Summer

Summer, it always seems to fly by. That is because for students it is our time to forget about schoolwork and do what we love. Now the saying is time fly's when you're having fun. and that is too true. The summer is where we are planning all of the fun that we want to have. We always see the end of summer as sad and that it is a bad thing. Really though it should be a joyous occasion for everyone. We have had a break and get to go back to work where we can continue to have our fun and use our talents in the classroom and work. We sometimes forget that summer is not the only time we can have fun and go on our adventures. We also get to be with our classmates and spend time with them. I loved my summer this year and all the adventures it held. I can only hope that everyone else had an even better summer than I did. I also hope that as the school year starts we can all find time to have some fun and go on some adventures. I for one am excited to be back at school and see my friends almost everyday, especially one in particular. It is now a joyous time of the year for reunions and catching up with friends, take advantage of it and see it for the joy it really is!.

Summer Schoolin

Many (if not all) kids want to turn their brains off during summer. They have worked hard all year learning and doing work and they want their 2 month break from it. While that is understandable(especially as they get older), completely turning their brains off means the beginning of the next year is just review. Review throughout summer is one of the responsibilities parents have during the summer. It doesn't have to be a lot but making sure they get some in is important. This makes it much easier for teachers to do their jobs and help their students learn right off the bat. There isn't much class time and if teachers have to waste it reviewing things students should already know they just get farther behind. Kids might think it is easy and stupid to do but it will be the best for them in the end. I know this first hand by teaching at a summer camp that does this exact thing. It has been simple for the students but with each review they get slightly better and maintain their level which is so important over the summer. Also this helps establish a good habit for kids to do work in the summer when they are older. This will help when summer projects come in high and getting ahead helps them in college. Without summer work it is close to impossible to maintain and improve in harder courses. This is why the responsibility of parents when their children are young is so important! Summer is still for fun but also learning so go out and have a great summer!

Past, Present, Future

All of us have heard different sayings about focusing on the resent or preparing for the future. Yeah I've heard them too. Well a lot of them have a good point so here's another little article on where to put your focus. I think many times people don't realize that they will not get the very moment they are in back. ever. period. It may be a great moment, and if so enjoy it. Many times it is a mundane or dull moment in our minds. That is fine but be present there in that moment and more can come from it then you expect. And then there are the moments that suck in life oh they will come if they haven't already and if they have come they'll come again. These are the moments we most like to forget and look past because they suck, but I say in those moments grieve, be angry, or just allow yourself to be sad. Without the moments of sadness or anger what is the point of happiness and excitement? Realizing that knowing sadness makes happiness and excitement all the better is important. This makes those moments that much better. I think this is one of the main reason that regretting anything is not worth it. No matter if it is a good or bad thing that you regret it has shaped your current experiences. All of your past has shaped who you are and what your current experiences so there is no need to regret any decision you have made. This also makes you unique and shapes your future and prepares you for your unique future. While this is all good it is why we must focus on the present and make our decisions consciously everyday. It does not matter how big the decision is either, just making the right decision for everyone is what we must strive for. This will help us enjoy our presents and shape better futures for us no matter what our past has been.

Coming Home

People have varying views of excitement about coming home. In college they may look forward to or dread the idea of going home over different breaks. The one thing that is usually nice about going home is that its home and you have a place that you can call home. It may not be the best but at least it is home. See it is a place you know what to expect and that you are used to. College or just moving away can be a difficult and challenging time. You don't have any routine to begin with and its all new to you. I always looked forward to breaks freshman and even sophomore year of college. It felt right going home and having a group of people to accept and get back together with. It felt right and I knew I belonged there. Now as I return from my spring break of junior year I noticed how it has changed. Through being at college for so long now that is more of my home than where I live is. It has come to the point where I have been here long enough that my routine and everything is more set in place at college than when I am at home. While this may seem alarming I'm quite OK with it all. I love the people I'm with at college feel like it has really helped me grow into the person I am today. While I may not feel as comfortable at home anymore, I do feel like I am growing more independent. Maybe and just maybe that's part of the reason I don't feel as comfortable at home anymore. I've changed and grown into my own person while at college and well home hasn't changed all that much. That's fine with me though and it makes going home a time to reflect and see how I've grown and what has changed about me. It is also a good time to see if I like how college is changing me and do something about it if I want to. So, while home may not truly be home anymore after moving away, it still is a good place to go back to every once and while and appreciate it and see how much you've grown up. 

Conclusion

In conclusion to all three categories of reading strategies they all help students develop reading skills. Many times it is impossible to apply each of these strategies every time a reading is assigned. With that said I believe you could at least apply a shorten version of one of these strategies every time students have to read. This will help them get more out of their daily reading. There is no reason that teachers cannot apply some strategies to every reading. Varying which one you use will be important for students as well. Students will get bored if you use the same one too much. That is why using strategies wisely is important while teaching. It can have an immediate and huge impact on the reading students do if used right. I would love to see more reading strategies in classrooms and have our students become life long readers and learners.

Works cited

                  Beers, G. Kylene. When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do: A Guide for Teachers, 6-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003. Print.

After Reading Strategies

Many students will finish reading and then move on to the next task in their life. They do not take time to analyze and process what they have just read. They believe they have finished the reading process and are done with it. This is a thought that desperately needs to be changed. Students must know that reading the text is not the end because of all of the possible learning that comes afterward. We need students to understand that "just closing a book doesn't close off the thinking that shapes our understanding of a text."(Beers 139). The closing of the book is just an opening for more discussion and comprehension of what just been read. What students do after they read can determine how much they comprehend and get out of the reading that just took place. Many times as teachers we just ask basic questions and that is how we determine if the students read and understand. These questions intend well but do not get to the point of finding meaning in the text. Students just find the answers and write them down instead of thinking about them and discovering meaning from them. That is why we as teachers need to engage students in after reading strategies as well. We also need these to be meaningful and creative for it to grab students attention.
Some of the things these strategies need to do is "comment on the text or their understanding of the text, connect what they are reading to other texts or personal experiences, [...] compare one part of the text to another, summarize the text, [...] and distinguish between fact and opinion"(Beers 139). These are just some of the things but  they show the importance and impact after reading strategies have. After reading strategies can change a students view of the book and make them find new meaning after reading. Some Strategies that could be implemented are now going to be shown.
Semantic Differential Scales:
Semantic different scales are a way to get students thinking and coming up with their own opinions. These scales let students "decide how much of the trait a character possesses"(Beers 141). This lets them decide on what the character really is like after reading. It can make them think deeply about attributes that we all have. Some books can dive into deeper discussions than others so it is open for how deep you want them to go. These also affect their lives since most of your students want to develop good characteristics in life. Filling out the charts will make them question their own traits and get down to the root of what each trait really means in life. This also allows for students from different backgrounds to discuss why they think differently about different traits. That is a great way to have students voices heard and considered in the classroom. A simple Semantic scale would look like this:

You can create your own scale based upon the questions the text brings up. It is very accessible and easy to change and use for varying texts. This will lead to good discussion and thought from a text and create an open environment in the classroom.
Somebody Wanted But So (SWBS):
This strategy looks at specific characters in a book and evaluates what happened to them throughout the book. Many times teachers will look for a class to just summarize a book after reading it. This becomes boring and repetitive for students. They know exactly who will answer and who won't and that won't change. That is why a SWBS is a good change up for students to see. A SWBS "offers a framework as [the students] create their summaries"(Beers 145). This helps student get over the daunting feeling of summarizing the book where they likely will say everything or nothing. Setting it up in a SWBS lets student focus on a character and summarize the story from that characters perspective. This gets students more involved and more likely to participating in the discussion of summarizing a story. The set up is simple but making the categories and putting them up on the board. It will look something like this:

This makes it easy to write down what students are thinking and have everyone see it. Also writing it on the board and having the class discuss it can provide some varying opinions on what the characters really wanted. This leads to a wide variety of possible answers and great discussion. This strategy also makes it possible to summarize the story from multiple viewpoints. This is good for students because it helps them see things from varying angles. This will help them in life in general when they are making decisions. They can see that their decisions effect other people by seeing how different a SWBS looks like for two separate characters. This will help students get more out of what they have read and be able to apply it to their daily lives.

During Reading Strategies.

Many times students will read a passage and learn absolutely nothing. This is distressing for teachers everywhere. How can we make what students read help them learn something. It is also a struggle to find a way for students to remember what they read. If the reading is forgotten as soon as it is read it is useless. That is why we need to find ways to make what students read important to them and help them learn. Some of the things we need our students to do while reading is
"predict what will happen, question[the text], monitor their understanding of the text, [...], clarify what has confused them, [...], connect what they are reading to other texts or personal experience, and visualize the text"(Beers 105). When students are engaging in these strategies while reading they get more out of what they read. Without these strategies students will continue to glance over readings and not be able to remember anything from them. This is why it is so important to apply these strategies to actual readings. Now I will show some examples of good during reading strategies.
Say Something:
Say something is a strategy that sounds quite simple by its name. This strategy makes students respond to the text by talking through the text with a partner. While this seems too simple to really help reading it can be the difference maker for some students while reading. If they are able to verbalize their thoughts and have someone react and engage in their thoughts with them it can lead to deep discussions about the text. This is really helpful for audio learners because they get to hear things instead of just reading them. This strategy is especially helpful in that it does not let students just read over sections and then be done with it. It makes them think about what they are reading and create their own thoughts about it. Their are some much needed rules when constructing and implementing a say something in your classroom though. It would be wise to display them on an overhead, poster board, projector, or just hand them out to the students at the beginning of class. It should look something like this:
Rules for Say Something Reading Strategy 
1. With your partner, decide who will say something first.
2. Take turns reading the selection aloud (stop about every two or three paragraphs)
3. Pause to say something about what was read.
4. When you say something, do one or more of the following:
a. Make a prediction
b. Ask a question
c. Clarify something you had misunderstood
d. Make a comment
e. Make a connection
5. If you can’t do one of those five things, then you need to reread.
6. Your partner offers a response to what was said.

Starters for Say Something Comments

Make a Prediction: 
 I predict that…
 I bet that…
 I think that…
 Since this happened then I bet the next thing that is going to happen is…
 Reading this part makes me think that this is about to happen…
 I wonder if…


Ask a Question: 
 Why did…
 What’s this part about…
 How is this (fill in detail) like this (fill in detail)
 What would happen if…
 Why…
 Who is…
 What does this section (fill in detail) mean…
 Do you think that …
 I don’t get this part here…


Clarify Something: 
 Oh, I get it…
 Now I understand…
 This makes sense now…
 No, I think it means…
 I agree with you, This means…
 At first I thought (fill in detail), but now I think…
 This part is really saying…


Make a Comment: 
 This is good because…
 This is hard because…
 This is confusing because…
 I like the part where…
 I don’t like this part because…
 My favorite part so far is…
 I think that…

Make a connection: 
 This reminds me of …
 This part is like…
 The character (fill in name) is like (fill in name) because…
 This is similar to…
 The differences are…
 I also (name something in the text that has also happened to you)…
 I never (name something in the text that has never happened to you)…
 This character makes me think of…
 This setting reminds me of…

This list will help the students know what to say and make the conversations more meaningful for both of them. without the list some students will just make short statements that have no meaning to them. That is why the list is helpful for them students to have. While this strategy may still seem simple it has been proven to help students a lot by getting them more engaged in the texts they read.

Rereading:
Another during reading strategy is Rereading. I know real simple, yes, but very effective if used correctly. Many times when students are assigned the reading they just read through it once and are done(if they read it at all). While they technically finished the assignment they probably got very little if any meaning from reading the text. Often times students also feel like they won't get anything out of reading the same passage once. Their thoughts go something like this, "Well I've already read it and don't understand so reading the same thing again will be just as confusing, so why read it again". See that is why just getting a student to reread once can change their view of reading forever. Most of us would immediately go back and reread something if we don't understand it because we have learned that rereading is helpful. Many of our students don't know this and so we have to demonstrate it and show its importance to them. It is helpful to have students look for something different every time they reread a passage. This gives them something specific to do during each reading of the text. It will help them focus while reading and get more out of the reading. This strategy is used in all sorts of readings and even when we watch something. We simply cannot see everything the first time so rereading helps us see more deeply into a text. This will help students see how much their is in reading and make them understand it better as well.

These were just two simple examples of during reading strategies. I think that these two show how simple a strategy can be and still be effective. That is why we need to not be intimidated by the term reading strategies. They can be simple and effective when we use them right. Integrating these strategies into the classroom will improve students reading and get them more engaged. That is what we want form our students and will help make them life long readers and learners.

Before Reading Strategies

Many times students will just go straight to reading without any pre-reading activity. This can be very troublesome for  a lot of readers. They just go in and read without knowing anything about it. This leads to very shallow reading and confused students. That is why pre-reading activities can help a student a lot while reading. there are many types of activities that you can do with your students before they start reading. Five things that pre-reading strategies should do are "access their[the students] prior knowledge, interact with portions of the text prior to reading, practice sequencing, find cause and effect relationships, draw comparisons, make inferences, and predict, identify vocabulary that might be a problem, and construct meaning before they[the students] begin reading the text"(Beers 74). These are all ideas that will help students read better. Now I want to show some of these strategies that will be useful.
Anticipation guides: 
These are simply a set of statements that make students think hard about them. These texts also help them "make a personal connection to what they will be reading"(Beers 75). Using them to start class based discussion can be very beneficial. Instead of some questions you make up on the spot these guide students to higher thinking and more connectivity to the reading. It is important to have controversial statements on the anticipation guide. If they are questions with no controversy the conversations will be dull and uninspiring. The controversy makes students more passionate and willing to dive into discussion to defend their opinion.
Here is an example of an anticipation guide used in a history class before reading Anne Franks diary. While it is not a perfect example it has good points to make and is used before and after the reading.

Probable Passage:
This strategy is used to help students find out what a story could be about. Many times students will have trouble even opening a book. This is because they have no idea what it is about. Probable passage "helps stop those passive reading habits by encouraging students to make predictions, to activate their prior knowledge about a topic, [...], to make inferences, and to form images about a text" (Beers 87). All of these make the student more engaged in the reading. To use one you just take a summary of the text and take out some of the words and give them to the students. They get to infer what think it will be about form those few key words they have. This makes it more fun for them and they get to see if what they thought would happen actually happens in the book. Here is an example of a sheet that you would use for a Probable passage.

These are just two of the many pre-reading strategies you can use with students. The focus on helping the reader be more engaged with what they are about to read. It helps activate prior knowledge and encourage the student to read more actively. This will help readers get more out of what they are reading in and outside of class.

Reading

Well I am in a class that is helping me understand how to use reading in my future classroom. It has given me some great ideas so far. I think something I continue to see is that we as teachers often do not understand what reading is. Most of the time we like to assign readings and have students give us summary's or take a quiz on it. This makes us feel like we know if they have read the material or not. Most of the time though, it has no lasting  impact. They read do an activity and don't remember a single thing from it. I think this is because the reading has no meaning for them except a grade. This is why we need to help students connect to the reading. As teachers we need to start thinking outside the box in regards to reading assignments. Maybe students need to read an article or the newspaper to spark interest. Reading will only get better if students find it interesting and are willing to read for something more than a grade. That means students need to want to learn something when they read. There are many ways to encourage this and provide this for students. That is why I am going to look at some strategies teachers could use. There will be three main sections I want to focus on: Before, During, and After the reading takes place. There are strategies to increase learning with simple activities in these three areas that will make a huge difference in the reading experience for students. I will start with Before in my post.
Until then Blessings
Jake Wallbaum

Decisions

Recently I have been in the process of making a lot of big decision in my life. I have not even completed the process yet and it continues to worry me. Through this time I have found that decisions sometimes take time to be completed. It is tough to make decisions that affect the future more then anything else. You make the decision and then wait and wait for its impact. These are some of the most important and toughest decision we make. Many times I see people question these decisions and regret them even before they have seen the consequences. That is why Patience is so key in making tough decisions. We need to seek advice especially on these decisions from people who have gone through them. Also making sure we pray and spend time thinking about them is important. This will help us make wise decisions.
I think though that while these are important many people look past some daily decisions we make everyday. It may be something small like holding a door or deciding to stop and talk to someone instead of going back to your room to get stuff done. These decisions really help shape all the decisions we make. If we are concentrated on our daily decisions the bigger decisions will come easier. I say this because the big decisions are just an extension of the small ones we make everyday. This is why I am challenging myself to be more concise of the decisions I make daily. If I am deliberate in those decisions I will not worry about the big decisions that come in life.
The small decisions affect the big ones so don't overlook your daily decisions.

As I turn 21 I have decided to start a little blog. Mostly just to reflect on life and hope to express myself through writing. Well here goes pretty much nothing.
Turning 21 is supposed to be important right? Well All I see is a man that is one day older and still looking like he is about 15 or maybe 17 with a goatee. I kinda feel bad because I feel like I'm robbing the happiness that is supposed to be in a birthday. I just feel like it is insignificant. It's just a day that happens to be the day I was born. I am not really a year older but only a day older then yesterday.
Now with all of that I still feel like birthdays are a good time to reflect. How was your year since your past birthday? I am asking that question and see that my life has been a  roller coaster. I have had great highs where I am enjoying myself and also following God well. Then there are the times that I strayed so far I don't even recognize myself. With all of this I am now starting to try to be consistent. I am trying to find out who I truly am and what will define me. I have bounced around so much in my life that all anybody could say is that he is positive and likes to go with the flow.
Well I am going to start going with my own flow and create myself. I am going to dive into God's word and find out how to serve him and live in this world. I am hoping this next year I can display myself. I am goign to show who Jake really is and how he serves an amazing God.
21 is going to be a great year and I hope I can look back next birthday and say I have done well in the past year. I want to grow in Christ and Learn a good deal about myself so here I come 22.
God Bless and Good Night!