Effective Teaching

In chapter five, by Cris Tovani, “Why Am I Reading This” explains how educators need to establish a clear reading instructional plan. In order to accomplish understanding students need to concentrate on main ideas from the readings. Tovani explains that it is vital for teachers to model how students should hold their thinking or slow down their reading. Throughout the chapters she gives examples as question strategies, highlighting text, or summarizing key points. As this will benefit students in their reading assignment. Tovani also explains throughout the chapter that teachers should model thinking aloud. This strategy will benefit students on how to negotiate difficult text.

Technology has many attributes and applications that improve livelihoods. As a student myself, one of the most obvious advancements is in the field of education. Educational technology has slowly been integrated into classrooms over the last decade. Today, the basis of technology, digital literacy, is a crucial skill for academics. “Students who are digitally literate know how to effectively use technology to collaborate, create original content, and conduct in-depth research for academic purposes” (Dotterer, “Fostering Digital Citizenship In The Classroom”). Some worry that the use of technology will encourage people to “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful” (qtd. In Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”).

Reading is the beginning of every child’s learning. The basis of education begins with learning to read. Short (2010) explained that literature acts as “an inquiry to life” and a “way of knowing” (p. 50). However, in order to support children’s learning, it is essential to show children that learning is interesting from a young age. When Short first began teaching using worksheets and a basal reading program, she wrote, “I often felt that children were learning to read in spite of me” (p. 49). The students were not learning to think critically. However, when she began introducing literature circles to her students, she saw them “critically exploring their understandings with each other” (p. 49).

Children’s learning and development is influenced by their interaction with adults and other children, the physical environment and the philosophy and resources in the service, (McLachlan, Nicholson, Fielding-Barnsley, Mercer, & Ohi, 2013). Literacy-rich environments, need to create optimal conditions for children’s personal expressions of meaning: “What do I know? What am I thinking? What am I curious about?”. Children should walk into their learning environment and be enticed to explore the elements of reading, writing, listening and speaking, (McLachlan, Nicholson, Fielding-Barnsley, Mercer, & Ohi, 2013). Children need access to interesting books and materials – both in print and online. When students are provided with well-designed classroom libraries, they interact more with books, spend more time reading (or trying to read), exhibit more positive attitudes toward reading, and exhibit higher levels of reading achievement, (McLachlan, Nicholson, Fielding-Barnsley, Mercer, & Ohi, 2013). If children are not provided with access to interesting books that they want to read and can read with success, they will never reach their full literacy potential (Gambrell, Malloy, & Mazzoni,

All students are aware of the structure of the class and are therefore not surprised when they’re asked to read. This is important because it allows them to engage in learning within the context of a safe setting. Furthermore, when the teacher asks students to read, she does so in a consistent manner that prevents students from feeling like they are being targeted in a negatively. This is an important aspect of the classroom experience because it positively contributes to classroom

Currently in Dr. Jeewek’s course, I learned the twelve Teaching Strategies for Activating and Developing Prior Knowledge from the Literacy Helping Students Construct Meaning by J. David Cooper, Michael D. Robinson, Jill Ann Slansky, and Nancy D. Kiger (2015). The twelve steps: discussion, brainstorming, quick writing, picture walk/text walk, semantic mapping, prequestioning and purpose setting, anticipation guides, structured previews, reading aloud to students, role playing, projects, and concrete materials and real experiences helps students before, during, and after reading the text. The steps help teachers help student to think and view critically before reading a text by connecting prior knowledge to reading. Ms. Parello asked the students questions such as: “What would you do?”, “What do you know by looking at the title of the chapter?”, and “What do you remember from last time?” Ms. Parello uses these teaching strategies to help activate and stimulate prior knowledge and it increases the amount of time the students are willing to engage in the classroom. If students engage in the classroom, the likely of completing classroom assignments increase, which will affect how much information students retain in their working and retrieval memory She uses steps the discussion, brainstorming, and

As an educator, I will concentrate on strategies that promote collaboration, cooperation, and communication. I will concentrate on reading strategies that help students comprehend what they read. Reading strategies such as, the before, during, and after reading strategy can be used for reading comprehension. I can use this reading strategy the first time a new story is read. Before reading the story, I can preview the story by discussing the topic, using key vocabulary words, activating the student’s prior knowledge, and setting the purpose for reading. During the reading passage, I will stop and use context clues to help students

Being an administrator within an urban district that processes the ability to sustain teacher capacity, requires a complex set of skills and competencies that are multi-faceted. These qualities include knowledge, effective communication and commitment.

The key to student enthusiasm in the classroom is to integrate the students’ interests and goals within the curriculum. Students who read for the sheer enjoyment of reading are intrinsically motivated. When reading material is made relevant for students, they are more likely to become engaged and competent readers (Vansteenkiste, 2006). The boys pictured purchased the newest “Wimpy Kid” book and are all dressed similar to the main character, Greg. Using the boys’ interest in the book as a catalyst for reading and writing instruction, will keep them engaged and enthusiastic about the upcoming assignments and tasks. The boys are all in a self-selected group reading time. Within that time, the boys are to read a chapter of the book, build a digital word wall of new words, and complete a summary of the chapter including the beginning, middle, and end. The boys’ assignments focused on their choice of book were more detailed than what I had given them prior. Their intrinsic reinforcement was enough to hold their attention, keep them on task, and increase their comprehension. Allowing the students to choose their own text required that I read the text as well. It was worth it, because it allowed me to participate in their learning process and plan additional meaningful

“Our Role as Mentors, demonstrating a Love of Literacy, this says it all! A teacher who foster literacy in his or her classroom will help “expand a student breadth of experience in reading and writing”. Students will start to take on the value system of their teachers. So it is important as educators to be a good role model, especially when it comes to helping children learn to love reading and writing. Teachers who take time to read a book that has nothing to do with the curriculum and allowing students to write about their own life experiences will give students experience in the wonderful world of reading. Teachers who model the value system when it comes to reading and writing, will only heighten the joy students get from literacy activities.

Specifically, handling and reading different text helps students to recognize how different writings are organized, understand the purposes of writings, make connections between written information and real-world situations, and overall, understand different meanings and complexities of texts. Both websites also stress that teachers who work with students to teach literacy need a variety of appropriate reading materials that can be made available to cover the diverse interests of students as well as range in difficulty to cover the different material needs students may have. Teachers must use explicit and close instruction to work with students in an effort to be more effective. In addition, teachers need administrative support and professional development training to bridge the gap between cultural backgrounds and school literacy, make their content an essential way of learning, detect when young people are not connecting with text and step in and provide strategies that help students learn more effectively, start discussions with students that are real and can be related to real life experiences, and provide learning environments that encourage students to engage in critical explorations of texts as they thoroughly examine texts in an effort to discover meaning and

Through her individual given time to students that need it, Mrs. Graham helped better student understanding and comprehension. When a student needed more time, she quietly told that they were able to keep working, allowing them to keep working. This helped her students be able to not worry about finishing with the class, yet also helped them understand the entirety of the lessons at their own paces. With the age of technology, Mrs. Graham further her students’ interest in English by putting into place with the other seventh grade English teachers dedicated time in each class for students to be able to read books of their choosing. By allowing students to read what they would like to read, this encourages them to want to read outside of just books for class and allows them to explore what books they would like as well. These techniques each allowed students understand and be guided towards what they needed to learn.

It seems that technology is growing, improving, and changing at an exponential rate. Technology now affects every part of our lives from the time we get up to the time we go to bed, and even as we sleep. One of the major areas that has been affected by technology is education. At one time, the only option for students to complete their education was in a traditional classroom setting. There has become a major need for non-traditional education because there has been a growth in the amount of non-traditional students that exist in our society. The advancement of technology has

During my classroom experience I learned a variety of things that I found would help me become a successful teacher in the future. Things like management, teaching strategies, and how information was presented helped determine some characteristics that I found to make Mr. Nelson an effective teacher. As part of being a physical education major there are certain qualities that you have to have to make children really understand the importance of the subject and why it is necessary in all schools. Mr. Nelson did a fantastic job at showing students information and the importance of it. I hope to translate this into my own teaching activates.

Research and testing shows that children do not understand and have difficulty with informational text. Teaching strategies for informational text will help children use their prior knowledge and use it across curriculum. Children find more interesting things to read about in informational text. I have found that when given a choice my students, especially the boys will choose informational text.