8/20/12
Student Teaching
I'm finally student teaching!!!! I'm working at World Language Academy which is a charter school for bi-lingual education. I'm in 5th grade right now and then I'll be moving to 3rd grade. My teacher is great and we could not have a better group of kids. With the circumstance of the school, the schedule is super crazy. We work with a team of 4 teachers, 2 who instruct in English and the other 2 in Spanish. The teachers have to constantly collaborate and make sure there is a balance of instruction between content and language. I know I am going to learn so much in these few weeks and I cannot wait to continue getting to know the kids. In the meantime, I'm focusing on adjusting my body clock and prying myself out of bed at 6am...ugh
3/15/12
http://dogonews.com/
Current events around the world
http://shenanigansinsecond.blogspot.com/2011/09/readers-response-and-think-clouds.html#comment-form
Use Mr. Popper's Penguins for reader response. Comes with example questions for each chapter and kids get really into the story.
2/29/12
Here is a link to my amazon book wishlist for elementary school
http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/2XJ2NNDLKPMYA/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_o
2/29/12
This is a running collection of ideas that I have been keeping as I have continued through my grad program:
Ideas for classroom
· Connections: a time to share feelings, problems, celebrations, etc. 5 min
· A time-out chair that kids can elect to go to if they need a min- “take a break”
· Construct norms: have kids come up with rules for the classroom that will help us do our best learning together
· Foxfire approach: kids feel like they can contribute, take a piece of the day to dedicate to this
· Put agenda on board
· Storytelling- Ya’ll know what?
· Visit families at home at beginning of year and build team relationship
o Send home sign up sheet, purpose it to create shared goals (what do we hope to learn?), have student involved
· Mid-year conferences, student led- accomplishes and challenges
· If kids miss for vacation, get them to write and share about it
· Have kids list what “funds of knowledge” fam members have (cooking, construction, etc)
· “Hello! Welcome to the 1st Grade! Parents have hw 1st! Please write and tell me about your child.”
· Reader Response Journal- “I was hoping that we could write together about child’s reading experience…” Child chooses book at school, read with parents, parents write about experience and I’ll write you back.
o If they don’t they will eventually after sharing experiences of other students with that student.
o M, T, TR nights, kids picked books on W, never went home on weekends
· Include all kinds of books in library, even if you think it’s too advanced, don’t underestimate their abilities
· Fam story book- Parents write down a story/tale they tell in their fam, 1 combined book of stories
o Students to illustrations, parents come read their story in the book to class, book signing
· Evaluation later- Can you read? Do you like to read? How did you learn to read?
· Action of apology (1st 6 weeks of school)
· Children put up displays
· Walk at the back of the line
· Arrange desks thoughtfully, like in groups
· Kid of the week
· Math tubs, Math their way –online
· What do we already know about this? (Later) What have we learned about this?- KWL
o Add S for still wondering
· I do/don’t know this now at the end of the week or assessment
· Teacher Assistant for the week (paper passer, door holder, etc)
· Letters to teacher
· Community giving (serve lunch, pick up trash)
· Share journals in morning meeting
· Author’s Chair- volunteer to read work- sharing will encourage others
· Keep a writing folder for each student where they can come back and work on pieces later
· Conference with each child once a week- 2-7 min, maybe sign-ups for those that really need one
· Chalk-talk center
· Before standardized tests, go over formats of tests and how their written- that way you don’t always have to “teach to the test”- bleh
· Show examples of high and low scoring work and have kids say what they think they are & why
· Centers for any subject
· Write story in beginning of the year, ask them to improve it a few months later, and then once more towards the end- good way to show progress.
· Spelling tests ok as long as purpose behind it- patterns/phonics
· Publishing
· Model yourself as a writer
· Writing workshop
o Free write, “try its”, reading to support writing, thinking, drafting, peer conference, publishing, mini lesson, independent writing time, conferencing, sharing
o Curricula- strategies, techniques, questions, relationships, coventions
· Clear transitions- timer, music, dim lights
· Students solve problems- “We have this problem. What can we do to solve it?”
· Expert list vs. topic/idea list
· Organize books by genre
· Leave pages at front of writing notebooks for things like expert lists, ideas, personal anchor charts, etc.
· Shy readers still expected to share
· Sharing
o switching groups creates more audiences for ongoing pieces and provides different feedback
o Survey share- go around and share one line or phrase
o Focused share- with partner or group
o Student-as-Teacher- as them to “teach” something they’ve done well
· Scaffolding- gradual release of responsibility
· Think-Pair-Share- think for 2 min then share
· Students circle words they aren’t sure of and move on- ask during conference
· 2nd grade News- write a few sentences together in the morning
· Skype conferences for those parents who can’t get away
· Pop culture points- finding something you’re studying in history in modern piece (song, tv show, book,etc)
Struggling Readers
· Struggling readers assessment- combo of stand. testing, portfolios, running records (surveys, interviews)
· Struggling readers read to SPED of younger kids to improve confidence
· Struggling readers- predictive texts (fat cat) instead of decodable texts or use high interest, low vocab books
· Phonics- shared reading with predictable books - like read a rhyming book together
· Shared reading- show strategies to figure out words
· Probs with comprehension- “look, talk, share, predict”
o Go over vocab first, review after, work in pairs to rewrite story with dif details, characters, and/or ending with vocab
· Literature groups- gain insight in sharing
· Read Alouds- read 3-4 times, good for ELLs too
o Point to images and make expressive gestures
Games
· The Weekend is Near Game: stand in circle, an action word and a gesture that goes with it. “Hey there Annie the weekend is near, whatcha gonna do when it really gets here” “She’s gonna hike, hike, hike” (doing gesture in big circle)
· Interview process: “2’s” tell “1’s what they did that weekend. Inside circle faces outside circle and outer rotates.
· Just like me: Kid tells what they like in middle of circle, kids stand up if they do too and say “Just like me”
· Song: Tony Chestnut, tow, knee, chest, nut
· Double This, Double That, faster and faster, out circle moves
· Pop: Count off and stand up (pop) when you get to multiple of 5
· Guess my number: Ask yes or no questions, try to get in fewer questions
o “Is it b/w 40 and 80?”
· Sparkle: spelling words, 1 kids reads the word, next kid puts it in sentence, next kid says 1st letter, next kid says 2nd, etc, last kid says sparkle to show it done
· I have the work “huge”, who has the word “cube”? I have the word “cube”, who has the work “brick”?
· Bow Wow Wow song
· “War” card game- learning descending numbers- 3rd
· Place holder partner dice game My # Partners #
8 _ , _ _ _ _ _ , _ 4 _
· Money game- add up to dollar, roll dice
· Social Studies centers: pile of books at each station
o Categories: Values, Conflicts, Location, Power, Making and selling
o Answer questions with each
· “I Pick” poster for books
o I choose a book
o Purpose- why do I want to read it?
o Interest- does it interest me?
o Comprehend- am I understand what I’m reading?
o Know- do I know most of the words (1-3 fingers of unknowns)
· Bean Bag toss for math probs- good end of the day game for last couple of min
o Spell words too
· Wii during lunch for best behavior?
Books
Wimberley Worries
The Morning Meeting Book
The Wolf’s Chicken Stew
The Gunnywolf
Mary Wore her Red Dress
Rosy’s Walks
In a Scary Old House
Mr. Grump
Chica Chica Boom Boom
The Big Toe
One Upon MacDonald’s Farm
Amongst School Children
Koala Lou
Radical Reflections by Menn Fox
Lemony Sniket- A series of Unfortunate Events
Magic Tree House
Help! I’m trapped
Amber Brown
Babysitter’s Club
Goosebumps
The Littles
Categories (Gov, Fam, friends, Poetry, Black History, Fairy Tales, School, Pets, Math, Holidays, Dinosaurs)
Arthur
The Relatives came
Big Mama’s
Magazines: American Girl, Barbie, Black Belt for Kids, Chickadee, Chick, Dolphin Log, Kid City,
Nickelodeon, Owl, Skipping Stones, Spider, Stone Soup, Zoobooks, RNGER Rick, National Geographic Kids, Cobblestone, Sports Illustrated for Kids
The Family Book- discuss diverse families
Family Pictures- introducing family stories, invite fams to come in and write a story (or informational piece) with their child in their home lang, class book
The Keeping Quilt- discussion on traditions, create a classroom quilt, cultural pie (design a pie with important things about them)
Momma, Where Are you From?- like “Where I’m From” poems, introduce poetry unit, interview fam
Families- take pictures and writing stories about them/ cultural memoirs
Me on the Map- neighborhood maps, have families do it at open house- annotate them (pos & neg memories)
Amazon wish list for the all the rest
Resources
Bringing Words to Life
Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies- ELLs
Assessing Literacy with the Learning Record: A Handbook for Teachers, grades K-6
Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners
The Manufactured Crisis
The Writing Workshop
Mechanically Inclined
Nonfiction Mentor Texts
A Classroom Teacher’s Guide to Struggling Readers
Comprehension through Conversation
Comparative Education
Last Child in the Woods
Reading Essentials
The First Six Weeks of School
Educating Emergent Bilinguals
Girl Time
Teaching New Literacies in Grades K -3: Resources for 21st-Century Classrooms
Getting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered Violence
Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics: Grades K-3
Wish List resources:
Choice Words by Peter Johnston
Writing Essentials
Practicing What We Teach: How Culturally Responsive Literacy Classrooms Make a Difference
Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective
Online Resources
Timetoast.com – make your own timeline
Brainpopjr.com
Freerice.com – answer questions to donate rice
Flocabulary.com- lessons made into hip songs
Wordle
Glog
Teachhub.com
Photostory- free picture book maker
Thoughts/Wonderings
What does it mean to dream big?
If children have interest, education happens
Grandmother method- that’s good! Show me more!
Give time for exploration
Standards came from our adult logical thinking
Rights of Children at Diana School in Italy
What questions do you have? How did we do with that? What should we do to celebrate?
Intrinsic motivation aspects: autonomy, mastery (competence), and purpose (relatedness)
Google gives workers 20% of time to work on w/e they want- incr autonomy and discoveries
Change thinking from control to autonomy
Other words for homework?
Parents Do Care- assume good will
Take time in the beginning to set up norms, pace yourself
Be a trustworthy teacher
Help students develop empathy
How can I involve the students in creating this activity and what choices can I give them?
What questions can I ask to clarify the purpose and reflect on how things were executed?
You don’t have to take on everything
Phrasing- Afternoon Discovery
Allow kids to fail as part of learning process- don’t always have right answer
Experiential learning, student voice, embracing failure
The purpose of writing is to communicate; they don’t have to know every letter or word to write
Don’t have to correct everything, maybe just one important thing at a time
Kids will be excited to write about what they know about (losing a tooth)
If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original
Value everything children are interested, included art and music- embrace creativity, allow for mistakes
Assessment for Learning- give specific feedback to individuals on strengths and weaknesses and how to improve (stars & stairs)
Let students know what the goal is to what we are working on upfront
Social curriculum
What is the intended learning for this assessment?
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more
that you learn, the more places you'll go."~Dr. Seuss
choice, purpose, autonomy,
Don’t limit writing to the words they know how to spell because it will shrink they’re vocabulary
Write with a purpose- what interests them
Writing workshop ritualistic, something they can count on
No such thing as “I’m finished”
Get over “wastefulness”- let them use sticky notes
What do you do with the students who don’t finish their work?
Set up for the classroom- what could they learn without me there?
Walls-
Word Wall
Wall for student work- publishing
Smartboard
Birthdays
Anchor Charts
Hundreds chart
Calendars
Room-
Desk pods
Book boxes
Library
Reading comfy section
Turn-in work center/ In-Out, maybe mailbox-like
Crates with cushions for seats
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