When reading the Tompkins book for class this week I had another round of Deja Vu. ( I say another round, because I have the same feelings towards the Math section of TE 402) I feel like this is all information which we learned/talked about in TE 301. Not that I don't think that it is useful information, but I just feel like I've already absorbed this information and now we're re-hashing it. So, here goes nothing.....
Whenever I read about the stages of literacy development, I instantly compare what the author writes to how my 4 year old nephew would be viewed. I think about what he can and can't do, and what I could do to help promote his learning. The more I think about it, the more I feel like it is out of my hands because I don't see him as often as I'd like to. Then I begin to think about what his parents should be doing and end up coming to the undeniable conclusion that in order for students to be fluent in literacy, they must have both parental and school support. In my future classroom I plan to let parents know how crucial their role is in their students learning! ( I like the idea of the take home bag that Tompkins talked about!)
Anyway.....Although I feel that my nephew is coming along quite fine, I begin to think about the students in my classroom who are 5 or 6 years old and how little they know about literacy. I'd have to say that the majority of the students in my class are in the beginning stages of learning to read and write... or as the author states, they are still beginning to "crack the alphabetic code". Many of these students do not see themselves as successful readers or writers, they get caught up on what letters look like and spelling, instead of trying to convey a message to someone else through text.
Last week, my CT had the students in my classroom tell a story about a time that they did something with a friend. We brainstormed as a class, talked about stories having beginnings middles and ends and then finished with allowing the students to tell their story on paper. In the end of the lesson, only about 5 students actually had a story which somewhat fit the description that the teacher was asking for. Many of the students only wrote one sentence, other just drew pictures and some refused to work at all. I think the teacher was very frustrated with this ( as was I!).
After reading this weeks readings, I think something that I'd like to try in her classroom would be the Language Experience Approach that was talked about. I think that this would show the students that their own text can easily be written (or changed to a different mode) and still be seen as successful. Also, since the teacher would actually be writing the text, the students wouldn't be as worried about getting things correct and they could learn a bit about the concepts of print, which is something that I feel they really need to know as of now.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the Gibbons book because for ONCE it gave examples of how to work with ELL students, instead of just telling us what not to do! (They even made it sound kind of easy!?)
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I am also in a classroom where the students are beginning to "crack the alphabetic code." Many students cannot write all of their letters, let alone read or convey a message through text. Students are still focusing on letter sounds and the way letters are written. They are also attempting to recognize "star sight words" (such as the, and, am, she, is, he, are, etc.) which many students still struggle with. I see in my classroom too that it is difficult to build on concepts and continue with literacy instruction if students do not have a complete understanding of the basics. I also agree that parents play a crucial role in students learning and success and plan to promote that in my classroom someday too! :) I agree it was REALLY helpful to get some ideas and strategies to work with ELL students as well as in general to promote literacy development!
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