Two views are Learning View (Traditional Writing Classroom) and Acquisition View (Process Writing Classroom).
There are activities are associated with each view.
Activities which are within the framework of Learning View involving the teacher deciding which components of reading/writing on which to focus and then teaches those discrete parts separately, assessing for comprehension on each segment of reading/writing along the way. Errors are specifically corrected.
Learning View/Word Recognition activities include:
Students:
- look up words in the dictionary to write definitions
- practice sounding out words
- reading in round-robin fashion
- correct peers when they make a mistake during reading
- group cards with classmates' names by a criterion such as first or last letter
- ask the teacher how to spell any word they don't know
- divide words into syllables
- on a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound
The Teacher:
- preteach vocabulary
- makes sure that students read only books that fit their level
- has students segment words into phonemes
- asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter
- uses decodeable texts
- conducts phonics drills
- chooses predictable texts
- uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills
Activities which fit the Acquisition/Sociopsycholiguistic View activities have students involved as as partners in learning, where the students do discovering of ideas and construct meaning from ideas/content of the material. Errors are part of the process and the focus is on constructing meaning, not necessarily on getting everything "right."
These activities include:
Students:
- make a Venn diagram to compare two stories
- identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound
- write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same sound
- read a language experience story they have created with the teacher
- work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences
- make alphabet books on different topics
The Teacher:
- shared reading with a big book
- writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words
- sets time aside for SSR (sustained silent reading) each day
- teaches Greek and Latin roots
- has students meet in literature circles
- teaches students different comprehension strategies
- does a picture walk of a new book
I agree with most of your choices. Nice description of each view. I might disagree with your placing preteaching vocabulary in the learning view, though. I believe this is something that students need in order to comprehend, especially if they are ELL students, and this can be done in an acquisition way through having the students discuss their thoughts on the words and previous experiences with the words. They can create their own ideas on the meaning of the word and then discuss it before going on to the story.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenn - thanks for your post. I agree with you that preteaching vocabulary is important and I see where it could go under the Sociopsycholingquistic view, but our text (Freeman page 25) puts it under the word recognition view.
DeleteI had it under the other, but when I went to double check with the text, the text had it under learning view.
- Jan
Jan,
ReplyDeleteI like your summary of acquisition in that "students are involved as partners in learning" and that it is not always about "getting it right" but the focus is on meaning.
When we are reading for accuracy, and want them to focus on this and apply their skills, I have a challenge. I have students that like to feed the words to the students who just require a little more time. I've talked with these students, but it continues to happen. Do you have suggestions? I do have a "talking stick" that I use and the student with the "talking stick" is the only one allowed to talk! This works (especially in discussions), but I'm looking for more ideas. Anna
I like the talking stick idea. I have several students who blurt quite frequently too. I'm working on it. I'll let you know what new ideas I come up with. We have a behavioral specialist visiting our school on Monday from our charter headquarters and she's going to spend some time in my classroom helping me with some strategies for some of my more active 6th grade boys who are having a hard time with following expectations.
ReplyDeleteI feel like teaching students greek and latin roots would have to be a learning activity. It's not something that anyone would use conversationally and when they do eventually learn the roots they are often not used.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see another view of the sort. Now, that I have seen how you categorized the list items, I am able to reason why those responses would fall under learning or acquisition. My take from the Freeman and Freeman text was that learning is able to be tested and usually occurs in school, where as acquisition occurs at school or outside of school. It was neat of you to tie in the sociopsycholinguistic aspect. Thanks for the post!
-Christa
Jan,
ReplyDeleteMy answers were very similiar to yours. The only question I had for you is teaching students Greek and Latin Roots...... I wasn't sure what to put on mine so it's interesting to see other peoples views on this activity. I also put this as my answer but I'm just curious of your thinking on this subject.
Hey Jan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing you break down! I agree with the way you have separated the activities into teacher and student actions. I really agree with the way that you describe errors as being part of the learning process in the acquisition view. I think that is such a wonderful way to describe it to parents or other peers.
-Elizabeth