Chapter 7

I enjoyed this chapter, but what I want to talk about more is what I see in my practicum. Last week we decided that we should pay attention to the focus on literacy in our classrooms. Well in my classroom at Kingsley Junior High there is literacy everywhere! On the walls, in the texts books, in the 'bellringers' and just about everywhere else you can imagine. What is great about the literacy that is in their 'bellringer' activities is that a lot of times, it's literacy that they may need to know for everyday life. Such as there was a bellringer that had a newspaper add, and the students had to find the answers to the questions and create questions of their own by using the newspaper add. It's good because not only are they becoming competent in the language, they are also achieving competency in activities that may occur outside of the classroom.

More importantly, there are literacy activities that help the students become active readers, a skill that they will need for school. First the teacher introduces the reading strategy. Then the class reads together while the teacher models the strategy. Then the students take turns reading out loud while the teacher guides them with the strategy. And finally, the students complete the reading while using the strategy amoungst themselves. It's great and the students enjoy doing it. Although one thing I would have to say is that the text that the 6th, 7th and 8th graders were reading was a little easy in my opinion. This is bad because when it comes time to transition into highschool the students will not have a book with a ton of pictures and captions and small sections of text.

Next, an activity that I really liked, focused on literacy BUT also focused on teaching note-taking skills. It was awesome because they really need to know how to take notes. So the teacher talked out loud, giving her lecture using the smart board and guided them on how to fill out the first section. She then continued to talked and left it up to them to finish filling out the sheet of notes. Although some of them found it rather easy, there were many who struggled. This activity is key because it is teaching academic competence, so that the student can have the abilitiy to communicate and interact in an everyday classroom.