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Journal Article #1 Summary: Student's identities are formed through their social interactions and their literacy experiences. Literacy identity is often narrow: "good reader", "poor writer", etc. These are very inflexible descriptions and can lead students to be stuck in roles instead of growing their literacy skills. This article explores the development of identity through both students social interactions and their literacy experiences. Through three studies, it shows how these two concepts are interconnected. This article also discusses how literacy is a form of language and communication, how people interact because of literacy and the way that people define and construct themselves in order to accomplish life goals. This article also explores the role that teachers have in forming their students' literacy identities. It gives examples of three different and diverse classroom experiences with teachers who have different approaches to teaching literacy.  Link to PDF: http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=gse_pubs&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fstart%3D30%26q%3Dliteracy%2Bschools%2Beducation%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D1%2C23%26as_ylo%3D2010%26as_subj%3Dsoc%2Beng#search=%22literacy%20schools%20education%22 Citation: Hall, L. et al. (2009) "Teacher Identity in the Context of Literacy Teaching: Three Explorations of Classroom Positioning and Interaction in Secondary Schools." Teaching and Teacher Education. Vol. 26(2). p. 234-243.

Fascinating paper! Could you identify with any of the stories related in the paper? What will you take with you into your own teaching?

Found this website during our TEMS314 class. It is a great site that students can use to help them create persuasive websites. They log in using a specific teacher code, and their work is saved on the site, allowing the teacher to check it as the students work. It seems pretty neat, and I'd love to try it someday in my own classroom.

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This site offers a variety of books to use in science.  It also includes books for math and social studies.  I enjoy using trade books in my classroom for all grades.  My fourth graders love when I read picture story books to them in any subject.  This site is a great way to find books that will fit the needs of concepts you are teaching.

Always great to have resources for bringing more literacy & literature to the other core subjects!

This is an article about an elementary school reading specialist who works with teachers to help improve literacy in her school. In the article she gives 12 "lit tips" to help students with reading and writing. Most are geared towards elementary students, but they are very practical and some could also have applications in a secondary classroom. I especially like the "CUPS" tip for proofreading writing, check Capitalization, Understanding, Punctuation and then Spelling to ensure good writing. Very easy to remember!

Here is a very helpful link. It talks about all of the ways to teach reading in the elementary classrooms. It describes shared reading, readers theater, and guided reading just to name a few. I found it very helpful and a great resource,

This article focused on a study done in a second grade private school over a four week period. Two different instructional practices were implemented by the researcher (who was also the teacher), and observations, focus groups with students, assignment evaluations, as well as student surveys were used to collect data. The instructional practices were student-centered instructional model and skills-based instructional model. The student-based instructional model focuses on student interest in reading, small groups and personal reading time, and student driven goals with their reading. I love the idea of student -centered instructional methods in the classroom, especially in an elementary setting when student attitudes towards reading are formed and develop into life long habits. In the article, students expressed feeling better when they were allowed to make choices about the reading that they do. Observations also showed that when students were forced to read aloud the students who were struggling mouthed the words and were too intimidated to participate. Also, the advanced readers were disinterested in the reading that was given by the teacher, as they had moved beyond it. If educators expect to create enthusiastic and self directed readers, then we must allow them to feel empowered by the reading they do in the classroom. I did an article previously on given boys choices in what they read, and this practice seems to ring true in this article as well. Allowing students to read in smaller groups with peers at their reading level allows for students to gain self esteem that is so important when moving forward with their reading education.

"The Teaching for Learning Framework, a project of the Michigan Department of Education - Office of Education Improvement and Innovation, was created to support effective instruction in challenging content across all grade levels and content areas. The Framework outlines 77 research-based Essential Skills (organized into __ Fundamental Processes and three Core Elements) that can be learned, practiced, and utilized by classroom teachers to efficiently and effectively deliver instruction."

This is actually 2 articles from American Educator Spring 2011 -Putting Students on the Path to Learning: The Case for Fully Guided Instruction -Principles of Instruction: Research-Based Strategies That All Teachers Should Know The first article asserts that "teachers are more effective when they provide explicit guidance accompanied by practice, not when they require students to discover many aspects of what they must learn." The second article presents 10 research-based principles of instruction, along with suggestions for classroom practice.

This is a great website that I use often. 'Read, Write, Think' is excellent because it provides useful resources for grades k-12. This site provides teachers with classroom management resources, professional development, parent and after school resources, and learning objectives. My favorite part of this site is under the classroom resources tab they provide a plethora of lesson plans (great place to get ideas), and terrific interactive lesson plans too! I hope you enjoy because this is one of my favorites :)

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This website I still have from back when I was student teaching. My cooperating teacher wrote this website down on a sticky note for me and I have kept it ever since. I student taught fourth grade and have been successfully using Mandy's tips in my sixth grade reading classroom ever since. Here is a breakdown of what exactly is on this link: What Is Guided Reading? Schedule (of the guided reading) What Are the Other Kids Doing? Planning for Reading Groups Starting Guided Reading Guided Reading Activities That Teach What Does the Teacher Need for Guided Reading Lessons? Leveled Book Lists If you are new to 'guided reading' or are planning out your guided reading groups, then this is a great place to start. Her schedule is broken down for an elementary classroom but I have adjusted her schedule and tweaked it to fit my 50 minute blocks of students. Works well-depending on the grade and the reading level of your students.

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I am currently working on a poetry unit in my classroom and I was recently introduced to this website by a colleague of mine. On this site you can find: funny poems, poetry lessons, poetry games, poetry podcasts (ideas for your classroom), cool kids' poem links, a rhyming dictionary and much more! You can also sign up for a monthly newsletter. So far, I like the site, and my students love the funny poems. It has been a great introduction to my poetry unit and the funny poems used as an anticipatory set are great-truly engage students!

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This is an activity to help with writing skills for middle schoolers. It's a great way to have fun while learning. It can be used in the classroom or at home.

Although different opinions grumbled both sides in this article, I think it had a large nugget of truth attached to it.  For the last three years, a pilot program in NYC were taught to read using this Core Knowledge program.  Although a bit more complicated than this explanation, the Core Knowledge Program means that students primarily read non fiction books of their choosing in schools while teachers would conference from desk to desk with the students.  The study said it was most pronounced in kindergarten, where students that were apart of the study scored five times higher than those peers who were not apart of the study.  Note: it did not say what was on this brief reading test given to both parties.

This New York Times article focuses on students reading non-fiction, especially in content areas other than English. The studies show that students gain reading achievements higher than students who did not have this program in place. I think that nonfiction reading has taken a back seat, and students should learn how to read informational text. Newspapers, lab preps, and the like need to be expanded upon and used more in the classroom. Nonfiction reading is another great way to get boys interested in becoming active and engaged readers. Not to pigeon hold boys as total nonfiction readers, but I feel that many boys become tired of just reading fiction book in the English classroom, and content area reading is a great way to strengthen male students reading skills and attitudes.

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