Class Wide Book Clubs

As I read the chapters I noticed a few things that really made sense to me relating to things i will do in my classroom. The first thing that struck a cord with me was the advantage of teacher lead, oral reading. I am now in my classroom responsible for this and I can see how it gets nearly all of the students involved (those who just don't care no matter what you do, being the exception) no matter their reading level. Students who DIBEL at 29 participate as well as those who DIBEL over 100. I also Liked the comments about how the reading groups could be used. Later in the year we plan on having students divided into reading groups based on their fluency so that the students who need help can get the help they need and the others who need to be challenged can be.

Book clubs in the classroom

Book club plus blog: chapters 1-5

The ideas that were presented in the first 5 chapters of book club plus are very similar to the kinds of things that we do in reading and writing in my classroom. We implement both reader’s and writer’s workshop. Book clubs will also begin to take place as the year progresses. My teacher has been doing this for a couple years and says it works well.

In Book Club Plus, they talk about the building blocks or framework of the books. Those components are literacy block, writer’s workshop, teacher read aloud, shared reading and independent reading. I have seen almost all of these go on in my classroom. During reading the students are split into groups and work on vocabulary and word studies in literacy blocks. They are broken up by their level. Each level has a different set of words; within each set of words students may be responsible for 5/10 or 18 words for the week. We also do writer’s workshop. In writer’s workshop the students receive a mini lesson before they write. After the mini lesson they are released to write in their journals. This is similar to the community share they talk about in the Book Club Plus. Included in every reading lesson, there is a teacher read aloud. During this time the teacher reads a story to the students aloud while they sit and listen. She may model different reading strategies during this time. The students also ask questions after she reads. The one thing that I have not seen my teacher do is shared reading. There has not been a time when the teacher reads aloud and the students follow along in their own copy of the book. This may be something that can be implemented during guided reading time when all the students are reading the same book. Right now each student has chosen their own book that interests them. The students in my class are constantly reading independently. They have time during reader’s workshop to read independently. If they get done with any assignment during the day early they are also supposed to read independently at this time. Writing is incorporated into the students reading by writing letters. During the time they are reading the book they write letters to the teachers. In these letters they can tell about the book, ask questions, make predictions or discuss anything else that they think about while reading. This makes the student accountable for what they are reading and keeps them thinking about their books.

One way that our literacy program is set up differently than discussed in the books is the days that our literacy blocks and book clubs occur on. We do both every day. There is enough time built into our day that we can accomplish both. Especially since we are broken into groups and have 2 teachers in the room. Since it’s the beginning of the school year we are just now beginning to work on revising and publishing our writing.

In reading workshop the students are learning how to make sense of what they are reading. They are learning to make predictions like described in the book. One way that my students do it which is unique is by writing their prediction on a post it and placing it in their book. This way they can go back to what they were thing and see if they were right or if their prediction has changed based on what has happened after that in the story. We learned in chapter 3 that vocabulary development is included in background knowledge. While reading aloud my teacher will stop on a work that the student might not know. We write that word and its definition down so we can go back to it for future reference. One way the book suggested the student’s processes the text is to visualize what is going on. In my class we call this making a mental movie. We tell the students that they should see a movie of what is going on in their book.

One thing that contrast how my reading lessons from the one talked about in the book is the writing into through and out of. I have no experienced any of my students writing into their stories. They do not do any pre-writing to reading their book. However, their letter writing may be considered writing through the story or even writing into if they are making predictions about the next chapters. Since none of my students have finished a book yet, they are unable to write out of. I know that eventually they will be doing this, but it has yet to happen.

I also have not seen too much talk going on. They talk with the teachers when we conference with them. when we conference we focus on what strategies they are using to become better readers and now really what is going on in their stories at this time. I am not sure if this is going to change or not. I think I will see a lot more talk when we begin to do guided reading book clubs. I hope that they will learn to have student led discussions as described in the book, where they ask and answer each other’s questions.

There are many similarities between what goes on in my classroom and the things described in the book. I am interested to see if more similarities appear as the year goes on or if we will venture in another direction.

I see reading, writing, speaking and viewing all day. Since a large part of our day is set aside for reading and writing, I see these being formally taught as well as used in the classroom. Reading and writing are taught separately as well as integrated into each other lesson. During the reading lessons the students are responsible to write letters about their books. Reading takes place in writing when the students are reading over something they have written editing it and publishing it.

Lastly, I have not seen a lot of writing into, through or out of. I think that as the year goes on I will see more of it. The only example that I can think of at this point is when the students write letters making perditions about what is going to happen next.

considering the community- edit

considering the community

1. Where/What will you visit? Why did you choose to go there?

The grocery store. Many students probably go shopping with their parents.

City hall and the police station. We want to learn about different event in the city and a little bit about the demographics.

Library. Hopefully the students in our classrooms are spending some time here. There are resources they can use at the library and free events they can take advantage of. We learned a lot about things that students can do. There is a summer reading program that a lot of kids take part in. We also learned about a thing called the Dolly Parton Imagination Library where you can get one free book a month if you have child under the age of 5.

Louie’s Pizza. A well know restaurant around town that we have heard people talking about. We wanted to see what is was like, what kind of food you could order . We were disappointed to find out that Louie’s Pizza is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so we were unable to go inside or try the pizza. I was surprised that a restaurant would be closed two days out of the week that is not common.

The race track. A well know landmark in Hazel Park. Fundraisers were also held there to fund our trip to Mackinaw. When we went to the race track we got a tour of the entire thing. We were taken into the back areas where they control room was and down by the raceway even though the live season is over. I was surprised how willing they were to show us around and familiarize us with something that we have never experienced before. Knowing about the racetrack and what goes on their because a lot of our students have been there or their parents go there.

Viking arena. This is a place where kids can take part in sports or go hang out with friends and go open skating. I was surprised to see how empty the rink was. We did go at a time where most kids would still be in school. The kids that we did see there may not have been from Hazel Park because they played for Honeybaked travel hockey team; where kids are pulled from all over to play for them.

- All of these are places where our student’s might go.

2. What do you expect to see? Spend some time thinking about common ARCHETYPES and BIASES present in your community.

My expectations of the city are stereotypical of what a low income area would look like. I don’t expect to see BMW in the parking lot or women walking around with Gucci purses.

3. What do you think an "outsider" would see? Does what an outsider might see differ from what you think you will see? If so how? If not why not?

I think an outsider will see the same things that I see. I consider myself an outsider. The community I am teaching in is very different from the one I grew up in. I still think that I have a lot to experience in the city and learn before I can fully consider myself to not be an outsider. But through this experience I have learned so much about what my kids daily lives may look like, places they go and even people they may interact with. Becoming part of the community helped me to understand them more. After this experience I agree with what was said in the Compton article, “Reflecting on my own “aha” and “oh no” moments that I experienced forced me to confront my own assumptions about teaching inner city schools has helped me to constantly monitor my actions, works and thoughts for times when I am biased, insensitive, or judgmental”. Hazel Park may not be an inner city school but it is lower income. I may have had some judgments about parent involvement and the environment the students live in and through this some of them have been eliminated.

4. Florio-Ruane (2010) explains, "The ecological view of literacy asserts that reading, writing, and oral language cannot be separated in their learning and in their use to learn subject matter. They are interrelated because they are all part of communication and are meaningful within social groups, contexts, knowledge and activities" (p. 2). Think about the setting/event you will visit as part of your Inquiry 1 investigation, and jot down some notes about the types of interconnections you are likely to see among reading, writing, oral language and other literacies and how they might contribute to communication in that setting.

There are connects between reading, writing and other literacy’s everywhere. When we were at the hockey rink, if a child is at the concession stand the child is going to need to be able to read the menu, know how to add up the prices of what he or she is purchasing to make sure they have enough money and then must communicate to the worker what they want.

5. Think about the connections you could make between and among contexts such as your school, classroom and the community. Literacy can and is found in all of these contexts, though they are not always as "obvious" as they are in our classrooms.

One way that literacy is found in the community is on all the street signs and store signs. Children don’t realize that when they are going down the street reading the signs that they are actually reading. They don’t view this reading the same as picking up a book and reading. Places in the community can always be used in math problems. Many kids buy candy at the local store, they don’t see this as doing math. However, if they are doing a story problem that has the store name and the candy they frequently buy in it , you have just merge their community and everyday life into math literacy.

Book Club

My post is going to be very similar to Sammi's because we are both in 4th grade at the same school where collaboration is heavily relied on. Our students also focus on reading and writing independently. We begin with writing workshop where we either practice for MEAP or they have time to write in their writing notebooks about a prompt they are given. We then move on to Read Aloud where my CT models what she wants them to work on when they are reading independently. It may be predicting, inferring, questioning, reasoning, etc. She also models a chapter grid and a stop, think, and jot page (STJ). For each chapter the students need to write a short sentence for the beginning, middle, and end. The STJ page is for them to write questions they may have or a prediction they come up with. Our reading workshop continues into the afternoon as well. I have been somewhat frustrated during these times because I have no experience conferring with students. My CT is trying to get me involved, but I don't really know what questions to ask the students, or what to specificially listen for. She is going to give me some books to read, but I'm worried I am just going to get more stressed out with that time committment as well. I feel like in the past more time has been spent on book club and centers, and wish we would have had more experience with reading and writing workshop.

Book Club Model in 4th Grade

The book club model seems to fit in pretty well to my classroom. Even though the book club plus seems more apt for k-2. Our class focuses heavily on reading and writing independently. We have a reading workshop block in the morning, followed by a read aloud. The morning is wrapped up with a writers workshop. The read aloud is done daily from a chapter book where the teacher models everything for the students. She shows the class lessons on retelling, predicting, inferring, context clues, and other strategies which are mentioned and encouraged by Raphael, Florio-Ruane, et al. (2004). Soon the class will be starting Reader’s Notebooks. These will be a space for the students to jot down notes, questions, ideas that they are having about the book they are reading (their Just Right Books) or the classroom novel from read aloud. These can act as authentic writing opportunities for the students and will be included as a part of their reading homework.

Once these reading notebooks are initiated the students will have more opportunities to write into, through, and out of a unit/text. For now, we are working on developing reading strategies for choosing and sticking with a book that is just right for the reader. Writing is focused on launching an idea and working on stamina for writing endurance. Using the notebooks is supposed to help teach the students different strategies for reading and comprehension. We use these notebooks to help model different strategies within the notebook. Today we started the notebooks and focused on using “beginning, middle, and end”. The students are asked to summarize each chapter. We are using these to help with oral and written retellings of texts. These are important parts of their literacy instruction for fourth grade because they will be considered below reading level and “at risk” if they are unable to accurately retell a text through writing.

Working with families

When I walked into my new classroom, I was so excited. I could not wait to meet the students. I was also a little nervous. There were 31 kids about to walk into a classroom and even though I knew they were all going to be there they had no idea I was. I wonder what they would think when they found out they had a student teacher. The first thing I notice about the students is how many of them there were. 31 kids is a lot of kids to put in one room. While setting up the room is seemed so big and spacious. The carpet area had a nice big rug and a cozy couch in it. As soon as all the students stepped in the room, space was quickly taken up. The big rug no longer looks so big with 31 bodies all scrunched sitting on it. Some of the students were excited that the other 4^th grade classroom was right next door. In the school there is also a computer lab of 32 brand new MAC computers for student use. After seeing these I was thrilled to see that the students would be able to use technology in their learning. Since I take the expressway to get to school each day, and our school is very close to the expressway, I have not seen a lot of the surrounding community. There are houses right across the street from the school, where you could often find people sitting on their decks when the weather was nice. The high school is also located right behind Hoover. Some days the football team is practicing when we get out of school. I also noticed while driving to school that the Hazel Park raceway is close to our school. This is a major landmark in Hazel Park. Fundraisers were held at the raceway this summer to help fund our trip to Mackinaw Island. The community was what I expected it to be like. The houses are moderate family houses with lots of people around. The community and school are different from some of my experiences while they are also similar to other experiences I have had. Many of the my students are served breakfast before school. When I was placed in Lansing schools, all students got to eat breakfast while they did their bell work in the morning. One thing that I noticed is kids are not bussed home after school. In many other schools that I have worked with such as the Troy Schools, the majority of the students took the bus to and from school. I really want to make sure that I relate to the students and understand how their lives are. I don’t live in their community; know where they live or what they do after school. I am sure what they do afterschool is much different than what I did when I was in 4^th grade. I have already learned a lot from talking with them which helps me to understand their experiences.

considering the community

1. Where/What will you visit? Why did you choose to go there?

The grocery store. Many students probably go shopping with their parents.

City hall and the police station. We want to learn about different event in the city and a little bit about the demographics.

Library. Hopefully the students in our classrooms are spending some time here. There are resources they can use at the library and free events they can take advantage of.

Louie’s Pizza. A well know restaurant around town that we have heard people talking about. We wanted to see what is was like, what kind of food you could order .

The race track. A well know landmark in Hazel Park. Fundraisers were also held there to fund our trip to Mackinaw.

Viking arena. This is a place where kids can take part in sports or go hang out with friends and go open skating.

- All of these are places where our student’s night go.

2. What do you expect to see? Spend some time thinking about common ARCHETYPES and BIASES present in your community.

My expectations of the city are stereotypical of what a low income area would look like. I don’t expect to see BMW in the parking lot or women walking around with Gucci purses.

3. What do you think an "outsider" would see? Does what an outsider might see differ from what you think you will see? If so how? If not why not?

I think an outsider will see the same things that I see. I consider myself an outsider. The community I am teaching in is very different from the one I grew up in.

4. Florio-Ruane (2010) explains, "The ecological view of literacy asserts that reading, writing, and oral language cannot be separated in their learning and in their use to learn subject matter. They are interrelated because they are all part of communication and are meaningful within social groups, contexts, knowledge and activities" (p. 2). Think about the setting/event you will visit as part of your Inquiry 1 investigation, and jot down some notes about the types of interconnections you are likely to see among reading, writing, oral language and other literacies and how they might contribute to communication in that setting.

There are connects between reading, writing and other literacy’s everywhere. When we were at the hockey rink, if a child is at the concession stand the child is going to need to be able to read the menu, know how to add up the prices of what he or she is purchasing to make sure they have enough money and then must communicate to the worker what they want.

5. Think about the connections you could make between and among contexts such as your school, classroom and the community. Literacy can and is found in all of these contexts, though they are not always as "obvious" as they are in our classrooms.

One way that literacy is found in the community is on all the street signs and store signs. Children don’t realize that when they are going down the street reading the signs that they are actually reading. They don’t view this reading the same as picking up a book and reading. Places in the community can always be used in math problems. Many kids buy candy at the local store, they don’t see this as doing math. However, if they are doing a story problem that has the store name and the candy they frequently buy in it , you have just merge their community and everyday life into math literacy.

Considering the Community

The community is a lot how I expected it to be. Since I grew up around Hazel Park, I have always heard generalizations about the type of community it is. For the most part, I would say that the students and families are what I expected them to be. However, the school building itself was much nicer than I had expected. Since most of my previous work has been in Lansing, I have been exposed to lower-income urban school classrooms. Knowing that their media center is updated really gave me hope that the school is trying to stay up to date and not just falling behind from other districts in the area.

1) My partners and I decided to mainly look in the downtown area of Hazel Park. This is one of the more popular strips in the city and a lot of the community based buildings are located there. For example, we will be visiting the police station/city hall, the public library, the community center, and several restaurants around the area. Also, we plan to visit the Hazel Park racetrack, which is a popular horse racing track for not just Hazel Park but several bordering communities. These places will offer us insight into the types of resources citizens have, as well as allowing us a place to observe citizens in a natural setting.

2) To be completely honest, I expect the racetrack to be somewhat run-down. There is gambling that goes on there, and knowing the demographics of the city I could come up with a good estimate of the types of people I would expect to find there. However, I also expect to see the other buildings to be older and more run-down.

3) I think an “outsider” would probably see what they want to see. Depending on where this “outsider” is coming from, just by looking at the type of people who inhabit Hazel Park may force them to make some biased assumptions. However, I actually think since we are going into this project with an open mind that I will try to look at the city through fresh eyes. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to look past appearances and get to know the people of the community for what/who they truly are.

4) I’m likely to see a lot of reading and writing connections in the community. For example, I feel that in most convenient stores or diners reading signs and then communicating what you would like to purchase is a huge interconnection. Specifically, in the library that we will visit I am sure that there will be signs relating to sectioning the library, as well as posted information for the people who use the facility. I'm sure that there are also community based newspapers around, as well as postings.

AFTER COMMUNITY POST

I actually noticed that the community suprised me in a pleasant way. The city was a lot smaller than I initially anticipated, encouraging a smaller, closer, community feel. For example, I felt like everyone we talked to was very friendly and helpful, and we came to find out that Hazel Park is actually nicknamed "The Friendly City". The things that did not really suprise me were the ethnicities I found in the community. I had pretty much observed that through driving to work, so it was compliant with my prior knowledge.
By going around the community, I felt that it gave me a greater sense of where these children's families come from. By seeing the same places that they frequent every day, it helped me to get a clearer idea of their home lives. I also believe that since I know have this knowledge about their community, I can incorporate ideas and examples that might make more sense to them. Using explicit examples in their actual math or literacy problems, can help them make connections outside the classroom. Also, because I have a greater understanding of the lives they live, I will be able to anticipate their student thinking in an effective manner.

Considering the Community

1. Just looking around at the students in my class, it is clear that there are many cultural differences that exist between my students and me. There is a very big Hispanic population at Donelson Hills, and I am interested to see if this is reflected in the community at large. I am very excited to visit some places around the community to gain a better understanding of where my students come from, and to see some of the places they spend their time when they’re not in school. Before heading into the community, we talked to some teachers and the principle to see what insight they could offer about the community. They said that being on the border of Pontiac; it is a low economic area and many students are of a lower economic status. There is a trailer park just down the road from the school, where some of the students live. We decided that this will definitely be one of the places we visit and will hopefully provide us with a better understanding of where the students live and their lives outside of school. We also have overheard many students refer to the Family Video as a place they go with their families on the weekends. We decided this will be a good place to visit since many of our students go there on the weekends. For the third place, we decided to visit the local grocery store down the road from the school, Huron Foods. Since this is a local grocery store, unique to the community, we figure it would be a good place to visit and hopefully it will provide some insight into the community.

2. In the community, I expect to find many rental areas. Just on my drive to the school each morning, the area is filled with many apartment complexes. The principle has informed us that since it is a big rental area, there are many different students that filter in and out of the area. I also expect to see some Spanish words used around the community since there is such a big Hispanic population. In the local grocery store, there might be Spanish words used on some products. I’m trying not to have a stereotypical view on what the community might look like, but I feel like I associate certain things for lower economic areas. It’ll be interesting to see if these associations I make are true to what we find. I somewhat expect there to be single mom's out shopping, or people who are unemployed.

3. The community that surrounds the school is a lot different than the community I grew up in, which is something that makes me somewhat nervous. I’m anticipating that I might feel like an outsider when I walk around the community. I’m a little worried that our group is going to stand out while we walk around and snap some pictures, but I am also excited to see what the community has to offer. I hope to gain a better understanding of my students by visiting the community and I also am excited to see where the students spend their time outside of the classroom.

4. Literacy can definitely be seen in the places that we visited. For instance, the grocery store has a variety of products, prices, and ingredients that need to be read. Also at the Family Video store, there will be signs that can be read, and also the back of movie covers that people can read. In both of these places, there is conversing and communicating that is taking place, which is another form of literacy.

5. In our classroom, there are many different literacies. My mentor teacher has implemented a lot of visual literacy as well as digital literacy. We have a smart board in our room which we utilize and the students get the opportunity to interact with technology. We also spend a lot of time on the more traditional literacies, reading and writing. Reading and writing are highly valued in the classroom, and the students spend a lot of time developing in these areas. In the community, there are also different opportunities for students read. At stores, such as the grocery store, they read product names, signs, and prices. They also have the opportunity in both the classroom and the surrounding community to interact and communicate with people which is another important aspect of literacy.


Reflecting on the Community:

What did you notice?
The two major inferences I made after walking around the community is that there is a large Hispanic population, and the community is in a lower economic area. The stores we visited used Spanish as the language displayed on many products, which demonstrated to us that Spanish was one of the primary languages used in this community and is also highly valued. The grocery store had a security guard at the front of the store who surveyed people as they walked in and out. This made us believe that there may be a high crime rate in this community. The trailer park we visited was just down the road from the school, and some of the teachers told us that we do have students that live there. The trailers in the park were very close in proximity, and there wasn’t much space for kids to run around. There also were older model of cars, and rusty furniture on the outside of the trailers. This has indicated to us that this is a lower economic area and many of our student’s families may have to deal with economic problems. The family video store we visited had many great deals and family deals in particular. This indicates that the family video stores recognizes the economic status of the community and provides great deals so that families in the community can enjoy movie rentals.

What surprised you? What didn't surprise you?
The security guard in the grocery store definitely surprised me, and it made me question what happens in the community that they would need a security guard in a grocery store. I was surprised to an extent about the Spanish language used throughout the community; however, it made sense because there is a high population of Hispanics in the school and in my class. I wasn’t surprised about the people we saw out around the community, because it reflected what I see in the school everyday. I was also surprised by the amount of rental homes located in the community. This made me wonder how this affects the students at our school, and could contribute to the amount of students who filter in and out of the school system.

How has this community experience helped you learn about your school, students, and families?
This community experience has been very helpful and has given me a better perspective on my students. It has showed me what the students are exposed to as a part of their everyday lives. It has shed some light on the economic troubles that people in the community are exposed to, which ultimately affects my students and their families. Many of our students live in the rental homes and apartments that surround the school, which leads me to the realization that some students aren’t completely grounded in this community and move around a lot. I have also learned that because of the economic situation of the community, many students don’t have the resources to read at home. This ultimately affects their progress in reading, because they need to read outside of the classroom to ensure development. However, because of the lack of resources that students have at their homes, the school provides many opportunities such as various clubs that promote after school reading, and students are also allowed to take books home. The Spanish used throughout the community has also demonstrated the high value they place on the Hispanic culture and indicates that a big majority of the community is Hispanic. This shows me that my students are exposed to Spanish on a daily basis, and many of the students speak Spanish in their homes.

How will this experience help you in your teaching?
This experience will help me make literacy more meaningful to my students. In the learning to change video, I agreed with many of the points that were being made, in particular with making bridges between the teacher and their students, “It’s about providing the best quality teacher no matter where a student lives and making those bridges.” Although there were things in the community that I could not identify with, one major one being the Hispanic culture, it is important that I build bridges between myself and my students so I can make learning more meaningful to them. I also liked how they said that “We have a classroom system, when we should have a community system.” This is a philosophy I will bring into my teaching, because building a community in the classroom and getting to know the greater community is crucial in providing meaningful learning for my students.

How will it influence your thinking about your students' as literacy users and learners?
The community has had a big affect on how I view my students as literacy users and learners. The biggest realization I have come to is that fact that many students use Spanish as one of their primary languages. Throughout the community they are being exposed to both Spanish and English, and many of my students speak Spanish in their homes. This is definitely something to consider and build upon in the classroom. The community provides many opportunities for the students to use various forms of literacies. For instances, in the grocery store, they are exposed to signs, prices, products, and ingredients to be read. Knowing that the community provides opportunities for my students to use literacy, it is crucial to connect things they are learning in the classroom to things they see in their community. This experience has really opened my eyes to various ways to make meaningful connections especially in the context of literacy.

Ohh What a Community we Have to Consider

1.Where/What will you visit? Why did you choose to go there?
-We attempted to go to a bookstore, A laundromat, Kroger, McDonalds, Ace Hardware, and the liquor store directly next to the school. I say attempted because when we got to the book store (the only book store listed online as being in Hazel Park) we discovered it was an "Adults only" store, and was immediately stricken from our list. We chose the laundromat because if students are sent to do laundry they must read the instructions on both the bottles of detergent and the machines themselves, also they must read any and all rules regarding behavior so they know what is expected of them. We choose Kroger to show how they must understand what items are, where in the store they are located and things of that nature. We picked McDonalds because when asked nearly all the students in my colleagues class stated that their favorite restaurant was McDonalds. We chose Ace Hardware for many of the same reasons we chose Kroger. Lastly we chose the liquor store because every student will go into that store (or very nearly) many multiple times a week, and we wanted to look for the types of literacy to be found in such a staple location.

2. What do you expect to see? Spend some time thinking about common ARCHETYPES and BIASES present in your community.

-I will be honest that when going into this activity I expected to find simpler words on signs and sales given the problems many of my students have with reading. Also I expected to see more people of color than other based upon my observations when driving around the city not based on my classroom. I also did not expect to see that many people at the places like McDonalds and Kroger as economic times are tough so there may not be enough money for these kinds of things.

3. What do you think an "outsider" would see? Does what an outsider might see differ from what you think you will see? If so how? If not why not?
-I think an outsiders view would vary depending on where this outsider was him or herself from. An outsider from Detroit would see things differently than an outsider from a highly wealthy community like Bloomfield Hills. This aspect of every outsider being different makes this question very challenging to answer not knowing where the outsider is from. Hopefully that makes sense...

4. Florio-Ruane (2010) explains, "The ecological view of literacy asserts that reading, writing, and oral language cannot be separated in their learning and in their use to learn subject matter. They are interrelated because they are all part of communication and are meaningful within social groups, contexts, knowledge and activities" (p. 2). Think about the setting/event you will visit as part of your Inquiry 1 investigation, and jot down some notes about the types of interconnections you are likely to see among reading, writing, oral language and other literacies and how they might contribute to communication in that setting.
-At Kroger I might see interconnections between reading, writing, and oral language, as people read the written sale signs and discuss them. At any of the locations there is the oral language and connections between people in the location.

5. Think about the connections you could make between and among contexts such as your school, classroom and the community. Literacy can and is found in all of these contexts, though they are not always as "obvious" as they are in our classrooms.
-I think that the "traditional literacies" are covered quite well in the classroom setting as students read something, write about it, and then share and discuss. Also things like artistic and technological literacies are addressed in class. I think the literacy that I most need to work to make connections to is social literacy. Students I work with often have a difficult time working with others, or understanding the appropriate way to behave in specific social settings. I think that the more examples I can give them of these things the better off they will be.

Considering the Community

1. My group and I chose to go to Pete's Coney Island, Kroger, and L.A. Cafe. We chose the Coney Island because we learned that they support local sports teams and schools and frequently allow children to do fundraisers there. L.A. Cafe we knew was owned by the parents of students at our school. Finally, we chose Kroger because we thought it would be a common place students and their parents would go.

2. I expected to see the restaurants fairly empty because we were visiting on a Tuesday between breakfast and lunch. In the grocery store I expected to see either elderly people or perhaps stay at home moms. I expected each establishment to have a pretty laid back, calm atmosphere because of the time of day.

3. I think an outsider would see the same things I saw, and in a way I consider myself an outsider because I am not from that community. Kroger reminded me of any other grocery store and no one gave us a second glance as we were taking pictures. L.A. Cafe is a nice, cozy cafe with a more homey feeling. Pete's Coney Island reminded me of any other Coney Island except that their wall decorations were pictures of local people/things from the surrounding communities.

4. The coney island will require the ability to read the menu/prices or at least be able to orally describe what you want to the waitress. In addition, if there are specials or anything similar, you will have to be able to read those or understand them from the waitress. While reading, writing, and oral communication are all interrelated, I feel in this setting, you do not need to know them all in order to communicate.

5. Thus far, the only technology we have used in my classroom is a document camera. I feel technology is much more prevalent in the community than it has been in my classroom. We do reading and writing workshop every morning which corresponds directly to what students will see in their community. I expect there to be a fair amount of cultural literacy in the community--vegetarian options on a menu, different sections in the grocery store for different cultures of food, etc. This will help broaden students' understanding of different cultures and ideas, something that is not always addressed in the classroom.

EDIT:
1. I noticed that everyone seemed to be very friendly at each of the locations we went to. They were more than willing to answer our questions and tell us about the community. They made me feel right at home. I also noticed that the people I saw out were the kind of people I expected to see. Older people at the grocery store, businesspeople at the restaurants, and all three places were pretty empty because of the time of day.
2. I was surprised at how nice the Kroger was, it looked very modern and newly renovated inside with a buffet lunch bar and sleek architecture inside. I was also surprised to find out how involved the restaurants are within the community. L.A. Cafe has local artist's displayed throughout the restaurant and Pete's Coney Island is consistently engaged in local fundraisers.
3. This community experience has helped me to learn that I am student teaching in a very involved community. It seems that everyone tries to give back in some way. One student told me he and his mom resell household items at the flea market. I also learned that parents carpool a lot, not only to help out each other, but to help with the environment.
4. This experience will help me in my teaching because I have learned about who my students are and where they come from, allowing me to gear lessons toward their everyday lives. By creating meaningful lessons, they will be move engaged and involved because they can relate to what I am teaching.
5. I do have some stereotypes about my students and why certain ones do not do their reading homework or why they don't pay attention in class or have the ability but choose not to apply themselves. After reading the Compton-Lilly article and exploring the community, I need to remember that, "...despite socioeconomic, racial, and linguistic differences, families are engaged in meaningful and purposeful activities" (449). I have to remember not to judge or base anything on preconceived notions and just approach the literacy instruction with an open mind.

Considering the Community

1. Where/What will you visit? Why did you choose to go there?

As a group, we decided to go to three places. We chose a local restaurant (Pete’s Coney Island), a local grocery store (Kroger), and a local café (L.A. Café). We chose these because we knew that the café and restaurant had close ties to the community. The café is owned by parents of a second grader at our school, and the restaurant supports local teams, people, and events.

2. What do you expect to see? Spend some time thinking about common ARCHETYPES and BIASES present in your community.

Considering the time of day, we went on Tuesday morning, I expected to see few kids (they should be in school) and more elderly people or business people. The restaurant would have more business people dining for a breakfast/brunch meeting. The grocery store would have most of the elderly, or people without jobs (?), or stay at home moms shopping for the week or for dinner that night.

3. What do you think an "outsider" would see? Does what an outsider might see differ from what you think you will see? If so how? If not why not?

I don’t think the “outsider” would see anything too drastically different. This is a standard suburban area. I do not live in this immediate area and felt that I could have been walking into the same Kroger as the one down the street from my own house. The people are going about their daily lives, and barely even glanced at our small group taking pictures. The café had a more intimate feeling because it is locally owned and operated so that the people who came in felt important and they may feel like their presence is valued.

4. Florio-Ruane (2010) explains, "The ecological view of literacy asserts that reading, writing, and oral language cannot be separated in their learning and in their use to learn subject matter. They are interrelated because they are all part of communication and are meaningful within social groups, contexts, knowledge and activities" (p. 2). Think about the setting/event you will visit as part of your Inquiry 1 investigation, and jot down some notes about the types of interconnections you are likely to see among reading, writing, oral language and other literacies and how they might contribute to communication in that setting.

In the grocery store there will be some reading. It will be necessary to read titles of brands, ingredients, etc. The shopper will also have to be able to read the price in order to make the best decision for his/her own financial needs. Because of all of the different items available there are many workers who know the inventory and can help somebody if necessary. The café and restaurant require use of reading a menu, or observing pictures. You may be able to describe what you desire to the wait staff and they can offer suggestions. The environment will require at least oral fluency.

5. Think about the connections you could make between and among contexts such as your school, classroom and the community. Literacy can and is found in all of these contexts, though they are not always as "obvious" as they are in our classrooms. In the classroom we work a lot with new literacies.

We spend a lot of time on emotional literacy and ways to deal with these problems, like the conscious discipline ideas. We spend time in the computer lab so that the students have an opportunity to learn and experience digital literacy and all of the software resources the school has to offer. The classroom and district really focuses on the traditional literacies. We spend our entire morning working on reading and writing alone. These are skills that the district believe are necessary for a student to obtain in order to be successful in the other subject areas.

9-27 EDIT:

• What did you notice? I noticed, throughout our observations, that the community is very friendly and realizes exactly how their support helps the rest of the community (children and adults). There were plenty of opportunities for the visitors to use literacy skills throughout their day of running errands or for a quick meal out.
• What surprised you? What didn't surprise you?I was surprised about how much Pete's and LA Cafe tried to help out their immediate community. At Pete's, we learned from the owner, Ed, that he happily provides a venue and food for fundraisers. The group trying to raise money (generally sports teams or school groups) would be the waitstaff for the evening and take home all tips as proceeds. Ed even mentioned that he makes sure that his regular waitstaff is all taken care of in lieu of the fundraiser staff.
• I was surprised about the Kroger. The Kroger by my house is just an average grocery store. The Kroger in Clarkston/Waterford was recently renovated and it gives off an aura of luxury in an otherwise average middle working class area.
  
• How has this community experience helped you learn about your school, students, and families?I have seen some of the establishments that students and their families go to after school. These are places that students can associate with and develop a "second family" in some of these places.
  
• How will this experience help you in your teaching?I now know what some of the local areas are like, where the students and their families shop or spend a lot of time running errands.
  
• How will it influence your thinking about your students' as literacy users and learners? This excursion will help influence literacy because I can understand how frequently and to what extent my students are experiencing literacy outside of the classroom. I can work to cater my literacy homework assignments to these needs.