Learning Strategies

Today in 5th grade spellling/vocabulary, we used the strategy of concept/definition mapping.  First, i put up a blank concept/definition map on the overhead projector and asked questions that the definition would answer.  Then I was able to model how to use the Map using the vocabulary term "miscellaneous" and getting relevant information for the Map from the class.  Then I presented a new term and had the students work in pairs to make a concept/definition map for the new concept.  They were allowed to use the dictionary to help them complete their map.  I think that this activity allowed them to expand their understanding of several of the vocabulary words beyond the simple definition.

Reading activity

Today the students practiced an activity to help them construct, process, and question as they read.  The students used sticky notes to mark spots in the texts and jot responses to help remember discussion questions to get involved in after they read the material.  I gave them simple directions about what they should watch for as they read, and what to write on their sticky notes.  They were able to use different colors of notes to distinguish between various kinds of responses and then they were able to transfer the notes to a separate sheet of paper with their names on it after they were through reading.  I think the activity went well and it helped the students to better be able to return to important spots in their reading.

Active Learning

In 5th grade social studies today, we had 20 minutes of direct teaching and then the students were asked to make a three-by-three grid and record three things they learned in the squares.  Next, they got up and moved around the room and talked with other students.  They were able to share their ideas and gave one of their ideas in their squares to another student and receive an idea they had not considered.  They had fun filling in the squares. 

Charades

Today the 6th grade science class had to review for a test so we decided to play charades as a way to help us review.  The only material we needed was pieces of paper with the terms/concepts written on them.  The students used a jigsaw approach and each member of the team would learn a different aspect of the term/concept presented, then the group would gather and each student would perform a charade to communicate the term to the rest of the group.  It was great fun but a little noisy.

Book Review--Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

In the Pacific there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea.  Around it blue dolphins swim, otters play and sea birds abound.  Once, Indians also lived on the island..When they left, some sailing to the island of Santa Catalina and others sailing further east, one girl, Karana, was left behing all alone.  Karana is the Indian girl who lived alone for many years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins.  Year after year she waited for her people to come and rescue her.  They did not come.  While she waited, she kept herself busy and alive by building shelter, making weapons, finding food, and fighting her enemies, the wild dogs who had killed her brother, Ramo.  Karana's is a story of survival and personal discovery.
Island of the Blue Dolphins was a very good book for 4th and 5th graders.  This book is exciting and mysterious for young readers and I think everyone would enjoy it.

Writing Activities

Today in Science class for the 7th grade, we completed a writing activity.  The students could choose between two topics.  The first topic was to write a report about a scientific discovery that changed the world and the second topic was to write a report on the life story of a scientist.  The students were allowed to use their books but many seemed to have writing anxiety.  Many studetns could not get started and said they had writers block so to speak.  In the end I think they all did fairly well but they are not used to getting a writing assignment in science!

Book Review--True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

Jeremy Marsh is a young New Yorker and part of the media elite.  An expert in debunking the supernatural with a regualr column in a Scientific magazing, he's just made his first appearance on national TV.  When he receives a letter from the small town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, about ghostly lights that appear in a legend-shrouded cemetery, he can not resist driving down to investigate.  Here, in this tightly knit community, Lexie Darnell runs the town's library, just as her mother did before the accident that left Lexie an orphan.  Lexie has been hurt by past relationships but believes her life is here in Boone Creek with her grandmother and all the other friends she loves.  Jeremy expects to spend a quick week in the small community before speeding back to the city.  Lexie and Jeremy meet and fall in love in this small community.  Now, if they are to be together, Jeremy Marsh must make a difficult choice:  return to the life he knows, or do something he has never done before--take a giant leap of faith.
This is a novel for older high school students such as 11th or 12th graders or for adults and I really enjoyed reading it.  I think Nicholas Sparks is a wonderful author.  I have read and enjoyed several of his other books including "Dear John", "The Notebook",  and "Message in a Bottle".  He writes in great detail with unbelievabley realistic characters.  This story, "True Believer" is about taking chances and following your heart.  It is a story of hope and faith in people.

Book Review--The Witch Of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Kit Tyler knows, as she looks for the first time at the shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the Caribbean islands she has left behind.  She has moved to a totally different part of the world and feels lost.  Her world feels all wrong.  Now she lives in  a stern Puritan community with her relatives and she feels trapped and lonely.  In the meadows, the only  place where she can feel completely free, she meets another lonely figure, the old woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond.  When her relatives and neighbors discover this unique and unusual friendship, Kit faces suspicion, fear, and anger and she herself is accused of witchcraft.

This book is great for fifth and even sixth graders.  It is suspenseful and the ultimate story of friendship.  The book is a historical narrative whose rebellion against bigotry and her puritan surroundings culminates in a witch hunt and trial.  The background and characters are very realistic and I think students can relate to the characters.  I really enjoyed this novel.

Outside Activity

Several days ago my substitute english class was able to take a nature walk  Outside, we discovered some beautiful fall colored trees, with red and gold leaves.  I decided to take advantage of this beautiful fall day and the students were asked to interview a tree or write a poem about the sound of a stream.  I think the students enjoyed the outside activity.  I know I did and I am looking forward to reading some of the creative writing activities they turned in.

Interruptions

It seems there are constant interruptions in a classroom some days.  I often wonder how the students can focus.  Last week, it was our bookfair.  I love the bookfair and so do the students.  They constantly wanted to attend the bookfair, but books is not what I saw many of the students buying, especially the younger students.  I think these different opportunities, such as the bookfair, are definitely great, but sometimes it seems that good old fashioned teaching and learning may need to happen a little more in the classroom.

Serious Science

I had to substitute for a seventh grade science class today.  The students were surprisingly serious about their science.  They were studying cell structure.  We studied the different parts of the cell including the endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, nucleus, etc...  The students payed attention and were very active in the classroom discussion.  I can only hope to get a good class like these students one day.

Team Meeting

Earlier this week I attended a team meeting with five teachers and the principal.  It was a good meeting.  Discussion included entrance to the math olympics, staff development, upcoming spelling bees, and other classroom concerns.  I thought the principal handled the meeting well and she made me feel welcome even though I only substitute.  All the teachers were open to suggestions about classroom issues and I thought the meeting was a good example of teamwork.

Science Review Bingo

Recently I was able to play a great game with my 4th grade students called Science Review Bingo.  The following are the rules:
1.  Write 35 questions on index cards.  My questions, in this case were for a fourth grade science class who was reviewing for an upcoming science test.  It is best ot make sure that the questions have answers that are only one or two words long so they can fit on the bingo card.
2.  Create bingo cards with 5x5 grids.  Do not forget to put a free space in the middle.  Write the answers to the questions on the cards, but make each card different.  The cards will not contain all the answers.  This will make copying very difficult, and it makes the game more interesting.
3.  Give each student a card and something to use as markers.  I used skittles as markers because the students usually will not drop things on the floor that they get to eat after the gamie is finished.
4.  Read the questions and give the students time to find the answer.  Not all students will have the answer on their cards.  It is similar to a regular bingo game in this way.
5.  Keep calling out the questions until someone calls out BINGO! Check the card to make sure all the answers are correct.  When the studetn was correct, I opted to give a small prize, which in this case I handed out pencils.
6.  If the student is incorrect, uncover the answer and continue playing until there is a winner.
7.  Play as many games as time allows.

Classroom Games

I was able to use this game for a fourth grade science class I substituted for on Friday.  The class was reviewing terms for an upcoming test and the class was probably more attentive than they would have been if I had just given a lecture.  This game is called Pass the Flag.  The definitions were called out and the students had to recognize the terms that went with the definitions.  A flag is given to the first person in each row.  The first person to raise their flag may answer the question.  If the answer is correct, the student will pass the flag to the student behind him.  The first row to finish wins the game.

Asking Better Questions Book Review

The authors are astonished that children in today’s world are unable to ask productive questions, as well as amazed to see how questioning remains neglected.  There are many articles and texts dealing with questioning as a component of teaching, however the emphasis remains on theory and theory of practice.  It is the author’s opinion that the focus should be on the everyday practicalities of classroom interaction.  Effective teaching depends upon a teacher’s skill in being able to ask questions that generate different kinds of learning.  Effective teachers actually recognize that good questions must challenge the students to be creative.  In my experience, many teachers are reluctant to break away from traditional structures, even though they may want to engage in more classroom discourse.  I have seen teachers in the past that view learning as knowing the right answer and feel uncomfortable using strategies that cannot be measured in traditional ways, however hopefully, that line of thinking is changing.  In today’s classroom,  I think that many teachers realize that the whole student is made up of the Cognitive Domain, the Affective Domain and the Psychomotor Domain.  Teachers recognize that education is concerned with the development of the whole student and that no part is greater than the whole.  Good questioning techniques must be presented in a way that connects with the student at both an intellectual and feeling level.  I agree with the authors in asking “why is it that schools tend to concentrate on cognitive and psychomotor development of their students and leave the affective to educate itself?”  Assessment seems to be the response in this case. Facts and knowledge can be shared and tested but emotions and attitudes are regarded as personal and private. I think that many teachers feel there is no time to deal with the affective domain, as most of the teachers that I talk with are teaching what will be on the standardized tests.  The authors talk about different types of learners including passive and active learners.  In most classrooms today, students are in the active mode where they realize their responsibility to express their ideas and feelings about the content of the lesson.  The authors believe that effective teaching depends upon recognizing that effective learning takes place when the students are vigorous participants in what’s going on.  Teachers have to provide experiences that cause creative thinking and generate in students a need for expression.  Questions from both teachers and students should provoke a creative learning experience.  I agree with the authors that effective questions generate student thinking and interest in making answers, and that to be an effective questioner, a teacher should have the patience to wait for answers to be formulated and develop the skill of listening so you will know how to respond.  I think that the information in this book relates to our course by teaching us how to use effective questioning skills to teach across our content areas and relate to the student as a whole.  

I found several concepts interesting concerning the author’s statements about Bloom’s Taxonomy.   In his glossary of questions, the author goes into quite a bit of detail concerning lower order and higher order questioning which relate to open and closed questioning and to overt and covert questioning and so on.  I found it interesting how the author relates higher order questioning to the last three categories of Bloom’s taxonomy because these questions demand more complex thinking including analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.  Also related to Bloom’s taxonomy is the lower order questioning that requires knowledge, comprehension, and application.  This line of questioning is less complex and requires lower order thinking.  No matter what type of questioning you choose to do in your classroom, there will be a relationship of one kind or another to the taxonomy because questioning generates student interest and thinking whether it is higher order or lower order.

The author talks about how Bloom and Krathwohl made their great contribution to education by creating Bloom’s taxonomy.  The development of thinking skills has previously been guided by Bloom’s taxonomy.  The author reveals that the taxonomy suggests that you cannot value or judge something until you know the facts, understand the facts, can apply the facts, can take the facts apart, and can put the facts back together from a new perspective.  However, in todays world  it is being more and more recognized that it is not necessarily the order provided by the taxonomy that matters but the kind of thinking and feeling that is important.  Questions should come from interest on the part of the teacher and the student and  simple factual recall questions are often not that interesting especially when  a teacher is starting an inquiry into a new area.

 Wait time or thinking time, is very important according to the authors.  When a teacher is able to wait calmly while the students are thinking about their answers, it builds trust between students and teacher, gives the students time to look at many angles, frees the students to provide more meaningful answers, pushes them to respond by speaking what is on and in their minds as well as share the responsibility for their learning and increases students’ interaction amongst themselves and student to teacher responses.

The authors state that the thinking time should be as long as 3 seconds.  I take significantly longer in many cases.   This may be because I am trained in psychology, but I tend to wait up to a minute when timed.

Research demonstrates that as we increase thinking time, significant changes occur.  Students tend to give longer answers, more of them volunteer and ask more questions, their responses are more analytical, creative, and evaluative.  They also report that “Class is more interesting.”  When a student is thinking and feeling, which are internal activities, they need more energy as well as time.

I agree that it is extremely important to have a wait time.  Not all students think as fast, or slow as the others.  Any teacher is going to have students that learn more slowly than others.  I think that the wait time is dependent upon the student and the question.  For some teachers, a 3 second wait time may be appropriate but for others, a longer period of time is needed.  That just does not seem like a long enough time to me.  I want all of the students in my classroom to be able to really think about their answers before calling upon them.  I find that when I wait for a long enough period of time, my students will provide answers that are more appropriate and lengthier than when they are not given enough time.

One of my teaching strategies is using appropriate assessment and feedback.  From the questions on assessment in Appendix 8, I found several ways to evaluate this strategy.  Assessment and feedback should use a variety of assessment  techniques and allow students to demonstrate their mastery of the material in different ways.  Assessment and feedback should avoid those assessment methods that encourage students to memorize and regurgitate.  I should recognize the power of feedback to motivate more effort to learn.

From the Appendix 8 questions about Focus, I also realized that good teaching should foster a sense of interest in the subject matter.  I should create learning tasks appropriate to the student’s level of understanding.  I should also recognized the uniqueness of individual learners and avoid the temptation to treat all learners as if they are exactly the same.  If  I am able to teach to the variety of individual learners, I think it would allow students to enjoy learning more.

The following are several of the questions that I thought would help me improve my teaching:

How will I assess this Material?  I will use different methods, such as group work, individual work, homework and testing.  Using a variety of methods to assess the material will show me if the students have mastered the material and if any of the students respond better to one way of assessment better than another.

Can I rely on materials being available, or do I need to book? 

In many schools they only have one or two of whatever you may need.  You would need to book well in advance to make sure that you have that piece of equipment when you need it.

What is my attitude toward home work?

When I assign homework, it should be turned in, in a timely manner.  If not, it will affect their grade.  I also believe that I should grade and return their homework in a timely manner as to show a good example to my students.

A quote from the book that I liked was:

 “All knowledge results from questions, which is another way of saying that question-asking is our most important intellectual tool”.  This quote is on page 18 and the author of this quote is Neil Postman.  I am very interested in teaching science and I think that this is a perfect quote for science because science is all about asking the questions and trying to find explanations.  I also think that science is a very interesting and intellectually challenging subject.

Hatchet Book Review

Hatchet

By
Gary Paulsen

Born May 17, 1939, Gary Paulsen is one of America's most popular writers for young people. He is a three time Newbery Honor author.  He has written more books in the Hatchet series, such as Brian’s Return and Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Hunt and the River.  Running away from home at the age of 14 and traveling with a carnival, Paulsen acquired a taste for adventure. A youthful summer of rigorous chores on a farm; jobs as an engineer, construction worker, ranch hand, truck driver, and sailor; and two rounds of the 1,180-mile Alaskan dog sled race, the Iditarod; have provided ample material from which he creates his powerful stories. This would be an excellent choice for novel studies in my fourth grade English class.  This book can be used to teach imagery, writing, predictions and visualization. 
This book is a book that encourages imagination to visualize all that Brian goes through on this difficult journey.  It’s an extremely well told story that kept me wanting to know what would happen next, and looking forward to the next book in the series.   Brian Robeson, 13, is the only passenger on a small plane flying him to visit his father in the Canadian wilderness when the pilot has a heart attack and dies. The plane drifts off course and finally crashes into a small lake. Miraculously Brian is able to swim free of the plane, arriving on a sandy tree-lined shore with only his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present. In the book, Brian must deal with insane moose, and making a new friend; fire. Hunting and food gathering is a major part of the book, which makes it seem very realistic, but will Brian ever make it home alive?  Paulsen effectively shows readers how Brian learns patience to watch, listen, and think before he acts as he attempts to build a fire, to fish and hunt, and to make his home under a rock overhang safe and comfortable.A highlight in this book for me was when Brian was out hunting, and had just dipped his bloody hands into the water.  Something slight caught his attention and it came down on him like a speeding train.  He just had time to see that it was a moose.  He had only seen them in pictures.  It took him and threw him in the lake and then went into the water after him to finish the job.  She used her head to drive him down into the mud at the bottom of the lake.  Insane, is what he thought.  Once he was out of the water, he realized that he was severely injured, especially his ribs and shoulders. 
Not only was he alone and hungry, now his health was also a complicating factor.Following his parent’s divorce, fourteen year-old Brian is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes.  Now, Brian is alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a tattered Windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present– and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart since his parent’s divorce.  But now Brian has no time for anger, self pity, or despair.  It will take all his determination and courage to survive.

A Good Day For Math

I had a good day in math class today.  I substituted for a 5th grade class and I was able to use an Active Learning Energizer with the class who had been studying mean, median, and mode.  The purpose of the activity was to get the students to understand the difference between the mean, median, and mode.  Our materials included data sheets and pencils.  The students were paired up in groups of two and told to do as many sit-ups  as they could in one minute.  The partners recorded each others' scores.  Then, the groups of two were combined with another group of two to make a larger group of four.  Using a prepared form and the data from the situps, each group determined the mean, median, and mode of their data.  It took about 10 minutes and the students appeared glad to get a break from routine lecture.

Typical Monday

Today I had to substitute for a 7th grade english class.  Off  course I usually end up with a class clown and this was the way it was today.  The students were studying prepositions so I divided them up into groups of four and had them list all the prepositions they could think of.  One group listed 16, which was the most out of the five groups and I guess I was a little surprised.   Anyway, it gave us something to work on and overall the class went better than expected which is always a good thing.

New School Year...2010-2011

I do not have a job teaching yet, however I am hopeful to hear something soon.  In the meantime I have stayed quite busy with my 2 daughters beginning their new school year. Our orientation was wonderful with everyone being helpful as usual. Since school has begun we have homework everynight which keeps me on my toes. Both my daughters are in middle school this year so its very important for me to do this program . I want to see them learn and I feel that this will help me to be the best teacher I can be with my own students.