blog 11

                 Writing makes a lot of people nervous and anxious. Writing is a very difficult thing to do. The writer has to worry about the grammar and the content and quality of the writing. There are many parts that make up different writing prompts. In chapter 12, the author brought up an interesting concept to writing. Patience is very important. Once again, this is difficult because most people what to just get things over with. However, writing is very time consuming and this can frustrate people. The author mentioned something that I do very often when I am stuck while I am trying to write a paper. He says to “turn off the computer and assign the project to my subconscious or my unconscious.” I usually just stop working until I figure out what it is I want to write and by then I can usually write a pretty good paper. Similarly, I will write a paper and when I am done I do not read it or anything. I save it and do not think about the paper until a few days later. By then my mind is fresh and I am ready to make the paper perfect. To me this is a form of practicing patience because I make myself wait until I can make the paper as good as I can.               Another thing that I found interesting is the voice in our heads when we write. I agree that we should not write until that voice knows how to feel about the topic. The voice in our heads need passion or persuasion. We should not be writing if we do not feel passionately about the topic. This way, you can know what points should be important in the paper. Personally, my voice is strongest in the morning. I like to write in the morning because my mind is fresh and ready to focus on the topic that I am writing about. My voice is strong and I am able to express my thoughts and knowledge more clearly. Writing is difficult and I think teachers could help students learn strategies that can make it a little easier on students.

Blog 10

            Technology is often a difficult thing for teachers to incorporate into the classroom. Since students know and like technology a lot better than most teachers, technology should be used in the classroom. However, it should not be forced into the classroom. If the content area allows some space for students to use technology than use it. I like the idea of writing a wikibook. I have hesitations with any kind of assignment where the students are independent. There may be some very obedient students but there are always students who are not. In spite of this, I think using wikibooks.org could be an interesting addition to a social studies classroom. It could be helpful in a large unit such as World War I or World War II. I like the idea of students adding videos or journal articles that have to do with the topic. Students are given the opportunity to interact with the unit and are critically thinking and learning about authentic material.
            I like the idea of the book trailer. Obviously I cannot have my social studies students reading adult literature. Instead, students can read any book about a person, place, or event in the time period that we are studying. They could read it and then make a book trailer about it. They could also introduce the person or give information about the book. It is just an interesting way for students to use technology to explain what they have learned from the book. Students could really have a lot of fun with this assignment. Students are able to express themselves in ways that may be easier than writing a paper or a having a classroom discussion. It is important to realize that this activity might be difficult for many students. For example, I think there are many students who do not want to and who might not be able to read a history book outside of the classroom. It is important to know the students and to determine the things they are capable of. I imagine that a classroom with advanced students would be excited to do this activity and they would produce excellent trailers. Wikis and book trailers are both technologies that could be used in a social studies classroom.

Blog 9

Students should engage in the classroom through conversations and other forms of dialogs. It is often very difficult to get students to talk with other classmates in the classroom. I know that there are instances where I do not feel like talking even in a small group. However, it is important that students are talking and having deep conversations and are critically thinking out loud. Teachers can give good instructions and support students but they cannot do all the work for the students. It is a reality that teachers must face. So instead, teachers should help students become engaged with the classroom and the content area.
            The chapter had a few ideas of how to involve and engage students in their reading. They could be successful depending on the students in the classroom. However, I am not too optimistic about such activities. I have a friend who is student teaching this semester and she has shared some discouraging stories with me. She teaches science in a high school and her students will not do anything. They have trouble and issues doing simple things such as completing work sheets and homework. She tried to have conversations as a class but the students would say crazy, immature things and they would get off task. In a mature and obedient classroom with students that behave, having students write questions about the text could work. However, I am worried that students ask silly or inappropriate questions that have little to do with the actual information in the text.
            I do like the idea of the Dialogue booklet. I think it is important for students to communicate with others within a group and it is good for teachers to provide guidelines and questions for students to answer and discuss. It is a terrific idea to create specific criteria for the evaluation of discussion in the classroom. I think it could be a good idea to share these criteria with the students so that they know what to expect when they are having discussions in the classroom. These ideas should be practiced in the classroom as much as possible. I think the teacher needs to adjust the criteria based on the students in the classroom. Some activities can be successful in one classroom while it is not successful in another classroom.

Blog 8

The chapter brought up many interesting and sad realities of schools and families. It is unfortunate that schools are not communicating with parents in ways that are appropriate for the parents. School officials believed a stereotype and that stopped them from communicating with a parent who actually did show concern in her child. It is sad that there are teachers and school officials who do not care about students or their parents. It is also sad that a person’s dialect is judged and looked down upon. I have seen this happen before to people who have moved her from another country. My mom has a Dutch accent when she speaks and sometimes people act rude around her. I think that is bad enough. However, it is also terrible that people from the same country make fun of people because of an accent. People are being judged and ignored instead of being helped.
            I am in the class Understanding Language this semester and I am learning that there are different dialects. However, there is not one dialect of English that is superior to another. Unfortunately this theory is not carried out in real life practice. People judge other people just because of the way they speak. People’s socioeconomic class does seem to affect their literacy. Once again, this is so sad and wrong but it’s true. I mentor in Kankakee and even there I notice a huge difference between students’ sociopolitical and socioeconomic lives and their reading levels. Teachers must understand that poor children still need to and want to learn in school and it is the teacher’s job to teach them. Poverty can no longer be an excuse to why students can’t learn how to read and write. Students should also be able to use their language or form of dialect to learn. This will help them get into the reading and literacy world. The other chapter also talked about pushing poor children to do their best. I agree that teachers must push students and they cannot let students give up in the classroom. Teachers need to hold high expectations for all students in the classroom regardless of race or socioeconomic reasons.

Blog 7 ELL

            Since ESL is my minor, the chapter about English Language Learners in the classroom is interesting to me. The number of ELL’s in the classroom is greatly increasing every year. That is why teachers need to become aware of these students in their classrooms. I agree with the speakers in the chapter when they spoke about the benefit of cultural differences in the classroom. I think it is wonderful when there is diversity in a classroom. It is especially beneficial in a social studies classroom. Teachers need to encourage students to talk about their own country’s history or traditions. Diverse students give an American classroom so much more authenticity. Teachers need to use this to their advantage. They need to make the students feel comfortable and teachers need to support the students and let them know that their experiences are beneficial to the classroom.
            I think there are times when it is appropriate for an ELL student to use their foreign language for scaffolding. However, there is a time within a classroom setting that they must learn in English. They can and should speak their foreign language at home and even with friends. However, they cannot become fluent if they do not try to speak, read, and write in English at school. Also, bilingual education could be helpful but it could also leave some ESL students out. For example, most bilingual education classrooms are in Spanish and English. When I moved to the United States when I was eleven years old, I had only been reading, writing, and speaking English for 5 months. My first language was Dutch. There was no teacher in my school that knew Dutch. Clearly the problem is that there will not be teachers that are fluent in every language. Due to my past, I might be a little biased. However, if the student is a beginner and the student is struggling, the teacher should use the first language for assistance if they know it.
            ELL students should work in groups and have discussions. It is much easier to speak up in small groups compared to the entire class. Also, I think it is important for ESL students to work in groups with native English speakers so that they can hear and listen to their English. This will be helpful in their language acquisition process. I love the idea of blogs or journaling. It is a terrific way for students to speak their mind and for teachers to understand their students. These students are so fascinating to me and they just want to be understood and they want to fit in. Teachers need to make ESL students feel comfortable in the classroom.

blog 6 chapter 7

            Teaching vocabulary is often underestimated. Some teachers do not make the time to make sure that students truly understand the meaning of words. Honestly, I do not think that I really had any teachers in school that helped me figure out what words meant. I like to learn and I read a lot and so that is how I learned the meanings of many vocabulary words. Unfortunately, most students do not know how to learn the meaning of words on their own. So, they must be taught. Instructors must teach students strategies for learning words independently. Students must be given the strategies that they can understand and use them on their own.
            The word exercise in chapter 7 called Context Plus seems to be a pretty good exercise. I think I could use this exercise to help my students understand some historical concepts in the lesson. It certainly could not be used on every word because it would take too long. However, if I chose the right word, it could be an effective exercise. I don’t really like the idea of a word wall but I do like the idea of students making alphabetical lists of history words in their notebook. This way they are learning to organize the words and they will have the words with them when they are reading independently outside of the classroom.
            In one of my ESL classes I learned about an assessment or exercise called the Cloze test. Chapter 7 introduces an activity similar to the cloze test. It is a paragraph that has a few words missing in the passage. The students have to use their prior knowledge and the context of the passage to fill in the correct word for each missing blank. I think this exercise can be very helpful for students. It allows them to practice different reading skills and word comprehension. The students need to use the text to determine the correct missing word. It can be very successful in an ESL classroom as well as in a history classroom.

Blog 5

            I have always been a good student but I admit that I did not learn very much in high school. I learned what I needed to receive A’s in all of my classes but I do not remember half of it now. The concept of truly understanding is what chapter 4 discusses. The activity that the woman did with the students in the high school was amazing. I agree that the best way for students to learn is to get them emotionally involved in the topic. Students need to be able to relate and connect with a particular event especially in a history class.
            It is important to teach students how to critically think about the text and material that they are reading. They should be taught how to reread important sentences, instead of the entire chapter. It wasn’t until I was a college student that I began developing effective reading strategies. I will not make my students wait that long; I will teach them the strategies to remember what they are reading. It’s important that students learn to recognize and connect the new information with their schemata. Also, they need to be asking themselves questions while they are reading the text so that they can develop a deeper understanding of the text. When reading long chapters or passages, it is important that the students learn how to decipher what is important and what is not as important. Lastly, students need to try to make an emotion connection with the information. They need to use their imagination and their feelings. People think history is boring, and honestly, it can be if you study it incorrectly. That is why it is essential that students make connections between their own lives and the material being read.
            I agree that teachers should take more time in teaching certain concepts in class. Often times it feels like things are being taught so quickly and it is rushed. History can become very complicated if the students do not understand the concepts and cause and effect. Teachers should take their time in teaching these subjects so that students have the time to understand and to connect with the topic. Allow time for the students to walk in other historical figures’ shoes. It is very difficult to learn when you feel that time is running out. Teachers should also discover how the students learn and understand best so that students can practice those methods.