Blog #10

The Best and Worst of It

As I have finished my first half of field, it has been a little of this: stressful, frustrating, dreaded, fun, enjoyable, and then I just can't wait for the end of the semester feeling. So here is an overview of the best and worst of what I have seen.

Best:

• I have seen some excellent classroom management skills
• Great ideas on how to organize what you want to teach and what you have to teach
• Good integration of curriculum(not the best, but better than what I have seen in the past)
• Great situations in which the teacher has had to improvise from what she was going to teach to something else(quick thinking skills)
• Excellent scheduling skills
• I hav taught 3 literacy lessons which all seemed to go quite well and I feel that not only did the students learn some useful information, they also had fun(that made me feel good)

Worst:

• Very unengaging math lessons
• I had one of my lessons cut short because the timing I needed wasn't given and although the learning outcome was there, we had to miss out on the fun game I had planned.
• I taught one PE lesson so far and although the students had great fun, there was way too much teacher involvement from the cooperating teacher, which made me feel that it wasn't my lesson. I do hope my next weeks lesson goes better.
• Clearly not enough differentiation within the class. Students are split only in two groups based on their readiness and this is hardly differentiating. (Although if you talk to the teacher, she thinks this is what differentiation means) I do not feel that it is my place to correct her.

Well, that is all for now. I do hope next week I only see the best of and not the worst of. And although this is a great learning opportunity for me, I really can't wait to get my own classroom so that I can start teaching the way I want to teach.

Blog # 9

In my student teaching, I have been observing the classroom and taking notes as to how I would differentiate if this were my classroom. I am going to be teaching a unit on math and I have been coming up with various ideas on how to differentiate the lessons. My unit for math will be on time. The unit will include students learning time on the half hour and quarter hour, minutes and how they relate to clocks and time, elapsed time and using a calendar. To take this unit and differentiate the lesson I feel that the best option for this particular lesson would be to use cubing for the students. Cubing works well with many content areas including math. For the one cube I would place on the sides:

1. A problem involving elapsed time for the students to solve.
2. Analyze how this problem helps us use mathematical thinking and problem solving.
3. Use comparison and contrast with time; for example compare 1:15 and a quarter after 1.
4. Use demonstration to how a person uses time in real life situations
5. Change the time involved in the problem and tell how the change affects the problem.
6. Have a story problem involving time.

One the second cube:

1. Have students write digital time into analog time
2. Have students write the minutes on a blank clock face
3. Have the student analyze time as to how long it would have them to do a particular task
4. Have students pair up cards that represent time
5. Have students contrast a.m. and p.m.
6. Have students write their daily schedule using time.

These cubes I would use for my lesson on time to the half hour and quarter hour. I would then create other cubes my remaining lessons in this unit on time.

Blog #8

There were many different learning strategies that I found interesting and possibly very useful in my future classroom, but the one that was most intriguing to me would have been the "learning menus". I loved this strategy because I feel that students would find it very fun as well as easy to use because of the style of this strategy. If done in a way that was visually appealing, the students could be pulled into this strategy and very eager to participate in the activities offered. From a teacher standpoint, I liked how the choices were laid out for the students giving them opportunities to choose from a variety of activities. This would be an excellent tool to use to differentiate because a teacher could place activities on the menu in a variety of readiness levels as well as varying the activities to appeal to interests of the students. A teacher could also give students at different levels of readiness different guidelines for using the menu. I also liked the dessert incentives. Offering some very fun options that are not required but letting the students choose the desserts if they completed their other activities. This option works great for fast finishers as well as giving students incentives to get their activities completed so that they can move onto a dessert. Of all the differentiational strategies I will definitely be using the "learning menus" in my future classroom.

Blog #6

After looking at various other blogs, I found many that offered great ideas and insight into differentiation. But for this assignment I choose Taryn's blog because she used the method of the "Tiered Character Map". One thing that I am learning about differentiation is that tiering assignments is an important step in differentiating. With the ideas that I read on Taryn's blog I am getting an even better understanding of how to tier your assignments so that all students will benefit. Offering a level of choices that still all focus on the same outcome is something that as I teacher I would like to become more proficient in applying to my assignments.

Blog #5:

After looking over the many strategies and ideas for differentiating, I found so many that would be very engaging for students giving them many opportunities for variations in completing activities. The one that I am going to use is the "Tic-Tac-Toe" menu. I particularly liked this activity because it gives the student so many options to chose from as well as back-up alternative options. I also like how there can be student participation on deciding what activities can be placed in the tic-tac-toe menu.

Because this is a lesson on the student's hero, students would be choosing who they want to write about. Having students at different levels of reading, I would guide them toward the appropriate level of book for this assignment based on their reading level. The resources that I would have for choosing material on their hero would be the classroom library, the school library and I would also let them use appropriate internet material to find information on their hero.


Using this strategy to structure a lesson on hero's, I would fill in some (but not all) of the spaces on the game with activities that the students may choose from. A list of the activities that I
would use are:

1. write a newpaper article on your hero
2. dress up as your hero and give an oral report telling why you have chosen this hero
3. make a collage of various pictures and sayings that tell about your hero
4. make a timeline of your hero's life
5. make a diorama of a very important event that took place in your hero's life
6. write a book report from a book that is about your hero
7. write a poem about your hero

After filling in seven spaces on the tic-tac-toe menu, I would leave two spaces empty for student suggestions. I would take suggestions from the students and write them on the board. If there are more than two I would have the students vote on the two that are their favorite. I would also allow students to independently approach me for ideas of their own that I may approve. Students would then choose 3 activities on their tic-tac-toe menu that appeal to them.

I feel that this would be a great way to differentiate for students. It gives them the ability to choose from a variety of activities as well as using community input for activities to be added to the list. It also offers students the opportunity to come up with their own suggestions to be approved by the teacher giving students who may be reluctant to suggest activities to the class or if they have ideas that they may want to try. The activities offered give students the opportunties to be creative in a variety of ways, keeping them engaged and having them all accomplish the same task using different strategies that are appealing to the individual student.

Blog #4

Part A: Hallmark #4-Flexible use of time, space, and materials. Scenario that does NOT adhere: Mrs. Hall has a 4th classroom with the desks lined up in rows giving little excess space for group or independent work. She has a tight schedule with in her class and gives exact amounts of time to finish assignments. If a student needs more time to complete his/her work, they sometimes are able to take it home.All her materials available to students are at a 4th grade level, including the reading material. Scenario the DOES adhere: Mr. White has a 3rd grade classroom with desks placed in groups of 4. This helps to create more space in the classroom for independent and group work as well as giving areas in the classroom that have space for a classroom library and art corner. His materials provided in the classroom are at a variety of levels so to accommodate the differences in his students. He breaks up the day by varying his time given on assignments to include extra time for student who need that extra.

Hallmark #12-Qualitative rather that quantitative tasks. Scenario the does NOT adhere: In Mr. Smith's 5th grade class he is requesting the students to create a science project for the science fair. Because his students are on a wide range of levels, he has decided to cut back on the requirements of the assignment and keep the requirements at a 4th grade level so that his students who struggle with assigned projects can get the work done. He is not expecting anything more from his students that are at the top of the class. Scenario the DOES work: Mr.s Robinson is having her students do a book report on a fantasy fiction. Because she has such a wide range of students within her class, she is offering a wide variety of options for the students to give their report on a book that they have chosen. Some of the options are a written report, a video, an oral report where the student may dress up as a character in their book, a poster that encourages people to read the book, and many more.

B3-The strategies "I would like to learn more about"- After reading pages 78-87 and reading about the various strategies to use with curriculum instruction that helps respond to students needs, I found that there are many that I would like to learn more about. The one that I think is extremely important because as teachers we are dealing with so many ELL students is promoting language proficiency. This is something I that would definitely like to learn more about to help my ELL students be successful in their learning. Teaming with resource specialists is another strategy that I feel would be very beneficial to learn more about. As a teacher, you are not able to be a specialist in all topics and learning styles. Being able to work with various specialists that may help you and your students where you need more expertise is critical.
Using tiered approaches to teaching is an instruction strategy that I feel is essential to your students success and for me to be a successful teacher, I need to become an expert on this strategy. Students have various learning abilities and getting the same outcome from each student will only happen if as a teacher I am able to scaffold my instruction to accomodate the varioius learning styles and abilities I will have in my classroom.

Blog #3

There are many aspects to differentiation and all are important components to this practice. The first hallmark that I find helps me understand differentiation more is hallmark #4 which states "flexible use of time, space, and material". Before understanding differentiation, I would have thought this meant to create proper space within your classroom, provide materials to students and give students ample time to work. But this means so much more in differentiation. All those are important, but all students are individuals and they all need different types of space, materials and allotted time. So you need a variety of accommodating spaces within the class. Group spacing, independent spacing, spaces that are visual, as well as spaces that are comforting, just to name a few. Time can also vary amongst students and providing proper time for your individual students is necessary. As a teacher you cannot assume that all students will take the same amount of time for each assignment or project. The materials in your class also need to be differentiated. Meaning, some students may need a lot of visuals or they may need audibles. Or a student may learn well from computers or they may learn best from books. To provide a variety of materials for your students to learn the same material is also a very important aspect of differentiation.



Another hallmark that grabs my attention in differentiated teaching is hallmark #10. Active partnerships with specialists. I know that in schools today there are many specialists that come in a class to help with students. These include speech, reading and ESL specialists. But to be successful at differentiated teaching, a teacher also needs to be able to find other specialists that will be apart of their teaching. This may include bringing a specialist into your class that may know more about a specific topic that you may want to teach, such as astronomy. As a teacher you may want your students to understand this topic and you may not have all the resources to teach it in a way that they will understand. So you bring in a specialist on this topic for the students to learn from. Another type of guest a teacher may want to acknowledge would be someone who may know how to motivate students on a topic. Maybe an artist or musician. By being aware of your limitations as a teacher and taping into other resources is a must for a differentiated classroom.