Thank you for a great semester and I hope you guys have a great Christmas break. See you guys next semester.

Making it worth the while.

image from: xaakdoyle.com

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing.”  Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

http://www.literacyla.org  

Legacy is something that anyone would like to leave before they part from their human body. Passage talks about leaving a legacy either by writing something that is worth to read or be someone whom others would like to write a story about like a biography. As an educator the legacy that we could give to our students is the knowledge that we impart to them, our teaching techniques and the learning experience we give to our students.

Learning in Action!

Different Children, Different Learning

"If the child is not learning the way you are teaching, then you must teach in the way the child learns" - Rita Dunn

As educators, how often do we reflect on our classroom instruction?  Do we take a step back and evaluate our teaching styles?  Are we meeting the needs of the our students?  Is our instruction playing an important role in making our students life-long learners? 

We plan, modify, and implement lessons to help children master the basic literacy skills of reading and writing as well as mathematics.  As teachers, we hope to  help students to realize their fullest literacy potential. 

Site:  rnchildcare.com.au

With the professional goal of being teachers for English language learners, we should first understand our students.  We should become familar with who they are, where they are from in terms of their race and culture background.  Secondly, we must try to draw from student's experiences and cultural worlds to build instruction.  A classroom climate that is culturally sensitive will promote excellent learning opportunities for all students.   

Learning in Action.

Image from: http://www.durham-arc.org.uk

"Learning is like rowing upstream; not to advance is to drop back." — Chinese proverb

http://www.readingrockets.org

Learning is a continuous process just like with any field it requires time and practice. Through the process we will probably get bumps or unfriendly waves along the stream but no matter what we have to keep up to the challenge practice on how to overcome these obstacles instead of drawing back again to the first block and start all over again the process.

Too busy to be ignorant

Image from: http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/the-sayings-of-confucius-by-confucius

"No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance."     Confucious

(http://www.literacyla.org)

To start of with the discussion would be a possible scenario. It could be a meeting with all of the teaching staff with the principal, then the principal asked a question. You raised your hand first knowing that you have the right answer but the principal told you that your answer was incorrect. Right after that your colleague answered the same question asked by the principal and your shocked that your colleague's answer is correct. Only to know that the difference was your colleague read the newspaper this morning and you didn't because your way to busy finding what to wear in school. As educators we sometimes tend to forget to read and update ourselves about the new trends when it comes to teaching. Maybe some of us still uses the old or traditional way of teaching.The quote from the great Confucious tells us no matter how busy we are, we should find ways to update ourselves through reading or be tagged as a negligent educator who tends to ignore changes.

Final Reflection - Farewell/Goodbye Address & Happy Birthday to all December Students, Ted & Dr. Rivera

We have had a great journey this semester, engaging in a deep understanding of second language theory and development, etc.  Say your final farewell/goodbye entries to Dr. Rivera and your fellow classmates.

CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK TO POST YOUR REQUIRED REFLECTION.  

BE SURE TO ALSO REPLY TO YOUR CLASSMATES' ENTRIES.

JPEG source:  Google images

Reflection - Nov. 27

CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK TO POST YOUR REQUIRED REFLECTION. 

*Reflection on your inspirational quote, especially as it pertains to the respective class activities.
*Reflection regarding your Case Study.
*Final self-reflection thoughts.

BE SURE TO ALSO REPLY TO YOUR CLASSMATES' ENTRIES.

Reflection - Nov. 20

CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK TO POST YOUR REQUIRED REFLECTION. 

*Reflection on your inspirational quote, especially as it pertains to the respective class activities.
*Reflection regarding your Literature Review.

BE SURE TO ALSO REPLY TO YOUR CLASSMATES' ENTRIES.

Reflection - Nov. 13

CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK TO POST YOUR REQUIRED REFLECTION. 

*Reflection on your inspirational quote, especially as it pertains to the respective class activities.
*Reflection on literacy strategies.

BE SURE TO ALSO REPLY TO YOUR CLASSMATES' ENTRIES.

Reflection - Nov. 6

CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK TO POST YOUR REQUIRED REFLECTION. 

*Reflection on your inspirational quote, especially as it pertains to the respective class activities.
*Reflection regarding your evaluation of websites.

BE SURE TO ALSO REPLY TO YOUR CLASSMATES' ENTRIES.

Help them become what they are capable of becoming

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." – Goethe

Most classrooms in the public school on Guam filled with diverse learners from different cultures. Teachers need to consider differences among the students and respect their cultures. Treat all the students in the classroom equally as one to make them feel they are all equal and have the same opportunity to learn. This might help build the language-minority students’ self confidence. Doing so, students will have competence in doing what they ought to be and become what they are capable of becoming.

quote from Buddhist proverb

"If a seed of a lettuce will not grow, we do not blame the lettuce. Instead, the fault lies with us for not having nourished the seed properly." - Buddhist proverb

If a child cannot learn the lesson the way we teach it, try different strategies to make the students learn. The fault is lies with teacher for not having a proper way of teaching our students. Teachers! Let’s nourish our students by teaching them properly so they can become what they want to be in their future. 

Active Engagement in Learning!

❝Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.❞
‒Chinese Proverb

I like this proverb because as teachers we are giving our students the greatest treasures by teaching them and learning from what we teach. Knowledge is given mutually in this process which help create great civilizations. 

quote

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Richard Steele 

Exercise  is important to the body but how our mind exercises is reading. I like this quote because students and even adults need to exercise mind and body. 

 http://www.literacyla.org/quotes.htm

Image:  lambsongs.co.nz

 

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

Augustine of Hippo

 

 





 

 

The quote above was shared with a fellow traveler on a flight home to Guam in the middle of a conversation.  The young man was on his way to visit his parents who were stationed on island.  My first impression of traveler was that he came from a literate home.  I was impressed that he was literate but not because he was reading a book.  I was impressed with the knowledge that Matthew shared about the education system in Middle-East, in Greece and other parts of the world that he's traveled to. Matthew made a point when he compared about traveling and reading.  That was when he quoted Augustine about the world and travel.  

 

I, too, believe that a person that travels gains the knowledge and experience that you can not get from just a book.  On the flip side, you may not need to travel to also gain some knowledge and experience about places, people and cultures.  You can read all that in a book. 

 

Reading and writing are an essential part of a child's learning experience.  For ESL students, they carry a vast amount of experience from their homes and languages into a classroom that other native English speakers may benefit from.  Through this course,  I hope to learn the development of reading and writing programs in children who are bilingual and the language acquisition for ESL children.