I'm back friends! Time for another update in the exciting life of learning with Miss Lauren. Let's give a quick shout out to my language prof, Dane, who will be the newest addition to the Little Learner family. Hey man! So for this update to my digital presence I'm actually going to go back in time in order to visit a piece of my personal literacy history. We are going to take a trip down memory lane, destination Mrs. Marks' grade two classroom.
 |
| Tucker, R. (2015). Compound word day. Twitter. |
This year and this teacher are my absolute favourite memories of my literacy development. To be a little bit more specific there are two memories that have always stuck with me. The first was a theme day that Mrs. Marks' had for our room, and that theme was Compound Word Day. That might not necessarily sound fun but to this day I think it is hilarious and absolutely something I plan on doing in my classroom. For this activity we had one simple goal, come dressed as a compound word. I remember that faithful day when 25 second graders walked down the hall dressed as everything from peppermints, rattlesnakes, sunflowers, airports, butterflies, and more. And of course my spectacular outfit HOMEWORK. Thats right, can you say teacher's pet? And to top it off, Mrs. Marks was wearing the same thing (this is where I would insert the laughing/crying emoji). I'll never forget sporting that neon pink bristol board with homework problems all over it. I was very proud of myself to say the least.
I am not sure why this event specifically has stuck out to me so much over the years but it is
 |
ClipartFest. Get excited clipart. https://clipartfest.com
/download/538da73defa1ded8c15079fd488abc2811d3ef7d.html |
something I will never forget. Maybe it's because it was the first time and one of the only times we made language into something more than just writing on paper. It was something real, unique, and something I hadn't experienced before. It doesn't even have to be this activity specifically but anything that challenges students to think outside the box and make them excited. This event was hugely impactful as a child, I wouldn't necessarily say this event changed the way I looked at writing but more that it added an air of excitement as it demonstrated the different roles language can take. Looking back now I also recognize the connection to print awareness as well as word recognition as discussed in our class. Activities such as these aid in the development of early literacy learning by reading familiar words and connecting them to themes it can help to improve fluency and comprehension (Personal communication, Gallagher, October 3, 2016).
The second event that I distinctly remember taking place in Mrs. Marks' classroom was an incentive reading system. For each book you read and returned you were given a mark. At 10 books you were given a fancy pencil, 25 you could pick from a chest of treasures and 50 you got a chocolate
 |
White. E.B. (1970). The trumpet of the
swan. Harper & Row Publishing. |
bar. I know bribery isn't always what you want to introduce to your students but this really introduced a self of motivation for me. Although it may have started out as an external stimulus the more I read the more I began to shift towards an intrinsic motivation. This activity wasn't mandatory, we weren't being graded or anything Mrs. Marks just added it an some extra fun. That year I read more books than anyone else in my entire class and I would absolutely pinpoint it has the year that made me love to read. I powered through novel after novel until the year was over but thankfully my passion was not. That following summer was the year I asked my parents to get my a library card.
This experience inspired me to continue reading and changed who I was doing it for. It wasn't for my teacher or my parents, I was doing it because it was something that I enjoyed. I think the key was that I wasn't being forced to do it. Mrs. Marks' almost tricked us because what started as a bribe brought me down a road of adventures and excitement that I wouldn't have know otherwise. This is something I feel is a really interesting technique as a teacher. Sure, some students may not develop the same passion that I did but it was still a way to almost trick students into loving something. As discussed in the course an important aspect in cognitive and socio-cultural development is student's agency. By allowing students to make the choice to read and engage, as well as bonding through social activities such as compound word day students have the opportunity to learn amongst themselves in support of Vygotsky's social constructivism theory (Personal communication, Gallagher, September 5, 2016). .
 |
Park, B. (1997). Junie B. Jones has a monster
under her bed. Random House Publishing. |
To this day, I read novels at every chance I get. Not everything may be fully academic to say the least but hey a book is a book. I often get confused for being obsessed with my cell phone but more often than not I am actually reading a book I have download and simply cannot put down. One
of my favourite activities that I did frequently in my teaching block was reading novels to my students. Each time we finished a chapter Junie B. Jones and I heard them protest as I closed the book I couldn't help but laugh as these books were slowly creating life long literacy lovers (say that 10 times fast), just like me. And for that I have Mrs. Marks to thank! To further this development a practice that I would like to continue and do more in my next block is having critical literacy discussions. I feel it will be especially important since my next placement will be in a junior block. When I was younger I do not feel I took enough time to critically analyze texts or recognize their perspectives in a socio-political context (Personal communication, Gallagher, September 19, 2016). . I think that choosing novels that inspire these discussions is important in the classroom because it creates not only critical readers but critical citizens as well!
This brings me to the end of memory lane. Literacy is something that has been important to me for a long time and will continue to impact the way I promote learning in my classroom. Until next time my Little Learners! Keep reading!
