Module 11 Argumentation in texts

After reading the article, "Enhancing the Quality of Argumentation in School Science," by Osborne their were many important takeaways in this article. The article is based on research done in London about the significance of argumentative teaching. Teachers set up a set of materials and strategies to support argumentation in classrooms and analyzing how effective it was by recording videos and collecting data and the end of the teaching days. The biggest takeaway I learned from this article is that students needs guidance when coming up with a good argumentative text. Without a good argument you are unable to persuade your audience about your point of view. "Presenting good examples and facts," is also a big take in developing a good argument. Backing up your proposal or thesis is not significant without the facts to support it. Argumentative texts should never be opinionated. Although it's important to create your own view about the topic you are discussing you must have reliable resources and facts to back your thesis up. This requires a lot of work for students to be able to come up with a good resource.

Historical Fiction for Children by Jacobs, Leland

After reading the article, "historical Fiction for Children," by Jacobs, Leland, my biggest take away from this article was just how significant historical fiction really is. Leland describes in the article how for elementary students it puts kids in a different period of time. The children are able to almost "time travel," by using their imagination and putting themselves back into a important period of time. Not only do children also get to experience what life was like during that time, but they are able to look at the clothes people wore, the adventures that occurred, and what their houses looked like back then. Imagination for kids is important to have. Historical fiction gives kids the satisfying feeling of imagination along with the knowledge about history during certain periods of times. I also took away from this article, how important it is to learn about periods in time that changed our lives for the better today. For example, a book about Christopher Columbus and how he found America is truly significant. Young readers, are able to view what might have happened during 1492, by putting themselves there using their imagination. They are able to view the boat Columbus traveled on, what he wore, and what the land might have looked like when he arrived. Its a genre that teaches students the beauty of imagination and learning about periods of time that gave them a better life. As a future teacher, I feel seeing students being interested in a topic such as history would really put a smile on my face because they are learning each and everyday how a particular event changed their lives for the better.

Module 10 Favorite Historical Fiction Book

Growing up, my favorite historical fiction book was always The First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story." I really enjoyed this book growing up because Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. This book tells a story about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians celebrating their first Thanksgiving feast together. When reading this book to the classroom, I would ask the students how many of them celebrate thanksgiving with their family and friends to show that without the Pilgrams and Wampanoags coming together, we would not have Thanksgiving to this day. I would also have the students do partner talk during reading and describe what they eat on thanksgiving and compare it to what their classmates eat and also what the characters ate in the book. Comparing and contrasting is a great way for students to learn more about their particular topic. I feel reading this book out loud, pausing, and having open group discussions is a great way for students to learn more about their students Thanksgiving plans. As a student in elementary school, I loved hearing about what different families did on different holidays. This particular activity can be targeted from first to even as high up as sixth grade. Celebrating and learning about different holidays are always exciting for young and older individuals.

Picture Book Activity

For my picture book activity I would read to my students the famous picture book called The Snowman," by Raymond Briggs. Growing up, this was always one of my favorite picture books because the illustrations are beautiful and it tells a story about a boy and his magical friendship with a snowman. I feel my student's would really enjoy this book because it lets them use their imagination. For my activity I would first have the students relate to a time where they played in the snow and either made a snowman or made snow angels etc. The students could draw a picture like such as the book or draw a snowman they made. I then would hand out an organized outline for the picture book such as this one below. I would have the students draw their favorite part of the book as best as they can. After drawing their favorite scene, I would have the students write a reflection about why it was their favorite part of the book. This gives students the fun chance to draw and also relate to why it was their favorite part. The student's could write about how much they love winter or how they like to make snowman's like the boy in the book. Templates are a great tool for teachers to use with students. 

 

Module 8 Children's Book

After reading the article, "Children's Books as Models to Teach Writing Skills," there were many important aspects of teaching writing skills in this article. My biggest take away from this article is the importance of teaching children organization skills before and during their reading. As said in the article, "Conventions allow the writer's piece to clearly express a message." Many student's especially kids have a lot to say when talking about a particular topic, especially if its something they are interested in. Organization skills help children to write their ideas clearly and is an easy way for students to create a more organized paper. I feel the article should have mentioned more about organization methods. Such as Venn diagrams or creating outlines before writing. I feel organization is one of the most important parts of writing a good essay or story.

Free write

For my free write blog post I really wanted to talk about how much I enjoyed looking at everyone's different lesson plans on characterization. I feel I am slowly but surely starting to get a feel for how to really structure a class when it comes to creating lesson plans. I never realized how much time and effort it takes for teachers to really make sure they have their students attention. However, this particular module I really enjoyed looking up different lesson plans for characterization. Characterization I feel can be really fun when doing lessons with elementary school kids. When reading, kids are always looking out for their favorite characters. Characterization lets students reflect about why they like certain characters in the book. It gives them the ability to compare how they are similar to the characters they picked. It helps student's even realize a little bit more about themselves. I am really looking forward to creating our own module next!

Guiding Young Students' Response to Literature

I decided to read the article titles, "Guiding Young Students' Response to Literature", by Patricia Kelly. After reading this article, I noticed that I learned a lot different types of responses to literacy just by taking this EDU307 class. In the article, Kelly mentions how she likes to read books to her students that they enjoy so they can act out different scenes of the book. I noticed by the article that it is very important to keep the children interested in what they are reading. However, along with the author, I learned a different approach to children responding to literature. For example, Kelly learned when studying children's literacy, three issues that the students should look for when reading. "(a) what was noticed in the book, (b) how we felt about the book, and (c) how the book was related to 
our own experiences." I feel these steps can relate open a child's interest when discussing the book. When Kelly, tried this prompt on her third grade classroom, she was pleased to find the students reacted extremely well when reading their books. I enjoyed seeing the results of the teachers classroom when learning about different approaches to children's responses to literature. Kelly began to notice after taking part in the Bleich's prompt, the students were very open to their peers. The students shared their reflections about the story "Cinderella," and were commenting on each other's reflections, for example, one student responded to their peer with, "That's what I was going to say." As a future teacher I have no doubt that Kelly, felt accomplished and very excited that not only was her new approach working with responses to literature, but their students were very interested in the topic being discussed.