Entry 13: Student Learning Outcomes

 

Upon reviewing the Student Learning Outcomes for this course, I can conclude that keeping a blog this semester has helped me meet outcomes. The first outcome Students will gain knowledge and competency with regards to the variety of modes, genres, and formats for reading and writing in particular stood out to me. Blogging was a completely different mode of writing for me. It took me awhile to get into it but once I did, I really enjoyed it! Blogger is a great website and platform for blogging. I love being able to add c o l o r to my text and include pictures to my reflections. My blog acted as a journal for the semester. The act of blogging lies in the journal genre because we are pouring our ideas and reflecting on each of the genres we learned about in class. In my past entries, I have reflected on my learning and applications to teaching of letter, biography, poetry, and persuasive writing genre. I addressed elements of author’s craft within each of these genres based on what I read in Tompkins (2012) and the knowledge I acquired through participation in each group Genre Expert Workshop. This also addresses the second outcome: Students will gain knowledge and competency with regards to the role of purpose and audience in writing and reading and the elements of author’s craft used to address the desired purpose(s) and audience(s).

The third outcome: Students will gain knowledge and competency with regards to the cognitive processes and strategies of reading and writing, including the composition strategies used in crafting and comprehending texts is also addressed through blogging. Keeping a blog throughout the semester challenged me to think about my thinking- metacognition. Through my entries, I had to evaluate my prior knowledge about genres and then synthesize new learning to think about teaching application. The exploration of mentor texts and their use in supporting author’s craft during instruction about genres was also represented in my entries. I also thought a lot about the thinking of my classmates in the bless, press or address entries. The process of reading through my peers' blogs gave me quite a few ah-ha moments. It was cool to see how we all focused on different things within one genre. The bless, press or address entries really pushed me to explore my classmates’ blogs and find something to write about that was of interest to me. I really liked all of the choices that this assignment had worked in as well.

Journal writing through blogging will make its way into my instruction. It’s an engaging way for students to express themselves in a way that is very “now.” Even the most reluctant learners will buy into this if they have the right supports. I’m thinking I will use blogging for 2-way communication with students or as a place for students to write journals as characters in the books that we’re reading. Thank you Dr. J for introducing this to us! This is such a valuable tool that I’m excited to use in the future!😁

Entry 12: Reflecting on the Genres

Throughout this semester, I have not only come to know the different genres but engaged with each of them in our Genre Expert Workshops. Each workshop gave me the background knowledge and ideas for application that I plan to use with my future students. My writing group completed our Genre Expert Workshop on the narrative genre. I thought that I knew everything there was to know about the genre because I had taught narrative writing to 6th grade students for 5 years. I was humbled when I started diving into the "nitty gritty" of narratives. I was baffled that I was never explicitly taught about the complexity of setting and how it contributes to the plot. “Often they think that setting is simply where the story takes place…but there are three other dimensions as well: weather, time and time period.” (Tompkins, 2012, p. 183) The complexity of point of view was news to me as a teacher as well! I had always been taught 1st person, 2nd person and 3rd person as points of view for the narrator. Tompkin's (2012) four view points: first person, omniscient, limited omniscient and objective helped me determine why an author would use a particular viewpoint to tell the reader a story (p. 187).

The Biography genre is another one that I felt blindly confident about in my ability to teach to students at the beginning of the semester. Thank goodness for the Biography Workshop! I had the realization that I have really have robbed my students from diving into the richness of the genre. In my teaching past, I have only incorporated reading small excerpts of biographies into my instruction if they aligned with famous figures we were studying in Social Studies or Science. My past students have only written personal narratives based on small moments in their lives. I plan to use what I learned about the importance of descriptive language when teaching my future students about autobiographies and memoirs. Personal narratives are usually the first type of sustained writing that children do. Memoirs are the next step in writing development as older students recount and interpret their life events.

Holly, Maddison & Marissa's Biography Workshop did an amazing job incorporating 'me' quilts while we engaged with our mentor texts. I analyzed 'Who was Helen Keller?' written by Gare Thompson and was extremely excited to learn that 'Who was..' easy reader biographies exist for a plethora of important people. Adapting Tompkin's (2012) 'me' quilts for autobiographies into an instructional sample for biography teaching was brilliant. The 'me' quilt included with 'Who was Helen Keller?' was very effective in communicating key details about her life and definitely persuaded me to dive deeper into the mentor text to find out more! 'Me' quilts will be a part of my class' study of the biographical genre. Allowing students to draw/use visuals will motivate my students because it's more fun and 'less traditional writing.' Having students create a 'me' quilt after reading a biography also helps focus students on the main idea/events of the text in a new way. The Biography Genre group also did a great job prompting us to consider the form of my mentor text ('Who was Hellen Keller') and what impact does it have on the person's story. Upon reflection, I realized that this easy reader biography followed a narrative story structure which helps drive the plot. This mentor text was written for young elementary students and its narrative structure was set to inspire!

Examining mentor texts throughout the semester was fundamental in my new learning. The practice of examining one or two specific books and then determining key elements of the genre with the help of the genre group really helped with my own understanding. Bringing 2 mentor texts to each workshop will make my future students very happy because I can't wait to add them to my classroom library. Tompkins (2012) says “Teachers read-aloud award-winning and other high-quality picture books and chapter books…chosen carefully to highlight an aspect of writing” (p. 19) Including mentor text into my instruction will absolutely inspire my students while giving them a model for a targeted skill! 

Tompkins (2012) and this semester's Genre Expert Workshops gave us an opportunity to immerse ourselves in each genre. I am eager to apply this new learning with my future class of struggling readers and writers at Livonia Elementary! 

References

Thompson, G. (2003). Who was Helen Keller? Penguin Workshop.

Entry 11: The Magic of Poetry Night

 

Last night's genre workshop may have changed my mind about poetry forever. Before digging deep in this course, I ranked that I was the least bit interested in completing my Genre Expert Project on poetry. I have always found it to be the hardest genre to teach students and I think that's a true testament to how much I struggled with it myself. Tompkins (2012) says that many students have misconceptions about what poetry is. Too often, they think poetry has to rhyme or they're unsure of how it should look on a page (p. 171). I absolutely fell into this category throughout my education and I'm so excited to say that my own misconceptions have been debunked!

During the Poetry Genre Workshop, I really enjoyed writing the 5 senses poem about somewhere special. I would love to try this with my future students as well but have each student write a 5 senses poem about a shared experience. The Poetry Genre group did a great job scaffolding this activity with the graphic organizer and then the formula poem format. I was absolutely 'wowed' by the Poetry Coffee House format that we were introduced to last night. It created a "vibe" for poetry and it will definitely be something my future students will look forward to. I think it'll be important to establish 'poetry coffee shop' norms and expectations in my classroom in order for it to be the most impactful. String lights, juice boxes, and little bags of chips should really give poetry share the the slam it deserves!

According to Tompkins (2012), many teachers begin with a formula poem because the form makes the writing easier for students who don't think they can write poetry. When I teach the poetry genre to my future students, I absolutely plan to start with that! I will never forget our first night of 618 when Dr. J had us write the formula poem "If I Were in Charge of the World..." after we completed a brainstorming activity. I had no idea while brainstorming that some of my ideas would be inserted into a poem and I think that was a good thing! I think if I knew I was poetry brainstorming I would have gotten "hung up" on ideas. In my future classroom, I would love to use the same instructional strategy (structured brainstorm followed by formula poem). Leaving the formula poem end game out of the brainstorming phase will definitely ease some poetry jitters. 

References

Ferguson, K. (2017). A poetry coffee house: creating a cool community of writers. Reading Teacher,                     71(2), 209-213.

Entry 10: Bless, Address or Press

This week I wanted to look at Maddi's blog Entry #9: The Importance of Knowing the Author. Maddi discusses the importance of knowing the author when reading persuasive writing. According to Tompkins (2012), the use of the three appeals strengthen a persuasive piece by targeting readers' or listeners' logic, emotions, and character. But what happens when an author isn't a reliable source of information or if they try to deceive you with the 3 appeals? 

"When someone is trying to persuade me to do or believe something, I am skeptical until I know who the persuader may be. Is it a family member who I trust with my life? Is it a professional who I trust? Or is it someone who lacks qualifications related to the topic of persuasion? In my opinion, if someone is trying to persuade me to use a new herbal supplement, I would listen to my family friend who is a certified nutritionist before I would listen to an ad on television. " - Maddi Moore

Maddi makes a great point in the quote above. We tend to trust the judgement of those close to us especially family members when trying to make every day choices. It's why you might see an entire extended family driving Subaru Outbacks. This got me thinking about Kucer (2014) and what I've learned about the authority of written discourse within the sociocultural dimension of literacy. We as individuals are a part of many discourse communities so we take on "group identity" within discourse. According to Kucer (2014), the groups behind the discourse give it power. The notion of “I read it” therefore it is truth can be seen across our society. I just keep thinking about supporters of Donald Trump and the COVID shutdown. I think it’s incredibly important to teach our students to read with a critical eye and encourage them to think about the source when engaging with written discourse. False information is everywhere. The winners write the history books and anyone can put something up on the internet. It’s easy to take information as truth when it can be connected to an individual’s background information. I feel like this can be preyed upon by a social group. It’s important to teach students this very point. The “truths” in print depend on which group produced it. The “truths” also depend on the identity of the reader and how they digest it.

I also love that Maddi brought up the credibility of Wikipedia. Anyone can edit Wikipedia at any time and write anything. During my first few years of teaching, I always told students to stay away from Wikipedia as a reliable source of information. I was very Anti-Wikipedia! I remained this way until I was challenged by a student. He pulled up a page about a current event at the time and edited in a completely outlandish statement. After he posted it, he smirked at me and gave me a "watch this" as he hit refresh. The comment had vanished because someone had edited out the misinformation already. I think there's a time and place for Wikipedia in regard to super current and popular topics. It may be a more up-to-date source of information because it's constructed and edited by the "people of the internet."

References

Kucer, S. B.  (2014).  Dimensions of literacy: A conceptual base for teaching reading and writing in school settings (4th ed.).  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Entry 9: The Persuasive Genre

This week we focused on the persuasive genre. Persuasive writing intends to convince readers to believe in an idea or opinion. "Persuasion is a part of everyday life" (Tompkins, 2012, p. 252). The persuasive genre is everywhere and is easy to see in our daily lives. We are always being persuaded to buy the newest iPhone or conform to the latest fashion. The persuasive genre group did a great activity with advertisements. We were asked to bring in an advertisement so we could analyze it. I brought in the Subaru print ad below. We were asked to identify the purpose of the advertisement, the targeted audience and which appeal(s) the company was using to persuade you to buy their product. This Subaru Outback Ad used logos, pathos and ethos to appeal a buyer to buy a Subaru. 

This ad communicates that a Subaru Outback is a logical investment (logos), a family vehicle that you can take your kids to school in (pathos) and that Subaru is a safe reliable car company (ethos). I really enjoyed completing this activity and I hope to do it with my future students, I think analyzing advertisements is a great way to get students to notice how much media can persuade them. 

Tompkins (2012) states “persuasion is a part of everyday life” and after our class’s persuasive writing genre workshop I could not agree more. I learned the ways writers can persuade people to do or believe something and/or challenge people to take action. “I Wanna Iguana” by Karen Kaufman Orloff is a great mentor text to introduce persuasive writing to my future 3-5 students. Orloff uses letter writing between Alex and his Mom to work through the pros and cons of getting a pet iguana. Alex really wants one and has to use all 3 appeals to persuade his Mom to let him get one. “I Wanna Iguana” has humorous undertones and bright colored illustrations that I know my future class will love! Tompkins highlights that students should brainstorm a list of examples of persuasion they notice in their families and school when you first introduce the genre (p. 260). “I Wanna Iguana” gives students an example of what persuasion might look like at home. Children definitely know how to pull on heart strings/use the power of persuasion when they want something special on a Wegmans trip. I think it’s important that I show students that persuasion is something they already use and they’re probably really great at it! Tompkins (2012) includes a graphic organizer on page 264 that I plan to use with my future students. It has a place for position, 3 reasons that support the position and then conclusion. I would have my future students pick their "dream pet" after reading I Wanna Iguana in order to write their own "mock" persuasive piece to share with their family. I feel like this will be a fun way for my students to try it out! 

References

Orloff, K. K. (2005). I wanna iguana. Scholastic.

Entry 8: Bless, Address, or Press

In this entry, I want to take a plunge into Holly Luke's Entry #4: Thoughts on Journals. In her entry, she highlights the importance of creating personal and dialogue journals. Tompkins (2012) suggests that teachers use personal journals for students who are English language learners because it helps develop writing fluency. Because journal writing is more informal, ELL students are usually more comfortable engaging in the task over more formal writing assignments (p. 129). I would like to bless Holly for challenging this and stating that we need to do this for all of our students. Holly's quote below really got me thinking about my own experiences as an educator and as a student. 

"I think as teachers, we should always keep an open dialogue between our students, first to get to know our students on a personal level and provide them with a safe space to express their thoughts and feelings to a trusted adult, and second to allow them to practice the craft of writing." 

I am currently a special education teacher in a school for children that struggle behaviorally and emotionally. Forming relationships and building trust is fundamental to their success. I wish I created personal dialogue journals with my students a long time ago. I'm wondering what I might have learned about them if I gave them an opportunity to tell me in writing. Sometimes saying something out loud is way harder than writing it down. The pandemic was rough on everyone but especially rough on our kiddos. We are living in a truly unique and challenging time. Personal journals is a great way for students to write informally about what is going on their lives and can serve as a coping skill later in their adult lives. I know I tend to write and journal more when I'm working through difficult transitions in my life. A teacher taught me how to do that! Her name was Mrs. Parmalee and she was my 2nd grade teacher. She gave us an opportunity to journal about whatever we wanted every morning. She responded to our journals everyday and I remember always being excited to see what Mrs. Parmalee wrote back to me. It was motivating! I always remember that I never had enough time to write her back. I would have written for hours if she let me. She is one of the reasons I am a teacher today! 

I want to press and pose a question about the use of mentor texts to introduce personal dialogue journals to students. Is there a mentor text out there that communicates to students that their journals is a safe place for them to write about their feelings and to ask an adult for help? I would love to start personal dialogue journals with my next batch of kiddos. 

Holly also addresses the use of a Simulated Journal where, "students write entries in simulated journals from the viewpoint of a character or historical viewpoint of a book character or historical personality to deepen their comprehension of the story or the historical period." I think simulated journals is a motivating way for students to engage with a particular text. The more motivated students are by the task, the more writing they are going to produce! I think the use of the mentor text "Dear Peter Rabbit" by Alma Flor Ada would really help students take the perspective of different characters while they write their journals. 

I want to bless the thoughtfulness of Holly throughout her post. It is easy to see that she is a devoted and passionate educator who truly cares for her students. 

Entry 7: The Letter Writing Genre

 
I found a great mentor text "Dear Peter Rabbit" during the letter genre presentation. Every letter within the book represents a different point of view of 2 upcoming events between characters of popular fairytales (Goldilock's Birthday party & Housewarming Parties for the 3 little pigs). Each letter was written in a friendly letter format. I loved this mentor text because it made connections with popular characters from fairy tales in a new way. I could picture and hear each character as I read their letters and as the plot developed. The letter genre presentation, exploration of mentor texts and the personal writing chapter in Tompkins (2012) helped me understand the genre and think about what I would do with my future students. 

I currently work with special education students in a 6:1:1 setting. The digital letter generator resource is definitely something I plan to use in my own classroom. As the letter group highlighted, technology (specifically email) makes it seem that writing a traditional letter will become obsolete. This letter generator proves that technology can be used to help students to learn how to format and write a traditional letter. Students have to select what kind of letter they would like to generate (business or friendly) then the generator walks them through the steps of the letter writing process. Formatting letters is often the hardest thing for students to learn and even more difficult when it comes to word processing their work. Sometimes the formatting process can be a nightmare! Giving students a tool that helps them with formatting and forces them to include all the necessary parts of a letter is incredibly helpful for struggling learners!

I have used the letter genre in my teaching before many moons ago during my student teaching. I started my student teaching journey right here in Rochester at the Victor Primary School. My second placement was in Kumasi, Ghana. I wanted to create a connection between both of my experiences and both sets of students. I had my 3rd grade students write pen pal letters to the Ghanaian students I hadn't met yet. My 3rd graders introduced themselves, wrote about their lives and even included pictures of themselves doing the things they loved. I made dozens of copies of each letter before I left for Ghana just in case I had more than 20 Ghanaian kiddos in my class. I am so glad I did! I had a total of 240 second grade students when I taught at KNUST Basic School in Kumasi. My Ghanaian students each wrote a letter back to my students at Victor Primary. I brought back tons of letters back to Victor for my first kiddos to enjoy! Here's a photo of my kiddos in Ghana writing their responses to their pen pals right here at home!