Portrait of Literacy Learner Padlet by Stefanie Farkas

Observations

sdf2131 — 2023-09-27 03:41:01 UTC

Loves to write stories, participates in class- especially math

likes to move his body, asks questions, silly, happy, gets along with peers and teacher, enjoys reading, benefits from reminders to stay on task, likes to sit at his seat instead of the rug, likes to swim, fish, football, movies, loves his family and spends a lot of time with them

Work towards adding in moments in between dialogue- what is going on, who is speaking, what do you see/hear

Future writing unit-Persuasive writing- work on identifying together claim and reason and examples in writing

one student likes to write in german

Classroom context/background

sdf2131 — 2023-09-27 03:41:30 UTC

School info
Kindergarten through fifth grade
43% female students and 57% male students
minority enrollment is 31.8
10% economically disadvantaged students.
There are 29 equivalent full-time teachers
92% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math
92% scored at or above that level for reading.
The scores of students rank the school well above expectations in both math and reading.
It is ranked #9 in all of NYC public schools.

My classroom- third grade
30 students with 1 lead teacher, push in ENL teacher
4 times a week for 3 hours each day
5 English language learners; they all get pulled for EL support. One student does not speak any English, one student is reading on a B level and others are still learning below grade level but are considered higher than the other students.
4 out of the 5 students use Ipads to translate their needs, understand material or communicate with other students and teachers
The IPads use speech to text translation and students are able to take pictures of English instructions, word problems or anything they need to be translated from English to their own language in order to be successful

Assessments

sdf2131 — 2023-09-27 03:41:36 UTC

1 page writing sample in beginning of year of a story (pre learning unit) 9/7/23
Assessment for independent reading levels 9/15/23
accuracy rate 96%
Reading level L/M and will be tested again before 11/2
Ten minute writings 10/3/23, 10/15/23
Spelling test 10/6/23

Lesson plans

sdf2131 — 2023-09-27 03:41:41 UTC

Minilesson 10/12, 10/24, 11/8

Who learner is as a person

sdf2131 — 2023-09-27 03:41:59 UTC

My focal learner, Ryan (pseudonym), loves to go fishing with his dad, swim, watch movies, and play on his Xbox. He also loves to spend time with his family and play/watch football. Ryan is a motivated student who loves to write stories with a lot of dialogue. Ryan actively participates in class discussions by raising his hand and engaging in turn and talks. He prefers to sit in his seat during whole class instruction instead of the rug. Ryan is very energetic and likes to constantly move his body. Moving his body can distract him from instruction but with redirection to the smartboard or speaker, he is able to get back on task. Ryan is reading on a L level and is making growth in his comprehension skills (retelling the story) and moving towards reading at the M level. Ryan has so many thoughts in his head he wants to say aloud that when he is given the opportunity during the whole class discussion, he ends up stuttering and repeating himself. The teacher gives him ample wait time to get across his ideas which leads to success. If Ryan feels like he needs time and support from his peers when sharing an idea, he will call on a friend for help. I admire Ryan because of his perseverance in continuing to participate in class even when it might be difficult.

Ryan needs prompting to begin his writing- 10/18 needed help starting post assessment of a narrative true story- he will sit there and have nothing on paper for whole period unless given support- when I walked over he said he "couldnnt think straight" I offered him to go for a walk or to the bathroom he said no- does not seem like my teacher creates space for "dily dallying" like that ? Helped him come up with an idea but asking when the last time he had his favorite dinner- ended up creating a post it that stated "The time I had lobster" I bulleted three things he could think about 1) whree

Student work

sdf2131 — 2023-09-27 03:43:08 UTC

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Og0KtYJP_ugmlbHE2L2tuqW926v2GE16ElwDoFmYTdU/edit?usp=sharing

Fieldwork log

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jsbhufIrgcGzzOmCAtfc5nbXbEkDCjcBzJ8daoMZzpM/edit?usp=sharing

Phonics Instruction 10/18

sdf2131 — 2023-10-17 21:51:27 UTC

Phonics Instruction in third grade is

EL students are learning their letter names, sounds and using decodables to read. They are pulled for EL support. I am working with 2 students doing FUNdation work. Practicing letter names and their corresponding sounds.

K-2 FUNdations
Not done in the classroom in third grade
If there were to be students at I J K level (not ELs) they would be pulled to work with reading specialist.

Fum and Yoon 10/18

sdf2131 — 2023-10-18 21:18:53 UTC

Although my childhood experience was not affected negatively in terms of race, I am now reflecting that through elementary school race was not a topic we discussed or recognized. I find reflecting back on my childhood experiences growing up in a white dominant town, I was not exposed to culturally relevant pedagogy or antiracist teaching. It makes me wonder if my elementary school is still following this kind of structure (non culturally relevant pedagogy) and keeping whiteness relevant and dominant within in the school.

Reflections

sdf2131 — 2023-10-18 21:19:35 UTC

5 tenets in the classroom ( Muhammad 2023 )

sdf2131 — 2023-10-31 19:19:34 UTC

I was introduced to the five tenets through the articles this week. I find these tenets very important to utilize in the classroom. These tenets are implemeted through the pillars of culturally relevant pedagogy and serve to prepare students to navigate society and oppression by understanding who they are and their histories. Both articles include how learning through the historically responsive literacy model will address identity, skills, intellect, criticality and joy. Joy was discussed in the first Muhammad article because of its significance for children as learners, espeically students of color. Students cannot practice standard literacy skills without learning goals of self awareness, cultural competence, relationship building, emotional intelligence, wellness, empathy, etc. These conocepts create joy in students that allows skills based learning to happen. In my placement classroom, I do not witness identity and equity teaching taking place as much as the article indicates it should. Literacy is still taught without the knowledge or building of who students are as learners or their histories. Teachers must stick closely to the cirriculum there is hardly any time for joy to be exhibited in the context the articles state. Students connect to themselves through the morning question that asks something about themselves ("What's your favorite..). Read alouds are done based off the genre they are reading as a class, such as mysteries. They are not multicultural read alouds or CHRE read alouds. However, I do understand the importance and need for this pedagogy in the classroom and I hope that by the time I have my own classroom AND while I teach in the future, more schools will be making an effort to implement the five tenets, culturally and historically responsive education and historically responsive literacy model into classrooms.

Intersectionality reflection 11/8

sdf2131 — 2023-11-08 18:54:09 UTC

When I examine my intersecting identities from a place of wealth, I understand who I am as an individual and to my friends and family. I am white, english speaking, catholic, 22 year old, female. But also a daughter, sister and friend. I am also a student/ student teacher.

When I examine my intersecting identities from a place of literacies, I understand I am a person who works best with visuals and tactile objects. I am still working to figure out how I can best benefit students through recognizing my biases, classroom community, language, and content. I am learning so much to add to my tool box through experiences in the classroom and in class at TC. My intersecting identities revolve around still learning, growing, and am a work in progress. I am confident I can learn, but still building my confidence as an educator.