Reading and Writing Strategies for Non-Fiction Texts- Unit Reflection

The first lesson was creating a concept map based on the vocabulary word Immigration. Students pulled from background knowledge and filled out a concept map relating ideas to the central word. The second lesson was a lesson where I read a book about Immigration into America and students added information to their concept maps after discussion about the text. After teaching this lesson I was able to reflect on my practice. The students I think were successful during this lesson. I think what helped was being able to return to their concept map and add more. Also, I think it helped that they were able to work with partners. This always works well with the students, many of them have said that they just enjoy bouncing ideas off of one another and that it really helps in their thinking about the concept or the task. Some students however decided to work independently and you could see how it had an effect on their additions to the concept map, or lack thereof. These students just say and moped during this time and did not add much to their concept map. I saw that those who chose to work with a partner took the most away from the lesson.
In terms of literacy practices I learned that my students are able to dig deep into their previous knowledge and that helps them during reading-especially in this lesson. I had a great deal of participation when asking students for input. Even students who do not usually participate offered up information when constructing and revisiting our concept map. I think overall students are able to make cross-curricular connections (which is very important in upper elementary).
I will re-teach this material again as we loop back through reading and writing strategies for non-fiction texts. We will see these strategies again as we look at other non-fiction text. At this time I will give more independent work time to those I know can handle it and I will pull small groups for those who had a hard time constructing, adding to or defending their answers from this lesson.
If I were to do this lesson again I would split the reading up into 2 days. The book was quite long and I think lost some of my students because of it’s length. I think I would also follow up the lesson with a different text and have them construct a concept map based on a vocabulary word. They would dig in their prior knowledge to see what they knew and then add to their concept map while they read. I think I would do this with several different non-fiction texts and vary small/large group discussions and independent/partner work. I think that if students practiced more with building vocabulary or even built vocabulary based on looking up the definition and reading about the topic, they would have been more successful on the independent level.

The second lesson I did was about determining big ideas and important details.I was very pleased with the outcome of this lesson. I think that I had so much success because students were familiar with the book and had read it in previous classes. Having the prior knowledge made for a very rich discussion and in-depth thoughts about big ideas, important details and questions to ask to set a purpose for reading. Even my students who tend to shy away from class discussions participated and contributed good dialogue to the conversation. We took a picture walk through the book and came up with questions based on the pictures. We had lots of questions that they produced, several of them were very connected, in-depth and reached the goals of my lesson from the bat. They caught onto the story and ran with it, I was very pleased.
I learned key factors about my student’s literacy practices, and that mostly revolves around having a rich prior knowledge and being able to tap into that during ELA lessons. Students had to understand the context of the book in order to understand the important details, and they were able to draw upon that based on their prior knowledge about the context and the basis of the book. If I were to re-teach I would chose a different text and have them research the context of the book. I wonder how the lesson would have gone if students did not know the context or had background knowledge of the book. I think it taught me that before you dive into a text you should do some research on it to better familiarize yourself with what the book is about-especially with non-fictional texts.
The third lesson was an extension of the lesson before. They were taking what they learned in the previous lesson and applying to an independent writing piece. This involved reading a passage and applying what they knew about determining big ideas and important details.
Most students were able to successfully read a passage and determine the important details and big ideas based on that passage. Students worked hard to gain understanding of the passage and apply in a writing piece. Some students do not thrive when given independent work and thus needed either a one on one or a small group discussion of the topic. These students benefited from oral conversation and were able to successfully determine the big ideas and important details of the passage. I was please with them being able to communicate orally their comprehension of the piece and of the task. I was a little disappointed with what followed though. I thought that if I pulled students in a small group and we all discussed the meaning of the passage and draw big ideas that it would boost their confidence and I could have them try the writing piece on their own. Instead of running with it, students fell back into the anxiety ridden state that they get to when they are asked to write independently. Most of these students want you to sit next to them while they write and check to see if they are doing it correctly. They do not thrive when asked to work independently. I wish I could have thought of something that could have gotten them to work more independently without getting so much anxiety of doing so.
If I were to re-teach this I would find a way that connected those students in a way in which they did not feel anxiety. Similar to students who enjoy playing an education game. They are having fun, so they do not realize that they are actually learning. I would like to think of something that gets them writing on their own where they do not feel so isolated and have anxiety of the independence.
Planning and teaching an entire unit most definitely allowed me to grow as a teacher and as a reflective teacher. I am becoming better at understanding quickly if something is not going right and either changing it or reflecting on what I could've done differently.I am very thankful for this opportunity.

Literacy Unit- Genre Study

General Background: I did my unit on a genre study that mixed Historical Fiction, Mystery and Tall Tales all together. The first ten days, that I used for inquiry two were the introduction to the unit. We started off the unit by creating a KWL chart, then read a book from each genre. We used these books to generate list about the setting, characters, problem, solution and moral from each genre.

Finishing up my unit for my genre study, has left me with mix feelings. First of all, I am proud of myself for being able to create an unit when not a lot of materials were given to me. This is not a striped curriculum like I have been seeing with many other subjects. I was given points that the students had to learn, six weeks to create unit around this. Second, I feel as if there is not enough time in the day to teach all the material that I want my students to walk away from this unit with. With the MEAP, DWA, Fifth Grade Camp, Power Outages and student led parent teacher conferences, it seemed that my unit was very inconsistent on when we did the lessons. Also, it seems that we will never get to all of the material because there is ALWAYS something that is coming up (I hear this will be an issue for all teachers!).

I was thrilled with the response of flip-chart and character-setting drawings. All of the fifth grade teachers asked for copies of this lesson along with the flip chart template. I was glad to see my ideas were being used by other teachers. Also, I felt that it showed that I was planning and trying to put a lot of thought into my lesson.

While writing their own Tall Tale, was a great idea and my teacher thought I had a great plan, we figured out we would not have enough time to go through the entire writing process. (Originally, my goal of this lesson was for students to play around with tall tales and see if they can get that deeper understanding of what a tall tale is). While I think the lesson still went well, I was worried that the students were rushed and did not have enough time to dig deep into the genre. When doing this unit again, I would wait until the end of the six weeks to think about writing a Tall Tale. I think my some of my students may have had a hard time because they were still unsure what a tall tale is. Also, next time I will have my students do research and online activities (if the school will allow it) to help the have more hands on experience with the books.

While my unit went well, there were a couple of things that I was not expecting. I was not expecting my students to struggle with note-taking without any lines. They were writing too big or too small and running out of room. On the first day of using the flip-book, this took away from the students learning the materials. Also, after ten days of taking about these three genres I found the students were bored and ready to move on. While the flip book is a great organized way of holding the information, the lessons were very similar. Next, time I would try to condense some of these lesson so the students would not become 'bored'. I also found that some students that their favorite genre is mystery, so when we were filling out the chart they had the most to contribute to mystery. I should have taken more time to read more examples of Tall Tales and Historical Fiction so the students had a better base knowledge before we started filling out the charts.

Lastly, while I love the idea of a genre study, however, I found that studying three genres was hard for many students (this is how my school district has this set up). The lesson became long when we had to cover three different genres in one day. We would spend just one day talking about the characters of the three genres. Even if I could cut the conversations down to eight minutes a genre, it would still be a twenty four minute mini-lesson. This did not leave enough time for the students to explore reading or writing about the genres, outside of note-taking. Also, I felt that many students were confusing the genres because there was so much information to think about.


Answering the Questions:
I felt that the students struggled with the genre of Tall Tales across all three of my lessons. Many students were not sure what the genre really consisted of. So I can across that digging deep was hard for them. My students also struggled and worried about the picture they can to draw that combined character and setting. They were so worried about how it would look instead of the important aspect of the project.

My alternate reads for my students work was I was surprised by how they struggled with note-taking. This is a skill we are working on for sixth grade. I thought when they had the boxes and the information on the board, this would have been a great modeling of organizing their data. However, the students struggled with how big to write, their writing wasn't neat because there were no lines. Or there were too man notes and not enough room. Next time, I will teach a mini-lesson on strategies on note taking with this kind of set up. I think this will help the students and not have the lesson get away from my main point.

I was amazed by how well my students did picking apart the genres. They did a great job of reading one book to guide their thinking about an entire genre. Also, they did an awesome job of listening to a story Casey At Bat to guide their thinking about writing their own Tall Tales. I was surprised about how many of them were able to pick up on idea of Today's Tall Tales.

As for re-teaching any of the materials from my lessons, we are going to spend the next four weeks working on the genres, character, setting, problem, solution, moral and theme in my classroom. The students will revisit the material, write more from the genres and read many more examples. For the next four weeks, we read aloud a picture book from one of these genres as well. The students are also ask to read one chapter book from these genres during silent reading time.

If I was going to teach the same lessons again, I would change a couple of things. I would change studying three genres at one time. Also, I would change having the students write their tall tale piece in the middle. I think I would change the mystery writing piece and the Tall Tale Writing piece because I found the students had more background knowledge about mystery than Tall Tales.This will help students to become exposed to more Tall Tales and I think their writing will improve because of this.

All in all, I really enjoyed teaching my unit!

The Connection of Fluency and Comprehension in the Classroom

In Mosaic Of Thought, I read about the importance of comprehension and fluency in the classroom, as well as how it connects to our leveled reading for our students. The relationship between reading comprehension and reading fluency is that once you understand what you are reading, then you will become a more fluent reader. Students who struggle with comprehension struggle with fluency because they are having to stop and re-read or struggle to understand what they are reading. Because of this fluency in their reading suffers. I am not seen any approaches to assessing fluency in my classroom thus far. Although we have set time for reading, we have not been teaching strategies about reading yet this year. I think that formal assessments help us to understand where students are at. Having a DRA data for each student is critical in deciding what course of action should be taken to help develop skills in our students. I think we also need to see how much students are comprehending about their reading, if they can connect it to writing or not, and if they are able to form concise responses based on their comprehension of the piece they read. I think it is also important to discuss reading development with our CT’s and with our literacy coach at the school. They are aware of the testing that is done and which ways to assess learning of skills and develop readers on and individual level. I think that we also need to confer and conference with students frequently to make sure they are at the correct reading level and they are being challenged enough. Comprehension is very important and students also need to be able to display and understanding of what they are reading and also be able to develop this understanding in their writing. We use DRA testing to correctly place students at a reading level and work from their on developing comprehension and fluency.

Fluency: How can we tell?!

While reading the Mosaic of Thought: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction, I noticed that the theme was about how to get students to comprehend what they are reading. In Mosaic Thought, they bring up the idea of students who are able to read fluency but using the comprehension strategies only “slows them down.” They bring up the point that many students are not reading books at their level. This means that the students are not reading books that enrich their minds while reading. Are they able to use the comprehension strategies on this book or is there not enough plot to do so? We also talk about this with my fifth graders; a lot of time when the text is not challenging enough you will use the strategies automatically without thinking. This is a great thing, but we want you be challenged. 

Fluency is first tested in our classroom through the DRA (Development Reading Assessment). This assessment is done at the beginning and end of each year to see where each student is at for their reading. The assessment looks at their fluency and reading level.

We use a couple of different strategies to teach fluency in my classroom. The first thing that we do is to make sure all of the students are reading ‘just right’ book. This should be a book on their level. We test to see if the book is on their level through the five-finger test, as well as making sure the students understand what they are reading. Then we set goal for the students to help them keep on pace while reading. For instance, we tell them they have a week to finish reading one of their books. My mentor said that she finds students often work best when they have a set in stone goal. This will help them monitor their reading.

In my classroom, we spend most of the time working on silent reading and improving that fluency. The students do not seem to be able to read aloud as much. As a reader, personally, I find I struggle most with reading aloud. While reading their books, how do we know they are reading word for word? Are the students actually reading or are they able to grasp the basic idea of the book? Also, we teach them all of these reading strategies, how can we get them to do them naturally? The strategies will help them become fluent readers, however they how do you get them to them naturally?

I could pull them more for conferencing. I think the only way to really find out how much your students know is to ask them and work with them. We can’t leave all of our ‘assessments’ up to a formal test, we need to work with them as much as possible.

Gill-The Forgotten Genre of Children's Poetry

In this selection Gill brings up the point that children's poetry is a very popular subject. However, much of the literature that is devoted to children's literature that is being published today focuses on teaching the different kinds and genres of poetry, and insists on exposing children to the so called "classics". In this article Gill wonders if there really is an actual genre of poetry that is explicitly devoted to children. In the article Gill states "I believe that central to helping students enjoy poetry is helping them to understand what poetry is" I think this is a great point. Just like every other subject, goals and standards are being reshaped and reworked to accommodate a new generation of students, so why should poetry be different. I agree that a study of classic poems can give students a great glimpse into the past and can be a meaningful exercise. However, for it to be the only way that students see and interact with poetry makes it hard for them to relate and become excited about poetry. Until we as get students to understand that poetry is "something people do...to share their experiences." When those experiences the students read about in classic poems are very un-relatable to their personal experiences it is hard to get that point across.

This article really hit home with me for a couple reasons. The first is that as a child I was fascinated with poetry. I loved writing it, and I loved reading it. But as I read the same poems over and over in the poetry units in language arts and those poems were not really related to my experiences it was hard to keep that passion alive. The other is that in my placement I have actually experienced that this is still happening today. After specials one day, one of my students came in and slumped down. When I asked her what was wrong she said that specials were sooooo boring. When I asked her why she told me because all they did all day was read poems. When I said that poetry was awesome and asked her why she had disliked it so much I was surprised at her response. To paraphrase her, The poems are all really old and I don't understand them and it is just boring. I mean I like poetry but that was really boring. I mean its art class why are we reading stupid poems all day? Reading this article brought this back up, and I really believe that before we can get kids interested in poetry we have to take our foot off of the classic poems gas and look towards more child geared poetry that kids can relate too and get excited about and interested in. If we don't I fear that poetry will become a dying art.

Deidra M. Gammill- Learning the write way

This article was about the importance to learning to write, and writing to learn. It discusses the importance of writing in a cross-curricular setting, bringing up the point that writing can help with many different subjects and tasks including activating prior knowledge, problem solving, and reading comprehension.
They then to go on to give you strategies of incorporating these tasks into your daily routine. This is super helpful because this article gives you ideas, not just talk about research. One strategy they suggested was the K-W-L chart and journals. These charts can be used in all subjects and many contexts. These strategies help to incorporate many subjects in many contexts and help develop writing techniques in many ways.
I think that in the 5th grade it is important to use this approach. Like we were talking about in class last week, by upper elementary we don’t use a literacy block because literacy is incorporated in every subject throughout the day. I think it is important to use writing strategies to continue fostering development in their writing and comprehension. In the older grades you are reading to learn, not learning to read. However, I do think having something that can fit across many subjects is a beneficial thing. I don’t know of how well it would fit into my current literacy curriculum. I haven’t seen enough reader’s or writer’s workshop to make a decision on if it would mesh well or not.
I think in order to be successful in teaching this we would have to look at the big picture of our teaching and create common goals and plans across the subjects. And then see how you can incorporate comprehension, discussion and writing into your subjects. I think to be successful you also have to mesh your teaching so that it is seamless between subjects. I also think that students would get into a routine of using these strategies and become better at using them if you used them throughout the day in every subject.
All of the writer’s workshop components we have learned about today has influence the way I approach my unit. Looking at writing samples to see where students are, using forms of assessments is so important when looking at the big picture and where you want to take your students during your unit. I am thankful to have been exposed to the knowledge and it has given me ideas on how to be a more concise, and meaningful teacher.

Conferring in Writers Workshop

This week for the jigsaw reading I choice the article about writing workshop and conferencing. I choose this because in fifth grade I see this a lot and would like suggestions on way other teachers have made this work. School Talk: Conferring in Writers Workshop was all about hearing student voices in the during writers workshop. It gave key components of conferencing during writing workshop, which include: short conferences, praises, listening to student, teach the writer, student involvement, etc. The main goal was keeping the conversation to the specific students needs and work on their writing, not the writing process.

I would use this approach very much in my classroom and see similar communication going on in my classroom. For instance, parent/teacher conferences are student lead meaning they have to talk about their learning and their work. Writers conferences are a great way for students to talk about their work and knowing what their process was during writing. In my classroom, when we confer with them, we are always asking them "what was your style or techniques or writing?" My mentor teacher said she does this because she wants to know if they understand what they are doing. During conferences, I have a hard time not correcting everything on their papers. Many of my students have grammar errors, spelling errors or fragments in their writing. It has been hard for me to sit back and listen to what they have to say and correct their entire paper.

In my classroom, we have a writing conference journal with a tab being each students name. The mentor teacher and myself are able to keep track of the students writing and there process just like the article stated. As well as Mike in the video had a binder. The binder is not a mystery to the students because we are working on goal setting and improving together, so they are able to see everything that is written in the binder.

One thing the article mentions, is showing your students your own writing. Mike did this on the 5th Grade Writing Workshop as well. This is one thing I have never done but seems like it would work. Showing the students my work would deeper my connection to the students, showing I am a human with a life however a learning experience for both of us. They will have opporutnities to edit or give me ideas of my writing. Another thing that I have learned as a professional, is letting the students talk and seeing what they have to say about their writing. Do not always jump in their with your ideas, let them think.

The article has made me think about viewing my students writing instead of worrying about the writing process. How can I help that specific student improve compared to how can I get the student through this writing process? What can I teach the student that will help all of their pieces and not that specific piece? I do not want to do the writing or work for the students, I just want to guide them in their thinking.

Comparing Book Club Plus! to my classroom

Sorry this is late, I just got the book in the mail so I will be doing a little bit of catch up.

In my classroom, I am slowly but surely seeing portions of book club plus! being used in our literacy curriculum. However, still there isn't much explicit literacy instruction to observe just yet. Because I am in a higher grade level placement, there just isn't enough time in the day to spend even an hour sometimes on literacy. Especially with the MEAP looming a lot of the instruction I have observed has been tailored around test prep. However, my C.T. has been trying hard to sprinkle some literacy instruction in here and there when she can. The literacy instruction we have spent the most time on so far has been writer's workshop. In my classroom, we use the Lucy Calkin's curriculum and right now we are working on creating meaningful and rich personal narratives. I think this writing workshop does a wonderful job of starting small and getting the kids to think about important memories and meaningful events and stories before they jump into their writing. From what I have observed so far, the hardest part for the students is finding an important story to write about, and through modeling and practice our writing workshop has prompted a lot of students to find a rich topic to write about which they might not have thought of otherwise.

One way that I am observing my classroom literacy instruction coinciding with book club plus! is that the topic of personal narratives that we are focusing on in writing workshop is being reinforced in our read aloud's as part of the making meaning curriculum. So far, the stories that we have read have been meaningful personal narratives, and during writers workshop we have been able to reference these stories, and I am seeing it really have an impact on the student's thinking. When they have something concrete they can look back to as an example it really helps them to be able to model their writing and ideas after it. We have also done a lot of independent reading, which I have noticed the students really enjoy. It is great to see how many students really love to read. The only problem that I am seeing about the Accelerated Reader program being used, is that to reach the minimum of five books per trimester, many students are picking books that are below their reading level so that they can fulfill this benchmark. Very few students are actually pushing themselves to read harder books. As I begin to see more literacy instruction in my classroom, I am certain that I will be able to make more connections to the ideas that I am reading about in Book Club Plus!

Literacy- Book Club Chaptere 6-8

I am really enjoying reading Book Club Plus! because my classroom is set up in a similar idea for reading and writing workshop. So implementing some of the books suggestions will only improve literature for my students. The one chapter that really stuck out to me is Classroom Management. Many times in the teaching program, we have been given these great ideas, however it is not explained how to implement into a everyday routine. When I first read that Book Club Plus! should take 75-125 minutes per day, I thought that I would never be able to fit that into my classroom. Upon breaking down my classroom we spend about 90 minutes per day on literature. So this is a very realistic time frame they have given. I also love the fish bowl method and love how other students are modeling what is being expected of them!

In chapter six, assessments, the students will be graded on whether they are exceeding bench mark, meeting benchmark or working on benchmark. In my classroom, the students are evaluated in a very similar way. I understand the thinking about this, to make sure the students are meeting those GLEC's. I have a concern, that this is leading teaching more towards just teaching to a test. The example they gave was just a check off if they were getting it. How about the students to are improving and moving towards benchmarks. Or the students that started off so low that they will never reach the benchmarks, however are improving? I know this is just one formal way of assessing and we should be assessing all the time, I just worry that teaching is becoming all about MEAP and nothing else.

Chapter nine was great! On page 153, they give a planning guide which looks very similar to what happens in my class each day for literature. I love the thought process they showed for developing an unit, since we will be developing ours soon. The lesson plan set up, was clean, easy to look at and to the point. They did each week, the plan then the outcome for the unit. I was not sure how was I was going to develop my unit plan for either classes, however I think this is a great way of doing it.When I was asking my CT for advice she said a plan was good way to start however she has been teaching so long she could not think of a great way for me to start. I liked this reading of the plans because they are simple, quick and organized.

Other thing I would like to point out, which my classroom does not do a lot of, is the cross of subjects within the subject. Right on the lesson plans, it says "connection to social studies". I think this is an important thing to include to all lesson plans. Students need to understand reading is used in all subjects, no just during reading workshop. It will help them make more meaningful connections inside and outside of the classroom.

Literacy- Book Club Plus Managing Book Club in Your Classroom

Everything that I am reading in the Book Club Plus! book is all very interesting. I am not seeing this concretely shown in my classroom yet. However I am seeing aspects of the book club being shown. In the chapters we read about assessment and classroom management.

A common thing we are doing right now is a read aloud daily. Students are read to and then reflect on what they read. The students come back to that writing and reflect on their work the next day. Giving students a chance to walk away from their completed work and read it the next day gives them a chance to look back and see where they could’ve done a better job. I think this is really important, reflecting is a huge part of education and seeing where improvement could’ve been made and a plan for better improvement.

I enjoyed reading about the different types of literacy we can engage our students in. The only one mentioned that I have seen so far in my classroom is the read aloud. My teacher reads from a chapter book for about 20 minutes everyday.

I would like to work out a time where a block of literacy can be made. Right now it is a combined hour or so, but it is broken up and disturbed by specials and lunch. I would like to see more classroom discussions based on the read-aloud as well as sharing from students reflecting notebooks.

I think overarching support that I would need to provide is a foundation of expectations, as well as an environment that promotes discussion among small and large groups. Also because a lot of these are large group/fishbowl discussions, I would need to have an understanding of where the student is at in their reading levels to best understand how to help them facilitate good conversation and be a part of the whole group activity. I will also need to look at the resources available in our school and make the best decision of books based on my students needs.


I am really excited to take what I have read about and slowly incorporate it into our daily schedule. I am interested to see how it plays out. I haven't seen a lot of what I read incorporated yet in my classroom, but am interested to see how managing a successful book club and literacy block will be.

Math-Big Ideas

From Classroom Discussions Chapter 9, I think the big idea was the power of planning. Having a course of action, predicting conversation and discussion will help to facilitate your lesson plan as well as be able to make changes during your lesson to help fit the needs of your students. Also the importance of being able to reflect on your lesson and make a decision of where to go from there in terms of the needs of your students and what they actually pulled away from it.

From the article, “Listening to Students: The Power of Mathematical Conversations” I think the big ideas is the power of conversation. In math we think that it is a students job to sit and write down the problems and repeat to learn the method. In fact it is important to give students opportunities to have them talk out what they are thinking. Most importantly defending their answers, opinions is very valuable and teaches children to be responsible for their learning and their decisions in all subject areas.


From the article, Discourse That Promotes Conceptual Understanding I think the big idea was similar to the listening to students. It talked about strategies we can use as teachers to illicit understanding of concepts. This meaning, teach strategies that will promote understanding, but also teach strategies where students defend their answers and prove why it is or is not correct. Having children respond to why they chose a certain strategy or how they got a certain answer makes the children dig deeper then just having the right or wrong answer. Super important in all subject areas and especially math. It is not always about getting the right answer, but understanding how they got to that answer that is important.

The article, Putting Umph into Classroom Discussions, big ideas were how important discussion in the math context is important in reasoning and understanding within the students. It allows students time to defend their thought process and also gives teachers insight on what that student was thinking. They also talked about the importance of discussion with the whole class and being able to argue or discuss a problem and their reasoning for getting it.

Math Readings Summary

The Stein article "Putting Umph in Discussion" was about how to spark good mathematical conversation in the classroom. It talked about how a lot of educators tend to get into the habit of spoon feeding their students lessons. It talked about breaking the habit of stepping in and correcting wrong solutions. The article is about taking a step back and letting your students take the reigns and come to an answer through taking sides and defending their ideas using mathematical evidence. According to the article in order to do so, you must establish a classroom atmosphere of respect and trust so that kids can feel comfortable taking a risk and aren't afraid of being wrong. In order to do so, a task must be selected that has the potential to elicit different solutions and students taking different positions.

Chapter nine in Chapin is all about writing math lessons. According to the chapter a math lesson is broken down into five parts. Those parts being identifying the mathematical goals, anticipating confusion, asking questions, managing classroom talk, and planning the implementation. When I look at those five steps I see one that I would consider the most important especially if you are looking to create a math discussion amongst your students. That is asking questions, because in my opinion if you ask the right questions the right way you can forget about managing classroom talk because your students will do most of it for you. The right question can lead to a great discussion, while the wrong question can lead to a one sentence answer.

Kazemi's "Discourse that Promotes Conceptual Understanding" is about the importance of really explaining the why's of student thinking and work. The article talks about how important this explanation is to a students conceptual understanding of the ideas they are learning. By explaining their thinking step by step the students should really be able to grasp exactly what is happening when they say carry the 1.

In the Atkins article "Listening to Students: The Power of Mathematical Conversations" talks about how important the teachers role as a listener is to creating a good math talk. It talks about the teacher taking on a somewhat unfamiliar role in most math classes and not being the end all be all source of knowledge, but encouraging the students to learn from each other. A lot of it talked about setting up the classroom in a way that promotes this kind of learning. My classroom is set up perfectly for it, unfortunately my C.T. doesn't utilize it to its fullest potential.

Summary of Math Articles

Here are my summaries for the following articles:

Discourse That Promotes Conceptual Understanding (Kazemi) was about the importance of students explaining their thinking or steps to solving a problem. This included justifications of the students answers or thinking. The students did not look as errors as a bad thing however a learning opportunity. This method of learning in math is done in my classroom. My CT is always wanting the students to explain their thinking or justify their answers.

Putting Umph into Discussion (Stein) was about not letting your discussions in the classroom become routine. The teacher should not always be asking the students "why"? They showed this different ways of getting the "umph" into your classroom in the area of the classroom activity. A debate were it was mostly student centered and the teacher was there just to restate or keep the students on task. The key to setting up your classroom in order to promote this environment were debates can take place, classroom management has to be a safe and understanding.

Chapter Nine from the Chapin book is about writing lesson plans for math lessons. I found this chapter be very useful and helpful, since our units are going to be due soon. They broke down the lessons into five different parts, which are: identifying the mathematical goals, anticipating confusion, asking questions, managing classroom talk, and planning the implementation. I believe the most important part of the lsson is anticipating confusion because this can stop misconceptions or misunderstanding before they happen. If you know what students had problems with in the past, you can point out those mistakes right away.

In Listening to Students: The Power of Mathematical Conversations (Atkins) was about teachers really listening to what students are communicating when they are talking during math. This means changing the teachers role in the classroom. Instead of being the main leader, become a member into the math community. In doing this, making sure the layout of the classroom is focused on the students and not all the attention is to the teacher. The students build a peer to peer learning environment where they grow and learn off of each other.

Reflecting on Our Community Adventure

After taking our trip through our community, we decided that there were some things that we expected, that held true. However, there were also some things that we observed and learned that we did not anticipate. First, we anticipated that the library, the mall, and the restaurants we visited would all be filled with opportunities to interact with rich literacy. After visiting these places we decided that this indeed was true. While it was obvious that the library would be full of these opportunities, we were a little less sure about the restaurants and the mall. We went to the Friday's in Novi and boy was it surprising. The amount of stuff that they had on the walls was almost suffocating. They have tons of stuff ranging from old sports memorabilia to old dog sleds. Street signs, posters, plaques, you name it they have it. And most of it you can read. It was interesting to observe people interacting with it also. Its one of those things were you are eating and you kind of stare off, and then something wacky hanging on the wall catches your eye and you can't help but check it out, read what it says, and try and figure out what it is. There are endless opportunities to do this in Friday's. However, we were not even close to prepared to the overwhelming amounts of literacy there is to interact with at Twelve Oaks Mall. There are so many different stores, with so many different items, so many different sales, so many different menu's that it is almost overwhelming when you really look for it. But that is the thing, most people don't really even realize just how much they are reading and comprehending on even the most average trips there. Whether is is spatially figuring out where your car is parked if you left it in D3 and you are in D1. Or whether you are reading the hot sale and trying to figure out whether you meet the criteria. Whatever it is, the opportunities are endless!

Then there was the library. What can I say about that place other than WOW! It was absolutely unreal. And it wasn't only just the high-tech state of the art factor that got me. What really hit home and made me shake my head in wonder was how many kids were there!! This was after school on a Thursday, and there were kids everywhere. Downstairs working together at a table on a group project. Upstairs on the computer taking an accelerated reader test. In the quiet study area, doing their homework they got that day. It looked like a college library! All I could think about is how much I wished that I had exposure to something like that before I got to college. I definitely would have been able to get more out of the library at MSU had I learned how to study and use it effectively before I got there. It was just really cool to see so much learning going on, in a setting that wasn't forcing it. These kids weren't required to be there. They were there on their own free will. They could have been running around causing trouble somewhere, but instead they were in the library getting comfortable with a good book. I will definitely be utilizing this resource as much as I can this year, and why not?!?!

Cohen Group-work

Reading through the group-article I was reminded of a lot of conversations that my TE 401 class had last year. I don't specifically remember reading this exact article but the ideas are very similar to those that we covered last year. The biggest idea is the concept of status. This is a very intriguing idea to me. I have observed a lot of group work, as well as participated in a lot of group work (especially in our TE classes). The thing that really sticks out to me is how pretty much all issues of Status in group work settings is derived from perception rather than reality. That is why I chose the following quote from chapter 5: Dembo and McAullife (1987) demonstrated clearly that what is going on here is due to the perceptions of "high ability" rather than to some actual difference in ability. A lot of this part of the article discussed some of the things that lead to this perception. One of the major factors is reading ability. If a student is perceived to be a good reader, other students are more apt to turn to them to lead the group or to simply bow to their ideas without questioning or thinking for themselves. This is quite worrying to me, especially in my fifth grade class. A lot of kids are now starting to delve into more advanced books and series, while many others are not. The problem that I see with this, is that a lot of students are ignoring the guidelines to choosing a just right book that we have gone over and are choosing to read books that are too advanced for their reading level. While the student who knows he isn't ready for a more advanced book and instead is reading a book more suited to his reading level is probably getting more out of his book, the student that looks like their book is advanced is perceived as "higher achieving" even though they probably aren't getting as much out of their book. It is very interesting how crucial a simple perception that students might not even know they are making can dictate the way group work plays out. Some of the things we talked about last year to try and curb this status effect, is to 1. make sure that the assignment is "group worthy". In other words don't just make an assignment a group assignment for the sake of doing it, first make sure that there really is a need for students to work in groups to get more out of the assignment. And 2. complex instruction can be very effective if used correctly. By delegating jobs and tasks to students you give them some personal responsibility to contribute to their group by completing their assigned task. However, if that task isn't seen as important or worthwhile, you are falling right back down the slippery slope you were trying to navigate.

Book Club Model Comparisions to Classroom Context

The book club model compares quite similarly to what I am learning about from literacy instruction in my classroom. We are still getting into reading and writing as a daily task, and more is being integrated with each passing day. So far we have concentrated on read-aloud. We started a chapter book and my mentor teacher reads from it everyday. We have a discussion about what we are reading and students predict certain situations or explanations for situations they have read about. So far we have being using writing as a reflective part of literacy. Students draw upon experiences they have had or try and connect to the character in some way. This is a way students write through the text. Making reader-text connections, and tracking what has been learned. My students are using a graphic organizer to organize their thoughts about what is going on in the book. This is an area where students record problems and solutions and other events they are reading about in the book. I haven’t seen a concrete part of writing into the unit or text yet. We have practiced writing out of the text, giving students time to write in their reading reflections notebook. Here they have a chance to reflect on what they are reading and reflect on how that is affecting them or connecting to them. I think it is so important to give students ample time to do their reflections. I want my students to know that I care about what they are thinking and feeling after reading a text or book. I want them to feel like they can express the connections they are feeling or confusions that are facing throughout the reading.



We don’t devote a block of time everyday towards literacy so far. It seems like math and science/social studies have taken precedence thus far. But coming into the 4th week of school, we are finally devoting more and more time to literacy. But I do see literacy skills practiced throughout the entire day. From the daily warm-ups to sharing with the class an article they found online, students are practicing their writing, reading, hearing and speaking skills. As we devote more time to the literacy block I think I will see more and more connections to other curricular areas. I am excited to continue and to implement new book club ideas into my classroom. Seeing it all laid out and given suggestions on how to implement is very exciting!

Comparing Book Club to my Classroom

In my classroom, 'language arts' is broken down into sub-categories. They are reading workshop, writing workshop, making meaning, handwriting and read-a-louds. While it is similar to Book Club Plus there are a few differences. I am in a fifth grade classroom, so my students are at different reading levels. The DRA was just administer and the students ranged from level 24 to level 70 (so second grade to seventh grade). So one challenge we have is making sure all students are being pushed however some are not bored while others are not lost.

The Making Meaning unit is all about the students comprehension of stories and is very similar to chapter 3 in Book Club Plus. This is a scripted way of teaching comprehension and the instruction is very clear so the students know what to do. In fifth grade, some of the main focuses are 'text to text' and 'text to self' or as the book calls it making Intertextual connections. The students are asked to predict, question and use clues to help them while they are reading. Today's lesson was about inferring and reading between the lines. During making meaning, the teacher does a read aloud however the teaching is mostly peer to peer.

During reading workshops, the students mostly silent read. However, small groups will be asked to read with a teacher or each other. The students will meet about every 7-10 school days to see progress they are making with their 'just right' books as well as making sure they are understanding their book. Reading workshop starts off each day with a mini-lesson then the students break off into their areas. Also, once a week students will be asked to write a journal entry about their books. My teacher also is reading a chapter book aloud for 20 minutes per day.

Writing workshop has not yet been formally placed into my classroom yet. However, starting today the students were learning the formal editing steps and starting their haircut or bad hair story. Before this the students were working on small moments and using detail writing to describe these small moments. The students also have a hand writing lesson twice a week for 10 minutes.

My students are able to 'write into a text' because while in making meaning the teacher often ask how does this relate back to your life? Does something like this happen in your family? These are called self to text connections. However they are done verbally in my classroom. 'Writing through the text' is something the students do however right now we are in the modeling stage in making meaning so it is being done as an entire class. 'Writing out of the text' is one my students are working on right now. In their journals they are asked to reflect upon what they are reading and respond critically. Linking stories to stories is a common one that we are doing in fifth grade.

Reflecting on the Community

The community that I am teaching in is the White Lake, Walled Lake or Commerce Area. The three small towns boards blend together and all make up the Walled Lake Consolidated School District. My school is mostly in White Lake however it is a school of choice. The surrounding area is mostly lakes, fields and sub-divisions. To get to any "city" one needs to drive about 15-20 minutes, even to the closest expressway. The lakes make the roads very curvy and seem like you are going in circles.

One of things that it has taught me about my community is that the families seem to enjoy outdoor activities. Many of my students love to ride bikes, go on the boat, play sports or just go for walks along the trails. Many of my students favorite activity is on the water (i.e. wakeboarding, swimming, etc). Also, the community is beautiful which is well reflected upon at the school.

One of the places that my group choice to visit was the Outdoor Education Center. The reason why we picked this location was because the students visit it during school also on the weekends. As well as, this is where my fifth graders go to fifth grade camp. I was very excited to see where we would be spending our camp. I found that the camp represented the community very well. It was located on the lake and most of the learning activities were done outside. While there, we saw a rock climbing wall, obstacle courses, lakes, canoes, hiking trails, horse trails, etc.

While the literature the students need while at the camp can be as basic as reading signs or being able to follow a map. We found the new vocabulary they take away from the center combined with their experience will make from some rich literacy pieces. From describing their fear while climbing the tower or riding the American beauties, they would be able to develop small moments with rich, descriptive words. Also, vocabulary such as learning how to 'belay' while rock climbing. Their writing after or while there will be full of excitement, fear, conquering goals and so much more.

Another thing I learned while visiting the center was that the students take classes there, even while at fifth grade camp. They are expected to take notes while they are there, write feelings down and observations. These types are writings can make an written piece great as well as help with their writing in science (cross subject connection). I also was surprised to see the amount of literature the center had to offer about nature. I think since many of the students have a lot of property or live on the lake, many of these books would be an interest to them. Another important part of a the literacy community is building a safe environment. The students are taught to team build and that everyone has worth. While the entire class visits, this can be the start or build upon 'safety' in your classroom. At the center everyone has an opinion and it has to be heard. During reading workshop or writing workshop this is an important thing to have established in your room.

Other community activities we investigated were recreational sports and the St. Pat's Fair in Walled Lake. Similar writing activities were available for these activities. However, one thing we talked about with these activities was knowing what students like or do on the weekends can help guide a teacher to rich literature. It can also help encourage 'non-readers' to become readers!

Task 4, Debriefing on Visiting Community

After observing the community you actually notice all of the things that can be tied back to literacy. It is amazing how many things are connected and interconnected to literacy. Our school is surrounded by mile roads and what is very interesting is that the mile roads are sometimes written in number form “11 mile” and sometimes written in word form “Eleven Mile” the students are exposed to both of these types and it is interesting to see if the students make a connection between the two. Do they realize they mean the same thing? This connects literacy and math observations we saw in the community during our visit throughout the community.
I was surprised at the amazing resources the students have in their city. The Southfield Public Library is beautiful with a large children’s section included with a lot of variety in text selection. These resources are great and even students with a lower socio-economic status can obtain resources for free and use what the library has to offer. I also enjoyed learning about what our literacy coaches have as resources to our students. I knew that we had a literacy coach but going into their room and looking at the resources they use is very beneficial in my teaching as well. The community experience has helped be understand and learn a lot about my school, students and families. Simply spending time where students spend time helps you understand where they come from, how and what they see on their way to school and home from school. Driving around and looking at resources, businesses, libraries etc helps you to have a deeper understanding for where these children come from. Having this deeper understanding, allows for greater connection among you and your students. Visiting parks, libraries and other places your student might go, gives you perspective on their life. The closer we are to our students, the better we can help them achieve their potential.
When we also make connections with our students and understand where they live and come from, we can use that to help us in the classroom. If students spend a lot of time some where specific in the city, we can bring that in during a lesson. Knowing these facts can help us with the connections of our students and bringing the resources that they have and utilize in the city into our classroom. This makes more meaningful connections and it shows students that we are invested in their learning and care about their lives outside of the classroom.
Referring back to these initial investigations will aid in lesson planning and creating connections and meaningful learning in our classroom throughout the year.

Cohen- Groupwork

This weeks readings were very helpful. One quote that stuck out to me was in Chapter 5 Designing Groupwork: Planning Groupwork in Stages. The quote was as follows:

“Groups larger than five present problems for participation in interaction. For group discussion, I have always found that four or five is an optimal size. As the group gets larger there is more of a chance that one or more members will be left out of the interaction almost entirely….A group of three has a strong tendency for two persons to form a coalition leaving the third feeling isolated and left out.”

This quote stuck out to me because it was something I had not really thought about before. Of course I knew that small groups were beneficial in targeting certain students who are struggling with something, but I did not realize the ramifications of having too large or too small of a group, especially within discussions. Of course as I read it, I realized, well of course groups of three wouldn’t be ideal because two might be closer and work better together, and of course super large groups loose some of the children during discussion.

This is so beneficial for me in my classroom. It has given me ideas on how to approach discussions and groupwork. It has even helped me to think about placement of desks and tables in the classroom. If students are sitting at a pod, it should be between 4 and 5 students. More students at one table could create distractions and 3 people at a table might leave one student feeling left out. This will be beneficial when planning small groups (including a good mix of strengths, both genders) to keep it diversified.

I learned that not only is small groupwork important, but the number of students in your group is also important, it could dramatically change the dynamic of the discussion you were hoping for.

I am interested to see this played out into my classroom

Cohen Article-Group Work

The reading that stuck out to me this week was in the chapter 8 of the Cohen book. This chapter was about grouping students with the multiple ability strategy. One of the quotes that stuck out to me was “Instead of uniformly high expectations, high status students are expect to show strengths and weaknesses like everyone else. The same is true for low status students who are now expected and expect themselves to be at some of the important abilities relevant to this task. The teacher has created a mixed set of expectations for everyone.” (Cohen, 123). The reason that I enjoyed this passage was because it makes each student say things they are good at and things they need to improve on. I think this helps higher students and lower students while working in groups. The higher students realize that they are not good at everything and they will need help from everyone in the group. The lower students realize that they have an important role in the group and it makes everyone else in the group realize they have an important role in the group.

This chapter mainly focuses on socioeconomic status or race however I think it can be applied to almost any situation where someone in the group feels like they are not as smart and someone believes they are superior of others. My students are mostly come from white-middle class families, so the main problem in groups the superior person. If everyone in the group knew they had worth, I believe group work would become even among the members (or closer to). Also as the Cohen chapter said, my students need to stop thinking the only “smart students” are the ones who read well or “get good grades”.

The chapters focus about students using group work to find out their special abilities (Cohen, 122). I personally found this a very interesting way of thinking about group work. I am someone who, as a student, did not always like group work. However, as a teacher I can see if it is organized correctly and introduced right, it can be very powerful. After thinking about how putting this in my classroom this year, I have came up with some different things. For instance, explain the assignment and have each person think of something they can bring to the project. Then think about something that they are not as strong at doing. Once they are in the groups they will need to share these ideas and then decide who will be doing what part of the project. This way, roles are assigned and everyone knows what they are doing before diving into the group work.

I can’t wait to see if this makes a difference in my classroom.

Considering the Community

The school that I am doing my internship at is located in the White Lake however is part of the Walled Lake School District. Around this area it is mostly lakes, land and neighborhoods. The other two members in my group have grown up in the Walled Lake/White Lake area, so exploring the community is not as exciting for them as it was for me.  Just by driving to the school each day I pass by five different lakes, many small forest or open fields and neighbors hoods. Many of our students live on lakes and water sports are a big part of their lives.

 One of the places that we have deiced to visit is the local Fair that is coming up. One needs to be able to read the different signs of where to line up or reading the directions to get there. Once there, the students would be able to use rich vocabulary to describe the different rides or activities that they have gone one. For instance, “my stomach dropped when we hit the first big hill on the ride”. One thing I expect to find are rides, different kinds of games and fun food.

The place that I am most excited to visit is the Outdoor Education Center located. Many students in my class have stated they attend the Outdoor Education Center on the weekend with their families. Also, I am in a fifth grade class and this is the location where we will be going to for fifth grade camp. I expect to see different variations of outdoor activities, including petting zoo, nature trails, horse back riding and different lakes/ponds. I think the biggest literacy piece the students are going to gain while at the center is learning to write about nature and describe things with great details.

Another activity that is very common among students in our class is recreational activities. Many of my students play football, hockey, dance, cheer, basketball, volleyball, softball or baseball. Visiting these sporting events we found that the students need to have almost a different sent of vocabulary to understand the game. From jump shots to first done to different jumps not everyone might know about these activities. So one writing assignment we might do is have the students write out the rules of the game and explain them in way that everyone will understand. Also, this is help picking out different books to catch their attention and have them read things they enjoy doing.

Literacy and the Community: An Investigation

Where Will You Visit/Why? What Do You Expect to Hear/See/Learn

The first place on mine and Jenny's list to visit, like Shannon is our cities public library. Novi just built a multi-million dollar public library and according to my teacher and many kids in my class it is absolutely amazing. I am really excited to check it out, especially since it is obviously such a huge part of our communities literacy identity. I think that getting a better feel for the library will give us a better feel for how our children view and are exposed to literacy, because pretty much every kid in the district was all over it this summer. Because it is apparently so state of the art, I expect to see a lot of cool stuff, including some technology that I probably won't know how to navigate and these children that have been exposed to it can. Apparently there is a SMARTtable which is like a SMARTboard but on a table and more interactive. I anticipate that I will be far behind the learning curve of how to accurately navigate its features. I also expect to see a lot of learning happening without any force whatsoever. From the vibe that I have been getting from my students, the kids love to go there, and it seems like this place is doing just an absolutely wonderful job of getting kids hooked on reading, which to me is super cool.

The next place we are planning on going is to the mall. Novi is home to Twelve Oaks Mall, and it is a huge part of the community as a whole. I am sure that every single kid in my class has not only been there but is very familiar with it. We chose to head to Twelve Oaks mostly due to the magnitude of literacy that is under one room that our students interact with every time they go there and probably most of the time don't even realize it. All of the store signs, the price tags, the displays, the restaurants, you can read almost EVERYTHING at the mall. I think that we will see and hear a lot of children interacting subconsciously with literacy and that will be interesting to see.

Novi has a ton of great restaurants also, and we are planning on checking out some of those as well to get a flavor for the kind of literacy experiences and interactions our students might have on a typical night out as a way to get to know them better as learners and as people in general with the hopes that it will positively affect our relationships with them and our ability to relate to them on a more personal level.

Literacy-Knowing Your Community-Initial Investigation

Where/What will you visit? Why did you choose to go there?

We have decided to visit our local library. We chose to go there because this is a resource that students have the most resources at access to them terms of literacy. Regardless of socio-economic status, students can enjoy different resources at no cost to them. I am hoping to see that the library is a resource that students use in their community. There are a lot of literary elements in a library and I am hoping that this is a good resource for the students.

Another place to visit is a local restaurant that students attend a lot. We chose this as a place to visit because it is a connection to our students. We want to see what type of literacy learning goes on at this restaurant. From the basics we expect to see menu’s that students read to order the food and using their oral language skills to take what they have read on the menu and communicate it to the waiter/waitress. We want to visit a place where students don’t realize literacy is going on. A restaurant is much different then libraries, where students know literacy elements are present.

A final place we are considering visiting is our own media center at our school. We are interested to see what they have to offer in terms of resources. As a place where students can visit frequently and easily, we are interested to see what types of resources students have and what resources they take advantage of. As with the local library I am hoping to see that students utilize this resource for themselves.

Response to Talk Move Number 5

Well, while reading the text Talk Move Number five brought up different emotions as well and wanted to comment and both Dean and Shannon's points because I found them very interesting. The wait time is something that I have spent time thinking about if I like this idea or not. In theory, it would allow the students to think about the questions and formulate an answer.  Like Shannon was saying that students are not always able to think of the answer then the entire class is sitting waiting for the person to come up with the answer. This can be embarrassing or even degrading to the student. On the other side. there has been times when I know the answer however needed time to think about the wording or how I want to put together the answer. Like Dean was saying it can create some good dialogue and classroom discussions. What I have concluded is that it is important for the teacher to give the students time to think and formulate answers however not wait too long so the student feels stupid.

The Talk Move that stuck out to me was Talk Move Number 3, having students apply their own reasoning to someone else. I believe that this is very important to almost every subject and in life. One I think having students agree or disagree with other people means that students need to stand what for what they are thinking. I am finding that too many students do not speak their mind because they are afaird of what other people will think. If we can create a classroom environment in which students feel safe to share their opinions. The students will find they enjoy learning if they know they don't always have to be correct and people are not going to judge them. With that being said, the students need to learn the correct wordage on how to disagree with the persons answers or thoughts without putting down the person themselves. This will help promote the safe learning environment!

Another reason why I think this is so important in the classroom is because it does not just have the students giving answers they have to say their reasoning. I think critical thinking or explaining is the most important part of learning. Inorder for someone to say they have fully learned something, they need to be able to explain it in details. For instance, in math in my classroom L.L. gave the answer 20 however G.R. said the answer was 32. While G.R. was correct, I had her explain why she thought the answer was different from L.L. Not only did L.L. find her mistake, G.R. had to make sure she understood it herself. My teaching after this point was done because of G.R. explanation.

Talk Move #5

After reading through all of the Talk Moves, Number 5 which involves waiting or using wait time also stuck out to me, but in a different sense. I am not disagreeing with you at all Shannon, I am just playing a little bit of devil's advocate to look at it from another perspective. I agree completely that providing ample wait time is imperative to good classroom talk, however in my previous experience I have observed just how challenging it can be to use successfully.

My C.T. last year in 401/402 was a big proponent for allowing adequate time for students to think and generate their thoughts. However, as I experienced first hand this is not always a good thing. I don't want to offer up conjecture as to the Why's because I wasn't in the classroom often enough to be able to, so I will stick with the What's. Basically her students were simply not comfortable with each other. She had not created a learning environment in which her students felt safe expressing their opinions and thoughts with each other in a classroom discussion setting. As a result, the "wait time" she allowed was almost always just an awkward silence in which the student she was waiting for just got more and more anxious. This had rippling negative effects. In general, students were very hesitant to offer to verbalize and share their thoughts and opinions.

What I am trying to say, is that yes I believe that Talk Move number 5 is a very useful and important strategy in creating good/thoughtful classroom dialog. However, if the learning environment hasn't been created and formed in a way that makes students comfortable with that waiting or period of silence, it can actually have the opposite effect than intended. Instead of taking a couple seconds to formulate their abstract thoughts into a concise idea, students might be more worried about what everybody else is thinking of them as the seconds tick by and they are not responding. This is why I think that before this talk move is implemented, you must be sure that you have created an environment in which students are comfortable with this strategy, or else it might backfire.

Talk Move #5

Which of the five talk moves stood out to you, why to you think this is?

Talk move #5 was the move that stood out the most to me. This is a move that involves waiting for your students and giving them enough think when asked a question. There is nothing that gives me more anxiety then by feeling rushed to come up with an answer to a math problem or find the main point of a question. I need time to process the question and take time to thoroughly think of my answer. When I feel rushed I do not do my best work and sometimes skip important skills. Wait time is very beneficial to my classroom because we have a lot of quiet students. They will let the more talkative students answer the questions. Many times I observe that those quiet students don't even raise their hand, even though I know they have the correct answer.

Having silence in the classroom is daunting but I have been trying to work towards that. I think that the students pick up on the students that will always have an answer or raise their hand, and so they do not even try to figure out the answer. By waiting and not calling on the first student that raises their hand, gives the other students the confidence to try and answer the question. I remember being a student who was not super confident; having the time to think to yourself was very helpful.

One thing that my mentor does is has sticks with the children’s names on them. When we are checking homework or reading, she pulls a stick. She allows wait time for students to get their answer, but also gives the quiet students a chance to be involved in the discussion or checking of homework/warm up worksheets. It is a helpful tool because it gives all students an opportunity and you aren't constantly calling on the same children.

The combination of the talk move and other techniques have helped to create a good dynamic in my classroom. Students feel comfortable in sharing their work. It is a talk move that I will continue to work on and use in my classroom. Knowing that I like time to process things, I can understand that my students might feel the same way. It is important to understand the way you like things and how it can be similar or different to your students, as well as to different techniques you can use within your classroom.