Reaction to Wilde's article

Spelling came very hard for me in elementary school. I did really well in every subject except for spelling. I think part of the reason I had such a hard time with spelling as that no one took the time to help me come up with strategies or gave me anyways to improve my spelling. We had a pre-test Monday, our spelling books throughout the week, and then a final spelling test on Friday. There was no other help or strategies. I remember if students asked the teacher how to spell a word she would say, "Look it up in the dictionary." The problem with looking a word up in the dictionary is that you have to know how to spell the word.

I liked Wilde's article because it was full of ways to teach and help students who have problems learning how to spell words. I thought the "placeholder" spelling was a really cool idea, and something that can help students become better spellers, and feel better about themselves. I also liked the idea of having a very print/text rich classroom environment. If there are words, phrases, names, and other types of text all over the classroom the students have a lot of resources to look at. I think part of a rich text environment could be having the students have "trouble word" lists at their desks. These lists would be taped on their desks and would include the words that they have trouble spelling on multiple occasions, that way they see it everyday and eventually learn how to spell it on their own.

It was eventually discovered that I have a low form of dyslexia, which explains why spelling and writing was so difficult for me in elementary school. It would have been nice to have someone attempt to help me with my spelling at a younger age. It probably would have saved me from feeling like such a spelling failure. As a teacher I want to make sure not to just give my students a spelling book and tell them to memorize the words, I want to make sure I know how well each student is doing with spelling and writing. I do not want any of my students to feel like failures, so I want to make sure I find strategies and ways to help all of my students. I felt like the Wilde article was a good place to start.

Coffee Shop Thoughts

Part of my job when we went to the coffee shop was to write down words or phrases that someone would need to know and understand in order to feel comfortable ordering coffee. At first I was really confused by this, I didn't know anyone didn't know how to order coffee. I was not used to thinking about ordering coffee because I have been drinking coffee with my mom since I was young, REALLY young, my mom put a small amount of coffee in my bottle when I was 18 months old. Because of my history with coffee I have never had any problems ordering coffee. Then I got to thinking and if I brought a friend to a coffee shop who had never had coffee and just told them to look at the menu and order it would almost be impossible. The menu would look like a different language. There is definitely coffee house lingo that people would have to know to make it possible for them to order a drink. While we were there I did not witness anyone having problems ordering coffee, so I am assuming they were all either regulars, or just experienced coffee drinkers like myself. The feel of the coffee shop was very chill, offering a good environment to study, read a paper, or catch up with friends. This project really made me realize just how much literature is in everyday life that we aren't even aware we use.

Crafting Writers Chapters 1-3,6 Response

I really thought these chapters were interesting. I remember in elementary school most of my teachers were more worried about my grammar, spelling, and punctuation than they were about how well I was writing. It wasn't until high school that I remember any of my teachers talking about having a "voice" in my writing. I think is really good that elementary schools are looking more in depth about writing. Of course students still need to be able to write with correct grammar and spelling, but I think the most important part of writing is how well students write and what is actually in their writing. I thought a lot of the concepts that the book introduced were useful and things that I will definitely be looking for in students' writing and also in my own. Overall I really liked these chapters and the ideas that were introduced!

Response to "'That's online writing, not boring school writing':Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project"

From elementary school through high school, my schools never used blogging, or writing online as a tool in the classroom. I did however have to write journals for almost every class. I had the same experience as the teacher's student Cassandra. I hated writing in my journal, but I loved coming home and writing emails, xanga, and on facebook.

I really liked the Talkback project that the teacher started. Students today have so much more technology to work with and will have to have mastered it to be successful in life. Because students are going to need to have mastered technology to be successful, it only makes sense that we incorporate it into the classrooms. Having your students blog about a book and then allowing them to respond to others is a great way to use technology while creating a way for students to think critically about a book.