Sounding Out

This weeks article was something that really got me thinking.  I can remember being told to sound things out in school.  I can remember my parents telling me to sound out words that I could not pronounce.  Even now, when I am in the school I am always telling children to sound words out.  This article made me wonder if I am hurting them in the long run. I often wonder if it makes things more difficult for children to understand if they are esentially too young to sound something out.  Maybe they do not have the phonemic awareness to make out all of the letter sounds.  I think that some children have a hard time listening to all of the sounds that a letter can make.  Some letters have a short and a long sound to the words.  It can be really hard for a child to know which one they should be using at this time in the word. I do not think that it is bad to tell a child to sound out a word but I think that we, as teachers, need to know what the child is capable of doing at such a young age and making sure to not ask them to do something that they may not be able to handle.

Phonemic awareness

I found this article to be very moving. I think that too often parents and some teachers do not
Give children enough credit for the work that they are producing in class simply because it may not look the way that they had hoped. I think that the article did a great job of talking about words that children may spell incorrectly or sentences that may not make sense. The thing to remember is that these children are still trying to communicate. They are conveying their feelings in a way that they understand. Even though we may not be able to read what they are writing does not mean that it is not writing! As teachers we also need to make sure that parents are encouraging of the phonemic awareness practices. Even when children. Recognizing spacing between words we should praise them for the strides that they are making

Weekly Reading and Literature Dig

I t was really interesting to do the literacy dig this week.  I went to Kroger and spent time walking around checking out the type of people that are there at this time of night.  I was at Kroger on Saturday night at 7pm.  While I was there I noticed that Bloomington has a different type of social group at places like this.  I did see a lot of moms that were there with small children.  But they all seemed like they were just picking up a few things quickly that they may have needed that night or for the rest of the weekend.  For the most part I saw that there were college students that were there that were purchasing alcohol for a party they would be attending that night. It made me wonder how differently a place like this would look if it were not in a college town at this time of night.

I found the reading for this week to be really interesting.  I think that the author really pointed out a lot of things in education that could possibly be holding children back from being able to succeed in the classroom.  I think that it is really important that we are always challenging what is going on in the classroom and see how we can make changes that will ultimately help the students in whatever way possible. I also think that it would be important to get parents involved in what is going on in the classroom so that they are aware of how they can help their students at home.

Literacy in the Classroom

I have been talking to my mom a lot about literacy and how she uses it in the classroom.  I really felt that this was giving me a chance to bounce ideas off her about the things that we have talked about in the classroom.  she told me that literacy is so important in her school system.  The principal always tries to talk to the teachers about different ways to talk about literacy.  The teachers have tried so many different ways to get thechildren interested in what is going on in the classroom.  The idea that I liked the most was that the children read a story and then put on a play about the story.  But instead of the ending they had read, they had to make up their own endings.  I think that this is a great way of getting the children involved in literacy and excited about what is going on.  It also gives them a chance to use their imaginitaions.

Critical Literacies/ Already Ready

I thought that the critical literacies article was very interesting.  I was really thinking that the idea of have a cafe' for the children to practice the language would be a fun way to get them involved.  I think that too often we assume that children this young do not always have informed opinions.  We may assume that we, as teachers, know what is best for them without even asking them what they prefer.  I really liked that the children were encouraged to write a petition.  It is important that all children express their opinions and feel that they are being heard.

In the "already ready: article, I really liked the section on talking to students about the different parts and purposes of a book.  I think that many times young students may just look at picture and do not always understand what the rest of the book is about. In my head start room, the teacher always mentions who the author is and where the book was published.  I think that it is important that children are seeing these different sections in books. I also really liked the part where teachers would write down what the children said their pictures were. I appreciated that the teachers would write down, verbatim, what the student said.  It is great to expand on what the children are drawing or saying but we do not want to mix their words or influence what they say about a picture.

Vivian Paley- NAEYC Convention

Many people have been quoting things that Vivian Paley said at the NAEYC Convention. Paley is the author of, "White Teacher." Some tweets have read, -" Timeout chair = Awkward method of education " #naeycAC #kinderchat and  "kindergarten children need to play...and they need to know there will be time for play" -Vivian Paley #naeycAC #kinderchat - Vivian Paley.

To cover the first tweet, I feel that the timeout chair is something that should not be used in the classroom.  I think that discipline is important in the classroom, but some parents may feel that this is very invasive. I think thta another method would be to take the child away from the bad situation. Also, you could take a "spin off" of the timeout chair and offer the child an area where they can be alone.

To cover the second tweet, I completely agree! Play is so important to me in my teching philosophy. I really want to end up teaching younger children. I know that it is so hard for these children to sit down in a chair all day. I think that if we keep the children actively engaged in play with learning, then they will be more successful in the classroom.

A is for Avatar

This article was very eye opening to the ideas of technology in the classroom.  Personally, I feel that technology in the classroom is wonderful.  I feel that children must know how to use word documents and conduct internet searches. I do not remember the last time that I was asked to do a project that did not require the use of technology. The thing that amazes me is that children know more about technology than we do. As we saw in a video (in one of our classes) a baby rubbed accross the front of a magazine because babies now are part of the "Ipad generation."  I think that we, as teachers, need to be aware that technology is rapidly changing.  I feel that children need to know the basics of education and the history of education, but we need to prepare them for the world that they will enter.  This world is surrounded by technology.