Miss Kang's Second Blog : Literacy Focus at Washington Elementary School

      Through the past two weeks of my clinical, it is obvious that the main focus that my CT has for her students is strengthening literacy.  Though there are other classes that students leave the classroom for to learn, i.e. Music, P.E. and Science, when the students come back my CT instructs a math lesson.  The math lesson, however, tending to only last around an hour shows to not be the biggest priority. I enjoy observing the different techniques that my CT instructs students to do in order to reinforce literacy. The best activity is the letter activity where students are to write letters to their parents, once a week. The parents then respond to these letters and it continues to flow in this manner for the remainder of the year. My CT assigns book buddies to students with whom they can share what they read for the week with students that are in the first grade. This helps reinforce what students have learned and helps them communicate exactly what they have learned. When my CT reads to the students she makes them comfortable by providing a large, colorful carpet and some chairs for them to be able to relax and listen. When she reads stories to them she has them she opens up discussion questions to allow for connections to be made.  This is one of my favorite aspects of the lesson.  When she asks them if they had any similar experiences to whatever is happening in the story, the children get excited to share their own experiences.  The best part about this activity is that without the children even knowing they are learning and applying literacy lessons. Previous to teaching third grade, I was in classes for preschool and kindergarten.  When I first came to the third grade class the difference between my previous class was so apparent that it took me back at first.  Just noticing the different techniques that the teachers utilize to teach basic skills in preschool and kindergarten in comparison to the techniques used on the third graders was so interesting.  It’s obvious that the younger grades do more hands on, fun activities because the younger students are learning basic verbal and writing skills, whereas now more is expected out of the students.  My CT, I think, does a great job challenging the students without overwhelming them through the activities that she chooses for them. A way that she challenges them is through the smart board activities. She requires students to find the word that matches the definition.  Before students leave class my CT puts a definition on the smart board and allows for students to think about what word matches the definition, when class resumes she has a different student come up and match the appropriate word with the definition. I would say the students in the class respond favorably to all the lessons.  In the two weeks that I have been there I was awestruck to see how open and talkative the students were in class. They are, however, respectful to the teacher and when are told to quiet down listen without question. The activities that my CT used really inspired me and challenged me to think of different approaches to teaching literacy. The approaches that she uses are something that I will take with to future classes that I will be a part of.  Seeing how the kids respond and how my CT evaluates the students shows that there are ways to teach and evaluate students without too much mounting pressure on the students.  It’s safe to say that even though I’m only two weeks in this will be an eye opening semester. 

Link for Fact and Opinion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAKprpl7aPo