Blog 10

1. Purpose for homework?

The purpose of homework is to provide students the opportunity to practice, review and apply knowledge that was learned in the classroom (Hill & Flynn, 2006, page 77). Homework is meant to re-expose students to the topics and concepts that were previously taught in classroom. Homework is also a way for teachers to check the students’ understanding and comprehension of the given materials and determine what the next teaching points will be. Homework should always be at the independent level of the student so that frustration and discouraging doesn’t occur.

2. What constitutes as meaningful homework?

It is a priority of teachers to give students meaningful homework. Meaningful homework helps students practice skills that were already taught in the classroom or will soon be taught. Teachers need to make sure that what they give as homework will not beyond the level of the student or exceeds a long amount of time to accomplish. The objective of my homework is to emphasize the importance of critical thinking, reading, writing and math. I hope that through the course of the school year, the homework assignments will get easier because they have grown as learners.

3. What are my objectives of homework for students?

My objectives of homework are varied to meet individual student’s needs and topics. Students will engage in meaningful and thought provoking homework that will help them grow as learners. My homework plan emphasizes to the students (and parents) the importance of reading and writing. I want my students to read and write as much as possible so that the task becomes easier and more enjoyable for them.

4. How will I provide feedback?

I want my students to learn to be in charge of their learning. Providing a class designed rubric for each week’s homework assignments will help the students understand the homework expectations, be able to grade themselves accordingly and be prepared to discuss their chosen grade to me (and sometimes to classmates). In the beginning of the school year, I will show the class examples of previous student’s homework (names removed). I will discuss what I expect and how I responded to the example’s homework. Flynn & Hill point out that students, especially ELL students, benefit greatly from seeing homework examples (2006, page 79). I will provide feedback to the students through rubrics, discussion and comments in letter form. I will provide feedback to parents and guardians through monthly email updates (unless something needs to be addressed right away), at parent teacher conferences and telephone calls if desired.

5. How do I incorporate technology into the communication feedback?

Technology is the most current way to communicate to parents and faculty members. Though, teachers need to keep in mind the home life of their students and realize that not every family owns a computer. For those students who have computers at home, they can participate in a variety of learning destinations that incorporate technology such as finding articles, conducting research on topics or of interest, making power point presentations, typing assignments on word or communicate with the teacher via email. Incorporating technology is a great way to promote student learning and enthusiasm.

6. How will I make it clear and understandable for students, parents and ELL students?

To make homework clear to parents, students and ELL students, I will use simple and direct sentences. The assignments (and when I discuss the assignments with the students in class) will focus only on important information. Hill & Flynn state that, “Teachers should be clear about the purpose of homework. The teacher needs to state whether the assignment is designed for practicing a new skill, to introduce a new topic or help students elaborate on already introduced content” (2006, page 10). I will state the purpose of the assignment, read the directions, state my expectations and discuss the grading rubric. Afterwards, I will ask the students if there is any questions and respond accordingly. At the beginning of the year, the parents will receive my homework structure description. It would be very similar to the one at the end of these questions. Students and parents have the right and are promoted to comment on the homework assignments at any time.

7. How will I grade homework?

In every Friday Folder packet there is a rubric that the students fill out. The students personally judge whether or not they accomplished the assignments to the best of their ability. The teacher will review the packet and rubric and then discuss it with the student. The teacher will also take notes of the student’s progress, needs and any other relevant information.

8. How will homework aide in my tracking of progress, reviews and be recorded?

My homework assignments will aide in tracking because I will take notes on any relevant information concerning the students’ growth or learning needs. I will be able to see who needs more exposure to any given topic, who needs different types of exposure and who is ready to move on. I have a section in my grade book that I keep my records of homework. I don’t “grade” necessarily but take notes on what I see. I also track by using the rubric that the students fill out each week. I store them in my personal cabinet (locked unless I am there) in their folders.

9. How can my homework be accommodated in various content areas?

The teacher can easily alter the Friday Folder packet to accommodate various content areas. If there is a change in any of the assignments the teacher can make a flyer, write an email or post a message to the class blog for the parent to read that discusses the new or altered assignment. The teacher will also discuss the new assignment with the students prior to them taking it home.

10. What are the time expectations for homework?

Students have one week to accomplish the entire packet. On Friday, students will take home their Friday Folders with the teacher made packets already in them. The students will accomplish the assignments throughout the week. The following Friday, students will return the completed assignments and the accomplished rubric in their Friday Folder.

11. What is my long term homework structure? Friday Folders

Each Friday, I will give the students a homework packet to be accomplished and turned in the following Friday. In the Friday Folder, there will be specific activities for the student to accomplish, a parent letter that explains the week’s activities, any classroom updates and an area for the parent to write any comments.

Work Cited:

Hill, J.D. & Flynn, K.M. (2006) Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Blog 9: Fiction vs. Nonfiction

Fiction Non-Fiction

- Imaginary Events

-Characters are sometimes animimals

- Story line has characters, setting and plot - Real events

- Has a theme - Academic Language

- Entertaining - Discusses real topics and subjects

-Illustrations support the story line - Abstract thinking required

Written to sound like accurate spoken language - Usually has photos or graphs depicting important information

Examples: Short stories, and novels Examples: Text books or research studies

This Venn diagram (This blog site isn't allowing me to transfer the circle outline of the diagram. I am waiting to hear back from the blog tech support.) illustrates the differences between fiction and nonfiction reading materials. Being able to read and comprehend both fiction and nonfiction texts are important for all students, not only English Language Learners. Most children and new language learners start reading fiction because of its consistent themes and predictability language. Fiction is usually easier to read, is similar to normal speech patterns and contains illustrations that correspond to the text. Non-fiction texts expect the reader to engage in abstract thinking. Children are usually introduced to non-fiction in school where direct learning takes place. A great thing about non-fiction texts is that there are usually lots of graphs, pictures, photos, bold/italic words and vocabulary words that are specific to the topic giving more background knowledge to the reader.

Fiction:

- The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

- Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

- The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

- The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

- Stone Soup by Marcia Brown

- Tuesday by David Wiesner

Non-Fiction:

- Fireworks, Picnics and Flags by James Cross Giblin and Ursula Arndt

- Bully For You, Teddy Roosevelt! By Jean Fritz

- Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman

- Riding to Washington by Gwenyth Swain

- Tarra and Bella by Carol Buckley

Blog 7

Last week, I conducted running records on two ELL students at a school that I am accomplishing field hours for. To the best of my knowledge, both students primary language is Spanish. Each of these ELL students were impressive in their English skills and read quite well given the fact that their home language is Spanish.

The first student I conducted a running record on was a girl. When I entered the classroom the students were getting ready for specials. The girl chosen for my running record seemed pleased to read but I could tell that she wanted to hurry through the reading so that she could be with her peers. I listened to her read a level 12 book called The Clever Penguins. She read well with an accuracy rate of 95% and a self correction ratio of 1:5. Her miscues were mainly in visual errors. She used words such as: with/ white, mis/ must, six/sit and were/where. Knowing how she miscues will assist the teacher in teaching strategies that will help her correct her visual mishaps. This student self corrected and was adequate when retelling the story’s main idea and story language. She had complete understanding of the story’s characters and setting. The teacher may want to re-teach main idea and story language for this student so that she can also have complete understanding in the future.

The next student I conducted a running record on was a boy. I interrupted him in class as well though he was excited to share his reading with a classroom guest. I asked him to choose any book out of his book bag. He chose a chapter book. He was so excited about this book that I let him read it to me instead of asking for a shorter book. The book he read was a level 24 called Arthur’s Loose Tooth. He had an accuracy rate of 90% and a self correction ratio of 1:17. This student was less likely to self correct and it should be a teaching point addressed in the future. His miscues were visual errors. He used words such as: healed/held, had/ head, knock/ knocked, ball/ bowl, sit/sat, finger/ fingers and cutton/ cotton. I was glad to see these miscues because they were discussed in Freeman & Freeman’s book Essential Linguistics, What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics and Grammar. Freeman & Freeman (2004) explain that, “each language has a different inventory of sounds (phonemes) and these phonemes are perceptual units that differ from one another by the fact that they signal differences in meaning” (Freeman, 2004, p. 88). This Spanish speaking student had a minor struggle with English phonemes, though it didn’t affect his reading comprehension. Because of this, I scored him adequate on story language. He had complete understanding of characters and main idea. His teacher should work on recognizing vowels and their sounds, making sure to pronounce word endings and letter/ sound correspondences.

Accomplishing running records on ELL students is insightful and full of learning points for teachers as well as students. I am amazed at the knowledge and adaptability that these students have in learning a new language. I now have a better understanding of where to begin when teaching ELL students.

Work Cited:
Freeman, D.E. & Freeman, Y.S. (2004). Essential linguistics, What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics and Grammar. Portsmouth: NH. Heinemann