Words of the Day

I enjoyed reading and putting the ppt together on this particular chapter..I
liked it that much to share what I had learned from my reading...I was able to connect my chapter highlights on vocabulary to today's events..." planning vocabulary instruction to relate to a child's personal, previous experience,.."

Well, what an eventful week....after a whole month of planning for actually only 2 days of excitement ...I did not make it to class this past Monday evening as I had mentioned....A ribbon cutting ceremony took place today at CDR W.C.McCool Elementary Middle School (PHEW!) with many important people in attendance...Our school was graced with the presence of CDR William McCool's family, our Dept. of Defense School's higher ups, many people in brass uniforms....and other island leaders...and the most important guest was an astronaut from NASA- who had trained with CDR McCool .

Astronaut Dr. Garrett Reisman inspired the students with his experiences as a student. Writing was important to him and remembers writing on that he wanted to be an astronaut in one of his 5th grade writing assignments.

The faculty and staff of McCool were able to visit with our head director- Dr. Shirley Miles from DODEA headquarters- who shared her vision and direction of our school district...In relation to my chapter presentation Chapter 14- Adapting Instruction to Focus on Vocabulary, I picked a couple of "words of the day" from today's visit. Words of the day - "differentiated learning" , congruence, "competent and nice"...

Between the astronaut and Dr. Miles, vocabulary plays an important role in both lectures. As Reisman wrote about what he wanted to be when grew up, he used vocabulary words that were a result of his personal experience of visiting space museums and studying about space.

Dr. Miles chimed off words that left an impression on me and others....to make our teaching styles reflect differentiated learning, to be competent and nice teachers and to have some congruence in our teaching throughout the district...Again, vocabulary plays an important role..After listening to the talk, my vocabulary experience stretched...

I am done for the week...and will see you all on Monday....

Is Something In The Air?

I just recovered from lack of sleep since Sunday night. It's been a very stressful two nights. My daughter who can be so dramatic developed a high fever Sunday afternoon and what a mother I am by just treating it with Tylenol. Well, the fever never went lower than 101. When your child complains of having neck pain and sensitivity to light along with a high fever, any worried parent would panic. I did! That's ok even if the only public hospital will charge you $483. 72 for two teaspoonfuls of Tylenol #3, some drawn blood and a shot of the famous fast-acting antibiotic, Rocephin. I must've been that tired yesterday afternoon because I was supposed to call back my pediatrician around 4 before his office closed. I didn't because I was in snoozeville. He called me. I felt so bad because he must've waited for my call. He just might charge me more next time! Well, I have taken sick leave for my daughter and tomorrow I will be taking off again for my mother's doctor's appointment. I am going to top Cef's big number of absences this semester. Ha!

Hey! Where's everyone?

Monday's class seemed like a course by conference for Kate and I. Regardless, we found ways to entertain ourselves. We even learned how to hyperlink an image. How cool is that! Kate's presentation on the QRI, gave me a better understanding of how I will do my assessment of my child. Her presentation was straight to the point! Kudos.

My Chapter 13 presentation reminded me of all the fun activities that I had the privilege of doing for Dr. Stoicovy's class such as Choral Reading and the Shared Reading Experience. I miss my Ulloa students! Have a great weekend everyone and I can't wait until Monday when we get to do our first session with our students. Until then :)

The Inner Arc

That's what class was tonight without the sisters...the inner arc instead of the inner circle. Lucille I hope Angela is ok!! Lorna, I am looking forward to your presentation next week because I really liked the chapter too.

We did a good review of the last section of the QRI so I have a better idea of which assessments I'd like to try next week. I'm glad we have the rest of the semester to practice giving assessments; it should give us a good idea of which ones we like, which ones are fairly easy to administer and which ones involve more in depth processing.

I hope everyone has a good week and is feeling better soon.
Kate

Monday night

I enjoyed Monday's class as usual and I'm really looking forward to meeting the students and starting the assessments. Reviewing the QRI was very helpful and informative and I'm starting to get an idea of which assessments I'd like to try. I'll be working on my power point for Monday and I plan on going to the other microsoft website to see if I can find nicer backgrounds...wish me luck!

No more gagging! We can do this!

Kate

ALL IS WELL!

All my jitters and gagging stopped, but I think I caught the flu bug! I liked Chapters 9 and 10 rather than my chapter. We got to discuss the QRI a little bit more which made me more comfortable when we do begin our clinicals. I liked Lucille's presentation. I was reminded of the good old days of when I did DEAR and SSR. Have a great week everyone!

YIKES!

I think after tonight's class, I will pick up Cef's motto.."I think I can, I think I can..." Just looking at the thickness of the sample diagnostic reports...phew! Cef's ppt presentation only reiterated what my school district's superintendent's key word during her video conference on Friday during a teacher in-service training....differentiated learning....as educators, we need to meet our client's needs- which happens to be our students...according to Dr. Vaughn-Wiles, "the children are our customers, we need their sales.." In comparison to what Cef's chapter revealed to us was to match teacher and student expectations.

On second thought, maybe I could re-phrase my motto.." I will make it...I will make it..." A, A minus here we come...! Have a good week!

Enjoyed This Evening's Class

All the information that I learned in ED 640/645 is all coming back to me. It does help when you REREAD. Repeated reading, according to Samuels, does build fluency and comprehension. Hahaha! The QRI-3 is starting to absorb. I guess I have to wait till one of us starts it off. I just want to make sure I am doing something right. Within this inner circle of support, we'll do just fine. Thank you for your help and laughter. It's good feeling. See you next week!

There were a couple of messages that came to mind after Monday's chapter presentations. The first one was as an educator, I should keep in mind the cultural diversity of the classroom. As I plan myf lessons, strategies and assessments especially in literacy, it should be considerate of where my students are as far and to build on their prior knowledge and their life experiences. Another concept to consider is the expectations of the teacher and the expectations of the students. Classroom instruction and assessment have to reflect "no mismatch" of the expectations of both teacher and student.

It was an enjoyable time in class - Monday evening! Dr. Rivera, I am feeling a little at ease as we meet and ask and ask questions about our upcoming Comps Exam.....Happy Belated Birthday, Cef! I am sure you had a good day!

I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!

Hello ladies! Monday's class was really great! All your power point presentations were wonderful. Each of you touched up on important parts of your chapter that made it meaningful to me. Remember if we all stick together then we can do it!

Useful Information To Go, Please

A switch of direction regarding the subject discussed, presented by us, the students, gave more of an insight about what we all will be doing in the next few weeks. I remembered pretty much of what was taught a whole year ago by Dr. Stoicovy. Dr. Rivera just enhanced it more in an intimate setting with the four of us. Small "sidebars" kept the discussion from dragging and brought on the great camaraderie. It's not always laughter but the seriousness of the learning that we are all experiencing. Enjoyed this evening's class session. See you all next Monday!

Chapters and Power Points

I enjoyed class tonight. Having several of us present power points on the book chapters was a nice way to discuss the information. The underlying theme for all the chapters, in my opinion, is: know your students in order to prevent mismatching. The variety of assessment activities that were presented are valuable ways to gain a better understanding of a student's learning style and literacy background.

The banana bread was delicious too!!

Have a great week everyone!
Kate

30 is the new 20!

Hi Inner Circle! I hope everyone is doing well and working on their power point presentations to present to me on Monday. I had one of the best birthday parties ever. My best friend threw me a party today at Machananao Elementary. All the teachers joined in the celebration. The menu was chinese food and I also had a birthday cake from LSG. How awesome is that! It was the best! Even though my birthday is not until Saturday, I am looking forward to turning 30. Have a great weekend everyone! See you Monday. Take Care, Cef

Happy Birthday Cef!

I had a great time in class on Monday. I am really looking forward to working with my student. Lucille thank you so much for finding one for me! All of you have made my experience at UOG simply fantastic. I have two classes now without any of you and I miss you all!

I am preparing to burn some midnight oil to work on my power point for class Monday. We have Navy functions every night starting tomorrow so it is going to be a very busy weekend.

Have a wonderful birthday Cef...the big 3 0...turning 30 rocks ( I've turned 30 many times now!)

Kate

Trust Your Gut!

Hello my Inner Circle! Today's class was awesome. It just reminds me of how much I miss my classmates! Chapters 1 to 4 was a review from all the classes that we took with Dr. Stoicovy. I am reminded of Public Law 94-142, great seminal authors and reading strategies we studied. Who knew that we learned to so much. I am so proud of us four. We made it to the Reading Clinic Room. That's enough to celebrate our accomplishments in Language and Literacy. With Dr. Rivera's guidance, we can do it!

Good Evening! After such a rough first class session and today's mandatory meeting, I had such a good time this evening. I learned so much despite being overwhelmed with the work load.

I am looking forward to working with my student and with my support group- Kate, Cef, Lucille and of course, Dr. Rivera- because we will need your help!

Chapter 3

I enjoyed reading about the assessment-instruction process and the detailed steps that are involved. It gave me a better idea of how we will be assessing our students in a few weeks, and I am alittle more comfortable with idea now.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 discussed the learning factors that influence reading and writing performance. Of all the factors listed I agree heavily with the factor of prior content knowledge. This has been a recurring theme through several of my SOE classes and to me it seems so logical that it is hard to believe that some schools still do not take it into account. Children come from all degrees of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds which play heavily into the levels of content knowledge students bring with them to the classroom. Teachers need to familiarize themselves with these backgrounds to gain a better understanding of the reading and writing skills their students have.

Chapter 1

Hi all,

I liked the overall message of Chapter 1 that perspectives of reading and writing ability need to be looked at from a variety of strategies and resources. Every child learns differently and approaches reading and writing differently therefore teachers need to base their instruction from a combination of sources to determine which strategies will work best for the student.

The information in this chapter should be common sense to everyone involved in a child's education, unfortunately it seems that sometimes the decision makers do not take the child's best interest into account.

Have a good weekend!
Kate