Tuesday, October 27, 2009
freerice.com
One of my co-workers showed me this great site...www.freerice.com. On this site kids/adults can go and do activities on various subjects. For each question that is answered correctly, the site donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. The activities that I tried were vocabulary and language. For vocabulary you choose the correct meaning for the word. For the classroom, I thought this would be great to practice for ITBS since the students have to answer questions about vocabulary words that they have not necessarily seen before. The other activity that I chose to try was the language activity. I chose to do the one in Spanish, since I speak some Spanish. This activity you chose the meaning of the Spanish word. I could see this being used in the language classroom. I think that this website is one that kids would like, as you can see the rice bowl filling up on the side as you answer questions correctly. I would be anxious to hear other ideas on how you could incorporate this website in the classroom. While I don't think there is a lot of meat to the activities, I do think the idea behind it is good and the motivation is high for the students to answer the questions correctly. Let me know what you think of the site!!
Friday, October 23, 2009
How would I use a blog in my classroom?
Since I have been using this blog for a couple months now, I decided that I have had enough time to think about how I might use a blog in my own classroom.
I've decided that I think it would be great to create a blog and let parents know about it and use it as a way to bring your classroom inside the students' homes. I would envision the blog as a way to communicate with parents, offer resources that could be used at home, and also to keep parents updated as to what is going on in the classroom. I could post the week's homework to let parents know what to look for in backpacks and/or what they could be working on at home with their children. I would NOT use the blog for anything negative. I would only use it to communicate the positives of what was going on in the classroom. There are plenty of other ways to communicate with parents for the negative things when necessary. I would also post websites that students and parents could visit together, pertaining to what we were doing in class. I would make it my goal to update the blog once a week, probably over the weekend. This way parents and students would know what was coming up in the next week. However, I would try my best to check the blog throughout the week to keep up on communication with parents. In thinking about privacy issues I would need to be sure that parents and students know that if they are trying to communicate about something personal or that only pertains to their child alone that the blog would probably not be the best place to communicate, but rather through email or over the phone would be best in those types of situations.
I am sure that there are some things that I have left out and/or not thought through the best. I am open to suggestions and thoughts as to how you see this working in my classroom!
I've decided that I think it would be great to create a blog and let parents know about it and use it as a way to bring your classroom inside the students' homes. I would envision the blog as a way to communicate with parents, offer resources that could be used at home, and also to keep parents updated as to what is going on in the classroom. I could post the week's homework to let parents know what to look for in backpacks and/or what they could be working on at home with their children. I would NOT use the blog for anything negative. I would only use it to communicate the positives of what was going on in the classroom. There are plenty of other ways to communicate with parents for the negative things when necessary. I would also post websites that students and parents could visit together, pertaining to what we were doing in class. I would make it my goal to update the blog once a week, probably over the weekend. This way parents and students would know what was coming up in the next week. However, I would try my best to check the blog throughout the week to keep up on communication with parents. In thinking about privacy issues I would need to be sure that parents and students know that if they are trying to communicate about something personal or that only pertains to their child alone that the blog would probably not be the best place to communicate, but rather through email or over the phone would be best in those types of situations.
I am sure that there are some things that I have left out and/or not thought through the best. I am open to suggestions and thoughts as to how you see this working in my classroom!
Article #2: The Atoms Family: Using Podcasts to Enhance the Development of Science Vocabulary
I was fortunate to find another article on podcasting and this time it is at the elementary level, 5th grade. I found the article in the October, 2009 issue of "The Reading Teacher." The title of the article is..."The Atoms Family: Using Podcasts to Enhance the Development of Science Vocabulary," by S. Michael Putman and Tara Kingsley.
I realize that the topic of the article is not to use the podcast directly in the literacy part of the day, but it is used to teach vocabulary which is of course a huge part of literacy.
The researchers for this study intended to provide research in the area of podcasts, due to the lack of current research on the topic. They also wanted to help students having difficulties with the increasing demands associated with reading informational texts in the content areas. The two research questions for the study were:
1. How does access to weekly podcasts of science-specific vocabulary affect 5th grade students' vocabulary development compared to those who receive only regular instruction?
2. Do 5th grade students given access to podcasts view them as effective in enhancing their vocabulary development?
The authors first discussed what podcasts are and the potential benefits they have in schools. They describe podcasts as taking the traditional audio broadcast and transforming it into a portable, digital media that is similar to a radio show, but one that people can subscribe to over the internet to receive "shows" directly on their computer. The first benefits that they discussed are that the information presented in a podcast is inexpensive to produce, simple to use, portable, reusable, and beneficial to auditory learners. Podcasts also offer opportunities to reinforce ideas that were already taught in the classroom. They state that ultimately, the content in a podcast is designed to reach students in their "zone of proximal development," to scaffold learning and support emerging capabilities (Vygotsky, 1978).
The article then goes on to discuss vocabulary instruction, which I will leave out of this summary just to avoid making this entry too long! However, if you are unfamiliar with the research on vocabulary instruction there is a brief overview in the article.
This study took place in a suburban school, serving primarily middle to upper-middle class families; fewer than 12% of the students received free or reduced lunch. All 58 5th graders in the study indicated that they had access to a computer or digital media player in their home or at school. Half of the 58 students received access to the podcasts, while the other half received the classroom instruction only.
The podcasts were created by the instructors, including an introduction to "grab" the students attention. They then included a review of the words from the previous podcast, requiring the students to mentally recall the definitions of previous words. Then, there was a review of the current vocab. words. In order to avoid "passive" listening, after the presentation of definitions, the students were to complete mental and active response activities. The podcasts were posted weekly on the class blog, which was created specifically for the purposes of this study. There was also a written reminder sent home with the students, so that parents were aware there was a new podcast to study from. In order to be sure that the students received the chance to listen to the podcasts, they were given at least one time per week to listen to the podcast at school.
The results showed that there was definitely a higher increase from the pretest to the posttest in the group that used the podcast versus the group that received the classroom instruction only. Also, 86% of the students agreed that the podcasts helped them learn their science vocabulary.
In the article, there are also helpful tables. I highly suggest you read this article not only to read about the study, but to learn about how podcasts can be used in classrooms in general. One table offers examples of educational poscasts and resources. Another table offers considerations for teaching vocabulary using podcasts.
I think this was a great article and I suggest you all try and find some time to read it. It's a quick read and won't take up too much of your time!! Let me know if you have trouble finding it, but I accessed it through the ISU library e-Journals and went to "The Reading Teacher" October, 2009. Enjoy!!
I realize that the topic of the article is not to use the podcast directly in the literacy part of the day, but it is used to teach vocabulary which is of course a huge part of literacy.
The researchers for this study intended to provide research in the area of podcasts, due to the lack of current research on the topic. They also wanted to help students having difficulties with the increasing demands associated with reading informational texts in the content areas. The two research questions for the study were:
1. How does access to weekly podcasts of science-specific vocabulary affect 5th grade students' vocabulary development compared to those who receive only regular instruction?
2. Do 5th grade students given access to podcasts view them as effective in enhancing their vocabulary development?
The authors first discussed what podcasts are and the potential benefits they have in schools. They describe podcasts as taking the traditional audio broadcast and transforming it into a portable, digital media that is similar to a radio show, but one that people can subscribe to over the internet to receive "shows" directly on their computer. The first benefits that they discussed are that the information presented in a podcast is inexpensive to produce, simple to use, portable, reusable, and beneficial to auditory learners. Podcasts also offer opportunities to reinforce ideas that were already taught in the classroom. They state that ultimately, the content in a podcast is designed to reach students in their "zone of proximal development," to scaffold learning and support emerging capabilities (Vygotsky, 1978).
The article then goes on to discuss vocabulary instruction, which I will leave out of this summary just to avoid making this entry too long! However, if you are unfamiliar with the research on vocabulary instruction there is a brief overview in the article.
This study took place in a suburban school, serving primarily middle to upper-middle class families; fewer than 12% of the students received free or reduced lunch. All 58 5th graders in the study indicated that they had access to a computer or digital media player in their home or at school. Half of the 58 students received access to the podcasts, while the other half received the classroom instruction only.
The podcasts were created by the instructors, including an introduction to "grab" the students attention. They then included a review of the words from the previous podcast, requiring the students to mentally recall the definitions of previous words. Then, there was a review of the current vocab. words. In order to avoid "passive" listening, after the presentation of definitions, the students were to complete mental and active response activities. The podcasts were posted weekly on the class blog, which was created specifically for the purposes of this study. There was also a written reminder sent home with the students, so that parents were aware there was a new podcast to study from. In order to be sure that the students received the chance to listen to the podcasts, they were given at least one time per week to listen to the podcast at school.
The results showed that there was definitely a higher increase from the pretest to the posttest in the group that used the podcast versus the group that received the classroom instruction only. Also, 86% of the students agreed that the podcasts helped them learn their science vocabulary.
In the article, there are also helpful tables. I highly suggest you read this article not only to read about the study, but to learn about how podcasts can be used in classrooms in general. One table offers examples of educational poscasts and resources. Another table offers considerations for teaching vocabulary using podcasts.
I think this was a great article and I suggest you all try and find some time to read it. It's a quick read and won't take up too much of your time!! Let me know if you have trouble finding it, but I accessed it through the ISU library e-Journals and went to "The Reading Teacher" October, 2009. Enjoy!!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
online literature circles
After class last night I continued to think about online literature circles and how they would work in an elementary classroom. To tell you the truth, I'm having trouble seeing them working at my school. First of all, we only have 2 student computers in each classroom. We have one computer lab in the library, which teachers can sign up for time to use. Fortunately, teachers do take advantage of this and I do see many classes using the lab on a regular basis. What are some suggestions as far as availabilty of technology in order for online literature circles to work at my school?
My next thought was whether or not it would be beneficial to create an online literature circle with another group of kids within the same school district, just across town. The reason I think this would be beneficial is because we are using the same curriculum and teaching the same reading skills/strategies at the same time, following the same curriculum maps. This way you could center discussion around specific skills the students are learning in their classrooms at that time. Also, I was thinking this would be beneficial because the students would see different ideas coming out of the same stories they are reading. You could even create a discussion on the story for the week, coming straight from their reading text. YOu could also do smaller group discussions on other books, but still concentrate on the specific skills and/or strategies from the curriculum maps.
I realize this blog is somewhat random, but these are just thoughts I was having in class last night as we were discussing online literature circles. Let me know what you think!
My next thought was whether or not it would be beneficial to create an online literature circle with another group of kids within the same school district, just across town. The reason I think this would be beneficial is because we are using the same curriculum and teaching the same reading skills/strategies at the same time, following the same curriculum maps. This way you could center discussion around specific skills the students are learning in their classrooms at that time. Also, I was thinking this would be beneficial because the students would see different ideas coming out of the same stories they are reading. You could even create a discussion on the story for the week, coming straight from their reading text. YOu could also do smaller group discussions on other books, but still concentrate on the specific skills and/or strategies from the curriculum maps.
I realize this blog is somewhat random, but these are just thoughts I was having in class last night as we were discussing online literature circles. Let me know what you think!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
observation of teacher using Tumblebooks!
This week was our first implementation study at our elementary. For this study, the literacy leader and I were specifically looking for engagement strategies to teach either vocabulary or fluency. In one of the 2nd grade classrooms that I observed, the teacher used Tumblebooks! I was so excited to see it being used, because it was a technology resource that we had not introduced yet this year. The class had previously read "How I Became a Pirate." They were studying fluency and the way the voice changed for the "pirate dialect." So, the teacher showed the book on Tumblebooks and the students gave a thumbs up each time they heard the reader change their voice for the pirate dialect. The students were all very engaged and I liked how the teacher had the students do something, rather than just have them view the book! It was a great lesson!
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