Language Expert in Training

As a youngster way back in the day, I walked 14 miles barefoot in the snow with a ten pound book bag on my back just to get to school in the morning...ok, no I didn't, but I know you've been told a story like that once in your life by a grandparent or someone from the olden days. I always am a little distracted during these stories, unfortunately. All that runs through my mind as I'm sitting there is "Now as much as I appreciate your heroicness in the pursuit of an education, why would anyone in there right mind walk barefoot in the snow? Who's idea was that?" ...but I digress.
What I really wanted to share today was my experience with writing/reading workshops, literature circles, and thematic units. In elementary school, second grade specifically I remember writing a book of stories in class. I don't remember whether or not we went through all the steps of the writing process but I do remember making a final publshed folder. In fourth grade I remember outlining and drafting book reports and in fifth grade we wrote our first research paper ever! I really was not that enthused about it at the time, but I am glad I was put through the torture because it has definitely prepared me well for college writing.
Reader workshops weren't so preavlent though. I remember going through reading groups in early elementary and shared reading in upper elementary; but read alouds, independent reading time, and buddy reading escape my memory. We never did Literature Circles in grade school which is a cryin' shame because those would have been fun. However, I did get to participate in my very first literature circle as a 20 year old college student a couple years ago and my professor now reads aloud to us every week. So, thank you, Meredith College, for filling in the missing gaps of my childhood!
Now a little homily about thematic units (another Meredith first time experience).
I am in love with the idea of a well planned thematic unit. Last semester in Teaching in the Middle School with Dr. Roberts, I had the opportunity of studying what one looked like, and the privilege of creating my own in a group. I find them to be such a useful tool in making classroom learning applicable and relevant to real world situations. And through cross-curriculum learning we are helping students make strong connections that lead to deeper understanding. Students with deeper understanding of course material...music to a true teacher's ear ;) On that note, I am going to make a swift exit before I begin to weep. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Ciao,
Melissa

"Hold Up, Wait a Minute, Let Me Put Some Math In It!"

I know, try to control yourself. While sitting there reading the title I'm sure you almost leapt out of your seat. Who couldn't? I'm actually not going to get too arithmetically deep on you, so hear me out. The more I sit through my Intro to LA class and ponder how I am going to use the skills I am learning in my math class...the more I find answers. Imagine that. One of my questions I always want to consider as a future teacher is "How can I effectively, and appealingly, convey this to my students?" On top of teaching me to think outside the box, my class has once again provided me with an answer. As I have mentioned before, The Giant Jam Sandwich, was my favorite children's book growing up. It's about a community who has a seemingly unsurmountable problem and works together to come up with a solution (theme: working together to solve problems). To me that story couldn't provide a better picture of what I want my future classroom to be -- a community of learners working together to figure out how to solve seeming unsurmountable problems. So I would make a first day/week lesson using this book as a read aloud in order to give the children a light-hearted example of who we are aiming to be. It is very important for me as a teacher to set up these devices of structure and purpose early on because it saves me and my students a lot of heartache and time later on in the year. The primary story element that makes The Giant Jam Sandwich work for my lesson is the plot. I want my students to walk away with the lesson knowing that our class will be a community, I only expect them to be learners (not experts), the fact that everyone has something to contribute, we will share success and failures, and that it will take time. All these points to relate to what happens to the characters in the story. Speaking of which....what happens in the story? I suggest and strongly reccomend that you take the time to go find out! You won't regret it.

So I'm definitely not Shakespeare...

...therefore I won't pretend to ask philosophical questions of myself (the prompt was to blog or not to blog), but...how do I feel this whole blogging ordeal? Basically, I love it and honestly I wish I had more time to spend telling my thoughts to the intangible audience. It allows me to let my creative juices flow a little bit, be witty and sarcastic without accidently offending a specific person, rant and rave from my soapbox, etc. It just feels good to get things out. The guiding questions are always open enough so that I can put my own twist in my writing. Blogging is much more enjoyable than reflection papers, too. I don't have to use formal language and I don't need to worry about being graded to harshly on grammar and struxture. It's a writing assignment I enjoy because it gives me a chance to define some of the rules. Another thing that excites me is that I can touch all 6 language arts in the blogging experince between writing mine and reading other peoples. So I give blogging a ten out of ten, and I am requesting more time in my day that I can devote to this endeavor. If you could get right on that it'd be great...mmk..bu-bye...lol

Ciao,
Melissa