Video 11/29

3 things I agreed with
1. We don't know what the world is going to be like in 5 years but we are suppose to educate kids for the future.
2. Kids aren't afraid to be wrong but when they grow older that fearlessness starts to disappear and people become afraid to be wrong. The education system is built on whether your right and wrong.
3. Kids are steered away from the arts whether it is music or drawling or dance because people don't get jobs doing that. People should not do this to kids, it kills their creativity.
2 things I didn't agree with
The only thing that he said that really surprised me was the story about the dancer who the teachers thought she was sick but she just had a different way of learning. The other things he talked about really made since.
1 idea that confused me or I disagree with.
I would of liked for him to talk about what he thought about the extreme ADHD epidemic we have right now.

Journal Entry #13

Journal Entry #12

Formative Assessment

What is formative assessment? These are assessments where students can gain feedback from their instructor. It emphasizes the importance of the quality not the quantity, and  prizes giving advice and guidance over giving grades

What is the CENTRAL purpose of formative assessment? The central purpose is to monitor the progression of the student.

Connect a best practice in formative assessment to one research-based strategy. Providing the students feedback is a big research-based strategies. “Providing the right kind of feedback to students can make a significant difference in their achievement. There are two key considerations. First, feedback that improves learning is responsive to specific aspects of student work, such as test or homework answers, and provides specific and related suggestions.”

Give an example of how a specific assessment can be used formatively and summatively. The difference lies in how evaluative instruments are used. For example, a rubric that lists criteria for evaluating writing can be used formatively to help students understand what is expected and summatively to assign a grade.

Give an example from your field placement related to formative assessment and timing. I gave a quiz about the election. I showed a power point and instead of giving them written homework, I told them to watch a news channel to gain more knowledge about the Electoral College and other topics that have to do with the election. Before the test, I gave them an oral review and they seemed to be very prepared for the test. That was a sign for me to continue with our formative assessment.

What are some strategies to help formative assessment be more effective when providing students with feedback? It should provide the student with a clear idea of how, what, and why to make their work better. It needs to be managed properly though. It has to be done in segments so the student does not become overwhelmed.

Name two advantages to high quality formative assessment. For students, formative assessment offers increased feelings of confidence and control. For teachers, it provides us with the information of who is struggling and who is doing good.

What are some challenges to implementing high quality formative assessment?    "From a policy perspective, the greatest challenge is to distinguish between high-quality formative assessment and assessment that is under-conceptualized or not fully developed."

Double Entry #11

1. What does the author mean when he says, "Learning doesn't work well when learners are forced to check their bodies at the school room door like guns in the old West."  Every student has different learning methods but one thing they have in common is that they learn at a higher rate when they are interested or feel connected to what they are learning about.

2. According to the author, what is the best way to acquire a large vocabulary? Personal experiences are the best way to acquire a larger vocab. It has a way of sticking with the individual because it is learned in a personal manner. Reading is another way for students to gain more word knowledge but I feel that hands on learning is more likely to stick and help grow a more full vocabulary.

3. What gives a word a specific meaning? Experience will give specific situated meanings to language. You need to have experience in that subject or topic to know about the specific meaning for that topic or phrase

4. What does the term "off the hook" mean in each of these sentences?

a. My sister broke up with her fiance, so I'm off the hook for buying her a wedding present. No longer responsible for buying a gift

b. Them shoes are off the hook dog. Expressing that the shoes are awesome

c. Man that cat was fighting 6 people and he beat them all. Yo, it was "off the hook", you should have seen it!! The fight was spectacular and highly entertaining.

5.Why is NOT reading the instruction for how to play a game before playing a game a wise decision? (Teacher: Read all the directions before answering the questions.) A game that has never been played before can be very confusing which would make the directions hard to understand. A person would learn better if they could play the game and read the directions as they go so they can you tie the words together with actual evidence from the game. This will help the student understand what the directions mean.

6. Does knowing the general or literal meaning of a word lead to strong reading skills? Knowing both can help the reader successfully read between the lines.

7. What does the author mean by the terms "identity" and "game". Give an example of 3 "identities" or "games" you play?  Identity is what people are seeing you as or what you see yourself as. Game is more of what experience you are going through or experiencing. Games going to class, and going to work, identity is a student and an employee.

8. According to the author what is good learning? The author leads us to the conclusion that good learning is learning that you can relate to for life. It is things you learn from experience that you will remember for a long time.

9. How does understanding that being able to build a mental model and simulations of a real-word experience is closely tied  to comprehending written and oral language support of change the way you think children should learn in school? Real-world experiences help people learn things because the can draw an immediate conclusion from it. Since it becomes a personal learning experience it is easier for someone to gain more from that experience and it will stick with them.

10. Why is peer to peer interaction so important for the language development of young children? How does knowing this support or change the way you think children should learn in school?

Double Journal entry #10

1. What are the features of the forms of language that are spoken in a home environment that align with academic varieties of language? These types of languages range from everyday activities. Parents telling their kids a story, kids asking a question and the parents answering it, and kids watching or hearing a conversation by adults are a couple examples.

2. What are the features of Leona's specialized form of language?  Leona uses parallel lines in her story, she broke down her story into stanzas, she uses her vernacular in the wording of the story (she wrote it exactly how she would say it.)The author states that this is most likely a product of her home life or "social group”

3. Why is Leona's specialized form of language not accepted in school? Gee studied the problems that people who grow up in a struggling economic situation or a minority. These students seem to struggle more than the average student. Gee also states, "The test scores were going up at a time that integration was also increasing."

4. Explain the contradiction between the research conducted by Snow et al. (1998) and the recommendations made by Snow et al. (1998).  Belonging to a group like this can help a student succeed or can cause a student to fail. If a student does not feel like he or she belongs, the student will shell up and not feel comfortable to work or participate. This can cause a student to resent school and not be successful.

5. What other factors besides early skills training will make or break good readers? Making the student feel that they belong will help the student succeed. This will help them more than in just reading, it will help them in growing socially also. Making the student want to read is also important. This means choosing the material that the students will enjoy and also making reading fun.

6. Why do some children fail to identify with, or find alienating, the "ways with words" taught in school?  Students can make the connection between what they have learned at home to what they are being taught at school. Also students are not being taught like they should. Instruction can be a problem when inclusive practices are not present.

Double entry #9

1. What is the strange fact about not learning to read?  It causes major problems for kids as they grow up. When they don’t know how to read in school, then school becomes like a prison. They then stop participating and withdrawal from school all together.

2. Why is this fact so strange? When I talked to the school based assistance team, they said that their job was to “level the playing field.” They are not giving anyone an advantage. It is still difficult for students if we don’t catch this early.

3. What is it about school that manages to transform children who at good at learning things like Pokeman into children who are not good a learning? They have to find out what about that they like. They have to draw similarities to the learning style and implement them in their everyday learning environment.

4. What is the differences between a traditionalists approach to learning to read and more progressive educators? Traditionalist use the typical old school approach. You have a book and you read it. Then you take a test on it. You might have some work sheets in-between. Progressive teachers are reading the book differently. They add activities into the lessons that help reach students who have trouble comprehending off the text. They develop ways to reach students who have different learning styles.

5. Is learning to read a natural process like learning to speak a language? I believe that learning to read is a natural process for some. People who have a good home environment and get instruction at home from their parents during the early ages it becomes a natural process. Students who do not have a good home life will struggle more and will require more work.

6. What is the differences between natural, instructed and cultural processes and which process should reading be classified under? I think that it should be considered as a cultural process. This is how they are raised whether or not school is important to that family. Does the family take time with the child growing up.

7. How do humans learn best? Through instructional processes or through cultural processes? How is reading taught in school? Each person is different. People will learn different ways and I think that I learn best through cultural process. I also know people who learn best through instructional process. It depends on the genetic makeup of the child.

8. According to the author, what is the reason for the "fourth grad slump." The author says, “Children who do not bring such prototypes to school can learn to read in the sense of decoding vernacular language that is written down. But they cannot later read the early versions of academic varieties of language they see in books and sometimes hear teachers speak around fourth grade.”

9. What is a better predictor of reading success than phonemic awareness? The author says, “Measures of semantic and syntactic skills.” This is their knowledge of what they words mean and can they use it.

10. What is the difference between "vernacular" and "specialist" varieties of language? Give an example of two sentences, one written in the vernacular and one written in a "a specialized variety",  about a topic in your content area.  Vernacular language is the type used for face-to-face conversation and for everyday purposes.  This is how a person talks to their family, friends, and other people in their community.  Specialist language or also known as “academic language” is connected to learning and using information for school-based content areas. 

11. What is "early language ability" and how is it developed? Early language ability is what the student has learned before school. They learn this through their family and their personal experiences that they have already had.

12. According to the author why and how does the traditionalist approach to teaching children to read fail? They are not teaching the student how to read the language, they are teaching them how to read the words written. That is where we need to change the traditionalist approach.

13. Are parents of poor children to blame for their children's inexperience with specialized varieties of language before coming to school? Peoples cards that they are dealt can be rough and I do not think they are to fully take the blame. They brought the kids into the world they are responsible to do their best to prepare their kids.

14. Did you struggle with reading this text? Why? Are you a poor reader or are you unfamiliar with this variety of specialized language? I am not a great reader and the main reason why is I do not enjoy it. I do not find it fun and it is a drag to do so. I can read Sports Illustrated, but would not even read a review on Harry Potter.