Chapter 1 presents an overview of the cognitive, psycholinguistic, and sociolinguistic learning theories that provide the foundation for the approach to language arts instruction presented in the textbook.Components of this foundation are:
* Children learn through immersion in their environment.
* Children actively construct their knowledge through interaction with the environment.
* Adults facilitate children’s learning through modeling and providing scaffolds.
* Adults expect children to be successful.
1.What is your understanding of “HOW CHILDREN LEARN”?What do you remember about your own early learning experiences. What are the traditional beliefs about how children learn?
2. How does the way children learn to talk influence how they learn to read and write?
3. Based on how children learn language arts, how should language arts programs be developed for elementary schools?
4. What are some learning strategies that elementary children use to learn?
5. What is Piaget’s contribution to learning theory?
6. What did Vygotsky add to learning theory?
7.Explain the four Language Systems.
8. What are some guidelines for supporting and valuing students’ native language?
9.Discuss the characteristics of competent language users that are reflected in the Standards for the English Language Arts, 1996.
10. What does our author mean by a “Community of Learners”?
11.What
are the characteristics of a Classroom Community?
Tompkins,
Chapter
2
Chapter 2 is organized into three sections - language arts classrooms/materials and patterns of practice.Second, four instructional practices are discussed.Finally the chapter closes with assessing student learning
1. How and in what ways does the classroom environment reflect a teachers’ goals for theirstudents?
2.What materials are needed to facilitate students’ learning?
3. What is the teacher’s role in planning and implementing instructional programs?
4.Discuss the physical arrangement of a language rich classroom.Be sure to address earlychildhood, primary grades and upper grades.
5. Define trade books.What are the major types that you will want to include in your classroom?
6. Discuss way that technology can be integrated into the language arts classroom.
7. Be able to explain the four approaches for teaching the language arts.What characteristics will they have in common?
8. Discuss how the teacher’s job has evolved into a complex and multidimensional role.
9. How will you be able to adapt to meet the needs of every student?
10. Why is assessment such a difficult and complex part of the language arts?
11. What are some ways to monitor students’ progress in the language arts classroom?Be able to explain the different procedures.
12.
Why is grading such a difficult task in the language arts classroom?How
can authenticassessment procedures
assist you?
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
Tompkins,
Chapter 3, Reading and Writing Processes
This chapter presents reading and writing as parallel processes of meaning construction in which readers and writers use similar strategies for making meaning with text.The chapter is divided into three sections - the reading process, the writing process, and connections between reading and writing.
THE READING PROCESS
Aesthetic and Efferent Reading
Stage 1: Preparing to Read
Stage 2: Reading
Stage 3: Responding
Stage 4: Exploring the text
Stage 5: Extending the Interpretation
Teaching the Reading Processes
THE WRITING PROCESS
Stage 1: Prewriting
Stage 2: Drafting
Stage 3: Revising
Stage 4: Editing
Stage 5: Publishing
Teaching the Writing Process
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN
READING AND WRITING
_____________________________________________________________________________
1.Discuss the similarities/differences you see between reading and writing.
2.List characteristics of the different stages of the reading process.
3.List characteristics of the different stages of the writing process.
4.Explain the “Goldilocks Strategy” and list the three categories of books in this strategy.
5.Describe how a teacher leads students through a class collaborations writing project.
6.Select
one of the books provided and briefly develop a plan for a literature focus
unit using thereading process.
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
Tompkins,
Chapter 4: Emerging Into Literacy
Chapter 4 explores the idea of how children become literate, taking the position that they emerge into reading and writing in much the same way as the learn to talk - by being immersed in language.
FOSTERING YOUNG CHILDREN’S INTEREST IN LITERACY
Concepts about Written Language
1.Concept of word
2.Environmental print
3.Dramatic play centers
Concepts about the Alphabet
1.The Alphabetic Principle
2.Letter Names
3.Phonemic Awareness
4.Phoneme-grapheme Correspondence
YOUNG CHILDREN EMERGE
INTO READING
Adapting literature focus units for emergent readers
1.Shared Reading
2. Guided Reading
3.Language Experience Approach
YOUNG CHILDREN EMERGE INTO WRITING
Introducing young children to writing
Interactive Writing
Minilessons About Reading
and Writing
Chapter 4 (cont)
1.What concepts about written language do young children need to understand as they learn to read and write?
2. How can teachers extend and support young children as they emerge into reading?
3. How can teachers extend and support young children as they emerge into writing?
4. How can parents and caregivers promote emergent literacy?
5. Describe “kid writing” and explain how it might help or hinder emerging wirters.
6. Name and describe the steps in shared reading.
7. Do you think the language experience approach is an effective way to help children
emerge into reading?Why or why not?
8.
Brainstorm ideas about what you might want to include in a letter to parents
that will explain how you will use “developmental spelling” as you students
begin to write.What will be some
common objections that parents might express?
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
Chapter
5: Looking Closely at Words
Tompkins
Chapter 5 focuses on vocabulary and how to help students learn and use words.
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS
Root Words and Affixes
Synonyms and Antonyms
Homonyms
Multiple Meanings
Figurative Language
Borrowed Words
Other Sources of Words
TEACHING STUDENTS ABOUT WORDS
Word Walls
Word Study Activities
Teaching Minilessons
Adapting to Meet the Needs of Every Student
Assessing Students’ Knowledge of Words
Reflect on the ineffectiveness of traditional vocabulary activities such as looking up the definition of a list of words in a dictionary or using vocabulary words in sentences.Instead, how can students think about more innovative and meaningful ways to learn vocabulary.
1. How does a knowledge about the history of English help students understand the meanings ofwords?
2.How do root words (base words), prefixes, suffixes affect the meaning of words?
3.Discuss the amount of growth in an elementary student’s vocabulary each year.
4. How will you make vocabulary learning more interesting in your classroom?
5.Suggest several ways to assess vocabulary.
6. How do elementary students learn new words?
7.
Explain how to do a word sort.
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS - Chapter 6:
Personal
Writing, Tompkins
This chapter on personal writing is divided into two parts.The first part discusses the types of journals appropriate for the elementary classroom, and the second part of the chapter focuses on letter writing.
TYPES OF JOURNALS
Personal Journals
Dialogue Journals
Reading Logs
Double-Entry Journals
Language Arts Notebooks
Learning Logs
Simulated Journals
Young Children’s Journals
Teaching Students to Write in Journals
Assessing Students’ Journal Entries
LETTER WRITING
Friendly Letters
Business Letters
Teaching Students to Write Letters
Assessing Students’ Letters
1. What are some purposes of journal writing?
2.What kinds of journal writing activities are possible for elementary students?Varyingages?
3. How can journal writing help students learn?
4.How do teachers manage journal writing in the classroom?
5. How can teachers assess students’ journal entries?
6. Describe quickwriting and explain when it might be a useful strategy for students to use.
7.How can the Internet stimulate students’ letter writing?
8.How might you adapt journal writing activities to meet the needs of all your students?
9.
Imagine you are a 5th grade teacher with students whose enthusiasm
for journal writinghas waned.How
might you rekindle their interest in journal writing?
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS - Chapter 7:
Listening
to Learn, Tompkins
Listening is the first language mode that children develop and the most frequently used mode by both children and adults.Listening plays a significant role both in education and in life, and it is critical that teachers understand the process and know how to teach listening strategies.
THE LISTENING PROCESS
Purposes for Listening
Listening Strategies
AESTHETIC LISTENING
Strategies for Aesthetic Listening
Reading Aloud to Students
Multimedia Presentation Formats
Teaching Aesthetic Listening
Assessing Students’ Aesthetic Listening
EFFERENT LISTENING
Strategies for Efferent Listening
Teaching Efferent Listening
Assessing Students’ Efferent Listening
CRITICAL LISTENING
Persuasion and Propaganda
Strategies for Critical Listening
Teaching Critical Listening
Assessing Student’s Critical Listening
Chapter 7 (Continued)
1.Describe the steps in the listening process.
2.Why is listening instruction needed in the elementary grades?
3.What are the different types of listening?
4.How will you teach these different types of listening?
5.How will you assess listening?
6.How might students make listening a more “visible” process?
7.Imagine you are a 7th grade teacher, and you are developing a unit on persuasive language.Use the six-step teaching strategy presented in Chapter 7 the explain how you might teachpropaganda devices using television commercials.
8.Imagine
you are a first grade teacher, and you plan to share Beatrix Potter’s classic
The
Taleof Peter Rabbit with your
students.You will read it aloud
using the Directed Listening-Thinking
Approach (DLTA).Explain the steps
you will follow suing the before reading,during
reading, and after reading strategy presented in Chapter 7.
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS - Chapter 8:
Sustaining Talk in the Classroom, Tompkins
Chapter 8 emphasizes the fact that talk is an essential part of the language arts curriculum and is necessary for learning in all content areas.Research shows that talk is a necessary ingredient for learning and complements students’ written language development.
AESTHETIC TALK
Conversations about Literature
Adapting to Meet the Needs of Every Student
Storytelling
Readers Theatre
EFFERENT TALK
Instructional Conversations
Show-and-Tell
Oral Reports
Interviews
Debates
DRAMATIC ACTIVITIES
Role-Playing
Puppets and Other Props
Script writing and Theatrical Productions
1. Why is talk important in an elementary classroom?
2. In what types of aesthetic talk activities do elementary students participate?
3. In what types of efferent talk activities do elementary students participate?
4. How can talk activities be integrated into literature focus units and theme cycles?
5. Describe the steps in the interview process.
6. Discuss the strengths of a grand conversation
7.
How can you make show-and-tell more beneficial to your students?
CHAPTER
9: READING AND WRITING STORIES
DEVELOPING STUDENTS’
CONCEPT OF STORY
Elements of story structure
Plot
Characters
Setting
Point of view
Theme
Teaching Students about stories
Adapting to meet the needs of students
Assessing students’ knowledge of stories
READING STORIES
Comprehension
Assessing Students’ Comprehension of Stories
WRITING STORIES
Writing Retellings of Stories
Writing Innovations on Texts
Writing Sequels
Writing Genre Stories
Assessing the Stories Students Write
1.How can teachers help students become lifelong readers?
2.How do students learn the elements of story structure?
3. How can teachers assist students in reading and writing stories?
4.What are some conflict situations and astory that illustrates each?
5.What are some activities that encourage students to further explore stories they have read?
6.Suggest some writing activities that students might engage in as projects during the extending stage of the reading process
7.How will you assess students’ stories?
8.
How will you involve your students in genuine and meaningful reading/writing
experiences?
CHAPTER 10: Reading and Writing Information
DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE ABOUT INFORMATIONAL BOOKS
Types of informational books
Expository text structures
Teaching students about expository text structures
Assessing students’ use of expository text structures
REPORTS OF INFORMATION
Visual Reports
“All About...” Reports
Collaborative and Individual Reports
Multigenre Reports
Teaching Students to Write Reports
Assessing students’ research report
LIFE-STORIES
Reading Biographies and Autobiographies
Teaching Students to Write Autobiographies
Teaching Students to Write Biographies
Adapting to Meet the Needs of Every Student
Assessing Students’ Life Stories
1.What is the difference between stories and informational books?
2. How can teachers help students connect the reading and writing of information?
3.What are the advantages/disadvantages of collaborative versus individual reports?
4. How can students make use of lifelines in writing biographies/autobiographies?
5.Explain some strategies you will use to teach letter writing.
6. How might you incorporate theme cycles with reading and writing biographies?
7.Explain how you might include four types of informational writing in connection with a social studies theme cycle.
8. How do elementary students write research reports?
9.
Discuss the formats for visual reports
CHAPTER 11:READING AND WRITING POETRY
PLAYING WITH WORDS
Laughing with language
Creating word pictures
Experimenting with rhyme
Other poetic devices (Comparison, alliteration, onomatopoeia, repetition)
READING POEMS
Types of poems children read
Children’s favorite poems
Assessing students’ experiences with poems
WRITING POEMS
Formula poems
Free-form poems
Syllable- and word-count poems
Rhymed verse forms
Model poems
Teaching students to write poems
Adapting to meet the needs of every student
Assessing poems students write
1. What are some things teachers can do to encourage students’ interest in poetry during theelementary grades?
2.Explain five poetic devices?
3.Why is it important that teachers help students develop a concept of poetry before writingpoems?
4.Why are class collaborations crucial when introducing new poetic forms for students to try?
5.Imagine you a re a fifth grade teacher, and you discover that your students have never written poetry before and they have many misconceptions about poetry.What will you do?
6.Imagine
you are a kindergarten teacher, and you would like to involve your students
in poetry writing activities.Explain
how you would teach your students to write poetry and three types of poems
your students can “write.”
CHAPTER
12: Learning to Spell Conventionally
Spelling is a tool
for writers that allows them to communicate conventionally with readers.This
chapter begins with a discussion of spelling development, including the
sometimes controversial invented spelling.Then
an explanation is given of how to analyze the child’s spelling errors in
order to gain information about the writer’s level of spelling development.Finally
strategies are given for teaching and assessing spelling.
Children’s Spelling Development
What is Invented Spelling?
Stages of Spelling Development
Analyzing Children’s Spelling Development
Teaching Spelling in Elementary Grades
Components of Spelling Instruction
Teaching Minilessons
Weekly Spelling Tests
Adapting to Meet the Needs of Every Student
Assessing Students’ Progress in Spelling
1. Discuss how you learned to spell.
2.How will you deal with parents who are apprehensive about invented spelling?
3.What is the role of invented spelling?
4. Discuss the stages and characteristics of invented spelling.
5. What are the six components of a comprehensive spelling instruction suggested in the chapter?
6. Describe the word sort strategy.
7.
Explain how to design effective weekly spelling tests.
CHAPTER 13:Learning About Grammar and Usage
This chapter examines grammar, taking the position that instruction should be tied to writing, with the primary goal being communication.It begins with a presentation of grammatical concepts, such as parts of speech, parts of sentences, types of sentences, capitalization and punctuation, and usage.The second of the chapter is a discussion of why we should teach grammar, followed by strategies for teaching grammar in the elementary grades.
GRAMMATICAL CONCEPTS
Parts of Speech
Parts of Sentences
Types of Sentences
Capitalization and Punctuation
Usage
TEACHING GRAMMAR IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES
Why Teach Grammar?
Teaching Grammar Through Reading
Teaching Grammar Through Writing
Teaching the Parts of Speech
Teaching Students to Manipulate Sentences
Teaching Minilessons
Adapting to Meet the Needs of Every Student
Assessing Students’ Knowledge About Grammar
1.Why should we teach grammar?
2. How can teacher tie grammar instruction to literature and writing?
3. Why is there such a controversy about teaching grammar?
4. What is the purpose of grammar instruction in the elementary grades?
5. Explain the process and purpose of sentence collecting.
6. Explain the process of Dunning’s copy changes.
7. Why is it important to tie grammar instruction to the editing stage of the writing process?
8. Discuss Killgallon’s four types of sentence manipulation.
CHAPTER
14: Developing Legible Handwriting
Tompkins
This
chapter focuses on handwriting.The
goal is presented as the development of legible and fluent handwriting.First,
the forms are discussed: manuscript, and cursive.D-Nealian
is an additional style of writing.Next,
handwriting development is presented.The
special needs of left-handed writers are also presented.Keyboarding
is also mentioned as an important skill to facilitate technological communication.
HANDWRITING
FORMS
CHILDREN’S
HANDWRITING DEVELOPMENT
Handwriting
Before First Grade
Handwriting
in the Primary Grades
Transition
to Cursive Handwriting
Handwriting
in the Middle and Upper Grades
TEACHING
HANDWRITING IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES
Elements
of Legibility
Teaching
Minilessons
Working
with Left-Handed Writers
Diagnosing
and Correcting Handwriting Problems
Keyboarding:
An Alternative to Handwriting
Adapting
to Meet the needs of Every Student
1.
What are the roles of public and private handwriting?
2.
How can teachers help left-handed writers?
3.
How can teachers assess handwriting?
4.
Describe the elements of legible handwriting.
5.
Describe the sequence of children’s handwriting development.
6.
Describe ways in which children’s handwriting instruction can be individualized.
CHAPTER 15: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
This culminating chapter emphasizes the application of what has been covered throughout the book.
LITERATURE FOCUS UNITS
LITERATURE CIRCLES
READING AND WRITING
WORKSHOP
THEME CYCLES
1.How do teachers bring all the language arts together to create meaningful learning activities within a workshop environment?
2.What are some important reasons for using multicultural literature in elementary classroom even when students in that classroom do not represent diverse cultures?
3.What is a workshop environment and how will you establish it in your classroom?
4. List some approaches for incorporating multicultural literature into literature focus units and them cycles.
5. Describe how you would go about monitoring student work in a workshop environment.
6.List the stereotypes you would avoid when sharing literature about diverse cultures.