MCLB #4

We have been living in an era where technology is everywhere. I grew up in the era of when people were just starting to get internet into their homes and everyone had maybe one computer. I didn’t have a phone until I was in high school. I didn’t get my own laptop until college. I got my first email account with my college. I didn’t ever think about how big it would get or how lucky I am to live in this time.

With technology there are definite upsides, particularly in education. Now, we can communicate with our learners. They can participate in class because they can type their notes, or listen to the reading. They can create drawings, writings, programs, codes, all online now. Students with fine motor skills issues can participate because they don’t have to be behind writing everything down. Non-verbal students can try to ask questions or write their thoughts because they don’t have to actually speak. Students can share documents online. They can better organize their work into folders that they don’t necessarily have to worry about losing. With technology, all of my learners have opportunities. There are so many apps that students can download onto Google Chrome to help them read better or understand better. These children are growing up in the Digital Era and they don’t know anything else. They have the entire world, entire libraries, entire videos at their fingertips at all times, as long as they have the connection.

Technology is important to my classroom. It encourages students not only to be connected with one other, but it also encourages an autonomy within every one of my diverse learners. It’s their own little world that they’ve created and that they can use quickly. No matter how long a student may take at completing a task, almost every single one of them is faster on a computer. There’s a sense of accomplishment that students understand when they read an assignment and take the quiz online after. They can watch a video lecture instead of having to actually go anywhere. Students click away and can learn how to code a simple program just by trying it on a different website. The learners are able to file away and organize their documents only a tablet, a phone, or a computer, and be able to access it anyway. I don’t know any student, or any one person, for that matter, who doesn’t benefit from this.

The school district I work in recently went one-to-one. There have been its downsides, like broken Chromebooks, or a lack of control now that literally everyone has internet all the time. But there have been incredible upsides. I had a student with Larsen’s syndrome. He had very limited gross and fine motor skills. His speech was a little slurred, but you could understand him. But he was very insecure about all of his abilities. The student was insecure that he had an aide follow him around everywhere. He was upset that he couldn’t participate in Physical Education all the time or that he had to go to Occupational Therapy during recess. He was well-liked and truly one of the most wonderful students I’ve ever had. I think of him from time-to-time as the years go on. The point is, he seemed to hate writing. It was like pulling teeth to get him to write one sentence, let alone a 3-paragraph essay. He didn’t love school and he would get bouts of depression from time to time. But, he got his own chromebook. I remember when he received one, he would tell me that his mother could never afford one for him. He knew he had to give it back at the end of the year, but it was his for now. That autonomy and control alone made him feel better. I had him write a short story at the beginning of the year. Of course they could use their chromebooks. Within a 15-minute writing period, that student who hated writing and barely got out a sentence with a paper and pen, wrote an entire paragraph about how he was getting his final surgery on his legs and that he wouldn’t need a walker anymore. He just wanted someone to know and to tell someone about his feelings and his fears. For the first time, I got into that student’s brain and from then on, I never thought that a student couldn’t do something.

Carly was in a similar situation. Everyone thought she wouldn’t speak or that there was nothing in her brain; lost in her own world and perpetually swimming in water, as the short documentary tells us. Carly received so much therapy but her parents never gave up because they believed in her intelligence, though she may never speak. Giving her a computer gave the world access to Carly’s feelings to better help her. She didn’t like to type at first. But by getting her to type out her needs, she received power over her environment. Carly is astonishing and so fluent with great personality. But her parents could finally understand what she’s feeling and why. This is literacy. Even though Carly cannot communicate, she is literate. Technology could allow for her to better her writing skills and communicate with others in school and meet others. Cope and Kalantzis have written that literacy is a “new economy,” which means that it’s not just reading, writing, and arithmetic. It is so many other things that affect social and economic process. If Carly can express herself to the world in a way that can be understood, she is literate. Though she cannot literally say how literate she is, technology has proved that.

In another example from a TedTalk, Ron McCallum is blind. He has used different technologies to read. Ron had wanted to read when he was a child when he would reach up to touch the pages his mom read to him. Even though his mother told him he couldn’t because he was blind, Ron has used adaptive technologies to read. Braille and tape recorders weren’t enough for him. He got a computer that he could type into and it would read to him. This allowed for him to enter the computer world. Now as far as we’ve come in terms of technology, he wants everyone, with all disabilities to be able to read and have access to the world.

Technology is important because it gives access to the world. There are its consequences, but it is so important. I was reluctant because there were so many people and students who were and continue to be irresponsible with technology in so many different ways. All students deserve access to it, as long as they are responsible with its many, many capabilities. Watching students work together remotely on a Google Doc for a class is really encouraging to me as their teacher. I can edit their work or provide comments in real time without having to print out entire projects or essays is very useful. I’ve seen technological benefits and how it continues to change since I was young.

Here is a video that Ethan Dickens did about technology in the classroom and in life. He talks about how to use it towards its benefits but how to protect young people as well. Ethan also addresses how the older generation should cater to the younger generation and how they learn immersed in technology.

Here is also the link to my Assistive Technologies Graphic Organizer.

References:

Videos:

- https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_mccallum_how_technology_allowed_me_to_read?language

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMBzJleeOno - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gya4V_grs_o

Text:

- Cope and Kalantzis (2009)

Images:

- https://www.techiexpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/How-Technology-Impacts-Work-Culture.png
- http://essayhomeworkhelp.org/articles/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Essay-sample-on-Assistive-Technology-1.jpg
- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/Autism_Speaks_Logo.jpg/250px-Autism_Speaks_Logo.jpg
- https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f4/76/6a/f4766adec754e309a8fa08930ff5b977.jpg
- http://www.quotehd.com/imagequotes/authors29/diana-oblinger-quote-there-are-a-lot-of-positive-uses-to-the.jpg

MCLB #3

What makes the workshop model an inclusive pedagogy?

Inclusive pedagogy has the definition in its name. All students benefit from a certain style of teaching. The pedagogy is that we teach to all learners by working their areas of improvements to become their strengths, without making the content simpler. The workshop model is an inclusive pedagogy because it is not a “one-size fits all” style of teaching. It encourages whole class instruction for a shorter period time, individual practice, and one-to-one conferencing with EVERY learner. Having the mini-lesson not only allows for the teacher to provide the content but to also make formative assessments as to which students are grasping the content and who may need more assistance. The individual practice allows for students to work on different activities at their own pace. The conferencing allows for the teacher to take time with one learners and to really work their needs or cater to their strengths. The workshop model is an inclusive pedagogy because it provides frequent, intensive support as students need, as Dudley, Marling, and Paugh write. In the workshop method, the teacher pushes all students in the way that they can be pushed to do so.

With the writing workshop, students are taught to write something purposeful, targeted at a wide-range of audiences. Dudley, Marling, and Paugh say that this is not a linear process. Students are allows to write out their ideas and edit their work as they see fit. Some students don’t necessarily need to brainstorm or prewrite. On the other hand, some students definitely need more individualization where the assignment is broken down into further components that aren’t as open-ended. It is depended on the student need. With reading workshop, the workshop method is the same, but now students are to focus on reading to their level, but also pushing their perceived limitations. The goal is to improve and not only pick the readings that they want to read but what will improve their skills. Again, the workshop method is inclusive because it doesn’t tell the teacher to take the students who are struggling and to merely simplify or cut out content. It tells the teacher how to work on their level and to give them the challenges appropriate for them. It includes all learners. Dudley, Marling, and Paugh talk about how Mr. Garcia really understood his students by using the workshop method. He knew that some students, during conference time, needed one-to-one read alouds to remove some of the decoding and to allow for her to work on reading comprehension. He also sets an example for his student, Melissa, by reading in a slowly and fluently because she usually reads in a more halting manner.

“Pivotal Pausing” is a strategy whereby teachers freeze a video at important moments in the lesson. This helps the teacher to prioritize important events in a lesson. Use this strategy to identify two pivotal moments that demonstrate Rick's ability (from the Teaching Channel video) to differentiate to meet the needs of all of the learners in his class.  For each moment:  record the time, describe why this moment is "pivotal" and how it is evidence of inclusive literacy.

Pivotal pausing is very important when teaching students. It gives time to have the students take in a video in chunks and reflect upon moments as opposed to taking the entire video all at once. It also prioritizes important events in a lesson. I use this strategy when teaching math to my resource room kids. Firstly, they love the videos. It gave my students opportunities to hear someone else talk or to see a different perspective on a topic. But it also gave them the opportunity to talk about the video between my pauses. It helped them get to the point of the lesson when I opened with a video without my direct instruction. Rick says is that reading workshop is the most natural form of how we read; sitting and taking time with the book. So this video partially shows how he does that.
That being said, one of the first pivotal moments that demonstrates Rick’s ability to differentiate to meet the needs of all the learners in his class is at 1:47. This moment is pivotal for a lot of reasons. One, we can see that previous to this, Rick has already explained that we make theories about characters. He reads the book as an example to start a theory about the grandmother and her granddaughter are very close. But the most important part is that Rick pauses to explain the joke that the grandmother said because he wants the student to understand that the girl didn’t literally grow in one week. This could easily be missed my students who struggle with this kind of language. It is important that he explained it so that all the students can actually practice creating a theory about the characters. Every student is being taught to think for their own.

The second moment is when the students start to do their silent reading, or as Rick calls it, “buried in a book.” He says that this is important because in the workshop method, it allows for time for students to pick their own book at their own level and read to themselves. He describes it as his learners having a “war” going on in their heads so it really isn’t silent. Dudley, Marling, and Paugh write that the classroom should have inviting literature for all readers so that they are excited during this independent reading time. This is what they call “immersing the classroom in print.” Because of this, students are really used to what it is to read all of the time. That being said, during Rick’s lesson at 12:20, this is when he says that this is the time for him to conference with his learners. This is when he gives them individualized work to help them become better readers. All of the other students are still being productive. But sometimes, the one students needs that work to improve their skills. He understands his learners and he differentiates for them accordingly because of this time. He talks to one of his students about “Beezus and Ramona” because that student isn’t monitoring her reading well. Rick has her practice reading for her so that she can monitor her reading right in front of him so that she can comprehend better. This is at around 14:00. He asks her questions so that she can continue to comprehend her reading and explain when she isn’t sure and what she should do when she doesn’t know what to do. Rick pairs her with a friend who has high vocabulary skills so she can just ask quickly in a non-threatening way. It is very effective and he records all of his findings. Rick says that this is the best method for his teaching pedagogy because he feels that he is reaching all of his learners, which is the definition of inclusive literacy.
Explain how the workshop model could be used in conjunction with Lupiani-Farrell & Matthews' "multisensory approach to language-based comprehension instruction."

The workshop model can be used in conjunction with Lupiani-Farrell and Matthews’ “multisensory approach to language-based comprehension instruction” because it provides a space for the multiple means of representation and engagement. The multisensory approach uses various senses, auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc., to reach students where work the best. For example, in the chapter about attaining vocabulary with a student named Billy, it is suggested that Billy had difficulties with decoding and articulation. Because of this to promote retrieval, they suggested that he visualize a situation that the word reminded him of because he needed to connect with the term on a personal level. This way, he would be better at saying and reading the word. Lupiani-Farrell and Matthews give a lot of examples on how to reach struggling readers through various methods and case studies. Right in the introduction the write that their goals are to gain higher levels of reading skills in students, have teacher learn classroom approaches to teaching these readers, and show teachers how to pick the right methods for their diverse readers. The multisensory approach is all about learning who the students are and that’s what Dudley, Marling, and Paugh prove when writing about the workshop model. By using the method, teachers, like Mr. Garcia, are better equipped with a class environment that encourages learning who the students are and how we, as teachers, can better improve their skills.

I used to use the workshop method in my Math class and I’ve used it for 2nd grade learners in my reading resource room as well. The workshop method is useful in both the inclusive classroom as well as the resource room and it works in both content areas. In my Math class, I started with an Anticipatory set, went into a mini-lesson, allowed for some guided practice, and then let the students work independently on different activities. Either that, or they could work in stations that are created based on the lesson and based on difficulty. I don't think the students need to reach every station, because they work based on their own pace and based on if I'm conferencing with them. I would usually have the students try to finish all of the activities, but if students were thriving, I would let them go to the next level, and if the students were struggling, I always had extra work catered to them to help them practice those particular skills. It removes me directly instructing and puts me in a facilitator position where students can learn how to get over their struggles on their own and really make meaningful experience with the curriculum. I don’t have to directly tell them that it has to be meaningful. It is very different when doing it with 6th grade math students as opposed to with 2nd grade readers. The 2nd grade readers had a lot more time with me because it was just two students in the class. With the larger class, and with older students, the students were really getting the grasp of following the structure but also being autonomous with their learning choices. By giving them choices, they were much less reluctant to learn.

This video here is an example of the Math workshop method. It explains its importance as well as its usefulness. I find it very useful for my own teaching needs as well.

References

Images:

https://fhj4.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/every-child-different.jpg

https://www.nmbu.no/en/employees/learning-center

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/af/95/41/af9541dc8a0f661e3cdf526c0ee067c2--strengths-finder-sf.jpg

https://math1.wiki.dublinschools.net/file/view/MAthWkShp.png/526606648/317x338/MAthWkShp.png

Text:

Dudley-Marling and Paugh (2004) Chapters 1 – 2

Dudley-Marling and Paugh (2009) Chapter 1

Lupiani-Farrell, M. & Matthews, F.M. (2010). Ready to Read: A Multisensory Approach to Language-

Videos:

Reading Workshop lesson on the Teaching Channel: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-reading-workshop-lesson (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. TC Reading and Writing Project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhY-SLf-38

MCLB #2

We as educators should care about visual literacy. As we learn throughout this course, it’s important that we realize that literacy is not just reading, writing, and/or speaking. How we achieve literacy can also vary depending on the learner. Multimodality is similar to multiple intelligences, or is an extension of it. Among other things, it is how we express ourselves through visual, written, spoken, tactile, and sensory means. I think literacy is how we gain information but also how we give it back based on our personal interests, experiences, prior knowledge, and opinions.  

Pillars also says from the very beginning of her book that we learn in pictures. When we see a word, we see an image. What we really learn is how to distinguish these images and then attach them to language. Visual literacy is so important because it encourages students to think in pictures and to stay engage in whatever it is they are reading, writing, hearing, or experiencing. Take comic books and graphic novels, for example. Frey and Fisher say that these modes of literature help the struggling reader, motivate those who don’t really like to read, and challenge higher level readers. The images help students to attach the words that they read to images and scenarios and provides a richer experience for the reader. We should care about visual literacy because it provides a medium to help students to images the words that they read, hear, and experience and further provides a way to help students speak better. The more they understand, the better they can convey ideas.

It is difficult, however, to rely only on visual literacy. There is an aspect of imagination removed by providing images with every word all the time for the rest of a learner’s life. My opinion is that visual literacy is imperative to the young learner, but can also cause hindrances in creativity when students are asked to imagine what they are reading at a higher level. Visual literacy is important when incorporated into a curriculum strategically as an aid, rather than as a replacement for an entire curriculum. Otherwise, the “struggling readers” that Frey and Fisher talk about who already have a hard time with visualization won’t actually learn to do it for themselves when it comes to a time when they have to. Eventually they will have to. Visual literacy is not the cure-all way to have all students read well and want to read well. It is a fantastic tool to push students beyond their limitations. Frey and Fisher also say that the use of graphic novels are a launchpad to something much bigger, which I completely agree with. We have to be careful that the visual novels are used to engage students but not discourage them from reading more complex literature.

I used to work at a school district before my current position where the entire 6th grade curriculum encouraged visual literacy. In theory, I thought it was a beautiful idea. As most articles and videos say that visual literacy is the new way to get students to better as society continues to changes and develop. Urbanski says that this new visual world (in reference to selfies😁) is how people really express themselves, and it has been this way since intricate paintings and portraits were composed. However, at this school district, I soon noticed that every concept whether it was narrative, persuasive, mystery, grammar, was taught with a graphic novel, a movie, a picture book. There was no actual reading whether students would read from a black and white page and do real analysis or introspection. The school had apparently deemed it “too difficult” for 6th grade and that they would move to that in 7th grade. But the 7th grade curriculum went straight into writing essays and reading very heavy books like “Night” from Elie Wiesel. The 6th grade curriculum seemed to be what Frey and Fisher said was an “end” to fulfill the means when teachers decide that they can wholly incorporate graphic novels into their curriculum to make it “easier” for the learners at all times. Though it can be challenging for higher learners to read graphic novels, after a certain point, it removes the motivation to create an original image based on a written or spoken description.

I think visual literacy is important. It has endless possibilities Without it, struggling learners will continue to struggle because there are so many things about teaching literacy that currently don’t work. It makes so much sense. But I think we have to be careful running head first into this wonderful pedagogy without understanding the balance of literacy. It isn’t just visual learning, as multiliteracies prove, as Cope and Kalantzis describes. We must give students access to all kinds of methods to attain literacy and how to practice them in order for them to realize their preferences. This link here is a short video on how a lot of people learn well visually, but it is really up to their preference. Most of all, I think that's what teaching is; passionately teaching young learners while continuing learning myself.

References:

Images:

- http://blog.visme.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/visual-literacy.gif

- http://rampages.us/cnjacksonspring2016univ200/wp-content/uploads/sites/14161/2016/01/Mulitimodality-Chart.png

- http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/89f4291e-4267-49e2-b0eb-708f9677fbd1/678cab8d-ac8a-4277-8639-0263ca5279e3.png

- http://www2.palomar.edu/pages/reading/files/2015/09/keep-calm-and-love-reading-64.png

- https://www.hopetocope.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/motivation-depression-anxiety.jpg

Text:

- Frey & Fisher (2008) Chapter 2

- Selfies - a visual analysis: Elizabeth Urbanski at TEDxNavesink
- Pillars, W. (2015). Visual Note-Taking for Educators: A Teacher's Guide to Student Creativity. New York, NY: W. Norton & Company.
-  Cope and Kalantzis (2009)

Video:

- https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/46953/learning-styles-is-visual-learning-really-a-thing

 (Links to an external site.)