Final Synthesis Blog

At the beginning of this semester I had no understanding as to why literacy in a content area classroom was important. As a future math teacher, I was skeptical about taking this class. I thought I was finished with any literary classes, and I did not think I needed anymore knowledge in that subject. I now have a new understanding of why it is important to incorporate literacy in my classroom. Students are being tested with questions that are loaded with words. Without the ability to understand the content in a literacy point of view, students may struggle taking standardized test. One assignment we did this semester that got me thinking about literacy in a math class was our book clubs. By having the ability to read a book that could be used in a math class, I became intrigued with the notion that books are not only for English classes. A whole book most likely will not be relevant for the class, but choosing certain excepts from the text to present to the classroom can be beneficial.

            

Throughout the semester, we had the chance to dive a little deeper into reading/thinking strategies that can be used in the classroom to help guide students when using literacy. Each strategy brought new knowledge to me about way I can incorporate literacy without it being way too obvious. One strategy that stuck out to me was turn-and-talk. As simple as this strategy is, it gets the students actively engaging with one another through verbal conversation about the question at hand. Teachers may also have students write down some of the things they spoke about with their classmates that they may return to in the future for guidance. As I mentioned before, standardized testing has become difficult over the years because the way they are set up. The questions are wordier then they need to be which can cause students to trip up on the problem, or they may not understand what exactly the question is looking for. During the semester we had the opportunity to look at questions fro the 8^th grade milestone for math, and I was even a bit lost with some of the questions. I am going to school to be a math educator, and I was having issue with the 8^th grade milestone test questions. This was an eye-opener because one would never believe that a math test would be so literary based. As I move forward in my career, I will have to teach students not only the content that is necessary but also how to take standardized test. This means I will have to implement literacy in my classroom to promote positive learning and teach standardized testing. As you can see, this semester has opened my eyes to so much. I now believe that literacy in a content area classroom is crucial to the success of the students in my classroom. I am excited to use all the strategies that have been presented in this class in my future classroom. I cannot wait to see how literacy plays out in my classroom.

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Art and Content-Area Literacies

The painting presented above is one by Georgia O'Keeffe. She was a well known American modernists. Most of her art came from locations around New York. This work of hers is called "Red Barn" (1921). This painting can be found in the Georgia Museum of Art on the University of Georgia's campus. This piece of art could be put in an eighth grade math class with ease. As you can see, there are many triangles and squares in this painting which the squares can be turned into two triangles easily. With these shapes in the painting, the pythagorean theorem could be implemented. When you present the piece of art, you could go ahead and give each triangle two lengths and allow the students to find the missing side using the pythagorean theorem. Another class that this may be used in is a seventh grade math class during the topic of quadrilaterals. This painting could be used in the beginning of a lesson during a front loading activity. You could ask your students what part of the painting is considered a quadrilateral.  This piece of art can be used in many different setting in a math classroom because the shapes are easily identified. By using a piece of art work, like the one above, you can show the students that math really is all around them in real life and in art. 

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Book Clubs

Over the past week and a half, I have been given the chance to join a book club with a small group of students in my classroom. This is the first time I have participated in a book club. Overall, I have enjoyed my time in this book club. The work is mostly independent work which then gets brought back together when you meet up with your group, but it is still a low-risk setting which I really like. 

                  

My group chose to read, Hoot, a book about a town building on top of the living space of a certain breed of owls. After reading through the book, I have decided that it would be a great book to read in a science class. It has a lot of content that could lead to great discussion of ecosystems and how they work, and how they can be destroyed. It also allows for individuals to make an individual connection to the text because they see certain things, like the events that happen in the book, around them on a day-to-day basis. I do like the idea of using book clubs in a content-area classroom because it promotes literacy in a class that people do not usually think about literacy in when it is mentioned. If I were to use our book in a science classroom, I would be sure to only pick and choose certain excerpts from the text because other parts of the book can throw students off track, but I would definitely promote reading the rest of the book on their own time because it is great.  

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Resource Blog

A great resource that teachers can use in their classroom to incorporate literacy is posters around the room with question on them. This allows for students to write their ideas on the poster that can then be presented to the class. This also promotes class discussion one the questions and answers given. Poster topics could include, “what did you learn about…”, “what are some things you are struggling with”, “what are the steps in the water cycle”, etc. The questions are open ended, and are provided in a low risk setting. This resource can be used in all subjects. Great tool to get everybody involved!

                               

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