How Do I Love Thee-Abstractions!

Writing is a major component to literacy (reading/wrting). I often ask my students write to respond to their reading. As they make connections to the world around them, they share their ideas though journaling. This concept of writing and responding to their reading can be a difficult task. Pencils are used everyday, so my analogy and abstraction comes from pencils and the thinking process behind writing and how they relate.

Analogy: The formation a pencil makes when writing is much the same as the formation your brain takes as you change ideas, language, or thought. Pencils are used to express thought, and the direction the pencil goes depends on the direction the thought moves. 

Poem:

The sharpness of the pencil is the sharpness of the mind

Waiting to hear the sounds from inside

Smooth, dark writing on paper flows

Wondering which way the mind will go

There is silence all around the room

While the mind is thinking through

All the possible things to write

That the pencil can bring thoughts to sight

From one direction to another

The pencil’s purpose is to cover

The thoughts, the feeling, and ideas too

All over paper we want to write on through

Writing shapes and squiggles along the paper

Many marks disappear later

The dark point is where we come back again

As the pencil is sharp and we can begin

Abstractions are something that takes place everywhere. Sometimes I wonder if I even notice abstractions. As Sparks somewhat defines it, "Abstracting is a process beginning with reality and using some tool to pare away the excess to reveal the critical, often surprising essence." (90) After reading about abstraction it has forced me to think of examples around me in my work at school and my life. As I ask students to make connections, “What does this remind you of? Does think relate to anything you already know?” This can be difficult for my students individually, but when we work together as a group we are able to come up with connections. We are able to build from one another’s ideas or experiences.

The poem I have selected made me realize that presenting information to my students can effect the way they are able to develop ideas and get them down on paper. Using abstractions would be beneficial to my students as they break down the information and try to connect with somewhat abstract ideas.

My goal is to break it down:

As I present information to my students I want to simplify it for them by explaining the abstractions. Helping them to realize that we all take a different form as we read, and as we write. The formation of our thoughts/pencil is different for us all. What matters is what works best for each of us.

How Do I Love Thee...Patterning, Patterning, Patterning!

Making connections to text to better understand your reading is often a difficult task for young readers. It can sometimes seems out of focus for them or they are not recognizing they are even doing this naturally. It takes time, patience, and practice. When I was taking a children’s literature class in collage, I remember dissecting books to match them with life experiences. For me I felt this was fairly easy. However, I have been exposed to many different things and have had many life experiences. The area I am teaching in right now has a low socio economic population. Many of my students have not had experiences that I would consider common as a child. They are in fourth grade  and when asking who has traveled out of MI, I only had 2 hands up. Only 2 of my 30 students have been on a vacation outside of Michigan. Some of my foreign speaking students have been exposed to a variety of foods and cultural experiences, but most of my class cannot relate to them because they have not been raised to encounter these experiences. I really noticed this to be true when eating lunch with a group of students. We discussed favorite foods and I said my favorite food were grape leaves. Mediterranean food has a very popular  place in the food  market now. The group of students had no clue. Once I pulled up a picture only 1 of my students was aware. Making connections can be difficult when the children have nothing to connect to.

My new pattern approach:

So for new pattern learning. I would like to purpose that students make and have life experiences in my classroom that they may not have had the opportunity to experience.  For example, tasting vegetable or exotic fruits. I would like them to create a list of things they would like to experience and I want to try to bring that into the classroom for them to experience. We have so much exposure to technology and there is so much that can be done with it. I would like to use it to being things to life for my students. Then, when it comes to making connections and developing an understanding of their text they will be able to recall their experiences. This exercise will force students to think about their experiences and what they have and have not been exposed to. I am excited to try this patterning approach with my class for many reasons. Like, giving them exposure to many things they may not have the opportunity to get a such a young age; using our new social studies program to take virtual field trips across the United States, and to make them more well-rounded individuals.