Blog post #6
Diections: Label each activity (L) for learning/word
recognition or (A) for acquisition/sociopsycholingiustic view.
Some activities can have both labels.
Be prepared to explain your choices.
The students:
L Look up
words in the dictionary to write definitions.
A Make a Venn
diagram to compare two stories
L/A Practice
sounding out words
L Read in
round-robin fashion
L/A Correct
peers when they make a mistake during reading
L Identify
words on a big book page that start with the same sound
A Group cards
with classmates’ names by a criterion on such as first or last letter
A Write
rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same word
A Ask the
teacher how to spell any word they don’t know
A Read a
language experience story they have created with the teacher
A Work in
pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences
L Divide words
into syllables
L On a
worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same
sound
A Make
alphabet books on different topics
The teacher:
L/A Preteaches
vocabulary
A Does a
shared reading with a big book
L Makes sure
that students read only books that fit their level
L/A Has
students segment words into phonemes
A Writes words
the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of
difficult words
A Asks
students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter
L/A Uses
decodable text
L/A Sets aside
time for SSR each day
L/A Teaches
Latin and Greek roots
A Has students
meet in literature circles
L Conducts
phonics drills
L/A Chooses
predictable texts
A Teaches
students different comprehension strategies
A Does a
picture walk of a new book
L Uses a
variety of worksheets to teach different skills
Reasons for selection:
I see many activities that students
do as part of the acquisition process if not explicitly told to do it. By this I mean that any student who has
internalized strategies that help them in comprehension and articulation has
acquired learning. This also means that
there is a grey area within the definition due to the fact that students have
to be taught the strategy first before it can be internalized. To separate this, I then looked at the
formality of the task and how much of a “routine” is forced upon the students
without much room for personalization.
Those tasks were then labeled with an L instead of an A. Maybe it is due to my teaching experiences,
but I often find that activities done by students involve the act of rehearsal
and internalization with the ultimate goal to provide the skills that can be
used upon command at a later date. Some
of that is formulaic. Hence the idea that students use a base format for
writing essays in high school (5 paragraph).
The structure provides the beginning place and the security for students
to have a target of what to produce. The
key is then progressing further by allowing students to deviate from the
structure as they see fit. This is where
the teacher actions become so important to the process. If a teacher stifles that exploration by
“grading” the essay on a straight formula rubric that is too structured, the
student then begins to fall into the idea that there is only one correct way of
writing. So a balance has to be
maintained. This is not simple either as
every student is at a different pace in their ability to explore other ways of
articulating that go beyond the base rubric.
So for
example; a student may need to know how to break words into syllables; a strong
learning/word recognition process. At
the same time, if the syllable process is used to denote roots (Latin and
Greek) that then can be used to apply to new contexts and readings outside of
school that they may not consciously be aware of using then they are getting
into the acquisition of knowledge within the present world students live in. That effectively begins the process of taking
learning beyond the classroom.
Ultimately, I see that there needs to be a combination of both processes
within the teaching of students. Just
one way never seems to work with students. A quality teacher must acknowledge
and be able to utilize both aspects at appropriate times. Of course, in order to get students to be
able to function in a world of English language on their own, the target must
be on reaching acquisition methods in a majority of lessons that students
learn.
Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your posts; I enjoy reading your perspective from a secondary level. I am always so focused on elementary level and it is good to hear your thought how language is taught at a secondary level.
I found I was able to gain a totally different perspective of learning activities vs. acquisition by reading your blog. Learning activities being the routine activities while activities that allowed for a student's creativity or manipulation of information being acquisition activities was eye opening to me. I always look at things in a linear way, with one activity preceding the other. By reading your blog, I was able to see the two activities in more of a global sense.
Thanks for sharing,
Jennifer
You stated an important point that I wished I had expressed in my blog: “...a balance has to be maintained.” Is choosing between the two theories productive for students' learning? Students are able to learn through both the word recognition and acquisition methods. Students benefit most, in my opinion, when both word recognition and acquisition strategies are employed.
ReplyDeleteCheryl Schall
Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI love that you offer this class a secondary level perspective. I teach K-12, but often find myself in the primary world, so it's nice to hear a secondary teacher's understanding as well. I really appreciate your point, that teachers need to give their students a structure or outline for them to follow, and then encourage exploration. I so adamantly agree that if we stifle a students learning, they may never acquire. It's like the "old" addage: "I do, we do, you do." High school students still need and deserve guidance. Anyway, thank you for a great post!
Helena
I too have found that many of the activities listed can support both meaning (as in your example of roots and affixes) and reading skills. The best programs seem to combine both, so that students learn and apply word knowledge while always attending to meaning. Your secondary students have so much content to learn with specialized vocabulary and concepts, and to do so need to have reading skills and fluency mastered through much practice.
ReplyDelete-Deb Urey
Matt, I enjoy your secondary perspective and your thoughts on how we are to allow students to take the learning beyond the classroom.
ReplyDeleteYou shared: "Ultimately, I see that there needs to be a combination of both processes within the teaching of students. Just one way never seems to work with students. A quality teacher must acknowledge and be able to utilize both aspects at appropriate times."
Yes! This is quite challenging: to first understand both views, and then to know when to use each view and with whom... at any level is certainly an art.