One of the strategies mentioned in Chapter 5 was posting a word wall in the classroom. My CT has a word wall in her classroom which is posted on one of her chalkboard. I noticed Tompkins wrote, "Teachers prepare word walls at the beginning of the school year and then add words to them each week." (page 158) I think by adding to the word wall is a great way to expand children's knowledge of vocabulary and spelling. However, I have noticed that my CT does not add to the word wall. Instead, I find that a lot of her students will ask how to write words such as, "friend" and it will not be on the word wall. Although students will refer to the word wall when spelling words, I have observed that a lot of the words they want to write are not posted. Instead of posting these words, my CT will repeatedly tell the students to just "sound it out." I think that knowing how to sound out words is an important skill to have, but I also think that my CT could be using her word wall more effectively within her classroom. Gibbons talks about adding words to the word wall each week based on what the students are learning. For example, Gibbons write, "The selected words should have appeared in books students are reading or been introduced in guided reading lessons, or they should be words hat students have misspelled in interactive writing activities or in other writing activities." (page 158) This makes complete sense to me considering the words children are learning should be meaningful to what they are encountering in books they are reading or stories they are composing. I feel like I have gained much more insight in the value of the word wall after reading about it in Chapter 5. I have definitely gained more of an appropriate sense of how a word wall should be used versus what I have been observing in my field.
Gibbons also talks about fluent readers. I have observed that my CT has divided her class into guided reading groups by ability. I have observed her guided reading lessons, and can see a large different in the way these groups read. For example, her higher level readers are able to read with expression and with fluency. They are able to put animation in their voices. However, the lower level reading groups are a bit more "choppy" when they read aloud. They don't flow very well, and are very hesitant when reading.
Overall, this chapter was very beneficial in teaching me more about literacy and the way children learn to read and write.
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I think you make an interesting argument in regards to the way your teacher handles the word wall in the classroom. Typically, I have heard about teachers that do not keep words on the wall long enough for them to be entered into the long term memory of the students. It seems that teachers need to come to some sort of pleasant medium when utilizing the word wall. They need to think about what students have learned, what they are continuously having trouble with, etc. in order to make sure that the word wall is actually an effective tool in the classroom. I think word walls are a great tool for students, but what is the point if they are not doing the work or assistance the students are in need of? I am glad you brought up this perspective, because I will definitely keep the ideas in mind for the word walls I create in my future classrooms.
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