Book Club Discussion #4

Today we wrapped up our book discussion of "Handbook for Boys" by Walter Dean Myers. We basically just discussed how this novel truly was full of some great life lessons. We focused on the idea that "your life is your life, no matter what people do". Things are thrown at you and you have to deal with it and thats just the way that it goes. Throughout this book the life lessons that Jimmy learned are things that every child, not just boys, should learn. Talk is easy and doing is hard but you have to just try and make the right decisions even when they may seem tough. For example, Kevin is a character that showed us that even when you do know whats right and wrong sometimes that's just not enough. Kevin knew right or wrong and learned that along with Jimmy but he made the wrong choices which eventually left him in jail. I also loved that at the end of the novel it basically started all over again with Ernesto walking in the shop. It's almost representative of life and how everyone goes through the same lessons in life and its how we choose to handle them and the decisions that we make the change the outcome.

Book Discussion #3

This discussion of Handbook for Boys by Walter Dean Myers really focused on the idea of opportunities, privileges, and chances. We started off with Duke's quote from page 100 about America saying that "just being alive in America is like having a box of tools that I can use to build any kind of life I want". We talked a lot about how there are so many opportunities in America that are available to everyone but not every child sees that because of where or how they grow up. Where you come from truly makes a difference if you let it. This book really focuses on the fact that when you are young you really don't know how to get your life together but its the people around you that makes all the differences. Children end up on so many different paths in life because of the way that they are raised and brought up. Growing up with values, structure, guidelines, and consequences are key to growing up to be a successful adult. Duke help Jimmy in trying to gain this perspective on life by letting him know that making bad choices can in face ruin your life. On page 116 Jimmy even says that he is not interested in being around "bad people" whether they are old or young and that a lot of young people who get in trouble aren't actually bad, they just don't realize that there are things in their life that need to be taken care of. This discussion really hit home because as a teacher it will be part of my job to guide kids and help them to realize that they all can be successful, not matter where they come from. I will always encourage them to utilize opportunities and try and be the best person that they can be.

Book Discussion #2

In this week's meeting we got into a discussion about what people really deserve in life. The book sparked conversation about if everyone in the world deserves the same chance or if you only get what you earn. The section of the book that we read for this week brought us to talk about the people that you see asking for money on the sides of the roads. One of our group members talked about someone from their own town who was a veteran and sat in a plaza begging for money each day. People sympathized with him because he was a veteran and had a prosthetic leg. Then one day someone saw him getting into a nice car and driving to a nice house. This just went along with our conversation about what people deserve. Do people standing on the side of the road deserve our sympathy? Do they have their own situation that we don't know about? Or should they be using that time to apply for a job and make a difference for themselves? This is a question not only raised in our book but in life. Every person is different and no two people will ever have the same situation but the question is if they are doing everything that they can to better their own life.

Exploring the Kindergarten Classroom

I chose to explore the Pre-K and Kindergarten Classroom.

The first thing that I noticed about this classroom is the organization. This classroom is neatly organized into different centers for math, reading, writing, science, computer, and audio centers. The books in the classroom all organized by categories and levels. All of the baskets are organized and labeled so that the children and teachers can easily identify what they are reading. The walls are covered in different posters and acitvities pertaining to mainly literacy and reading. There are posters everywhere pertaining to letters and numbers. This is an especially great setup for a classroom because it allows the children to always be learning. Having visual images all over the classroom to help develop children's learning is an important aspect to an effective classroom.

One specific aspect of the classroom that I particularly loved was the activity "Playing with Letters" that  allowed children to participate in a sensory activity like fishing for the capitol letters. I  also found it important that she allows the children to label the different things around the classroom themselves, like the sign hung up at the water table. I actually work in a Pre-K classroom and they have a similar activity with sand and the children really seem to enjoy it. Searching for the letters in the sand gives the activity an extra aspect that really engages the students and encourages their learning without them necessarily even realizing it. 

The Log Hotel activity was another great activity set up in the classroom. The use of props to discuss the science text is a great method to use with children of that age. The "story glove" that prompts the students and keeps them on track at the center is a great method to keep the students engaged and learning while participating in this activity. 

I also loved the computer station that was set up for children who may not get engaged with typical reading books like other children would as well as the listening center. It is important to connect with all types of students. Not all children are the same type of readers or learn in the same way so it is essential to have variety of methods throughout your classroom to accommodate all students. The Starfall computer program was a great alternative way to learn about letter sounds other than simply hearing your teacher teach it to you. 

This Kindergarten classroom was very well organized and set up in a way that really engages the students and encourages constant learning. 

Memory of Language Arts

Throughout my education career I have always had language arts. My memories of it really vary but one thing that always stood out was the "reading diaries" that we kept. From grades 1 to 8 I remember keeping what we called a "reading diary" where we would complete all of our work regarding our language arts activities. We would write reflections each night about the chapter or section that we had read that day and reflect upon things like the characters actions and choices, the settings, the plot twists, and other things like that. This was something that I really enjoyed to do as I liked to be able to reflect and discuss the novels as it made it come alive to me. This was one thing that always stood out regarding language arts throughout my own elementary education.