Creating Opportunities to Learn from Each Other

I recently watched Adora Svitak again on TEDTalk and I am reminded of how fascinating it is to hear kids explain their learning and understanding. I usually learn something new when I ask students to explain their thinking? As I start to teach more lessons, students continually amaze me with their creativity, intuition, and instinct. Adora is making the point that learning should be reciprocated in the classroom. Students are the leaders of tomorrow and it is important to provide opportunities for students to lead and succeed. High expectations is a big idea that has presented itself over and over in this program and I agree. I am thinking of ways to create more leadership opportunities in the classroom. I am also amazed at how much students love to help, show, and teach one another. When a student has a light bulb moment, there needs to be a way a student can share in their discovery and celebrate in their learning with others and/or at the same time acknowledging the classmate who taught them. Learning is reciprocated and appreciated in each way.

Technology and Math

What did I learn?
This week I re-learned about the Zone of Proximal Development by Vygotsky. I was reminded about the tension in learning and our goal as teachers is to reach the "zone" where students are not bored nor are they filled with too much anxiety where they feel they cannot succeed. I am also reminded about the engagement part of teaching and how we often have to be actors and actresses when we teach. At the heart of teaching is care. Showing kids you care and teaching kids to care for one another will make the world better in the future. Good food for thought for Vaelentine's Day.

I also learned about about dynamic geometry in the computer lab. We went to the computer lab used Geometer's Sketchpad and Fathom. Sketchpad is quite fun and a very engaging way to understanding properties of quadrilaterals. Fathom was a great technology tool for students to not only graph but also understand the meaning. The big idea today was looking at how technology is shanging the way we think about math. Just a seed was planted today on how technology allows children to actually EXPERIENCE math. (Just like how video games can feel more life like, engaging, and now, get up out of your seat and actual dance to the music, this is where math is headed with technology.)

2. What do I have questions about?
I just wonder about the future and what it will look like with the iPods, smart phones, and all the new computer technology. I think it is exciting and great for teaching and learning. But, I also wonder about about the allocation of resources. Some kids will be exposed to the new technology and some will not. How will the new technology affect the achievement gap?

3. What are the implications for classroom practice?
Teachers wil need to keep up with technology and experiment with what's out there to find the best ways to use it in the classroom.

Measurement, Tangrams, and Multiple Entry Points

1. What did I learn?
I learned about activities involving measurement and also tangrams. Measurements do not have to be boring. "Flying frogs" with a cotton ball and paper clip is a way better lesson to discuss measurement, incorporate some physics, mean, and range. We also played with tangrams and did an activity called "The Giraffe." While I discovered being spatially intelligent may not be one of my strengths, I had a lot of fun trying to figure it out. Multiple entry points and showing kids there are lots of ways to be good at math was a big idea we discussed again. Maybe a child cannot understand abstract algebraic equations but they can do a tangram puzzle easily. Confidence and success in math is wonderful since math and emotions are often connected. Incorporating writing and creativity is another entry point for students to display their strength in math. My table group added how you could also make a poem, write a song or rap, or even a visual representation to make math concepts more interesting for students.

2. What do I have questions about?
How do you apply a tangram activity to real life and the students' lives?

3. What are the implications for classroom practice?
Math does not have to be straight out of a textbook and just involve worksheets. It could be fun and interactive. Multiple entry points should be a conscious effort when designing lesson plans. Teachers will need to stay current with technology to understand how blogs and/or voicethread can be incorporated in the classroom learning. This may take some risk but I think it is a risk worth taking.

iPod Touch Project: Differentiated Instruction (Update)

I chose to use the iPod Touch for student C, who has an IEP and gets pulled out for all subject areas: math, reading, and writing. It was hard to find the time to incorporate the iTouch since this student is in an out of the classroom a lot. However, I did have time during "Choice Time" to have this student use a letter recognition app. He was very engaged and learning too! I was also recently able to sit in during his parent teacher conference with the special education teacher there as well. The special education teacher said more practice with number recognition will help. I thought, iPod Touch would be a great way to get practice. I have been searching for a good app and excited to see how this works out and also assess if his number recognition has improved because of its use.

I think the iPod Touch is a great tool to have for this student. Since student C gets pulled out of class throughout the day, when he returns, he sometimes has to sit for a little while with nothing to do. For example, during math he comes in when there is about ten minutes left of whole class math time. This would be a great way for this student to have differentiated instruction. This idea just came to me, so my goal is to try this out this coming week.

In the beginning I wasn't sure how to go about using the Touches. But, the ideas are now starting to come especially for student C since he is not able to do the assignments the whole class is doing yet. The difficulty I am finding is finding a good app to fit exactly what I want. An app maker for teachers would be nice.

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I have also used the ITouch for science and literacy to record conversations with students. For science class, I recorded interview questions, and this was very useful to transcribe what was said and not have to write furiously to get everything down. In literacy class, I also used it to figure out fluency rate since the recordings are timed, and I was able to go back and listen to assess miscues and analyze student reading. Being able to record student voice as they read is wonderful and makes assessment a lot easier and more accurate.

If I am able to and have the time, it would be interesting to teach a lesson on expression using the ITouch. Each student would have a passage to read and the objective would be to read with expression. After recording all students readings, combining the recordings (I don't know how to do this but the idea sounds nice), a read aloud composed of student voices for one book could be done as the finished product. This certainly could be done with one student and one short book, and then shared with the class as a multimedia product with snap shots of the pictures/text in the book and the student's voice.

Literacy Writing Prompt for 2-18-11

What have you learned about your buddy’s needs, abilities and interests?
Interests
My fourth grade buddy loves to play football at recess. He also likes the Seahawks, soccer, scary and mystery books, fast cars (Ferrari, Lamborghini), and playing video games (World of War Craft). His favorite color is purple. One of his goals is to read more at home instead of playing video games. He said it is hard for him to find a book of interest at home and there is limited resources. My partner and I find our fourth grade buddy very sweet to work with; we are curious to know why his desk is right next to the his teacher's instead of with a group?
Abilities and Needs
- When my partner and I did the spelling assessment, he really enjoyed spelling. When we had time left in out next sessions, he would always want to wrap up with some spelling. Words ending in “ed,” long vowel, other vowel patterns, consonant doubling, inflected endings, and syllable junctures are learning targets of focus. I would place this writer in the Within Word Pattern and Syllables and Affixes spelling stages (Bear & Templeton, 2004).
- During the word bank exercise, this student did well, read the words fairly quickly, and finished all the words. He self-monitored when he did not know the word and attempted to sound out the letters. According to the assessment, he is able to read independent words at about a 5th grade level.
- Comprehension is the area that I would like to focus more on. When our buddy read from his own text book, he had a hard time retelling the story. It seemed he was more concerned with reading than comprehension. He had to go back to the text often and re-read to recall events. However, this student was aware of words that were unfamiliar to him. When we read a book of our choosing, Goosebumps, which is at about a fourth grade reading level, he said the text was too easy. And he was able to retell a good share of the details. When we read "Amelia Earhart", this student was able to recall some events in his own words; however, when we asked him the questions that were pre-written, our buddy had difficulty. From this assessment, he was at the frustration level and at the twenty-fifth percentile in fluency rate (2006 Hasbrouch & Tindal Oral Reading Fluency Data). This assessment was surprising to my partner and I because during our other sessions, his rate in regards to fluency was fine. Our buddy did not have any background knowledge on Earhart and did not seem to have an interest in the story.

As a result of this knowledge, what learning objectives and materials are you considering using for your lesson?

I would like to focus the next lesson on comprehension strategies. Is he making mental images in his head as he reads? Is he able to use background knowledge? Is he able to ask questions as he reads? Is he aware when things do not make sense when he reads? I think explicitly sharing one or two of these types of strategies will help in his reading comprehension because this student does have the ability to read fluently with out many miscues and self monitor. For materials, I would like to find a book he would enjoy reading about (i.e. fast cars, football) and a text that is still at fourth grade reading level. The learning objective would be focusing on one of these strategies to improve cognitive awareness of meaning in text.

Geometry and Using Creative Writing in Mathematics

1. What did I learn?
In class this week I learned how to incorporate geometry understanding with a simple square piece of paper. With this paper we talked about the properties of squares, triangles, rectangles, lines, and angles. For example, how do you know a square is a square? This type of exercise forced us to use mathematical terms and use them to discuss geometry concepts aloud. Another layer of assessment is used when math terminology is used in conversation. Math terms like any subject is sort of like learning a new language, and is ofter best understood verbally. "Let kids experience geometry" is a big idea learned. In a similar fashion, the article we read "Using Creative Writing and Literature in Mathematics Classes" by Halpern $ Halpern showed great examples of students' writing using math vocabulary and creative writing. I was surprised with the creativity and had not thought of using creative writing and math as an interdisciplinary tool.

2. What are the implications for classroom practice?
Math should be discussed and talked about in a classroom. Kids should practice talking about math vocabulary in conversation and in print. Writing practice can be made relevant to student lives with their current learning in math. In order for students to do this successfully, teachers should also ground themselves in the same way and do the homework they assign their students. Teachers need to do this in order to teach beyond a visual or basic analysis level, and prepare them for deeper understandings in the next grade.

3. What do I have questions about?
What are other ways students can experience geometry?