Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Final BlOg!!
This week has already been and will continue to be a crazy week. This is the week for the UGA rodeo!! WHOOP WHOOP!! We work all year for this 3day event. Thursday morning we have special events for 1,200 students and their teachers, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights we have the PRCA Rodeo! It is a lot of work, but so worth it! We are the ONLY college to ever put on a PRCA rodeo! Go us!! However, when I am not in school I am at the arena getting things ready. A lot of work, but fun work! I would rather be on the farm any day then at school.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Blog Post for 3-28
Question: I did not know if it was okay to use the blog post that I wrote on the last chapters in our Writer's Workshop book?
If not, then...
I still love my field placement. My 5 day unit plan went amazing and I learned a lot about what I need to work on as a teacher. Dr. Tolley was great help with giving ideas and ways to manage the classroom during a partner lesson. I am super excited about my 1st grade class taking a field trip to the UGA rodeo in April! I am part of the committee who put this 3 day rodeo together. I will not be able to sit with them during the rodeo because I will have to rope and barrel race for them during the rodeo. I am also pumped about bringing my bottle fed goat, Tinkerbell, and my Minuature Horse, Petey, to the classroom for a goodbye and thank you suprise. Plus I am bringing food and drinks!! This semester is going by fast and it is going well. The GACE is tough and I hope I passed the first section and I take the 2nd section on May 7th. Yes, right after finals! Oh JOY!!
If not, then...
I still love my field placement. My 5 day unit plan went amazing and I learned a lot about what I need to work on as a teacher. Dr. Tolley was great help with giving ideas and ways to manage the classroom during a partner lesson. I am super excited about my 1st grade class taking a field trip to the UGA rodeo in April! I am part of the committee who put this 3 day rodeo together. I will not be able to sit with them during the rodeo because I will have to rope and barrel race for them during the rodeo. I am also pumped about bringing my bottle fed goat, Tinkerbell, and my Minuature Horse, Petey, to the classroom for a goodbye and thank you suprise. Plus I am bringing food and drinks!! This semester is going by fast and it is going well. The GACE is tough and I hope I passed the first section and I take the 2nd section on May 7th. Yes, right after finals! Oh JOY!!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Chapter 16 & 18
Lauren Tedder
Blog Post
3-1-11
As teachers we all have a vision that we what our students to follow and what we want for our students to learn. One of the first layers that we must do is to decide on some kind of vision for our teaching that will guide all of our decision making. This part of the planning is always there. We use our vision plan for an outline for how most every day will go in the writer's workshop. The day will have components such as a focus lesson, writing time, and sharing time. Then we will state how long this time should be, what materials are going to be needed, and so on. Once we have our vision planning and our set routine we can start to decide on the units of study we will have during the year. We need to remember that in a unit of study, we take what we know about writing, we take what we know about our students, and we plan a series of lessons that get students thinking about this area of writing in important ways. The chapter gives good examples about how to keep units organized and what helpful resources you should use/gather. Ongoing planning during a unit of study is a combination between planning ahead and planning in progress. I like this! We can only plan so far ahead before we need to stop and see how things are going in the classroom. Once we check to see how things are going, we may need to start planning in progress. I like how this chapter gives you an example of a genre study and an author study, how to set it up, and an overall lesson plan of the writing workshop for that day or week. The chapter has gives helpful hints on how to write, organize, and make focus lessons. I like how you can plan for sharing time, but you can also change sharing time depending on the "mood" in the classroom. So, basically planning a writer's workshop is a complex web of different layers of planning. It is very important to understand each layer of planning.
I love the idea about the "keeping track" chart of logs. I think that this is a great way for students to see what they have done and what needs to be done for the next day. Also, the teacher can keep track of what each student is doing during their writer's workshop time. Writing short and quick notes from time to time lets the students know that their teachers are watching closely their day-to-day work as writers. Teachers can also use these notes to make suggestions to the students. I also like the idea of having the student jot down important notes from the conference into their writer's notebooks. I also like the basket with the different "try its" for the students to use. These "try its" are there for the students to use during the independent part of the writers workshop. They help the students manage their independent writing in the workshop. I found this chatper very helpful with all of the examples and the different worksheets that the students can use to aid their writings. These worksheets help students to organize, keep theirselves on track, manage, brainstorm ideas, and more. These are such great tips!
Blog Post
3-1-11
As teachers we all have a vision that we what our students to follow and what we want for our students to learn. One of the first layers that we must do is to decide on some kind of vision for our teaching that will guide all of our decision making. This part of the planning is always there. We use our vision plan for an outline for how most every day will go in the writer's workshop. The day will have components such as a focus lesson, writing time, and sharing time. Then we will state how long this time should be, what materials are going to be needed, and so on. Once we have our vision planning and our set routine we can start to decide on the units of study we will have during the year. We need to remember that in a unit of study, we take what we know about writing, we take what we know about our students, and we plan a series of lessons that get students thinking about this area of writing in important ways. The chapter gives good examples about how to keep units organized and what helpful resources you should use/gather. Ongoing planning during a unit of study is a combination between planning ahead and planning in progress. I like this! We can only plan so far ahead before we need to stop and see how things are going in the classroom. Once we check to see how things are going, we may need to start planning in progress. I like how this chapter gives you an example of a genre study and an author study, how to set it up, and an overall lesson plan of the writing workshop for that day or week. The chapter has gives helpful hints on how to write, organize, and make focus lessons. I like how you can plan for sharing time, but you can also change sharing time depending on the "mood" in the classroom. So, basically planning a writer's workshop is a complex web of different layers of planning. It is very important to understand each layer of planning.
I love the idea about the "keeping track" chart of logs. I think that this is a great way for students to see what they have done and what needs to be done for the next day. Also, the teacher can keep track of what each student is doing during their writer's workshop time. Writing short and quick notes from time to time lets the students know that their teachers are watching closely their day-to-day work as writers. Teachers can also use these notes to make suggestions to the students. I also like the idea of having the student jot down important notes from the conference into their writer's notebooks. I also like the basket with the different "try its" for the students to use. These "try its" are there for the students to use during the independent part of the writers workshop. They help the students manage their independent writing in the workshop. I found this chatper very helpful with all of the examples and the different worksheets that the students can use to aid their writings. These worksheets help students to organize, keep theirselves on track, manage, brainstorm ideas, and more. These are such great tips!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Chapter 12
As we already know, at the first of the school year we need to "lay out the line" for the writer's workshop. If the students have a good idea and understanding about how the workshop is supposed to go then there will be less time for confussion. We also need to plan units of study for the whole class instruction. The unit of study in the writer's workshop is a period of time. A unit of study in a writing workshop simply supports students' learning around their self-selected pursuits as writers. For selecting units of study a teacher must ask theirself: What are my strengths?, What have my students studied before in writing?, What are my students interested in? What resources do I have?, and more. These questions will help shape and form your units of study. I like the layouts of the units of study that are shown in chapter 12. I do realize that it is OKAY to study things for a longer period of time. The layout of the unit of study is easy to follow, its clean and clear, and well developed. I think that studying an author or genre is important and I can see why. However, I did an author study last semester and I thought it was soooo boring. I mean, I did learn from it. But, it was just okay to me. Nothing about is really interested me or "wow-ed" me.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Lauren Tedder
LLED
Chapter 7-8, 19
2-7-11
Managing our writer’s workshop is very important. When we have the students writing independently, the teacher needs to walk around the classroom and among the students. The students should not have to come to the teacher. I know as a future teacher that I do struggle with, “What do I do if a student will not write?” or “What if a student will not do anything that I ask?” I know that these things will happen; however, I hope that I can turn this student around and make them want to learn and to be excited about school. However, we need to understand that just because students are talking to each other or working in the same area does not mean they are off task. We want our students to understand that we are working along beside them and we except them to take their work seriously. I agree that the writer’s workshop needs space or you can push tables together to get the kind of space that you want to have your students work in. We have to remember that our students will use many materials to use in their writings. They may have several drafts, folders, notebooks, and dictionaries out in their space. Therefore, space is much needed in the workshop. Getting from place to place in your writer’s workshop is another important managing part. The students will be moving around many times during the workshop. They will have to meet somewhere for the focus lesson, independent writing time, clean up time, and sharing time. We need to come up with a way to “tell” our students what to do next without standing up in the middle of the room saying it out loud. The goal is for the workshop to be well structured so that it could almost manage itself. This would be a huge goal for me! I would love to be able to have my writer’s workshop function like this. I also agree with having the correct supplies and materials for the students to use. The more materials the better the workshop will be. You need to have writing tools such as: highlighters, pencils, pen, and markers. Also, lots and lots of paper! Students need lots of paper to brainstorm, draft their paper, and publish their paper. The chapter furthers the materials needed for the writer’s workshop and how it plays an important role. Working aside the students and using the same supplies will send a message to the students. The message would be to take care of the supplies and honor them. Before assuming a student is misusing the supplies, always make sure there is not a good and valid reason they are doing so first. I love the idea about bringing in the students to help in the decision making process. This also the students to have responsibility and to have some say in the classroom/writer’s workshop management.
I never knew that there were writer’s workshop kits. I feel that the kits would take away the “feel” of the writer’s workshop. The workshop is supposed to be anything and everything. Students should be able to pick whatever they want to write about. Picking things from out of a box is not allowing the students their freedom to write about what they want. Some teachers may fee like they are losing control of their classroom. The may feel like the students are more in control. This is true, because it is the students writing and their work. The kits make you believe that everything is smooth sailing and everything is simple. We have to remember that when we tell students to do what writer’s do, we are opening up a can of worms. There will be a million different combinations of things that the students can do; which is want we want for the writer’s workshop to be. We have to remember that students will make little decisions along the way during their writing. I like how Ray does not “sugar code” anything. She says how the workshop will not be easy and how teachers will have to make peace with this.
Getting students PUMPED about the writer’s workshop and allowing them to publish their work is important. We need to get students excited about what they will be doing from the very start. The publishing part may be the most rewarding and excited part of the writer’s workshop. The publishing part means that the student id finished, they are done, and now their work is available to the public. How exciting?! Ray goes into further discussion about the publishing steps and what it means to be finished with writing. I like how the word “publish” comes from the same root as the word “public,” and being finished with a piece of writing means that it is ready for the public. Students need to know who their audience is and their audience needs to be someone outside of the writer’s workshop. Students need to write to parents, grandparents, friends, aunts, cousins, and pen pals. Their published piece could be a letter, a song, an article, or a play. Students need to publish their writings more than once or twice a year. Plus, every time a student gets finished with a piece of writing does not mean you have to have a party for them. Also, showing and telling is another form of publishing a finished piece of writing. The chapter goes on and explains what students will struggle with and how curriculum will help aid them. Rays states, “Remember that it is better for the students to publish a lot, knowing that not every piece will be brilliant or that every journey to being finished with a piece will be the best on the student ever makes.” I love this quote!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
EDEC Week 3
So far I love my first grade placement. I was able to read to the class today a Junie B Jones book and listen in on a teacher meeting with the Vice Principal. In our book, that we are reading, I really enjoyed the few pages about behavior and what/what not to do. I found my self sort of laughing at what the author what talking about. I have seen and experienced much of what I was reading. Some of the stuff that was mentioned did a lot of good and some stuff had the opposite effect. I agree with pretty much all of what the author was conveying to me. I feel like we need the parents on our side and to help better their children. I also agree with not letting yourself lose comtrol or your emotions and allowing the child to "win" an arguement. Therefore, I am seeing some of the good and some of the bad in my student teaching. It's very interesting!
Chapter 14, 15, 17
Lauren Tedder
LLED
Writer’s Workshop
2-3-11
I would have to agree with Ray, I think that I get the most enjoyment when I am able to sit down with the students and have a conference about their work. You can get to know a lot about a student and how they are doing by just asking a few questions and listening. We have to remember to talk to our students as writers and not talk down at them. I also like the idea about “moving out” to your students instead of having your students come to you. I find myself many times going to the students who need the most help or who have their hands raised. I think that Ray makes a great point about how teachers need to go see every student about their work and how they are doing. I am so glad that she stated that conferences should be kept short. I sometimes think that teachers will keep one students for a long time and that makes all the other students’ conferences much shorter. I love the fact that Ray wants her students to be more independent and do things on their own. Students can be independent at any age if they are given the chance and the responsibility. Also, keep good records and the records should be a recap about what the conference was over. I think that Ray gives many great ideas and ways of handling conferencing time in the classroom. I got a lot out of this section of the book.
Students need to talk during the share time part of the writer’s workshop. It is important for them to receive this feedback from their peers and teachers. Students can learn a lot from listening and sharing with each other. Sharing time is a place where everyone can learn together as a community. I also think that it is very important for the teacher to share as well. The teacher needs to demonstrate sharing her writing to the class so that others feel comfortable and understand how important sharing can be. In my placement at Timothy Road , my mentor teacher does simple response share everyday after the writing workshop. Every student will read what they wrote or started to write during the workshop period. I really like the survey share approach. I think that this approach is short, sweet, and to the point. This type of sharing still allows the students to share, get feedback, and learn from others. My favorite type of share would be the student-as-teacher share. How great is this? Allowing a few individuals to share what they are doing, have created, have written, or what they have figured out. I think that this can be very special and highlighting for the students when they are able to share.
I love how the questions that a teacher should ask during the writer’s workshop should be questions that they do not already know the answers to. I mean duh! Teachers all day long always ask questions that they already know the answers to. The questions which the teacher asks during the writer’s workshop should be why? How? Tell me more type of questions. I never knew that all the questions that we ask actually have names. For example, “Out of all the writing you’ve done, how is this piece similar?” This question is a history question. Teachers can use different questions for assessments and for students’ portfolios. Conferences are where a lot of the question asking takes place. The types of questions asked here would be questions about the students’ writings. There are different scales that the teacher can ask questions and evaluate the students on. I was a little confused about the scales and how to use them, then Ray had samples of students work and this made the scale clear.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
EDEC: Week 2 Post
1-28-11
This is my second week here in first grade at Timothy Road . So far, I enjoy my first graders. This morning, two girls got up in front of the class, during calendar time and sang Mrs. Davis and me and cheer. The cheer was, “2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Ms. Davis, Ms. Davis! 2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Ms. Tedder, Ms. Tedder!” I loved this cheer. What a great way to start out the morning!
In the chapter that we read in our books, it talks about expectation and consequences. I feel like Mrs. Davis’ class knows the expectations and knows the consequences. I feel like there is no grey area when it comes to these two terms. I also could not believe that the principal in the book came over the intercom and said what he said about the thumping. I found it funny that everyone started thumping each other, including the author of the book we are reading. It’s like every time you say, “Don’t do that!” The students do it anyway. I feel like there are other ways around this and what you say and how you say it has a huge impact.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Writer's Workshop Chapters 6 &11
Ready, Set, Go! Wow, I hope one day that after I give my students their focus lesson they will be able to go off on their own for 30 to 40 minutes and write independently in the writer's workshop. How great would that be?! I love the idea about having students write on their own and doing their "own thing" during this given time period. As we know, to have a productive writer's workshop we need to get the layout and routine of the workshop at the first of the school year. The writer's workshop is a time for students to "do what writers do." Students need to know that the sky is the limit during writer's workshop. I love that quote! How great to be able to allow students to write about whatever they want, whatever they feel, their experiences, this time is theirs to explore and grow. I think it is another good point that students know that this is not time to "just write, just to be writing." They need to start and write about meaningful things. I like how the writer's workshop will let students' free write when they first start the writer's workshop. As the time progresses, the teachers will help them further their knowledge, how they use their notebooks, the drafting stages, and so forth.
Once again, the book does a great job of breaking down the different things that writers can do during independent writing time. They can free write, do writing exercises, reading to support their writing, daydreaming, asking peers, and more. I really liked the idea about day dreaming. I highly agree that sometimes writers just need to think. However, they need to be productive during this time and not doing other homework and such. Another thing to help students manage their writing time is have little reminders in the workshop. What a good idea. I always have reminders in my room or in my agenda. At the end of the chapter it has the best list of all...Kinds of things that you might write in your notebook! Having this around for students to read and get ideas from is much needed in my opinion.
I think that it is such a valid point that when we were students the whole class wrote about the same things and the teacher corrected problem on it and handed it back to us. We taught this was teaching. We taught this was normal writing time. WRONG! There really was not any teaching going on here at all. I like how the book puts "the teaching of writing revolves around strategies, techniques, and understandings that are not connected to specific material." I have learned that we can let go of telling the students "what" to write. You can do a whole-class teaching with the students writing about many different things.
Once again, the book does a great job of breaking down the different things that writers can do during independent writing time. They can free write, do writing exercises, reading to support their writing, daydreaming, asking peers, and more. I really liked the idea about day dreaming. I highly agree that sometimes writers just need to think. However, they need to be productive during this time and not doing other homework and such. Another thing to help students manage their writing time is have little reminders in the workshop. What a good idea. I always have reminders in my room or in my agenda. At the end of the chapter it has the best list of all...Kinds of things that you might write in your notebook! Having this around for students to read and get ideas from is much needed in my opinion.
I think that it is such a valid point that when we were students the whole class wrote about the same things and the teacher corrected problem on it and handed it back to us. We taught this was teaching. We taught this was normal writing time. WRONG! There really was not any teaching going on here at all. I like how the book puts "the teaching of writing revolves around strategies, techniques, and understandings that are not connected to specific material." I have learned that we can let go of telling the students "what" to write. You can do a whole-class teaching with the students writing about many different things.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Writer's Workshop Chapters 9, 10, 13
In the next three chapters that we read about writer’s workshop is getting more detailed about how to start and finish a lesson. We have to remember that students are learning and should be learning at all times during the writer’s workshop. I liked the 5 ways to think about teaching the writer’s workshop which are: environment, demonstration, direct instruction, inquiry, and potential of the world. The book explains these 5 things in an easy way for someone to understand. I liked how the best way to set up our writer’s workshop is by surrounding the area by things to learn from. This quote made a lot of sense to me. So many times we are thinking about what we need to teach the students. Having things that surround the area that we can learn from is a great idea. We should ask ourselves, “What can I get going in my room that the students can learn from?” When students have plenty of time and are able to write everyday they become better writers and learn to enjoy writing. I agree that the writer’s workshop needs to have routines set early in the school year. This way the students know what to do and when to do it. I like the idea about the group share. I like how it is ongoing and that students can learn from each other. Teachers need to remember to create the daily routine and maintain a supportive classroom environment where students are comfortable in sharing. I like the list of ideas how students can learn and how to display students’ work. The book gives many good examples about the kinds of texts and different genres that are needed in the writer’s workshop. I love the idea about having copies of students’ work around in the writer’s workshop. Once again students can learn from others. Also, you can share quotes about writers, have books on grammar, and have visitors in your classroom that will aid your writer’s workshop. Teachers also need to write about anything that they want. Students need to know that their teacher is writing and is a writer just like they are. Heavy writing should be done in the writer’s workshop; however, students can still have writing homework. I like the section about the desk work and the world work. Most of the time we write about what we know and what we have experienced throughout our lives. Students can go out in the world and try new things and come to school and write about these new things.
Once again, I think that the book does a great job in giving us 5 steps to use to teach writer’s workshop. These 5 steps are: strategies, techniques, questions, relationships, and conventions. Students need to build a repertoire of understandings, strategies, and techniques to support them in their work as writers. Students will grow more as writers if good teaching is involved. Students can also help to explain and teach new strategies to other students. I agree that good teachers of writing continue to add to their knowledge base about writing curriculum throughout their teaching careers. We must remember that we can’t know it all when we start out. I also think that it is great that the book gives us a list of resources to use for how teachers get smart about writing. These are great tips.
I finally have a better idea about what a focus lesson is. A single focus lesson is always a part of a series of lessons. I like how students should be brought together during some point of the writer’s workshop. This allows time for intellectual gathering and we need to make sure that we have a gathering place in the room. I liked how the tone is very direct and teaching writing is powerful when the students see the teacher as both a writing mentor and a fellow writer. I agree with talking to your students as writers and not as children. I love the idea about show and tell during the focus lesson. This makes a lot of sense. These are just some of the highlights that made a lot of sense to me and that I defiantly will take with me to my writer’s workshop in the future.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
First day in First Grade (Journal for EDEC) Extra for LLED
The first day has been fun and I already have learned a few new things. I watched a guided reading lesson, observed a math and writing lesson, and I am blown away by the smartboard. I really want to learn how to do all of the neat things that the smartboard has to offer. Reading the first 14 pages in our book makes perfect sense to me. I am really starting to believe that there are not "bad children," but only bad teachers. I enjoyed the examples that the book gives about great teachers and what they do or do not do. As future teachers, we have always been told what NOT to do as teachers. Now, we are starting to learn how to become great teachers.
Thursday 1/20/11: Observed a math and writing lesson, helped a child with their work, and listen to a child read.
Thursday 1/20/11: Observed a math and writing lesson, helped a child with their work, and listen to a child read.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Chapters 1-5
Lauren Tedder
Ch 1-5
Writing Workshop Blog
1-18-11
First of all, this text is not so bad after all. I find this text actually interesting and I enjoy the settings this text puts you in. It gives you real life situations and examples. This is great because I really, really do not like to read. I have learned a lot through the first five chapters of this text. To be honest, I did not really have a great understanding of what a writing workshop is or why we should have one in our classrooms.
The goal of a writing workshop is to help find good reasons for students to write, do all the things that writers really do, and the students can decided about what they want to write about. How perfect is this? Giving students choices to freely write about whatever they wish. This would help many, if not all students stay interested in writing. As a student, I really dislike writing about boring topics or topics that the teacher picks for us to write about. It is much more fun writing about things you care about. I also like how the writing workshop allows teachers to bring in their own personalities, experiences, and strengths to the workshop. I do agree that all writers need time and experience to write. I think that it is a great idea to have a set time everyday for students to explore writing. I learned a lot about the different parts that make up a writing workshop.
I never really thought about writing being two different parts. There is writing to support your life and writing to communicate. I mean writing love notes or grocery lists never seemed like “writing” to me. However, reading chapter 2 made me realize that writing is writing and you can do it and learn it in different forms. I like how writing is not my grade level or ability level. The reason is because writers grow and learn their whole lives. Writing is a great way for people to share and respect others ideas. The best part, in my opinion, about the writing workshop is that not every piece of work a student writes has to be their very best work. This takes the pressure of the students and allows them to explore and try new things.
I found chapter 4 interesting about the tone of the room. I liked how it said that cluster in a room is okay. That cluster means something interesting is going on! There are many different combinations a room can have to set its tone. I like how the author addresses time and how each student will be finished with the writing workshop when the clock is up and the whole 30 minutes is up. So far, I have a much better understanding of what and why a writing workshop can be a helpful tool.
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