I know it has been a good class when I walk away with pertinent and valuable information that I can use in my future classroom. This was one such class. I like the idea of blogging. It’s like a myspace page, only ten times better! I feel like my teaching toolbox is overflowing with resources and that’s a good feeling. I have a better idea of what’s available to me as a teacher as well as links for lessons and activities. Everything that I learned from this class will benefit me and my students. Great class!
Class Reflection
June 7, 2008Lessons I would use-Unit 4
June 5, 2008Wow! The material available to a teacher is slightly overwhelming. That’s one of the great recourses of being a teacher, sharing ideas with others in the profession. Teaching is hard enough and it’s nice to know so many professional organizations support what we do. Again, the resources on the web are tremendous but I found two great lessons that I would use in my future classroom.
Literature Circle Roles Reframed: Reading as a Film Crew
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=877
I was introduced to literature circles during my first semester at ASU and it was love at first sight. This literature circle lesson puts a new spin on a fairly new concept. Take the traditional roles out of the circle and replace it with film production roles. Students love films and movies and roles such as director, casting director, and set designer will surely peak student interest. The idea behind this lesson is to let students think like filmmakers when reading a text. Literature circles will definitely be part of my teaching strategies. Having my class read text as a filmmaker or film crew should up the level of excitement and enthusiasm for the project.
The Dictionary Game
www.col-ed.org/cur/lang/lang43.txt
I have found traditional vocabulary lessons boring and came across this unique spin on introducing vocabulary words. The lesson is written for science or social studies lessons but I think it can be modified to fit any content area. The purpose of this lesson is to take the boredom out of learning vocabulary. This game makes the process fun and when students have fun while they learn they tend to remember what they learned. The game works with the teacher choosing a word that no student can define. Each student (or group) will make up a definition. Once all possible definitions are in the teacher will have the class vote for a definition that fits the vocabulary word. The winner is the one with the most points. Again, this lesson is a definite way to introduce vocabulary in a fun and exciting way. I could see me using this as a way to introduce the class to a new concept or word. I think this game allows students to be creative and use prior knowledge to make an education guess about the definition of the word.
Article Response-1 & 2
June 4, 2008I love the idea of tossing out (or at least revising) the traditional research paper. The idea of using a multigenre paper makes more sense. Research is important and students should certainly know how to write a paper but a multigenre paper incorporates so much more. Research has shown, according to the article, that a multigenre paper is much more like personal writing to a student. As a result, students take more time and effort to write for their own personal writing than on school assignments. Why in the world not make a research paper something fun and enjoyable (and it seems more of a learning experience) for students.
Vocabulary instruction has a bad reputation, at least in my opinion. It always seems to be boring and uninteresting. It now seems that people are catching on that vocabulary instruction is important and really the foundation to good reading comprehension. Rich representation of word meanings is a powerful tool in which students have the chance to learn vocabulary in multiple layers, including visually and verbally as well as making multiple connections. All in all, if students do not understand the vocabulary they can’t fully understand the text. Learning how words work is part of understanding vocabulary and is really the foundation for future readers.
Unit 3-Article 1 Response
June 2, 2008The so-called traditional research paper has been a staple for middle and high school students for years. But recent criticism has pushed some teachers to make changes including a unique variation: the multigenre paper. This type of paper requires students to research a topic using all the tools of research available. Students will typically research a person, but may choose events, eras, or other subjects. The research paper is presented in a multigenre format. In other words, the research the student does comes alive with artifacts, articles, letters, journal entries, etc. instead of “unoriginal writings” or “clip and stitch” as typical research papers have been called.
The problem with this new format is that this is new territory for research papers. It is more unstructured and is hard to create a model of one. Because of the unstructured nature of the multigenre paper, students have to think about their research and interpret it from not only their point of view but from the time period as well. Creativity is also necessary.
All in all, multigenre papers are a definite step in the right direction from the traditional research paper. Also, the format may be hard for students to grasp at first. The end result, however, shows that students enjoy and research and gain so much more from the experience.
3 Questions
How exactly would the teacher create a grading scale for a project that seems to be so open ended? Would teachers have a standard for students to follow in order to earn a certain grade?
When would it be a good idea to implement the switch from the traditional paper to a multigenre research paper? Should students even need to be taught or expected to produce a traditional research paper? Is a multigenre paper the way to go from the start?
Will the concept of a multigenre paper be hard for some students to grasp? This format really does require some out of the box thinking and some students find that to be a challenge. Or, is this format good for that very reason? So much of schooling requires little to no out of the box thinking. Perhaps this format will jump start students to be more creative thinkers.
Instructional Strategies-Katie Brigman
May 31, 2008Name of Strategy: Conversations Across Time
Source: Greece Central School District
Description and how implemented: This strategy can be used before, during, and after reading instruction but I focused on using this strategy before. This strategy provides a way to compare and contrast different perspectives and opinions on the same topic. For example, the center square on the diagram can include themes, essential questions, social issues or historical events. The site focuses on using this strategy for the question “Is the world a fair and just place?” and used characters from books for discussion. The last quadrant is for students to answer the question based on life experiences.
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 1 & 5
How the strategy will work: When students can compare and contrast information from one or more texts, they can make text-to-text connections, text-to-self, and/or text-to-world connections. This strategy will develop critical thinking skills and expand thinking and understanding of the world around them.
Name of Strategy: Anticipation Guide
Source: Greece Central School District
Description and how implemented: Again, this strategy can be used before, during, and after reading instruction. If all level readers, especially struggling readers, can go into “anticipation mode” when beginning a book then it may provide the “hook” to draw them into the book. Anticipation Guides are designed with a series of statements where the student can either agree or disagree using prior knowledge or the essential questions posed by the writer of the book. Anticipation Guides are again revisited after reading the text and students will either defend or support their opinions with specific examples from the book.
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 3 & 4
How the strategy will work: This strategy will help students not just see a book as a book, but will enable readers to understand the need to examine the entire contents of the book and anticipate essential questions from the text. Or, students can focus on prior knowledge that they may bring to the text.
Name of Strategy: Interactive Notebook
Source: Greece Central School District
Description and how implemented: This isn’t interactive as you might expect. This strategy requires no technology and simply uses a notebook with pages designated for different purposes to condense or summarize ideas from one or more texts, distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, compare/contrast information from one or more texts, and make text-to-text, text-to-self, and/or text-to-world connections. The left side of the notebook is used to record student’s individual interaction with the information on the right side. A great example is provided in the link above.
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 2, 3, & 5
How the strategy will work: Just like a graphic organizer, the interactive notebook can provide an organized way for students to use information.
Name of Strategy: Sociograms
Source: Greece Central School District
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/
Reading/Reading%20Strategies/sociograms.htm
Description and how implemented: A sociogram provides a visual representation of the relationships among characters in a literary text. Before reading strategies include using sociograms to help students understand the relationships among characters. During the lesson, students can add to or revise sociograms to illustrate the changing relationships, the traits or each character, and the emerging primary and secondary conflicts of the story. Click on the link below to see an example:
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Readi
ng%20Strategies/hamletmodell.PDF
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 2, 4, &5
How the strategy will work: The sociogram will provide a visual of the story and bring to life the relationships between characters and main characters. A visual representation gives students another way to “look at” the information from the story.
Name of Strategy: R.A.F.T. (Role, Audience, Format, Topic)
Source: Greece Central School District
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Re
ading/Reading%20Strategies/RAFT.htm
Description and how implemented: RAFTS are designed specifically for the objective at hand. Click here for an example of a RAFT for 9th grade students to facilitate their reading of Steinbeck’s, The Pearl.
http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Re
ading%20Strategies/RAFTsample.doc
RAFT can be used for fiction or nonfiction texts and integrates reading and writing in a nontraditional way.
Standard Course of Study addressed: 8th grade Competency Goal 1
How the strategy will work: The RAFT method takes a novel and adds depth. Students will be able to analyze and interpret elements of character development.
Materials Sites-Katie Brigman (Unit 2)
May 24, 2008Katie Brigman
#1
Name of Site: Marco Polo
http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson78/poetshoes4.htm
Source/Author: Beth O’Connor
Topic: Poetry with integrated technology
Population of students: Grades 6-8/Language Arts
Brief Description: This particular lesson would be used to introduce students to poetry and to find poetry that “fits” them. Poetry is a lot about “connecting” with the author and finding poetry that “speaks” to the reader. Poetry is very personal and this lesson helps students connect. Anytime you can make a lesson personalized to a student or to the entire class students have the ability to learn at a deeper level. This lesson allows students to explore poetry from many different sites to find one that they like. Performing their poem for the classroom will take the poem to another level entirely. This lesson uses technology and drama for students to learn about poetry.
Additional Materials: A graphic organizer might help EC students to organize and be familiar with the steps of this lesson.
#2
Name of Site: Web English Teacher
http://www.classzone.com/novelguides/litcons/homecomi/guide.cfm
Source/Author: unknown
Topic: Extending the theme of family and home from the book Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt.
Population of students: Grades 6-8/Language Arts
Brief Description: This lesson extends Homecoming for further discussion on family and home, a major theme of the book. Although this lesson lacks technology it makes up for it in the fact that family and home is a theme that many students will be able to connect with. This theme could be sensitive to some students so teachers should be aware. Discussing this major theme will extend the book to a connection that students will be able to make on a personal level. Working with small groups allows for students to extend an idea, gather ideas and concepts from other students, and reflect on his or her own opinions and experiences.
Additional Materials: Allow EC students to work independently or within a small group setting. Teachers might allow EC students the choice of research on the computer for more information on the theme.
#3
Name of Site: Marco Polo
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view_printer_friendly.asp?id=195
Source/Author: Traci Gardner
Topic: Book reports using comic strips or cartoon squares
Population of Students: Grades 6-8/Language Arts
Brief Description: This lesson uses comic strips or cartoon squares as a way for students to respond to novels. Students can focus on significant points of the book in a few short scenes using the comic strip format. Students are encouraged to think analytically about characters, events, and themes.
Additional Materials: The hands-on aspect of this lesson is great for EC students although they may have trouble thinking symbolically or analytically. This lesson seems to be well organized and planned so that will be helpful to EC students.
#4
Name of Site: Marco Polo
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2210/
Source/Author: Joyce Payne
Topic: Creating a clay portrait from a favorite character in literature.
Brief Description: This hands-on lesson will let students be creative and explore the characteristics of a character in literature using clay.
Additional Materials: Because this lesson is hands-on it will be great for EC students. A possible problem may be that those same students have problems following a lesson that has little structure and allows students to “think outside the box”.
#5
Name of Site: EDSITEment
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=434
Source/Author: unknown
Topic: Support a position with evidence either historical or from text.
Population of students: Grades 6-8/Language Arts
Brief Description: Using Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, students will research, collaborate, and analyze how London approaches telling a story from the point of view of an animal. Students will be able to take a stand on an issue after researching and forming an opinion on the topic. Students will also have evidence to defend their position.
Additional Materials: I don’t have specific ways to adapt this lesson for EC students. A graphic organizer will help these students to stay focused and organized during each step.
21st Century Learning and Teaching-Katie Brigman (Unit 2)
May 23, 2008Great video. I think it really reflects the importance of technology in the classroom. So many teachers, for whatever reason, seem to neglect using technology. I think one of the most important aspects of teaching is the ability of a teacher to adapt to changing times. Isn’t is Dylan that said “The times they are a-changin’?” Well, they are and I pity the teacher who isn’t changing because it will be the students who suffer.
Articles-Katie Brigman
May 17, 2008
From Efficient Decoders to Strategic Readers
Reading is a way of learning and many older students aren’t receiving support to move from fluent decoders into strategic readers. A strategic reader knows how to think with text. Much of the focus on teaching students how to use reading and writing strategies to learn with texts is gone once a student reaches middle and high school. With a recent study showing that half of the students entering high school read at a 6th grade level or below shows that there isn’t enough being done.
I like the idea of reading and writing being taught by all teachers, not just the traditional English/language arts teachers and reading specialists. Literacy development is a shared responsibility by all teachers, especially in middle grades and high school.
You Can’t Learn Much from Books You Can’t Read
Textbooks are essentially useless if a student can’t read to understand the information in the book. Students in grades 5-12 are struggling to read and unfortunately the problem only gets worse. The “one-size-fits-all” approach, where schools buy multiple copies of the same textbook, doesn’t lend itself to academic achievement for all students. Textbooks also don’t fit in with student learning because the reading level is usually two or more years above the average grade level of the student using the book. A textbook can only hinder learning unless students have access to a textbook they can read accurately, fluently, and with high levels of understanding.
One idea that I liked was the idea to use a textbook as part of the overall curriculum in the classroom. Textbooks aren’t necessarily bad and can be used in conjunction with other learning sources. Textbooks are just one component in creating a multi-sourced and multi-leveled curriculum.
The idea of “managed choice” for students is a concept that I see has having endless possibilities in the classroom. Students desire and need choice.
Katie Brigman- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
May 17, 2008Katie Brigman- Mathematics
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Journals published: Teaching Children Mathematics, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, Mathematics Teacher, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, ON-Math
Overview: Resources for elementary-higher education teachers as well as families.
Teachers will find a variety of curriculum resources from NCTM
Membership fees:
Full individual membership Option 1- $78/year
Full individual membership Option 2- $105/year
E-Membership (Early Career Teachers, Semi-Retired, or International Teachers) $53/year
Student E-Membership- $39/year
Emeritus (individuals at least 62 years and a member of NCTM for at least 15 years)- $28/year
Math-Katie Brigman
May 17, 2008
For my NCSCOS reflection and summary I focused on mathematics in the 6th grade. This grade level covers such concepts and skills as probability, percent, negative rational numbers, transformations in the coordinate plane, equations and inequalities, and multiplication and division of non-negative rational numbers.
I found the 6-8 Resource section to be a great place for teachers! With such sections as calculator riddles and classroom strategies it is sure to be a place I’ll visit often.
