Literature Circle Reflection

Overview: The book that I chose is one that I bought when I was visiting Napa, CA. The name of the book is Esperanza by Sara Donnelly. The story is about a little six year old girl who is dying to read. However, the school that she would have attended was destroyed in a war. As the story progresses, some workers from the U.S. come over and help her village re-build the school. Esperanza finally gets her dream-come-true once school begins and her teacher gives her her first book to read. On the left hand page, the text is written in Spanish and on the right is English.
I thought that the implementation of this book went very well. I chose to do this lesson with my middle reading group for several reasons. Most importantly, was that they are all Spanish speakers, which my other reading groups are not. They are also a very verbal group which would provide ample opportunity for discussion. The students participated well and wanted to discuss the book and then some!! I liked having the booked "chunked" with my questions prepared in advance. I also liked having the vocabulary picked out in advance so that we could discuss the words before we read the text. The students were excited when I came to a vocabulary word and almost always pointed it out during the reading.
The students liked the story and I think it made them think about how fortunate they were to have a nice school to go to. We made a Circle Map about all we knew about school before we began the book. Then when we finished the book we added to the circle all the things that we knew about Esperanza's school. What struck me was that they were able to point out all the things that Esperanza's school was lacking. They said things like, "no library", "no centers", "no playground", etc.
I felt like the Literature Circle technique was very appropriate for my ELL's. It was great for them to see the Spanish in print even though I didn't attempt to read it. However, one student even offered to read it for me! The illustrations were wonderful, showing the typical life style of an Hispanic village. I think it was wonderful for these students to see their race represented in books. I thought that having the vocabulary words discussed before reading the book, helped to clarify these words that could have been a stumbling block to their comprehension if left unmentioned. Preparation was key to making this activity meaningful.
If I had this lesson to do over again, I would have changed my graphic organizer to a compare and contrast Venn-type diagram. The students tended to take the thinking in that direction. Otherwise, I think that it was a very successful lesson and technique that I plan to use again.
I would strongly advise other ELL professionals to cosider using the Literature Circle technique. I thought that for my younger/pre-readers it worked well as a read aloud activity. For older children it would work just as well to have them read on their own if possible and then meet for discussions. Either way I think that it is a valuable language tool that helps to validate the culture and heritage of our students.



MTSU Honor Statement:

This assignment/assessment was solely written by me. In no way have I plagiarized (represented the work of another as my own) or otherwise violated the copyright laws and academic conventions of fair use. I know that violations of this policy may result in my being dismissed from Middle Tennessee State University and/or appropriate legal action being taken against me.
Signed (submitting this statement to Teaching Faculty with student's name typed
below constitutes signing):
Celia Denney
Date: April 21, 2010

Ethnographic Case Study

My overall impression of this observation was that it was a very valuable tool for helping me understand learning through the eyes of an individual student. As a teacher, I realized that I seem to evaluate the students as a group. It was quite a paradigm shift for me to observe what was going on for an individual student. Through this observation, I was able to observe what was interesting to the students, what distractors were present, and also how well the student was focused on the actual content of the lesson.

I found it very exciting to step outside of my "me bubble" and try to understand what kind of environment the student was experiencing. It really made me reflect on the student as an individual and what other factors may be influencing the way he learns. I was able to gain helpful insights into my students learning style and personality. 

By composing an ethnographic narrative, I was able to  process all the information that I observed and use it to reflect on how to better motivate and teach this student. I feel that through the entire process, that I will become a more effective and relevant teacher.

By composing questions specific to this student, I feel that next year's teacher will be able know him and teach him more effectively. I feel that the teacher will be able understand his actions and personality in a way that would be useful in guiding him on a path toward successful language acquisition, as well as being a successful overall student. By passing on these valuable insights, next year's teacher will realize his insecurities as well as his strengths. 
MTSU Honor Statement:
This assignment/assessment was solely written by me. In no way have I plagiarized (represented the work of another as my own) or otherwise violated the copyright laws and academic conventions of fair use. I know that violations of this policy may result in my being dismissed from Middle Tennessee State University and/or appropriate legal action being taken against me.
Signed (submitting this statement to Teaching Faculty with student's name typed
below constitutes signing):
Celia Denney
Date: March 13, 2010

Reflective Fieldnote Blog / Entry #3

Section #1 / Thoughts about action research:
I think that action research is a wonderful way to stretch and grow as a professional. Too many times teachers get stuck in the same old rut. Well at least I do. I rely on what I've always done or what others tell me to do. Sometimes it works, but other times its just not right for a certain group of children. It is so beneficial to step outside one's comfort zone and try new strategies and methods. Staying current with the ever changing classroom is so vital to reaching children and making learning the most efficient and beneficial for them

Section #2 / Ideas generated:
For my research action project I chose to investigate a different writing strategy which offered a bit more structure than the one used in the general education classrooms. As a result of my research project, I have developed different ways for students to be successful writers. I have also developed a method for differentiating the way we use a graphic organizer in order to challenge the different academic and language acquisition levels of my students. I plan to use this method in many ways, such as in reading group, science and social studies, and as a center.

Section #3 / Suggestions to other ESL professionals:
If other ESL teachers are looking for ideas or methods for teaching beginning writing to their students, I would stongly reccomend the method that I used. While it is highly structured, it teaches beginning writers or speakers the scaffolding that they need in order to master the techniques of grammar. I offer it as a beginning stepping stone, which hopefully will progress to less structure as they become familiar with the strategy. Using this structured "tree map" offers students wording options within an almost full-proof method. The students are involved in brainstorming a topic, then helping to complete the tree map. Next they begin their rough drafts. After we edit these drafts the students are ready for the final draft. The feel such a sense of pride and accomplishment once they have produced a wonderful writing piece.
 
MTSU Honor Statement:
This assignment/assessment was solely written by me. In no way have I plagiarized (represented the work of another as my own) or otherwise violated the copyright laws and academic conventions of fair use. I know that violations of this policy may result in my being dismissed from Middle Tennessee State University and/or appropriate legal action being taken against me.
Signed (submitting this statement to Teaching Faculty with student's name typed
below constitutes signing):
Celia Denney
Date: Feb. 17, 2010

Assign. #2, Fieldwork Observation

Today the students began a new strategy for writing. We are trying a program called "Write Reflections". We tried it once right before the Christmas break, but many of the students were having trouble with it. However, I decided to try it again today. The students were asked to share what they liked about snow. I got the predictable answers, which I wrote on a transparancy that was the same as the handout that they received. However, I wrote all the appropriate responses, but they were asked to write only 3 on their paper. In the next section the students were to copy the introductory sentence as it was written on their paper. Then they were to take the 3 things that they liked about snow and make them into supporting sentences for the topic sentence. I was able to go around to a few of the students who were really struggling and help them with their sentences. Tomorrow we will begin working on editing our rough drafts.

• Teaching issues:
• One student gave an inappropriate response unrelated to the topic. This is a common attention-getting technique for him. Another student was having difficulty in knowing how to compose a sentence even with my prompting. A couple of the students simply rewrote the list of fun things to do, without making them into sentences. I think the biggest challenge for a few of my ELL students will be in correctly forming subjects and predicates. A few of the others will need to work on using sentences to complete one thought instead of making one long run-on sentence. I'm still not convenced that this is the most efficient method of writing for my ELL students.
• Second Language Acquistion 
• Brainstorming for ideas is a great ELL strategy. I also allowed students adequate time in order to think about what they were going to say. One student who is "early production" was given an option about two possible answers in order to help her with vocabulary. Also the use of the overhead projector with a copy of their matching worksheet helped the students to follow along. Instead of telling them where I was on their worksheet, they could just see where I was on the overhead.
• Ethnographic Perspective
• It is important as an ELL teacher that I know the student's level of language acquisition, reading and writing levels. I should also know the wait time for students when they are trying to compose what to say. Playing in the snow is a new activity for a few of my hispanic students and my Kurdish student. However, we have been reading books in class about the snow, both fiction and non-fiction in order to build background for all my students.

MTSU Honor Statement:

This assignment/assessment was solely written by me. In no way have I
plagiarized (represented the work of another as my own) or otherwise violated
the copyright laws and academic conventions of fair use. I know that violations
of this policy may result in my being dismissed from Middle Tennessee State
University and/or appropriate legal action being taken against me.
Signed (submitting this statement to Teaching Faculty with student's name typed
below constitutes signing):
Celia Denney
Date: Feb. 3, 2010

Observing/Reflecting in the Field

Name: C. Denney
School or Learning Environment Location: Elementary school in Metro, Nashville, TN
Primary Language/s of Students: 9 Spanish, 1 Kurdish, 5 English
Age Span of Students: 6-7 years old
Grade Level/s of Students: 1st grade
Date Time: January 27, 2010, 12:30-1:30
Minutes/Hours: 60 minutes
Description of Activities:
Math lesson on solid shapes
The purpose of this lesson was to allow the students to manipulate and describe the characteristics of solid shapes.
Lesson opening: Each math lesson is opened with a review of math skills. The children are seated in a circle on the carpet. We started with math "graffiti". I placed the number 13 on a long piece of paper. Then I placed 13 blocks in the middle of the circle. A child was asked to separate the blocks into 2 groups. Using the two groups, they were to write their addition "graffiti" sentence on the long paper. Next we discussed the solid shapes that we have been learning about. I told them that today we were going to predict then test the shapes to see if each one can slide, stack or roll. We discussed what each action means. Then I held up a cube and asked for predictions as to what it would do. Then I used a ramp created from an angled book to test if it could slide and/or roll. Next I showed them how to test for stacking.
Basic Steps of the Lesson: Then I divided the students into groups of 3. Each group was given a basket with a ball, a can, a bar of soap, a ramp (book), and a worksheet with a table for recording their findings. The children were asked to take turns testing the shapes and I showed them how to mark "y" for yes, and "n" for no one the appropriate columns. I moved around the room to help the students if needed. Two of the groups were a little unsure about recording their answers so I sat with them and showed them how to do the first shape.
After all groups had finished testing and recording their shapes, the students returned to their desks. I had a transparancy of the same worksheet which I place on the overhead projector. The students were called to tell me how they complete their tables for each shape according to their findings. If they had one marked incorrectly, I called on a student to demonstrate the correct answer for the class by using the shape. 
Rules and management: One child was rolling the ball across the room. I went to help his group next in order to keep him on task. After testing the ball/sphere, I took it with me. Another student was having trouble staying with his group. He was wandering around the room to see what everyone else was doing. Therefore, I asked him to hold the basket of shapes for his group and to help them remember whose turn it was. After receiving this "job", he remained with his group. At the beginning of the lesson students had trouble  maintaining a circle. They kept scooting closer to the blocks. I would praise a child who was "staying put" and the others would then scoot back. Another time I asked a student who was being blocked out why he would like the student blocking him to move back. The student then moved back. At the end of the small group activity, several of the students wanted to bring me their paper and tell me that they were finished. I asked them what was the procedure when they finished their work. They knew to put it in the basket and then get a book until the others were finished. As the students returned to their seats, the tables that were sitting quietly earned a point. On Friday the group with the most points gets to eat lunch in the room and watch TV.
Student interactions: I intentionally grouped the children so that each group was a mix of ability levels. I knew that the recording table on the worksheet might be a challenge for my beginning readers. Therefore, I placed them with students who would be able to read the words, "slide", "stack" and "roll" in order to fill in the table. The students worked well together by sharing the shapes and helping each other with the recording table.

Teaching: The purpose of the lesson was to allow for the students to analize the properties of 3 solid shapes. The underlying purpose of the small group activity for my ELL students, was to allow them to use the vocabulary associated with the shapes and their properties. During the introduction to the lesson, I had the children demonstrate with their hands what each property meant (slide, stack and roll) using TPR.
Community: The students in my room are mixture of NELBs (Non English Language Background) and NES (Native English Speakers). At the beginning of the year, all the ELL students were placed in my room. However, starting January 1st, I began receiving any new students, regardless of language backgrounds, as newly mandated from our district. Therefore, the students vary greatly in their levels of language acquisition, and also in their reading and math proficiency. However, they are accustomed to being partnered or grouped. We have worked very hard on sharing and knowing how to help someone rather than just providing them with an answer.  
Ethnographic Perspective: Most of the formal interactions occured during the whole group activity. The students were asked questions and were called upon if they raised their hands or if I sought them out. They were also asked to write their addition sentences on our long paer. Formal interactions also took place at the end of the lesson as we were checking our answers on the overhead projector. The informal interactions took place during the small group activities as the children discussed the shapes' properties amongst themselves. I was able to engage the students in informal discussion as I moved about the room to assess how they were doing.
An outside observer would see a lot of activity and discussion upon entering the room. They would see that the children were engaged and using lots of vocabulary as they tested their shapes. If a second language learner was to enter the room, they would immediately see that the children were having fun as they went about the learning process. They would hear children excitedly talking about what they were doing.

MTSU Honor Statement:
This assignment/assessment was solely written by me. In no way have I
plagiarized (represented the work of another as my own) or otherwise violated
the copyright laws and academic conventions of fair use. I know that violations
of this policy may result in my being dismissed from Middle Tennessee State
University and/or appropriate legal action being taken against me.
Signed (submitting this statement to Teaching Faculty with student's name typed
below constitutes signing):
C. Denney
Date: January 27, 2010

My Life So Far...

• Education Background: Undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education; Masters degree in Administration and Supervision; Post graduate work in ESL.
• Occupation: Teacher of 1st grade ELL.
• Hobbies: Painting, reading, traveling, mission work, cooking
• Countries I've traveled to: England, Belgium, France, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Canada, Jamaica, Honduras
• Next trip: Ecuador, Summer 2010