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.