As you ladies know, I'm working with a teacher at my center for my coaching cycle. Nicole wants to learn about keeping children engaged during read alouds in the PreK class. Yesterday I modeled a read aloud that focused on student engagement and interest. Nicole & I are meeting Wednesday to plan our co-teaching lesson, which we will implement next Monday. Our goal is to have coaching completed by October 28th. Nicole is open minded and willing to work with others, so coaching her has been less stressful than I imagined.
The vast percentage of students in my Program Planning class are interested in phonics and reading development. They also indicated they prefer learning through small group discussion, hands on lessons, and book study. I also have a few that would like more information about how to teach science, math, the arts, and how to use technology in teaching literacy. So for my PD plan I've sketched out a plan for the next 12 months that addresses phonics, reading/writing development, and technology use in the classroom. For Task 3, I want to develop a PD on phonics instruction since so many of my students are interested in it. I know I want to use small groups or technology, but I don't have all of the details yet. If I can develop a PD that includes technology in the teaching of phonics, I would like to use that for my grant proposal.
My questions this week are related to my PD plan.
1. How do I include science, math, and the arts in a literacy PD?
2. If you were attending a phonics development PD, what would you like to see demonstrated or learn about?
Thank you ladies so much for your feedback!
My other class, we are reading about how to incorpate literacy in to the content areas. There are tons of great chapters and resources out there that help teachers begin to view literacy in these areas. I think I'd begin with a large group presentation discussing how literacy is a part of everything. Talk about how literacy takes on different definitions in different content areas. Maybe get different content teachers to present how they model/teach reading strategies in there classroom.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to learn some hands on ways to make learning phonics fun. I'm not sure if you've heard of the "letter people" curriculum. It's a fun way to teach phonics and letters. But if you've ever looked into purchasing the curriculum for the letter people it's so expensive, many districts can't afford it. With that being said, I'd love to learn how to make a program that hands on and fun! Being taught fun ways, like the "letter people", would really benefited me having been an early childhood teacher.
Thank you, Kaitlin! We have paper and writing materials in all of our center areas, but the thought of how to plan literacy pd that includes other content areas seemed a little overwhelming. I really like your idea of having different content teachers present how they model literacy strategies. That definitely gives me a place to start.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of the "letter people", but I'll research it this week. I don't want it to be boring. I want it to be fun, but educational.....I sound like an infomercial! :) The biggest success for me would be for the ladies to leave having concrete information they could use immediately.
The letter people is a curriculum. As an early childhood person, I'd love to figure out how to replicate the idea of the letter people on a poor mans budget!! haha
DeleteContent areas are hard. I'm finally really understanding how they for into the literacy picture this semester. Before I viewed them as separate entities.
I like the idea Kaitlin has using other teachers to share how they implement literacy in different content areas. Also, I know there are so many books out there that are specific to subjects and topics. It's just finding that book and developing lessons that fit your standard.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of "letter people" either. Unless it's the letter people blow up dolls I remember from Kindergarten. If I attended a phonics workshop I would want to see it modeled for me and then allow me to practice with a partner or group. I have found having time to practice after being shown has really helped me.
I agree, Erin. I love the idea of getting other teachers involved. I checked out the letter people yesterday and each letter was a unique character and had characteristics specific to that letter. The consonants are male and the vowels are female. I'm going to research it a bit more and see if it's something that could be of use or maybe modified.
ReplyDeleteUpdate on coaching.....I met with Nicole last night and we co-planned our lesson which we'll teach next Tuesday. Her goal is to increase engagement during group time so we've worked out a plan with both of our roles in writing.
Yaay just read this! So you have an idea what they are now. Now if you can just figure out how to make them cheaply I'll attend your PD haha!
DeleteYour coaching cycle sounds like you close to finishing! That's great!
Haha! I used to make felt board stories when I taught PreK, so I'm kinda excited about trying them out!
ReplyDeleteYes, coaching is moving along. I think I'm more nervous about the video wrap-up than anything else!