SP19:Methods of Teaching ReadingI:24405

A Recap of this Semester Throughout the entirety of our teaching blocks, the foundation of our curriculum has been rooted in creating and sustaining cultural pedagogy. We are very familiar with hearing most of the terms that will be outlined in this article at this point, but it's always important to maintain an awareness of cultural relevance and relaying content back to the students' upbringings, identities, and interests. What makes up a culturally-relevant writing curriculum? *link to their website is at the bottom of my blog post The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is an EXCELLENT resource where you can find dozens of testimonials, collaborative efforts, and scholarly expertise to aid you in maintaining a lesson plan that is culturally relevant, but still hits all of the points that you need to cover in teaching your curriculum. Delving into writing, the NCTE defines writing as "the act of creating composed knowledge...

                                                                                                                                Having students voices be heard:                                             “Reading and writing for social action” Chapter 6                                         A democratic environment: A place to foster public voices      I’m sure that all of us have been in a position were we feel ...

Removing Barriers to Voluntary Reading for Reluctant Readers: The Role of School and Classroom Libraries Mayson Hoene I wanted to start off this blog by a question for you to ponder... Do you like reading?  If you answered yes to the answer above, then what has made you enjoy reading? If you said no, then what has made you reluctant to reading? If your experience is anything like mine, then you might slightly enjoy reading but felt like you never got the chance to read anything that you wanted to read. You may have felt like you never had a choice.  Reading is a huge part of education and is something you will use your entire lifetime, but why are so many students so reluctant to read? As stated in the article, by the time students get to middle school/high school their interest in reading declines. But why?? The reading points out three main issues that connected to children's attitudes towards reading.   1. choice 2. opportunity 3. access Most...

More Than Words: Student Writers Realizing Possibilities through Spoken Word Poetry --by Eva Olguin This reading conveyed the importance of adding spoken word poetry in our classrooms. At the beginning part of this piece, it described a Sujaya's experience with the spoken word poetry assignment. She shared her story by sharing the poem she created. The poem described the time she was called a "fake Asian" by her classmates. Most people can agree that this comment is harsh for a child to hear. Reading poems  aloud  that depict the situation is a healthy way to cope with what happened. It was great she was given the chance to embrace her heritage and revoke the negative comments she was  receiving . Her experience reminds of me of the film,  Freedom Writers,  where students were assigned by their teacher, Mrs.Gruwell, to share their feelings, perspectives, experiences, or anything they want to share to the class. The students in the movie vented their p...

Why I Won’t Be Using Rubrics to Respond to Students’ Writing - Mang Zi When we think about the word rubric, we think of the many advantages and disadvantages of using rubrics to judge students’ work. I believe the majority of people will say that using rubrics has more advantages than disadvantages because it can be used as powerful tools for assessment and instruction. Also, we have been exposed to rubrics in our everyday lives. Whenever we do an assignment or project, we are given rubrics all the time. On the other hand, there are disadvantages to using rubrics. Many think that most rubrics do not speak a language that students understand and can be harmful in many ways. “I didn’t like how using rubrics prematurely narrowed and cemented my vision of good writing” (Wilson, pg. 63). First of all, I believe rubrics encourage students to do the “minimum thinking” required. Students simply follow rules and complete the assignment strictly adhering to the rubric ins...