2009-2010 TSS Blog: Differentiation!
I enjoyed hearing Jeani Rottle speak. I left her presentation with several ideas that I want to try and share with others. First, I loved her rules (Do not stop me from teaching. Do not stop others from learning). These will be my classroom rules from now on. They are specific, to the point, and easy to understand. Second, I really liked her Exit Tickets. I felt that they were a great way to see what the kids knew and what needed to be retaught without having a lot of papers to grade. I also thought that they were great documentation for SBRC. I thought the two most valuable items from her presentation were the Bloom's Taxonomy chart (verbs, sample question stems, and potential activities) and The Ultimate Combo sheet (linking Bloom's Taxonomy to the Multiple Intelligences). I plan to share the Bloom's Taxonomy chart with my principal and hopefully get a copy for everyone at Key. I think that it will help me plan higher level thinking activities and ask higher level thinking questions. I liked her idea of hanging it in the classroom and using a different section each day to pull questions from. I think that this will hold me more accountable for pushing my students to move past the knowledge and comprehension levels and into the application, analysis, synthesis. and evaluation levels. The Ultimate Combo sheet will help me come up with more engaging lessons. After teaching for many years, we tend to be stuck doing the same activities over and over. When I reflected on my teaching, I realized that most of the activities that I do with my children are verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, and interpersonal. I need to take into account other learning styles. I would like to incorporate more musical/rhythmic, bodily/kinesthetic, and naturalist activities into my classroom. The Ultimate Combo sheet will give me examples of activities that I can do to incorporate more learning styles into my teaching. For example, I could let my kids act out a response or write a song for a response instead of everyone having to respond in the exact same way. I will definitely be referring back to hand-outs and plan to give a copy of them to my mentee.
Monday, March 29, 2010
2009-2010 TSS Blog: 2009-2010 TSS Blog: MARCIA TATE- Brain Based Strategies
2009-2010 TSS Blog: 2009-2010 TSS Blog: MARCIA TATE- Brain Based Strategies
I am so glad that I had the opportunity to hear Marcia Tate's presentation. I feel that she re-energized me as a teacher. I have been out of the classroom for two years. I am a half day academic coach and a half day reading teacher. Even though I used a lot of her strategies when I had my own classroom, when I reflected on how I am teaching reading I realized that I had moved away from these great teaching methods. I have been using the Guided Reading approach, which I feel is the best way to meet the needs of struggling readers. However, with that being said, there are several ways that I could "spice" up my Guided Reading lessons. I decided to incorporate more music and movement into my lessons. One way that I incorporated music was to teach rhyming words with the song "The Name Game". The kids loved it! I also decided to use role playing, visualization, graphic organizers, and drawing to help improve comprehension. One activity that I tried was to take a page from the text and photocopy it onto a transparency. I then projected it onto the wall so that the children were the same size as the character. The children had to go up to the character and speak for him/her (what would the character say if he/she could talk to us). My children liked this so much more than simply retelling the story. I found that graphic organizers gave my students more confidence in their abilities to comprehend what was read. It helped them organize and plan out their thinking, so that when it came time to discuss the text they were more willing to share ideas. The graphic organizers gave them a crutch to lean on during our discussions.
When I model lessons in other teachers classrooms I make sure that I model using manipulatives, reciprocal teaching (turn and talk, reflection, peer editing), and project based instruction (in-depth, spanning across several weeks, real world writing projects). One thing that I did with my own students was share stories about my life. Every morning we would start the day by sitting in a circle and sharing something that had happen to each of us the night before. I would write and share stories about my life during Writer's Workshop. I would make connections to my life during Read Aloud and Reader's Workshop. I guess that I moved away from this because I am just popping into another teacher's room to do a lesson and I feel like I don't really know the kids and they don't know me so they would not be interested in my life. After hearing Marcia Tate, I decided to share stories about my life with them. Wow, did this change how the children responded to my lesson. They opened up as writers when they heard me open up as a writer. I became a real person to them. My next plan of action is to try to incorporate more games and technology into both my reading and coaching lessons. I tend to shy away from games and technology because I find them difficult to manage. I took a chance and modeled a prefix game in a 3rd grade class, the kids loved it and were all on task. Marcia Tate was wonderful and I plan to keep sharing her strategies with my mentee and other teachers that I coach.
I am so glad that I had the opportunity to hear Marcia Tate's presentation. I feel that she re-energized me as a teacher. I have been out of the classroom for two years. I am a half day academic coach and a half day reading teacher. Even though I used a lot of her strategies when I had my own classroom, when I reflected on how I am teaching reading I realized that I had moved away from these great teaching methods. I have been using the Guided Reading approach, which I feel is the best way to meet the needs of struggling readers. However, with that being said, there are several ways that I could "spice" up my Guided Reading lessons. I decided to incorporate more music and movement into my lessons. One way that I incorporated music was to teach rhyming words with the song "The Name Game". The kids loved it! I also decided to use role playing, visualization, graphic organizers, and drawing to help improve comprehension. One activity that I tried was to take a page from the text and photocopy it onto a transparency. I then projected it onto the wall so that the children were the same size as the character. The children had to go up to the character and speak for him/her (what would the character say if he/she could talk to us). My children liked this so much more than simply retelling the story. I found that graphic organizers gave my students more confidence in their abilities to comprehend what was read. It helped them organize and plan out their thinking, so that when it came time to discuss the text they were more willing to share ideas. The graphic organizers gave them a crutch to lean on during our discussions.
When I model lessons in other teachers classrooms I make sure that I model using manipulatives, reciprocal teaching (turn and talk, reflection, peer editing), and project based instruction (in-depth, spanning across several weeks, real world writing projects). One thing that I did with my own students was share stories about my life. Every morning we would start the day by sitting in a circle and sharing something that had happen to each of us the night before. I would write and share stories about my life during Writer's Workshop. I would make connections to my life during Read Aloud and Reader's Workshop. I guess that I moved away from this because I am just popping into another teacher's room to do a lesson and I feel like I don't really know the kids and they don't know me so they would not be interested in my life. After hearing Marcia Tate, I decided to share stories about my life with them. Wow, did this change how the children responded to my lesson. They opened up as writers when they heard me open up as a writer. I became a real person to them. My next plan of action is to try to incorporate more games and technology into both my reading and coaching lessons. I tend to shy away from games and technology because I find them difficult to manage. I took a chance and modeled a prefix game in a 3rd grade class, the kids loved it and were all on task. Marcia Tate was wonderful and I plan to keep sharing her strategies with my mentee and other teachers that I coach.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Differentiation!
After attending the Differentiating Instruction session, what information will you incorporate in your planning and instruction and what information will you share with others?
Post for Derick Pugh
I talked with my mentee and have given her advice that I was given and learned on my own. There is a book that hits the nail on the head...."Don't Sweat the Small Stuff"!!! This is so true in the glamerous world of public education. It is easy to get covered up with paperwork (especially in Special Ed) i.e. BIP's, IEPs, FBAs, and all those other 3 lettered things. I also shared the ins/outs, routines, etc of the school during pre-planning. Luckily my mentee is in my own department and has caught on very quickly and is a great teacher. We meet weekly to "vent" which is another thing that we set up, because I told her that if you don't it will carry over into personal aspects of your life...which sucks!
And in the words of the great Porky Pig.....That's all Folks!
Derick Pugh
And in the words of the great Porky Pig.....That's all Folks!
Derick Pugh
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!
Marcia who? The aforementioned question was answered in a resounding manner. The workshop presented by Marcia Tate was quite refreshing. Her positive impact was evident from her initial introduction to her last goodbye. I was certainly graced by her presence and enjoyed the heartiness exhibited by my colleagues. Some of the strategies that Marcia shared are already in place in my classroom, but there is always room for growth. I am a firm believer that art as well as music will enhance the average classroom environment. Students deserve an environment that is fun yet conducive to learning. Humor has not been at the forefront in my lessons or planning, but I do plan on incorporating more of the aforementioned. I will make a conscious effort to keep my lessons relevant because Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Marcia Tate
Wow! Marcia Tate really got my attention and kept it all day long. Her innovative, creative, and energetic teaching style made me have a renewed sense of purpose as a teacher.
There are several strategies that I plan to implement with the inclusion classes, as well as the resource groups with whom I work. For my resource students I am using more music and art. We already implement movement, but now we have movement that is geared toward a performance task or learning a skill. I also plan to use drama to reinforce vocabulary words, character traits, and social studies.
My copy of Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites is on my desk for quick reference and motivation. Thank you for allowing us to be blessed by such an awesome educator.
There are several strategies that I plan to implement with the inclusion classes, as well as the resource groups with whom I work. For my resource students I am using more music and art. We already implement movement, but now we have movement that is geared toward a performance task or learning a skill. I also plan to use drama to reinforce vocabulary words, character traits, and social studies.
My copy of Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites is on my desk for quick reference and motivation. Thank you for allowing us to be blessed by such an awesome educator.
Marcia Tate Was Excellent!
As a somewhat introverted and type A person, I am skeptical of using a few of Marcia Tate's strategies -- not that they weren't good ones. For example, throwing things and moving around too much in my classroom, which is a computer lab, will have to be carefully managed. For example, one of my homeroom students stood up too quickly the other day, and knocked a monitor over onto the floor. (Luckily, it still works!) However, a Smart Board was just installed in my classroom this week. So, I think I will be able to incorporate more movement as students do things using the Smart Board.
I really liked the idea of using music in my classroom. However, I worry about that too. I like order. So, the introduction of anything that may get my students riled up or off task is scary to me. I really am going to have to do some soul-searching on that one.
However, I do like many of her other strategies, some of which I am already using. Since I teach Business Education, students are always doing hands-on activities. Visual learning, technology and role playing (for example, mock job interviews) happen all the time. I think all CTAE (Career Techical and Agriculatural Education) classes automatically utilize many of the 20 strategies.
I really liked the idea of using music in my classroom. However, I worry about that too. I like order. So, the introduction of anything that may get my students riled up or off task is scary to me. I really am going to have to do some soul-searching on that one.
However, I do like many of her other strategies, some of which I am already using. Since I teach Business Education, students are always doing hands-on activities. Visual learning, technology and role playing (for example, mock job interviews) happen all the time. I think all CTAE (Career Techical and Agriculatural Education) classes automatically utilize many of the 20 strategies.
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