After reading Melanie and Olivia’s blogs, it is encouraging as well as discouraging to hear that they are having some of the same experiences in their field placement. It is encouraging because I fell like I’m not alone in my situation but discouraging because it means that in many cases literacy education is not where it should be. I am intrigued by the literacy centers in Olivia’s classroom; however, I cannot imagine planning 25 new centers each week, it seems overwhelming. I would love to see some of the plans for these centers and how they interact as well as overlap.
In terms of Melanie’s situation, I have also been in a Montessori school (actually, the same one!). Her comment surprised me, that the students asked the same questions repeatedly and did not build off of each others comments. I’m not sure why it surprised me, but I think it is because I have a mindset that the students in Montessori schools are much deeper thinkers: which may be completely incorrect. Another thought that crossed my mind is that students model their teachers and mimic the teachers actions, does that imply that the CT Melanie has does the same sort of questioning (repetitive) when she is leading discussions?
Lastly, I was extremely happy to read Olivia’s comment that her students love reading. I wonder if it is because there is so much emphasis on literacy centers in the morning and the fact that the students have weekly time with the teacher to discuss literature. It is also frustrating though, because several of the students I work with in my placement are completely turned off by reading and writing because many of the tasks the teacher assigns are arbitrary and meaningless. On a more positive note, however, this week I read a story about Dr. MLK Jr. to the class and what followed was a discussion on him and the important things he did: I think it was a step in the right direction.
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2 comments:
Ladies,
You are doing a really nice job with your posts. I especially like how you make specific comments to the readings and to each others blogs in your responses. A few comments:
1. Literacy is such a big part of school, and learning to teach students of so many different abilities can be extremely tough. I hope this class introduces you to how to do it, but it is something that will take years of teaching as well.
2. I'll keep suggesting books. If you come across any (such as from your library, Carrie) please bring them in also.
3. We will be talking about how to assess students and different techniques to teach students to read. We won’t be spending as much time on writing, but you will cover that in more depth in 802. I also think it is so important to incorporate literacy into all aspects of the day. I will share with you some ways that I did that, and we’ll talk about how you can do it too.
The 25 stations are well thought out and seem to be executed the same way year after year. So in response to be overwhelming, I would say probably the first year but if you are well organized I don't think it is too bad. I still am not sure if I would do so many in one week. The children do seem to get in a repetitive, need to get this done mode with out getting excited about literacy.
I too would love to visit Melanie's classroom. I have never been to a Montessori school, only heard VERY interesting details of all the different things that go on. It seems to be a unique learning/teaching approach that may be beneficial to see at least for experience!
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