Response-Centered Talk!

I think the concept of “classroom talk” is very important. In my Elementary First Grade placement I see a lot of reading going on! Since the children have DRA test, reading is extremely important. The morning is all about reading whether its songs about phonemes, watching inviting videos, group reading, literacy groups, or instruction from the teacher…there is literacy taking place 24/7. In terms of classroom talk, my teacher constantly does Dialogic Reading. Dialogic Reading is when the teacher reads a story and asks open-ended questions to prompt the students thinking. This allows the teacher to also see what the children understood from the book and how their personal life can relate to it. McGee (2) talks about how a good classroom talk does more than provide children forum, “it can provide a space for children to learn”. I think this is a great quote from the reading because it values what literacy invites readers to do. For response-centered talk to take place the teacher has to ask questions that guide students thinking. The teacher will then reflect on what a student has said to help increase the level of comprehension. In the classroom the teacher uses tons of resources. I have seen her use the smart board to show phonemic musical videos and have the student’s unscrambled sentences. I have also seen laptops used for recording children’s reading, recorders for children to listen to music, and also the computer for games supporting literacy. The teacher makes sure these technological resources are available for the children to develop a wide range of literacy skills. Once the children use these resources they all come together and talk about what they learned and the teacher ask more open-ended questions. McGee (4) also mentions how response-centered talk allows students to focus on unique images such as the feelings, images, impressions, and reactions they bring to mind while they read a text. I have seen this take place in my placement recently actually. The teacher had all the students sit at the carpet and pick a different character to be in the story. A child played the role of a grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, or baby (etc.) The whole class was able to engage and take on the role of the character. The teacher still asked questions and prompted students thinking. ("What do you think will happen next?" "Tell me a time when this happened to you?" etc.)They seemed to enjoy this interaction and showed successful comprehension of the book! A quick thought also was that my Preschool placement does response-centered talk through Dialogic Reading and incorporates the “small group” aspect that McGee (8) stresses works well. After joining in the large group the children and a teacher break apart into three different small groups to do another activity that reflects on the books and supports comprehension questions. I think this is a great method and I will use it in my future.

Literature in our fields

Literature is a HUGE focus right now in my field and is used every single day in the classroom. Each week the IB planner comes into the classroom with a new book that represents some characteristic that makes a "good, rounded, human being," like being principled (which means to follow to the rules, be respectful...) She then reads the book and the students pick out certain characteristics that character embodied and how they did. For example, in one book the person was using teamwork to help build another house in the village. The students all go around and explain their reasoning and at some points even make connections to their own lives, which would connect to the Langer reading of "being in and stepping out." The students will say "hey I used teamwork today and helped my friend clean up the mess," and it is so amazing to see the students making connections. The students in m classroom are always so excited for book time and the school offers so many opportunities for the children to read. What my classroom is doing now with literature, I think is so beneficial for the students and I couldn't think of a better way to incorporate literature into the classroom.

Literacy Expectations

       For the literacy aspect of this TE 402 class, I have several expectations for myself as a literacy teacher.  Including one of the course goals, I would like to learn how to incorporate technology effectively into my literacy lessons.  I am a person who is not very comfortable using technology, especially new forms, so learning some ways to incorporate it into my literacy lessons will be beneficial to myself and future students.  I am also looking forward to learning how to incorporate lessons to acknowledge and include every style of Language Arts learner.  The variety of activities that I expect to learn during our class lessons and discussions will help to increase my range of teaching opportunities for my students in my field work now and my students to come.
       As a teacher I hope to teach middle school Social Studies classes.  I enjoy working with the middle school aged students and love history.  Therefore, I would like to learn how to potentially integrate literacy concepts and tactics into my Social Studies lessons.  Through integration of literacy and history, students can receive beneficial ways to strengthen their reading and writing skills through historical content.