Looking back over the quarter's math work, I've come out with a real appreciation for the merits of cooperative groupwork in math education (and all education). In fact, next week I'm going to introduce cooperative groupwork to my 4th graders (I'm using Elizabeth Cohen's Designing Groupwork) -- we'll be engaging in an activity called "Broken Circles." Each group member will have an envelope with circle sections, and each member of the group needs to finish with a complete circle in front of them. They can't talk or take pieces, they can only give pieces. I am very curious to see how this exercise goes. These kids work in partner stations during math right now, but I think the kids would benefit from strategies that foster deeper cooperation.
Our math class also highlighted for me the value of manipulatives (both traditional and online) in "higher order" math...such as algebra. I appreciated learning different strategies for exploring concepts in ways that allow kids to construct their own knowledge, as opposed to being forcefed rules and formulas via direct instruction. The Annenberg videos also gave me good ideas for how kids could construct their own knowledge, such as the video that showed kids developing a rule for calculating the volume and area of rods. Approaching math in this way also allows us to make it more engaging and interesting for kids. I was completely absorbed by the logic puzzle we worked on during our last class. The only danger is how absorbing some of these activities can be -- regrouping students could be challenging if everyone hasn't finished!
The last observation I'd like to make is the value I see in exploring our kids' mathematical identities. Finding ways in which kids can see themselves as mathematicians will help them approach math in a more positive way. As I mentioned in last week's math blog, I found the chart of mathematical activities to be particularly promising for exploring math in our everyday lives. The ideas in Complex Identities are fantastic for both students and teachers to explore their own preconceived ideas about math.
In all, this quarter's math class provided me with good information (via the readings, videos, and class discussion) about how to implement middle level mathematics curricula. The ideas, though, will also be useful to me in my 4th grade main placement class. Thanks to Robin for making math approachable, fun, and edifying!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
final thoughts about the ipod touch
As the quarter draws to a close and I prepare my loaner Ipod Touch for the next student who will use it, finding something new or insightful to say about this project challenges me.
If the Ipod Touch has one significant power, it's its allure. Every kid seems to want to get their hands on one and see how it works. In this way, the Ipod Touch could really stimulate an apathetic kid's curiosity. A good app like the NASA app or the How Stuff Works app could inspire some students to want to learn new things -- if simply by virtue of offering a novel method of investigation. An ordinary vocabulary lesson with my fourth grade Juanita buddy became much more compelling once the Ipod was brought out for dictionary research! However, this kind of differentiation is something all kids will want to "qualify" for...
While I didn't get a chance to explore all of the uses I suggested in my initial blog post about the Ipod Touch, I do still think there is good potential for the apps I talked about to differentiate learning. For instance, Logic Box could provide great enrichment for more advanced math students and Pocket Phonics could help struggling readers learn to more successfully decode words.
In the end, the most use I made of the Ipod was as a recording device. Ulitmately, I think I see this as one of the best uses of the Ipod Touch for differentiating instruction. Supplementary notes could be recorded for students to refer to when working in their journals or completing their homework. Students could record lessons and listen to them again later. Instructors could record conferences and be able to easily track students' progress. ELL students could hear native speakers' pronunciation of English words in a recorded word list or listen to annotated narratives to foster fluency.
To be sure, if the Ipod fairy came by and said she was dropping off thirty free Ipods for my classroom, I could make good use of them. I just don't know whether they'd be on the top of my priority list if I had to buy them with real money.
If the Ipod Touch has one significant power, it's its allure. Every kid seems to want to get their hands on one and see how it works. In this way, the Ipod Touch could really stimulate an apathetic kid's curiosity. A good app like the NASA app or the How Stuff Works app could inspire some students to want to learn new things -- if simply by virtue of offering a novel method of investigation. An ordinary vocabulary lesson with my fourth grade Juanita buddy became much more compelling once the Ipod was brought out for dictionary research! However, this kind of differentiation is something all kids will want to "qualify" for...
While I didn't get a chance to explore all of the uses I suggested in my initial blog post about the Ipod Touch, I do still think there is good potential for the apps I talked about to differentiate learning. For instance, Logic Box could provide great enrichment for more advanced math students and Pocket Phonics could help struggling readers learn to more successfully decode words.
In the end, the most use I made of the Ipod was as a recording device. Ulitmately, I think I see this as one of the best uses of the Ipod Touch for differentiating instruction. Supplementary notes could be recorded for students to refer to when working in their journals or completing their homework. Students could record lessons and listen to them again later. Instructors could record conferences and be able to easily track students' progress. ELL students could hear native speakers' pronunciation of English words in a recorded word list or listen to annotated narratives to foster fluency.
To be sure, if the Ipod fairy came by and said she was dropping off thirty free Ipods for my classroom, I could make good use of them. I just don't know whether they'd be on the top of my priority list if I had to buy them with real money.
complex identities
We engaged in an activity found in the article Complex Identities in our math methods class last quarter -- we explored what adjectives we would apply to someone good at math or not good at math. However, this article was about more than just the activity we engaged in, and it really shed more light on how we and our students see ourselves in relation to math. I was particularly interested in the mathematical task chart, which listed a number of different activities. Students could be asked to identify which of the tasks, such as sending a text message or riding a skateboard, were mathematical in nature. The answer, of course, is that all of the tasks in some way involve math. I believe that this is a great activity which can help our students see that math is everywhere...not just in the memorization of math facts and rules and passing math tests.
A question I have is why this question of mathematical identity isn't given more emphasis in school. When I read about the honors math student who couldn't think of herself as good at math because great mathematicians are "brilliant" and she didn't see herself as brilliant, I had to wonder if a lesson exploring mathematical identity might have helped her bypass this conclusion.
I definitely see a place for exploring mathematical identities in the classroom. In fact, I'd like to explore ideas about what constitutes a mathematical task in my fourth grade classroom. I can envision applying the same strategy to an exploration of scientific tasks, too! How many things do we do everyday, without thinking, that involve either math or science. Yet many students see math and science as their weakest, and sometimes least enjoyable, subjects. It would be particularly nice to see those kinds of attitudes turned around!
A question I have is why this question of mathematical identity isn't given more emphasis in school. When I read about the honors math student who couldn't think of herself as good at math because great mathematicians are "brilliant" and she didn't see herself as brilliant, I had to wonder if a lesson exploring mathematical identity might have helped her bypass this conclusion.
I definitely see a place for exploring mathematical identities in the classroom. In fact, I'd like to explore ideas about what constitutes a mathematical task in my fourth grade classroom. I can envision applying the same strategy to an exploration of scientific tasks, too! How many things do we do everyday, without thinking, that involve either math or science. Yet many students see math and science as their weakest, and sometimes least enjoyable, subjects. It would be particularly nice to see those kinds of attitudes turned around!
Friday, February 18, 2011
computer based math tools
Last week I learned about two more ways to engage students in math. We played with a couple of very neat math utilities: Fathom and Geometer's Sketchpad. What great classroom resources these would be! Geometer's Sketchpad looks like a particularly versatile tool that, according to its website, can help kids learn everything from geometry and algebra to proofs. For geometry, creating geometric shapes to fit over a clown's features - using only a limited number of available shapes - was a challenging exercise even for an adult! It really forced you to remember and apply your knowledge of the properties of geometric shapes.
Two questions I have are: 1) in what way can Geometer's Sketchpad facilitate algebra learning and 2) how much does it cost (I think this was mentioned, but I've forgotten). The next time I have free time on campus, I think I'll try and explore ways in which Geometer's Sketchpad can help students learn or practice algebra. If the algebra functions are as engrossing as the geometry exercise was, I think they'd be very useful in a middle level math class.
One implication for classroom practice is how to best utilize Geometer's Sketchpad when you only have a couple computers available for classroom use. Perhaps it would be best utilized as enrichment or remediation tool in that case - although if the software has a high pricetag, you'd probably want every student to have access.
Two questions I have are: 1) in what way can Geometer's Sketchpad facilitate algebra learning and 2) how much does it cost (I think this was mentioned, but I've forgotten). The next time I have free time on campus, I think I'll try and explore ways in which Geometer's Sketchpad can help students learn or practice algebra. If the algebra functions are as engrossing as the geometry exercise was, I think they'd be very useful in a middle level math class.
One implication for classroom practice is how to best utilize Geometer's Sketchpad when you only have a couple computers available for classroom use. Perhaps it would be best utilized as enrichment or remediation tool in that case - although if the software has a high pricetag, you'd probably want every student to have access.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
tangrams
This past week we had fun with yet another completely engaging math lesson - firing cotton ball "frogs" from paper clip launchers, then tracking the absolute and linear distances they traveled. While this way of teaching about distance was both fun and new to me, what I really appreciated about last week's class was learning how to use tangrams. I'd never worked with them before and knew nothing about them. In class, we used a set of tangrams to create a giraffe figure, then tried to construct a giraffe twice the size with multiple sets. This was not easy!
As I mentioned above, I'd never used tangrams before this class, and one question I have is about other classroom applications. They seem to do a good job of fostering spatial thinking. Do they have any applications at the 4th grade level? I'm wondering about a use that might help my main placement kids remember geometric shapes and their properties. Since the tangrams are geometric shapes they've studied, it might be a useful way to use them in my classroom.
The implications for classroom practice that I see are more engaging ways to get kids to connect to math. The exercise of doubling the size of the giraffe was very challenging -- my group never got there, in fact -- but was also very engrossing, no one wanted to stop trying!
As I mentioned above, I'd never used tangrams before this class, and one question I have is about other classroom applications. They seem to do a good job of fostering spatial thinking. Do they have any applications at the 4th grade level? I'm wondering about a use that might help my main placement kids remember geometric shapes and their properties. Since the tangrams are geometric shapes they've studied, it might be a useful way to use them in my classroom.
The implications for classroom practice that I see are more engaging ways to get kids to connect to math. The exercise of doubling the size of the giraffe was very challenging -- my group never got there, in fact -- but was also very engrossing, no one wanted to stop trying!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
moving from assessment to instruction
Over the past few weeks I've learned a bit about my buddy's needs, abilities, and interests. My buddy, whom I'll continue to call Katie, seems to genuinely enjoy reading. She particularly enjoys her reading textbook. During one of our informal reading conferences she neatly summarized what had been happening in one of the stories, highlighting both explicit and implicit details. For instance, she inferred why the main character, Maria Isabel Salazar Lopez, disliked being called Mary Lopez, a conclusion supported, but not directly stated, by the story. Katie's comprehension of the two assessment readings, Amelia Earhart and Early Railroads, was fairly good. She did miss some explicit supporting details, such as the sentence that told the reader who Tom Thumb was in the Early Railroads piece. This affected her comprehension of the analogy being made between the engine and Tom Thumb, and she stumbled on the comprehension questions that dealt with that analogy.
Additionally, Katie's reading of the assessment pieces was slower than average. She read Early Railroads at 93 words per minute - nearly 20 words per minute slower than an "average" 4th grade peer. In all her reading aloud for me, however, I noted a particular difficulty with names that really slows her down. Katie had a bit of trouble with the name Tom Thumb in Early Railroads and it almost felt like the name was a bit of a tongue twister for her. It took her a while to move on with the reading. At other times, though, Katie will elide an unknown word. That said, Katie generally reads in larger, meaningful chunks, until she gets to a section that trips her up. Occasionally she missed punctuation, too. Katie had 12 miscues during her reading of Early Railroads, which indicates that the text is at instructional level for her.
Given the results of the reading assessments and my findings during our informal reading conferences, I would say that Katie is at level 3 on the NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Scale. Katie sometimes read with meaning, but at other times read inexpressively and missed punctuation and phrasing. Although she sometimes read larger phrase groups with correct expression for long stretches, these stretches were punctuated by shorter word groupings and groupings that missed words and/or punctuation. She might be just a bit higher than a 3 with an instructional text.
Overall, I think Katie needs work on fluency. While fairly good, her comprehension would improve if she had better fluency. This week, I plan to have Katie read the level 3 texts.
Additionally, Katie's reading of the assessment pieces was slower than average. She read Early Railroads at 93 words per minute - nearly 20 words per minute slower than an "average" 4th grade peer. In all her reading aloud for me, however, I noted a particular difficulty with names that really slows her down. Katie had a bit of trouble with the name Tom Thumb in Early Railroads and it almost felt like the name was a bit of a tongue twister for her. It took her a while to move on with the reading. At other times, though, Katie will elide an unknown word. That said, Katie generally reads in larger, meaningful chunks, until she gets to a section that trips her up. Occasionally she missed punctuation, too. Katie had 12 miscues during her reading of Early Railroads, which indicates that the text is at instructional level for her.
Given the results of the reading assessments and my findings during our informal reading conferences, I would say that Katie is at level 3 on the NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Scale. Katie sometimes read with meaning, but at other times read inexpressively and missed punctuation and phrasing. Although she sometimes read larger phrase groups with correct expression for long stretches, these stretches were punctuated by shorter word groupings and groupings that missed words and/or punctuation. She might be just a bit higher than a 3 with an instructional text.
Overall, I think Katie needs work on fluency. While fairly good, her comprehension would improve if she had better fluency. This week, I plan to have Katie read the level 3 texts.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
current thoughts: differentiating instruction with an ipod touch
I'll confess to finding some uses for an Ipod touch in the classroom over the past few weeks. I particularly like its usefulness for recording student interviews and assessments. I've also run across some apps I really like which might have value in the classroom. One app, Logic Box, could augment mathematics instruction by fostering spatial and geometric thinking. Another app, NASA looks like an excellent supplement to an astronomy unit. I like the Whiteboard Lite app, too, for its potential to eliminate noxious dry erase fumes from the classroom - although the iPod screen is a bit small for any detail.
As far as differentiating instruction with an iPod goes, though, my opinion hasn't changed much. In fact, a few things that have happened in my classroom recently have further convinced me that our efforts are better spent - at least in my school - ensuring that all of our kids have equal access to a quality education before springing for dozens of iPods. If we were reasonably close to that goal, I'd be open to exploring iPod touches for instructional use. One certainty is that kids would love being able to use an iPod touch in school!
As far as differentiating instruction with an iPod goes, though, my opinion hasn't changed much. In fact, a few things that have happened in my classroom recently have further convinced me that our efforts are better spent - at least in my school - ensuring that all of our kids have equal access to a quality education before springing for dozens of iPods. If we were reasonably close to that goal, I'd be open to exploring iPod touches for instructional use. One certainty is that kids would love being able to use an iPod touch in school!
paper folding
Last week in math class I learned that paper folding is very mathematical! It was really interesting to see how the simple act of folding an origami box uncovered so many mathematical challenges. It was a truly rigorous way to explore geometry and proofs - I personally had difficulty expressing the reasons why I knew a given shape was what it was! Particularly challenging was finding a way to articulating why one folded line was parallel to another.
One question I have is how best to elicit the proofs. Is it best to have the whole class work independently and volunteer answers? Or would it be better to have students work in teams or groups? I'm personally inclined to say groups, because I know I could have used someone to bounce ideas off of when we did this in class.
I think this is a great way to explore geometry and practice articulating mathematical proofs in the classroom. While we engaged in this activity as a way to explore and provide proofs, I'm personally planning to adapt this activity into a lesson for 4th graders. My kids had some trouble with geometric shapes when they were learning about them last fall. I think (and my master teacher agrees) that examining geometric shapes while folding an origami box will help them better understand and remember what they learned. It helps that most of my class is rather origami obsessed, too!
One question I have is how best to elicit the proofs. Is it best to have the whole class work independently and volunteer answers? Or would it be better to have students work in teams or groups? I'm personally inclined to say groups, because I know I could have used someone to bounce ideas off of when we did this in class.
I think this is a great way to explore geometry and practice articulating mathematical proofs in the classroom. While we engaged in this activity as a way to explore and provide proofs, I'm personally planning to adapt this activity into a lesson for 4th graders. My kids had some trouble with geometric shapes when they were learning about them last fall. I think (and my master teacher agrees) that examining geometric shapes while folding an origami box will help them better understand and remember what they learned. It helps that most of my class is rather origami obsessed, too!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
engaging math
Last week in math class, I learned strategies for creating group math lessons that engage students and are inquiry focused. Since so much of the math in my main placement classroom seems to be whole class direct instruction, it's refreshing to see ways that math concepts can be taught -- and taught intuitively -- without being stultifyingly boring. The group work we did in class the last two Mondays using the online statistics generator was fun, interesting, and engaging. It didn't really feel like we were learning, but we were using math skills such as statistical analysis and data graphing.
My ongoing question about group work seems to be how to best implement group lessons. Exactly how much groundwork will be required to familiarize my students with group roles? With a pacing guide, will I have that time? Will students in my groups really be responsible for the learning of everyone on his team?
I believe the implications for classroom practice are that group inquiry lessons, if implemented thoughtfully, can greatly enhance our math curriculum. Using absorbing, thought-provoking lessons like the one we experienced in our class the last two weeks can be an effective alternative to more "traditional" methods.
My ongoing question about group work seems to be how to best implement group lessons. Exactly how much groundwork will be required to familiarize my students with group roles? With a pacing guide, will I have that time? Will students in my groups really be responsible for the learning of everyone on his team?
I believe the implications for classroom practice are that group inquiry lessons, if implemented thoughtfully, can greatly enhance our math curriculum. Using absorbing, thought-provoking lessons like the one we experienced in our class the last two weeks can be an effective alternative to more "traditional" methods.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
writing analysis and lesson plan: draft
Analysis
This analysis of Katie's (pseudonym) writing and spelling development is based on the rough draft of a short story about a treasure hunt and her spelling inventory.
Katie's short story is about finding a treasure map, following it, and discovering gold at the end. While Katie told me that she loves to make up stories in her head, she also told me that she doesn't view herself as a "good writer." Katie was proud of several elements in her story, but stated that she is primarily motivated by a desire to set a mood of mystery or suspense in her writing. Katie clearly modeled the protagonist on herself. Katie's story began with the main character waking one morning with a sense of foreboding but dramatically switched gears after a treasure map was discovered. Katie tried several times to use a sense of foreboding in her story, but couldn't quite seem to make it fit in with her main storyline.
Six Traits
Ideas & Content
Katie's idea for her story -- a mysterious treasure hunt -- was good but incompletely executed. While her story stayed on topic for the most part, it meandered off in parts. Katie also could have included much more detail and personalization. In one part of the story, she is traveling through states marked on the map, but we don't get a very good sense of what any of this part of her journey is like. The journey ends up feeling like the trajectory line drawn on a map in movies. You pass though many places, but don't stop or linger at any one of them. Katie's story has a good foundational idea that could be expanded.
Organization
Katie's story would benefit from some organzational work. She may have found it easier to focus if she had defined a title for her story and worked on an idea map of some kind. Her transitions sometimes work, but her lead feels completely disconnected from the body of her story. In her first paragraph, the main character wakes up at home with a sense of foreboding, eats breakfast, and feels quite sick. In the next paragraph, she discovers a treasure map in a bottle and heads off on a treasure hunt. Her story generally moves along the treasure hunt theme, but in an "and then" way that sometimes only loosely connects ideas.
Voice
I can feel Katie really trying to find a way to impart a sense of mystery in this piece, but in a way that's disconnected from her main story line. For instance, while she's traveling through the states on the map, she eats some food and it makes her sick. This anecdote doesn't support the story. These interjections distract from Katie's purpose, leaving the reader a bit confused.
Word Choice
Katie's word choice and phrasing is mainly basic and functional. However, she has some nice touches in her writing. I particularly liked the language she used to describe the treasure map. "It was as soft as old leather," Katie writes, "but on the other side it as as rough as sandpaper." In another part of her story, she colorfully describes arriving in Alaska as though through chattering teeth. "I-i-i-t's s-s-s-o c-c-cold."
Sentence Fluency
Katie's sentences are largely adequate and generally correctly structured, but could do more to support the story. In places, her "and then" style of telling events lends itself to overuse of connectors and rambling sentences. "I enjoyed the food I was eating until I began to feel sick then I heard the doorbell ring." At other times, sentences feel abrupt and the reading feels choppy. "I heard so many languages. I ate so many different foods. Some of the food made me sick." A few sentences, though,are expressive, such as the description of the cold mentioned when discussing word choice.
Conventions
With a little work, this piece could be revised to be conventionally correct. Katie seems to have a bit of difficulty matching verb tense correctly. "I thought if I eat some food, I'd feel better," she writes in one place. In another she writes, "I open the door and saw a bottle." Punctuation and capitalization is generally correct, and some paragraphing is present. Spelling is quite good, with only a handful of misspellings in her four page draft. Most of these involved doubling a consonant, such as "runing" for running and "carefuly" for carefully.
Spelling
The results of Katie's spelling inventory place her in the late within word pattern phase of the developmental continuum (Bear & Barone, 1989). The majority of her misspelled words occurred in this section and included "surving," "cattel," and "plesher." Katie clearly has not yet had much, if any, experience with affixes or bases and roots. Katie wrote "slevies"for civilize and "confend" for confident. In her writing sample, the most common misspelling involved consonant doubling, as mentioned in my discussion of conventions. On the spelling inventory, however, all the double consonant words were correctly spelled or contained the doubled consonant, including shopping, "cattel" (cattle), and "carrires"(carries). I am not sure exactly what to make of this, except perhaps thoughts were flying fast when she was writing her story, and she was simply writing too fast.
Conclusion
As stated in my introductory paragraph, Katie expresses a strong preference for mysterious or suspenseful writing. I believe if she spent more time organizing her ideas, she could experience more success injecting a sense of mystery in her writing. Her floundering for direction at times impacted her ability to successfully flesh out ideas. She has the beginnings of an engaging story with some creative sparks. I would work with her on organization, with a focus on leads. A story's lead is what propels it forward, and since Katie's lead and storyline weren't well connected, exploring how leads draw readers in, make them want to know more, and bridge ideas (Spandel & Culham, 1994, p. 3) might help her restructure the entire piece.
Lesson Plan
Samples of well-written and engaging leads, eg. Because of Winn-Dixie by DiCamillo and Your Name in Gold, by A.F. Baumann. Samples of peer written leads, such as from previous years' students. Student's rough draft to examine. Writer's notebook or paper, pencil.
This analysis of Katie's (pseudonym) writing and spelling development is based on the rough draft of a short story about a treasure hunt and her spelling inventory.
Katie's short story is about finding a treasure map, following it, and discovering gold at the end. While Katie told me that she loves to make up stories in her head, she also told me that she doesn't view herself as a "good writer." Katie was proud of several elements in her story, but stated that she is primarily motivated by a desire to set a mood of mystery or suspense in her writing. Katie clearly modeled the protagonist on herself. Katie's story began with the main character waking one morning with a sense of foreboding but dramatically switched gears after a treasure map was discovered. Katie tried several times to use a sense of foreboding in her story, but couldn't quite seem to make it fit in with her main storyline.
Six Traits
Ideas & Content
Katie's idea for her story -- a mysterious treasure hunt -- was good but incompletely executed. While her story stayed on topic for the most part, it meandered off in parts. Katie also could have included much more detail and personalization. In one part of the story, she is traveling through states marked on the map, but we don't get a very good sense of what any of this part of her journey is like. The journey ends up feeling like the trajectory line drawn on a map in movies. You pass though many places, but don't stop or linger at any one of them. Katie's story has a good foundational idea that could be expanded.
Organization
Katie's story would benefit from some organzational work. She may have found it easier to focus if she had defined a title for her story and worked on an idea map of some kind. Her transitions sometimes work, but her lead feels completely disconnected from the body of her story. In her first paragraph, the main character wakes up at home with a sense of foreboding, eats breakfast, and feels quite sick. In the next paragraph, she discovers a treasure map in a bottle and heads off on a treasure hunt. Her story generally moves along the treasure hunt theme, but in an "and then" way that sometimes only loosely connects ideas.
Voice
I can feel Katie really trying to find a way to impart a sense of mystery in this piece, but in a way that's disconnected from her main story line. For instance, while she's traveling through the states on the map, she eats some food and it makes her sick. This anecdote doesn't support the story. These interjections distract from Katie's purpose, leaving the reader a bit confused.
Word Choice
Katie's word choice and phrasing is mainly basic and functional. However, she has some nice touches in her writing. I particularly liked the language she used to describe the treasure map. "It was as soft as old leather," Katie writes, "but on the other side it as as rough as sandpaper." In another part of her story, she colorfully describes arriving in Alaska as though through chattering teeth. "I-i-i-t's s-s-s-o c-c-cold."
Sentence Fluency
Katie's sentences are largely adequate and generally correctly structured, but could do more to support the story. In places, her "and then" style of telling events lends itself to overuse of connectors and rambling sentences. "I enjoyed the food I was eating until I began to feel sick then I heard the doorbell ring." At other times, sentences feel abrupt and the reading feels choppy. "I heard so many languages. I ate so many different foods. Some of the food made me sick." A few sentences, though,are expressive, such as the description of the cold mentioned when discussing word choice.
Conventions
With a little work, this piece could be revised to be conventionally correct. Katie seems to have a bit of difficulty matching verb tense correctly. "I thought if I eat some food, I'd feel better," she writes in one place. In another she writes, "I open the door and saw a bottle." Punctuation and capitalization is generally correct, and some paragraphing is present. Spelling is quite good, with only a handful of misspellings in her four page draft. Most of these involved doubling a consonant, such as "runing" for running and "carefuly" for carefully.
Spelling
The results of Katie's spelling inventory place her in the late within word pattern phase of the developmental continuum (Bear & Barone, 1989). The majority of her misspelled words occurred in this section and included "surving," "cattel," and "plesher." Katie clearly has not yet had much, if any, experience with affixes or bases and roots. Katie wrote "slevies"for civilize and "confend" for confident. In her writing sample, the most common misspelling involved consonant doubling, as mentioned in my discussion of conventions. On the spelling inventory, however, all the double consonant words were correctly spelled or contained the doubled consonant, including shopping, "cattel" (cattle), and "carrires"(carries). I am not sure exactly what to make of this, except perhaps thoughts were flying fast when she was writing her story, and she was simply writing too fast.
Conclusion
As stated in my introductory paragraph, Katie expresses a strong preference for mysterious or suspenseful writing. I believe if she spent more time organizing her ideas, she could experience more success injecting a sense of mystery in her writing. Her floundering for direction at times impacted her ability to successfully flesh out ideas. She has the beginnings of an engaging story with some creative sparks. I would work with her on organization, with a focus on leads. A story's lead is what propels it forward, and since Katie's lead and storyline weren't well connected, exploring how leads draw readers in, make them want to know more, and bridge ideas (Spandel & Culham, 1994, p. 3) might help her restructure the entire piece.
Lesson Plan
Objective
Student will understand the elements of a lead that draw the reader in and set the stage for the story.
Standards
EALRs:
- 1.3. Revises to improve text.
- 4.1.1. Analyzes and evaluates writing using established criteria.
- Identifies professional authors styles and techniques (e.g., word choice, introductions, endings, points of view).
- 4.1.2. Analyzes and evaluates own writing using established criteria.
Samples of well-written and engaging leads, eg. Because of Winn-Dixie by DiCamillo and Your Name in Gold, by A.F. Baumann. Samples of peer written leads, such as from previous years' students. Student's rough draft to examine. Writer's notebook or paper, pencil.
Instructional Strategies
In a writing conference with the student, read several mentor text leads. Together, construct a list of characteristics found in the leads that make you want to read more, such as action, description, sound effects, and dialogue. Discuss what it is about the mentor text leads that sets up the story and makes you want to read more.
Select one or more samples of student writing (such as from past years' students) that could use editing for teacher facilitated editing. Together with student, examine lead(s) and edit them to include elements you discovered after reading the mentor texts in previous step. Discuss how leads provide direction for the rest of the story and how changing the lead can change the whole story.
Once student seems to get the hang this, have her try editing one of her own leads. Have her analyze how (if) her revisions affect the rest of her story. Does it make what follows more compelling? Is the remainder of the story now in need of revision?
Assessment
Teacher will assess student understanding of how an engaging leads grab the reader by listening for accurate descriptions of the elements of a good lead and looking for incorporation of these elements in student's revision of own writing.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
differentiating instruction with an ipod touch
The past week or so, I've been thinking of ways in which the Ipod Touch could help differentiate instruction for certain students in my 4th grade main placement classroom. I've come up with a few possibilities, based on specific needs I've noticed.
One student (I'll call her Joy) is very low in reading and my master teacher informed me that she doesn't yet have full phonemic awareness. During independent reading or word sort activities, she could be using an app such as ABC Phonics Animals or Pocket Phonics to boost her ability to recognize phonemes and sound out words. The big drawback is that these apps are very basic, and very "baby" looking. A 4th grader would probably be embarrassed to use some of these apps. An alternative might be to create custom word sorts for her that she can practice at home. You'd need to devise a way to monitor her progress, so you could adapt future sorts to her current skill level.
Another student (I'll call him Brian) has been diagnosed with an Emotional/Behavioral Disorder and has co-created a plan for managing his behavior with our special educators. Brian has a behavior goals book that he can review when he needs help sticking to his plan and meeting his goals. I recently came across a couple of apps that might benefit him. One is called Model Me Going Places. This app contains narrated social scenes that he could reference when he needs reminding. This app could prove to be a helpful refresher for Brian - he could watch the playground scene before recess, for instance. Another potentially useful, and also more flexible, app is called Story Kit. Story Kit allows you to create your own unique and original multimedia story. The special educators could create social stories just for Brian (and are able to use personal photos and record their own audio). Bear in mind a couple of potential drawbacks, though. If Brian used his Ipod during instruction time, he could be quite distracting to the other students. Also, apps like Model Me Going Places could prove to have limited use in the classroom. Model Me Going Places only contains one potentially school related social story - visiting the the playground.
A final student for whom differentiation might be supported with an Ipod is a boy I'll call David. David is very proficient in math and often finishes tasks early. While a beneficial extension for his learning has been helping other students, his learning could also be extended with an Ipod. He could use an app like Pi Cubed Lite to construct more difficult equations than those the class is working on, or to practice more of the same kind of problem. There could be a problem, though, if students who don't get to use an Ipod in math equate it with "not qualifying" or "being stupid."
While the uses I've described could prove beneficial to the students in my classroom, one general drawback to allowing students to take their Ipods home is the varying heath and quality of students' home life. It might not be a safe or wise decision to allow an Ipod to go home. Another general problem could be finding a way to monitor students' progress. Finally, when using an Ipod to differentiate instruction, perhaps only a few students will be using IPods. This could cause tension or disruption in the classroom.
One student (I'll call her Joy) is very low in reading and my master teacher informed me that she doesn't yet have full phonemic awareness. During independent reading or word sort activities, she could be using an app such as ABC Phonics Animals or Pocket Phonics to boost her ability to recognize phonemes and sound out words. The big drawback is that these apps are very basic, and very "baby" looking. A 4th grader would probably be embarrassed to use some of these apps. An alternative might be to create custom word sorts for her that she can practice at home. You'd need to devise a way to monitor her progress, so you could adapt future sorts to her current skill level.
Another student (I'll call him Brian) has been diagnosed with an Emotional/Behavioral Disorder and has co-created a plan for managing his behavior with our special educators. Brian has a behavior goals book that he can review when he needs help sticking to his plan and meeting his goals. I recently came across a couple of apps that might benefit him. One is called Model Me Going Places. This app contains narrated social scenes that he could reference when he needs reminding. This app could prove to be a helpful refresher for Brian - he could watch the playground scene before recess, for instance. Another potentially useful, and also more flexible, app is called Story Kit. Story Kit allows you to create your own unique and original multimedia story. The special educators could create social stories just for Brian (and are able to use personal photos and record their own audio). Bear in mind a couple of potential drawbacks, though. If Brian used his Ipod during instruction time, he could be quite distracting to the other students. Also, apps like Model Me Going Places could prove to have limited use in the classroom. Model Me Going Places only contains one potentially school related social story - visiting the the playground.
A final student for whom differentiation might be supported with an Ipod is a boy I'll call David. David is very proficient in math and often finishes tasks early. While a beneficial extension for his learning has been helping other students, his learning could also be extended with an Ipod. He could use an app like Pi Cubed Lite to construct more difficult equations than those the class is working on, or to practice more of the same kind of problem. There could be a problem, though, if students who don't get to use an Ipod in math equate it with "not qualifying" or "being stupid."
While the uses I've described could prove beneficial to the students in my classroom, one general drawback to allowing students to take their Ipods home is the varying heath and quality of students' home life. It might not be a safe or wise decision to allow an Ipod to go home. Another general problem could be finding a way to monitor students' progress. Finally, when using an Ipod to differentiate instruction, perhaps only a few students will be using IPods. This could cause tension or disruption in the classroom.
math inquiry
In our last math class, my "aha moment" came when we learned how to use algebra tiles to uncover algebraic concepts. It took a couple of example problems, but once I saw how the algebra tiles worked I realized their potential as a learning tool - especially as a visual representation of rules like "FOIL" - rules that we were simply given and expected to memorize back in the day.
A question I have about using inquiry based techniques like algebra tiles for teaching math concepts is how to introduce them to a classroom with a scripted, direct instruction based, curriculum. My gut feeling is that these techniques would increase comprehension in my main placement classroom. However, I can see an inquiry based approach like algebra taking up more teaching time, therefore, the idea would meet with resistance.
In my main placement classroom, as stated, my feeling is that using manipulatives like algebra tiles would help some of our struggling kids "get it." Simply re-iterating the rule isn't working for them. We're currently using a FOIL technique called multiplication wrestling to teach double digit multiplication. The kids take each double digit number in the problem, separate it into 10s and 1s, and then multiply all the numbers together using FOIL. For instance, the kids would write out 32*49 as (30+2)*(40+9). Then the 30 and the 2 need to wrestle the 40 and the 9 (30*40, 30*9, 2*40, 2*9). The results are added together to get an answer. Many kids get this, but many do not, and going over the rules again isn't helping things sink in. I'd be interested to see whether these kids are helped by using a manipulative technique.
A question I have about using inquiry based techniques like algebra tiles for teaching math concepts is how to introduce them to a classroom with a scripted, direct instruction based, curriculum. My gut feeling is that these techniques would increase comprehension in my main placement classroom. However, I can see an inquiry based approach like algebra taking up more teaching time, therefore, the idea would meet with resistance.
In my main placement classroom, as stated, my feeling is that using manipulatives like algebra tiles would help some of our struggling kids "get it." Simply re-iterating the rule isn't working for them. We're currently using a FOIL technique called multiplication wrestling to teach double digit multiplication. The kids take each double digit number in the problem, separate it into 10s and 1s, and then multiply all the numbers together using FOIL. For instance, the kids would write out 32*49 as (30+2)*(40+9). Then the 30 and the 2 need to wrestle the 40 and the 9 (30*40, 30*9, 2*40, 2*9). The results are added together to get an answer. Many kids get this, but many do not, and going over the rules again isn't helping things sink in. I'd be interested to see whether these kids are helped by using a manipulative technique.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
patterns and rules
This past week, I learned how pattern recognition can help students find a rule and develop algebraic thinking. In honesty, while I've certainly detected patterns to solve problems before, using patterns to define rules is not something I've spent much time doing. Growing up, rules were given to you. You memorized them. It did not matter why or how they worked. Using inquiry methods to derive a mathematical rule from a perceived pattern - and expressing that rule algebraically - isn't something I ever remember doing in school. While I developed a real appreciation for inquiry methods in last quarter's math methods class, for some reason last week's activity "Crossing the River" (in which we determined how many trips, subject to certain rules, it would take to ferry a given number of adults and children across a river) really reinforced their value.
One question I have about using patterns to develop algebraic concepts is how to differentiate instruction for varying ability levels. For example, some students may not be able to detect a pattern when solving a problem like "Crossing the River" and members of their learning group may not be able to successfully explain it. Perhaps there is another entry point for this exercise, but I am not sure what it would be.
In the classroom, while we may choose to do an exercise such as "Crossing the River" and be resolved to allow as much time as is needed for every student to achieve comprehension, the reality is that we may not be able to. Running out of time seems to be a common occurrence, in my classroom experience thus far. On the other hand, if we're able to successfully differentiate an exercise like "Crossing the River," small group or math station work lends itself to differentiation quite nicely. This strategy might better enable every student to succeed.
One question I have about using patterns to develop algebraic concepts is how to differentiate instruction for varying ability levels. For example, some students may not be able to detect a pattern when solving a problem like "Crossing the River" and members of their learning group may not be able to successfully explain it. Perhaps there is another entry point for this exercise, but I am not sure what it would be.
In the classroom, while we may choose to do an exercise such as "Crossing the River" and be resolved to allow as much time as is needed for every student to achieve comprehension, the reality is that we may not be able to. Running out of time seems to be a common occurrence, in my classroom experience thus far. On the other hand, if we're able to successfully differentiate an exercise like "Crossing the River," small group or math station work lends itself to differentiation quite nicely. This strategy might better enable every student to succeed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)