Kelsey Street Language Arts Response While doing the language art component of our class a few things

really stood out to me, the first was the question of whether children could be critics; next, how children use their schemas and transactions to understand different texts; and finally, how a child begins the writing process and how a teacher encourages beginning writers. Before reading Are Children Critics? by Aidan Chambers I would probably have answer that I didnt think that children were capable of being critics. However, after reading the article and doing my group presentation that week with Jenn, Radhika and Esha, I would now have to conclude that children can be critical of the texts they read or have read to them. Champers (1996) states that children possess an innate critical faculty. They instinctively question, report, compare, and judge (p. 21). Chambers goes on to explain that being critical is about interpretation, criticism has to do with meaning in texts, with making sense of them stating it, finding it, agreeing and disagreeing about it (p.22). For Eshas section of our presentation she read a story to the group and asked them different questions. I believe that it is important for teachers to bring engaging stories to the classroom but that it is also important for them to ask thought-provoking questions so that the students can begin to think more deeply about the stories they just heard. Chambers (1996) also states that criticism is autobiographical (p. 22). Every child brings something different to a text and therefore has something to say about it and this process makes them critical beings.

For my part of the presentation I asked my groups to read the blonke segment of the Weaver article. What was interesting to me about this section of the article was that after first reading it I thought I had no idea what it was about however after reading through the explanation I found that I came to the same conclusions about the blonkes. During the discussions with my groups I found a couple of really interesting points were brought up. First, as a teacher you should never discourage a child from reading something that you believe to be beyond their reading level. The blonke paragraph showed that even if you do not know all the words of a text you can still obtain meaning and understanding from it. Weaver (2002) states that it is all too common to assume that word identification precedes comprehension, whereas in fact it is clear that in large part language comprehension works the other way around because, or if, we are getting the meaning of the whole, we can then grasp the meaning of the individual words (p. 33). The second interesting point that was brought up was that every time you read something you can obtain new meaning and understanding from it. Ive read some of the Harry Potter books up to eight times and each time I find something new or something that I missed. Before reading this article and participating in the discussions I never thought about the different and new schemas and transactions that I was bringing to the text each time I picked it up. I think that as an aspiring teacher it is important to encourage children to read and to help them even if they choose texts that may be a little too complicated or if they love reading the same book over and over to recognize that they are still reading and that this is what is really important. The following week we had to read a section from Reid and Schultzes book Whats Next for this Beginning Writer? I really enjoyed reading this book because it answered some questions that I

didnt even know I had, for example, is scribing for students good? The concept of scribing has been something that Ive wondered about for some time. Ive had the opportunity to be a part of two different kindergarten classrooms and each teacher had a very different approach to writing. The first encouraged the students to write down the words however they thought they sounded. The second teacher asked the students what they wanted to say and would write it down for them. According to Reid and Schiltze (2005) teachers do not need to scribe for children. Children themselves must do the hard work and have control over their writing (p. 9). I thought that the group presenting this week did an excellent job at creating an environment of new and beginning writers when they asked us to write down how we heard the Italian colours being pronounced. Being asked to write down the words and then seeing which ones we got correct or close to was the most satisfying part of the learning experience. Social Studies Response I really enjoyed the readings from the social studies week. I found the Vivian Paley article to bring up questions that are really important, for example: How much does it matter if a child cannot identify ethnically or racially with a teacher? Does it matter at all? If the teacher accepts him and likes him as he really is, isnt that enough? (p. 91). After our last practicum I realized how culturally diverse the classrooms are truly becoming and I had the opportunity to see how different teachers interacted with the different cultures of their students. One teacher I spoke with told me that she didnt even try to understand or get to know the families of her Sudanese students. I felt that she was stereotyping them all into one category, as having parents or families that were not interested in their childs education. While another teacher I met

explained how she tries to met with each students parents and that this helps to get to know the student on a much more personal level. The other article by P. Clarke really got me thinking about different ways to bring social action into the classroom and introduced lots of different and interesting ideas for class projects. Clarke (1997) states that students need to be taught both how to make sound decisions about social problems and how to responsibly plan and carry out action projects based on those decisions (p. 266). One thing that I really liked about this article was that it pointed out the importance of looking at all sides of a social issues, teachers have a responsibility to see that their students are well informed about opposing views and why people hold them (p. 271). Overall, I found the readings this week to be very insightful and full of really relevant and useful information. I also really enjoyed the social studies presentation. I thought the group did a fantastic job showcasing the general outcomes of the curriculum. My favourite activities included when we were paired up and asked to interview our partner and then draw what we learned from them. I think that this activity would be really successful in an actual classroom and would encourage students to see things from another persons perspective. I also really liked how the group asked us to use stickers to show where everyones families are from. I think that within a classroom this would be successful because it gives students an opportunity to show where they are from and then maybe explain a little bit about their family histories. Ive never really liked social studies when I was in school however after the presentation and readings from this week I am actually excited to teach this subject. Math Response

While doing the 2 weeks of math in class I learned a lot. This is a subject that I am not very confident in and I was really looking forward to seeing how the 2 groups did their presentation. A few things that stood out for me were how many childrens picture books can be turned into or used for a math lesson; I liked how the first grouped highlighted how speed when doing math should not be the most important thing; another thing I liked was how the second group used plastic frogs to talk about different ways to add to ten; and finally how the second group gave out candies and asked the group to divide them evenly amongst the group. The first thing that struck me was to see how many different childrens books could be used for a math lesson. While doing the reading in Math and Literature text by Burns and Sheffield I liked how they gave you a story and showed the lesson that the teacher used to teach that day. My favorite story in that book was Bennys Pennies. I liked how the teacher got the class to create their own story and how they children got to come up with their own pattern what each item should cost. I also thought it was interesting to see how each child came up with the answer for each item, it seemed like a lot of different strategies were used. This makes me eager to see what kinds of strategies and patterns my own students will come up with. I also really liked how the teacher got each group to explain how they came to their answers when they were stamping out the total number of pennies they needed for their story, having explain how they reason provides the kind of informal peer teaching that is valuable for helping children think about counting objects in different ways (p. 4). The second thing that interest me and that I was glad one of the groups brought up was the importance of a math test based on speed. I was never very good at my multiplication tables

when there was a time pressure. I liked how the first group got us to write the test and then asked us to rip it up. In class we talked about how it is more important for students to understand the concepts of multiplication than to memorize the right answer. The third thing I enjoyed and I think that children would really enjoy was how the second group got us to use plastic frogs to think about different ways of adding to ten. I liked how Kory would ask us different questions that would result in taking out or putting in frogs from the pond and then asking us why. I think this activity would work really well in teaching subtraction as well as adding. I think that children learn a lot faster when they can physically touch and see what they are adding or subtracting than if they are only doing worksheets. The final thing I enjoyed was how Jessica gave us candies and asked us as a group to divide them equally. What I think was most interesting about this activity was that she said that each group came up with a different way of dividing the candies. My group simply went around and each person took one until we were left with 2 and then we decided that the person whose birthday was next got the final two candies. Jessica explained that other groups divided the candies by colour and then put different weight on them by preference. Again I am excited to see how my own class would solve such a problem. I was really impressed with both groups presentation, especially because this is not a subject I feel particularly strong in and therefore the ideas provided both by the groups and by the readings I think will be very helpful in my future.

Science Response I have always liked science, but I was a little scared at the idea of teaching it. In all the classes that Ive volunteered in or done my practicum in it seemed like I never had the opportunity to see a science class in action. I thought that both groups did a fantastic job at showing how a science lesson could be taught. I really enjoyed reading the Sterling article with its emphasis on interaction and continuity, this article opened my eyes to the different ways a lesson should be focused. One quote that stood out for me was that the underlying factor that promotes the desired education is experience: a quality encounter with the environment that encourages social, moral, and intellectual growth (Sterling, 1999, p. 22). The text Primary Science (Harlen, 2001) stated that science education begins for children when they realize that they can find things out for themselves by their own actions (pg 4). I thought that this was important because it puts the children in control instead of the teacher, which when it comes to science I think is very important. I believe that children learn better, especially at a young age, when they are the ones actually doing the exploring, investigating, or researching. I really liked how the first group got us to think about the concept of floating and sinking and asked us to build our own boats. They emphasized the idea that there is no wrong answer and that the classroom is a safe environment, which is also something that Harlen (2001) explains is important, the classroom ethos has to be one in which the children feel free and comfortable to express their own ideas and ways of thinking, without fear that they will be giving the wrong answers (p. 57). I think that by encouraging that the children to express their own

ideas they will be more open to trying different and new things, which will only lead to further learning. The second group did a fantastic job with the bear activity. I really liked how they organized their lesson and gave us the opportunity to find out the information on our own instead of simply telling us. Liked discussed in class, it might have been even more successful if they didnt provide the questions first but instead asked us to think of 10 questions that we wanted to know about bears. I think then that the information gathered would have been a lot more diverse and exciting to share with the class, and then the children have acquired some ownership of the activity, which will have the effect of engaging their thinking and effort because it is theirs and they understand what they have to do and why (Harlen, 2001, p. 17). One thing that I particularly enjoyed about both science groups, and that was a little different from other groups this semester, was that the whole presentation was one lesson instead of four mini lessons. I think that this was successful especially because it was science, and it seems to take a lot more time to organize, set up and execute than other subjects. Overall I was really impressed with both groups and the readings from science, I feel a little less stressed about the idea of having to create my own lessons now.