I have been very fortunate this quarter to get the opportunity to observe and work in an amazing English classroom. Unlike any other classroom I have experienced, the walls are lined with student art work and popular bumper stickers such as Kill Your Television, and a particularly large banner stating Skateboarding is Not a Crime. The classroom embraces all who enter it and turns no one away. Here I have been able to experience some phenomenal teaching as well as learning. These students become facilitators of their own learning, with the teacher simply guiding them.
I have obtained many helpful tips when it comes to teaching literacy at the higher grade levels, here are some of the more helpful:
1. It is incredibly important for students to learn how to interpret and understand meaning within their text. A method for teaching students how to successfully interpret their text is by encouraging them to make notations in their books (or on sticky notes) while they are reading; students read and mark for evidence, meaning their notations should back up their understandings.
2. Creating a Writing Comments to Remember paper. This paper consists of three categories, punctuation, spelling, and writing techniques. Here students are required to record notes made by the teacher regarding their writing in hopes that the same mistakes won’t be made twice. For example, if the student has made an error through the use of comas, the student would record that error under writing techniques. Here the student would reference this paper every time a new writing piece was due, to ensure that their errors were not repeated. I love this idea; students are held accountable for their own work and learn to edit their own writing.
3. Another idea that I love is the idea of “Hawk Eyes.” This is what I would call small writing groups or peer editing. Here are the expectations:
Purpose:
Have fun sharing
Proofread
Constructive feedback
Process:
Positive comments
Velcro words
Specific plot and description
Questions or suggestions
Share comments orally
Positive first
Then questions (clarification)
Afterwards:
Staple peer comments to paper
Put in notebook
Exit ticket:
Tell teacher one thing that worked
Tell teacher one thing that needs to be changed or worked on
These are just a few of the many amazing ideas that I have had the opportunity to experience.
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteGreat helpful tips and ideas for the classroom! I love the idea about making notes while reading. I think that this can be such a powerful thing for students to do as they are becoming readers. I think this is especially important in terms of comprehension. When students are learning to read more complex book that require deeper thinking, it seems important for them to have an area to organize their thinking and have a place to make connections in the reading. In my experience, many students become very confused when they dont mark down notes or when they do so in a place that is not relevant to the reading. I love the idea of using sticy notes in books they can't write in.
Another neat idea that I have seen in my main placement is making a character/plot map. This is where students write down information about the plot of characters read it. Just another thing that could make comprehension easier.
Thank,
Taryn
It sounds like you are learning a lot in your dyad. The use of sticky notes in a book to take notes to help the reader comprehend what they are reading is something I have seen in my middle school placement. However, I am in a math class but I see all of the students come in with their neon colored post-its sticking out of their book. I don’t know how it compares with middle schoolers but I have heard that any time you give a younger student something like post-its or a highlighter to mark up something they are reading it helps to engage them. I even find that if I don’t want to take notes on a piece of paper or cant write in my book that I like to mark the page with a piece of paper to remind myself that it is something I want to come back to. I think this tip would have really helped me when I was younger. I am curious though, do you find that the students benefit from using the post-it notes? Is this something that the teacher just encourages or requires?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the class you are in really strives to empower the students and make them accountable for their work. Having the students use a fixed piece of writing as a point of reference that they use to compare their other writings to to make sure they are not making the same mistakes is a great idea. I not only think this is helpful for the students but for the teacher. If the teacher is able to not look over a students papers over and over again to find the same punctuation mistakes then the teacher can use that time for something else. This is a strategy I try to get the middle schoolers in the math class I am in to use. If the teacher is not there to help while doing homework or it is taking time for the teacher to get over to them in class I want them to think about what they might already have that can help them. I tell them to crosscheck with other worksheets that they have and when making a mistake to mark them so they won’t have to make the same mistake again.
I think teachers not only help themselves but also the students when they give them the tools to be successful. Looking at the things you have listed in your blog I really feel like your teacher recognizes that.