After becoming familiar with the processes and routines that go on in my clinical placement for the spring of 2014 one subject area I would like to reflect on is literacy.
Literacy is done in many different ways in the kindergarten classroom I am placed in. I have witnessed lessons being taught in large group, small group, and individual instruction. So far I have personally participated in small group and individual instruction. As I observe and become familiar with the processes I have realized that my cooperating teacher has a lot of effective strategies that she uses with her students. When she is instruction large group she gives each student a chance to respond as long as time permits. As she is doing this she keeps the students interested by having them give signals or cheers to show if they agree or disagree with the student who is responding to the questions she provides. When the students are in a small group literacy instruction setting there is an adult at each table. At my placement the teachers are very lucky to have parents that are actively involved in their students’ education. They have parent volunteers they come in and work the literacy stations (along with math stations, classroom parties, other classroom activities, and completes the photocopying & laminating). These parents help teach mini lessons at each station or table. Since students are in such small groups at this time there is also an opportunity for individual instruction if needed. During these instructions the students are read to by the teacher, read on their own, and do some guided reading along with a teacher or adult. The teacher or adult asks the students questions throughout the reading to keep them engaged.
During my time in my clinical placement I have not seen a lot of formal literacy assessments. The assessments I have seen seem to be rather informal and formative. My CT does a lot of white board checks, hand signal checks, and other ways that keep the students active or engaged as she asses. By doing this she can see what the students grasp or what she may need to reteach or support them with. She does this by telling them if letters are “walking backwards” or if they need to make any other changes as they work. My CT also collects student work on a regular basis. This gives her a chance to take the time to look over their work. One thing she does is has the students make corrections the next day. This is a way for students to learn rather than to just get a complete or incomplete mark on their paper.
The students in this are actively involved in their learning and in their assessments. My CT uses many signals as ways for the students respond. The signals may include: Hands up, hands on your head, cowboy cheer, thumbs up, etc. The students also use whiteboards. As the students work they can either hold up their board for the teacher to see or the teacher can walk around and see the students work.
I believe a lot of the strategies used in this class are more effective than I thought they could be. I never realized how much information you can take away from simple assessments like checking their whiteboards as they work. By doing this you can help plan for you next lesson or a follow up lesson. Many of these strategies I will carry into my future. The hardest task is going to be getting the parent involvement that these teachers have been able to get. By being at the school for 28 years she has made a lot of connections. Some people that come in to help are parents, grandparents, or even parents from past years that still enjoy helping in the classroom. There are also retired teachers from the district and the area that come in to support the learning. I am looking forward to finding good strategies to get parents involved in my classroom.
We have spent quite a bit of time learning about assessments and literacy strategies at Illinois State University. My CT demonstrates strategies that we learned and how important each type of assessments are. Although I have not been able to witness many summative assessments my CT has made it clear that they are equally as important. My CT also supports what I have learned at ISU by using literacy strategies that I have learned about in class. She uses haggerty phonics lessons, we practice handwriting, we practice sitting correctly while doing handwriting, and we support the students by including group work throughout the literacy lessons.As I go on to be a teacher there are many things I have learned from and that I will take away from focusing my attention the literacy in my clinical placement. I will remember that having students interact with their peers during literacy can be beneficial. I will also remember to keep all students involved and engaged during a large group lesson or reading. I intend to do a little more research about this though. I want to find more ways to keep the students engaged other than agreeing and disagreeing with the response of one student. I will also concentrate closely on formative and informal assessment. By doing these assessments I will be able to better plan my lessons and future activities for my students. I may also need to look at ways I need to differentiate for my students. Literacy is something I have always enjoyed as a young student and as an adult. I hope to teach my students not only to read but to love reading.
To give you an idea about some of the attention getters that can be used with young students I have included examples:
I have also included a link to some great informal assessment ideas that can be used in the classroom: Informal Assessments
I also included a link to another education blog that has great ideas for Literacy Centers.
