Sticky Board: Instead of using tack boards and worrying about the tacks falling on the floor and the students stepping on them, this is a safer, more cost effective display option. They are made by getting old boxes or any cardboard and spraying it with adhesive. The cardboard can be decorated with duct tape or anything feasible. The papers displayed will stick onto the board. Most adhesive lasts for about two weeks, and then you spray the board again and it's back to new! The $3-$5 bottle of spray adhesive lasts for many sprays, too!
AHA Moment: Students can make these boards and sell them to teachers as a fundraiser
OR
AHA Moment: Each student can make these for themselves and display their work throughout the year on it to self assess.
M-Edge: This is an iPad case that is great for the classroom because the iPad can literally be thrown across a concrete room and will bounce and be fine! The case also has grip on it to help hold the iPad. It's only about $30.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Swat Math Game
Students are given a math problem (or any question) with multiple answers spread out across the board. Students can be in groups or individual. They solve the problem, and race to the fly swatter to swat their answer. This allows the students to have fun while the teacher assesses the class' understanding of the material.
AHA Moments
AHA Moments:
While observing a geography teacher, I realized the importance of two things:
1. It is SO important to keep all students engaged in the classroom. Having one student come to the board to quiz him/her is not efficient unless the other students can be involved in some way.
2. Don't put students on the spot. Students should be comfortable in front of you as the teacher and the class. If a proper community is not built, discussions will not be as effective because students will not feel open to share in front of the class.
3. Through teaching students, I realized that teachers should ALWAYS have a back-up or two for lesson plans. My group and I planned to use technology in our lesson, but the students' netbooks did not work well with the website. We ended up winging it and discussing the same thing the website would have done, but we did not get the depth that we were hoping for because it was not prepared for.
4. I also learned that sometimes students don't want to participate, but as teachers (even though we want to inspire them, and make them want to participate) sometimes we have to tell them that they will participate because that's how our classroom works. I had to tell my student that it's not fair for her group mates to pick up her slack, so she needed to pull her weight and participate as well. She wasn't enthused, but she participated.
5. Students are never too old to be read to.
6. Discussion Roles can sometimes hinder discussions for classes that do a good job freely discussing. Not all strategies work on all classrooms. Teachers have to test strategies that they feel will help their students.
7. Students like when math is taught via games. An example my student gave was to have students sit in their seats, give them a problem to solve, and have multiple answers on the board with a fly swatter. The first student to swat the answer wins that round. It can be played in teams or as individuals. It's a good way to assess students on skills besides math.
8. Through an observation, I learned the importance to teach more than one topic at once, especially when students are in the class for long periods of time. Some topics are dry, and hard to get students up and moving. By teaching more than one topic, the teacher can switch it up and get the students moving so they are not sitting for the whole time. This also allows the information to sink in for the students. Sometimes they are overwhelmed with so much information at once, so taking a break to discuss something else can be helpful.
While observing a geography teacher, I realized the importance of two things:
1. It is SO important to keep all students engaged in the classroom. Having one student come to the board to quiz him/her is not efficient unless the other students can be involved in some way.
2. Don't put students on the spot. Students should be comfortable in front of you as the teacher and the class. If a proper community is not built, discussions will not be as effective because students will not feel open to share in front of the class.
3. Through teaching students, I realized that teachers should ALWAYS have a back-up or two for lesson plans. My group and I planned to use technology in our lesson, but the students' netbooks did not work well with the website. We ended up winging it and discussing the same thing the website would have done, but we did not get the depth that we were hoping for because it was not prepared for.
4. I also learned that sometimes students don't want to participate, but as teachers (even though we want to inspire them, and make them want to participate) sometimes we have to tell them that they will participate because that's how our classroom works. I had to tell my student that it's not fair for her group mates to pick up her slack, so she needed to pull her weight and participate as well. She wasn't enthused, but she participated.
5. Students are never too old to be read to.
6. Discussion Roles can sometimes hinder discussions for classes that do a good job freely discussing. Not all strategies work on all classrooms. Teachers have to test strategies that they feel will help their students.
7. Students like when math is taught via games. An example my student gave was to have students sit in their seats, give them a problem to solve, and have multiple answers on the board with a fly swatter. The first student to swat the answer wins that round. It can be played in teams or as individuals. It's a good way to assess students on skills besides math.
8. Through an observation, I learned the importance to teach more than one topic at once, especially when students are in the class for long periods of time. Some topics are dry, and hard to get students up and moving. By teaching more than one topic, the teacher can switch it up and get the students moving so they are not sitting for the whole time. This also allows the information to sink in for the students. Sometimes they are overwhelmed with so much information at once, so taking a break to discuss something else can be helpful.
Discussion Roles
This is a discussion technique that helps classes that have trouble with a free-for-all discussion setting. The teacher passes out specific roles to each student that are secretive to other students. The students have to do those role when possible in the discussion.
Some examples are:
-Bring someone else into the discussion
-Compliment someone's insight
-Challenge someone's insight
-Lead the conversation
-Make eye contact with someone
-Nod and make other agree-like non-verbal signals to support speaker
-Compare and contrast what multiple students have said
-etc.
This is a strategy that may take some time for students to get accustomed to.
Worksheet with roles:
http://www.soc.iastate.edu/extension/pub/comm/Soc14.pdf
Some examples are:
-Bring someone else into the discussion
-Compliment someone's insight
-Challenge someone's insight
-Lead the conversation
-Make eye contact with someone
-Nod and make other agree-like non-verbal signals to support speaker
-Compare and contrast what multiple students have said
-etc.
This is a strategy that may take some time for students to get accustomed to.
Worksheet with roles:
http://www.soc.iastate.edu/extension/pub/comm/Soc14.pdf
Process Drama
Process drama is an improv technique that can be used with or without voice and movement to act out scenes in a story by making the actors/actresses take the role of the characters, narrator, or author.
Students can choose what other students act out by writing important moments onto a slip of paper or the teacher can write the main points he/she wants the students to know and can use this as an assessment.
Some Options:
-Freeze frame: Students plan to position themselves in a way to display the story with no movement or words
-Charades: Students act out the scene with no words
-Catch Phrase: Use words to explain something without saying those words
Some more information about Process Drama:
Students can choose what other students act out by writing important moments onto a slip of paper or the teacher can write the main points he/she wants the students to know and can use this as an assessment.
Some Options:
-Freeze frame: Students plan to position themselves in a way to display the story with no movement or words
-Charades: Students act out the scene with no words
-Catch Phrase: Use words to explain something without saying those words
Some more information about Process Drama:
Fish Bowl
A discussion technique, similar to Socratic circle, but the inside circle always has one empty seat that a member from the outside circle can sit in if they have something they would like to add to the discussion. When a person sits in the empty seat, a member from the inner circle must join the outside circle to leave one empty seat in the inner circle.
I like this form of discussion because it gets the students moving, and allows every student to say what they want if they have a good point to raise even if they are not in the inner circle.
Example with explanation:
I like this form of discussion because it gets the students moving, and allows every student to say what they want if they have a good point to raise even if they are not in the inner circle.
Example with explanation:
Socratic Circle (Seminar)
Socratic Circles are opportunities for students to sit in a circle and have a deep discussion about readings, videos, etc. The point is to critically analyze through discussion by bouncing ideas off of each other, and showing their knowledge of the reading by discussing their point of view on it. The teacher can help as much as needed, but the less the better.
One way is to have half of the students in a circle surrounding other students in a circle. The outside circle will keep tally of the inside circle's responses. About half way through, the outside circle will share feedback regarding the discussion.
With younger students, this may be a little more difficult because they may not pay attention, so it can be done with or without the outside circle. Circle size can also be altered.
The following is a rubric:
One way is to have half of the students in a circle surrounding other students in a circle. The outside circle will keep tally of the inside circle's responses. About half way through, the outside circle will share feedback regarding the discussion.
With younger students, this may be a little more difficult because they may not pay attention, so it can be done with or without the outside circle. Circle size can also be altered.
The following is a rubric:
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Mrs. Booksie's Story Time
Mrs. Booksie is an online video maker that reads, and acts out, popular stories for children. She makes the stories more modern and fun so children can better relate.
Here is an example of the Mrs. Booksie's story The Little Red Riding Hood:
Here is an example of the Mrs. Booksie's story The Little Red Riding Hood:
Tea Party- Prediction Strategy
Tea Party is a way to introduce a book. The teacher writes phrases on index cards, passes them out to groups, and groups discuss what they believe the story will be about, based on those index cards.
Then, the students can compare their predictions when they see the phrase in context of the story while they are reading it.
Then, the students can compare their predictions when they see the phrase in context of the story while they are reading it.
Attendance App
This is an app called "Attendance" that costs $4.99. It allows the teacher to mark who is "present" or not, then, if the teacher is interested in picking random groups of any number, the app will randomly select groups based on those that are there that day.
This app could be very useful in the classroom, especially on days that there are multiple students absent, or when groups of more than two are desired.
Ex:
This app could be very useful in the classroom, especially on days that there are multiple students absent, or when groups of more than two are desired.
Ex:
Appointment Clock
An appointment clock is used to have students pick partners quickly. Students pick a different partner for each time on the clock during the beginning of the school year. Then, when a teacher wants students to get in partners he/she can say "Go meet with your 2:00" and they know what partner they are supposed to meet with.
The easiest way to pick partners is by having students line up in two lines and "speed date." (Write down name and move to next)
Ex:
The easiest way to pick partners is by having students line up in two lines and "speed date." (Write down name and move to next)
Ex:
Polleverywhere.com
This is a way to take polls in the classroom or vote on subjects with students. It could also be used as an assessment tool; students can type in the answer to a question and it will anonomously post on the poll for everyone to see. The website is free, and can be accessed by texting in a vote.
Ex:
Ex:
Choice 2 Resources
Multi-cultural books:
- Amazing Grace
- Wonder- A boy with facial deficiencies, and is homeschooled until 5th grade. The story is about the boy's journey going to school and making friends
- Thank you, Mr. Falker- Girl with borderline learning disability with reading, gets bullied.
- Ragged Dick- Life in NY during the Industrial Revolution
- Chanda's Secrets- little girl in made up village in Africa- talks about how she's shunned for having HIV/AIDS (has movie called life above all)
- Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy- Poem from the perspective of a girl during the Holocaust
- Henry's Freedom Box- Slave and entire family was sold, main character tired of it so he got in a box and was literally shipped to freedom-land.
- Freak the Mighty- Two disabled students become friends and use each other's strengths to benefit
- A Monster Calls- Mother has cancer- child's journey
- Tru Confessions- Girl's brother has a developmental delay and her dream is to cure it; journal of her life
- Mommy, Mama, and Me & Daddy, Papa, and Me
- Perks of Being a Wallflower- GLBTQ Book
- Brokeback Mountain- GLBTQ Book
- Sing You Home- GLBTQ Book
- Maniac Magee- Civil Rights and Segregation from a middle school student's point of view
- House on Mango Street- Spanish girl in Chicago that doesn't have a steady home; it's her dream to have a permanent home (Poetry-like style) Talks about being raped, and the drunk guy on the street talking to her and her friend- (short book, but for older students)
- The Seasons and Someone- About Alaskan Natives- In a "What If" format from an Eskimo girl's perspective; easy book, but critical thinking is important when reading
- American Born Chinese- Comic book form - 3 stories in one- stories discuss stereotypes of Chinese people
- The Diary of Anne Frank
Technology/Texts:
- Animoto- Videos
- Spicy Nodes-Interactive Slides
- Glogster-PinBoard
- Dipity-Online Timeline
- Flocabulary- Hip-Hop in the Classroom
- RAFT
- SPAWN
- MindMeister-Interactive Slides
- Prezi-Interactive Slides
- Tiki-Toki- Interactive Timeline
- Weebly- online blog/website
- Pixton- online comic strip (one for teachers)
- Linoit- online bulletin board with sticky notes
- Stormboard- online bulletin board with sticky notes
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