It's The Little Things...

I have a struggling student in one of the adult education classes that I have been teaching. The student seems to always be at their frustration level, but at the same time they really want to make it through the G.E.D. program. I was fearful that this particular student might be so frustrated that they would give up their hope and discontinue the classes. As a teacher I took extra time to make sure this student did not reach that critical breaking point. Recently, my student came to class with a card that read:

Front: "Sometimes, on an ordinary day; someone kind and thoughtful comes along and colors a moment with generosity and caring."

Inside: "You're one of those special someones. Thanks."
     On a cut out piece of lined paper, the student writes: "Sabrina, I Just thought I would take sum time to thang you for all the time and thought you put in to are class. I have met a lot of lazy, uncaring asshole teachers in my life. So whin a good teacher like you Sabrina comes along I'm thankfal, and it gives me hope."

The cut out and lined paper combined with the spelling mistakes will remind me of the student's character.

I did not correct the mistakes for the purpose of the post; instead I am reminded of the struggling student who needs, and appreciates, the extra time and caring of their teachers. This is one of those moments that teachers are reminded that we are making a difference in our students' lives ... it's the little things that show us.

The Magic of Teachers

My job has taught me that there truly is a magic about teachers. Teachers sit and plan their class time out only to get to the class and find out they need to rework their plans. Recreating lessons on the spot is something no class can teach you. It is about teachers using their creative minds to revamp, adapt and create on the spot lessons to help their students understand concepts and strategies.

This experience happened to me one of the first days of teaching in the adult education program. What I had planned ended up being way to difficult for my students and I could tell I was quickly losing their attention because they were so frustrated. I looked at the clock and still had an hour with them, so I had to quickly create an activity to help them understand. I felt like I fumbled and struggled to create something new but as I look back on that day I realize that my students saw this moment as ease, understanding and magic. The transition was not easy in my brain but my students easily glided through it.

The magic is the ability to help our students on the spot, keep them away from their frustration point, and doing it all with graceful transitions. Teacher education classes can not teach this magic. It takes practice. I am so grateful that I have this job to learn through these frustrations turn into the magic of teaching.

Jumping In: Upcoming Teaching Experience

I am just starting a job at a Reno community college where I will be teaching in the ABE/GED program. When I had first heard about this opportunity I was hesitant to jump in... I later realized that my hesitation was just nervousness about my first job as a teacher.

Teaching at the community college level is not the type of job I was looking for but upon review and I saw this as a once in a lifetime experience with the opportunity to get into a classroom and try out the strategies I have been studying.

After going through the interview process, a literacy training day, and meeting some of my new coworkers I was so excited to jump into my new position. I found out I will be teaching reading, writing, and possibly a math class to students that are at the 3rd-5th grade level. This will be temporary for me, one session, that will lead me right into my student teaching, what a great opening... start testing, using and working strategies with young adults and then move into a student teaching position at the elementary level.

I know that this will be a great opportunity and experience for me. Stay tuned for what I have learned in trainings. I am so excited that I decided to jump in!

Video: Family Literacy Nights

 

I created this video as a final project. We were asked to take a language arts strategy that could help English language learners and show the pros and cons. 

I believe the use of family literacy nights could create a more positive feeling between ELL's households and school events. They should be frequent events that happen not only as school wide activities but also classroom and grade specific. They are events that I would really like to utilize in my classroom and in my future school.

Enjoy!

Keeping Children Healthy

In an effort to keep myself healthy and get back on track with a personal diet, I find the information to cause my brain to go into overload mode. This got me thinking... how are we supposed to stay healthy as teachers to not only set an example for our students but to also provide them with the healthy eating tips they need. With nutritional health escaping from the curriculum, teachers need to be proficient in the information they are providing in their cross curriculum lessons.

My curiosity lead me to an article (link provided below) that explains a new and simple way of looking at the food pyramid. It is called the plate. The article gives examples of how this model can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This simple design is a reminder of how we, as children or adults, should be including a variety of foods at each meal. With the colored sections we can see the there portions for each group. Portioning is important and goes unnoticed in the families I have been around.

On a more personal note, when I eat better by portioning and varying my foods, I notice that I am in a much happier and energetic mood. I want this same feeling for my future students.  By using this simple form of the food pyramid I think that children will better understand and look at their own plates differently and hopefully ask "What is missing?". The goal for me is to provide my students with the necessary nutritional health information they need to have a better attitude.

Link to June 2011 article: kidshealth.org : Food Guide Pyramid Becomes a Plate

Lesson Plan: Corduroy

Below is a lesson plan that was created for a reading methods class. The read aloud is aimed to focus on retelling events in a story and comprehension. The standards listed are from the Nevada Department of Education. I hope you enjoy!

Lesson: Corduroy, by Don Freeman

Standards:
2.1.3 With assistance, use after reading strategies based on text and purpose to orally recall details ad orally restate main ideas.
3.1.1 With assistance, listen for and identify setting and sequence of events.
3.1.3 Identify the main idea.

Materials: Corduroy with post-its, Sharing Glove (one for each group), Sharing Glove worksheets.

Anticipatory Set: Prepare the students by asking them if they have a teddy bear of their own? Do they remember where they got it? Tell them that we are going to read a story a little girl’s teddy bear, we will stop and retell some events that have happened periodically. Ask if they know what it means to retell.

Purpose/Objectives:
 Students will be able to point out the main idea and recall details.
 Students will be able to identify setting and sequence of events.
 Students will learn how to retell events in a story.
 Students will gain practice on organizing oral presentations.

Input: Read aloud the book Corduroy, while stopping and prompting students where the post-its are found. When completed, ask the students to share some of their favorite part with their shoulder partner. Check for understanding: ask if the students if they feel comfortable retelling the story. They will work with their groups and then present their retell to the class using the sharing glove.
Send students back to their desk to work with their groups on the retell activity. Make sure each group has a glove and a worksheet.

Modeling: The first time the post-it signals for a retell, show the students how to retell the story. The next post-it they will have to do it on their own with a partner, and then next two times they will have to do it alone, the teacher will call on one or more students to share their answer with the class. Also be sure to model the Sharing Glove in a brief manor, while modeling it be sure to use the worksheet to show how students can use it as a guide.

Check for Understanding: Before sending the students to their desks to work on the retell activity ask them if they understand how to retell a story by giving a thumbs up for “yes I can retell a story” and a thumbs down for “I think I need more help understanding how to retell”.

Guided Practice: Read and think aloud with students teaching them the practices of retelling events in the story.

Independent Practice: In small groups have students use the retelling strategy of using the Sharing Glove and worksheet that guides students on how to use it. The groups will share their retell with the class, choosing one student to wear the glove and demonstrate each part of the retell.

Assessment:
Formal: Use the attached rubric to grade each group in their retell.
Informal: Walk around during the independent practice/group work and make sure that each student is contributing.

Closure: Share with students that they have learned how to retell stories. Tell them that they can use the sharing glove for other things like show and tell, presentations and summarizing books. Ask students if they could think of any other ways to use the sharing glove.

Modifications (for ELLs, special ed, or low performing students): Use the buddy system for this group, make sure you spend some extra time explaining the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of stories. Their buddy’s should be aware that they are there to assist students in understanding and participating in the group. While walking around during the independent practice make sure that the buddy is helping and that each are contributing to the group discussion.

Lesson Plan: Giraffes Can't Dance

The following is a lesson plan that I created for my Language Arts class. Please note that the standards are from Nevada state standards. Enjoy! 

Unit: Music & Reading
Lesson: Giraffes Can’t Dance
Grade: First Grade
Standards:
English Language Arts
2.1.1 Identify Author and Illustrator
3.1.5 With assistance, identify the effects of rhythm and rhyme.
7.1.3 Expand vocabulary through listening.
Music
9.3.1 Identify several styles of music from various cultures.
9.3.2 Identify various uses for music in daily experience. 

Materials: Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae, Giraffe’s Cant Dance playlists, animal cards for students/small groups, handout.

Anticipatory Set: While handing out the animal cards, ask students, “Do you think animals dance?”, “Look at what animal you are, do you think that animal likes to listen to music and dance?” ... “We are going to read a book called Giraffes Can’t Dance, maybe we will find out!”

Purpose/Objectives:
✓    Students will become familiar with the layout of books & be able to tell the author & illustrator.
✓    Students will be introduced to the rhythm and rhyme in stories.
✓    Students will gain new vocabulary.
✓    Students will be able to identify new styles of music.

Input:
Explain to the students that they will be hearing different music styles that go along with the story. After the story, they will have a chance to identify the music styles.
The teacher will read Giraffes Can’t Dance, making a point to show all the parts of the book (cover, spine, title page, author, illustrator, etc...).
The teacher will stop reading when the story comes to any type of music (Waltz, Rock n’ Roll, Tango, Cha-Cha, and Scottish Real). During this pause, the teacher will play the corresponding song from the attached playlist. That animal student/group will get up and dance.
After reading the book, the teacher will tell the students that they will hear some music that is similar to the songs they just heard from the story. This is when the teacher will play the next song group in the playlist. Ask students to identify the music style. Do the first example with them.
The handout will be used to record their answers and get their feedback. Be sure to give them time to fill it out, this is their assessment and independent practice.

Modeling: Do the first example of identifying the music style with the students, talking about the similarities from the first piece and this piece. Also the teacher will give the students an example of how they use music in their life.

Check for Understanding: After the class does an example of identifying a song together, the teacher will ask them if they feel like they can identify some songs on their own. They will hold up one finger for yes and a fist for no/want another example.

Guided Practice: Work through the remaining four songs of the playlist. Asking students to identify which music style the song, have them write their answer on the handout, but review each answer as a class.

Assessment:
Formal: The handout will be turned in.
Informal: Teacher will see how well students respond to identifying the music styles and how much they contribute to the class discussion.

Independent Practice: The handout has a section where the students are asked how they can apply the knowledge they learned. How will they, or can they, use music in their life?

Closure: As the teacher is collecting the handouts then have some of the students share their ideas of how they can use music in their life.

Modifications: If the classroom has YouTube capability then the teacher could show the students how the actual dances are preformed for each music style. 

Extensions:
Make the animal and music words the vocabulary lesson of the week.
The teacher can use stuffed animals instead of the animal picture cards.
The use of small instruments to go along with each song (drums, tambourine, maracas, etc...).

Sharing the Wealth

Over this past weekend I went snowboarding with my dad. We noticed a women who was walking down the slope and carrying her skis. Being concerned, I walked over to her and asked if everything was okay. She responded by telling me she was not ready for a slope like this, was frustrated and was just going to walk down. I offered my help. Being on a snowboard she was probably questioning how I would help her ski, but I walked her through it. Showed her that she could use the whole mountain, take her time, and make simple turns. In conversation with her male friend, I mentioned how good she really was and was just freaking herself out. I decided to build up the women's confidence, telling her that she was doing great and applauding her efforts in the process of getting to the bottom. The process is the scary part, once you get to the product (bottom of the hill) you realize that you can do it! The two made it to the bottom of the slope and the women was really pleased with herself. I was pleased that I took the time to help her realize that she could do it. As I rode away, the man said "Thank you for your patience."

Upon reflection I realized how important it is to couple patience with confidence building. While students are learning a new concept, it is important to be patient with the learning process and build the confidence of the students. Praise the effort, not necessarily the product. Like I said above, the process is the scary and frustrating part so this is when we need to provide support. Teachers should be asking their students to focus on the journey and not the result - praise their efforts and you will see that their self confidence will build as they reach the product. A good author to research this idea, of process and not product, is Carol Dweck.

Engaging Students Through Games: Reviewing

I teach classes with ARC out in my community. One of our classes is an after school club at the middle school. Once a week, my supervisor and I are teaching the children lessons that are broken down into two parts - first they learn about natural disasters, how they occur and why. Second we teach them how they can be prepared for common natural disasters in the area. On our last day of the club we wanted to do something that really engaged the students but also provided a cumulative review of all the information they had learned.

We decided to create a Jeopardy game. Six categories with five questions for each category. We placed the pieces of paper on the whiteboard. When a student got a questions right, they got to hold onto the paper that had the point value on it. At the end, they counted up their points and the one with the most points got to pick their prize first.

It is important for me to mention that I do not support using food as a prize. I also believe that it is important that if one student gets a prize, so do all the rest. The key here was the one with the most points got to pick first.

This game did not take that much prep time either. We have saved all of our lessons so when we walked through the information we pulled questions and hand wrote them out. The only thing that took time was setting up the game on the whiteboard, I would suggest having this already set up to cut down on transition time.

The students loved the game and got really into it. They were taking ownership of what they have learned. Before they left class I asked them to tell me one questions they missed and they answer - this showed me that even if it was a "review" game, they were still learning. I would use this technique again!

Six Categories, Point Value/Question Under

Each point value can be taken off to read the question, the point value paper goes to which ever student got the question right.

The way your game will look. Questions still up there for repetition.

Read Across America: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

March 2, 2011 is Dr. Seuss' 107th birthday! It is also a national reading awareness day. I am proud to say that I celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday in the best way possible.

Sierra Nevada College hosted a Literacy Awareness night, put together by my Language Arts Professor-who asked the class to be "celebrity readers". The night went great! I showed up and help set all the free children's books out. As children walked in they were so excited to see a cat-in-the-hat running around the room passing out gift certificates to a local book store, cookies, juice, and free books. Everyone gathered inside a large room where a presenter explained Read Across America and Dr. Seuss' birthday. Each celebrity reader went to their designated spot and to read a Dr. Seuss, or P.D. Eastman, book. I read "Flab Your Wings" by P.D. Eastman to about 25 kids of all varying ages. They were so excited - it warmed my heart to see their smiles and hear their laughs. I also lead them in a Reader's Pledge. After the children heard a story they got to pick a free book (sponsored by a local book store, Sierra Nevada College and Scholastic).

It was a great community event to raise awareness about how important reading is. It was fun, exciting and educational. I cannot wait to be a part of it again!

Here are some helpful links:

• www.seussville.com: This is the main link but the best part, in my opinion is the 'Educator' link. Has great resources on how to teach a unit on Dr. Seuss.
• www.nea.org/readacross : National Education Association's web-page for Read Across America. Great news, resources and ideas for parents and teachers.

Video: Smiles

I thought this would be a great video to share. This was a final assignment in my first semester of my masters programs. The professor gave us free roam to create a video on whatever we wanted - the only request was that we learned how to use video technology so we could utilize it in our future classrooms.

Some of my fellow students choose to do family videos, travel photos, or an autobiography. I choose to create mine on being a teacher and how a simple smile can change the environment of your classrooms.

How do I plan to use this in my own classroom?
     This would be a great way to introduce a unit. For example, if you are starting a unit on monkeys you could create a video on monkeys with pictures, clips and fun music. This can get students excited about the unit and help them jog their memory on what they already know about monkeys, which comes in handy with the KWL.

Double Entry Journals

As an assignment for my future classes I would like to utilize a Double Entry Journal. This is required for every homework article in one of my classes this semester and I really like the assignment but also how the end product is used in class time as well.

I see this type of assignment being used in grades 4 and up. It can be modified for younger/older grades. The best types of articles could be a text book chapter, a current event, etc...

When assigning an article for students to read, instruct them to pick three quotes that they like, disagree with, or just have something to share about the particular quote. Then have them write the quotes on the left side of the paper and the reflection on the right, corresponding to the quote.

For younger grades the paper can be a loose leaf sheet that is folded hot dog style and then tri-folded, hamburger style. For the older grades you can asked them to type the quotes and reflections into a table, see my example below.

Having them choose and write three quotes and reflections gives the students a great jumping off point to start conversations in class. When discussing the article in class separate students into groups. In these groups students will share at least one of their quotes and have a discussion with their surrounding classmates. This gives students an advantage because they have their thoughts already on paper and also helps students voice and defend their opinions in a safe space.

Double Entry Journal - Note: Quotes on left & Reflections on right

Teaching Math: Concept Assessment Activities

The Methods of Math & Science class that I am currently enrolled in, asked for a research paper on the current methods of teaching math or science. I chose an article called "Active Assessment" by Stuart Naylor and Brenda Keogh (Mathematics Teaching 215, pgs. 35-37). In this research I found a really useful idea of having an activity that introduces concepts, like fractions, in a way that engages students in discussion.

The two activities I would like to use in my future classrooms are Concept Cartoons and Card Sorts. Concept Cartoons are cartoons with multiple characters in them. The teacher splits the students into groups (of about three or four) and passes out the cartoon. Students read it over and decide which character they agree with, or create their own comments. As the student talks with their group, they are forced to explain why they believe with a particular character. This discussion makes them publicly take ownership of their beliefs and education. It also allows for the teacher to walk around to each group and informally assess where the students knowledge is.

The effect is the same with Card Sorts. This activity is composed of placing multiple true or false statements on individual index cards. Again, with students in groups, have them sort through the cards to decide which statements they agree with and which they do not agree with. The groups are bound to have disagreements, which forces students to explain to the others why they agree (or disagree) with the statement on the card. Through this discussion children are verbalizing the concepts which helps them see why they are right, or wrong.

Both of these activities create curiosity in the students - they will want to know whether they were right or wrong in their beliefs and gain the knowledge that you as a teacher are about to give them. Also, teachers can hear how much students already know. It would be a great addition to the KWL activity - what students already KNOW, what they WANT to know and what they LEARNED.

Left: Examples of Card Sorts ... Right: Example of a Concept Cartoon

Welcome: My Journey

The idea of creating a blog came to me while taking a long drive. I want to share my ideas about teaching, education, lessons and everything else!

Through my journey of teacher-education classes, I have found that there is a vast amount of information given all the time - you never know when a great lesson plan or new strategy will pop into your head! And what better way to share and organize those thoughts to share with others?

I look forward to sharing my thoughts. I am going to try to keep my posts consistent, but no promises. After-all the thoughts I want to share are the random ones that I would like to keep organized.

Enjoy!