Making a Difference: Phase 1Week 11 Topic: What might be some claims about your work with your learner this semester? Before I am ready to tackle a room full of young learners, I have inquired into the process of one student's development, and how I can postively impact her education. What first captured me about this learner was her speech impediment. I can still recall being pulled from my elementary classrooms to work with a speech language pathologist in group therapy. I recall feeling ashamed of my impediment, but I am grateful that I rarely encounter any issues in speaking today. I hope to help this learner improve her language skills. As well as struggling with a speech impediment, the student is below level and nearly every aspect tested. The Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation assesses students’ ability to separate specific sounds of a word in order (their phonemic awareness), and the test indicates students who need additional help in certain areas of reading and spelling. Identifying students early allows for intervention efforts with appropriate instructional support. Upon administration of the test to my focus student, it is clear she lacks phonemic awareness. The Primary Spelling Inventory is used to assess kindergarten through third graders in the emergent to late letter name stages. Upon examination of the student's scores, she was unable to correctly spell any of the words, it is evident that she needs additional instruction in alphabetical knowledge. Identifying letters, as well as recognizing the corresponding sounds will increase her ability to spell. In that way, my emergent reader will be able to move forward in her education. I believe the source of her struggle could be her speech impediment. Being unable to speak properly causes children to hear words mispronounced, therefore inhibiting their ability to decode. In working to overcome the student's speech impediment, I believe she will experience significant academic gain, In order to diminish her speech impediment, the student needs additional practice in letter identification and letter sound knowledge. For my focus student, my wondering is: How can I help my student develop phonemic awareness?So far this semester, I have learned the value of patience and understanding from my focus student. With dedication and a proper wait time, I am better able to help develop my student's language skills. She is much more comfortable talking to me, so I am given more opportunities to casually improve her speech. The learner has become aware of her impediment, and makes efforts to articulate more carefully and speak slowly. By working with letter sound games and flash card drills, the student has improved her phonemic awareness. From the last time she was tested, she is able to identify an additional 12 letter sounds. That is a significant improvement compared to her initial knowledge in the beginning of the year. I look forward to watching this kindergartner develop and grow, and I can only hope to help guide her along the way.
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A Graphic Representation of Meaning in PoetryShel Silverstein's classic collection of poems Falling Up includes Three Stings, a poem that spoke to me about the importance of perspective. Three men were stung by a bee, but each had a different response. The final man, Lew, demonstrated positivity by responding with a new perspective on a seemingly dire situation. Lew showed sympathy and developed understanding through a bad situation, reminding me of the importance of being positive. My graphic representation, an illustration, was a cheerful beer with a sharp and painful stinger. The three stripes represented George, Fred and Lew's various responses to the bee. The overall message of positivity was included with a "punny" play on words to BEE positive! :) Class ReflectionPoetry includes rhythm, rhyme, sound, imagery, figurative language and unique text structures to meet an overall impact to provoke emotional responses in readers. I believe the beauty in poetry is in the reader's response. The text states, "Good poetry has the power to make readers moan in despair, catch their breath in fear, gasp in awe, smile with delight, or sit back in wonder." I love that poetry can open student's minds to new perspectives and situations, as well as increase their sensitivity to an idea or mood. Teachers need to be aware of new and innovative modern poetry that includes concrete poetry, as well as content and form of the poems. Educators should select poems that will gradually build student's appreciation for poetry and its' form. (Kiefer, Tyson 2014.) In class, I found a new strategy for reading aloud new text and teaching fluency. Choral reading involves the whole class reading along with the teacher. It is a great way to help students develop reading fluency, pronunciation skills, proper pausing and an appropriate style while reading. ReferencesKiefer, B., & Tyson, C. (2014). Picturebooks. In Charlotte Huck's children's literature: A brief guide (Second ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Module 11: Information Processing & the Classroom Throughout my internship experience, I have seen various strategies to help students pay attention. As a teacher, I have always wondered what new and fresh methods I can apply to keep my students interesting in what they’re learning. As discussed in Module 11 of Ed Psych by Lisa Bohlin, Cheryl Durwin and Marla Weber, there are planning procedures to ensure students’ attention, attention signals to refocus students and strategies to keep students engaged.
In planning, my CT and I have adjusted students’ seating arrangements throughout the semester to determine the seating that will give each student the best environment to learn in. For example, the new addition to the class (“Annie”) was originally seated by “Andres”, a talkative English Language Learner. The pair distracted each other and were often speaking conversationally and off topic during group work. So, Annie was moved next to “Tamara”, an exceptionally well-behaved student who obeyed the rules of talking during learning. Attention signals have been credited as reminding students when to redirect attention. In the classroom, students are conditioned to the Whole Brain Teaching technique for attention getting. My CT or I says “Class, class”, and the students respond “yes, yes.” Beyond their oral response, the learners know to engage us in eye contact and stop what they are doing. I wonder what other aspects of Whole Brain teaching will be applied in the classroom and if their affect will be significant? My CT is attending a workshop next month, and I am excited to see the strategies she learns and applies. In order to keep students engaged, the Ed Psych Modules book recommends encouraging interaction and getting students physically involved. For science, students do group activities with their table. While working on the concept of sorting, the learners have worked together to organize shapes they were given. Cooperative learning with a peer interests young learners, who consider all of those around them a friend. I wonder if students would benefit more by picking their own partners? The kindergartners are not able to make judgments about whose learning and work styles would correspond best with their own, but could their friend preference indicate academic success or impedance? By reading their body language, my CT and I can identify when students are hyper and too easily distracted to learn effectively, so we have them dance and sing along to a “Stand-Up Song”. These educational songs provoke movement and allow students to feed off excess energy, and their focus and attention are back as a result. Providing frequent breaks and reading students’ body language respects students’ attention limits. (431 words) |
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