Peer Conferencing

Overall, I really enjoyed the peer conferencing session that we participated in this week. This is one thing that I do not normally do in writing, but something that I wish I did more often. Sometimes, I do complete a rough draft and have my mom or someone nearby read over and look for errors or places that could be made better. It doesn't matter how many times I read my own writing, there are still things that I will not see. For example, in some of my past writing experiences, I will reread something multiple times, but I will still miss something! So, having someone else read it behind me allows another set of eyes to catch something that I did not originally see.

In the classroom, it is very good for students to participate in peer conferencing for many reasons. It allows students to communicate with their peers and apply what they have learned about the writing process. While there are many pros of using this in the classroom, it can also been see as a negative. For instance, if a child's writing is not "up to par" they may feel hesitant about sharing their writing with other peers. So, while there are positives to peer conferencing, this is also a place that needs to be thought about before applying in the classroom.

Workshops Galore!

Thinking back over my education, the most clear memories that I have of using these different types of workshops and circle groups would have to be our Literature Circles in EDU 255. I really enjoyed doing that, not only because I had a WONDERFUL book (Al Capone Does My Shirts), but I also really liked the idea of doing this, with any age group! This is a really good way for students to read the book and then discuss the book while also gaining knowledge about the book from different aspects because of the different jobs that are brought to the circle meetings. I would say for 2nd graders, the grade I will be student teaching in, that I love to do this because that is a great age for discussion and having students responsible for different "jobs".

The more and more I think about it, I have probably participated in Writer's Workshops, Reader's Workshop and others, but I did not realize that until now. I can now see how my teachers had the class set up to incorporate these things into the class and I never even knew - teachers sure are sneaky like that!

Overall, I really like the idea of incorporating ALL of these into my classroom one day because they are a different way of teaching - they allow the students to almost teach themselves and others. This creates for a great learning environment that is not so monotonous with the teacher standing in the front of the classroom and blabbing all day long - it allows the students to move around and get comfortable so that they can learn the best way possible!

In my classroom...

One of my favorite books that incorporates history into the classroom is "John, Paul, George, & Ben" by Lane Smith. I got this book a couple of years ago when I visited Monticello and it makes me laugh in a different way every time I read it. The general theme of this book is to learn about how John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin all became famous. Some of the tales that we relate to them are brought to life in this book. The main story element that is exemplified is characters because they are an integral part of this book and the main point of the stories. Some activities that could expand students' knowledge would include:

*Have the students create more stories about each of these characters that differs from that in the story

*Have the students research about other famous individuals in history and write a short story about how they became famous

To blog or not to blog..that is the question

Having completed the first half of this semester, I have pretty much enjoyed blogging. It gives me time to just type and think about how I feel about different ideas and topics. It is stressful sometimes because I don't want to type too little and on a few occasions, I didn't know about the blog assignment until the day it was due, so I felt as if I didn't put as much effort into it because I was just trying to complete the assignment. Having time to think about it gets much better answers. Overall, I have enjoyed blogging and I hope to one day find a way to incorporate it into my classroom curriculum!