Module 6

Module 6 provided some useful information about creating presentations and powerpoints.  It’s true that many presenters put too much on one slide, and it overwhelms those that they are addressing.   My students are in the process of creating career powerpoints right now, and it really shows in their presentations that they haven’t yet learned the idea that less is more. 

I really liked the pyramid of Web 2.0 tools.  Some of the tools provided on the list are new to me, so I hope to explore them.  I love introducing my students to different technologies as we learn something new.  Changing the way they learn some type of information keeps them attentive and excited. 

With new initiatives being placed on technology in the classroom, it’s becoming increasingly more important for students to learn presentation tips and understand how to create and operate those types of technologies. 

Module 5

The videos in this module all demonstrated ways to conduct a classroom with balanced literacy.  I like that this module was focused completely on videos, and I think that each of the videos brought something interesting to a balanced literacy approach.  The literacy centers provided are good examples of how students may work in small groups or pairs to complete centers.  My students especially enjoy centers or partner work.  They usually do a nice job of staying on task and completing their assigned work.  I like how interactive group work and partner work is, because every child has a goal and a responsibility in the group.  Overall, centers are very engaging to every student. 

I think the Debbie Diller Spaces and Places book sounds wonderful.  Whenever I rearrange my room, I struggle with how to arrange it so that my room is still easily accessible to all students.  I frequently find myself arranging and rearranging my classroom as I consider changes that will be helpful in some way to the room.  I think the pictures and examples provided in the book would be great to view as I prepare for a change in my room.

Module 4 - Learning Summary

Literacy Across the Curriculum:

This grouping of pirate themed lessons is such a cute idea!  I think all students would enjoy learning about a pirate in all areas of school.  What I really like about this example is that it proves that practically any topic can not only be integrated across all content areas effectively, but that it can be a really fun way to involve students in a topic is various ways.  What student wouldn’t love learning about pirate hangouts near where they live?!  With a little extra planning and some thinking outside of the box, I think that creating integrated units that cover every content area can be easily and successfully done.  

RTI:

I wholeheartedly agree with the quote “The quality of a school as a learning community can be measured by how effectively it addresses the needs of struggling students.”  My school is EXTREMELY proactive in determining students that need additional help in some way and providing that help.  For example, in my class of 24, in addition to EIP support, there are also writing tutors that meet weekly with students during specials time, math tutors that meet with students in the morning, and math tutors that meet with students during specials.  Between those 4 groups, I have seven students in my homeroom receiving additional support in some way, and two of those students receive more than one support.  The focus in our school isn’t simply on determining which students aren’t doing well and placing them in a higher RTI level, but it’s to actually do something to help those students.  Only two of the students I mentioned are in RTI level 2 or above.  The kids and parents of the kids at my school know that we care, and we will do what’s necessary to help them succeed.  

The purpose of RTI is to put interventions in place that help struggling students.  It’s often confused, especially with parents, as a program that identifies students with learning disabilities.  What I like about RTI is that its goal is to be preventative.  It’s to target students early on that need additional help.  As a fifth grade teacher, I have seen that it’s unlikely, if students have been within our school in previous years, that I will initiate moving a child from tier 1 to tier 2.  Before students get to my room, they have been targeted, and interventions and supports are already in place. 

Videos:

I really liked the video of first graders creating sentences.  All of the students seemed to be very engaged throughout the lesson.  I like that the teacher asked repetitive questions.  “What do we do first?”  “What did the wagon do?”  The students got to hold part of the sentence in their hands to show that they were needed to make a sentence.  I like what the teacher did to involve, engage, and teach these students in a short lesson. 

 

Strategic Reading Instruction:

This powerpoint provided a nice review of some big ideas learned throughout this course and those before it.  What I liked the most from this was the student centers ideas.  Some of them I already use frequently, but there were others that provided good ideas and suggestions for new activities my students can complete during centers.  

WebQuest Guidelines:

WebQuests are things that I don’t use frequently in my room, but I really have no reason not to.  I think they are wonderful, fun and engaging, and overall enjoyable for the students.  With students becoming more aware of and comfortable with technology, it makes so much sense for them to have a webquest with specified areas to learn about our topic of focus.  I really want to focus on using webquests more for the remainder of this year and those that follow. 

Module 3 - Learning Summary

A Love for Reading Video:

I truly enjoyed this video.  I think it could become true inspiration for parents with young children.  Children have a desire to read when they watch their parents read, whether that’s a book, a newspaper, a magazine, or any other type of print.  I have memories as a very young child of my parents and older sister reading to me.  The quote that really rang true to me was “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”  

SMART Table Video:

I have never seen a SMART Table in use, as my school system uses Activboards.  The video had many great examples of students using SMART Tables to learn collaboratively.  I like that more than one student can use the table at the same time.  For younger children especially, I can see students using the Table to build words and examine stories together.  

Exploring Social Studies and Technology:

Technology engages all learners, and it can easily be differentiated to meet all students’ needs.  I like the SMART Table examples given.  I think manipulating a map on the Table would be a great way to explore paths that explorers may have taken.  Students could use pictures and the document camera to show the types of foods and belongings they people they are learning about used or carried.  

Integrating Science and Literacy in Early Childhood:

I think it’s so important for students to not learn science topics straight from their textbooks.  When reading from our textbooks, I feel that there is frequently a lack of understanding and a lack of excitement.  Science can be integrated into reading just as easily as reading can be integrated into science.  I find it virtually impossible to teach science or social studies without teaching reading at some point.  Even when students are completing hands-on activities or labs, they still need to be able to read their procedures. 

Development of Literacy Strategies:

Information literacy, also known as IL, is understanding when and why information is needed.  IL also has a strong focus on knowing where to find the information, how to evaluate or learn it, and how to communicate it.  IL, to me, is extremely important to every age, including people no longer in school.  I found the information problem in the presentation to be very interesting.  I would agree that as convenient and easily accessible as search engines make finding information, people accessing that information cannot be certain about its accuracy and validity.  

Expository Text Structures and Signal Words:

I really like this reference.  This would be useful to students when reading from textbooks.  I like that there is an example of a graphic organizer that matches the text structure.  I also really like the cue words provided.  This is helpful when examining a nonfiction text, but I also think it is a fantastic reference for students as they write informational pieces.  The cue words show common transition words that they students may want to consider using in their writing. 

Article Expository Text Structures – Moss:

I like that Moss focuses on using trade books to teach text structure.  I can see where it would be difficult for students to understand the content in textbooks while also discovering and examining the structures of that text.  Using a trade book that is more familiar to what the students are used to reading to notice text structure and discuss how it can be used would be more beneficial to the students’ learning. 

Trip to Brazil

Differentiation is key to every age level and every group of students.  It’s difficult to think about an effective classroom that does not in some way have differentiation.  I differentiate in my room regularly.  I’m constantly looking for new opportunities and different ways to differentiate in my classroom.  The newest way I’m looking to do this is through Promethean’s ActivExpressions.  The form of differentiation that I want to learn more about is assessment.  Differentiating assessment in the fifth grade level makes me more nervous because county, state, and national assessments are not differentiated for the students.  At the end of the quarter or year, depending upon the test, students are all held accountable for being able to complete the same assessments.  I want to differentiate assessments in my room while still ensuring that my students are well prepared for assessments required by others.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Brazil.  I was unaware before the trip about all that Brazil has to offer.  My favorite video was “The World Meets in Brazil.”  It was simple and showed many of the truly beautiful places in Brazil.  I like that the trips to Brazil are engaging and interesting to watch.  I definitely see the advantages of taking a class of students on a virtual field trip to various places in the world.  This trip made me actually want to visit Brazil, but while that may not be in my future plans, I’m at least very excited to watch the Olympics unfold there in 2016!