# data[].attributes.body
Today reinforced the power of intentional vocabulary instruction especially the importance of honoring and leveraging students’ home languages. I want to carry that collaborative mindset into my own practice, ensuring that vocabulary isn’t just a sidebar but a bridge to deeper understanding across subjects. The idea that print concepts begin developing long before formal schooling really shifted my perspective. This discussion helped me realize that literacy instruction isn’t confined to books or lessons; it’s woven into the fabric of daily life. As a future educator, I want to be more intentional about embedding print-rich experiences throughout the day, not just during reading time.

# data[].attributes.body
1. One takeaway from Monday’s class that I could carry into my future classroom is the conversation cafe activity. This activity can be applied to any subject area and can also be adjusted to meet the needs of all learners. It provides students with a chance to collaborate, share ideas, and learn through meaningful interaction.

2. One idea from today’s discussion that expanded my thinking about literacy was the difference between print concepts and print awareness. My group spent time debating whether they were the same or not, and we discovered they are related but not interchangeable. Print concepts involve the basic rules of how print works, like how words are organized, how letters stand for sounds, and the different uses of text. Print awareness is understanding that print carries meaning and is used to communicate, like recognizing print in books, signs, or menus and knowing how to use them.

# data[].attributes.body
1. One takeaway that I would carry into my future classroom would be the classroom cafe activity. When doing the activity, I was actively thinking about ways that I could use this in my future classroom. That activity encouraged us to discuss with peers, express our thoughts in a unique way, and challenge our thinking skills. This activity is extremely versatile and can be used in innumerous ways.

2. One idea that challenged my thinking is when the book talked about not designating specific time blocks for literacy-related things. Oftentimes in classrooms that I have been in, there is designated time blocks for phonics, phonemic awareness, etc. It is challenging, but important to implement literacy in a cohesive way as opposed to these rigid time blocks, not allowing children to see the relation between literacy components.

# data[].attributes.body
1. I would definitely use the classroom cafe activity in a future classroom. I like how flexible it is; students are able to add to the discussion in whatever way they would like, they could even draw a picture. I really appreciated that students could share and see all of their classmates' input without being put on the spot in a whole group discussion.

2. One takeaway I had from my group's discussion is that different literacy skills can be taught in conjunction, rather than spacing them into blocks throughout the day. Some methods that we discussed were using books that include multiple target skills.

# data[].attributes.body
A takeaway that I would bring into my future classroom would be to continue using the cafe conversation activity. I liked how there were different questions at each group and they were all answered so differently. It was neat to see the answers from other groups.

The question about culture and literacy challenged because they are learning English but you still want to incorporate their culture and home language in the curriculum. It was interesting to see the responses on this questions as when I read the question, I was stumped a bit.

# data[].attributes.body
1. A takeaway that I would carry on to my future classrom would be the conversation cafe responses. I like the idea of answering questions in a group to bounce ideas off one another. I think that you can see what your other classmates think on the paper as well.

2. An idea that expanded my thinking is on oral language and vocabulary. Many kids struggle on the oral language concept and understanding. Teachers have to prepare lessons to ensure they can build their students language with that help.

# data[].attributes.body
Grace Staley

1. One takeaway that I definitely would use in my future classroom is the conversation cafes. I think this is a great idea for students to move around the room and see what everyone else is thinking. I also like how you can incorporate this into any subject!

2. I liked the questions that were involved in the conversation cafe we did. I think those were important questions and I liked how everyone had different answers. It definitely made me think more about literacy and young students.

# data[].attributes.body
One thing I would take away from today's class would definitely be the conversation cafes. I LOVED this so much, it was so versatile and flexible so it could work for any grade with any subject and influence conversations and discussions to be started. With this it is a great way for students to also express themselves through talking with oral language and or through pictures that tell a story or idea. One idea that challenged my thinking is the idea of not over doing instruction but also doing the right amount. I feel like being a teacher you are always fighting to figure out a good balance and this is one of those things. Finding the right instruction and a effective way to do it so that children can learn and grow.

# data[].attributes.body
I would take conversation cafe into my future classroom. This is a great and engaging way for your students to write down their ideas as well as look at their peer's answers to get their perspective. This can be incorporated in all subjects which makes conversation cafe even more appealing. It also allows the students to interact and move around! The discussions about print concepts and doing the assessment made me realize that some print concepts need to be explicitly taught to some students.

# data[].attributes.body
From Monday's class, a main takeaway I want to implement into my future classroom is the conversation cafe. That was a great way for students to think critically about big ideas but also see how peers are thinking, too. They can reflect off of each other's ideas and expand their thinking. An idea from class that expanded my thinking was being intentional incorporating literacy into all core subjects. This helps not over-enrich literacy instruction and burn students out, but instead amplifies reading and writing into all areas in school.

# data[].attributes.body
1. One takeaway from Monday's class that I would use in my future classroom was the Conversation Cafe. I like how it got everyone up and moving, and we were able to talk about the questions in small groups as well. This is something that could be transformed and used in many different subject areas.

2. One idea from my group's literacy discussion that expanded my thinking was how we need to put ourselves in our students' shoes. There is a lot of stuff we do automatically that our students don't know how to do yet. We have to remember to break stuff down and explain things as if we were just learning them also.

# data[].attributes.body
1. One key takeaway I would carry into my future classroom is the value of using the concepts of print assessment early on. It showed me how important it is to check where students are starting, so I can tailor my instruction to meet their needs and support their growth in literacy from the ground up.

2. One idea that challenged my thinking was how much intentional planning goes into building oral language and vocabulary, rather than assuming they will just develop on their own.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Something I would take away from this class on Monday is the group discussion over chapters 3 and 4. I learned a lot while working on my work. Alongside hearing what other students shared after talking with their groups.

2. One thing that challenged my thinking during my group discussion was how should as we teachers should prevent over-enriching in literacy. This was something my group and I talked heavily on and get me some good ideas on how to prevent this!

# data[].attributes.body
1. Something I can take away from class on Monday is doing the test to see what students do and do not knwo about print concepts.

2. I think a lot of questions made me think deeper about the content we were reading about in the chapters this week. I think it also made me realize that each student will bring different ideas and knowledge to the table. Therefore we must make acccomdation as needed to that.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Something I would take away from class on Monday was using the paper idea for all subjects to get students engaged and involved in giving their opinions and feeling about different topics.

2. I felt that working on the questions on the large papers got repetitive and sometimes similar in my responses. I feel making sure the questions are worded in ways students will be able to differentiate them is a big step in the right direction.

# data[].attributes.body
1. I would 100% use the poster paper activity to engage students within the classroom. For any subject, especially literacy and social studies, this activity would be great to review and inquire with students.

2. Some of the questions that were on the poster papers encouraged me to expand my thinking, such as what role do teachers play if literacy is considered power.