Picture This! (chapter 6)

“By using graphic organizers, [students] are more apt to see connections between what they have learned and what they are currently learning” (Fisher & Frey, 114). 

            This quote mainly pertains to schema, or background knowledge, but can be related to a student’s retainable information on a daily basis.  Students, whether they realize it or not, are constantly gathering data to further educate themselves and build rapidly evolving understanding and knowledge.  Graphic organizers help students to integrate things that they are learning throughout various aspects of their lives.  Organizing the information using a graphic organizer provides students with the most efficiency possible.  They are able to refer back to prior information quickly and can easily view summative data of a given topic.  Graphic organizers can literally be used in any learning area or in real life connections.  They can be easily adjusted to fit any subject area or type of curriculum.  When students are able to use this important tool, they are not only engaged in what they are breaking down but also connecting different aspects of a particular content. 

            While some students respond well to graphic organizers, there are other students that do not.  It is incredibly important to address all needs of students and equip them with as many tools as possible.  I am all about helping students make connections in order to help them grasp a better understanding.  Graphic organizers have helped me personally in the classroom and I use them outside of school as well. In a soap box, they are basically there to help organize information in order to increase learning.  They help break down information that would normally be too much for the average student to handle.  Organizing the data in this manner teaches students to organize in life events as well.  They are constantly relating information across the board and retaining it by fully understanding what they are learning. 

Stating this, my question would be:

Do students benefit more from creating their own graphic organizer or from ones that are specifically designated by the teacher? Why?

Read Alouds in the Classroom: The Importance of Communication

There are many influential benefits of using read alouds in the daily classroom agenda. Teachers can utilize this strategy in order to help students produce better comprehension of texts as well as promote deeper understanding. It is extremely easy for students to get off task and stretch an exact meaning of something into something completely different. This is why the teacher is there to direct the conversation and keep it on the correct subject line. In the article, the author talks about getting students away from books that contain pictures and presenting them with more text based materials. This idea can be good as well as bad for several reasons. To start with, students may not have any type of schema to branch off of, highlighting their extreme need for something to make a connection to. Students also desperately need something to break up the rigorous solid page of words. I do not see how asking a student to read an excessive amount of words that are crammed onto a sheet of paper be productive. Students can only be expected to stay engaged for so long and even the average adult has trouble with excessive reading. This is one of the many reasons why students need to have items that break up the bulk of the material such as spaces, pictures, fonts, etc. These help students take a slight break and think about what they just briefly read. I personally think that students benefit more from having pictures to relate to because they have visuals for what is being discussed. And yes, sometimes students can infer completely different meanings from a picture than what the text is trying to get across but that responsibility partially remains with the teacher as well. If there is a specific point that the teacher is trying to stress, then the teacher needs to clearly direct the class discussion in that direction. This lets the students know that this could potentially become important and useful for future classes. The teacher also needs to be incredibly prepared and by doing this, the students know that he/she cares about what is being instructed. Students learn by practice and vitalizing the resources that are given to them. When they are constantly directed and shown what is clearly expected, students know what to do. This as well as every other strategy, has its quirks and kinks but I can definitely promise you that if pictures are completely eliminated, engagement will drastically decrease.

1)In the article, it talks about how students talk about their own experiences more readily becomes it is easier to recover. As a classroom teacher, wouldn't you rather students understand how to properly make connections?
2)If teachers are carefully directing read alouds then how are students able to learn from each other, other than by just listening to each other speak?

Chapter 8 and Writing to Learn

In the debate of writing to learn, I have never been one to argue against writing to improve learning.  This can be a great thing but also if not implemented correctly, can cause stifling effects.  Students at early ages are attempting to fully grasp their understandings and abilities to express themselves.  When encourage and not confined, students are able to explore their individual depths and abilities.  In contrast, many times this does not progress to its intended outcome and students are often truncated.  When writing practices are implemented correctly, it can help students through their learning processes but the key word is correct implementation.  Students are building upon prior grammatical understandings each time they place a pen to paper.  They are taking the information that they are being taught and putting it into practice.  Writing, like many other strategies, is a tool to assist students in broadening their educational paths to greater understanding.  Even in the chapter it talks about using prompts to help students more specifically express their thoughts and ideas pertaining to a particular topic.  By writing, students are able to build the foundation in sharing their opinions which can later develop into more oral or kinesthetic types of expression.  When students are able to write, they are also utilizing important skills in organizing their thought processes and understandings.  They are able to clearly see results of their metacognition and incorporate these findings into a strong educational foundation.  This is what writing to learn is all about, helping students to develop pertinent skills that will filter into all life practices. 

1) How can teachers prevent students from experiencing “truncated creativity”?

2) How can students practice writing to learn throughout their academic careers?

Bio Poem

Benjamin,

Silent, frugal, industrious, and sincere

Son of Joseph and Abiah

Lover of poetry, morals, and sharing information

Who feels compassion to lead, curious often, and that there is more to life

Who needs to make a difference, not defend his scientific views, to be more open minded

Who fears American Indians, the open sea, and not being able to witness what lies ahead

Who gives his knowledge, community service as well as influence for centuries to come

Franklin.