Nicole

April 9, 2010 Since I have started working with all of you I've really been thinking a lot more about ways that I can incorporate reading/writing strategies in my classroom. I also have thought about how I could use more interactive journaling approaches on a wiki and sharing an electronic space. March 12, 2010 Tonight I was very greatful to get a lot of feedback about my inquiry on student journaling in my science classroom. I really appreciate that everyone took a chance to complete the questionnaire for my study. I was pleasantly surprised that many of you have had some similar interests in my students journal writing on the drawings, diagrams, etc. as I have had the pleasure to witness. February 5, 2010

I enjoyed reading about the different strategies for teaching cognitive tools for reading. I think I may actually use some of these tools in my classroom to incorporate reading reflections into the journaling that we have been doing in our classroom. Particularly, I am thinking of incorporating some strategies for questioning, summarizing, and predicting.

The one activity for questioning called REQUEST is a student guided activity in which students write questions from the text they are reading that they can answer. It is similar to having students create test/quiz questions, which is a review strategy. In this case it makes students more aware of what they are thinking about their reading.

The clarification process seems like a challenging activity to use with students, especially if they are concious of how it may show their insecurities. While readng about this tool I began to think that many of my students may find it frustrating to think of all the steps in clarifying their reading as they go. However, after reading the student work sample of a clarification chart I began to see how I could possibly incorporate this into the journal. Students would be able to use this table on their own if they saw a model sample and would probably be more likely to write out these things in their journal as it is more personal than something they would hand in such as a worksheet.

I would also like to try teaching to summarize. I appreciated the group activity in which the teacher broke up the text into separate paragraphs for each group of students to analyze and put into a sentence summary. In the process the class formulates a multisentence summary in the same cohesive manner as the paragraphs are.

Predicting may also be a good way to generate ideas before a new topic has begun. The predicting strategy in the chapter reminded me of a KWL. Im not sure if I would love to use this frequently but may use it to begin a topic. It may also be used before a lesson, not just as a prereading activity.

January 28, 2010

I have been thinking about doing my research on journaling since it is a strategy I have been using in my classroom to differentiate instruction and encourage writing in science. I'm not too sure how I want to go about this but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or suggestions to help guide my path.


 * January 9, 2010

In the last session Laura's strategies on the ning site were used to develop communication between her students on what they learn in class as a daily routine. I thought that her students' work could be connected to many of the soical dimensions of literacy by using writing as a tool for communication among her students. Students express the power of writing by adding in "voice" and creating their own personal interpretation as Laura explained. The readers develop a personal identity within the ning page and share those thoughts among their peers by participating in the page as authors. Each student gets the chance to shine which made it fun for them and may develop their confidence as a participant in their community. This activity really gives students a great purpose for writing and reading.

Eric's "etch a sketch" activity was a really great way to incorporate different learning styles into reading. It allows students to recognize metacognition and develop a physical expression of it. I felt it helps allow students to form the big picture from their reading and breakdown large amounts of information into smaller chunks, while incorporating their own schema into their drawings.**