I am currently observing a 5th grade classroom. Since the students are already fluent readers and writers, the literacy instruction focuses mainly on writing short stories and expanding vocabulary. The students do do fluency work as well, and this is done with readings just beyond the students' comfort level. They are given time to practice a passage over and over before reading it perfectly to their teacher. Something that really stuck out to me in the Tompkins chapter was the section on fluent reading and writing. One paragraph began, "Children get ideas for writing from books they have read and from television programs and movies they have viewed." This is exactly what I observe in the students' writing. There is a pattern of character names, plot ideas, character identities, etc. that the students follow based on popular chapter books. Many of the female students take ideas from the "Twilight" series of books and I have seen some males write action scenes from movies or tv shows to incorporate in their stories. I have been working with editing short stories that the students have written in my field placement lately. Some students display a great amount of confusion when it comes to writing paragraphs, especially when dialogue is involved. I notice incorrect tenses constantly, and I wonder if this is a problem that teachers or parents are not correcting on a daily basis.
I have often wondered how teachers decide what books are appropriate to read aloud to the class. Tompkin's discussed the notion of "shared reading" and this put future book choices in perspective for me. Shared reading is when a teacher will read aloud with the class or a small group using a big book, using text that is slightly above the reading level of the students. This made sense to me and put my future read-aloud book choices in perspective. It is good to choose a book that is just beyond the reading level of the students. It can do many positive things like introduce new vocabulary, and give the teacher something to discuss in further detail regarding the reading that isn't necessarily understood.
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I think it is very interesting that your students have been using "Twilight" in their own writings. I think the quote you put in from Tompkins rings true for students especially since I have observed my second grade students writing about things that are familiar with them as well. For instance, a lot of the second grade boys will write about video games and their play stations. A lot of the girls will write about Hannah Montana and other Disney television shows. I have also helped edit my students' short stories in my classroom. They have also been introduced to dialogue, and it quotations marks are still something they are struggling with. I'm not sure if this is because of their age and grade level, or if they need further instruction for it to really "stick" in their minds. For the most part, my CT sticks to books that are slightly above the students' reading level. She will ask them questions during reading as well as after. I find her method to be very rewarding since the students seem eager to listen and answer questions.
ReplyDeleteI'm always impressed when I hear that students are super motivated to write at this age. When I was in 5th grade, my teacher would have us write a lot, she was notorious in our district for being a great writing teacher. Well, I was not quite a fan of hers. I felt so discouraged when writing after a while because of the editing and revision processes that older elementary students sometimes go through. I struggled sometimes with motivation, like normal children do; however, I remember a specific incidence when I was extremely proud of a piece and it ended up with me in tears. My teacher consistently felt that I needed to "explode" (expand) in areas of my story and it felt like five or six times I was told to do so after I had already done so. I became so frustrated and unmotivated from that point on that I still have a stigma against writing.
ReplyDeleteI guess my point from that story is that motivation is something that teachers need to maybe step lightly around as not to discourage students. There's a balance somewhere in th
Sorry it cut me off...
ReplyDeleteAs I was saying... There's a balance somewhere in that teachers need to get a feel for for each student.