Module 6

I found this module to extremely helpful. I particularly enjoyed looking through this PowerPoint. I have used PowerPoint many times and would consider myself somewhat knowledgeable when creating a PowerPoint. I did the information to be a refresher on how to create and develop presentations. The module mentioned it is important to highlight and outline the major points. It also stated to create an outline slide, a conclusion slide, and ask for questions at the end of the presentation. These are a few things that I usually don’t include, but will start to incorporate them into presentation that I create. I also enjoy working with web 2.0 tools, particular Prezi. I enjoyed reviewing the different types of Web 2.0 tools, and hope to try some of them out in the near future.   

Module 5

Video: An Example of Effective Classroom Management

In my teaching experience I find that students are more engaged when working with partners or independently on a specific learning task. The videos presented reflected some of the literacy workstations I currently use in my own classroom. By using literacy workstations students are able to practice literacy skills with a partner or independently while the teacher works with small group focusing on the specific reading skills necessary to move them from one level to the next. My students are always eager to begin working on literacy centers especially if it’s more hands on rather than worksheet based. Students love the literacy review games and are always activity involved in the activity with their partner practicing the literacy skill.

Video: Using Literacy Centers to Strengthen Reading and Writing Instruction

What is the rest of the class doing while you are working with a small group of students? This question was presented in the video. However, it’s not the first time this question has been presented to me. At my current school, administration will ask teachers this very same question. The answer is really simple…Literacy Centers practicing or reviewing literacy skills, specifically focusing on reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Video: Space and Places

I have heard of Debbie Diller and her literacy centers. However, the classroom design book I had not heard of before, but found this video to be very interesting. I’m always looking for ways to reorganize and rearrange my classroom. I find that I get bored of the same set-up, and I think the students do too! I think this book will help me get some new ideas for the next school year. I think that it is important to maximize the students’ learning environment and make learning available in every part of the classroom.

 

 

Module 4

Literacy Across the Curriculum: Literacy across the curriculum has become a popular topic in schools today, especially with the push of text complexity. It’s important for teachers to incorporate literacy into every subject taught in school. After all, literacy is the foundation to all learning. As a reading and social studies teacher, I don’ teach these two subjects in isolation, but rather together as a humanities block. I try to create a unit that incorporates both content standards (reading and social studies). This was a little time consuming at first, but as I continued to provide instruction that included both reading and social studies standards it became less time consuming and was easy to implement into the classroom.

RTI- RTI is something I am very familiar with. This year I have 5 students currently in the RTI process. The RTI is a tiered process that provides students with the necessary academic interventions. This process helps students reach their full potential and prevents educators from labeling or placing a student into special education services. The charts and pyramid in the RTI PowerPoint was a great visual that explains how the tier process works at each level.

Video- I enjoyed watching the video of the first grade students creating sentences. The lesson was very engaging for the students and individuals watching the video. Students love lessons that are hands on when learning new concepts. Using sentence strips is a great way to keep students connected to the learning task and fully engaged. The students were able to hold part of the sentence in their hands. This allowed students to be a part of the lesson and not just a spectator. The teacher did a fabulous job of keeping the students engaged and involved throughout her teaching.

Strategic Reading Instruction PPT: This PowerPoint provided a great review for me. I really enjoyed reading about student centers. Literacy centers is something I am very familiar with. My school has had a strong push on teachers incorporating literacy centers into our reading block for the past two years. The PowerPoint provided ideas that I currently use within my classroom. However, there were many other great ideas that I can’t wait to try out in my classroom. I also found the Reading Components and the Big Five very important. It made me think of two terms I use in my classroom: Reading to Learn and Learning to Read. I have a wide range of readers. Most of my students are practicing Reading to Learn and a few are still working on learning to read. The students who are learning to read are more focused on the decoding aspect of reading, whereas my other students are reading to learn. They are more focused on the comprehension aspect of reading.

Webquest PPT: I have the opportunity to create a web quest during my undergraduate. However, I haven’t used them since them. I know students love using web quest because it allows them to research and learn on their own. It’s fun and engaging for the students. In today’s society, students are very familiar with technology and by using web quests it allows for students to explore the content and enhance their technology skills. This is something I would like to start in my own classroom. I know my students would love working with web quests as a way to enhance their learning.

Module 3 Summary

Encouraging Enthusiasm for Reading: I enjoyed watching this video. Reading has always be a skill that my parents have engrained into me, which is probably why I try to instill a love for reading in all my students today. I remember growing up with a variety of books at my fingertips. As a family we would spend our Saturdays at the library checking out new books to explore. This is something I plan on providing for my little boy. I believe many families today don’t share a love for reading, but rather a love of TV, iPads, and other forms of technology. Many of my students would rather play on the computer than get lost in a good book. I feel parents and students today view reading a boring activity. It’s my goal as a teacher to provide a fun learning experience when reading books in the classroom. It’s my hope to instill a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

Using the SMART table for Collaboration: The SMART table was unbelievable! I can see so many uses with the SMART table in school today. My one concern would be the price of this very technological piece of equipment. Could schools really afford something like this? It would be awesome to be able to have this type table in my classroom. I can see how it would benefit my students learning. It allows students to learn and explore while working together. The SMART table also helps students learn the importance of working together. This is something that my students struggle with. Every year it seems that students are having more issues working together, mostly because they haven’t experience and learn the proper ways to work collaboratively. I can also see how this table can be beneficial to a special education class. The SMART table provides this. I would really love to experience the SMART table first hand. I know my students would love it use it as well.

 Exploring Social Studies and Technology: As a reading and social studies teacher, I integrate social studies, reading, and technology in almost all of my lessons. I find that students respond better to a lesson when technology in incorporated. I will use video, photographs, and online resources to help connect my students to the learning objective. When teaching social studies I use many non-fiction text, articles, and primary sources to help to the content to my students. This provides students with the social studies content, but also continues to teach important reading skills.

 Informational Literacy:  the slideshow explained that information literacy is “knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use, and communicate it in an ethical manner.” It is important for students to know that why you need information, but most importantly they need to know where they can go to get the information they need. The internet provided easy access for students to gather information they may need, but it’s critical that students are taught how to find reliable information and learn internet safety.

Expository Text Structures and Signal Words: The graphic organizer and signal words provided a useful visual guide when teaching expository texts. By teaching the signal words students would begin to recognize the type of expository text they are reading and know how to comprehend the text they are reading. By knowing the signal words, students would know which graphic organizer they could use to help them understand the text they are reading. The graphic organizers would help students to understand the information they need to know when reading the text.

Module 2 Summary

Videos

Differentiated instruction is extremely valuable when providing instructions to students. The video provided information on identifying what specific students need differentiated instruction. Some teachers believe that differentiated instruction is just for students who are performing below grade level. However, that is not the case. Differentiated instruction is for ALL students. I teach students who are learning on three different levels. I have accelerated learners, on-level learner, and students who are below grade level. Differentiation is a must in my classroom. Each one of my students has different needs to be met. This strategy helps me provide instruction and learning activities that will meet their learning needs. Choice boards are a big hit in my classroom for reading centers. I provide three different choice boards for each level of learners. This allows for my high flyers to be challenged while my on-level learners are practicing grade level standards and my below grade level students are working on learning activities that will help them reach their learning goals.

 In The Story of Differentiation, this video provided a refresher for me. At my school, teachers are trained on differentiated instruction using Carol Tomlinson’s knowledge on the topic. We have many books in our book room to help teachers provide differentiated instruction for ALL students. One big idea from the video was flexible grouping. This is something I’m very familiar with and provide for my students learning needs.  

Planning Strategic Reading Lesson Plan

The PowerPoints in this module were very interesting. From the information presented on planning strategic reading lesson plan, it is important to remember that it is teacher directed that supports instructional goals by providing purposefully grouped students with target strategies that will facilitate fluent reading and comprehension. This type of plan offers text exploration through various reading strategies and leads to more student directed instructional approaches such as literature circles. Teacher instruction and explanation of reading contexts is extremely important, it’s also important for students to become independent and self-sustained readers. This can be accomplished through the use of literature circles.

Literacy Practice: Promoting Content Area Reading Scaffolding

Literacy is seen in all content areas. This can be a problem for students who struggle with reading so it is important for teachers to help students overcome their learning challenges. One way teachers can help students is scaffolding the instruction presented to students. Scaffolding helps students to gain a better understand of the learning material. Instruction should be modeled by the teacher to introduce the learning material or task and overtime the learning task shift to the students.   

Bloom’s Taxonomy Wheel

This is a great resource to have when planning instructional activities for students. It’s important for teachers to provide lessons which reflect different areas of the Bloom’s Taxonomy. As teachers, we work hard to provide engaging activities that promote in-depth conversations as a way to promote higher order thinking skills. The Bloom’s Taxonomy wheel helps provide key words when creating comprehension and discussion questions.

Module 1 Summary

PowerPoint-Expository Text-Understanding Text Organization

I really enjoyed watching the Expository Text-Understanding Text Organization. This is something I have been teaching my second graders. I think it’s important for students to know and understand that all text follows a certain structure. As teachers it’s important to teach students about expository text and provide examples of how different text structures can be. This PowerPoint provided a great overview of the different expository text structures and the key words that are associated with each. It also provided great graphic organizer to use when teaching text structure within expository texts. It’s important for students to understand the different organizational patterns that are associated within expository text. This will help them to learn the signal words used with in and hopefully allow them to have more understanding when reading or writing an expository text.  

Video-Reading Strategy for Struggling Readers

I found this video to very informative and provided many great ideas to use within the classroom with struggling readers. The definitions of the key terms were extremely helpful, as well as how each activity related to the particular reading skill shown within the video. I can’t wait to explore the website presented in this video. I already have a few students in mind that could benefit from many of the activities that were presented in this video. Struggling readers often try to avoid reading because they feel embarrassed when reading because they don’t read perfectly. Working with struggling readers in a small setting using some of the activities presented in this video will certainly help change their thinking towards reading. I’m currently tutoring three students who have reading difficulties. I can’t wait to introduce my students to some of these amazing activities to help increase their reading abilities.

Fry’s Readability Test and Irwin-Davis Readability Test

Both readability tests were very interesting to read about since I had never heard of this before. With the new Common Core Standards, we are encouraged to use more leveled articles that integrate social studies and science concepts into our reading block. I often find it difficult locating articles that are “just” right for my students reading level. This is an option for me to look into as I start pulling articles into my reading lessons for students to practice close reading strategies on complex text.

Trip to Hawaii

These video were very engaging and provided meaning information regarding the purpose of graphic organizer within the classroom. As a classroom teacher, I use graphic organizer all the time to support student learning. I mostly use them during my reading and writing block to help students make connects to their learning. One graphic organizer I found interesting was the Vocabulary Prediction Chart. It allowed students to make predictions on what they thought the word meant prior to reading, and then allowed then to change their response after reading. After reading, they are given the opportunity to look the up the unknown word in the dictionary. This is a great way for students to learn new vocabulary words or unknown words. The vocabulary prediction chart will definitely be utilized in my classroom. Graphic organizers are important tools for students to use. It’s important for teachers to teach students how to use and make graphic organizer to help them understand the information being presented in their reading material. One thing I love about graphic organizer is that they are appropriate for all grade levels and their learning needs.