Dear Sam,
I am glad that you chose to be a part of our great faculty. I must begin by saying that your willingness to ask questions and gain feedback about how to help our students shows traits of a good teacher. Please always feel free to ask any burning questions because I am here to help. We both have the same goal in mind, and that goal is student achievement.
First of all, summarization is a very important reading skill. It can also be difficult for some students. However, there are a plethora of strategies that can be used to help students become proficient with the skill. The strategies can be used with fiction and nonfiction genres.
The first and most important thing to do is give the students a purpose for their reading. If they know why the are reading something, it will be easier for them to determine what is important about the text. An example of a purpose to read could be to tell why a character was motivated to do something in a novel or tell the events that led to a particular battle in the Civil War.
Once their purpose has been established, they should underline or highlight words or sentences that specifically point out the main points of the text. They can use those words and sentences to form their own sentences and eventually form a summary of the text read.
Also, the students can complete exit slips or tickets out. With this, the students are asked to tell what they gained from the lesson or reading for that day. This is excellent because they are reflecting on what they learned. Before class begins, let the students know that they will be expected to complete the exit slip or ticket out. That will make them pay more attention so that they will be able to complete the task.
Using the 5 W's (who, what, when, where, and why) are very helpful. This helps the students stay focused on what is important about a topic. This really helps because it prevents them from using extraneous information.
Letting the students create different presentations based on their learning styles is also a great way to get students to summarize what they learned. They could create skits, write songs or poems, do an advertisement or jingle, give a speech, or whatever they may come up with. The creativity added to a lesson brings out good work in many students.
Lastly, end the class with an oral reflection. Let the students be in charge of it. Choose about three to four students who you think really grasped the concepts of the lesson or reading and let them tell about it to the class. Often times, students learn more from other students. Also, hearing other students' perspectives will add more knowledge for a student who can't recall much from the lesson.
Basically, there are many ways to use summarization in your classroom. Get to know your students and see what keeps them engaged. Give them an opportunity to make choices and decisions about how they will summarize. Remember, your overall goal is student achievement through meeting and exceeding the standards. It doesn't matter what strategy they use, as long as they reach the goal.
I hope this has helped. If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Have a great day.
Your mentor,
Taliah Hassan
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Movtivating Students
Tom, This is a problem all teacher new and experienced share. Students are so different and what movtivates one doesn't motivate another. I have found that teachers are willing to share their strategies. I have attended more workshops on this subject in my career than any other. I will share some things I do in my classroom to involve all students. I poll the students to see what they like to read and most say nothing. I read books aloud to my students and I let them chose after I read the summary. I model fluency and humor as I read. The students love this. I then teach the students to read with the same fluency. Many students however don't want or like to read so I give them a small section to read so they aren't overwhelmed. I am going to have students sign up to read a section of the story with a purpose for reading after Christmas. I also let the students know as they read how well they are doing. This encouragment helps tremendously. After a few weeks most of my students don't mind reading. I also encourage the students to share what they are reading for pleasure to get other students interested inreading as well. I have books on different reading levels and interests in my classroom. I also use the Seven Habits of Effective Readers with my students. I can get you a copy if you would like. I keep it on my overhead cart so I can see it often. I also went to Best Practices this past summer and attended a workshop and was given Fit it Strategies for students. aI copied this for my students to keep in their notebook and I refer to the list often. I try to show the students practical ways to figure out what they are reading. This keeps students from becoming frustrated. I have also used small group and partner reading to allow the students to read to an even smaller audience. My students this year haven't likes this as much as my older students. The key to keeping kids movtivated is keeping them interested. I haev found the World Wide Web very helpful too. Let me know what you think you can try or want me to help you try. Just remember you aren't alone in making student learning fun and motivational.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Motivating Reluctant Readers
Hey Yvonne,
We've all had difficutly motivating students in general. Our school has a committe designated for motivating students in reading, language, math, and conduct. It is a difficult task to motivate every student in your class to read. I have several strategies that I use in my classroom, but I am still in the process of trying and learning new strategies. I don't use the same ones every year because my students change. What worked before may not work with my new students. The most important and first thing you should do is get to know your students and their interests. I have my students fill out a questionare of their favorite book types and general getting to know you activities. I learn so much about them from day one. Expose your students to different types of literature at every opportunity. Examples are comics, newspapers, and magazines. Majority of students enjoy humorous literature. I love to use interactive strategies to ensure my students are motivated. These include Readers Theater, DRAW, and Story Telling. Readers Theater's focus is on repeated readings that improve fluency, comprehension, and motivation. Students socially interact which gives them an opportunity to share with their peers. Reluctant readers are given a part that they must read over and over again to get their parts right. In Story Telling, students identify with a character which in turn brings them into the plot of the story. Students can create a summary of a part of the stroy to share with their classmates. They give their peers a sequence of events, a climax, and a resolution to the story. The DRAW (Draw, Read, Attend, and Write) strategy gives reluctant readers to work in small groups when given a short article, story or content area chapters to read. Before students split into small groups, I prepare questions that are either literal or inferential. The groups then draw one question and read the article or chapter they have been assigned. The students are responsible for answering the question they have chosen and then reporting the answer back tot he whole group. The class must discuss and all students are expected to participate and listen. The final part of this strategy is for students to write the answers to all of the questions. I use this for a classwork grade. Anytime you would like to see one of these strategies used in my classroom, let me know. I hope this helped answer your question. Let me know if you need anything else.
Karen Richards
We've all had difficutly motivating students in general. Our school has a committe designated for motivating students in reading, language, math, and conduct. It is a difficult task to motivate every student in your class to read. I have several strategies that I use in my classroom, but I am still in the process of trying and learning new strategies. I don't use the same ones every year because my students change. What worked before may not work with my new students. The most important and first thing you should do is get to know your students and their interests. I have my students fill out a questionare of their favorite book types and general getting to know you activities. I learn so much about them from day one. Expose your students to different types of literature at every opportunity. Examples are comics, newspapers, and magazines. Majority of students enjoy humorous literature. I love to use interactive strategies to ensure my students are motivated. These include Readers Theater, DRAW, and Story Telling. Readers Theater's focus is on repeated readings that improve fluency, comprehension, and motivation. Students socially interact which gives them an opportunity to share with their peers. Reluctant readers are given a part that they must read over and over again to get their parts right. In Story Telling, students identify with a character which in turn brings them into the plot of the story. Students can create a summary of a part of the stroy to share with their classmates. They give their peers a sequence of events, a climax, and a resolution to the story. The DRAW (Draw, Read, Attend, and Write) strategy gives reluctant readers to work in small groups when given a short article, story or content area chapters to read. Before students split into small groups, I prepare questions that are either literal or inferential. The groups then draw one question and read the article or chapter they have been assigned. The students are responsible for answering the question they have chosen and then reporting the answer back tot he whole group. The class must discuss and all students are expected to participate and listen. The final part of this strategy is for students to write the answers to all of the questions. I use this for a classwork grade. Anytime you would like to see one of these strategies used in my classroom, let me know. I hope this helped answer your question. Let me know if you need anything else.
Karen Richards
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Time Management
Dear Gayla,
We are so excited to have you as a part of our faculty. You said that you are having some difficulties with time management during your first year teaching. We all struggle with time management, even the most veteran teachers. There is so much to do in the time you have with the students. As far as being able to get everything done in a day, one thing that will help is that you have discussed expectations with your students. Less time will be wasted when they know exactly how things are to go in the classroom. Also, integration is a great way to help out. Try to integrate different subjects into a lesson. Often, you can use Science and Social Studies as your reading lessons. This allows you to teach the concepts of those subjects along with reading concepts. The students can build reading fluency while reading the text that goes along with these two subjects. There are many ways to integrate Math into these other subjects areas, too. Another way to deal with the question of time is to waste as little time as possible on transitions. In the book, Why Didn't I Learn This in College?, you will find some helpful information on Transition Tidbits on pages 230-231. You may also find the Time Templates on pages 228-229 helpful, as well. If you find additional great ways to manage time, please feel free to share them with us. We are always looking for new ideas in this area ourselves.
Good luck,
Teresa
We are so excited to have you as a part of our faculty. You said that you are having some difficulties with time management during your first year teaching. We all struggle with time management, even the most veteran teachers. There is so much to do in the time you have with the students. As far as being able to get everything done in a day, one thing that will help is that you have discussed expectations with your students. Less time will be wasted when they know exactly how things are to go in the classroom. Also, integration is a great way to help out. Try to integrate different subjects into a lesson. Often, you can use Science and Social Studies as your reading lessons. This allows you to teach the concepts of those subjects along with reading concepts. The students can build reading fluency while reading the text that goes along with these two subjects. There are many ways to integrate Math into these other subjects areas, too. Another way to deal with the question of time is to waste as little time as possible on transitions. In the book, Why Didn't I Learn This in College?, you will find some helpful information on Transition Tidbits on pages 230-231. You may also find the Time Templates on pages 228-229 helpful, as well. If you find additional great ways to manage time, please feel free to share them with us. We are always looking for new ideas in this area ourselves.
Good luck,
Teresa
Friday, October 31, 2008
Collaborative Work
Hi Royce,
I’m so excited to have you join our faculty. You will love working here. As a graduate of the University of Florida, I am sorry that you had to suffer through the University of Alabama’s program. I’m certain we can work together -Proud Gator and red elephant – to develop a well-rounded, Gator-centered environment in you classroom.
Okay, in all seriousness, I’m thrilled you are interested in having children work together. It’s a teaching style I personally utilize for most subject material. When designing collaborative activities preparation is essential. Have all materials and know exactly what you want your kids to accomplish. Then take the time to write a W.I.L.F.(What I’m looking For) for your students. It’s a three step list of what is expected of them – MUST /SHOULD/COULD. The first step is the basic requirement for the project. The second step goes a little deeper and may be a bit more complicated and then use the “could” level for those students who really want to excel. Post the WILF so that all children can see it. I often give it to the group in printed form so they can write on it. I also give the group or team a rubric, stating what is expected and how many points each step or requirement is worth. The children need to understand that you hold very high expectations for the group’s work.
Another hint with collaborative activities is to assign jobs to each student. Depending on the activity, you may try to limit the number of jobs to the number of students in the group. Everyone needs to feel a part of the activities. Jobs may include: materials person, captain, monitor, secretary or writer. Tailor the jobs for the subject.
Sometimes you will want to keep your collaborative groups down to only two students -other times, the more the merrier. It’s up to you.
Now the fun part is coming up with the activities. Groups work well when they are excited about their project. My kids love to collect information from books and the Internet. One year, they created group presentations on different chemical and physical changes after doing scientific research on the Internet. Teams of two performed scientific experiments for the class, showing the two types of changes. An exploding soda bottle was great fun.
Writing projects lend well to group collaborations. Have your kids write a narrative story together and then collectively illustrate the pages for a class book.
Our book clubs involve four children reading the same book and then getting together with me and talking about the plot, word choices, characters and other narrative elements. If the group enjoys the book, they will organize and present a book project to the class.
Designing collaborative activities requires some preparation, training for the kids and imagination. Children love to talk about their learning. Group work is a wonderful opportunity to allow them to teach each other. Experiment a little with room arrangement. You students may want to sit on the floor or at tables.
The most important element to remember when designing collaborative activities is to be open-minded. The kids will show you what works best for them. Don’t be afraid of a noisy classroom. Noise is good when it is coming from children who are enthusiastic and engaged in their learning.
Yell if you need me. I’m here for you.
Take care,
Kim Lester
I’m so excited to have you join our faculty. You will love working here. As a graduate of the University of Florida, I am sorry that you had to suffer through the University of Alabama’s program. I’m certain we can work together -Proud Gator and red elephant – to develop a well-rounded, Gator-centered environment in you classroom.
Okay, in all seriousness, I’m thrilled you are interested in having children work together. It’s a teaching style I personally utilize for most subject material. When designing collaborative activities preparation is essential. Have all materials and know exactly what you want your kids to accomplish. Then take the time to write a W.I.L.F.(What I’m looking For) for your students. It’s a three step list of what is expected of them – MUST /SHOULD/COULD. The first step is the basic requirement for the project. The second step goes a little deeper and may be a bit more complicated and then use the “could” level for those students who really want to excel. Post the WILF so that all children can see it. I often give it to the group in printed form so they can write on it. I also give the group or team a rubric, stating what is expected and how many points each step or requirement is worth. The children need to understand that you hold very high expectations for the group’s work.
Another hint with collaborative activities is to assign jobs to each student. Depending on the activity, you may try to limit the number of jobs to the number of students in the group. Everyone needs to feel a part of the activities. Jobs may include: materials person, captain, monitor, secretary or writer. Tailor the jobs for the subject.
Sometimes you will want to keep your collaborative groups down to only two students -other times, the more the merrier. It’s up to you.
Now the fun part is coming up with the activities. Groups work well when they are excited about their project. My kids love to collect information from books and the Internet. One year, they created group presentations on different chemical and physical changes after doing scientific research on the Internet. Teams of two performed scientific experiments for the class, showing the two types of changes. An exploding soda bottle was great fun.
Writing projects lend well to group collaborations. Have your kids write a narrative story together and then collectively illustrate the pages for a class book.
Our book clubs involve four children reading the same book and then getting together with me and talking about the plot, word choices, characters and other narrative elements. If the group enjoys the book, they will organize and present a book project to the class.
Designing collaborative activities requires some preparation, training for the kids and imagination. Children love to talk about their learning. Group work is a wonderful opportunity to allow them to teach each other. Experiment a little with room arrangement. You students may want to sit on the floor or at tables.
The most important element to remember when designing collaborative activities is to be open-minded. The kids will show you what works best for them. Don’t be afraid of a noisy classroom. Noise is good when it is coming from children who are enthusiastic and engaged in their learning.
Yell if you need me. I’m here for you.
Take care,
Kim Lester
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Working Collaboratively
Dear Royce,
I read your letter and had to laugh. You are asking a question that most educators struggle with each year. I wish I could tell you that there is one technique or strategy that would solve this dilemma for you, but I don't think I would be being very helpful.
Collaborative groups and how successful they are changes as the personality of your class changes from year to year. Something that works really well this year may be a total flop next year. In addition, just because it's working today doesn't mean it will next week. If that happens take a step back and reconsider.
There are somethings that can help though. I certainly don't know all of them but I have found that these work for me.
I read your letter and had to laugh. You are asking a question that most educators struggle with each year. I wish I could tell you that there is one technique or strategy that would solve this dilemma for you, but I don't think I would be being very helpful.
Collaborative groups and how successful they are changes as the personality of your class changes from year to year. Something that works really well this year may be a total flop next year. In addition, just because it's working today doesn't mean it will next week. If that happens take a step back and reconsider.
There are somethings that can help though. I certainly don't know all of them but I have found that these work for me.
- Be organized. The more organized you are the better your students will work. Make sure that everything you need is organized in advance.
- Model, model, model. The more comfortable they are with your expectations the fewer questions and obstacles they will have.
- Provide them with a WILF or a rubric to work from. If they know what you're looking for or they have a rubric that you will be using to assess their work, the more likely they will be able to work independently and produce work that matches your expectations.
- Make sure the work is rigorous enough to keep them engaged and challenged but no too difficult for them to be able to complete independently.
- Match the time to the assignment - too much work is just as annoying for the student as too little.
- Consider personalities and space. Some students can work with others and some absolutely CAN NOT. Some can work in close promimation others CAN NOT. If you have a student like this, don't spin your wheels trying to make it work. Let them work independently and let the others work in pairs otr groups.
- Set an expectation and a cue for conversation and noise control. For example if you say whisper or inside voices you need to have a cue that will allow them to monitor and modify. I say "Check you throat". No I don't want them to choke themselves..well..maybe. No, I want them to feel their throats and if they can feel vibration, it's too loud. It's a lot better than "Please hush, please hush, please stop, please. please, please.."
I hope this helps. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Best Wishes - dawn smith
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Dear Mentor
Dear Dana,
I am delighted that you are a part of our faculty. In response to your letter concerning the difficulties that you are having with the use of technology in your class room and as an organizational tool, I may have some suggestions.
Please let me know when you are available to discuss your technology concerns/needs? If I am unable to answer your questions, Mrs. Toelle, our business education teacher and computer expert, would be glad to work with you with any organizational problems (i.e. Integrade, E-mailing, computer use and software).
You are welcome to observe my class and the use technology in my classes. We have a set of graphing calculators available for your use in the classroom. I have several graphing calculator and computer activities that are correlated to the standards that I can share with you. Perhaps, we can work on some activities together that I have not had time to use.
I look forward to working with you and learning from you!
Your mentor,
Renee Cole
I am delighted that you are a part of our faculty. In response to your letter concerning the difficulties that you are having with the use of technology in your class room and as an organizational tool, I may have some suggestions.
Please let me know when you are available to discuss your technology concerns/needs? If I am unable to answer your questions, Mrs. Toelle, our business education teacher and computer expert, would be glad to work with you with any organizational problems (i.e. Integrade, E-mailing, computer use and software).
You are welcome to observe my class and the use technology in my classes. We have a set of graphing calculators available for your use in the classroom. I have several graphing calculator and computer activities that are correlated to the standards that I can share with you. Perhaps, we can work on some activities together that I have not had time to use.
I look forward to working with you and learning from you!
Your mentor,
Renee Cole
My protégé teacher, Colton Commodore is having trouble with their classroom transitions. Colton teaches at Paula Rutherford School and my feedback is based on any classroom teacher from K-12. Transition information is found between pages 230-231 in Why Didn’t I Learn This in College.
Colton,
I know that Vanderbilt prepared you well to enter the teaching field. Some days teaching will be just like your professors told you and many days teaching will be quite foreign and that is why I’m here to support you in your teaching efforts. Your classroom transitions can be helped with two things, proper planning and habitual classroom routines.
First of all, planning for your specific time and space has a lot to do with your transitions. Ask yourself the following questions: 1) Are my materials prepared for the students 2) Do I know exactly what I’m teaching and in what order? 3) Do I know where my students may have some trouble? 4) Is my classroom layout suffice for student movement I had you ask these question because if you are not prepared you students will find something else to do while you are preparing, which can cause off task behaviors. So make sure you are prepared with the order of what you are teaching. Make sure you classroom can handle a movement transition. Not all transitions require physical movement, but may require a change of mindset. You can also let your students know the agenda so that they can better anticipate the different transitions.
Secondly, you will need to establish routines in your classroom for transitions. When establishing a routine in your class, you will need to offer some practice time for the students to practice the routine. Depending on your students, give them the appropriate time to practice your routine. For example, I give my students a week to learn the transition from the classroom to the lab area. In my classroom we practice students getting their goggles, opening lab drawers, and cleaning the lab glassware as an activity. Model and practice your routine and give your students a set date in which they must be able to follow the new routine. Once you establish the routine KEEP IT! Students love routine and they would appreciate the structure of your classroom. Below is a list of different transitional strategies which you can use to help with your transitions.
Movement Transitions
HALL (Hands to side All eye forward Lips zipped Low Speed) Use this acronym to describe what a student looks like and sound like while walking in the hall.
Countdown 10-0- Count backwards from 10 to 0 while students are moving in the classroom. Say: When I get to 0 you need to be______. Then you begin counting. You will need to count either slow or fast depending on the students and the type of movement. Give recognition to students while you are counting for following directions.
Song transition- Sing a song that goes with the transition. For example, sing the cleanup song while students are cleaning up. (It works in high school) Or sing school song.
Transitions from one activity to the next
*Use a timer to signal the class to move on to the next activity
*Using routine sayings like the following:
Pencils down all around
All eyes on me
A Hush fell over the crowd
*2 minute warning (Which lets the students know a transition is coming)
Use a call and response to get the students attention for the transition.
Once the students say their part then they have to be silent.
*You say-Bump bump bump bump Students say- bump bump
*You say-To the window. Students say- to the wall
*You say-Marco Students say- Polo
*You say-Anyone who hears me clap once Student- clap
*You can make up your own based on your students
Incorporate an bridge assignment between switching activities or subject areas
*Have students complete a sponge/do now/warmup at the beginning of a new activity
*Have students complete a admission ticket at the beginning of a new activity
These are just a few ideas for you to use with your transitions. We can later discuss more in detail and you can stop by my room to see me model a couple of these transitions with my students. The most important thing is that you are prepared for the students. All of the above transition ideas have to be modeled and practiced by the students daily so that the transitions become a habit for you and most importantly your students.
Goodluck,
Mikaa Veal
Collaborative work in groups or pairs
Royce Rolltide,
I'm glad to hear that you are eager to have your middle school science students work in pairs and small groups. There are several things you might want to consider.
-Successful group work requires a knowledge of the content, so you will have to ensure that this knowledge has been "pre-loaded" before the group work will be productive.
--Despite the benefits of "discovery" based learning, time is a critical factor; you probably don't have the time for your students to discover all of the 118 or so elements on the periodic table.
-Start with students working in pairs and give them something fairly easy so that they can cooperate to accomplish the task.
--Consider using mini-labs that they can do at their seats, e.g., mini-math labs are a good way to start. Once they are working as a pair you can then pair up pairs to form four person work groups.
-Once you and the students are comfortable with the groups (a function of learning styles, abilities, and personalities--go for a cross-section here) you must still have structure in the group.
--Start by assigning specific duties, e.g., one person is the team leader, another is the recorder/writer, another is the primary operatior/manipulator, and yet another is supply/equipment person. Rotate these duties among the goup members and keep this group together for at least four different events.
--Give the group a "report sheet" that they must complete and turn in. It should include: the purpose of the activity, the procedure, the materials used, the results/data, the analysis, and the conclusion. Each of the students should sign this sheet upon turn-in to the teacher.
--Make sure that you have been very clear about the purpose of this group event and your expected outcomes for the group, i.e., everyone in the goup will receive a "group grade" and cooperation and participation are important to success.
-Also, consider the use of modeling by these groups. Models may be verbal/written, graphic, matematical, or picture/diagramatic. This really facilitates student understanding.
--I use mini-white-boards (approx. 24 in. x 30 in., one for each group) so that they can write/compute/draw their models and state a clear conclusion to their event.
I hope this has started to help you. Stop by and I'll give you written examples, books, web sites, and other tools that may help you even more. Rolltide!
Stan Lane
I'm glad to hear that you are eager to have your middle school science students work in pairs and small groups. There are several things you might want to consider.
-Successful group work requires a knowledge of the content, so you will have to ensure that this knowledge has been "pre-loaded" before the group work will be productive.
--Despite the benefits of "discovery" based learning, time is a critical factor; you probably don't have the time for your students to discover all of the 118 or so elements on the periodic table.
-Start with students working in pairs and give them something fairly easy so that they can cooperate to accomplish the task.
--Consider using mini-labs that they can do at their seats, e.g., mini-math labs are a good way to start. Once they are working as a pair you can then pair up pairs to form four person work groups.
-Once you and the students are comfortable with the groups (a function of learning styles, abilities, and personalities--go for a cross-section here) you must still have structure in the group.
--Start by assigning specific duties, e.g., one person is the team leader, another is the recorder/writer, another is the primary operatior/manipulator, and yet another is supply/equipment person. Rotate these duties among the goup members and keep this group together for at least four different events.
--Give the group a "report sheet" that they must complete and turn in. It should include: the purpose of the activity, the procedure, the materials used, the results/data, the analysis, and the conclusion. Each of the students should sign this sheet upon turn-in to the teacher.
--Make sure that you have been very clear about the purpose of this group event and your expected outcomes for the group, i.e., everyone in the goup will receive a "group grade" and cooperation and participation are important to success.
-Also, consider the use of modeling by these groups. Models may be verbal/written, graphic, matematical, or picture/diagramatic. This really facilitates student understanding.
--I use mini-white-boards (approx. 24 in. x 30 in., one for each group) so that they can write/compute/draw their models and state a clear conclusion to their event.
I hope this has started to help you. Stop by and I'll give you written examples, books, web sites, and other tools that may help you even more. Rolltide!
Stan Lane
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Designing Opportunties for Students to Work Collaboratively
This book is a great resource to use for teachers to get ideas. On pages 66 and 67 there is a list of strategies to use to meet specific goals. The teacher I am working with is having a hard time designing opportunities for her students to work collaboratively in groups and pairs. I have provided a variety of strategies with page numbers to meet both needs.
- Teammates Consult is a strategy used so that all students may participate, promote development of communication skills and cause students to think before they "fill in the blanks." I think this is a good strategy because it promotes mastery learning. It helps put students at ease and gives them the opportunity to learn from peers. (page 97)
- Reciprocal Teaching is designed to help students develop expertise with the thinking and process skills of predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarizing. It works well with all learners. At the elementary level this strategy works good with guided reading and in the secondary classroom its used to structure small group work. This strategy requires students to predict, clarify, question, and summarize material. When modeled and practiced students can become very proficient at it and this allows you to rotate around the room and listen in on the discussions. This strategy works well in Multi-age classrooms and upper grades. I believe this strategy would promote a lot of collaboration which is what my teacher is looking for. (page 133)
- Graffiti is a strategy that allows you to write problems, formulas, sentences on pieces of large chart paper and post around the room. Students then move into small groups and work together to complete the assignment. Each group works on a different question or topic and writes or draws responses on paper. Then allow time for students to rotate to the different topics with their groups. You may allow the groups to use different color markers to keep track of contributions. Basically I selected this strategy because it is one that we use in teacher workshops. It gets the students up and moving and actively engaged in the learning process. It allows group members to use their various learning styles to present information. (page 79)
- Numbered Heads Together requires students to work in teams of 4 or 5. Students count off in each group so when the teacher ask a question all the number 3's in the group have to answer. Teacher ask the questions the team huddles up and collaborates and makes sure each member knows the answer. Teacher calls a number at random. All the number 3's raise their hands and the teacher selects one student to answer the question. This activity sounds like a good team building activity and one that would require a lot of practice to perfect. I feel that upper grades would really enjoy this activity. (page 90)
- Sort Cards allows for individual work and group work. Students work independently at first and generate words or short phrases that come to mind on a topic. Then record each idea on an index card. Then students break into groups and share ideas, clarify similar ideas Once cards have been sorted then groups rotate around the room to analyze the work of other groups. This activity requires students to provide individual work and group work which allows the teacher to assess two ways. The teacher can see what the child knows and then allow him/her to collaborate to come up with the best solution. (page 93)
- Consensus Conclusions requires students to work independently at first. They must generate a list of the five most important concepts or facts learned from topic being studied. Then students move into assigned groups. The groups must come to a consensus about the most important facts. Then have each group present their selections. Lead a discussion about the content identified, the similarities and differences and about the process. This activity also allows the teacher to check each students understanding of the topic and then allows for collaboration for mastery learning. (page 76)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
How will you use the book "Why Didn't I Learn This In College?"
After reading your ESPN game day assignment, how will you use the book "Why Didn't I Learn This In College?" to help your college graduate? Which activities do you think will be most beneficial to him/her in instruction/management, etc? Why? Add any other thoughts from class or journal readings that you would like to share!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)