Class on Wednesday, May 24th

Take Aways

Tonight was an interesting approach to Blackboard Collaborate, that's for sure! :)  We logged into Blackboard, and then after writing in the chat board, we logged out. After that we found the Week 4 recording our professor prepared for us. After listening to our professor, and writing notes about all of the chapters - 9 through 11. I was able to complete the discussion posts for Week 4 after listening to the recording.

A few take aways from tonight include the use of Reader's Theatre's in the classroom. I have provided an example of students performing the book, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. When using a Reader's Theatre, you offer scripts of the book you are reading, assign reading parts to each student, have students read their parts aloud, and then have students read their parts to the group. I know Mrs. Steffes mentioned having students make props during the process, and I thought that was definitely an entertaining factor to the process. Definitely a way to keep the students engaged and eager to learn!


Another class take away would be the technique of teaching discussions. I never thought about this idea before tonight, because it was never taught to me, and I thought it to be an automatic "thing" to know. Like most other subjects to be taught in the classroom, teachers are to model the way a proper discussion is held. Next, in small groups you set goals for the group to have discussions about, and then monitor as they continue from the initial goals you have set. Group should be set according to reading abilities, social interactions, and interpretative abilities.

Chapters 4 & 5 
Chapters 4 and 5 of the textbook Language Arts: Process, Product, and Assessment for Diverse Classrooms by Pamela J. Farris and Donna E. Werderich discussed words (language) and writing. The fourth chapter discussed phonics, word walls, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and high-frequency words. Chapter five discussed Writer's Workshops, the writing process, the traits of writing, mini lessons, "honeybee" conferences, and portfolios in short. In detail the chapter discussed different types of conferences to have with students about their writing, how to utilize portfolios within the classroom, the different audiences you can write to, etc.

I believe the chapters have one of the greatest commonalities of the five strands of language arts. Without the knowledge of language, one cannot accomplish the "art" of writing. Now, what knowledge have you can gained from these previously taught chapters?