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Deonna FaganParticipant
Both these articles were of interest to me because I believe this is my weakest teaching area. I find it difficult to teach and my students are on so many different levels. I would like to start to incorporate the activities they propose and I am thinking about ordering the textbook.
To your question about balancing formal vs. informal writing in the classroom, I do believe there is room for both. As mentioned in the article, the explicit instruction could be taught across content in each subject area. In doing so, there would be enough instruction time to use informal writing within the reading content or as an individual activity.Deonna FaganParticipantWriting in another language for me was frustrating because I have very limited knowledge of the Spanish language and do not hear it regularly. I used a English-Spanish Dictionary because that is what I give my students when assigning individual work. I do believe if I was immersed in the language or has someone to help with the translation it may have been a little easier.
I know it is difficult for my students. I try to offer a Spanish version of the assignment if possible, one on one help with a Spanish translator, and additional assistance if needed. They also get extra time to complete the assignment if needed.
Deonna FaganParticipantAs I mentioned in the last comment, this lesson has really been useful for me as an educator. I am use to teaching in comparments: phonics, comprehension, grammar, etc. This article and the entire lesson has inspired me to teach it together as a balanced program.
Deonna FaganParticipantI really never thought about conjunctions in this way. I have always taught them only in grammar studies. In my experience, this is how most educational resources teach them. I will now teach them as part of a comprehension strategy.
Deonna FaganParticipantThree take aways from this article: “Phonics is central to learning” verses the whole word “guessing game.” When children have some sense of the sounds of the letters then they are able to chunk the words. Learning whole words does have its place such as with non-sense words. 2) Reading is the acquisition of knowledge in all areas. I’ve had to test students on fluency which made little sense to me because what does it matter if they can read fast if they are not understanding what they are reading. 3) “Low literacy is a major contributor to inequality and increase the likelihood of poor physical and mental health, workplace accidents, misuse of medications, participation in crime, and welfare dependency.” There are also social and economic costs. I can agree and see this in my current teaching position on a daily basis. This article was interesting and has inspired me to think of ways to teach a more balanced program.
Deonna FaganParticipantI have a wide range of spellers. Most need explicit instruction with it. I teach/model it this way for my students and they also have workbooks to go along with my instruction. I thought the way the spelling instruction was modeled was done well. This is the way I see it taught in most elementary schools
Deonna FaganParticipantLooking over the scope and sequence, it is aligned with the way I taught it in public school with Fundations and Journeys textbook resources. I mostly taught Students with Disabilities and had to differentiate most of the curriculum. In my current position I have students of all levels. I can see this scope and sequence page as a valuable resource for my students and myself. I see myself teaching all three skill levels on an on-going basis, depending on the group I have at the time. My students rotate in and out regularly so explicit teaching with the individual student would be necessary instead of a planned sequence as in other school settings. I feel confident that I am able to teach my students the necessary skills needed. I did like the animal names for the multisyllabic words as a way to remind them how split the syllables. I will be using that as tool in my classroom.
Deonna FaganParticipantI have a large range of learners. I have some learning to read ( level A or B) to fluent readers. I do find that most of them benefit from explicit teaching of phonemic awareness or phonics. Many just skip the word and essential loose contextual meaning. I teach them to chunk the words or break them into prefix, root/base, suffix. Additionally, they are a lower level I am teaching cvc, cvcc, cvvc, etc. and word families.
Deonna FaganParticipantMy impression after doing the German oral reading activity was that I was able to pick out key words that you went over but overall I did not understand it completely.
Deonna FaganParticipantBoth Principles 3 and 4 were most interesting to me because that is what I do naturally with my groups and have found the most success using. I teach them to find the roots by breaking the word into parts. Then using cognates the Ells are able to understand some the English words better. I also try to find Spanish articles they can use that go along with the English context we are reading to give them further support.
Deonna FaganParticipantPrinciple 1: Children need both implicit and explicit instruction.
In my classroom I structure the weekly readings by teaching vocabulary on Mondays and Tuesdays which includes word maps, context clues, spelling of the words including prefixes, suffixes, and roots. I read the words and then the words within the context to the students and if I can, provide cognates or actions, to help support the vocabulary. This was shown one of the videos.
Principle 2: Be intentional in word selection
This is a harder task for me as the students work out of workbooks that already have the words selected. These workbooks are leveled and after taking a diagnostic pretest are generally a good instructional level.
Principle 3: Build word meaning through knowledge Networks
As stated above, this is something I feel I do well at. During the week we read several short article and stories. Through short activities-as listed above and questions/discuss, I believe they are creating/reviewing these knowledge networks.Principle 4: Children need repeated exposure to gain vocabulary
I spend three days a week using the same reading passage or articles. This supports all students with vocabulary. The article mentions using multimedia to enhance learning. This unfortunately is something I am not able to use at this time, but I know would support ELLs learning and knowledge of complex and multi-meaning words.
Deonna FaganParticipantI was not able to access the first video. The link did not work. The second video was really interesting to me and made me wish I had technology in my classroom.
I could not understand the German text at all. I knew it was about frogs from the picture and the video lesson. The video lesson gave me some key words to locate but I still wasn’t able to comprehend the text. This exercise gave me a better understanding of my ELLs. They do have better oral English language do to the fact that they are in an environment where they need to learn it in order to socially connect and adapt to the living conditions. This was also stated in one the articles. I also have peer tutoring in my classroom where they read text in English together which helps too.Deonna FaganParticipantHi, my name is Deonna Fagan. I currently teach in a correctional facility in upstate NY. I teach adult basic education and half my class of 24 is ELLs. I have dual certification in Childhood and Special Education so I do rely on my experience as a Special Education Teacher to help support them but it is still difficult given we do not have access to technology to assist them. I mainly have workbooks for them to use in the classroom. I have been teaching for ten years; four in public school, three in private school, and three in corrections. I am taking this course to learn additional ways to support the ELLs in my classroom and for CTLE credits.
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