Chapter Five: English and Language Arts Opening New Doors to Literature and Literacy

This chapter has provided so many opportunities for me as a teacher and for my students. I so agree with the statement at the beginning of the chapter: "Today, reading and writing are being defined by changed in even more profound ways. Internet technologies create new literacies, which are required to effectively exploit their potentials". And that is our responsibilities to our students: to prepare them for the literacies of the future. I do believe the internet is another door that is opening new worlds for my students.
This book is becoming my all time favorite "text" that I have read. It is a text that I am highlighting, post it noting, and circling websites that I see such value in. It is a text that I am photo copying for my English Language Arts and Social Studies colleagues. I am sharing ideas, and websites with them.
A few points and websites that just "hit" me with many teaching ideas and units and how I can use this topic or websites:

• Grand conversation are "cooler" words that discussion. This I will be using this week
• I will share the Shakespeare websites with my LA colleagues
• Imaginary Lands is a website that I can use to help find children lit books to use in my High School classroom
• I can now find Older Classics on the internet.... something is always preserved
• Pantheon.org (Encyclopedia Mythica) will be a great resource to use next year in World History
• Biography maker will be a great website to use with students when students are writing a biographical story ( my middle school daughter can use this, too)
• Reminder: do the book reviews on Amazon or Barnes and Noble with our Literature Circles groups. Kids get a kick out of seeing their book reviews!
• I can use Magic Treehouse even in my h.s. classroom. It is helps students make text to world connections
  
• I will share with me LA colleagues the website and ideas when reading Lord of the Flies and Julius Caesar
• A connection for me when reading about Project based learning. My teaching is becoming more and more like this: students are engaged in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing experiences during the course of their projects. It is rich learning
  
• I want and WILL do the solving mysteries sleuth training. It would be an awesome activity with my Civics and Government classes
• Next year, I will be using the Tragic Heroes in Lit and Life website. Students will love this in my World History class.
  
• Keep using Ben's Guide to Government for U.S. Kids.
  
• Students should have many opportunities across disciplines to identify important questions, locate information, critically evaluate that information, synthesize information to solve those questions, and communicate the solutions to others.
  
• Do the Right Thing is just a FUN vocabulary, word building website. A site to offer some extra credit!
• I foresee myself in the month of April, working with the Face to Face website, and having students explore the ideas of what it means to be an American. It truly will lead to some rich discussion and writing

While reading this Chapter, I felt like a child in a candy shop. I am a teacher of students, who I want to provide as many opportunities for them to be successful. This chapter has given me many tools to use and share with them. I see the next chapter is titled: Social Studies........I can't WAIT!

Trading Cards: Chapter 4 6th-8th grade students

As I progress through the reading of the book, it becomes more and more relevant to me. I keep recognizing the need for building a relationship with students, and what better way than through the popular culture text. As the teacher built these relationships, there was always one key point: what is best for the students?
Many of us face situations where our students read below grade level, and we know that we need to find and use instructional reading strategies that will help these students become motivated and proficient readers.
I immediately recognized the reading strategies that the teacher used from the "Comprehension Instruction" text. I have used the 4 step process a couple of times with my high school student. It is one that worked pretty efficiently when reading our government text.
Step 1. Preview the reading
Step 2 Click and Clunk
Step 3 get the Gist
Step 4 Wrap up
It was exciting to see reading strategies used that I have used.

I have highlighted and circled, and marked that Sample Four-Box Journal. I absolutely love the way this Journal entry can summarize, question, use vocab, and make connections all in one entry. I am going to steal this idea and USE IT!
This chapter just provided me with so many useful tools that I NEED to use more often! The fat questions, concept maps, collages, raps, small group discussions all are so valuable in motivating students, and in helping them improve their reading skills.
As the teacher stated, it took a lot of effort to use popular text in her lesson, but it was sooooooo worth it! Student's are motivated, are learning, and improving their skills all in one effort.

Communicating on the Internet: Chapter 4, Leu

Baby, we have come a long way! I believe it has been 15 years that I have been immersed in the world of email, and has it every changed my way of communicating. On a personal basis, I can communicate with friends and family on such a simple basis. I can catch a few seconds, and or a few minutes and send off an email to family and friends. I don't have to wait a certain time to do this. Even when my husband was recovering from surgery in India, he and I were able to communicate much more effectively than with our telephones. This chapter has helped me process the beauty of email, and how it has changed my life, personally and professionally
Just the other day, I emailed Senator Barasso and Enzi's office, asking for a Capitol Tour while my Close Up students and I are in Washington DC. I didn't have to use a phone and deal with, if you want the press secretary, press 1, or legislative staff, press 2. In a matter of days I received an email, setting up the tour! Mission accomplished!
As the chapter discusses international keypals, I love the idea, and am seriously considering this a goal in the fourth quarter units.
I am not a fan of list servs or mailing lists, I get enough of that without even asking for it. I am on a "neuropsychology newsletter list", and receive updated lessons and ideas on teaching about the brain. This letter comes from a university in California.
Our media specialist is on a million list servs, and is awesome about forwarding key Social Studies information to our department.
I have had colleagues who are working on their national board certification join google groups. I just feel that I don't have the time right now to join newsgroups.
I have seen great value in our weblogs (blogs). They have been fun to read, informative, and a learning experience for me. I have even had students find blogs when doing research. I just question how valid are they, when they are someones opinion?
Go into my daughters every evening, and watch her msn messaging with 10 or so friends at one time. It is quite the art to be so muti-phasic as she is. And what a connection she has with these friends. They work through their homework as they are on msn. They are engaged!
As the text says, "communicating successfully on the Internet requires broad knowledge, and a wide variety of skills, ans any mode of communication does. Students and teachers need both foundational and new literacies. Students are ready, but are the teachers?

Integrating Popular Culture Texts in a Fourth-Grade Class--Chapter 3, Xu

It seems this fourth grade teacher began dealing with issues of reading level, motivation, and a frustration with the mandated reading program. What a splendid job she in did in "striking a balance between the mandated program and teaching practices that served to enhance student growth".
Just by interacting with her students and sharing a brief dialogue, she was able to see that her students had limited knowledge, and a lack of engagement working on th "starting and running a business" unit. She knew that she needed to figure out a way to engage her students in this unit.
I really liked how she came back to the tried and true literacy activities. Just recently in a meeting with our principal and language arts facilitator, we discussed using these activities. Activities like activating prior knowledge, KWL chart, sorting questions, and conducting interviews, guided writing, conducting research, writing comic strips, writing expository text, writing personal reflections, and conducting a tour. All of these are key components in any teachers unit.
As I have begun a unit on the Presidential campaign, I so have used and will use many of these literacy activities. They are strong and powerful when engaging students through the reading and writing process.
She sure had a box of tricks, when she asked that when they created a fun question to ask the cartoon artist, they have to have a question related to the unit. Students loved this!
As they wrote the expository text, they implemented this creating a shared writing. Many of my language arts colleagues do this using the smart board! Students again get a kick out of this.
I have in the past asked student to create their own story boards/cartoons. What is interesting with this, they don't even notice they are writing. They get so caught up in the creation of the cartoon, that they wrote beautifully.
In closing, it was nice to see, the phrase "funds of knowledge". As she stated " by capitalizing on the funds of knowledge, I was able to make learning student centered, rather than teacher imposed". As I continue my Presidential campaign, I do hope that I have made this unit student centered and not teacher imposed, and students will enjoy learning about the Presidential candidates.
I am hoping to engage them right away on Tuesday, and tell the Michelle Obama called me Friday.........but will I tell them it was a recorded message.....don't know :) Making teaching relevant and fun.....isn't that what it is all about?

Web site Review #2 Kids Web Japan

Website Review#2 Kids Web Japan

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/

I have always had a fascination with Japan, and its culture. So immediately I found the website in the Leu text as one that I needed to “check out”

My fascination with Japanese cultures take be back many years ago, when I was teaching a World Cultures class, and had the opportunity to have two individuals from my school district talk to my students about visiting and living in Japan. What a wonderful experience for my students and myself to be able to learn first hand what “life in Japan” is like. This website supports all the details that these two individuals have shared with me.

It is a very informative, easy navigating, and fun websites. There are many components for teacher instruction and student learning.

For students there is a play component. The play component could be used in remediation or enrichment.

*what’s cool, virtual culture, folk legends, games, quiz

For teachers there are many interactive components that can be use for instruction. I especially found the 8+ lessons in language lessons that could easily embedded into a Japanese culture unit. The link provides the teacher and student the opportunity to hear the phrases and words pronounced. Students enjoy hearing these.

There are also links where students can read about Japanese culture and experience it first hand. Here you can get a look at how Japanese kids live. Be able to answer questions such as: What are Japanese schools like? What do kids do after school? Some Japanese children practice traditional Japanese culture and arts, and here you can get a close-up look at their training and their daily lives. This learning is relevant as students are always curious to know what other culture’s schools are like.

I also like the virtual component found on this website. Students can learn to create origami (one of my favorites), participate in a sumo match, read manga (cartoons), see what it is like to wear a kimono, and the list is unlimited.

I see this website a fabulous tool for secondary social studies. Oh how I wish I was still teaching Geography. High School students would get “kick out of this site”, and they’d be learning and having a great time doing so.

Please share this site with your fellow World culture teachers. They will find it very valuable!

Effective Instructional Models by Donald Leu

Speaking of relevance, every page in this chapter became relevant to me!
I immediately enjoyed the section on "healthy skeptics". Too often our students believe in everything that is found on the internet as truth. Starting on Monday, we will be researching for an interpretive essay, and it will be very important that my students be healthy skeptics!
I am a user of Internet Workshop. To prevent students from "wasting the class period" away, I delvelop internet activities for students, dictating to them to use just one site. It becomes very easy to manage when doing this. I will locate a good site, develop an activity, assign a due date, and have students share their learning. Sometimes sharing their learning may be an oral presentation, written work, or group activity. it is just a "fun" way to engage students!
I particularly enjoyed reading the information from Kids web Japan. I have taught Geography and saw an unlimited amount of value in this website. Matter of fact, I did my website review on this website. I have also share this web site with a Social Studies colleague.
I also like the ideas of two steps to consider when using internet workshop: 1. What I learned and what I want to learn. Internet workshop provides asks students to think critically. Yes, a thinking skill we want for all our students!
I see myself using internet inquiry and internet project in the near future. These two are great activities when using the internet. They provide a structure that sometimes we tend to assume. It provides an opportunity for students to be engaged and flourish with their learning of something new, and using the internet as a tool.

Here are sites that I will use in my Social Studies classroom :
puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com
myhero.com
web-jpn.org.kidsweb/index.html
k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu
How to cite your source oslis.k12.or.us
memory.loc.gov/learn/start/cite/index.html
United Nations un.org/Pubs/CyberschoolBus
Constution: a Living Document.yahooligans.com/tg/constitution

Wow! Just one chapter and all these fun and exciting web sites..... Thanks to you Donal Leu (hey that rhymes) :)

Chapter Two: Integrating Popular culture Texts in Primary Grades by Xu

This chapter is all about relevance. I found it interesting how Xu's first statement of this chapter discusses how to "capitalize on student's familiarity with popular culture to enhance student's literacy learning.
What a great way to get students engaged! Such innovative ways these 3 teachers used in getting students engaged. Jean's unit on Superheroes warmed my heart. This was my son learning in primary school. His first grade or kindergarten (I forget) teacher did a unit on Superheroes. He loved it. It was very similar to Jean's structure: brainstorming, reading books, and discussing, She definitely struck a balance between celebrating and critically analyzing popular cultures tests. What a great way to engage those "little kids" of students :)
Again Sherry put together an awesome unit on popular culture when using music and lyrics. All students enjoy this and I have witness high school Language Arts teachers have students do an analysis of the popular "subculture". I also enjoyed and appreciate the "funds of knowledge" that she used. Bringing in a community member, this time a parent to teach the dance was just another way of engaging student's in their learning. She made learning about other cultures not separated from students' interests and their own culture. In doing this lesson Sherry was able to be a teacher that built a strong relationship and a closer connection with her students.
Lastly, the unit on Scooby Doo warmed my heart. It brought me back to childhood. Comparing and contrasting Scooby Doo to Inspector Gadget was a great engagement activity. To be able to end a Scooby Doo story would have been an awesome experience for me. I am sure there were great endings to a mystery of sorts.
As I read these three teacher's lessons, I continued to think how these teachers brought the RIGOR of reading and writing, made learning relevant, along with building relationships. Exactly what is needed in student learning and in teaching! :)

Navigating the Internet with Efficiency and a Critical Eye

"Many researchers are exploring the notion that comprehension strategies for reading web pages are interwoven with meta-cognitive strategies and navigational strategies." (page 50). This I find so true. I have been a user of the internet for well over 15 years. A user in my personal life and in my teaching. Each day as I use the internet with my students, I see struggling readers struggle with reading the web pages. In every phase of reading these students struggle. It was very evident today as I watched two students who lack in meta-cognitive skills not be able to search, evaluation or definitely SELF-regulate while navigating the internet. I have even given them the specific URL address, yet there reading skills are so low, they are unable to move through this activity with any efficiency and purpose. It was frustrating for all of us. But.....on the good side, those who have those meta-cognitive skills, reading comprehension skills, and navigational skills were successful.
The chapter is a reminder of many bits of information when using the internet both as a teacher of students, and personally. The many reminders are as follows:
*Truncate a certain web site's URL to trace back to the sponsor of the webpage
*I like Mozilla, better than Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator
*Setting bookmarks on my desktop is a grand idea, as is on my del.icio.us bar
*Saving website URL into student's folders is important, so they can find them again when needed
*Use quotation marks when searching topics
*MAKE SURE YOU SPELL CORRECTLY. Students always seem to learn this the hard way
*When planning a lesson, always check the web page on a school's computer to make sure it isn't filtered, because you may have to contact your tech director to unblock it (this happened 3 days ago)
*Kids like to use askjeeves.com.
*Use the BACK button when finding something inappropriate. Don't make a big deal out of it. It embarrasses the student enough as it is.
*Do more pair grouping when working with the internet
*Always help students understand the what a valid source is....This helps students decide "who is right"?
*Pop up blocks are Awesome at school and home!
This chapter has brought an ample amount of information back to the surface, things that we tend to overlook in both our personal and professional life. We must continue to model and teach our student strong and efficient navigational skills.
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New Literacy Studies and Popular Culture Texts

The first chapter of the Xu book reminds me of my son. He is the boy at Wal-Mart playing, watching, or encouraging those who are playing video games. Vignette 1.1 is my son and many of his friends.... Fast forward six years later, and my son and his friends are members of game literacy. The Wii and the many games that go with it are my students. My son, his friends, my friends are the one who have to be able to read quickly and efficiently to move to the next level. This is not me.
As a new "owner" of a smart board, I many times struggle with technology. It is my son, my 7th grade daughter, and my students, who teach me. As the reading mentions, it is their power. If we have struggles with the internet. It is my son who figures out the problem. This is his literacy! The new world of the internet and technology! And I, with drill and practice am making it my technology!
I really appreciate the concept of literacy as social practice. Is the literacy meaningful and purposeful? I think of this blog as a social practice for me. I don't think I would ever do a blog, but it is this course that has taught me how to create and monitor one. This literacy practice is meaningful and purposeful to me. I feel confident to teach my students how to do one.
I am now fighting with the old practice that students SHOULD READ A NOVEL during SSR, not anything else. Then I read the text on page 20, and now I am ok with students reading comic books, magazines on skateboarding, sports magazines. But how do they earn their "reading" points in English, or earn accelerated reading points when all they read is a magazine? Does there need to be a paradigm shift?
And in closing, page 25 has given me a goal for the semester and beyond in my teaching ""study common literacy events in order to better understand our students and to be able to build curriculum from that point of reference, and to keep our curricula current and our teaching relevant. In doing so, teachers make their school literacy-learning experience more personally meaningful and engaging students".
Not a new idea......just a commitment to literacy and to teaching: for my students!