How I learned language when I was little

Well I had to call my mom to see how I learned language and she said I used a blend of both phonics and whole language. She said I used more phonics though and that I had a phonics game at home I used to practice sounding out the letters. My mom said she also believed I learned phonics at school and that I learned how to read fairly quickly. She said even when I was little my parents would read books to me and before long I would have them memorized so if either of them accidently fell asleep, I knew what part they missed and I could turn the pages on cue. I believe it is very amazing how children can easily memorize their favorite book and know when to turn the pages. When I was little I enjoyed reading so much that I made my parents tape me reading. Rewatching that video it seemed like it took me a while to read, but I was able to sound out and read all the words well. My mom said I never really struggled with reading but I do remember struggling a little with speech. I had a tough time saying "library" and had to go into speech therapy for a little bit. My speech never hindered my reading though, that I am aware of.

My previous learning has impacted me greatly today. I enjoy reading and am a fairly fast reader. I have noticed that when helping students read I tend to get them to sound out the word to help them learn it. I guess phonics helped me a lot and I try to help students the way I learned to read best. All of my classes this semester in college have a lot of reading for them so it is important that I use those beginning reading skills to help me. I believe phonics helps students learn language better so I believe I am going to teach that in my classroom. Teaching students memorization is not completly effective in my mind. Although if a child is struggling learning with phonics then I will teach them using whole language. All children are different and some children might learn differently, so I believe as a teacher it is my duty to find the best method of learning that works for that student. As long as my students are able to effectively read, I will be a happy teacher. The method doesn't matter as much as the learning does, that takes place within the child.

The Six Language Arts

What suprised me about the six language arts was that there were so many. I originally believed that reading and writing were the only two language arts. I didn't think to include talking and listening as a part of the language arts, because like Dr. Duncan said most teachers do, I assummed students already knew how to talk and listen and that this wasn't a part of the curriculum. Viewing and visually representing are another part of the six language arts that I forgot to include as a part of the curriculum of language arts.

I believe viewing and visually representing should definatly be apart of language arts because they supplement the original literature. Sometimes students are able to understand the literature better if they view the movie after reading. The internet might have additional activities that students can participate in to supplement their knowledge of the literature. Kidspiration is a great tool to use for visual learners. With this program, students can list the main points of a story in a creative way. Viewing and Visually representing allows students to supplement their knowledge of literature in a creative way.I believe students only benefit more from viewing and visual representation. If Viewing and visual representation were not a part of language arts then students would be missing out on literature illustrated through viewing and visual representation.

My experience with all of the language arts was very positive. More of my language arts time was focused on the language arts that would be thought of first, reading and writing. I enjoyed language arts classes when all of the language arts were included. I distinctly remember one of my language arts classes in middle school where the teacher was pregnant and the entire semester we just read silently. This was very boring and I felt like I learned nothing. I believe students need to be supplemented by all of the language arts. My English 206 class at Meredith kept me very interested in learning because we read outside of class, discussed the literature in class, then towards the end of the semester we watched some movies of the stories representing the different eras of literature. I was able to understand the post modernism era better when my professor showed us episodes of The Simpsons and pointed out the aspects that made this tv show a part of that era. I believe all of the language arts are important especially when used together and one is not more important than the other. My language arts preferences have changed a little, I used to enjoy listening to literature, but now I enjoy viewing and visually representing literature. I believe my language arts preferences will always change depending on what helps me comprehend the literature better. All of the language arts are beneficial to the student and help the student grow in their knowledge and education.

blogging...hmmmmmmm

Well I have not really thought about blogging personally. I have never really thought about getting into it because I feel busy enough as it is. I believe facebook is enough for any person and don't really see the need to twitter or anything else like that. I can understand how this would be beneficial for a class though because you can reflect back on the work in a class. I probably wouldn't like to do this everyday but I think I will like the fact that I am reflecting back upon myself and maybe it will help me understand myself a little more. If I could understand myself a little more that would be very beneficial to me. Hopefully I will grow to enjoy blogging!