Sunday, January 27, 2013
Literacy in the Classroom
Currently, I am doing my field work in a kindergarten classroom in Lansing School District. Literacy is an important aspect of the curriculum and classroom setting. In my classroom, weekly activities are often centered around one story, or the teacher uses picture books to aid in subject area learning such as math, science, or social studies. My mentor teacher has a vast picture book library, and designated reading area for students, where they come to read during center activities or during free choice. Every afternoon this area is also utilized for full class story time, where my mentor teacher picks a story, or several, and reads it aloud to the class.
Beck and McKeown's article "Text Talk: Capturing the Benefits of read aloud experiences for young children", examines read aloud techniques and failures by teachers to elicit student thinking and comprehension through read aloud. Beck and McKeown's article points out that read aloud experiences are especially valuable for young children, because although they may understand complex and challenging ideas, they may still lack the word recognition to read the stories on their own. Often stories that have strong or challenging themes and concepts have a vocabulary that students have yet to master. These ideas are extremely important to consider when teaching literacy skills to young children, especially kindergarten and first grade. Although techniques for comprehension are not always utilized in read-alouds, I think that understanding how to effectively elicit student thinking is an extremely important skill and is one that I hope to master this year as I continue working in my field placement.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I, like Liz, am also in a Kindergarten classroom. Similarly, my teacher has a variety of books she uses in center activities, for free choice/ snack time, and other subject areas. After reading the post and article, I was better able to see how students, especially those in lower elementary grades, can lack comprehension skills based on the level of the books. My mentor teacher encourages getting books from the school library that seem interesting, I have noticed that sometimes the students are unable to read or gather meaning from them. She also has a classroom library where students can pick out books based on their "just right" level and read it to or with a teacher or aide. I think this method encourages the exploration of literacy, yet also teaches the importance of reading comprehension. I, also like Liz, am eager to learn how to effectively elicit student thinking throughout this semester.
ReplyDeleteIn my field placement the majority of the lessons are focused on literacy. My mentor teacher is constantly reading story books to the students. The book is very large so all of the students can see. As she reads to the students her questions involve a one word answer or a short answer. The short answer questions are ones when she is asking the students what a word means. Before this reading I never thought about how she could ask the students different questions or challenge their thought process. I think the main reason she doesn’t ask the students questions that involve explanations because she doesn’t want to lose control of the class. I wonder if things would be different if my mentor teacher began the year by incorporating different reading techniques. When the students answer questions they are eager to share their thoughts. My mentor teacher usually cuts them off and moves on to the next students once they have answered her question. If she learned techniques to challenges their comments I think they would all benefit. I hope to learn ways to challenge my students and have control of the classroom at the same time.
ReplyDelete