much diversity in my classroom because I went through Catholic schooling my whole life, and it was predominantly white. I do think that it is very important for teachers to be aware of the different cultural background each individual student comes from. Having a good understanding of other peoples cultures could greatly help teachers understand why some students may act the way they do. One part of the textbook i found interesting was the section about integrating multicultural literature in the classroom.  I think it would be a good idea to use texts from different cultures especially in a history class. By choosing multicultural texts it could provide a much different side of the story in a history class. It is important to recognize different perspectives on issues when studying history, and using these types of texts could offer students that opportunity to earn these different points of view. Another part of the chapter I found interesting was the section on Linguistic differences in schools. This is important because communication is one of the most crucial things a teacher must be able to do, if not the most important. I also found it interesting that immigrant students who maintain a strong identification to their culture tend to do better academically. It is important for teachers to recognize that just because a student has a hard time understanding or speaking English, doesn't mean that they are incapable of learning. The text talks about this as being able to recognize a language difference vs a language deficit. As future educators, we all need to be aware of this distinction.

demonstration reflection

I think that my demonstration had its up's and down's. For some reason I was really nervous to present, which is very unusual for me. This kind of caused me to freeze up a bit and I forgot a lot of what I had practiced, so I felt a little unorganized. I do think I did a good job demonstrating the strategy, but I might have been more specific in my directions. I also think that it was a good idea for me to include pictures while the students continuously wrote. I think this was a good way to get the students' memories going to make writing for 2 minutes a little more manageable. In order to include more scaffolding during strategy, I could have had the class time me for 30 seconds or so so that I could demonstrate how a non-stop write works. Then I could have read it allowed. I still am not sure of the best way to assess a non stop write, but I think grading for relevant topics would be a good idea. Especially if this strategy was used at the end of a reading, movie, or lesson. Otherwise if it was used before a unit to get the memory going, a formative assessment may be reasonable if I was able to use a clicker quiz or something similar to see what the students knew from their non-stop writes.

Organization is key

The overarching theme that I was able to get out of the chapter was that it is important to stay organized when reading and studying text information. I really think that the textbook does a great idea listing and explaining different strategies that can be used to ensure that students can get as much important and relevant information out of readings when they are studying or reviewing. I really liked the examples given on organized note taking. I think this is important especially in my content area, which is history, because many of the strategies that are listed in the book are incredibly common in a social studies classroom. One in particular is the T-note system. I could not tell you how many times I have had to use this strategy in class, and how many times I have used this strategy on my own when I am studying- even to this day. It is an excellent way to to compare and contrast two different ideas, and lead to a general conclusion about the two. For the purposes of comparing events or ideas in history, I feel that this is the best strategy that can be used. That's just my opinion. The double-entry reading log is another idea I really liked from the textbook, and I used to use a modified version in middle school. We kept two column notes-one for the book and one for class. I think the double entry reading log is great for keeping track of challenging terms or vocabulary like the examples show. I think using these types of organizational methods can greatly increase a students learning, and I hope to put some of them to practice in my own classroom.

I think the rubric and "grade scale" used to grade the different reading strategies listed blackboard article does a good job pointing out that not all of the widely used reading strategies in classrooms are useful. For example, I used the round robin method all the time until late middle school. I know for sure it was very prominent in my fourth and fifth grade classrooms, so it was very interesting and pleasing to see it ridiculed in the article by saying it was closer to malpractice than effective practice. The highest grade strategy that involved the students in "critical literacy". The teacher must be able to not only be aware of the students' learning environment, but also relate the text to a broader concept so it is easier for the students to understand. What I take from this article is that reading is not a "hands-off" classroom activity where either the teacher does all the work, or the students. Both the student and the teacher have parts to play in classroom reading.

Motivation

I think that motivation and self-efficacy are key for engaging students with reading. I personally fall into the category of loving reading until i hit late elementary school and middle school. Then you couldn't get me to read anything unless it was funny or had pictures and as little words possible. I think part of that problem with me losing my interest could be common among many other students. I never found any motivation to read anything because everything i was assigned to read for school was so boring, or I had no way to relate to it. It was not until I was given a book about baseball (something that sparked my interest) that I actually found reading to be enjoyable, and even fun. The textbook talks about "students' motivation for reading and learning with texts increases when they perceive that text is relevant to their own lives". I think it is important to give students options when assigning books to read for a class like the text describes. For example, in high school I was forced to "read" the book Rebecca with the class, and needless to say that was not something that interested me. I remember not having anything to say during discussion, and the discussion didn't even spark my interest to read part of it. However, whenever we were able to pick which books we wanted to read for English class, I had no problem sharing what my book was about and participating in discussion. I think this strategy would be more effective because I know I would relate to anyone in the class who found absolutely no interest in the book.

Another strategy I think could be very useful is the story chain and story prediction the textbooks show. I think that could be a good way to motivate students to read if you pick the right words in the story chain. Looking at the example given from Gulliver's Travels, the story chain sounds exciting enough for me to want to read it. I think this would also be a great strategy to use when you are just beginning a lesson, similar to a non-stop write activity because it would focus students on what the next topic would be, and it just a good way to get your mind on gear for what is to be discussed. I think this would be great in a history classroom particularly for topics that tend to be a little dry. I would love to use this in my classroom especially because I think of history as one big story as it is.

It Says-

Academic Journals are can benefit students in a wide variety of ways. There are multiple forms of these types of journals, such as response journals, double entry journals, and learning logs, but they all serve the student the same purpose which is to help students informally write about ideas or concepts from "informational contexts". Teachers should encourage this writing to be informal so that students do not feel judged on their formal writing capabilities such as correct grammar, good vocabulary, and neat handwriting. This allows students to get their thoughts across with no stress, and enables them to put their thoughts on a subject where they will not be judged by peers as well. These are also good for teachers because they do not have to put any emphasis on grading the essays for accuracy. Instead, teachers can use these as a tool to make sure that students are doing the appropriate amount critical thinking with the text. 

I Say-

I do not find anything more beneficial to students than informal responses journals. I personally love to write, and I think that it is important for students to do. These journals can be used across all content areas, and I have found them to be grade savers in some subjects I have not been too strong in. For example the textbook gives examples of math response journals. I had to keep one of those when I was in middle school as well as my junior year and high school and I can say I owe passing those classes to the points I was able to earn in the journal. I was able to show the teacher that I understood some of the concepts, and I was able to write down specific questions I had about the material. As a future history teacher, I think these can come in handy. In my history class right now I have an informal writing assignment due each week, one of them being a learning log as described in the textbook.

And so-

I want to find a way for my students to use response journals. I think that these journals can also help with formal writing assignments especially research assignments by allowing the students to write informally on a topic. After thoughts about the topic have been expressed I would ask students to expand on the topic more by providing details and research to back the details up. With more practice in informal writing, formal writing will come easier to students because the main ideas will already be there, and more time can be spent practicing the technical stuff like grammar and spelling. 

The thing with textbooks...

Textbooks have been a blessing and a curse for students for quite some time, at least in my own personal educational experience. There was nothing worse than seeing assignments on the chalkboard that included reading the textbook then answering questions. At the same time the thought would run through my head that all I had to do was look for bold headings and copy my answer for the question word for word from the section. Not terribly difficult at all because no real thought was involved, just annoying and time consuming. Unfortunately the class that that mostly occurred in was history. I don't want to be that teacher that makes students do that, and after reading chapter 11 in Content-Area Reading I now know for sure that there are other more effective alternatives to reading and answering questions from the textbook that may be much more beneficial especially in a history classroom.

I like the idea of using a textbook, but as the Content-Area Reading book pointed out, not all textbooks are written the same way. I think that it will be important to choose a book for my classroom that is written in a more enticing way than just jumbled facts that are poorly organized and way over all of my students' heads. I find that that is common in many history textbooks. I love history books and read many books that most people would consider boring, but even for me some textbooks are too dry, and can only imagine how bad it is for those students who aren't even interested in history in the first place. I like the idea of trade books because it gives a different, possibly more interesting, angle on a topic, and they could also be easier to read and relate to since authors seem to be more adept to kids' emotions. Another strategy I really agree with is the use of nonfiction and fiction books in the classroom. I always liked when teachers gave us a "book list" and we had to read two or three books either fiction or non fiction over the course of the year that pertained to a certain topic. I think that it is important to do reader response writing as well when using these kinds of supplementary readings.
I thought that the statistic introduced in the Content-Area Writing book was very interesting when it showed the percentage of people who remember things after they read, hear, see, hear and see, etc. I thought it was surprising that generally people only remember 10 percent of what they read, and that 70 percent of people remember what they say and write. After seeing those statistics, I think that it is important to require some kind of "doing" after reading. I also liked the comparison this book used to taking class notes and training a monkey to do that. I think writing assignments need to be more engaging allowing students to actually put thought into it instead of answering monotonous textbook questions or taking mindless class notes that students probably won't remember writing anyway. 

How effective are standardized tests?

While reading through Chapter 4 of Content Reading, a lot of emphasis was put on high stakes testing and how the different levels of government use that information. The emphasis that the government has put on test scores is much higher than it ever has before. Government programs such as No Child Left Behind have been put in place to ensure that students are meeting certain benchmarks in school. As a result of these various programs, it seems as though students are under pressure in order to achieve scores that are deemed passing. After reading through this chapter, I am not fully convinced that standardized testing is the most appropriate way to demonstrate what students have learned.

I agree with the authors of the textbook when they suggest that a major concern over these standardized tests is that too much emphasis gets placed on test preparation. Teachers will simply teach what the students need to know in order to do well on the standardized tests. This results to neglecting other subjects like fine arts or social studies, all of which are equally important to the subjects that are on standardized tests. Personally, I have never been fully convinced that standardized testing was the best way to show what students know. I personally do not perform well on standardized tests, and my ACT score would not reflect my GPA in high school. I think that it is important to have the government involved, and to have standards that need to be met, but I think that some of the legislation needs to be revised.

It was very interesting to read about the criticism for No Child Left Behind. I had never really considered the fact that some states may lower their proficiency standards in order to continue to receive federal funding. This gives an illusion that schools are making progress when in reality no significant progress is being made. I like what North Carolina is doing with their ABC model.  I like that there are opportunities given to students to retest as well as personalized plans with more monitoring. The high school level requires end-of-course exams which I believe would be effective because teachers could then test on their own curriculum instead of teaching to the test.

I think that a much more effective way to demonstrate students performance is in portfolios. I like this idea because it allows students and teachers to work together to include different pieces in the portfolio. It is also continuously being built throughout a semester. There is far less pressure put on students to perform well as they would have to on a standardized test. Portfolios also allow students to evaluate themselves which could help motivate them in the long run. Portfolios would also enable teachers to see where certain students might need more help, and where they excel. I believe that in the future student portfolios will give the government a better idea of how well students are doing rather than the standardized tests. 

Literacy in School

          After reading the first chapters in Content-Area Writing and Content Area Reading, I have really come to appreciate the importance of being literate in the classroom. I am studying to become a social studies teacher, and reading and writing are major components in that content area. It has really come to my attention that I will be just as responsible as any english teacher to ensure that students are comprehending what they are reading. The authors of the Content Area Reading text do a great job in laying out a strategy to teach students how to read like a historian. I really liked the questions that Doug Buehl has laid out for the Wisconsin sate-wide project called "Thinking Like a Historian". This question outline emphasizes cause and effect, change and continuity, turning points, "through their eyes", and "using the past". I have been a beneficiary of these techniques as a student, and want to use the same tactics for my future students. I personally have always hated when teachers would make me read history books, then answer questions about the reading, and then finally talk about what we were supposed to have read and answered in class. The assigning and telling technique was ineffective for me, and I am sure it would put my students to sleep as well.
          Writing is equally important in students' literacy. I found it interesting that the authors of the Content-Area Writing textbook seemed to put little importance on what standardized test scores show about a students' ability to write. I agree with this as well. Even as recently as my last MTLE exam, I found myself writing about topic that I could not connect with. I personally like writing, and writing that essay was extremely painful for me. The authors gave the example about students from Illinois having to write about inline skating. I am from Illinois, and know first hand we call it rollerblading, and nobody does that in Chicago as the authors pointed out. Since kids write all the time whether they are passing notes, keeping a journal, or talking on facebook, all teachers need to be able to do is find a topic that would be engaging for the students to write about. Writing is a skill that everybody will need to have nobody what their profession is. I think the authors do a great job in pointing out how important being able to write a scholarly essay is, but at the same time they do a great job in pointing out that just because the test scores are bad doesn't mean students do not know how to write.