#11 Blog Reflection

Blog post #11 (final post): write a brief reflection on your experience of keeping a blog this term. Examples of questions to help you get started: What did you enjoy and learn from this assignment; and what did you not enjoy about this experience? Is keeping a blog something you plan to continue? Is a blog assignment something you would consider using in your own classroom

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The blog assignment was fun.  I've worked with discussion boards and owith blogs in prior classes. The blogs are always a fun way or working with a class. Also, unlike the classes, a blog can be referenced later while the discussion forums in a class can't be accessed after the class is over.

The only problem, and it's a minor problem, is going back to the forums and/or bookmarks to find the blogs of the other students.  It's not a big problem at all, but is the only drawback I find to use blogs instead of discussion forums in an online class setting.

I have started blogs before, one for cooking, a family blog, a vacation blog, blogs for classes. I do have a class website and at some point could see adding a blog component to that.

I probably wouldn't use a blog component in my classroom as we only have reliable computer access on Thursdays during computer times. The school has COWS (Computers on Wheels - i.e. computer carts). One cart per 3 grade levels.  Access to these carts is erratic and not something we use often due to having to sign up in advance and computer use isn't a common part of our class. If I had more computers in the classroom or more frequent access to the COWS I can see having a student blog with rotating student reporters/writers.

#10 - The Purpose of Homework

Homework is necessary in some cases to solidify work which has been learned in class.  Students need time to practice new learning and to build upon prior learning.  Homework also helps move information from short term memory to long term memory.

Homework can/should be differentiated per student.  Students who have mastery of material shouldn't be saddled with a page of problems which they could do in their sleep anymore than students should be saddled with homework on a concept which they are unable to practice without teacher assistance. Differentiated homework enhances student learning.

Parental help should be minimal. Parents haven't been in class and thus haven't been exposed to the lesson and they way it was taught.

Teachers should tell students why they are assigning the homework, citing specifically the skills the students are to learn.

Feedback is important so that students know what they did correctly and to correct any errors students have.  Also, effort should be praised for those who did the homework, especially when it was difficult.  Effort is a very important part of homework.

Technology can play an important part.  I have a homework site, which I used for a few months, but I've gotten away from it.  It is very helpful and I will be starting it up again this coming week. Students who are ill can check and see what was covered in class.  Parents can check up on the students who say "I don't have any homework" and students who forgot what the homework is, can check it.

Also, we are currently studying Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.  Shakespeare is very difficult for many, especially in sixth grade.  I recommend students visit No Fear Shakespeare and Sparknotes to help with the homework and to review at home.

Many of my students use dictionary.com and other sites on their electronic devices to help with homework and of course, research is done online.

To summarize:  Homework should fit the subject matter, be tailored to the needs of the students, and make use of technology when the technology enhances learning.  Also, electronic communication, such as homework sites can be helpful for both students and teachers.

#9 - Fiction v. Non-Fiction - telling the difference between them

Task Description: Choose samples of both fiction and non-fiction texts age appropriate to the students you work with. (Suggestions might be a grade level text book or leveled reader). Create a graphic organizer to illustrate salient differences in each genre. Which features will support students learning to speak English? Which features will serve to be challenging?


In 6th grade we work with both fiction and non-fiction daily.  I read to the students daily for about 20 minutes after lunch.  I usually try and tie our read aloud to something we are studying.

Right now we are reading Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.  Before we started the play, we had a week long unit on William Shakespeare, the time period in which he wrote and the students had finished a unit on Roman History.

The book we are reading is The Shakespeare Stealer

The book is about a boy who finds himself at The Globe theater with the players of Hamlet, during the time Shakespeare is actively writing plays.

A graphic organizer I would use when working with the fiction/non fiction aspects of the above would be a Venn Diagram.   I would use a two circle model



1) Shakespeare's Life and Times
2) Shakespeare Stealer

I expect the students to put the characters on the outside portions of the circles and I'd expect to have to assist students in thinking of the portions in the story that talk about the parts which overlap - women playing the parts in the plays, the types of housing and language the people spoke on the street, etc.

This would serve to illustrate the part of Shakespeare which is "real history" and the part which is fictional from the story.

Also, I worked with my class on making a graphic organizer(s) to tell the difference between fiction and non-fiction. I asked the students to be creative.  Here are some pictures of what they did:

Also, the parts I think ELL students would find easy is identifying the subject and the difference between a non-fiction book, for instance, about dogs and a story which features talking dogs having adventures.

What might be difficult is listing out (in words) the features of fiction v non fiction.  So, using pictures would make explaining easier. With the student graphic organizers, some/most illustrated their organizers with images of their topic.  Doing this would also assist ELL learners.

Blog Post 8 - Sheltered Instruction

The video(s) we watched this week highlighted a teacher teaching a sheltered instruction lesson on Esparanza Rising to a group of older middle school students.  The class was taught in a Home Ec room, which is fairly typical from what the narrator said and in my experience as well.  Some classes need to be taught where there is room and using a classroom which is unused during a given period makes sense, if space is unavailable for a dedicated ESL classroom or where there are multiple ESL levels being taught during a given period.

On to discussion of the content of the video.

Intro Section:
It was brought to our attention that these were not beginning ELL students and that we were watching a sheltered reading instruction lesson. This section was helpful and reminds me that I need to introduce the lesson to my students instead of just jumping in.  The intro reminded us what to look for when watching the videos.

Pre-reading
Verbally stating the objectives as well as having the objectives written down is helfpul not only to tell the students what they will be learning but also, as stated in the video, this can make students more comfortable and less anxious about the lesson.

The teacher also had vocabulary words written on the board as well as pictures of those words on poster board which she passed around.

During Reading
The teacher stopped at intervals to check comprehension and help students make connections. It was clear she'd pretaught what making connections looks like and taught the students do it. She also asked the students which strategies they would use at different sections of the reading. I also noticed the teacher was working with a five page section of the book. This would allow for the time she took to make connections and work with concepts with the students.  The lesson wasn't about reading an entire chapter or seeing how far they could get. She had a very set number of pages and was teaching a lesson which utilized the reading, she wasn't trying to "finish a chapter."

After Reading
The teacher gave very explicit instructions on what to do, including the sticky notes, reviewed (from the board) the categories she wished them to use.

Reflections
I found this section useful where the teacher reviewed her strategies and why she used them. I was particularly struck by how she said her students often had fairy high language skills conversationally and were struggling to phrase questions about the reading.  This reminds me to structure my lessons more and to be more explicit when I teach/give instructions.

Summary
Overall the lesson was very effective and I found several strategies I will be using. I will take the strategies one at a time when I add them, as adding too many new strategies at a time tends to be overhelming and not a useful teaching strategy.

1. I will increase my use of written objectives and going over them verbally before a lesson
2. I will be more intentional about "tying up" a lesson with explicit review and directions.

I took away more than those two things from the videos, but those are two things I can start to use every day.  I do work with vocabulary daily as well. We are working with Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, in 6th grade. This is a complex piece of writing and we are taking it in small bites.