In middle and high school the closes we got to this type of literacy was making countless videos. These were mostly for our language classes and once and a while for an ELA class. Using this type of media though was always something that the class enjoyed and looked forward to. Maybe once a year we would watch a movie version of a book we read but there was hardly ever a discussion following the book - maybe just a few fill in the blank type of questions. I believe that this type of literacy can and should be so much more than that.
I discussed last time that I was thinking of using this type of literacy as an assessment. Know I am thinking of combining this with the journal entries. While originally I didn't want the students blogging for this assignment the more I think about it, a blog might be just what it needs. This medium would allow students to post pictures, music and videos along with their words. I have been using a website called tumblr a lot lately and was thinking that this type of stream of contentiousness blogging might be a great project for this unit. I am still contemplating this idea and am very open to suggestions.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Thoughts on Assessment for the Unit Plan
Looking at the outline from last weeks blog post I cannot help but mention how broad it is. I began to look at assessment today and narrow down what I want to be teaching. Looking at the book that I wan to teach and the standards - 8.4.3.3 in the Minnesota 8th grade language arts standards would work really well. The standard talks about how scenes from the book or lines of dialogue can be analyzed to learn more about the characters and how they effect the decisions made within the book. The characters are so strong in this book (Looking for Alaska by John Green) that they would prove a great area of study and lend well to the overall theme of the unit being Identity. The other standards that I may include would be 8.7.10.10 which has to do with writing on a regular basis - I may use this in the form of a journal that the students could later use to help with their final project. For the final project I want to include multimedia so some of those standards will be used as well - possibly 8.9.8.8. The final project will have them look at themselves and how they see themselves. They will create some type of multimedia project and present it in some form to the class. They will have some choice in what this project will look like though. Knowing I want to do this assignment - I will have the students work on pieces of this during their journal entries and in class discussion and small group discussions. I will continue to look at this book and make sure that this is what I want to be teaching but so far so good!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Creating a Unit Plan - A Brainstorming Session
Today was my first real day of brainstorming and seriously thinking about my unit plan. While writing down a list of questions to consider when starting the unit plan I began contemplating the idea of what is means to be an adult. This seemed like an interesting topic but the more that I thought about it the more I struggled with the idea of me being an adult let alone my future 7th and 8th graders being adults. So from there I tried to simplify the question. Who am I? This question is found in countless volumes of young adult literature, but it is also a question that I asked myself throughout my middle school experience.
My next thought, being an English concentration was what kind of books or short stories could I teach? I can't tell if it is simply my love of John Green or the brilliance of his stories that brought Looking for Alaska to the forefront of my mind. My sister read this book as part of her middle school curriculum and was ultimately the reason I picked this book off my bookshelf a few years ago. It's a story of self-discover by the main character and his interactions with a girl who seems to have herself all figured out. It has strong male and female characters in it and I believe it could be a great piece of literature for all students to look at the question of who am I from both the character's perspective as well as their own.
I wouldn't simply teach the novel though - I would supplement with a few poems and even a short story. I found a few poems that would make for great introductions into this unit including "One" by James Berry also "Who You Are" by Jean Little could work well in the unit.
This unit would address writing standards - there would be quite a bit of reflection going on because of the nature of the material we would be covering as well as some reading standards. Along with these a final project of sorts would focus on the media standards and including the use of technology when creating a project to express what they have learned.
From here I will begin to pull together resources and get a better idea of the actual strategies I might want to implement as part of this unit plan. I am very excited to begin work on this and will keep you updated!
My next thought, being an English concentration was what kind of books or short stories could I teach? I can't tell if it is simply my love of John Green or the brilliance of his stories that brought Looking for Alaska to the forefront of my mind. My sister read this book as part of her middle school curriculum and was ultimately the reason I picked this book off my bookshelf a few years ago. It's a story of self-discover by the main character and his interactions with a girl who seems to have herself all figured out. It has strong male and female characters in it and I believe it could be a great piece of literature for all students to look at the question of who am I from both the character's perspective as well as their own.
I wouldn't simply teach the novel though - I would supplement with a few poems and even a short story. I found a few poems that would make for great introductions into this unit including "One" by James Berry also "Who You Are" by Jean Little could work well in the unit.
This unit would address writing standards - there would be quite a bit of reflection going on because of the nature of the material we would be covering as well as some reading standards. Along with these a final project of sorts would focus on the media standards and including the use of technology when creating a project to express what they have learned.
From here I will begin to pull together resources and get a better idea of the actual strategies I might want to implement as part of this unit plan. I am very excited to begin work on this and will keep you updated!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Discussion - More Important the Older They Get
This week in class we have been discussing the importance of Discussion. I was shocked to hear the statics that say fewer than 1 in 40 middle school classrooms use discussion as a form of learning. I was so surprised to hear this because when I think back to my middle school (and high school) experience my teachers often used this tool as an exchange of ideas. I always preferred this method of teaching to simply being handed a worksheet where I was asked to summarize what I read. Discussion forces students to look at the text in different ways. No two students will glean the same information and reactions from the text.
There are of course some problems that arise in group discussions. For an efficient and productive discussion all the participants have to have prepared and thought about the text beforehand. Some ways to avoid unprepared students is to require an entry ticket - a paper or short paragraph about the reading showing that students were ready to discuss. There also is the problem that some students do not like to talk in large groups. Some ways to deal with this is to require student to participate in some form. But also smaller group discussion can take the pressure off of these students.
My ideal classroom environment would foster discussions in which all students were invited as well as eager to participate. Students would form a circle and exchange their ideas about what the text was about, their feelings on the topics and what the reading meant to them. I think that every student should have the opportunity to experience these types of discussion and look forward to trying this strategy in my future classroom.
There are of course some problems that arise in group discussions. For an efficient and productive discussion all the participants have to have prepared and thought about the text beforehand. Some ways to avoid unprepared students is to require an entry ticket - a paper or short paragraph about the reading showing that students were ready to discuss. There also is the problem that some students do not like to talk in large groups. Some ways to deal with this is to require student to participate in some form. But also smaller group discussion can take the pressure off of these students.
My ideal classroom environment would foster discussions in which all students were invited as well as eager to participate. Students would form a circle and exchange their ideas about what the text was about, their feelings on the topics and what the reading meant to them. I think that every student should have the opportunity to experience these types of discussion and look forward to trying this strategy in my future classroom.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Say Something - Even If It's a Rap!
This week in my practicum has been all about one-on-one reading with students. It is often difficult to choose between focusing on vocabulary and comprehension. I have been navigating this tight rope all week and have no idea exactly how well I am staying upright. While it's difficult not to check for vocabulary knowledge often because of the students I'm working with and their lack of background knowledge when it comes to words and the culture we live in, it seems important to also make sure that they are understanding what they are reading. One strategy to check for comprehension that I have been using is called Say Something (more information about this strategy can be found in When Kids Can't Read by Kylene Beers on page 105). The strategy suggests that the teacher, or students in a group interrupt the reading of the text and pause to "say something" about what they have read. THis could be a prediction, to ask a question or even to simply comment on what is going on in the text. Something I have found wiht ELL studnets is that they often read to get done with the book. I sometimes wonder fi they even stop to take a breath once and a while. I have taken to stopping them and asking a specific question about the reading to "check in" with them and see how much they are comprehending. This often leads to questions about plot or characters but also vocabulary has been addressed through these "think alouds". This is also an excellent chance for students to connect with the text in some way and try to find how what they are reading can fit into their lives.
As a teacher, I believe it is my job to spark these conversations. While I would love to let students do this in small groups some day, I am beginning to learn how important it is to adapt lessons to the students that are in front of you. No matter how cool an activity might seem when first reading through it - the students are the most important piece of the classroom.
BONUS! While this week I focused on reading comprehension strategies, I saw an awesome teaching tool used by a student teacher in my ELL classroom and I had to share it with you all. The students have been learning about prefixes, suffixes and root words for a long time now - way before I was placed in this classroom. The student teacher today introduced a song called "Prefixes, Suffixes, & Roots" This rap song literally brought the class out of their stupor and got them moving in their seats! This is a class that constantly complains about how bored they are - and while a few attempted to deny how much they liked this - I even heard some talking about attempting to recreate this song for the talent show in the spring. The rap is very well done and is an excellent tool for the music learners in your classroom. Also it is just plain fun! I challenge you to look it up. IT was created by a website called Educational Rap but can be found on Youtube or streamed right into your classroom on their website. It's been stuck in my head all day!!!
As a teacher, I believe it is my job to spark these conversations. While I would love to let students do this in small groups some day, I am beginning to learn how important it is to adapt lessons to the students that are in front of you. No matter how cool an activity might seem when first reading through it - the students are the most important piece of the classroom.
BONUS! While this week I focused on reading comprehension strategies, I saw an awesome teaching tool used by a student teacher in my ELL classroom and I had to share it with you all. The students have been learning about prefixes, suffixes and root words for a long time now - way before I was placed in this classroom. The student teacher today introduced a song called "Prefixes, Suffixes, & Roots" This rap song literally brought the class out of their stupor and got them moving in their seats! This is a class that constantly complains about how bored they are - and while a few attempted to deny how much they liked this - I even heard some talking about attempting to recreate this song for the talent show in the spring. The rap is very well done and is an excellent tool for the music learners in your classroom. Also it is just plain fun! I challenge you to look it up. IT was created by a website called Educational Rap but can be found on Youtube or streamed right into your classroom on their website. It's been stuck in my head all day!!!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Week 1 of Practicum: When the Theoretical Meets the Reality
This week was my first week in a middle school classroom. I was placed in an EL classroom with 8th grade students. While I was sure that I was prepared for anything that I would encounter there in theory, the reality was a very different picture. When confronted with the students actual English proficiency levels I was surprised to see most of the students preforming at a third grade reading level maybe fourth grade. I worked with two students pretty specifically and from my short time working with them I was able to diagnose some of the problems having to do with vocabulary in the readings they were doing.
This worked out kind of conveniently because this week in class we have been focusing on vocabulary strategies. If there is one thing I have learned from this week of teaching one-on-one, it is that you can learn everything possible about pedagogical strategies but when it comes to reality and actually helping students - a teacher must use everything she/he has in the arsenal.
I found myself relying on strategies that I learned to use with elementary students. Relying on resources like dictionaries and computer games are not enough for these EL students. While they are good for backing up instruction with practice, one thing I learned is that nothing can beat direct instruction one-on-one. One student I have worked with for two days now, is starting to trust me and actually asking me questions on vocab. I found that building that trust with the student is necessary in order to properly teach the student and this goes for every student. It doesn't matter where they are from, what school they go to, or how old they are, every student wants to be heard and I am going to try and make every student feel that way.
This week I have been brainstorming activities to use while working with students on vocabulary in this ELL classroom. I have decided that highlighters will be my best friend for the next few weeks. It is easy for me to try and pick out which words students will struggle with but my choices are never going to be 100% accurate. I have the luxury of working with these students one-on-one and am able to create specialized groupings of words for each of them. I want to use this time to the best of my abilities. I am going to attempt to specialize my instruction to each of these students in hopes that we can find a way in which in of them learn best.
This practicum has already opened my eyes to the struggles and triumphs of an EL classroom and I am very excited to see in what other directions this practicum will take me!
This worked out kind of conveniently because this week in class we have been focusing on vocabulary strategies. If there is one thing I have learned from this week of teaching one-on-one, it is that you can learn everything possible about pedagogical strategies but when it comes to reality and actually helping students - a teacher must use everything she/he has in the arsenal.
I found myself relying on strategies that I learned to use with elementary students. Relying on resources like dictionaries and computer games are not enough for these EL students. While they are good for backing up instruction with practice, one thing I learned is that nothing can beat direct instruction one-on-one. One student I have worked with for two days now, is starting to trust me and actually asking me questions on vocab. I found that building that trust with the student is necessary in order to properly teach the student and this goes for every student. It doesn't matter where they are from, what school they go to, or how old they are, every student wants to be heard and I am going to try and make every student feel that way.
This week I have been brainstorming activities to use while working with students on vocabulary in this ELL classroom. I have decided that highlighters will be my best friend for the next few weeks. It is easy for me to try and pick out which words students will struggle with but my choices are never going to be 100% accurate. I have the luxury of working with these students one-on-one and am able to create specialized groupings of words for each of them. I want to use this time to the best of my abilities. I am going to attempt to specialize my instruction to each of these students in hopes that we can find a way in which in of them learn best.
This practicum has already opened my eyes to the struggles and triumphs of an EL classroom and I am very excited to see in what other directions this practicum will take me!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Vocabulary Games
Any teacher can place a crossword puzzle in front of a student or write the vocab words up on the front of the board. But how much is the student actually getting from that. Maybe they glance up at the board a few times during the lesson or maybe they will rush through the crossword only to get a grade. The key to vocabulary instruction is making it meaningful, making the students actually care about the words you are teaching them.
One thing I have learned both through experiences as a student and as a practicum teacher is that making things into a game, even a short one, can get students excited about the most mundane of lessons. I was able to find a few good ones through some internet research:
The SWAT Game:
Place all the vocab words up on the board. Line the students up in two lines, giving the head of each line a fly swatter. Read the definition of the word and the students must find the correct word and 'swat' it, then move to the back joining the opposite line. This will practice students' recall of the vocabulary words. The great thing about this activity is that it is very adaptable to whatever subject you are teaching. Along with being able to teach vocabulary, it can be used for anything from teaching states and capitals, to parts of speech! Some of the best activities are those that can be brought back over and over again but with new pieces added on. And students love this one!
The full lesson plan can be found at Hot Chalk and was created by Diane Prince who suggests this activity as a introduction, a reinforcement tool or review activity.
Another option to keep in mind is that many reputable websites have good vocabulary practice games built in. The only let down here is that you as the teacher are not in control of the words they are learning. These are great websites to use and get your students familiarized with. Free Rice is an amazing website that builds student vocabulary while doing good. Other websites like Vocabulary.com are also good for teachers to be aware of. There are literally tens of thousands of resources of there, it is up to the teacher to sift through them and if a gems among the large amount of sand.
Other fun activities can include, have students re-write song lyrics making sure to include vocabulary words in them, play Scrabble or Banana-grams with the vocabulary words, or even having students make up actions or a short skit to go along with each word. Whatever you choose to use in your classroom make sure that there is a rationale behind it. None of these activites are suggested as fillers. Each have a basis in students learning vocabulary that is a key part of the curriculum - whether it be English Language Arts, Social Students, Science, Math or even Art or Music. Building vocabulary is incredibly important to increasing student fluency and will eventually improve those dreaded Standardized Test Scores.
One thing I have learned both through experiences as a student and as a practicum teacher is that making things into a game, even a short one, can get students excited about the most mundane of lessons. I was able to find a few good ones through some internet research:
The SWAT Game:
Place all the vocab words up on the board. Line the students up in two lines, giving the head of each line a fly swatter. Read the definition of the word and the students must find the correct word and 'swat' it, then move to the back joining the opposite line. This will practice students' recall of the vocabulary words. The great thing about this activity is that it is very adaptable to whatever subject you are teaching. Along with being able to teach vocabulary, it can be used for anything from teaching states and capitals, to parts of speech! Some of the best activities are those that can be brought back over and over again but with new pieces added on. And students love this one!
The full lesson plan can be found at Hot Chalk and was created by Diane Prince who suggests this activity as a introduction, a reinforcement tool or review activity.
Another option to keep in mind is that many reputable websites have good vocabulary practice games built in. The only let down here is that you as the teacher are not in control of the words they are learning. These are great websites to use and get your students familiarized with. Free Rice is an amazing website that builds student vocabulary while doing good. Other websites like Vocabulary.com are also good for teachers to be aware of. There are literally tens of thousands of resources of there, it is up to the teacher to sift through them and if a gems among the large amount of sand.
Other fun activities can include, have students re-write song lyrics making sure to include vocabulary words in them, play Scrabble or Banana-grams with the vocabulary words, or even having students make up actions or a short skit to go along with each word. Whatever you choose to use in your classroom make sure that there is a rationale behind it. None of these activites are suggested as fillers. Each have a basis in students learning vocabulary that is a key part of the curriculum - whether it be English Language Arts, Social Students, Science, Math or even Art or Music. Building vocabulary is incredibly important to increasing student fluency and will eventually improve those dreaded Standardized Test Scores.
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