I've had the opportunity of teaching students from many different cultural backgrounds. I've had students who were Mexican, Guatemalan, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic. Encountering these different backgrounds has taught me a lot about my own views and biases. It's so important to learn about the backgrounds of your students so you can help them feel comfortable and eliminate any learning barriers in the classroom. I've always celebrated the differences in my students and used sharing as a tool to find similarities between all cultures. I've had students read a book in Spanish aloud to the class and then translate the story. My Chinese student brought in his notebook from his school in China to show the class Chinese characters and he taught the students how to write their name in the characters. By providing these opportunities, the students feel that they are a valued member of our classroom community.
One area where I feel like I could improve on his better supporting my culturally diverse students outside of the classroom. I usually go to soccer games and dance performances of many of my students, but I rarely, if ever go to the special events for my culturally diverse students. Part of the reason is that these students never directly ask me to attend their special events. I need to make the effort to reach out to these students outside of the classroom. Communication with parents is often difficult too, especially if they do not speak English. Many times I've neglected to contact parents who do not speak English. This is another area that needs to be addressed to insure that my students are getting the help they need.
To address these problems, I will need to seek out opportunities to support my culturally diverse students. Asking these students about their hobbies and requesting their schedules will better allow me to give support outside the classroom. Getting forms translated or at least making the attempt to make parental contact will also go a long way to better bridge the classroom with life at home. I could probably find a member of the faculty who might be able to translate some Spanish to help with conferences or phone calls to parents. Everyone can do more to help culturally diverse students become more comfortable in the classroom.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Chapter 9: Mathematics
Math is a subject that I find enjoyable to learn, but I see many of my students struggle with basic number sense. Teaching math is probably the most difficult subject for me to teach because I find it easy to learn. For many of my struggling learners I've found hands-on learning with manipulatives is especially helpful. When teaching subtraction with regrouping, we start off with using base ten blocks to help them understand why regrouping is necessary. Once students understand the concrete, you can move on to the algorithm. Whenever teaching math, I always model how to solve the problem and give lots of guided practice. Using whiteboards is a great way for me to monitor their work and address problems. When teaching multiplication and division, I team up higher students with lower students to help them study for their timed tests. It's amazing how well some of my lower students did with the guidance of a friend who is on a higher level.
There are lots of areas for improvement in my math instruction. Although sometimes I provide independent practice in my lesson, it usually gets pushed to the side because of time constraints. I need to be more consistent in providing opportunities for independent practice. I also would like to use more cooperative learning groups. Students can learn so much from each other and by using these groups they can get guidance from their peers. From reading the chapter I think my students could also benefit from practicing how to solve word problems. We do practice looking for key words and how to read word problems. My students still struggle when deciding how to solve these problems independently.
To correct some of these oversights, I would definitely use some of the self-monitoring suggestions in the book. The questioning checklist would be a great tool for my students to use when solving word problems. Students could also work in groups to solve these types of problems to give them opportunities to work with each other. Promoting more independent practice in the classroom will also help all students. Skipping this important step is only making my students less able to monitor their work.
There are lots of areas for improvement in my math instruction. Although sometimes I provide independent practice in my lesson, it usually gets pushed to the side because of time constraints. I need to be more consistent in providing opportunities for independent practice. I also would like to use more cooperative learning groups. Students can learn so much from each other and by using these groups they can get guidance from their peers. From reading the chapter I think my students could also benefit from practicing how to solve word problems. We do practice looking for key words and how to read word problems. My students still struggle when deciding how to solve these problems independently.
To correct some of these oversights, I would definitely use some of the self-monitoring suggestions in the book. The questioning checklist would be a great tool for my students to use when solving word problems. Students could also work in groups to solve these types of problems to give them opportunities to work with each other. Promoting more independent practice in the classroom will also help all students. Skipping this important step is only making my students less able to monitor their work.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Webliography
Webliography
Amy Strom
EDU 504
Storyline Online is a website created by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. It features celebrities who will read picture books aloud to students. Every book contains activities and lesson guides. Reading disabled students will benefit from listening to the story and then completing the activities. All students will enjoy hearing their favorite celebrities read books aloud!
BrainPop and BrainPop Jr. provide short animated videos that are entertaining for students, but curriculum-based for teachers. BrainPop has expanded to include videos in Spanish, French, and Chinese. BrainPop ESL is another branch that provides videos that help English language learners. All sections of BrainPop include literature links, writing activities, and other games.
This website has lots of different math games for elementary students. One of the games called Lemonade Stand, offers a real life application for using money. Students must operate Lemonade Stand and decide how to price and control inventory. The Coffee Shop game also provides a real-life simulation, which is valuable for all students.
PBS for Teachers is loaded with activities, videos, and lessons for students of all ages. Teachers will find this site valuable as it contains lesson guides and videos, which can be used for instruction. Students will enjoy playing some of the educational games. For example, under the reading category, students can play a game about suffixes and how the suffix changes the meaning of the word.
Funbrain is a website that has free educational games, online books, and comics for children. Students will enjoy reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid comic or might practice basic number and operations with the math arcade. There are many games that will help students develop vocabulary and grammar skills as well.
National Geographic for Kids is an excellent site for teachers and students. The website has ideas for hands-on science experiments along with tons of videos on different subjects. National Geographic also provides some videos in Spanish.
Starfall is a website dedicated to help children learn how to read with phonics instruction. This site might be helpful for early elementary students or for students who are learning English. The site contains different genres for reading including nonfiction, plays, and comics.
I have used the Scholastic website every year to help teach slavery. They have an interactive video that takes the students through the experience of using the Underground Railroad. There is an abundance of videos and interactive games for every subject.
I was really impressed with the spelling component to this website. Students can take their list of spelling words and the Kids Know It site will create games to help students study their spelling words! This site also has a large number of educational songs that students can learn to help them with different subject areas like math or history.
This site, which came from the assistive technology chapter, provides some interactive games that will help students read analogue clocks. You can download the free trial or buy the full version. The math flight game will also help students with their basic facts while flying an airplane.
The National Center for Learning Disabilities is a wonderful site for teachers, students, and parents who are dealing with learning disabilities. There is a special section for teachers that provide effective teaching strategies for learning disabled children along with other articles and blogs. Parents can find support and tips for helping their children at home.
LD Online is another great tool to help teachers, parents, and students better understand learning disabilities. The site features videos that explain particular learning disabilities, articles from scholarly journals, and a specialized glossary for LD terms. There is also a suggested book list for students who are trying to understand their disability.
Kidspiration and Inspiration are software programs that help students who need visuals. Kidspiration allows students to create graphic organizers, diagrams, and thinking maps to visually represent information learned. Students with ADHD will especially find this software helpful as it breaks down large chunks of information into smaller, more manageable pieces.
This site offers a speech recognition program that will type the words you speak. This type of assistive technology is a wonderful tool for students with writing difficulties. You can even use your voice to control the mouse or send emails.
CHADD is a website dedicated to children and adults with attention deficit disorder. Parents will find articles and legal rights for their children. Teachers are able to use this site to find interventions for students with ADHD. You must become a member to gain access to full areas of the site.
The Don Johnston website hosts a number of assistive technology pieces that can be used in the classroom. The Co-Writer is one tool that I found to be especially helpful. This program will read aloud the words typed in the program. Text readers and computer books are other software programs offered on the site.
Literactive is a free site that provides online reading material for early elementary students. Literactive includes e-books, learning activities, and ESL resources. The leveled texts provided are especially helpful for guided reading groups.
This website is an online collection of animated, talking picture books. Tumblebooks provides support for students who are lacking necessary skills for independent reading. There are puzzles and games that accompany the books. The collection includes titles in Spanish and French as well as some bilingual books.
The Think Green program includes valuable classroom resources for science. This site gives ideas for hands-on instruction and science experiments. There are also worksheets, puzzles, and quizzes that students can use to better understand recycling and earth sciences.
The History Channel offers videos that include primary sources along with games for students. While aimed at middle and high school students, teachers can find study guides and webcasts that could be used in the classroom. There is also a biography section which could be used for ELA integration.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Chapter 13: Assistive Technology
Originally when hearing the words assistive technology, I think about students who have special needs and need tools to help them in the classroom. Assistive technology, however, can be used for all students to enhance learning. The chapter suggested using authentic learning tasks to help students connect their learning to the real world. This is something that our school has really focused on in the past few years. In my classroom we do real-life simulations like creating a store to practice using money or turning the classroom into a restaurant to practice rounding. In social studies, the class might become Congress and go through the steps of passing a law. These opportunities help students see meaning in what they are learning. There are several types of technology that I use, even though I have no students who have IEPs requiring assistive technology. Computer and web programs are used on a consistent basis. Students are allowed to type their writings (especially those who have handwriting difficulties). We listen to reading stories on tape, for those who wear glasses and have eye strain.
This chapter is full of wonderful software ideas that I could use in my classroom. The Kurzweil 3000 program reads aloud text while highlighting the passage. It also includes tools like a dictionary and thesaurus. This type of software would be wonderful to use during guided reading stations so that students are practicing reading skills even when they are not able to meet with the teacher. We do a lot of timed tests in third grade to help students master basic multiplication and division facts. I think the Talking Timer would help all the students better manage their time on these tasks. There are so many kids who are intimidated by the time and this might be something that will help with their anxiety.
I found all kinds of new ideas in this chapter to use in my classroom. Even though none of my students are required to have assistive technology, I know that all of them can benefit from using these ideas. Even something as simple as a pencil grip might help a child become more comfortable with writing and produce better written works. I feel like I now have a toolbox of ideas to use in case I do have a child who requires the use of assistive technology.
This chapter is full of wonderful software ideas that I could use in my classroom. The Kurzweil 3000 program reads aloud text while highlighting the passage. It also includes tools like a dictionary and thesaurus. This type of software would be wonderful to use during guided reading stations so that students are practicing reading skills even when they are not able to meet with the teacher. We do a lot of timed tests in third grade to help students master basic multiplication and division facts. I think the Talking Timer would help all the students better manage their time on these tasks. There are so many kids who are intimidated by the time and this might be something that will help with their anxiety.
I found all kinds of new ideas in this chapter to use in my classroom. Even though none of my students are required to have assistive technology, I know that all of them can benefit from using these ideas. Even something as simple as a pencil grip might help a child become more comfortable with writing and produce better written works. I feel like I now have a toolbox of ideas to use in case I do have a child who requires the use of assistive technology.
Chapter 8: Written Expression
I have never been a person who has enjoyed writing. I see many of my students love to write in their free time, and I have never felt that passion. One of the reasons why I do not enjoy writing is that someone else is telling me what to write about. I think many of my students feel the same way as I do and struggle when they have to write about certain topics. This is why I try to give my students choice in their writing. By providing broad topics or letting students free write on any topic, they will automatically be more motivated and have more ideas about their writing. To help my students through the writing process, I really focus on developing strong prewriting. With guidance, my class fully thinks out and organizes their writing by using graphic organizers. I have consistently seen that a well developed piece of prewriting leads to a well-writted final copy. I make my students first reread their writing out loud to find mistakes and then use peer conferences so they can find each others' mistakes. After working independently and with a partner, I then will conference with the child to help them edit and revise.
Reading this chapter helped me see things that I often forget during writing time. I am so bad about sharing our final copies. My students rarely get to read each other's published writings. I really need to start making time to celebrate published writing so that students will feel proud and know that their writing has a purpose. I'm also guilty of conferencing just to fix mistakes, instead of conferencing during different writing stages. Many of my children need help with the prewriting stage so by the time they get to me, the writing is so far off track. I also need to stop using my red pen and hand it over to my student so they can address their mistakes.
I definitely intend to fix these mistakes in my classroom. I could set aside every Friday during snack time, for one or two students to share their published writings. I can conference with students at all stages of their writing instead of focusing on just revising and editing. Lastly, I need to fork over my control and remember that it is the student's writing, not mine. By having the child use the red pen and discuss their writing, they can add details or fix any mistakes with my guidance, not by my insistence.
Reading this chapter helped me see things that I often forget during writing time. I am so bad about sharing our final copies. My students rarely get to read each other's published writings. I really need to start making time to celebrate published writing so that students will feel proud and know that their writing has a purpose. I'm also guilty of conferencing just to fix mistakes, instead of conferencing during different writing stages. Many of my children need help with the prewriting stage so by the time they get to me, the writing is so far off track. I also need to stop using my red pen and hand it over to my student so they can address their mistakes.
I definitely intend to fix these mistakes in my classroom. I could set aside every Friday during snack time, for one or two students to share their published writings. I can conference with students at all stages of their writing instead of focusing on just revising and editing. Lastly, I need to fork over my control and remember that it is the student's writing, not mine. By having the child use the red pen and discuss their writing, they can add details or fix any mistakes with my guidance, not by my insistence.
Chapter 7: Reading Comprehension
When reading the chapter on reading comprehension, it reminds me of a student I had last year who was reading disabled. This child was on an early first grade reading level in third grade. He was an intelligent child, who did well in other subjects (as long as material was read aloud to him). During guided reading, we used many different strategies to work on his reading fluency and comprehension. This student relied on decoding far too much and often made up fictional words while reading. Our question for the whole year was, does this make sense? By using questioning strategies, this students slowly began to make progress. He began to think about what he was reading and use context clues to figure out words he didn't know. I would often have the student read a passage and create his own questions to ask other students in our guided reading group. He loved playing the role of the teacher and it forced him to read the passage critically, asking himself questions as he read.
Looking back, I wish I had used lots of other strategies with this child. He would have benefitted greatly from using the self-regulation strategy. I often modeled self-regulation with my guided reading groups, but I did not give the students enough practice and guidance in using the strategies themselves. The ultimate goal is for students to be able to recognize that they are not understanding what they are reading and stop and use different comprehension strategies to help them. I simply helped the child understand he was not comprehending and told him which strategy to use to help him. He needed to be pushed to selecting the tools himself and applying them.
Getting third graders to self-regulate their reading is definitely a challenge. Many of the low readers lack the maturity to even recognize that they are not understanding what they are reading. They think saying the word correctly is understanding. I will continue to model how to use questioning and background experience to understand what you are reading, but allow more opportunities for the students to use the strategies and model back to me what they are thinking as they read. With enough practice, hopefully my students will use self-regulation to better comprehend reading material.
Looking back, I wish I had used lots of other strategies with this child. He would have benefitted greatly from using the self-regulation strategy. I often modeled self-regulation with my guided reading groups, but I did not give the students enough practice and guidance in using the strategies themselves. The ultimate goal is for students to be able to recognize that they are not understanding what they are reading and stop and use different comprehension strategies to help them. I simply helped the child understand he was not comprehending and told him which strategy to use to help him. He needed to be pushed to selecting the tools himself and applying them.
Getting third graders to self-regulate their reading is definitely a challenge. Many of the low readers lack the maturity to even recognize that they are not understanding what they are reading. They think saying the word correctly is understanding. I will continue to model how to use questioning and background experience to understand what you are reading, but allow more opportunities for the students to use the strategies and model back to me what they are thinking as they read. With enough practice, hopefully my students will use self-regulation to better comprehend reading material.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Chapter 6: Reading Instruction
When teaching CLDE learners, it is important for them to feel that they are a valued member of the classroom community. Whenever I have students who speak other languages in my classroom, I have them share something from their culture. For example, one of my Spanish speaking students this year, read a book aloud to her classmates in Spanish and translated the book into English. She was so excited about the opportunity to show her Spanish speaking skills, that she went to the other third grade classrooms to share. I've also had a student bring in his notebook from China so the other students can see the difference in Chinese characters and English print. One of my Arabic students did the same and showed the class how to make certain Arabic letters. Whenever I teach students who speak other languages, I'm aware that visuals are a great way to help them understand vocabulary and other material. I use a lot of presentations that include pictures and graphic organizers to help them see what the word means.
An area where I need improvement is establishing communication with parents. The parents of these students often speak no English and it is always a challenge to get your message to them. I also feel like teachers have limited collaboration with ESOL teachers. With budget cuts, these teachers often service multiple schools and keep limited hours. I know I would benefit from a closer collaboration so I can learn more strategies to help these students in reading.
To address some of these weaknesses, I have to actively seek out help. It would be wonderful to find a program that will translate emails and newsletters to a particular language so parents can be informed about what's going on in the classroom. My district does provide some translated letters, but only for certain languages. Scheduling time to meet with the ESOL teacher on a regular basis, would help me better plan my reading instruction. CLDE learners can excel in the classroom with communication and collaboration.
An area where I need improvement is establishing communication with parents. The parents of these students often speak no English and it is always a challenge to get your message to them. I also feel like teachers have limited collaboration with ESOL teachers. With budget cuts, these teachers often service multiple schools and keep limited hours. I know I would benefit from a closer collaboration so I can learn more strategies to help these students in reading.
To address some of these weaknesses, I have to actively seek out help. It would be wonderful to find a program that will translate emails and newsletters to a particular language so parents can be informed about what's going on in the classroom. My district does provide some translated letters, but only for certain languages. Scheduling time to meet with the ESOL teacher on a regular basis, would help me better plan my reading instruction. CLDE learners can excel in the classroom with communication and collaboration.
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