Introduction
Throughout the course of study at Walden University, reflection is the primary tool that drives the process of inquiry between what we learn in the virtual, online environment and apply everyday in the physical classroom. Understanding the power of literacy begins with an investigation of the theories, concepts, and strategies that allow both student and teacher to engage in a questioning process that, according to Freire and Mercado (1987), create positive classroom domains empowering students’ grasp of the world around them.
Going back to review my previous course reflection submissions, I noticed a distinct goal-setting pattern emerging. What became important was a realization that outlining goals give the educator both the responsibility and motivation to transfer dialogue enabling three important classroom literacy tasks; listening to our students as we develop curriculum, how to promote technology and literacy as the gateway to critical thinking and imagination, and awareness of asking questions as a catalyst for change.
Listening Awareness
Irvin (1996) describes the control teachers have in their dealings with at-risk adolescents. In dealing with students, especially at-risk students, reading engagement is successful when teachers are aware of their students’ background knowledge, cultural values, and prior attempts to overcome obstacles in becoming literate. Additionally, awareness of cultural diversity means giving our students opportunity to share in the learning and question asking process. Finally, students also have the right to ask questions that affect what should go on in the classroom as much as the instructor has in developing a standard of excellence in the curriculum development process.
The past seven weeks have increased my understanding of one of the primary roles of teachers is to develop empathy with the student as they mature in the classroom. Nieto and Bode (2008) affirm that through study of the complex forces that influence young people, educators will be able to interpret and shape these ideologies (p. 27). Students will come away with a sense of balance and a better understanding of the power they have within as they mature.
Engaging Critical Thinking
One of the great practices I reaffirmed in this course was the ability to think beyond the lesson in developing concepts and ideas, specifically with struggling learners. Using the Designing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Handbook (Bottorff, 2012) as a model, the literacy lessons developed for this class gave students ability to build upon their comprehension skills. Additionally, I noticed the students practiced self-regulation and were more motivated in their collaborative groups. This change in thinking will improve students’ ability to research problems successfully, articulate what they do not know, and discover resources and questions necessary to advocate new ways of understanding content.
Assessing student learning is best applied within a real-world context, so that students will be able to develop self-assessment skills. I would like to employ technology with these assessments using personal devices (cell phones and tablets) in a way that will not detract or disrupt the traditional classroom format. In previous limited-use scenarios, these authentic assessments just seem to work the best - students respond better and seem to really enjoy using their brain in familiar ways to flex their critical thinking skills.
Inquiry as Catalyst
The questions asked in the first week of this class led to the Goals for Struggling Learners Chart (Bottorff, 2013). One of my goals was to improve students’ understanding of text summarization strategies, which would lead to increased student efficacy. During the lessons, reading, and conversations following, the importance of students asking questions about what they did not understand was always stressed. Using the guidelines Chapman and King (2009) describe, teacher modeling of appropriate questions and peer-to-peer reading/question writing opportunities gave these learners confidence to attempt longer periods of reading.
Generating effective inquiry in the classroom is about knowing your students and trying to meet their needs. Our job is to give back to these students the joy of learning to augment their harsh understanding of the world. Alvermann, Phelps, and Gillis (2007) describe how the well-educated person must have the ability to inquire about a topic (p. 322). As we move forward, students will use these interventions and classroom strategies as a catalyst to become better listeners, readers, and as we approach the high school proficiency testing windows, better writers.
Conclusion
When you are successful in teaching literacy, the student is able to participate in the act of transferring knowledge through his/her understanding of being literate. Because reflection is such a key component in our Walden program, I am continually reexamining ways to improve course content and the learning capabilities of my students. Overall, this will impact these learners as they begin to discover the power of literacy. Another result of this course is the effect for change I will have on my peers and fellow teachers. We will be able to create new courses, new assignments, and look for new questions to improve authentic student experiences in our classrooms. Educators will hopefully feel more meaningful in articulating and applying these collaborative literacy models. Change can be met with tension, but it can also result in a better synthesis of the curriculum and improve my overall satisfaction in teaching as I culminate my graduate candidate Walden experience.
References
Alvermann, D. E., Phelps, S. F., & Ridgeway, V. G. (2007). Content area reading and literacy: Succeeding in today’s diverse classrooms (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.
Bottorff, R. (2013, September 8). Developing goals for struggling learners [Online submission]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3466148_1%26url%3D
Bottorff, R. (2012, August 18). Final reflection [Online submission]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3466148_1%26url%3D
Chapman, C., & King, R. (2009). Differentiated instructional strategies for reading in the content areas (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word and the world. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
Irvin, J. L. (1996). Developmental tasks of early adolescence: How adult awareness can reduce at-risk behavior. Clearing House, 69(4), 222. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database.
Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.
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Submitted October 20, 2013, as partial fulfillment of Masters of Education READ 6584: Supporting Struggling Readers: Grades 6/12, Walden University.
Copyright © 2013 Ron Bottorff
Throughout the course of study at Walden University, reflection is the primary tool that drives the process of inquiry between what we learn in the virtual, online environment and apply everyday in the physical classroom. Understanding the power of literacy begins with an investigation of the theories, concepts, and strategies that allow both student and teacher to engage in a questioning process that, according to Freire and Mercado (1987), create positive classroom domains empowering students’ grasp of the world around them.
Going back to review my previous course reflection submissions, I noticed a distinct goal-setting pattern emerging. What became important was a realization that outlining goals give the educator both the responsibility and motivation to transfer dialogue enabling three important classroom literacy tasks; listening to our students as we develop curriculum, how to promote technology and literacy as the gateway to critical thinking and imagination, and awareness of asking questions as a catalyst for change.
Listening Awareness
Irvin (1996) describes the control teachers have in their dealings with at-risk adolescents. In dealing with students, especially at-risk students, reading engagement is successful when teachers are aware of their students’ background knowledge, cultural values, and prior attempts to overcome obstacles in becoming literate. Additionally, awareness of cultural diversity means giving our students opportunity to share in the learning and question asking process. Finally, students also have the right to ask questions that affect what should go on in the classroom as much as the instructor has in developing a standard of excellence in the curriculum development process.
The past seven weeks have increased my understanding of one of the primary roles of teachers is to develop empathy with the student as they mature in the classroom. Nieto and Bode (2008) affirm that through study of the complex forces that influence young people, educators will be able to interpret and shape these ideologies (p. 27). Students will come away with a sense of balance and a better understanding of the power they have within as they mature.
Engaging Critical Thinking
One of the great practices I reaffirmed in this course was the ability to think beyond the lesson in developing concepts and ideas, specifically with struggling learners. Using the Designing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Handbook (Bottorff, 2012) as a model, the literacy lessons developed for this class gave students ability to build upon their comprehension skills. Additionally, I noticed the students practiced self-regulation and were more motivated in their collaborative groups. This change in thinking will improve students’ ability to research problems successfully, articulate what they do not know, and discover resources and questions necessary to advocate new ways of understanding content.
Assessing student learning is best applied within a real-world context, so that students will be able to develop self-assessment skills. I would like to employ technology with these assessments using personal devices (cell phones and tablets) in a way that will not detract or disrupt the traditional classroom format. In previous limited-use scenarios, these authentic assessments just seem to work the best - students respond better and seem to really enjoy using their brain in familiar ways to flex their critical thinking skills.
Inquiry as Catalyst
The questions asked in the first week of this class led to the Goals for Struggling Learners Chart (Bottorff, 2013). One of my goals was to improve students’ understanding of text summarization strategies, which would lead to increased student efficacy. During the lessons, reading, and conversations following, the importance of students asking questions about what they did not understand was always stressed. Using the guidelines Chapman and King (2009) describe, teacher modeling of appropriate questions and peer-to-peer reading/question writing opportunities gave these learners confidence to attempt longer periods of reading.
Generating effective inquiry in the classroom is about knowing your students and trying to meet their needs. Our job is to give back to these students the joy of learning to augment their harsh understanding of the world. Alvermann, Phelps, and Gillis (2007) describe how the well-educated person must have the ability to inquire about a topic (p. 322). As we move forward, students will use these interventions and classroom strategies as a catalyst to become better listeners, readers, and as we approach the high school proficiency testing windows, better writers.
Conclusion
When you are successful in teaching literacy, the student is able to participate in the act of transferring knowledge through his/her understanding of being literate. Because reflection is such a key component in our Walden program, I am continually reexamining ways to improve course content and the learning capabilities of my students. Overall, this will impact these learners as they begin to discover the power of literacy. Another result of this course is the effect for change I will have on my peers and fellow teachers. We will be able to create new courses, new assignments, and look for new questions to improve authentic student experiences in our classrooms. Educators will hopefully feel more meaningful in articulating and applying these collaborative literacy models. Change can be met with tension, but it can also result in a better synthesis of the curriculum and improve my overall satisfaction in teaching as I culminate my graduate candidate Walden experience.
References
Alvermann, D. E., Phelps, S. F., & Ridgeway, V. G. (2007). Content area reading and literacy: Succeeding in today’s diverse classrooms (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.
Bottorff, R. (2013, September 8). Developing goals for struggling learners [Online submission]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3466148_1%26url%3D
Bottorff, R. (2012, August 18). Final reflection [Online submission]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3466148_1%26url%3D
Chapman, C., & King, R. (2009). Differentiated instructional strategies for reading in the content areas (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word and the world. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
Irvin, J. L. (1996). Developmental tasks of early adolescence: How adult awareness can reduce at-risk behavior. Clearing House, 69(4), 222. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database.
Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.
*****************
*****************
Submitted October 20, 2013, as partial fulfillment of Masters of Education READ 6584: Supporting Struggling Readers: Grades 6/12, Walden University.
Copyright © 2013 Ron Bottorff