Monday, November 26, 2012

What I learned, what I hope my classroom will be

Literacy Level

This semester I have been surprised by the literacy levels of my students.  They are able to draw the knowledge they used the previous year, relate it to, adapt it, and build on the knowledge with little prompting.  They haves struggled with learning how to infer meaning from text but have slowly begun to pick subtle cues from texts they read and relate them to their own lives.  However, they are not able to add adequate analysis to their persuasive essays.  They have trouble voicing their own opinions and supporting their opinions with evidence.  This is the first year that they are stating their own opinions about topics and they are tentative and shy about voicing their opinions.

Journal--What will your literacy-rich classroom look like?

In the future--Sept. 30, 2013

In Sept 30, 2013, I hope to be running my own classroom for the first time on my own.  My literacy rich classroom looks like a colorful library with a variety of graphic novels, fiction books, non-fiction books, newspapers, and important current events that effect student lives around the room.

My students are engaged in a variety of self-driven tasks such as group discussion, projects that draw on visual literacy as well as written and reading literacy, current events, relating their own lives to books they've read, etc.
They are reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction books and articles.  Following Common Core standards, they will be reading more non-fiction than fiction.  However, this will better prepare them for careers and/or college experiences.

Diary...December 15, 2013

My literacy rich classroom looks much like it did when the school year started, however, student work has been added to the walls to showcase exemplary student work.

My students are engaged in formal debates that they have orchestrated and created about controversial topics.  Rules have been decided upon by the students themselves as a consensus.  They have come up with their own penalties if any team or student should veer from the agreed upon rules.  The audience decides by tally marks who wins each debate.

They are reading non-fiction articles and beginning to improve the analysis they use in their essays.  They are discussing current event topics and relating real-life events in their own lives to themes and events that happen in the fiction and non-fiction pieces they read.


Diary...May 30, 2014

My literacy rich classroom looks like...students who are eager to learn but also eager to move on to new topics in the upcoming year.  They are excited to use what they learned and incorporate it into future endeavors.

My students are engaged in a final project that links a variety of texts over the course of the semester or year using a common theme.

They are capable of independent learning in reading and writing.  They can link texts they read to events that have happened in either their personal lives or to society around them.

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