Blog 2

Pretty much everyone's blog I read all thought the same thing....they are all interested in the Elizabethtown project :) One blog that stood out to me was Caitlin Ezell's post. She talked about how this class will prepare us to incorporate literacy across the curriculum. Another blog I read and enjoyed was Amber Miller's blog. I like how she brought up that literacy classes should be safe and nurturing. Which I can from experience I have had some not so nurturing literacy classes in school and it makes learning stressful and frustrating.

I enjoyed all of the different ideas provided with writing to learn. I think quick writes are great in a class, especially the upper grades. They can be used as a bell ringer or as daily journal's in the class. I can remember in my 5th grade English class we did quick writes in journals before class. They were either related to the lesson or whatever we wanted to write about. Two other things I found neat are the framed paragraphs and biopoem. The framed paragraphs to me are the perfect way to get students feet wet with writing and get rid of that anxiety about forming paragraphs. The biopoem to me is really cool! It would take some true modeling from the teacher and whole group practice before students could do it, but it would make a great study tool for history lessons and science lessons.

I enjoyed how once we watched the video on listening and discussed it as a class we got the chance to experience what was discussed. Have the chance to go out and listen then come back and reflect was nice. That would be great in a classroom with younger children, maybe not the video, but the discussion of listening and what we actually hear on a day to day basis. I know when i was in elementary school during recess would be when the high school band was practicing. Which to me at that age was the coolest thing EVER!! I remember just sitting by the fence and listening to them practice and hearing all of the different sounds of the band. All the other noise would just fall to the side and the music was all i heard. (I guess music was my calling as a child haha)

The only question i really have is...What type of lesson would you us the ABC list in and what would you do if words could not be formed to fit the topic?

With listening.....something i like to do is simply just listen to any song and pick up on the different beats in it. And if its classical music listen and identify the different instruments. I also like to just sit listen, close my eyes, and imagine the colors I see with the sounds and how they would move around.