Assessment for Unit Plan

Bloggers:

           I hope you all are ready for the upcoming finals. I do not know about you, but I definitely have a lot to do. All in all, I think I will be able to manage though. As you probably know, this is our last official blog post of the semester. I will try to continue to blog. With that said, feel free to read and comment on my blogs.
            Quite frankly, I was unfamiliar to the "backwards" teaching philosophy. Even though this is pretty new to me, I am willing to try out anything. This approach first focuses on planning with the final assessment and working backwards to create the rest of the lesson. If you remember, my partner and I are working on a research unit plan for a sixth grade class. My partner received a little more information from his cooperative teacher. As of now, we are thinking about creating a research project dealing with the United States presidents.
            Because we are focusing on the final assessment first, the overall assessment of the entire project, I believe, is to have the children present their information to the entire class. After researching their president, each student will make a poster or some other form of visual aid to present to the class. The children will then act as their president and speak from his point of view. I believe the children will really enjoy acting as if they were the president. I also believe many of the children will get pretty creative with their project.
            My partner and I are going to work on the project more tomorrow. Hopefully we get a lot done. Have a great rest of the weekend and see you soon.

Unit Plan for Education 358 Final

Bloggers:
             I hope you are all excited for our Thanksgiving break. I am so excited to just go home and relax for a bit. As you all know, we have a pretty big unit plan due for our final in Education 358. I looked at some of the models. I noticed some of the unit plans were over 60 pages long! Because we are all studying to become teachers, we ought to become familiar with this kind of work. Beside all of the work, I am actually kind of excited in creating this unit.
             Since our professor suggested that we work on the unit with partner, Ashley F. and myself plan on working together. Ashley will be student teaching in a sixth grade class next semester and I am in a sixth grade class right now for my work study. With that said, we hope to create a unit aimed at a sixth grade classroom. Ashley has been in contact with his cooperating teacher, and she wants him to create a research unit where children are expected to research a topic, write an essay, and present the topic to the class. Not only will Ashley use this lesson in his classroom, I may also teach some of the lessons to my sixth graders.
             Because we need to create eight lessons, each one of us will create four lessons that tie in together. We will have to conference together of course to make some smooth transition and connections. Ashley is still waiting to hear back from his cooperating teacher about what specifically she wants the project to be about.
             I am confident many of you have done research projects in the intermediate and mid-level grades. I know I did! Do any of you have any suggestions about what we might do? What do you remember about your research projects in your schooling career? I am looking forward in hearing back from you all. I am sure I will blog about the unit plan later in the semester.

Carpe Diem  :)


            

Writing Workshops: Quite an Effective Tool

             Greetings bloggers! I am so happy you all have joined me once again. As you probably know, this week's blog topic deals with writing in the classroom. I am quite happy with the broad blog topics. I am given more independence and choice (something we look to give our children in our own classroom). To my surprise, I am actually taking another education course right now (Education 347) which is also teaching about writing concepts in the classroom. The two courses are overlapping a fare amount, reinforcing the learned concepts of writing in the classroom.
             Because reading and writing are often paired in one subject or one lesson, they both often similar "rules." In both disciplines, teachers should create comfortable noncritical learning environments. Also, teachers should allow ample time for children to write and read in the classroom. Simple reading and writing are such effective ways of learning in a classroom! When children are reading or writing, the teacher has the opportunity to confer with individuals. Children should have choices when reading and writing, where the teacher acts more as a facilitator than a supervisor. Even though some of these concepts seem pretty basic, it is still necessary to acknowledge their importance in conducting a successful classroom.
             I am so please to have these resources in teaching reading and writing. To my surprise, I actually like reading the textbooks and articles because they give me good ideas for my own classroom. When I am a classroom teacher, I will plan on using my college textbooks and articles for resources for possible lessons. I hope you all do the same too!

Carpe Diem!  :)

My Connection to Media Literacy at South

Subscribers:
       I hope all is well out in blogger world. I know I am staying busy and happy. As we start a new unit on media literacy in the classroom, I am interested in seeing my own connections at South Junior High School. This blog topic could not have come at a better time. Ironically enough, my classroom has been integrating technology more and more. The students are expected to participate and even analyze the different uses of technology.
        To my complete surprise, the cooperating teacher in my ESL classroom was able to have one Ipod touch for each student in the class. If only I had that luxury growing up! I was fascinated to see how technologically competent the students were. Because the classroom lessons focus mostly on English integration in the curriculum, my cooperating teacher makes it a priority to expose her students to the English language consistently. The children are often either reading independently, working in small groups to complete a reading textbook lesson, or working on the computers with some English activities. One day last week my cooperating teacher had each individual record his or her own voice in the Ipod. I had no idea the Ipod touch could do that! After reading into the added microphone, the children would then listen to themselves read, as well as follow along with the text. The kids absolutely loved this! They were so motivated to read fluently into the microphone and listen to themselves afterwards.
         This use of technology really gave the students an opportunity to critique their own reading and listening skills. They were their own listeners! Students were also able to analyze and critique the effectiveness of this use of technology. Overall, as expected, they were very pleased with the activity!

Wonderful November 4th Opportunity!

Subscribers:
          I apologize that it has been some time since my last blog post. As you may know, our blogs are now open for discussion. Because we have been working with the four ELA Minnesota strands (Writing, Reading, Language, Speaking/Viewing/Listening/Media Literacy), I believe it is appropriate to offer a wonderful opportunity to see all of these strands in one presentation.
          On Thursday November 4th, Dr. Christopher Howard will be coming to St. John's University to speak. Dr. Howard is the 24th president of Hampton-Sydney College in Virginia. He is one of five African American college presidents. Howard was named a Rhode Scholar, and he attended Oxford University earning a Masters in Philosophy and a Doctorate in Political Science. In 2003 he graduated from Harvard Business School earning a Master of Business Administration degree. While at the United States Air Force Academy, he served as the class president.
            Dr. Howard will be coming to campus to speak about engaging in service and leadership development. To learn more about Dr. Howard, simply follow this link.

            Dr. Howard will be speaking at the Stephen B. Humphrey theater Thursday November 4th at 8:00 P.M., with a social gathering afterwards. I highly suggest everyone to attend.

PLN Review and "Who am I Following Again?"

Followers from all across the world:

Can you believe it? Half of the semester is already over! Where did the time go? This link shows my frustration.

Anyways, time to review the PLN. The personal learning network is a very new thing to me. I have never experienced such a thing, but I really enjoy it. I think this is a valuable experience for us as future classroom teachers because as technology becomes more and more prevalent in today's education system, the more we need to keep up with the new ways of teaching and learning. I am benefitting by using the PLN because I am now able to familiarize myself with such a modern way of communication and learning.  I will use this knowledge and experience to incorporate such technology in my own classroom. In all honesty, I am really not experiencing any challenges. Yes I admit I was challenged and frustrated at first, but now I am confident with this system of learning.

Here is the list of my 5 professional blogs I have subscribed to:
1. Education Tools for 6th-8th Graders. Not too good of a blog so far. The title sounds good, but thats about it.
2. ELA 6th Grade. Written by a teacher. First blogs nothing too special. I think there is some potential.
3. EZ Tech Integration for Teachers. A lot of posts. Wide variety of things dealing with technology in schools. Could be valuable.
4. Write Out Loud. Used for a creative writing class I believe. Many posts. Many teaching ideas to use for own classroom. A lot of writing prompts.
5. Resources for Teaching Reading. A lot of posts. POV of college professor. Knowledgeable and could be valuable.

Here is the list of the professional Twitter accounts I am following:
1. CRHeitz. 7th grade ELA teacher. Many tweets. Some resources. Followed by many.
2. enpsteacher. 7th and 8th grade teacher. Many tweet. Many links to look through.
3. cmbelu. Yeah I don't know why I am following this person.
4. DerekBraman. 5th grade teacher. Not too many tweets about education. Potential though.
5. MissBartel. Looking for resources as well. Many tweets. Interesting person to follow because of same reason I am tweeting (to find educational resources).
6. jruggiano. 5th grade teacher. Not too many educational resources.

Well that is all for now.


Carpe Diem

Critical Literacy: What Exactly is it?

Greeting subscribers:

I am so happy you have subscribed to my blog. Even though you may have to for class, I hope you see this as an opportunity to "enrich your knowledge base of education."

You all probably know the blogging prompt for this week (if not, here is the link). The emphasis of this prompt deals with critical literacy. Before taking this course, I really had no idea what critical literacy dealt with. Because I have done a little research, I now feel comfortable explaining my thoughts and opinions.

Like myself, you have probably wondered, "What exactly is critical literacy? Why is it at all important?" I was able to figure out that critical literacy deals primarily with the relationship between readers and the reading process. Critical literacy encourages readers to look past the author's view, often times challenging and questioning such ideas. This philosophy encourages readers to actively engage themselves in the reading.

As a future classroom teacher, I see teaching and utilizing critical literacy essential in the classroom. Because of today's ever-changing society, more and more pieces of research and information is being placed on television, the internet, and the general media. By teaching the uses of critical literacy, teachers are educating students on how to choose the right information. Just because something is on the internet does not mean it is credible and legitimate. Educators need to show children how to question and speculate certain issues to combat this very problem.

I understand in the necessity of teaching critical literacy, but I see such a feat as being quite challenging. How do we teach children to question power and the author in a respectful way? Will children ultimately question everything we do? Is that what we really want? Plus, I can imagine some administrative systems  to not want children to question authority figures too much. There is a line to draw. Where exactly and how do we draw that line?

I like the idea of critical literacy, but I think it will be difficult to effectively teach it. If we do master such a lesson, we just add to our "bag of tricks" as teachers. I am happy (hopefully you are too) that we are exposed to such a philosophy because I believe children have the right to think.

Carpe Diem.

Houston! We Still Have Problems!

Beloved Subscribers:

As you may know, this is one of the last blogs during our reading unit. With that said, I intend on ending it with a bang.

Even though we have been taught effective ways to teach reading in our own classroom, there still looms many problems and questions. What is the best way to teach reading? How much time should we use to teach reading? Should we focus on phonological awareness early on or instead teach whole word concepts? And the list continues.

In this blog post I want to focus on this question: "What do you as a teacher do when you just feel you cannot do anymore to help a student with his or her reading? You have tried everything and just none of the concepts are sticking."

Unfortunately I am sure this will happen to some of us. I am dreading that day! So quite frankly, what do you do? Without a doubt you going to feel like less of a teacher. You are going to feel as though you have failed. This is just a reality that comes with the job.

I know we have been told, "There are always new ways to instruct new concepts. As a teacher, find a way." I understand this may be difficult, but as teachers, I think we just need to stick with it. We need to keep pushing on, trying new things.

I am going to be blunt. ASK FOR HELP. This help may be from other teachers, school reading specialists, or even your students.

ASK FOR HELP.

KEEP PUSHING ON.

That is all for now. Carpe Diem.

The Effective Carousel: Spinning Right Round, Right Round

Greetings subscribers!
              As many of you may have expected, here is my blog for the week. Taking pre-service teacher education courses at St. John's and St. Ben's has been a very rewarding and fulfilling experience for me. While learning from and observing our professors teach, we are given the opportunity to analyze effective (and not so effective) ways to teach and manage a classroom. I have been particularly fond of this education course because our professors consistently explain to us not only what they are teaching, but why and how they are teaching the material. I believe their lessons are very intentional in teaching the class materials, as well as intentional in modeling effective ways of teaching.
              We have been given the opportunity to learn by jigsaw, gallery walk, carousel, large group discussion, and learning centers. As future educators, I believe in the necessity of having varied teaching strategies. Not only do varied teaching strategies keep students more engaged, they also reach out to many different learners.
               Of the activities we have done in class, I was particularly intrigued and interested in the carousel brainstorming activity. I love the idea of "active learning," which is very evident in this activity. I like how we were obligated to physically move from station to station jotting down answers and responses to a given prompt. To cap off the exercise, we had an open class discussion about the questions. I thought this discussion went very, very well.
              I believe this activity is very suitable for mid-level students because of the social and intellectual interaction amongst the students. This activities forces students to work together in hopes of developing solid relationships and building a good knowledge base. This strategy would be appropriate for a mid-level class once the basic guidelines and parameters are established. This exercise could be done fairly early in the year to ultimately "break the ice" and relieve some natural anxiety. To effectively facilitate student learning, teachers should break the class into small groups (maybe three or four students). Teachers ought to allow everyone to write and read the prompts by reminding students from the beginning to share responsibility.
               After doing some research on how to manage a carousel brainstorm activity, I found this website particularly helpful. This website explains the basics of a carousel activity, as well as example exercises. Also, this website offers a sample room layout for teachers to look at.
              I hope all of this is enough information for you.
              Carpe Diem.

Essentials for Effective Decoding and Vocabulary Instruction

Greetings Bloggers once again!

I hope you all have had a good weekend. For those of you who may not know the blog topic for the week, simply follow this link for the prompt. I think we have had very good discussion over the past two weeks or so. Very insightful and informative.

Any midlevel ELA teacher NEEDS to know a few things about decoding and vocabulary instruction.
Here I am going to list a few things all midlevel ELA teachers ought to know:

• All children learn differently. With that said, there is not exactly one PERFECT way to reach out to children. Teachers must accommodate all students abilities. Differentiation is necessary.
• Learning the different parts of a word (the affixes) are essential for vocabulary understanding. By doing this, teachers are making students more and more independent to figure out words themselves. 
• Useful resources include graphic organizers, read alouds, sustained silent reading, and the use of context clues. 
• Make the learning concepts relevant to children's lives.
• Expose children to new vocabulary everyday. Teachers ought to model learning as well.

I do have one big concern about decoding and vocabulary instruction though. This is a lot of important information. How am I going to effectively teach such essential pieces of curriculum? Will I become overwhelmed? As of now, I am feeling a sense of anxiety towards all of this.

Well that is it for now. Remember to live your life the way you want to. 

Reflection on "The Middle"

Greetings bloggers! This blog I am going to discuss some key learning goals for middle level students. I am also going to discuss some key attributes of effective middle school teachers.

I often think to myself, "What does the perfect middle school child act and look like?" Because I know we live in reality, I realize this is a pretty impossible question to answer. In order for middle school students to be successful, I believe in the necessity of having goals for the future. By having high goals, middle school students set themselves up for success. Some goals may include becoming more fluent in reading, being able to comprehend more knowledge faster, and being able to write effectively with an active voice. I see school (particularly middle school) as an opportunity to truly mold and shape adolescents for the future. By having high goals and standards, middle school students are building their sense of ambition to prepare themselves for adulthood. It is the teachers' job to challenge the students just enough so they are still disequilibreated, yet not too frustrated to continue with the task. This should be done at all grade levels. Teachers can distinguish goals for elementary schoolers and high schoolers by simply communicating them differently to both levels of students. It is imperative to speak with the student, not at the student. Teachers ought to build solid relationships with their children to ensure a successful classroom.

Whether I want to believe it or not, I am getting closer and closer to graduation. With that said, I need to start getting ready for the "real world." I am going to teach in my own classroom sooner than later. I NEED to start thinking about how I will be an effective teacher. I aim at building a comfortable, noncritical classroom climate, one that is a tight-knit community. I aim at also continuing my outgoing, passionate love for helping the common good. I believe I am very ambitious because I enjoy going above and beyond. I believe these characteristics will enable me to operate and facilitate a successful classroom. Effective middle school teachers NEED to have patience. Even though I still need work with this virtue, I believe I have become a little more patient in my professional career. By taking this course and having the opportunity to teach in a local school, I want to gain valuable experience of actually teaching in a classroom. I want to implement what I have learned from lectures and textbooks in an actual school.

So that is it for now. Remember readers: Carpe Diem- Seize the Day.

Appropriate Blogging Guidelines

Hello bloggers! I hope all is well in the worldwide web. Even though much of this may be common sense, I think we ought to discuss basic online blogging etiquette. First of all, in life and online, I think we should treat others the way we want to be treated. Because some people have blogs, many might feel as though they have a lot of power. In some cases they do, but I still think we ought to treat others with respect, dignity, and a mutual feeling of equality, meaning not looking down upon someone for his or her own beliefs. If you say or type something that may hurt another, just don't do it. Simple enough. It is alright to question a viewpoint or belief in a respectful way, but it is never alright to personally demean or degrade another human being. You better believe that. Secondly, please, please, please create and use YOUR OWN ideas. Do not plagiarize and take another's information as your own. Remember to cite your sources.  Lastly, remember that whatever you post is going online for many others to see. With that said, try to edit, censure, and review your work. Nothing is worse than horrible grammar, puncuation, and too much detail. Do I really want to know what kind of underwear you are wearing? Probably not. I have just explained three simple rules to follow by when creating a blog. If you are interested in reading more about blogging guidelines, feel free to go to the website of ISB student's blog. I found this website very informative and helpful. Well that does it for now. Enjoy life and "carpe diem."

Analysis about Blogging

While reviewing and analyzing various blogs, I noticed some common traits. Many of the blogs had informative pictures and diagrams, some had links to redirect for more information, and all of them were fairly neat. In order for a blog to be successful and credible, I believe the author needs reliable and educated information. By having credible sources to site, the author is adding to his or her case when explaining a certain issue. On the contrary, I believe too much sophistication and too much fancy jargon can push a reader away. Why keep reading an article if the author is creating a clear distance between him or herself and the reader? When creating my blogs in the future, I want to create a good relationship with my readers, one that is close and open for discussion.