Tuesday, 27 January 2004 - 6:41 PM MST

I was very pleased with the content of yesterday's class and the discussions that took place between everyone present. It was very refreshing and provided a great avenue for people to share ideas and opinions about literacy, it's meaning and the role it plays in classroom learning. I am very anxious to hear ideas from those present who have experience in the classroom, as I am just starting down the path, so to speak, in teaching. I stand to benefit a great deal from this group.

Thursday, 29 January 2004 - 5:23 PM MST

Thank you for your response, Christie. I hope that this kind of learning exchange will continue during the life our course. After our first class, I know we wil continue to learn from each other's experience and expertise.

Thursday, 29 January 2004 - 9:41 PM MST

I hope that this course will help me to establish new ways to teach reading skills to my students, so that they may enjoy reading.

Friday, 30 January 2004 - 11:40 AM MST

I also enjoyed Monday's pannel discussion. Dialogs that can build on each other and cover so many topics and yet still be linked together with a common thread are intellectually stimulating and rarely dull.

It will be interesting to see in the coming weeks if and how the presidential cannidates respond to issues concerning education such as the "No Child Left Behind" Act.

Saturday, 31 January 2004 - 11:55 AM MST

The enthusiasm and thought that went into the discussion Monday night was refreshing! This type of discourse reminds me that we as teachers can make a difference, and renews my energy to teach. It was great to cover so many topics in one discussion and see the way that we all connect them.

Saturday, 31 January 2004 - 1:08 PM MST

I, too, thought our discussion on Monday was a great eye-opener, as we discussed current issues and the "nitty-gritty" regarding literacy in schools. Finding a happy medium between inexperienced zeal and reality is a current challenge for me. I look forward to hearing what you all (my classmates) can bring to the table. Almost daily, I am reminded that it is experience in this field that gives you the edge.

Saturday, 31 January 2004 - 1:39 PM MST

What size batteries should we bring next time for the microphone? I want to play for real.
I am looking forward to some new ideas to encourage my kids in reading. I also want to read new children's literature.
Has anyone used claymation, you know like Chicken Run, to help children write? I was thinking of pictures (of clay, of course)and text published in an electronic form and paper Webbe. I believe reading and writing go hand in hand.
Did anyone find the academic book list?

Saturday, 31 January 2004 - 2:00 PM MST

Don't bother with the :) stuff where you have to turn your head and guess the meaning at the web companion site from our book, the page 3 emoticons and acronyms for online communication. Use Smiley Central at http://www.smileycentral.com/ if you think you need to add junk to show emotion. Most email providers have pretty colored, no guess emotion icons. Technology grows by leaps and bounds so the new becomes old so quickly.

Sunday, 1 February 2004 - 3:35 PM MST

I just want to reinforce the comments that I made on Monday night. I think that this group is the very best of the best working with students. EVERYONE works for their kids, and really has them in their hearts. For as many schools as I have worked at, I have not seen a more dedicated group of professionals.

Sunday, 1 February 2004 - 5:28 PM MST

DITTO on Anna Marie's comment! We are one bunch of dedicated teachers in our profession. I liked the open format of reading discussion because it's everyone's problem on helping our students become successful readers. As the semester goes on I would like to learn more reading strategies to help my students. Thank you for your enthusiasm and energy we so much need at the end of the day!

Sunday, 1 February 2004 - 5:41 PM MST

I am hoping to learn more strategies to help my students be successful readers. Group discussions are very uncomfortable for me since I am very shy, but I have really enjoyed working with this group of people. The cohert is made up of an excellent group of professionals that bring in a great deal of knowledge.

Sunday, 1 February 2004 - 8:16 PM MST

It's nice to express how one feels with a group of professionals that understand the problems that we each face in the classroom. We all have problems and hopefully we will beable to help one another solve some of them. Sometimes it is a enough to just talk about it because it becomes clearer in our own minds. This will help us to go in a better direction and not beat up on ourself because we did not succeed 100% with every child.

Sunday, 1 February 2004 - 10:43 PM MST

Hello! I'm so sorry I had to miss Monday's class and the panel discussion. I'm looking forward to reading your responses to it here and seeing you all in class.

I'm very jazzed by this class after some of the reading I've done this weekend. I think we have some interesting topics to uncover.

I'm musing about the reading I've done (since I missed class) and it seems to me that what we're lacking in our school district and my school in particular is any sort of vision of what reading actually is. I think any teacher would admit that we are trying stop-gap measures to pass the test, but in doing so we're narrowing our instruction but leaving out the important chunks. Our instruction may help some children decode some symbols in a particular context better, but I can't see how it will enable our students to actually be more literate and able to make sensible decisions about their reading. We certianly are not reading widely and for meaning. The more we focus on that test, the more diservice we do to our students. We need to define what reading is.

Many years ago in a class that I took we argued about where the meaning of a text lies. Does it lie with the author, with the words they chose, the structure of the text and their background? Or does it lie with the reader and the background, interpretation, and experience they bring to the text? Is meaning organically contained in the text or is meaning constructed by the reader? I've thought of this a lot. What do you all think? Or am I just being way out there.

Jes, are you in this class? Very cool.

Mary

Monday, 2 February 2004 - 4:14 PM MST

Hiya Mary:

I think that's an excellent question you posed: where do we derive meaning? I think the argument is very similar to the ever-prevalent Nature vs. Nuture - it's really both (in my opinion.)

While as a writer, the author brings to life his/her own experiences/imagination/voice but leaves it up to the reader to develop his/her own sense of truth from the story/book.

It is that raw subjectivity that makes literature/reading so spectacular... There is never an end to meaning.

Monday, 2 February 2004 - 6:39 PM MST

I liked the openess and freedom to speak out in the discussion. It was nonthreatening and informative.

Monday, 2 February 2004 - 6:48 PM MST

I found the open discussion (panel) really interesting. I could relate a lot of what was being discussed to my advisees who hate to read in the morning. We are making them read AR books and I know they prefer to read their own books, newspaper, magazines, etc. As for myself, I use to hate my teachers telling me to read "their" books. Until recently, I found my stack of books in the bookstore that I enjoy reading on my own time. There are some students that enjoy reading the same books that I read.

Monday, 2 February 2004 - 8:09 PM MST

I really enjoyed the panel discussion because it allowed me to learn about the diverse perspectives. I thought it was a great way to engage a topic that obviously has many answers. I am looking forward to a great time with all of you in this class.

Tuesday, 3 February 2004 - 9:46 AM MST

Why are so many school on the Navajo Reservation on Probation/Corrective Action? Who is at fault? Is it the State Mandate, the educators, the children, the parents, the curriculum, or the system?

Friday, 6 February 2004 - 11:17 AM MST

Roselyn, I would like to hear more about this concern. From your experience what have you observed? From your professional experience why do you think it is so?
Tell us why this is so important to you?

Please expand and develop your initial question by articulating YOUR ideas, hypotheses, concerns. You piqued our curiosity by offering the question and I am interested in knowing what YOU think about it.

Friday, 6 February 2004 - 11:44 AM MST

Mary,

thank you for your thoughtful ideas.

A professor once said that when we read, 'don't consider what the author thinks, but what YOU think.' When it comes to text, there are so many levels of interpretation - from the subtleties (hidden) to the obvious nature of the context and content. Therein lies the obvious mystery and hidden beauty. The questions we pose to help unleash the textual beauty and mystery for and with our students will be a way of helping them read the 'text for themselves' in more meaningful and beneficial ways.

The more we can model and initiate questions of the text, questions of/with the author, questions of the students to connect with the text, they will begin to internalize this thinking into an integrated set of practices applicable to how and what they read. Will all this improve their overall comprehension-without a doubt! This is a thoughtfulness of literacy!

Saturday, 7 February 2004 - 5:19 PM MST

Thoughts on Rexford Brown and the Thoughtfulness of Literacy........

I made a serious connection to #3 on your posted list (Reschooling our Thoughts). Our book also makes reference to the same idea in Chapter 1.

Students are fed these great little discrete, packages of information that are isolated and lacking a connecting thread as to how everything fits together in our world, let alone their own lives. I see this happening a great deal of the time in science classrooms and it saddens my heart because as a scientist I see everything connected in some way or another. This contributes to students being bored with the curriculum (no big surprise there!).

As I scanned our booklist I found some really great titles, like "Once Upon a Number: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories" and "Art and Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time and Light". The mere mention, though, of "Mathematics" or "Physics" would manage to scare a large percentage of the population away because they may have never been exposed to the connections of these subjects to their everyday lives. And who's to say that either of these books has anything to do with their titled subjects (although I'm hoping they do)! The point is that students are shuffled around from subject to subject and they ask questions like "what does one have to do with two?" As an educator, I feel I need to point out all possible connections to everything these kids are exposed to. Enough of my soapbox............

Monday, 9 February 2004 - 1:19 PM MST

I was hoping you would have some information to my question because you worked in the field of education in various places and from working with the Navajo children at Lake Valley. This question is important to me because I worked in a school setting where we never encountered a major deficiency or probation of any kind. Within the last few years Education has changed so much from good to maybe some worse because of research studies, money making business, changes in the government brings change in education every four years which are usually not fullfill to the fullest,reinventation of the state standards, some teachers are not call to a teaching profession so they are in it just to for income, and todays children are different now then when we were children, (discipline with no children rights in our time)and few parents advocate and support their child's education and serve as a positive link between their child and teacher for understanding and children from this type of homes makes some differences. I am not sure if there is a remedy to cure these things. Maybe someone might have an answer or maybe the old basic education is the answer otherewise, it is too far done and who would think about going back to the old method. (I am just focusing on the schools on the Navajo reservation.)

Thursday, 19 February 2004 - 5:51 PM MST

I have always been fascinated with how children learn to read. Currently, I am teaching an entry level college course in Early Childhood. I'm so amazed at the students that are college level that read poorly, have poor comprehension and want to be teachers yet hate reading! I want to instill a love of children's books in them so that they will get excited about reading to the children and can feel successful as readers. I'm looking forward to learning strategies to work with both children and my college students as well!

Thursday, 19 February 2004 - 5:59 PM MST

Hey I finally got on this Blog thing. I was kinda scared of our instructor at first. She seemed a little wild and crazy. Whatever she had must have been contagious, though because after a few days of her classes I'm beginning to feel wild and crazy about reading, too. (Wouldn't it be great if my kids grew to love reading as much as she does!) I can't wait to try out some of the ideas Ms. V has been using to make reading special in my own classroom. I wonder if the bubbles will work with my kids...or maybe the microphone...or the candle...

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 8:04 AM MST

Just remember there are more schools now than ever on probabation and it is because of the change in the way they are looking at the data. Our students and their scores have not changed that much, but the way they are judged has changed. Special education and ELL are now pulled as a different category.

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 8:11 AM MST

Remember the Fire Marshall is coming to visit, wait on the candle idea.

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 8:20 AM MST

Did anyone manage to log onto that Reading online reord thing? It appears very unfriendly.

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 12:13 PM MST

Thank you, Christie! I agree. I think our job as educators is to help facilitate these 'connections' for ourselves and our students. To try to 'force out' those situations, events, circumstances, themes, that on the surface seem to have nothing in common when we teach. This is the art of thoughtful thinking AND creative-divergent thinking!
Modeling and practicing this kind of thinking is a valuable skill used in all knowledge disciplines.

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 12:30 PM MST

Thank you, Karen........................
Who says you have to light the candle!!!!!!

I always want to ignite the imaginative 'spark' and not extinguish it. So you could imploy imagination with students pretending to light the candle to begin 'the reading' and pretending to blow it out when ending 'the reading'.

To play it safer, I have been looking for electric candles, ones that are battery operated, sometimes used during Christmas Eve or Easter services. Do you know which ones I mean? Or one can use a variation on the lighting theme with a string of Christmas lights, turning it on during the reading of the story and off when finished.

Remember, the focus is on the 'ritual act' of creating a special space (which includes the space between the ears) and place in which to celebrate 'the story' being read. Candles, a hat, a saying, etc., could all be a means in accomplishing this goal. Find and use what fits your own personal style (and fire and safety regs)!

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 12:49 PM MST

Thank you, Lyn..................
It is your love and passion of reading that drives your curiosity of it, do you think?

I think the best way to teach anything is passion and enthusiasm. Students will learn because they are inspired. To me this a far more effective then trying to teach facts.
As Umerto Eco said, "We know more through love than through knowledge." This way, inspiration spawns confidence and motivation intrinsically. The students want to know more and they are in a better position to control their education and knowledge.

Read to your students-a lot! If they are poor readers, they may lack the experiences of 'good' readers and therefore, do not enjoy the act of reading.

Since it is early childhood, picture books may be the key! Find YOUR favorites, and share them. Tell them why you like them so much. Talk a lot about picture books -what makes them so good and appealing. The art, style, quality.

Have them begin to look at picture books for different reasons-alphabet, numbers, concept, themes, poetry,issues, etc.;have them discuss these books, introduce one of their favorite picture books to the class; do reader's theater with some books; act them out; revise the stories; the possibilities are endless but the goal is constant. You want to turn them on to books so that they leave your early childhood class wanting to share their favorite stories with their potential students!

They may feel motivated to WANT to read, thereby improving their own reding and reading skills. By modeling for them and sharing you passion and enthusiasm, they will get hooked! And above all - have fun!
Please let me know if I can be of any help!

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 1:08 PM MST

I will be putting out an email on this, but to let you know, I have been delayed in setting up our learning record accounts because my computer has been 'sick'. In fact it lost it's memory (and mine along with it). In other words, my computer crashed and I lost some valuable files but I think I am out of 'damage control' now. I'm on the repair now!

Concerning the learning record online (LRO), please give it a chance. One of the reasons I enjoy being an educator is because professionaly you are constanly challenging yourself out of your 'comfort zone' in learning new things. In doing so, it sensitizes me to others in the process of learning new things.

The introduction in the computer lab was not what I had planned. However, keeping the big picture in mind may help: It's (LRO)not meant to be more work but a tool to reflect on your own learning and what it is you are learning considering the five dimensions of learning (confidence/independence, experience, strategies, knowledge/understanding, reflectiveness).

Other than Part A interviews, you are documenting your thoughts and activities related to our course and class. By the end of April/beginning of May you and others can review your growth and progress over time.

Enough of talking, let me get back to setting up your accounts so you can really see for yourself!

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 1:30 PM MST

Thank you, Roselyn for expanding your thoughts!

As educators, we feel your pain because we are all in the same boat. I heard someone once say it this way, "We may have all come in on different ships, but we're all in the same boat!"

Unfortunately you missed our first night panel discussion where your colleagues questioned and addressed some of your stated issues in education.

I do not want to mislead you for I do not have the answers. I remain in education because I am searching along with everyone else in these challenging times. However, many times, questions far outweigh any answers.

What is obvious to me is that many things we do as educators are not working. Why do we have so many students who never finish high school? Is No Child Left Behind really helping our children? Are our priorities in education focused in the best interest of our children, really? Is there a disconnect between policy and effective teaching? Is school reform really happening?

Many times, we become effective educators inspite of what we 'have to do'; 'have to teach'; 'have to follow'; and the bottom line is 'what is in the best interest of the students we teach' because we know them better and they trust us to do right by them. I remember what Willard Daggert once said, "Love kids more than the adults."

With this in mind, perhaps answering some of those glaring questions may be easier to answer.

You are in good company in our class. They are experienced educators and professionals who will be sharing their experiences and expertise during our course. Learn from them and ask them questions. Read our texts, articles and books thinking about how this makes sense and has relevance to you as an educator. Write about your ideas AND continue to keep asking questions.

Sunday, 22 February 2004 - 2:05 PM MST

Pam, thank you....................
Congratulations on your learning curve in using the BLOG!
Although I am not the most swift in using computer technology, I am no luddite. If the technology fits the need, then it becomes the tool of choice.

I wanted a way for colleagues in our class to discuss outside of our class sessions and be able to listen in on the online discussions as well. Wa La! BLOGS seemed to fit the need-the little I knew of them at the time. So you see, this has also been an experiment for me as well.

Wild and crazy can be good and I will take that as a compliment for I have been called less generous appellations. I like to be unpredictable so that way boredom doesn't set in.

Being passionate and enthusiastic about what I do is natural for me. Fortunately, most things grab my attention and energy, such as teaching this class!

I am convinced the most exciting classrooms are those classrooms where kids have enthusiasm in what they are doing and learning. And what (who) is the primal source of this enthusiasm? As mentioned earlier in a response, Inspiration comes from a teacher's enthusiasm. It is contagious and filters into the culture of the class as well as to individuals. It is this excitement I still have for teaching - working and learning from students.

I am now in a new phase of teaching with more questioning strategies, many of which are reflected in our course texts.

Classroom rituals, I think are great! When you finish a chapter, time to celebrate-even if it is as short and simple as each student sharing a comment. Celebrating the cummulative events as well as the grand culmination in learning process is something that is natural but something not recognized in a classroom setting. It bonds the members of a class together in special ways - humorus, comfoting as well as serious.

In creating a reading ritual, please use whatever is comfortable for you, Pam. It could be a puppet, bubbles, a toy........Ask your students "what could we use each time we read a book to remind us that we are in a special time and place-in our imagination?" They will provide your answers. The difficulty will be in choosing, most likely. (Perhaps, have them write on a piece of paper, collect them and narrow the choices down to two or three for all to vote on.) Experiment with some things and see which one is the best fit.

Tuesday, 30 March 2004 - 2:32 PM MST

Just a nudge to encourage each of you to try the Webbe. It is the most wonderful way for students to become published authors and then readers. The more we read the more we want to write and around and around the cycle goes. Enjoy.

Thursday, 15 April 2004 - 7:38 PM MDT

As I gain more teaching experience I have come to the conclusion that the best instruction is "custom made" to fit each individual student. The more time I spend as only adult in a room filled with 20 or so 7-9 year olds, however, the more I realize it is not a job for just one person. I submit we should rethink the one teacher in a self-contained classroom model. I think that there should be at least two teachers in every classroom to better meet individual needs. This way teachers could team up and use their students' interests and passions to guide individual programs of instruction teaching necessary skills and (God forbid) it would be so much more enjoyable and motivating for the students. What do you guys think? Any ideas on how it could work. I think I feel another thesis coming on...

Thursday, 15 April 2004 - 7:46 PM MDT

I am getting so much out of our class presentations. They're not even half done and I already have a folder full of ideas to use in my classroom. Thanks guys for sharing all your great ideas and thanks Dr. V for making this a part of our learning experience. Hey, I can even use this concept of students teaching and sharing with other students in my room, too! Is I a brain or whut!

Monday, 19 April 2004 - 2:55 PM MDT

Thank you, Pam, for letting us know how valuable the presentations are for you. I wonder how the rest of our colleagues feel. From observations, I think we all are benefiting from these short but powerful showcases!

Monday, 19 April 2004 - 3:07 PM MDT

Karen,
Thank you for all the time and effort you put into your Webbe presentation on our behalf. The individual disks with the templates and information on them made it that more easier and accessible to start using!

I hope your claymation project goes well. Perhaps you can document the process on video camera to have for your class to view and as a document to show to parents and other teachers.

Thank you also for reading one of the greatest stories ever fractured and retold- Alexander T. Wolf!!!!!

Monday, 19 April 2004 - 3:55 PM MDT

Yes, the class presentations have been very good. We all try to learn from each other's experiences, but being in our own little classroom, in our own little school, in our own little district prohibits us from physically observing each other as we teach. Presentations have been most valuable. Good job, folks. See ya in the funny paper.

Tuesday, 20 April 2004 - 2:27 PM MDT

Pam, bravo on the idea of having two teachers in a classroom at one time. Funny, we said that all the time when I was doing my student teaching at Farmington High! It really was beneficial to both students and teachers when there was two of us present because with class sizes being so large, it's nearly impossible to get to each and every kiddo and make that connection on a day-to-day basis. The labs with technology almost always presented logistical problems and I can't tell you how many times the teacher in attendace was thankful to have two of us present. I guess maybe the thing to think about is how can we empower our students to take the lead, so to speak, and let them help take on the role as 'teacher' to assist others in their classroom settings. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't but it's always very interesting to observe!

Tuesday, 20 April 2004 - 11:56 PM MDT

Thank you, Christie, for your response. Smaller class sizes or more teachers per classroom is essential. The question is how do we put pressure on administrators and legislatures to deem small classes and multi-teacher classes as acceptable. The way they see it is -
it is not "economically feasible" to have small class sizes-it is a waste of money-right; in the long run-wrong!

What is this school reform effort all about if it is not opting for revolutionary (instead of incremental) change taking place in classrooms! (And why do we still have classrooms?) This is where we all need to become empowered and make the changes we can in our own ways until the educational system catches up. However, in order for real educational reform to occur, changes in business, government, society, in general, will have to change as a result. We are not yet there, but each one of us, in addition to all other teachers, can begin to build the momentum toward a critical mass of difference. Once day, a student's sneeze in New Zealand will bring about waves of reform in New Mexico, it is said! "Achoo", Alexander T. Wolf snorted!

Wednesday, 21 April 2004 - 2:43 PM MDT

Thank you for allowing us to share with each other! We don't often get that chance which seems a shame because we are each others best resources.
Thank you and everyone for what's being shared.

Penny