Final Synthesis Blog

Looking back on this semester in LLED3530, I can see so much growth in my learning as I prepare to become a teacher. This class opened my eyes to the importance of content area literacy in the middle school classroom. One thing that really stuck out to me in first beginning this class was the idea that reading is more than just decoding. In Subjects Matter, Daniels and Zemelman state,

"All these mental acrobatics remind us that readers actively build and construct meaning from a text. Meaning does not simply reside on the page, ready to be understood whole, nor is it a message simply 'sent' by an author and 'received' by the reader. The 'message' if you think about it, is merely patterns of ink on a page. These squiggles have to be built into meaningful concepts by the mind of a hard-working reader" (29-30).

I think this encompasses the necessity of promoting literacy in all classrooms, not just an ELA classroom. Since reading takes place in all types of subject areas, it is important to make sure students are understanding the concepts behind what they are reading instead of just reading the words. The book continues by listing thinking strategies of effective readers, which we discussed a good amount in class, as well as used them in some activities. I found these strategies very prominent in my own reading experience, and as a future teacher I can see how helpful it would be for students to know these strategies and consciously use them as they read until they are just second mature for them. I hope to especially focus on these reading strategies by modeling through think alouds with my students.

While literacy in reading is very important, I also appreciated being able to learn about literacy in other forms of text as well. For example, using podcasts in class was something I had never really considered before. And not only can students learn by listening to podcasts, but they can also create their own, like we had the opportunity to do with our book clubs. Being able to create the podcast with my group gave us a chance to reflect on what we read, and I think the same would be beneficial for middle schoolers as well.

One of my favorite things of the semester was the strategy lessons. There are so many examples of these in our book, which I found very helpful. It is nice to have them all in one place, so when I want to use one for my middle school class, I can just pull out my Subjects Matter book and use it as a resource. I especially liked the strategy lessons that occur in the during phase, such as sketching the text and coding the text. This allows students to be interactive with what they are reading.

Overall, my favorite part about this class is how practical it is for us to implement what we learned. Going into this semester, I was nervous that the material we would learn would not be able to be easily used in a classroom, especially math or science. However, I was definitely wrong! I am sure that I will be including what we have learned this semester in my future classrooms. Literacy plays such a vital role in education and in all subject areas, and it is our job as educators to strive to foster the growth of literacy in the classroom. Thanks for an amazing semester!

Word Count: 582

Art and Content-Area Literacy

This artwork is a sculptural installation by Rebecca Rutstein titled "Shimmer" (2018). It is made out of powder-coated steel, an LED lighting program, and motion sensors to create a fun and interactive piece of artwork. It was inspired by the depths of Mexico's Sea of Cortez at the Guaymas Basin, specifically the chemical and biological processes that happen there. 

Gases and oil forms much faster at Mexico's Sea of Cortez because of the heat and pressure, forming stretched and warped hexagonal shapes. This inspired the shape of the artwork, and the LED motion sensored lighting was inspired by the different forms of phosphorescence in the Guaymas Basin.

This sculpture could definitely be used in a science content class. In life science, this could be incorporated when students are learning about biological processes. Phosphorescence would be a fun topic to discuss with students! For earth science, this artwork could be included when talking about bodies of water and water processes (which actually somewhat relates to my text set!) This could even be used in physical science when talking about light and electromagnetic energy. As you can see, this artwork could be included so many many different subcategories of science, so no matter what middle grade level, it can be used.

Even though social studies is not my content area, it could be used when learning about geography. The artwork is inspired from a sea in Mexico, specifically the Guaymas Basin, so this would be fun to include. Here is a close up view of the lights in the sculpture and the shape of the installment:

Overall I think the students would love this artwork incorporated with their learning. You could even include a video of the flickering lights, and encourage students to see it in person.

Word Count: 295 Words

Synthesis Blog #5: Book Clubs

I have thoroughly enjoyed participating in my book club this past week. My group is reading City of Ember and it is such a great book! There are small topics that relate to science throughout the book so I feel like it would be a great read for a science content class. The book clubs have been successful in our class, and I believe it would also be effective in a middle school class.

I think being able to read a novel related to content in class not only enhances reading skills, but it also is beneficial for learning content too. Being able to read about content with regards to a storyline or plot would really help students connect curriculum to real world applications.

I have thought about whether it would be more beneficial for all students to read the same book or have students choose from a selection of books to read. The benefit of having all students in one class read the same book would be that you could better track how on-task a student is, as well as have whole group discussions over topics in the book. However, letting students choose from a selection of books gives them (somewhat limited) freedom, meaning that they would probably feel more motivated to participate since they would be able to choose what interests them most. It also would give them small group interaction with their peers, possibly with classmates whom they may not always interact with in other scenarios. This builds social skills and community in the classroom which I think is very important when it comes to literacy.

I will probably incorporate book clubs into my classroom. I feel like they might work better in a science class in comparison to a mathematics class, mainly because there are more books out there relating to science content. On the other hand, I feel like math-based novels are on the rise, so having a book club in a math class might be more realistic as time progresses.

Word Count: 336

Resource Blog #5: PBS LearningMedia Website

PBS LearningMedia is a website that would be great for any content area teacher! It has so many different resources such as videos, interactive lessons, webpages, and audios. You can choose resources according to grade level, subject, and standards. It even has subcategories for each subject. For example, I clicked on the science category and I could then choose between life science, physical science, earth science, and more. 

I think this website is a great resource for content area teachers because it has great supplementary material for lessons and teaching. The website is easy to navigate and there are so many ways to search for what you want. Since there are so many resources, you would have a wide variety from which to select.

The link provided in my blog will take you to the science category on the website because I was researching science resources, but there are resources for every main subject! Therefore, no matter what content area you teach, this website can still be useful for you. (WC: 173)

Link: https://gpb.pbslearningmedia.org/subjects/science/

Synthesis Blog #4: Differentiation in the Classrooms

When having a classroom full of students that all come from different walks of life, it seems like it would be hard to come up with instruction that meets everyone's different learning levels. Because kids are all so different, I can imagine that curriculum and teaching methods are always changing. 

This is what we saw in this week's video, Content Differentiation in 3rd Grade Science. From what I could tell from the video, the teacher was very respected by her peers and was great at her job. But despite that, she was still looking for ways to keep improving, which I think is related to differentiation. In my content-area classroom, I hope to have the same mindset as this teacher-- always looking for ways to change my classroom and instruction in order to fit all of the needs of my changing students.

Differentiation in my content-area classroom should look diverse. By this, I mean instead of just teaching a lesson over and over, I hope to provide other ways to engage students in my classroom such as experiments, activities, and other interactive ways. In the video, the teacher really engaged her students using the board at the front of the room, and the students seemed to really enjoy it!

Another example of differentiation in the video was the puzzle activity. I really loved how it engaged all students and she had special pieces of the puzzle for each individual students based on their learning level. The kids felt included and important while still contributing what they knew. I think this is what differentiation in my content-area classroom should look like-- instruction and learning that accommodates for every single individual in the classroom no matter their level of learning.

Word Count: 464 Words

Resource Blog #4: Coordinate Plane Activity (Build a City)

My friend is a 6th grade math teacher at a local middle school. Last week when I was visiting with her, she was grading some activity sheets her students completed in her math classes. She showed me the activity and I thought it was a great resource for students in the math content area.

The Build a City activity instructs students to build a city of their own on graph paper. The students will plot "landmarks" on their paper and find the distance between the different coordinates. This activity is a way for students to practice plotting and labeling coordinates as well as finding the distance between those coordinates. In addition to drawing their city, students will also write a story (about a paragraph long) about moving throughout their day to each landmark, including explaining the distance from one point to another.

I think middle school math teachers should check out this resource because it is a great curriculum material that promotes math literacy in the classroom. Not only do the students work with math concepts like coordinate planes and distance, they also practice writing and explaining their reasoning in words. This is a resource that I definitely want to use in my classroom, and it will be a template that I can also use to create other activities because I really like the structure of how students explain in a fun way what they did in the activity.

Link to Activity

Word Count: 239 words

Strategy Lesson Reflection: KWL

Looking back on our strategy lesson presentation, I am very pleased with how things went. Before this assignment, I had no idea what a KWL was. I picked the topic because it was one of the only ones remaining and I really didn't want to do dramatic role-play. However to my surprise, I really grew to love this strategy. I love the simplicity of it and how moldable it is for any classroom environment!

One thing that worked well was using a KWL to learn about a KWL. I feel that with this idea, they were able to get a feel for what we were talking about while we presented it. In addition, they were able to keep the KWL chart as a set of notes for future reference. Doing it a second time with a content-specific text gave them extra practice to how it worked. Since we planned for the class to do it twice, we were able to facilitate it using different techniques, such as using a lesson vs. reading, and having prepared questions to guide students vs. letting them think completely on their own. With different styles of presenting the KWLs, the class was able to get a feel for how they could modify it in a classroom for their content area and personality.

An unexpected challenge we faced while presenting was getting people to volunteer what they learned. I think this was due to the fact that we are all very familiar with the idea of symmetry so it was a hard question to answer. Eventually people spoke up though, and calling on tables helped facilitate the discussion. Next time, I would probably start by calling on people instead of waiting for someone to volunteer.

Overall, I really enjoyed this assignment. KWLs can be beneficial if used the right way, and I will probably use them from time to time in my classroom in the future! (320)