Grad Life

Essential Elements...

"If learning to read effectively is a journey toward ever-increasing ability to comprehend texts, then teachers are the tour guides, ensuring that students stay on course, pausing to make sure they appreciate the landscape of understanding, and encouraging the occasional diversion down an inviting and interesting cul-de-sac or byway." p. 51

10 Essential Elements of Effective Reading Comprehension Instruction

Build disciplinary and world knowledge: "The amount of related domain or world knowledge that a reader brings to a text significantly affects that reader's comprehension of that text..." p. 56

Provide exposure to a volume and range of texts: "It is widely accepted that effective and engaged comprehenders tend to read more that their struggling counterparts. Particularly, the volume of experiences students have interacting with texts both in and out of the classroom significantly correlates with their overall reading success." p. 58

Provide motivating texts and contexts for reading: "Motivated reading behavior is characterized by students valuing and engaging in the act of reading with expectations of success and with greater persistence and stamina when encountering difficulty; as such motivation is directly tied to personal interest and self-efficacy as well as achievement." p. 60 

Teach strategies for comprehending: "Effective teachers of reading comprehension help their students develop into strategic, active readers, in part, by teaching them why, how, and when to apply certain strategies shown to be used by effective readers." p. 63       List of Strategies: setting purposes for reading, previewing and predicting, activating prior knowledge, monitoring, clarifying, and fixing, visualizing and creating visual representations, drawing inferences, self-questioning and thinking aloud, summarizing and retelling. Five Stages the Use of Strategy Gradually Transfers from the Teacher to the Student: 1. An explicit description of the strategy and when and how it should be used. 2. Teacher and/or student modeling of the strategy in action. 3. Collaborative use of the strategy in action. 4. Guided practice using the strategy with gradual release of responsibility. 5. Independent use of the strategy. p. 64-66

Teach text structures: "...the role that knowledge of text structure plays in recalling and comprehending text has been well established." p. 68

Engage students in discussion: "Recognizing that comprehension is an active and often collaborative process of making meaning, effective teachers of reading comprehension tend to employ classroom discussion to help readers work together to make meaning from the texts they encounter." p. 71

Build vocabulary and language knowledge: "The relationship of language and vocabulary to reading comprehension is well established." Several broad conclusions: vocabulary impacts comprehension, it is learned incidentally while reading and listening to books, repeated exposure (especially in different contexts) is the key to learning word meanings, pre-reading instruction of keywords can be helpful, computerized programs seem to increase vocabulary knowledge." p. 74

Integrate reading and writing: "...reading and writing usually reinforce one another and rely on some of the same cognitive processes." p. 76

Observe and assess: "There are many different ways to comprehend a text, and readers bring different strengths and weaknesses to the process." p. 79

Differentiate instruction: "Students have different strengths and weaknesses with respect to comprehension, suggesting the need for different foci for and kinds of instruction." p. 81

"These practices should be implemented within a gradual release of responsibility model, incrementally turning over responsibility for meaning-making practices from teacher to student, then cycling back through this release with increasingly complex texts, while simultaneously employing instructional approaches that include several essential elements of effective comprehension instruction." p. 52

Advantages of Skilled Readers:

greater facility with text processing

greater stores of knowledge

more readily able to integrate broader arrays of relevant elements

more motivated and engaged readers

Choice Words Ch. 7

"The social relationships within which they (children) learn are a part of their learning. Children, just like adults, learn better in a supportive environment in which they can risk trying out new strategies and concepts and stretching themselves intellectually." p. 65

"...use language to build caring and respectful learning communities, communities that are playful, but in which participants take each other's ideas seriously in the process of getting things done. A basic property of such communities is that they have some shared understanding of the situation and activity in which they are jointly engaged. This does not mean that they all agree, but they agree to try to understand each other to become mutually involved." p. 65-66

"We want communities that provide democratic and evolutionary intellectual environments." p. 66

Use language that:

helps students connect their feelings to effective group processes along the way helping ensure that they actually seek such processes at the same time placing themselves in potential learning situations. p. 66

leads to greater shared understanding and affiliation, and a sense of caring. p. 67

develop children's social imaginations in a way that also allows them to see that stories are told from a perspective and that other perspectives are not equally represented. p. 67

invites them to say positive things to about each other p. 68

draws students' attention to problems, reminds them of the reason they listen to each other and the respect that normally characterizes the community p. 68

initiates the experience of "thinking together" - intermental development zone p. 69

encourages students to seek and articulate warrants and logic for their positions and experiencing conceptual growth p. 69-70

encourages students to have personal conversations with their classmates p. 71

provides a narrative of democratic living p. 71

demonstrates a way in which others' contributions can be beneficial to one's own thinking --even if one is a teacher p. 72

"Democratic living is about social problem-solving." p. 73

"More of our problem-solving is social than individual...becoming more accomplished at individual problem-solving requires the ability to profit from and internalize collaborative problem-solving. As individuals we can evolve only within the limits of our social environment and the discursive tools it offers us." p. 73

In my final session with G, I wanted to know what she had learned from this experience and express to her all of the things that she had taught me.

From G I learned:

To see literacy from the student's perspective and to put myself in their shoes to truly understand their needs.

That literacy instruction isn't just black and white, but multifaceted

To make literacy learning fun for the students. When they are engaged and enjoy reading and writing, they truly learned

Be intuitive to the needs of every individual student

What G said she learned from me:

How to like reading more

How to read to learn

How to figure out a word on my own

How to read for fun

Chapter 6 - Knowing:

IRE : common pattern of interaction between teachers and their students (Teacher Initiates, student Responds, and teacher Evaluates)

Words need to:

reflect to the students their comments, validate their voice, and open the possibility for them to reflect on, modify, or challenge what has been said p. 55

cede control of the topic of conversation to the students p. 55

give wait time p. 56

allow for teacher comments to be evaluated p. 57

keep the student in the conversation p. 58

invites a narrative p. 58

places children in agentive rolls p. 58

invite disagreement p. 59

ask students to distinguish p. 59

Chapter 2 Classroom Portraits of Artful Teachers

"Preservice teachers would benefit if the firs thing we helped them learn was to how to get to know one child." p. 27

See each child in the classroom - responsibility to the individual 

Portrait 1: Tammy Yvonne Spann Frierson, Preschool Teacher

What I liked:

Tammy was aware of the demographics and privileges in her school 

Learned from her students through conversation and observation, most importantly through the families

Uses authentic assessment so they can learn about what children truly know p. 32

Engaging learning environment that utilized small group and differentiated instruction. 

Routine with ample opportunities for choice

Valued students' questions and gave them a voice; reinforced the normalization of asking questions

Individualized assessment with CHOICE; "to learn what each of the children learned." p. 35 Open ended projects

Social learning environment powered by students' talk 

Pleasurable reading experiences 

Families included in the learning process and classroom

Portrait 2: Hope Reardon, 4K Teacher

What I liked:

Ongoing observation as a form of assessment to document the progress of each child

Reflective practice

focus on what students know in order to build on it. 

Rich literacy experiences p. 43

Student assumes lead role in the learning

welcoming classroom community environment with routine and student choice and led center time

Modeling 

"The latest materials to help children develop skills in language…May indeed help youngsters…but most are usually based on assumptions about what children do not know about language while ignoring their competence — what they do know. Such materials fail to recognize and respond to the natural and enthusiastic language play we observe." P. 57 

"A functional view of language means focusing on how people use language in their everyday lives to communicate, to present themselves, to find out about things, to give information, to negotiate and interact." P. 58

"Children live in a rich social world of language. They hear language, reorganize it and use it to express their own meanings. As they gradually learn how to share their meanings and, as they do so, construct a set of beliefs and expectations about language." P. 58

"The more they use language, the more they learn about the forms of language." P. 58

- A productive way to monitor language development: to observe children in a systematic way to determine the range of language functions used in the classroom. P. 58

SEVEN CATEGORIES OF FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE

1. Instrumental Language: what we use to get what we want, to satisfy needs or desires

2. Regulatory Language: using language to control the behavior of others, or getting them to do what we want them to do.

3. Intersectional Language: used to establish and define social relationships

4. Personal Language: used to express individuality and personality

5. Imaginative Language: used to create a world of one’s own, to express fantasy through dramatic play, drama, poetry, or stories

6. Heuristic Language: used to explore the environment, to investigate, to acquire knowledge and understanding

7. Informative Language: used to communicate information, to report facts or conclusions from facts. The language of school.

"Using a simple category system for language functions, can help a teacher determine children’s competence in using language that relates to real life situations." P. 60

"The important thing is that teachers need to think carefully about the social interaction going on in the classroom." P. 60

IMPORTANT FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE HOW CHILDREN WILL USE LANGUAGE

- language context - the environment - the climate of the classroom and school

"While the teacher’s intervention is necessary to expand children’s language, peer language is a rich school context in which to try out new language uses and receive feedback." P. 64

TWO ELEMENTS USUALLY PRESENT WHEN CHILDREN ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGES IN USING LANGUAGE FUNCTIONALLY:

1. Students are encountering real problems to which they want to find the solutions

2. Two or more students are working and talking together about the problems

TWO KINDS OF ASSESSMENT IN OBSERVING LANGUAGE USE:

1. Looking at the extent to which he/she uses the various functions of language and how effectively

- observe same child in several different settings in the classroom in formal and informal activities in other areas of the school

2. Determining which functions occur and where, and which are being neglected

- observe the entire class or small groups in different areas of the classroom or at different times of the day

In this session, G and I talked about the book Stargirl. I wanted to dive into why she really didn't like the book and other books that her teacher often assigned for the class. G let me know that they get to pick their own books sometimes, but often they are assigned books to read as a class that she really doesn't enjoy.

Why G doesn't like the books?

can't relate to the characters

uninterested

plots hard to follow

Why G doesn't like the reading time?

has to read in her head instead of out loud

as soon as she gets comfortable, time is up

unable to discuss with friends her stories 

Strategies that I came up with to help G find enjoyment with reading at school:

Relating to characters: Even though she can't see herself in that character's shoes, imagine that the character is a new friend that she is getting to know all about. Imagine that although they may not have much in common, read to learn about the character and find one new thing that may she could be interested in, too.

Uninterested: Read to learn, read to know. Before starting a book that she already is not interested in because of the cover or the back story, I told her be open to reading something with the intention of learning something new. Doesn't necessarily have to be about grammar or characteristics of the story, but maybe what the book is talking about. If it's a chapter book and the characters are in the 1920's jazzy era, maybe find interest in learning about the jazz or the fashion so that while she is reading, she can paint that picture in her imagination and find interest in the story.

Plots are hard to follow: I told G to never be afraid to ask questions. If it's a book where part of the story takes place in present day, and the other in the past, and the other in the future, ask herself questions, take notes, and ask the teacher questions. Learn to look for key details and words that help you to follow the tense of the story.

As far as reading time goes, I just told G to work with what she has. I also reminded her that if it's quiet reading time, its not the time to talk to friends, but to read, and keep those thoughts for discussion time. I also asked her why she didn't like reading in her head and she said it was because she didn't know how. Usually by fourth grade, students should have learned to read in their heads, so I gave her some strategies:

pretend one of the characters is reading the story to you in your mind. Use your imagination to picture the characters and hear the voices.

picture your mom, dad, or teacher reading the story to you in your mind. Read it in their voice with their gestures, in your head.

I chose those strategies because I remember them being a great help to me when I was learning to read in my head.

We talked briefly about sign systems and I asked her which ones she was good at. She said that she likes to speak, and act out things, and that she's taking piano lessons (I took that to mean that she was musically inclined) 

I met with G again after our fourth session so that I could record her. She was still reluctant to it because of a bad experience she had with being picked on for how her voice sounded on recordings.

I recorded her reading a few pages from the book Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. She read very well and had a few miscues here in there.

Although, she noted in the inventory that I did with her at the beginning that she wanted to be able to read without asking for help with words, whenever she came to a word in the story that she didn't know, she kept going and did not ask me for help.

Also in the recording, you can tell that G really does not like this book and by the end of the pages that I had her read, she is speeding through and sounds exasperated. 

Instead of having G retell what she read in Stargirl, I asked her to retell the Sammy Keys book, Sister of Mercy, that she had borrowed from me and took home to read. She was very excited and was able to tell me key pieces of the story, while keeping it short. Mind you, she had finished reading this book on Saturday, I asked her about the retell, this morning (Wednesday).

Chapter 1 Case Studies from Artful Reading Interventions 

A theory of what matters for readers:

understand that reading is meaningful

believe in their ability to make sense of texts

consider reading a pleasurable event

spontaneously self-monitor

have knowledge, skills, and strategies to problem-solve to ensure meaning

use the information flexibly

use the information independently

use this information with increasingly sophisticated texts

Our first responsibility is to help each child develop a generative theory of learning p. 2

Find the conditions under which the child could be successful p. 3

Case Study 1: David, Repeating First Grader

What I liked:

David had given up on himself, but with encouragement and the right materials for David, he found his confidence.

Case Study 2: Rosalee, Third Grader

What I liked: 

Made sure that Rosalee understood that reading was supposed to make sense

Even with a focus on meaning making, Rosalee picked up on other parts of the theory like finding reading pleasurable

Case Study 3: Joseph, Fourth Grader

What I liked:

Joseph was considered violent and troubled, but he the interventionist connected to Joseph's interests, not his behavior.

Made reading enjoyable and engaging based off of Joseph's choices

Connected writing to reading by having Joseph keep notes.

Intrigued, understood, more confident, and more engaged Joseph

Case Study 4: Faith, Fifth Grader

What I liked:

Faith didn't see herself as a good reader, but with student centered intervention, faith gained confidence

She inferred 

Faith once did anything to get out of reading, but when the reason behind the behavior was addressed, Faith couldn't stop reading

Be committed to assessment as inquiry, to reflection on data, to instruction that is focused on needs determined by assessment. p. 25

Chapter 4 - Agency and Becoming Strategic

Agency: sense that if I act and act strategically, I can accomplish my goals, perception they the environment is responsive to our actions, a fundamental human desire, our well-being depends on it

“The desire for agency persists throughout life and is so powerful, that when people feel there is no relationship between what they do and what happens, they become depressed and helpless.” P. 29

“Teachers’ conversations with children help the children build the bridged between action and consequences that develop their sense of agency.” P. 30 

Look at the kinds of stories we arrange for children to tell themselves

Words should:

invite students to review how they accomplish a goal (teach strategies) p. 31-32

imply it is normal to encounter problems p. 32-33

organize for a productive narrative p. 33

redirect on successes and then focus on problem solving p. 34

focus specifically on what has gone well p. 34-35

provide choice p. 36-37

ask why p. 37 - naturalize conversations about writing p. 37-38

maximize children’s feelings of agency p. 39

“Children with strong belief in their own agency work harder, focus their attention better, are more interested in their studies, and see less likely to give up when they encounter difficulties than children with a weaker sense of agency.” P. 41

Chapter 5 - Flexibility and Transfer (or Generalizing)

- Incorporate a child’s identity in what they are doing p. 43-44

Words should:

remind children to take stock in what they know p. 44-45

sustain the possibility if choice p. 45

help make connections and foster transfer p. 46

help students think flexibly p. 47

make playful language to take the pressure off so children can develop interest in language p. 48

Chapter 1 - The Language of Influence in Teaching:

The language we use with students have major implications on their learning

Word usage combined can change the literate lives of students

"Children grow into the intellectual life around them." p. 2

"Children in their own ways, teach us about the language of our classrooms." p. 3 

"Talk is the central tool of their trade." p. 4

How to get students to figure for themselves: don't directly tell them anything, socialize the students attention to different warrants, collaborate with the student, but give them the credit. 

"The teacher has to make something of what children say and do." p. 5

"We often assume that students know things, or know them in particular ways when they do not." p. 7

"It is true that we are often less explicit than we might be, that we are confusing sometimes when we try to be explicit, and that being more thoughtfully explicit can be important." p. 7

"The way a teacher talks can position students differently in relation to what they are doing, learning, or studying." p. 9

Chapter 2 - Noticing and Naming:

"As teachers we socialize children's attention to the significant features of literacy and of learning in different domains." p. 11

Help students see what kind of things they may notice

Remember to focus on the positive especially when the response you get from a child is not what you expected, at all.

Get the student to reach beyond herself, stretch what she knows, produce something partly correct, get them on the 'launch pad for learning' p. 13

Draw children's attention to their learning histories

Ask students to classify text

Draw to the consciousness

Turn students' attention to the qualities of words while it implies 

Ask children to examine the logic of words and their spelling strategies

"Through our noticing and naming language, children learn the significant features of the world, themselves, and others. The understandings influence how they treat each other and their environment." p. 20

Chapter 3 - Identity: 

"Children in our classrooms are becoming literate. They are not simply learning the skills of literacy. They are developing personal and social identities -- uniqueness and affiliations that define the people they are themselves becoming." p. 22

"Building an identity means coming to see in ourselves the characteristics of particular categories (and roles) of people and developing a sense of what it feels like to be that sort of person and belong in certain social spaces." p. 23

"Teachers' comments can offer them, and nudge them toward, productive identities." p. 23

Give students identities in the content you are teaching (mathematician, researcher, scientist)

Don't identify the student as the problematic behavior

have the child to think about learning in terms of development or maturity, and invite a desire to be viewed as having an expanded maturity p. 25

Establish agency, invite child to attend to internal feelings of pride

frame what the student will be doing in terms of what (i.e.) writers do 

Levels: When Bad Things Happen to Good Ideas

"It is important to state that at the heart of leveling systems is an important, good idea that is crucial in helping all readers become increasingly more competent and confident...the way the good idea has been interpreted and implemented...bad things can happen to good ideas because of a rigid orthodoxy that grows up around a useful practice." p. 208

"...decisions about text levels may impact multiple aspects of literacy programs. The practice in which they seem to have most influence is guided reading." p. 209

"Books are just books in the end. And while it's easy to be critical of certain materials, they are usually neither inherently bad nor good. What matters more is the way they are used; it is this that determines the potential impact they can have. A teacher's professional judgement still remains the critical factor in planning and implementing successful reading instruction. However, as some have noticed in the past, commercial materials can contribute to less teacher reflection and a reification of certain reading practices." p. 209

"...materials become the focus rather than the reader." p. 209

Fundamental principles that can help teachers focus on the good idea of using texts to support readers:

Leveling takes a complex idea and makes it too simple.

Reading is a complex social and cultural act p. 209

In any instructional activity, engagement and success can be influenced on many levels -- by the task itself, the learner, the teacher, the materials and the context in which the activity takes place p. 209

Five Major Reader Factors

motivation

subject knowledge

background experience

vocabulary

purpose

Five Major Text Factors

content

format

concepts

organization

author's purpose

Four Major Contextual Factors

physical setting

activity

outcome 

emotional climate

The successful interaction of a reader and a text in a specific context is a very complex relationship. If any single variable changes, the degree of success the reader has with the text can be affected. p. 210

It leads to an assumption that the best way to secure a successful transaction between the reader and the text is to match the child to a text at his or her level. In the end, lists and numbers seem to replace teacher judgement. p. 210

Leveling falls short in acknowledging the number of factors at play when children are reading. p. 210

Leveling systems can't assess whether a child is reading in an emotionally safe and comfortable setting or in a high-stakes situation, such as an assessment done by an unfamiliar teacher. Second, leveling often acknowledges only those reader factors that can be quickly assessed and interpreted. p. 210

"It is nearly impossible, however, for leveling tools to consider all (or even most) of the factors at play when readers and books come together in classrooms. The job of the teacher then is to stay attend to the complexity of influencing factors when choosing texts for readers and to consider being more flexible in thinking about what readers may need. The decisions are not as simple as they appear." p. 210 

Leveling takes a simple idea and makes it too complex.

The importance of providing readers with texts they can read with and without support. This simple idea can get lost within leveling systems that add many layers of complexity to classifying the texts that students read. p. 211

Even though teachers are encouraged to "follow the guidelines" in leveling and add new titles to an existing list of texts, the framework as presented in and of itself would be difficult to use in reliably identifying an unclassified text, since many of the criteria are defined by less than specific quantifiers. p. 211

...efforts spent attaching levels to books and books to readers might be better spend on "making available abundant text selections that provide rich and varied reading experiences to develop students' independence and enjoyments as readers. p. 211 

Reading levels are no the same as reading needs.

Instructional levels are not the same as instructional needs, and they are not magic bullets that ensure quality teaching around the small-group reading table. p. 211

...diagnostic assessment, coupled with flexible needs-based grouping, is important when working to overcome the pervasive confusion between the right reading level and a reader's learning needs. p. 212

Progress does not equal proficiency.

The multiple discrete levels instantiated in some programs make it easy to see progress from one level to the next...Teachers may get comfortable seeing this progress but lose sight of the fact that progress is a means to an end -- proficiency. End points or accepted benchmarks need to be very clear for teachers so that the instructional pace allows each child to progress toward proficiency. p. 213

Two contributing factors:

the amount of time spent reading (a critical factor in helping children not only make progress but move toward proficiency). It is time spent actually reading that often distinguishes proficient from less proficient readers.

the concept of reading mileage. More advanced readers commonly process more words because they read longer and denser texts, and they do it faster. The number of words children are reading, even with appropriate-level text, can contribute to a widening achievement gap. p. 213

To accelerate growth, teachers need to address those instructional gaps more intentionally and more frequently, looking past the the facade of progress and fixing their gaze on proficiency." p. 213

Readers have rights (as well as levels).

most important

"Readers have the right to be engaged and stimulated and to contribute their thinking to the class community." p. 213

"...teachers need to demonstrate dual commitments by ensuring students' access to both age-appropriate material that challenges their thinking and texts that match their independent reading level." p. 214

"While guided reading using leveled texts provides many opportunities for learning, it also has the potential to limit children's exposure to challenging and grade-appropriate learning experiences." p. 214

'Readers have rights as well as levels, and thoughtful teachers will be mindful of this." p. 214

-----

"Teachers must consider the impact of leveling on their students across the entire reading program, not just during the guided reading lesson." p. 214

"...we are focusing so much on the children's reading levels that we are ignoring, and possible devaluing, other ways of defining or describing them as readers." p. 360

"I believe that students must feel like welcomed and valued members of a learning community if they are to be successful in their endeavors." p. 361

"Getting to know one another, particularly as readers, is an important part of our back-to-school process and one of the ways we work to sustain our learning community." p. 361

"The children's discussions intrigued me for several reasons. First, I learned how much of reading, particularly the decision about what to read, is social. Second, I realized that to really know a reader, you had to know what they read at home and what kinds of books filled their bookshelves." p. 367

"The readers who struggle often seem to be on the social fringes of our classrooms. They don't spend literacy time with other children who share their reading interests because they shy away from reading experiences." p. 368

"I don't believe we can be that discriminating about readability levels and still honor the complexity of the reading process and the diverse profiles struggling readers present." p. 373

"My pondering and reflecting also helped me identify three questions. First, I wonder to what extent my own language signaled to students that reading levels were more important than reading interests. Second,  I wonder to what extent "struggling" readers are more susceptible to the pressures of society to define themselves as readers in terms of levels. Third, I wonder what else I can do as a teacher to broaden the ways children define themselves as readers." p. 373-374

What we did: 

Read different cultural versions of Snow White (Little Snow White - Germany, The Young Slave - Italy, Gold Tree and Silver Tree - Scotland)

Asked G inferring questions on Snow White (Why do you think the witch wants to hurt Snow White? How would you retell the story? What would you change about the story? Did you like this story? Why did you like this story?)  [FUN FACT: G does not like Snow White because the dwarfs creep her out. She said it was strange for a girl to live with several little men. I was surprised someone her age caught on to something I didn't grasp until my teenage years.]

I brought in the Sammy Keys books that I had at home for G and she FREAKED OUT. She was so excited. She said she had not read them before. I let her take home one to read. 

Had my handy dandy copy of Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli because G [of course!] left her copy at home. The look on her face was priceless when I pulled it out and tried to get her to talk about it. I think I figured out why she doesn't like the book, though. Star Girl (real name Susan for those who have not read the book) is a high school student. I don't think that G can relate to the character and the setting being that she is in the fourth grade. I don't think I even read this book until I was in middle school and it was a choice book, not an assigned book. It shows how students are being taught things earlier and earlier. G did read a few pages out of the book well. I think this will be the book we use for her miscue. 

G did bring in a book that she knows well (Cinderella), but she would not let me record her. I let her record me first with my phone and then we listened to my voice in playback, but whenever I said it was her turn, she tensed up. I really want her to be comfortable with this and don't want to sneak and record her while she's reading to me. I tried bribing her with candy, that didn't work. I also told her we could read aloud together and record both of our voices, but she wasn't liking that idea either. Is there a suggestion that anyone has that I can use to get G to let me record her? I've never experienced this before because my kindergarten students loved for me to record them and let them listen to or watch it. It makes me wonder if G has had a bad experience with being recorded in the past. I've set another session with G during the weekend so I can try to get her recorded before Monday's class.

For Next Time: 

GET G RECORDED

Continue to explore fairy tale books of different cultures and different levels. I will bring in one that will be new to G. Have inferring questions for G and materials so she can begin to create a fairy tale book of her own.

Work with G to help her find a connection to Star Girl so she can find some enjoyment in the text. I also found a teaching guide online for the book, so maybe that can be a resource of ideas in connection G with the text.

"Sign systems are all the ways in which humans share and make meaning, including music, art, mathematics, movement, drama, and oral and written language. We use the sign systems to think about and make meaning for ourselves and to communicate with others. While schools have focused almost exclusively on language, we believe that all sign systems are basic processes that should be available to all learners." p. 43

"Students' discomfort with some sign systems is the result of a lack of exposure to, and use of, those systems in schools. If our students were immersed in all of these systems in the same ways they are surrounded with language throughout the school day, they would be able to use these systems in more powerful and meaningful ways in their lives. Not having the potential to use multiple sign systems limits students' understandings of the world and makes learning difficult and incomplete." p. 44

"within an experience, learners need to use more than one sign system at a time to be effective in their meaning making and to create more complex meanings. They need to choose the sign systems that are most effective for a particular message or to support their understandings about an issue." p. 44

"The flexible use of multiple sign systems supports students in bringing their personal and sociocultural strengths as meaning makers into school and gives them access to a wider range of connections from their lives outside of school." p. 44

"Viewing an experience from the perspectives of multiple sign systems supports greater complexity of thought and the consideration of new connections and ideas." p. 44

Approaches to Sign Systems: p. 46

study the sign system as a discipline

encourage greater use of sign systems as students present their understandings from inquiry projects and literature circles to the class

bring experts from these sign systems into the classroom through various artists-in-residence programs; we needed to draw on others' expertise so that children would have demonstrations available from a wider range of systems

Michael Halliday: Learners have three opportunities to learn language, learn about language, and learn through language. p. 48-55

Learning language highlights the "doing" learning by actually engaging in talking, listening, writing, or reading.

children can explore issues related to the class focus, their personal interests, or a particular sign system

Learning about language highlights the opportunity to examine language itself and how it operates.

occurs through short, focused strategy lessons designed to push students' thinking and use of a particular system. 

Learning though language focuses on using language to learn about the world.

children focus on what they are learning, not on the sign system itself

These three opportunities are only available within the contexts that are meaningful to learners, contexts where they are inquiring into questions significant to their lives.  

p. 57-58 Dimensions of Sign System Curriculum

Sign systems are tools for thinking and for communicating

sign systems are constructive processes of meaning making that involve both interpreting and composing

curricular engagements need to continuously move between learning, learning about, and learning through 

"Curriculum is a collaborative process, not a free-for-all where the teacher stands back so as not to impose onto children nor an autocracy where everything is determined in advance by the teacher." p. 58

"By having the opportunity to use multiple sign systems to learn, children would be able to find and share the connections that are important in their lives. Through these connections, they could then critically examine the big issues that they face as people and as learners. They would no longer be restricted to one form of thinking and communicating, but could choose multiple systems that fit their own ways of learning as well as the specific contexts and topics they are exploring. " p. 50

My Thoughts and Questions: 

Is transmediation (the process of taking understandings created in one sign system and moving them into another) like combining scaffolding with a state of disequilibrium?

I think this chapter in a nutshell is saying that children learn in many different ways and that we should incorporate all the different ways they learn (i.e. sign systems) so that each child has what they need to learn