Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies Ch. 8-10

SQUARE:

“Our ELLs have been really successful when given access to a variety of strategies to communicate, and art is a great way for them to express their ideas. This is particularly true for emergent writers. Although their vocabulary and grammar may not yet be as sophisticated as it is in their native language, they are able to add to the words by using art as a means of communication” (Burhow and Garcia, 2006, p. 106)

This text really squared with my thinking because from my experiences with English Language Learners I have noticed that art is the best way for them to communicate themselves because even though we may not verbally say the same things, we visually see the same things. I have found this to be an awesome means of communication for me and my ELL students and even some times when they are saying something to me that I cannot quite decipher, I then draw a picture on a sheet of paper and allow them to engage in a back and forth pictorial conversation with me.

TRIANGLE:

“Instead of lists of vocabulary words or labels of innate objects, we use content-based word walls with images. These thematic words walls are often very useful for new English speakers. Instead of thinking of them as isolated vocabulary words, imagine a mural of exquisite art. Each and every piece is interrelated and creates a mosaic on the classroom wall that is useful and purposeful. Word walls based on the theme of study for a specific unit help children access new and prior schema, which allows them to write about what they know or what they are learning” (Burhow and Garcia, 2006, p. 133)

I really love this idea! In thinking about the quote that squared with my thinking, this one really pointed me in a new direction because by interrelating everything in our lesson while simultaneously including the use of pictures could create so much meaning for my students. The thing that I really like about this text is because the techniques are not only beneficial to my ELL students, but they are also beneficial to the class as a whole. Considering the fact that I teach Pre-Kindergarten students, I really see how a lot of the things that are discussed in the text coincide with strategies that can be beneficial for emergent learners as well.

CIRCLE:

“Differentiating instruction takes place in every classroom; however, in  a classroom where there are ELLs, two kinds of differentiation must take place: for complexity of content and for complexity of language. One easy way to facilitate this is to keep blocks of time open for inquiries” (Burhow and Garcia, 2006, p. 140)

While reading this quote, a lot of thoughts were still circling in my head. Although I think that this is an awesome idea and something very critical to consider during instruction, I am still wondering about how I can actually implement this in my classroom. I have no doubt that considering both these aspects while differentiating instruction can be accomplished; however, I think just the juggling act of it all and remembering to consider both content and language simultaneously during instruction will definitely be something that I will have to navigate through. All in all, I think that I am up for the challenge!

November Theory in Practice Connections

Wow! I cannot believe November has come and left! It seemed so very short of a month mainly because Pre-K had a week long break from school (which was much needed lol). Besides that, November was an extremely transformational month for me! I started out with one group of students and transitioned to a totally new batch toward the end of the month! My TiP connections consisted of tracking my "highs" and "lows" with both groups of students. I noticed from recording these that although my classrooms had changed, my patterns within a classroom setting were still very similar!

I'll begin with my lows... I noticed that a lot of the moments where I noted my lows were during Morning Meeting! I didn't understand how one of my favorite parts of the instructional day was such a low point for me during the month of November! The more that I looked over my reflections I noticed two things were missing: classroom culture being established and routines!

Thinking back to Becky Bailey's Conscious Discipline, I really was starting to see the negative effects of not starting the day off on a positive note and allowing children that down time to really get settled in for the day's lesson. 

“To build a school family you must focus on the following: physical environment, social environment, school routines, rituals, rules, and expectations” (Bailey, 2000, p. 60)

This quote became very evident to me in both classes and I was able to note why I was noticing so many lows during Morning Meeting and it was because I had not yet began building our school family and Morning Meeting is the perfect place to see that flourish.

As far as my highs go, I noticed that the trend that I saw across the board was really giving the children exciting and engaging lessons to look forward to. All of the lessons, read alouds, and activities in which I incorporated my students interests and/or a real world aspect to seemed to really make a difference in whether or not they cared about what I was teaching. All of these activities went so well mainly because students felt like they were in their natural element of discovery and I think that was really important for them. 

“We are learning all the time, so anything we engage in we learn about- provided we are interested and not confused. How they learn and what exactly they learn depends on whom they are doing these things with and on their perception of themselves and of what they are learning about” (Smith, 1998, p. 56-57)

This quote was very evident in my classroom through these activities were students interests were really valued and the objective was not overwhelming or confusing for students. 

All in all, I feel as if I have grown so much and really learned a lot about myself in the month of November. I've noticed the things that I am really great at and the things that I still need to continue to work on. I really love reflecting back on the month because even though day-to-day I might not always be able to see the progress being made by students, reflecting back always shows you how much not only have your students grown but yourself as well. I'm really looking forward to ending this year strong and taking on whatever new challenges the new year brings!

Ladybugs, Tornadoes and Swirling Galaxies Part 2

Let me start off by saying that this section of Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies really captivated me! It was such a pleasure to read more about Brad and Amy's classroom and all of the wonderful things they are doing to implement skills into their students. Every time I read some new information from this text it really hits home for because I teach a large percentage of English Language Learners. I really liked how the authors helped me think about questioning and how that looks for kids. Buhrow and Garcia discussed how questioning is the catalyst for inquiry and gave examples of ways to help children question and how to note take. This is a strategy that I most recently tried with my students and for some reason it didn't go well. After reading the text, I know that reason is probably because the way that I framed some of my questions was difficult for students to think of their own (mainly since they haven't had much practice). I really like the idea of having a "I learned, I wonder" type of question based chart rather than the typical KWL chart. The main reason why I really thought the charts that Brad and Amy use in their classrooms might work in mine is because they integrate tons of pictures during their questioning and I didn't have any, I just used my words.

On top of the things that really squared with my thinking, there were several other aspects that pointed my thinking in a new direction as well:

"Kid generated word walls give kids more access to meaningful print" (Buhrow & Garcia, 2006, p. 81)

I absolutely loved this when I saw it and I cannot believe that I haven' thought to do this sooner! I truly believe that allowing the students to become more involved in their classroom that they really will begin to take ownership of their learning. I think something like this could work perfectly for all Pre-K teachers because they could get the students to draw pictures of the words that describe the theme for that week and the teacher can simply just label them.

Some Scaffolding Strategies for Inquiry Projects 
Drawing first
Lines for words
Scribing
Word wall
Compelling images
Modeling
(Buhrow & Garcia, 2006, p.83)

I think a lot of the strategies that the authors suggest are ones that I was trying before but I had no idea that I was helping to develop my students' inquiry based skills. I definitely would like to implement the use of lines for words because I think that would be extremely beneficial to Pre-K students. I recently tried an unsuccessful lesson using a KWL chart and I believe that my lesson would have went much more smoother had I had compelling images.

"By giving them the opportunity to choose we are giving them the opportunity to think and to explore what is relevant and pertinent to them. This drives their learning, and rarely do we find that kids are distracted or bored when they are working on something that they've chosen." (Buhrow & Garcia, 2006 p. 93)

I recently liked the fact the authors pointed this out because oftentimes children are bombarded with tasks that they do not care about and end up involved in other activities that will spark their interests. I think in a classroom where children are in charge of their own learning then it makes it way more easier for teachers to provide proper scaffolding because they are not as focused on the negative behaviors in the classroom.

In conclusion, of course with all great things there comes a few things that still float around in your head. Although I love everything that Brad and Amy are implementing in their classroom, I can't help but wonder how feasible is this really. It seems like the author's classroom is a set up where the children are very much in charge of what they are learning and how they are creating it. I guess my question now is in a place where standards and formal instruction takes precedence over exploratory learning, how do we balance and find that happy medium? I am excited about trying out a lot of the strategies that Brad and Amy use especially since they can really aid me in fostering the growth of my English Language Learners. I am just going to keep remembering the question of who holds the power in my classroom and continue to stay true to my answer: children.

Responses:

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October Theory in Practice Connections

Man oh man! October has truly been a roller coaster ride for me! Although I have only had three weeks to get to know my students, I have learned so much about them in such a short period of time. Looking over my Theory in Practice connections, the main patterns that I see during my highs is that I have the best days when my students are actively engaged in the lesson and are able to be very hands-on during the lesson. Many of my students are still four-years-old so I definitely had to reference back to Chip Woods' Yardsticks to re-learn four-year-olds and the best practices for them in my classroom.

In our Child Development course, we talked a lot about Piaget and his theory about children and the way that they develop. I learned that the vast majority of students in my class are still in the preoperational stage of development and have a very hard time seeing a perspective other than their own. This explains why so many incidents in my class have been due to students having a lack of empathy for their classmates because they haven't  quite developed to that stage yet. It was so very interesting to try out the Piagetian tasks with my students and be able to see where they were in the developmental continuum.

A lot of my lows for this month consist of classroom management issues. I'm not sure if it is because my students have not been properly introduced to the classroom rules or if they still aren't used to me yet but for whatever reason, I have been having a bit of difficulty trying to manage my classroom. I must say that Conscious Discipline has helped me a lot in thinking about how to keep my composure in the classroom and ways to approach managing my classroom better.

Despite all of the challenges that I have faced so far in the classroom, I have so many things to celebrate! One of my ELLs who first had a lot of difficulty recognizing and writing letters can now recognize the letters in her name and write them!
                        
 
My students are learning how to cooperatively work together and how each person has something valuable to add to the class!
                   

And also, they are making strides in their writing and coming along so very well in the writing process!!

                           

Looking at all of the things that I have to celebrate in short a short period of time gives me hope for how much more I will be able to accomplish in the future. I'm exciting to keep getting to know my students and keep seeing them grow in all aspects of learning. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing the growth that I am going to make as an educator and all of the memories I'm getting ready to make with the awesome students of Pre-K 3! :-)

Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies

After reading Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies, I am completely in awe and impressed by all of the great work and gains that Brad and Anne have been able to establish in their classroom. Just reading about all of their different stories and strategies used in order to be supportive of their ELL students have just inspired me to go back to my classroom with an open mind about what my English Language Learners are capable of. A lot of the points that were made in the reading really squared with my own thinking. 

“We are also aware of “labels” and spend significant amounts of time discussing semantics with each other and with our other colleagues. We believe these kinds of comments lead to a subconscious inability to instruct and misdirected attempts to fill their heads with knowledge”(Burhow and Garcia, 2006, p. 6)

This quote stood out to me mainly because it falls within my philosophy of teaching ELLs because you have to be cautious of the language you use and how you label someone. I think it is extremely important for not only educators of ELLs but for ALL educators to be aware of the different labels we use when referring to students and what that means for your intentions about approaching your practice to best support their learning. 

“The goal is for kids to build a repertoire of strategies and make them their own. We want them to become independent, critical thinkers and lifelong learners” (Burhow and Garcia, 2006, p. 25)

I particularly could relate to this quote because this aligns with my ultimate goals that I want for my students. It is so important for me to create a safe environment for them to feel like what they say, think, feel, and believe matters and means something in this world. I think by equipping them with the strategies they need to take knowledge head on and then making it their own is truly remarkable! I especially am drawn to the part that speaks about making them lifelong learners so that they can see that learning falls on a continuous spectrum and that we never stop learning and are never can obtain too much knowledge.

Additionally, the most intriguing part of the reading is just the entire setting that Brad and Anne have set up for their classroom. I am so interested in all of the ways they have adapted their classroom in an effort to truly benefit their students. Reading about all of the great ideas and new methods that they are using to support their students inspired me to think about some things I may be considering incorporating in my classroom environment.

I already was aligned with the authors' ideas of creating a safe environment for ELLs to experiment with language, literacy, and things of that nature. Because of this, this particular concept really stuck out to me: 

“The filter can be lowered to allow an individual to be able to access language with greater ease when that person is allowed to study interesting and comprehensible topics; when a student is so engaged in what he or she is doing he or she forgets about the stress of language; and when the teacher does not push for output production before the time is right.” (Burhow and Garcia, 2006, p. 11)

This is the first time that I have ever heard about this filter and it was so interesting for me to read about it and consider at which extreme are the students I service at. By reading about ways to lower and higher the filter, it makes me think of more ways that I can adapt my lessons and even overall classroom environment in a more interesting and inviting way in which students feel like they are value and feel comfortable to open up more.

I am soooo very interested and excited about using some of the ideas that Brad and Anne use in their classrooms. I particularly like the idea of having low tables because my kids are small and I feel like lowering the tables will help them feel more comfortable with engaging with their work. It was so intriguing to read about all of the alternative learning areas that were available to students and how they were really leading their own learning alongside the teacher. I guess this just probes me to think about my own learning and how even as I'm typing this I am sitting on the floor with pillows and covered surrounded by me and I am extremely engaged and also comfy at the same time. It just makes sense that when we are allowed to be comfortable in the way we naturally are instead of being forced to conform to some "academic mold", we typically are more engaged and focused on whatever it is we're working on. This blog would be exremelyyyy long (lol) but this book is definitely something I want to keep handy as I consider the things that I am doing in the classroom.

Although I am so intrigued by the concepts that the authors so eloquently expound upon in the text, I also still have some questions floating in my head about what is actually doable and what is only a hope. I only say this because I teach Pre-K and I know that they are big on what isn't allowed due to "licensing" or what students are "required" to do. I guess this gets me to questioning about the feasibility of some of these practices. Also, I am probed to think about the difference in age of the students described in the text in comparison to the students that I teach and I wonder if allowing this much freedom for four-year-olds would be extremely magical or extremely chaotic. 

Despite this, I am excited to continue reading about all of the discoveries Brad and Anne made in their classrooms and continue to learn about the stories of their students!

Responses to blogs:

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• http://thoughtforteacher.blogspot.com/2013/10/ladybugs-tornadoes-and-swirling.html?showComment=1381886674554
• http://kjohnson116.blogspot.com/2013/10/ltsg.html#comment-form

Theory In Practice Connections

           As I began to draft this blog, I was very confused as to where would I begin? Many of the people in my graduate program know that as of right now I have not been placed in a classroom yet. This has been such a struggle for me in terms of completing assignments, trying out theories and practices, and really connecting fully to the reading. However, despite it all you all have been extremely supportive and encouraging and have caused me to push forward and stay positive until I do get into my own classroom (which I expect to be some time really soon!). I would like to take this time out to thank Mrs. Stanford, a colleague of mine who is a Kindergarten teacher, for allowing me to be a part of her classroom and interact with her students as I patiently await to step into my own classroom. There were so many things I learned about myself, how I interact with children, and what is my presence in the classroom.
         Chip Wood's Yardsticks really aided me a lot in thinking about what to expect with Kindergarteners. My last experience was with Pre-K so I was interested in seeing how different kindergarten would be. I noticed that in terms of instruction, it's more structured in Kindergarten and developmentally speaking, older five-year-olds have a lot of differences to four-year-olds. I noticed that in a Kindergarten classroom, older fives will test their limits with the teacher, which I was able to witness that. In Pre-K, I remembered it being so much more easier for behavior management and Yardsticks provided clarity for me because it talked about how four-year-olds were very easy to redirect. In terms of their interests, I saw some of the same characteristics in the children.
       What was most interesting for me though was the fact that the majority of students in Mrs. Stanford's class were ELL's and had either little to no English speaking skills. I could see how frustrating that was to Mrs. Stanford, especially with limited support from the school. A lot of the students had difficulty trying to express themselves. I pulled one student aside and attempted to have a conversation with him and it seemed as if he had very little understanding of what I was saying. So in an effort to converse with him, I began to draw pictures of a sheet of paper and communicate with him in a way that would probably be better for him to understand. In doing so, I discovered he lived at home with his mom and dad, had a pet dog, and liked to watch TV with his family. I thought that using this technique was really effective as a communication tool because even without using many words, we were able to understand each other.
         All in all, I'm very aware that my experiences this month have been very limited compared to my colleagues, however, I am not going to allow that to discourage me. I am going to try to learn as much as I can from them in the meantime as I await my turn to begin to use some of their practices and my own in my classroom. I am eager and anxious to meet my future students and am preparing myself now to be the confident, caring, nurturing, understanding educator that any student could appreciate! Wish me luck!

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