As we reach a close of this semester, its a great time to reflect on things we've discussed and learned. I've learned many different things about content literacy. Though my definition really hasn't changed much, I think I've developed a better understanding for what content literacy is. Throughout this semester, I've learned to adapt strategies and collaborate with other people to make things that will work with the kids that I work with.
Each semester, I am more and more excited to work with my students. All these strategies and ideas for working with them seem great but the problem is, I don't really know if the strategies will work. For me the most exciting thing is getting to start on my own and get more ideas. I'm excited to work with students and find things out through actually working rather than getting idea after idea without trying them.
Thank you for a great semester filled with ideas about content literacy and my ideas on teaching.
~The Teach Fairy
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Groupwork and Assessments
As the semester closes, it seems like we have less and less to talk about yet surprisingly we find more. We read a couple chapters in Tovani's book, "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?" about group work and assessment.
I'm a pretty social person so I've always loved group work. It was fun working with friends and discussing problems. The worst part about it was getting stuck with people who won't get anything done. I feel like as a teacher there can be problems with group work too. Tovani mentions a few strategies for some problems we can run into with group work. The first issue she posed was, "Someone hasn't read the material or completed the task." Tovani suggests to have a little quiet station where students can finish the task before getting back with the group. The next problem we can we can have is that "Someone talks all the type." She suggests that we give this person a task to do, maybe write down the points from the group or give feedback. Of course there could be many problems that could happen with a group but the last one Tovani discusses is when "someone doesn't talk." This can be frustrating for many people but she suggest a couple phrases to include the kids that don't necessarily get a chance to talk or don't prefer to talk. She suggests to directly approach the student and ask if they have something to share. I definitely think these are great ideas for facing group work. Though group work doesn't always run smoothly, these tips can help it run a little better.
The two things I took away from the assessment chapter was how to go about assessments and conversation calendars. Tovani says, "Decide what you want to assess. Give a variety of ways for students to demonstrate understanding." Then, "design assessments that are checkpoints for understanding." This keeps the idea kind of simple but it can be complicated. I can see what my objectives are and then decide what is important. Based on that, I can plan activities that will help my students understand the objectives in a variety of ways, since all students learn differently and at a different pace. Then I would base my assessments on what I wanted them to understand. I feel that if I planned each unit like this, assessments would be effective and test their understanding.
The other part I liked was Conversation Calendars. I thought it was a really cool tool that helped build rapport with the students. There was a mini calendar. The students could write a question or response each day or tell me something they wanted. They would then grade themselves on behavior and participation that day. Then under their question, I would respond and give them a grade that I thought. I thought this was a cool way to communicate with students and learn about things that are going on in their lives. That way, I could base lessons on their lives and discuss other confusions.
Can't believe the end of the semester is approaching. Let's make it a great couple of weeks. :)
~The Teach Fairy
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Different Perspectives
I enjoyed looking at my friends' blogs this week. It gave me different perspectives and new insights that I had not thought of before. Here is what I found.
Quote from this blog: "As educators, we need to allow our students to express themselves freely and feel comfortable in our classroom environment. If they like ponies, so be it."
My Thoughts: I agree with this statement especially dealing with middle school students. We all know middle school was an awkward time that everyone has to go through. Why should we as teachers tell students what they should and shouldn't like. We don't define the students. Yes, we help mold them into citizens in our society but shouldn't they be entitled to freedom of expression just as we are. Yes I do understand their are rules about these sorts of things but we as teachers should allow are students to feel safe when expressing themselves but in a healthy way.
Quote from this blog: "I think that knowing each student well can help us teach content literacy. The more I know a particular student, whether they might be gifted, on the autism spectrum, have a behavioral difference etc, the more I can help them learn! I think this takes time and effort, and much of that time is probably going to be outside of the classroom. But, I would say it's worth it."
My Thoughts: I definitely think this is the case. From personal experience, my favorite teachers were the ones that cared. These teachers took the time to help me when they knew I was struggling. They would meet with me before school and discuss with me ways that I could improve my study habits or comprehension skills. They not only knew me inside the classroom but would often ask me how my life was. I loved it!
Quote from this blog: "Teacher voice and how you speak is something else that is very important to the the classroom. To start the class take a deep breath and slow down and lower your volume. When you come into class worrying about getting throughout everything you will talk fast and loud as you push the information at the students. Students will rely when you are relaxed because they are very good at picking up on body language. In my practicum, I came in sick a few times with bronchitis and students immediately came up to me and asked if I felt okay and said I looked tired and sick. This was as they walked into the classroom before I said or did anything. This made me realized just how much they can pick up on.
My Thoughts: I had a similar experience. I was having a not so good day and I was very frustrated with a previous student and colleague. I didn't really think I was showing it but a student approached me and asked if I was okay or if something was wrong. I realized at that moment how much my students pay attention to me. That moment is a crucial moment. We as teachers can choose to sulk in our misery or turn it around and make a better day for yourself and for your students.
Picture from this blog:
My Thoughts: I loved this picture because I thought it was so cool that the teacher asked her students what they wanted from her. You are with your students so often and finding out what they want from you will allow them to develop a better relationship with you. Also, you can ask yourself what do you think you would want from a teacher. You can then tell your students what you want from them. I like it:)
5) EDunite
Quote from this blog: "When are we going to use this in real life? This is a response I'm sure every teacher has heard to at least one lesson they have taught, no matter the content area. Math is a high contender for these types of statements because students are always wondering when am I going to use the quadratic formula, the Pythagorean Theorem, or even how much money and I going to need to buy 87 watermelons? And yes, I even ask myself, who in their right mind would buy 87 watermelons?
My Thoughts: I think we can all agree with this one. I think it's hard for me as a teacher to come up with a reason why some of this stuff is important. But I think I've made it a goal for myself to approach each lesson with an intent to make the lesson fun and interesting so that my students don't have to ask me that. I want them to enjoy learning so that it doesn't feel like a chore.
~loving this warm breezy weather <3
The Teach Fairy
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Mark It Up
I've always loved opening up a textbook and having highlighting, side notes, and left over post its from the person who last had my book. They're giving me their insight along with the text itself, and then I can add my own side notes. But what is the point of "marking text"?
This week, while reading Tovani's text "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?" I was able to explore why marking text is so helpful and important that we teach our students to do so in the right way. She tells us to have a conversation with ourselves about something we have read. For example, if there was a quote in the book that I liked, I would highlight it. I then could ask myself questions in the margin. Some questions could be...what does this quote mean? What are some key words? What was the writer feeling when he/she wrote this. That way when I go back to look at it later, I have more than just a quote highlighted. If there is no space for my questions, that's when sticky notes come in handy. They're colorful and add more space for us to develop our own thoughts. After we've asked questions, we can also write our opinion. Then, Tovani says that we should communicate what we've found with a partner. I think this is beneficial to find out where we are at. I could say my views and my partner would critique me or state their opinion. That way, we can develop a dialogue about the text we've just read.
I noticed something else from Tovani's book that I thought I would definitely use. I've used them before in my course. They are called Double- Entry Diary. But this time there was something called QUAD-ENTRY DIARY! It was great! Tovani shows a great example of one used for algebra. It would be a great tool to review for a chapter test or even a final. The students were able to clear up misconceptions and see what they really knew or what they needed to review. Here is a picture below.
I hope to use something like this to help my students with an overall understanding.
This week, while reading Tovani's text "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?" I was able to explore why marking text is so helpful and important that we teach our students to do so in the right way. She tells us to have a conversation with ourselves about something we have read. For example, if there was a quote in the book that I liked, I would highlight it. I then could ask myself questions in the margin. Some questions could be...what does this quote mean? What are some key words? What was the writer feeling when he/she wrote this. That way when I go back to look at it later, I have more than just a quote highlighted. If there is no space for my questions, that's when sticky notes come in handy. They're colorful and add more space for us to develop our own thoughts. After we've asked questions, we can also write our opinion. Then, Tovani says that we should communicate what we've found with a partner. I think this is beneficial to find out where we are at. I could say my views and my partner would critique me or state their opinion. That way, we can develop a dialogue about the text we've just read.
I noticed something else from Tovani's book that I thought I would definitely use. I've used them before in my course. They are called Double- Entry Diary. But this time there was something called QUAD-ENTRY DIARY! It was great! Tovani shows a great example of one used for algebra. It would be a great tool to review for a chapter test or even a final. The students were able to clear up misconceptions and see what they really knew or what they needed to review. Here is a picture below.
I hope to use something like this to help my students with an overall understanding.
I loved this section because I found two really great things to use. I wanted to finish by quoting a poster said she saw. The poster read, "Individually we are smart. Collectively, we are brilliant. I think this quote shows how important exchanging and dialoguing with each other can be. We can each learn something from someone else. I hope to print out this quote and use it in my classroom because I think as humans we are social beings. Working together we will develop better social skills and push each other to find a deeper understating of the text.
~The Teach Fairy
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
I've Been Thinking...How Can I Give My Students a Better Understanding
So I've been thinking...how can I give my students a better understanding of the words that they're learning. I researched some websites for content literacy in a math classroom. I found this great slide show that really helped me find some great ideas. The slide show was called Growing the Connection Between Mathematics and Best-Practice Reading and Writing Strategies with Jennifer Kosiak, Sue Schumann, Ann Harry, and Bonnie Jancik.
We as teachers need to scaffold on our students knowledge by activating their prior knowledge. They talked about a few great exercises but my favorite was called word splash. So the students would be presented with these words as shown below.
Now, it's the students' job to find the connection between the words. How are they related? I think this is a great activity to use because making connections allows us to process information better. It allows students to be creative with their connections and truly think about the importance of each word and how it relates to the others.
The next activity I found in the powerpoint, was called the Teacher Generated Anticipation Guide. This basically helps your students when they are reading a text about math. I will write a couple statements that I think could be controversial or that I think are important. The students will check off if they agree or disagree with my statement, before they start reading. After reading, they have a chance to change their opinion.
I think this is a nice quick activity. It could be used as a formative assessment to see where our students are at and then how they change their opinions after reading.
The next activity I found in the powerpoint would help with vocabulary. I'm sure many of us have played with a puzzle in our life. They are pretty fun and can sometimes be challenging. We can use word puzzles to help our students have fun while reviewing important information. Here is an example of it below, as seen in the powerpoint.
The last activity I found has to do with comprehension strategies. The first one shows a concept map of all the things that reminds a student of addition. This will help them show all the different ways it is used. The second picture is a cool map that shows a concept of definition map about subtraction. I think this one is really cool because it discusses the definition, similarities and connections we can make, it also shows the concept and gives examples or illustrations. Here are the two examples.
I think I will definitely use these in the classroom. I think they are great tools to help review for tests and show a breakdown of important concepts.
So since I was thinking about how to help my students understand better, I figure that these strategies will help them to build on prior knowledge and expand for the future, along with having fun:).
~The Teach Fairy
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
"Why Am I Reading This?"
I think "why am I reading this?" is a question we often ask ourselves at school. We don't really know the importance of this topic and we end up reading a whole section of a book while thinking about "what mom's cooking for dinner." Or at least...this is what I thought about.
After reading Tovani's Chapter 5 of "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?" I realized that it is our job as teachers to make the importance of reading known to our students. Tovani mentions a child that associates good reading with fast reading which is something I think a lot of kids struggle with. I know that when I was little, I didn't want to read out loud in class because I was a slow reader and in my mind, that made me a bad reader. But, this is not the case. If we as teachers, can assign purpose, students will reading as they search for something and pay more attention to what we, as teachers, want them to know rather than them trying to remember every little part in the text.
So now we have a big question: What do I teach? And what do I leave out? I feel like all teachers debate with this question. There is so many things that we could all cover but not enough time to do so. So I will ask you this question my fellow fairies, HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TO INCLUDE?
Tovani mentions this great instructional focus sheet. And frankly, I'm obsessed. I like that it asks simple questions and I feel like I could definitely use this sheet to help plan my lessons. Here are the two examples that I would love to use. The first is a math teacher and the second is a science teacher. But the questions asked are simple and to the point. For myself, I would want to make a couple copies every time I make my students read an article or when I am planning for my math unit. That way, everything is right in front of me and I think about how my students will react to the topics presented.
After reading Tovani's Chapter 5 of "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?" I realized that it is our job as teachers to make the importance of reading known to our students. Tovani mentions a child that associates good reading with fast reading which is something I think a lot of kids struggle with. I know that when I was little, I didn't want to read out loud in class because I was a slow reader and in my mind, that made me a bad reader. But, this is not the case. If we as teachers, can assign purpose, students will reading as they search for something and pay more attention to what we, as teachers, want them to know rather than them trying to remember every little part in the text.
So now we have a big question: What do I teach? And what do I leave out? I feel like all teachers debate with this question. There is so many things that we could all cover but not enough time to do so. So I will ask you this question my fellow fairies, HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TO INCLUDE?
Tovani mentions this great instructional focus sheet. And frankly, I'm obsessed. I like that it asks simple questions and I feel like I could definitely use this sheet to help plan my lessons. Here are the two examples that I would love to use. The first is a math teacher and the second is a science teacher. But the questions asked are simple and to the point. For myself, I would want to make a couple copies every time I make my students read an article or when I am planning for my math unit. That way, everything is right in front of me and I think about how my students will react to the topics presented.
Tovani says, "If we don't help students pill out essential information my giving them a purpose for their reading, they will often get lost in the extraneous details." I love this quote because I think it defines our job as teachers. We are trying to make their life a little easier because stressing them out with too much text is only hurting them. "A clear instructional purpose can greatly improve a treader's comprehension." She has proof that this works so I plan on trying my best to make my students' lives a little overwhelming from the reading and getting down to what is important. I'm not saying that I will not have my students reading because I do think reading is incredibly important. But what I am saying is that I will give them tools to help the reading become tolerable and comprehensive.
~Your Truly,
The Teacher Fairy
Friday, February 28, 2014
How 'Bout a Text Set
These past couple of weeks, we've been talking about text sets. I'm not sure if I'm completely sold on them but I thought I'd start off by making up a problem to go with a standard, finding some material that could help a student with this problem along with giving them help on things they should know leading up to this question and then see how I like it in the end. Hopefully we'll both gain more experience as this goes on.
So I'll start off by showing you my essential question for 4th Grade Math: How can we model answers to fraction problems? I started off by finding a question to ask for the division problem 1/3 ÷ 1/2. My question is: My favorite breakfast recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of cheese to make one cheesy omelet. If we have 1/3 cup of cheese, how many omelets can I make.
To solve this problem, we can easily use the keep, change, flip method to find the answer 2/3 as seen belowBUT...rather than just teaching our students to do the "Keep, Change, Flip" method, we want them to develop meaning with multiplication and division problems of fractions.
Two things I think a student needs to have an understanding of before they start multiplying and dividing fractions are one, what a fraction is and how to work with them, and two, equivalent fractions. The first part of my text set is a recap of what fractions are.
I liked this video because it helps show students what a fraction is and specifically mentions the part of a whole which is a super important concept to grasp. If a student doesn't know this, then it will be hard to represent fractions with a model.
The next part of my text set will be talking about equivalent fractions. BrainPOP is one of my favorite places to find simple videos that really help. For this, you need an account to access the information but I used it last semester when I was helping out in a science classroom and I loved working with it. They have a video on equivalent fractions and it is great. It shows exactly what students should be learning about equivalent fractions, and gives them a chance to practice at the end. I think it is a great way to recap a section a student misunderstood or see where a student may have a misconception about equivalent fractions.
Another fun way to learn about dividing and fractions is the book, The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins. It is a story book about a mom who bakes cookies for her two kids. The kids start to divide up the cookies between each other but as the doorbell kept ringing and more people arrived, they had to divide the amount of cookies by the people that were there. I think this models dividing fraction. If you can't find the book, here is the story read aloud on youtube:
One of my favorite ways I've learned to model fractions are in this book called Mathematics for Elementary Teachers by Sybilla Beckmann. She does an excellent job at going step by step and model many amazing ways to solve a problem. In this book, I've learned two other ways to model the problem I presented in the beginning. The first is with a strip diagram:
The next way I learned how to do it would be in a double number line, as seen in the picture below:
These are two great ways to show an understanding of fraction division that are shown in Beckmann's textbook.
Another text I found was on Annenberg Learner. On this site, I found a way to model division of fractions using little blocks. If a student doesn't understand how to do it on a double number line or a strip diagram or can't process it by just keep, change, flip, here is another way to model the division of fractions.
And lastly, I decided to bring a little baking station to the classroom. I would have the recipe but different amounts of ingredients that could make more than the recipe or less than. I think this would be an alternative way for the students to actually see what's going on and interpret division hands on.
So after finishing this text set, I do think it would be useful. Though it does take some time to do, I feel that it will definitely benefit your students. It would be cool to see teachers collaborate on text sets for a certain unit. That way it would be less work for one person but it would still come out with a killer text set.
~The Teach Fairy
So I'll start off by showing you my essential question for 4th Grade Math: How can we model answers to fraction problems? I started off by finding a question to ask for the division problem 1/3 ÷ 1/2. My question is: My favorite breakfast recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of cheese to make one cheesy omelet. If we have 1/3 cup of cheese, how many omelets can I make.
Two things I think a student needs to have an understanding of before they start multiplying and dividing fractions are one, what a fraction is and how to work with them, and two, equivalent fractions. The first part of my text set is a recap of what fractions are.
The next part of my text set will be talking about equivalent fractions. BrainPOP is one of my favorite places to find simple videos that really help. For this, you need an account to access the information but I used it last semester when I was helping out in a science classroom and I loved working with it. They have a video on equivalent fractions and it is great. It shows exactly what students should be learning about equivalent fractions, and gives them a chance to practice at the end. I think it is a great way to recap a section a student misunderstood or see where a student may have a misconception about equivalent fractions.
Another fun way to learn about dividing and fractions is the book, The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins. It is a story book about a mom who bakes cookies for her two kids. The kids start to divide up the cookies between each other but as the doorbell kept ringing and more people arrived, they had to divide the amount of cookies by the people that were there. I think this models dividing fraction. If you can't find the book, here is the story read aloud on youtube:
The next way I learned how to do it would be in a double number line, as seen in the picture below:
These are two great ways to show an understanding of fraction division that are shown in Beckmann's textbook.
Another text I found was on Annenberg Learner. On this site, I found a way to model division of fractions using little blocks. If a student doesn't understand how to do it on a double number line or a strip diagram or can't process it by just keep, change, flip, here is another way to model the division of fractions.
And lastly, I decided to bring a little baking station to the classroom. I would have the recipe but different amounts of ingredients that could make more than the recipe or less than. I think this would be an alternative way for the students to actually see what's going on and interpret division hands on.
So after finishing this text set, I do think it would be useful. Though it does take some time to do, I feel that it will definitely benefit your students. It would be cool to see teachers collaborate on text sets for a certain unit. That way it would be less work for one person but it would still come out with a killer text set.
~The Teach Fairy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)