This course has been very informative for me! Going into the course, I only thought language arts consisted of reading and writing... silly me! Since I will be teaching Language Arts, this class helped me learn various "teacher terms" that I can use while conversing with co-workers and parents. I have learned the importance of the reading and writing processes, along with how to incorporate them into my classroom. While observing, I was constantly thinking of new lessons and new ways to teach these students Language Arts. I enjoyed this class, and will DEFINITELY use concepts learned from this class in my future classroom! :) Thanks Dr. Duncan for a great semester!

Favorite Poem

Wow... my favorite poem...
This is a tough decision, because there is so much good poetry out there! I can at least narrow it down to two poems- one I just recently studied in my Romantic poetry class; this poem is "The World is Too Much with Us" by the marvelous William Wordsworth. This poem is about how we take nature for granted, and that we need to "stop and smell the roses," taking time to soak in the beautiful world that surrounds us. I don't think I would teach this poem in my middle school classroom, but I will have it hanging on my classroom wall. :)
My long-time favorite poem is "The Road not Taken," by Robert Frost. I love this poem because it celebrates individualism and independence, which I believe is of extreme importance during the middle school years. I can teach this poem by teaching the poetic terms associated with this poem, such as rhyme scheme, end rhyme, etc. An assignment I would have my students do is to write about a time in which they "took the one [road] less traveled by." Students could also write a poem about this time in their lives. Another writing assignment associated with this poem would be to write about if they took a "different road" in a major turning point in their lives.

Conferencing

I have been involved with peer conferencing in many classrooms. I remember doing this in middle school, and all throughout high school. During ENG 111 here at Meredith, I participated in peer conferencing, also. I believe it is quite helpful to have someone else read your paper besides yourself before you turn it in. It is extremely helpful to gain multiple opinions and perspectives about your paper before it reaches the professor's hands. Not only is it beneficial to the writer, but it is also beneficial to the student reading the paper. It helps students gain proof-reading skills, and also allows them to see what they might be doing wrong in their own papers.
The downside to peer conferencing, at least, this is what is a negative side for me, is that I have a tendency to chat during peer conferencing sessions.

Workshops and such...

In fourth grade, my teacher greatly encouraged her students to read, read, read! During her class, I remember doing literature circles, and each circle would rotate books every month or so so that, eventually, every student in the class read all the same books. This was really fun because working in small groups helped me learn better and focus more on improving my reading skills. Literature circles worked well in this classroom.
As far as thematic units, my high school would have a character trait every month, and the library would have books that were about that specific character trait; even though it was not required for students to read these books, it was a great way to bring the students' attention to those books.
I can't remember using reading and writing workshops, but I remember every couple of weeks, in about the second-third grade, each student (or sometimes groups of students) would go to the kidney-shaped table in the back and each student would read aloud while my teacher would listen. She would ask us if we had any questions about our reading, then send us back to our desks. I also don't remember using writing workshops, but I remember doing much peer editing in middle school during the infamous year of the writing test... I wish my teacher spent more one-on-one time conferencing with us to make sure we knew what we could have improved on.

The Giver

I would love to teach The Giver by Lois Lowry in my classroom. It contains symbolism, interesting characters, and most importantly, a wonderful theme. I read this book in the seventh grade, and it has since remained on my top five favorite books list. It has been a while since I have read the book, so my knowledge is a little dusty. The theme is family and love; the main character, Jonas, witnesses society's deterioration away from love and into a more concise lifestyle. I could have students respond to The Giver by having them put themselves in Jonas shoes, asking them if they would have done things differently than he did. I believe journals are a great way for students to reflect and take time to examine what they have been reading; although some teachers over use journals, I think that having a journal entry each class, or at least once a week, is a great way to get students to open up and to get to know students individually, which creates for a stronger learning environment.

Roles of a Teacher

I know that teaching is a tough profession that requires patience and passion, but when I first read this section, it was overwhelming to think about how I am going to assume all of these roles for my students. But, after close reading, I realized that many of these roles tie into one another. For example, facilitator and instructor parallel nicely with one another: while the facilitator “provides opportunities for students to use language”, the instructor role explains that the teacher must “activate and build background knowledge.” In order to provide these opportunities for students, the teacher must ensure that students have the background knowledge to understand what they are reading/writing.
Another example of these teacher roles going together is the coordinator and the communicator. A teacher must be a communicator in order to be a coordinator and work with other professionals and librarians to make sure students are receiving the best education available to them.
Another point in these roles is that sometimes you have a teacher has to assume one role in order for other roles to be possible. For example, a teacher will have to be a manager and record students’ progress in order for that teacher to be an evaluator and closely examine that students’ work.
These roles are essential for students to learn language arts, and the teacher must learn how to balance and find places to use these roles in the classroom.

Kids Say the Darndest Things...

Well, this blog has absolutely no parallels with EDU-300, but I thought I would post it because it made my day.
The other day, I was observing in a second grade classroom for THE-244, and a little girl comes up to me, with big eyes full of excitement, then asks me, "Do you have a locker??!!" The teacher informed me that students had been asking questions about middle school that day, and that this particular student was amazed at the fact that one day she would have a locker...
I thought it was the cutest thing!

Effect to Affect

In order to positively influence students, you must first get to know them and get to know their level of writing. Teachers have to be effected by a student, either positively when a student turns in great work, or negatively, when a student turns in not-so-great work. When a teacher is positively effected by a student's great work, then the teacher affects that student by encouraging that student to keep up the great work. When a teacher is negatively effected by a student's not so great work, then the teacher affects that student by trying different approaches to improve that student's work. The same goes for a teaching community; teachers learn from one another's mistakes and each other's great lesson plans.

Wonderful Writing

Well, I believe that reading is a personal experience, and a transactional experience between the reader and the author. My favorite books are books that I can relate to and connect with because they are about similar situations that I have been in. Writing that is worth reading is anything the reader can relate to. I also think that anything that is different or out of the ordinary is worth reading, because it allows the reader to escape from what can be a hectic everyday life.

Past Learning Experiences

Well, I have to admit that I have no clue how I learned language and how to read. I remember read circles in the first grade, my mother and father reading to me when I was younger, and many vocabulary lists throughout elementary school, but I can't recall how I was taught how to read. I have always loved books and literature, so I'm sad that I can't remember how it was that I came to know how to read them.

My fourth grade teacher used to have three bookshelves in her classroom, granted, her classroom was in a weird corner, so this resulted in her having one of the bigger classrooms in the school, so I lucked out having her as a teacher. Fourth grade is when I started picking up books one after the other, and I believe it was because books were readily available to me in her classroom. Since I have seen how this experience has positively impacted my learning experience, I want to have bookshelves in my classroom so that students can check out books on their own time. From fourth grade to eleventh grade, I read very often and loved it. During my junior year in high school, I found myself not liking literature and not enjoying reading- especially during my English class. My eleventh grade English teacher was not helpful to students and, sadly, didn't encourage students to exceed to all of their potential. Due to this experience, I've realized that I DO NOT want to be a teacher like her at all. (I know this is a "haterade" on this teacher, and I do apologize...) I want my classroom to be a positive learning environment in which students are not afraid to ask questions and learn all they can to succeed to the best of their abilities (even though this is cliche, this is my goal.) Even if I only change one student's view of English, I will be happy, even though, I would like to change many many students' view of English...

Sahara Special

Saraha Special is a book that I would like to use in my classroom, whether I have it on a book shelf for students to independently read, or we read it a a class. This book helps others see through the eyes of a "special needs" child, which allows others to become aware of what it's like to be different. When teachers, or future teachers, read it, it makes them stop and think about the children in their classrooms/future classrooms with special needs, and in turn, hopefully, make them change the way they treat these children. When students read Sahara Special, they will be able to see what it feels like for their classmates and friends who are in special needs classrooms; helping students become aware of diversity and leading them to act appropriately pertaining to diversity will help them in their future.

The 6 Language Arts

In all honesty, I had no idea that there were multiple language arts; I always assumed language arts merely consisted of reading and writing. I was surprised to learn that viewing and visually representation were part of the six language arts. I never considered what I see and what other people see a part of communicating; I always look at advertisements and billboards along the highway, but I have never stopped to consider that these businesses and other marketing agents were using these huge signs as a form of communicating to the public.
I'm glad that viewing and visually representing are a part of the six language arts; as I explained in the previous paragraph, things we view are a part of our communication. Not only do we need to be able to use our "viewing" skills to interpret the things we see, but we also need to be able to communicate to others by how we visually represent certain things, especially those who plan on going into advertising.
Of the six language arts, I have to say that writing is my favorite, and I owe my passion for writing to two certain teachers. My fourth grade teacher, Ms. Moore, and my seventh grade teacher, Mr. Elmore, particularly stand out when I think about language arts. As opposed to other teachers, they always encouraged every student to write. Not only did they encourage every student to write, but they pushed everyone to help him/her achieve his/her greatest potential. I remember how friends in other classes would complain about their annoying assignments they had to do in class in order to prepare for the writing tests; I lucked out being placed in Ms. Moore's and Mr. Elmore's classrooms because I was never bored. They made writing fun, and I only wish that I can help my students enjoy writing as much as they did!
The one language art that used to be a big issue is listening; I used to have trouble with listening to someone read to me because I never could stay focused on the material they were trying to read. This problem has lessened for me over the years, particularly because I force myself to listen in class because I want to be a successful teacher.
My language arts learning preferences tend to change depending on what subject it's pertaining to. For example, if I were to be in a biology class, I would rather use my viewing skills and look at pictures to understand the different biology concepts. In a math class, I would use my visually representing skills to work out problems. Also, in college, the talking and listening language arts play a major role in my educational experience because classes often rely on discussions in order for the students to learn.

When did I become a junior in college?

First off, I would like to explain the title of my blog. My nickname is "Blairbee," and my mom's slogan is "Be smart, Blair!," so I decided to combine the two to make a name for this blog.

I know this is only the fourth day of classes, but every morning when I wake up and start my journey to class, I am still stunned when I start to think about how I only have two years left at Meredith College. I remember looking up to the juniors and seniors in college, thinking how far away junior year was... now here it is! Freshman year was spent learning how to deal with college and manage a new style of living; sophomore year contained harder classes and I finally found my desired major. Now it is junior year... who knows what's in store for me!