Media Texts

“Toward New Media Texts” was a very interesting article. It had many interesting points that I had not realized until reading it. Many teachers are scared to incorporate different types of text into their teaching because they are so set in their ways. They have already spent money and got their writing habits established the way they want them accomplished. Some also feel like they do not know enough about new media text to introduce it into the composition classroom.

“By visual literacy, then, I will refer to the ability to read, understand, value, and learn from visual materials…” This is one quote that I found very interesting from the article. Students can use things such as photographs, videos, films, animations, pictures, and drawings to read. They can also understand these things and learn from them. They could write about these things in a creative manner using visual elements and messages to communicate how they feel about the topic they are writing about.

Another thing that I found very interesting in the article was the sample evaluations on the way the teachers grade the students. It has seven different areas including overall effect of the visual essay, composer/designer’s development/feelings, visual coherence, visual salience, organization of the essay, documentation of images, and reflection that they students are evaluated on. I think this is a very good way to grade the students. It gives them more than one area to be graded on. The teacher also leaves a spot for comments. I really liked this because in the sample ones given, the teacher told exactly what she did or didn’t like. I think that is great feedback for any student and should be something that all teachers do.

Chapter 11

While reading Chapter 11, I begin to think about my writing throughout the years. On page 314, Conley discusses ways that teachers should teach students to plan their writing. I agree with this completely. I was blessed to have a teacher in high school that always taught us to plan our writing. We wrote in her class everyday, because she found writing to be very important in English. We would first prewrite. This consisted of a bulleted list of things we knew about the topic, or a graphic organizer of the topic. We also were required to turn this in to her with our final draft. This really helped me become a better writer. To this day, I still prewrite before I begin a final draft. This helps me organize my thoughts to begin writing. This is definately something I plan to teach my students as well. I want to help them become a better writer the way my English teacher helped me.

Another section that stuck out to me in Chapter 11 was titled Writing to Learn. Conley stated, "Many students who have graduated from high school report that they were not well prepared for the kninds of writing that are expected in college and in the workplace." I remember my first semester at college we had many papers to write. Because of the teacher I had in high school, I had no problem with my papers. We learned MLA style in high school and we wrote a twenty page research paper. I knew how to do this, but my friend did not. She was very confused because she had never been introduced to that type of writing. I believe this text is one that we should look at as future teachers and take notes from. We want to make sure that our students leave our classrooms with the knowledge needed to excel in the schooling that will be ahead of them.

Technology

When I was in high school, I had one teacher who had a Smart Board in the classroom. I watched her use it, but I never had the opportunity to use it. Students were not allowed to present on the Smart Board. Last semester, in Dr. Foxworth's class, we learned about Promethean boards. We actually did a tutorial on the computer in which we received a certificate of completion. A woman came to class and taught us the proper way to use Promethean Boards and some of the things we could do on it. I have never used one of these boards, so I would not know where to start. I'm excited that someone is coming to show us a demonstration on how to use the smart board. I hope to have these types of technology available when I begin teaching. I think it will be a great way to involve students in the lesson, by letting them also use the boards. The teacher I observe uses the smart board in her room for grammar lessons. Each student in the classroom is allowed to use the smart board this way.

Thoughts on Chapter 7

I really enjoyed reading Chapter 7. It has some very good key points about students being motivated. The book states, “Motivation can be deeply connected to students’ prior experiences with success and failure.” I agree with this statement, and I have actually noticed it in a school setting before. I work with a young boy who does not try anymore with his school work. He believes he fails at everything he tries to accomplish. This is because he has never had any positive feedback from his teachers. From reading this chapter, I am worried that his feelings toward school will get worse instead of better.
I learned that teachers should encourage all of their students after reading this chapter. Sometimes a child’s feelings about school could come from the teachers actions. Conley states, low-achieving students tend to receive more teacher criticism, less praise, and less helpful feedback than high-achieving students do.” This is really sad to me. I believe that teachers should try to encourage all of their students. They should never make some students feel that they are not important because they are low achievers. The teacher should try to make those students feel that they are important and that they can do anything they set their minds to.
All teachers should try to motivate their students in as many ways as they can. One way that teachers could motivate students is through working with interesting content. My fourth grade teacher used mysteries to get us interested in reading. She knew we loved books like the Hardy Boys, so she used those types of books to get us more involved with reading. Teachers should also present content in interesting ways. This would motivate students to listen while the teacher is teaching. The teacher could use digital text, magazines, and videos instead of just a textbook. These are a couple that I found interesting, but I plan to use different types of motivation in the classroom.

Lesson Plan

Curriculum Standard: 1. Develop an understanding of the state in relationship to the expanding horizon theme.
Objectives:
d. Identify the ideas and individuals that were significant in the development of Mississippi and that helped to forge its unique identity (e.g., cotton as king, Mississippi waterways, music, literature, etc.).

Big Idea: The students will develop an appreciation for the state of Mississippi through language arts and social studies using 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi.

Preparation
Read aloud the book 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, by Michael Shoulders.
Discuss with class these questions:
What are the different settings found in the book?
Did you hear something in the book that you found interesting?
Teacher will place the students into four groups.
The groups will be required to research what part of Mississippi the authors are from and what type of writing style they used. They will present their results to the class.

Guidance
1. The teacher will read aloud the book and stop occasionally to make points.
2. The teacher will ask questions for discussion with the students.
3. Teacher will walk around the room to provide assistance if needed.
4. Teacher gives specific instructions to the groups on what to present to the class.

Application
1. Students will write in their journal what they have learned about Mississippi.
2. The students will compare what they have learned with another student and discuss it together.

Assessment
1. The teacher will grade the presentations, by a rubric, according to the specific criteria that was given to each group.
2. The teacher will read the students' journals in order to observe what they learned.

Teacher Blog

I read a blog written by Garrett Brisdon, Derek Shrubsole, and Eric Simonson. This blog talks about formative and summative assessments. One thing the blog points out is that teachers should be more worried about giving appropriate feedback instead of giving grades. This article gives very interesting information on this topic. I think it would be a great blog for future teachers, and teachers to read. Here is the link so check it out!
http://ageoflearning.blogspot.com/

My Thoughts on Chapter 5

According to the text, students need to bring knowledge, experience, and motivation to a text. By reading this chapter, I understand that it is very importnat for students to have knowledge about a text they are reading. When a student is learned in a specific subject, they can confront more complicated text that deal with that subject. This is because they have a broader knowlege of the subject matter. Experienced readers are also very important when reading a text. When I was in school, I loved to read. Sometimes I would read a book that was not of the best quality, and I would have extreme difficulty trying to understand what was going on. I would use context clues and write them down in my notebook. That was one way I used my experience as a reader. I also believe if a student is allowed to read something of interest to them, it will enhance motivation. This is very important as they grow as a reader.

Information text, narrative text, and digital text were all mentioned in chapter five. The one that I really enjoyed reading about was digital text. The book states, "Digital texts are noteworthy for their prevalence in students' lives." I believe this statement is very true. Many students keep blogs or things on the internet. I also think it is important for teachers' to use digital text in their classroom, since it is so prevelant in society today. Dr.Bishop showed us a digital text on Cairbou on the national geographic website. I think this would be very informative to use in the classroom. Many students do not have the opportunity to travel and see other places or animals, so I think digital text would be a great way to bring it to the students. If a class is studying about Africa, since a field trip would be impossible, the teacher could show digital text of Africa. This could be used in many various, educational ways.

Another point I saw that was very important in the book was finding a variety of texts. Many teachers have a very limited selection of text that are available for the students. I believe that it is important to have a wide variety of text because it will better meet the need of the wide interest areas of the students. Teachers can find great information on different types of text by using the search engines on the internet. The book gives great search engines that could be used including google, yahoo, answers, and dogpile. Teachers really have no excuse for knowing the range of different text that are available for topics being taught. The only thing they must do is find and computer and start searching.

My Thoughts on Chapter 4

Personal Assessments really stood out to me in this chapter. When I was in school, I never had a teacher who really found out anything about me through conversation, interviews, or surveys. I really think that this is a very important thing for teachers to do. The chapter states “Knowing more about students as individuals will help with teaching and learning in at least three ways: one being, motivating students by bringing their backgrounds and prior knowledge into classroom lessons.” After thinking about this statement, I realize how true it is. By a teacher talking to a student, it allows students to become motivated. To me, it would make a student feel like the teacher cares about what they learn.

Classroom observation is something that we have been discussing since we have been in the program, but I loved the way the book talked about observing. When a teacher observes they are not only supposed to be observing for signs that indicate the student understands the concept. A teacher should look at how the student becomes engaged in the learning activities they are presented with. A teacher could see if they are having a problem in a certain area by doing this, and will be able to possibly better help the student. To me, I would consider this actively observing. Some teachers say they observe, but they simply are not watching to see how the student approaches a learning activity. I think that is a key factor to observing.

I also really enjoyed reading about reading attitudes and interest surveys. In lab Tuesday, those are two surveys that we will be giving to the student that we tutor. The book states, “Success in promoting students’ engagement in reading requires that teachers know as much as they can about students’ reading attitudes and interests.” I believe that knowing how a student feels about reading is very important. Sometimes, a student can feel bad towards a subject because they have had a bad experience. I believe it is my job as a teacher to try to do everything I can to turn their negative thoughts towards reading (if any) into positive thoughts. I believe that’s why learning their interests is important. A student most likely will enjoy reading more if they are given the opportunity to read a book of interest.

Chapter 3 What I Found Important

Teachers should always be aware of the state standards and their students' performance. They should not focus on the textbooks alone. They should want to enhance their students' performance on state test by teaching what is required of the state. There are two approaches that are used. The text-based approach has been called the developing an organizing idea. This is when the teacher focus' on the principles and concepts that are important to be learned by the students. Standards-based Big Ideas is where a teacher will examine standards in the curriculum and state standards and then form her lessons.

Teachers should establish a goal of helping students read, write, and learn. Teachers could use this critical literacy and compare their students' lives with the lives of characters in a book. This would help the students learn to think critically. It would help them with their reading skills and their writing skills. This would be a great way for the students to learn.

According to the chapter, many new teachers just fill time in the classroom. With the big idea approach, teachers can assess what the students know and what they need to know and then plan lessons and learning activities for them to accomplish. The principles that big idea accomplish complement the principles for differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction is important to me because it allows every student the opportunity to learn more effectively. Teachers should tell the students why it is important to learn. They should help the students understand patterns and connections. They should teach them academic language. they should emphasize engagement, and provide time for the completion of a project. Teachers should show students strategies to learn and watch for students' progress.