The article suggests teaching students the process of morphology in order to aid students in this process.   Teaching students the meanings of prefixes and suffixes will help students not only know the words on their word lists, but any words with those particular prefixes or suffixes. 

The article suggests a step by step process that the students should learn in order to find meanings for words they do not know.  This process involves students recognizing that they do not know what the word means and hypothesizing what the word may mean.  The last step would be for the students to check their hypothesis in order to find the true meaning of the word.  This will help students improve these skills by giving them a trial and error technique.

This technique is definately one that I would incorporate into my classroom.  This article’s emphasis on morphology also inspired me to think of other techniques that I might incorporate into a fourth grade classroom.  These may be to give students a vocabulary list of prefixes and suffixes instead of words in themselves.  To follow up with this, I would give them activities on whole words made up of these prefixes and suffixes.

I am…Blackbeard  

I am merciless, fierce and violent.

I have chose to live a life of terror and spend my time trying to scare people with my smoking beard.

I hear the roar of the ocean as my vessel, the Queen Anne takes me to my new destination in the Carribean.

I see the fear in sailor’s eyes when I have my crew change my ship’s flag from their flag to the jolly roger.

I want to be the most feared man in history so I carry pistols, daggers, and cutlasses with me where ever I go.

I am merciless, fierce and violent.

I am planning a party for all of the scallywags in the Atlantic Ocean.

I taste the Grog that is my staple beverage.

I cannot wait until we reach land so that I will be able to eat decent food that has not been run over by mice and infested with bugs.

I hope that my crew does not become landsick once we reach the shore.

I cry out in anger to make myself look bold.

I am merciless, fierce and violent.

I understand that the governer wants me dead yet I take no precautions when planning my gathering.

I show no fear when he corners me and my crew behind sandbars.

I ignore my crew’s questions about my plan and quietly plot our escape.

I try to get away through a hole in the sandbar.

My escape was not as successful as I had wished and I was killed during a battle.

I used to be merciless, fierce and violent.

Image from: I watch Stuff. May 19, 2008.  http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2008/05/19/blackbeard-pirate-movie.jpg

This double entry diary technique is very helpful to students. It helps students to think about what they are reading.  It also encourages reading processes that students may not thing about otherwise.  These processes will hopefully become automatic.

The Pirate Diary was a very interesting read about a young boy who ends up becoming a pirate.  This story will interest students because they will be able to relate to his struggles.  The story is written as a journal so, as mentioned in class, it should be read in chronological order.

What if you met a pirate? is a book based on the question/ answer style.  As mentioned in class, you may want to choose pages in this book to reflect subjects covered in the twin text.  This book is very helpful because it is non fiction and provides students with a reliable source of information.

I am fierce and violent.

I wonder why I chose a life of terror.

I hear the roar of the ocean as I drift to sleep.

I see the gulls flying near and know I am near land.

I want to be the most feared man in history.

I am fierce and violent.

I pretend to be the harshest man in the world.

I feel the rock of my vessel.

I touch the side of the ship as I look overboard.

I worry that one day this ship will sink.

I cry out in anger to make myself look bold.

I am fierce and violent.

I understand the ways of the sea.

I say mean things to keep my reputation up.

I dream about retiring to Bath, North Carolina.

I try to sleep at night.

I hope I can relax tonight.

I am fierce and violent.

As we discussed in class, the double entry diary helps students to think about the text in a different way.  It helps them become accostomed to thinking about text as they read it. If you pair this DED activity with a DRTA activity, it will definately help students start thinking about the processes of reading.  This will help students improve their comprehension of text because they will start thinking about the text while they are reading.  It will also help students out when it comes to issues such as foreshadowing.  Without the think while you read processes, students will not catch on to such issues.

In the study done on this matter, all students could view text as it was being read.  The teachers modeled fluent reading and their thinking processes during the read aloud.   The teachers had clearly practiced before presenting this to the students.  Teachers also did not ask comprehension questions.  They were specifically targeting the process of reading and asked questions on this process in a reflective manner.

When vocabulary comes up, teachers should not simply tell the students what the word means.  The teacher should teach the students assorted ways to find the definition for themselves.  This is important because the teacher will not always be with the student when they are silently reading to tell them what a vocabulary word is.  This article names three ways to define vocabulary:  context clues, word parts, and resources.

Dr. Frye demonstrated this technique in class.  She began by reading at the pace the students might read at.  She then demonstrated the thinking process by saying questions aloud.  When coming to vocabulary that students may not know, she paused and asked herself the question “What does that word mean?”  She then continued to read ahead a little to see whether or not the passage would define it for her.  In this case, it did.

The article stresses the importance of teaching students to pay attention to text structures.  These structures include organization of arguments in non fiction and introduction to character, setting, and plot in narratives.  This article also addresses text features to help students in their reading.  Some text features include headings, bold face words, and captions.

feared,

and loathesome.

I am: hideous,

violent,

and unmerciful.

I am a brother of the sea.

I am a scoundral of the carribbean.

I am a leader of the people that seamen fear the most.

I sail with friendly flags to lure you in, then sink your ship and take your loot.

I retired to Bath, North Carolina but couldn’t fight the call of the sea.

I am Blackbeard.

Fear me.

The solution for this that Brown proposes is to test the students in order to place them at the appropriate level.  After placing the students, you work with them in groups to move them from the point that they came to you at.  According to Brown and Frye, by meeting students where they are, you are doing the students a great service.  Students cannot be expected to learn things that are built around concepts that they have not fully mastered yet.  Dr. Frye suggested in class to use the spelling book that is at the level that the student is at.  This way, the student can gain knowledge and have a sense of accomplishment.  She believes that it is not as embarassing for students to have a different list than others than to have them fail all of their tests.  

The article also gives several examples of activities that students can do in order to work on their spelling words.  Some of these are actual games such as board games.  Other activities include sorting words in appropriate groups.

The research done proved that if you give a student the appropriate level text, they comprehend the text much better.  This is not a surprise.  One question arises in my mind reading that: isn’t lower level text going to be based on lower level social studies. Ie: 3rd grade text will cover 3rd grade social studies so it cannot be used in place of 5th grade book.  The solution to this would be to find a book in lower text level that covers similar material.  This is possible when working in conjuction with the library and when doing research of books avalable in your area.  Dr. Frye suggested even checking Scholastic  books and other book sources where you can buy cheap books to look for books that may cover ‘advanced’ social studies material using a lower reading level.

I am acutally formulating a lesson plan around a similar workshop about the lost colony for my unit. 

I believe that a workshop such as this would peak student’s interests in a topic.  It also helps the students to feel like they are finding information out on their own instead of only relying on the text or the teacher to tell them. 

I really like the comparative table set up to compare different websites.  I believe that students should definately know that websites tend to contradict one another.  They should learn how to figure out what website is the most reliable by finding out who the author is.

As we discussed in class, it is important to check the websites for accuracy.  If using more than one website with one website containing false information, you may want to point this out to students to prove to them that websites can contain errors. This was demonstrated in this Pirate Online worksheet when the different websites disagreed about how the Boucaneers attained their name.

As Dr. Frye discussed in class, it is also necessary to go over web browsing techniques in class.  Students do not always know as much as you expect them to.  It would be important to tell students where to find information on the publication of the site.  It is also important to talk to students about links, home, and the back button in order for them to navigate through the website easily.