1. Directly reward your students for their work. Throw pizza parties following between classroom competitions. Keep class progress charts on the wall to show how well they are doing compared to other classes.
2. The first week of school is a very important time to firmly stick to class rules. Be consistent in enforcing them, even if some of the lesson time is lost. You can cover the rest of the lesson the next day.
3. Logical consequences are a good way to handle discipline. Discipline strategies are rarely discussed in alternative teacher training programs. Over the years, I adopted Logical Consequences. When I was teaching high school, I made sure my students understood why they were receiving the punishment they got. If the student didn’t do homework, he or she had to stay afterschool to finish it. If the class was talking, during instruction time, I timed the seconds and made them stay that long after the bell. But, I also gave them chances to earn their way back from upcoming consequences of they worked quietly or did their homework during lunch. Special Connections at http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=behavior§ion=main&subsection=classroom/natural features an article on Natural and Logical Consequences
Conscience Discipline is another method I have heard of.
4. Read about a specific teaching method program that integrates classroom management and do class simulations or role plays with other teachers in training. The New York Times Magazine features a few of these teaching methods collections in the article Building a Better Teacher by Elizabeth Green http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
The article tells of how a teacher-in-training practiced Doug Lemov’s Taxonomy of Effective Teaching Practices with her fellow teachers in training using class simulations. I wish I had gathered together some fellow teachers in training to role-play teacher and student scenarios. I felt I was sorely unprepared for that aspect of teaching. My teacher training program was good but it didn’t touch on the classroom management aspect of the profession.
5. To make your classroom a place where students show respect requires a firm hand.
I asked one teacher how she handled the tough students she had in her classroom that year. She said, “I just don’t let their disrespectful behavior bother me." She said she held them accountable for their actions. When they complain about having to endure the consequences of their actions, she just says, “You made me do it.”
No: Why kids of all ages need to hear it by David Walsh is a book that claims children are bombarded with yes messages through popular culture. He advocates parents teach children self-descipline by saying no to some of their desires.
6. I suggest any new teacher observe other teachers during conference times. Don’t just stay in your classroom. For teachers who have left the profession to raise children, substitute teaching part-time will help you develop a broader perspective of the profession because it allows you to observe the teaching methods and policies of different teachers and schools you would not normally have access to.
7. Read about current issues in education. Subscribe to the teacher focused Phi Delta Kappan magazine or use the internet to find free articles. Keyword searches on current topics can provide lots of information.
8. Join a teacher union. The American Federation of Teachers does not allow administrators to join. The Association of Teachers and Professional Educators is also a good teacher union which provides free legal advice.
9. Conducting class in a consistent way helps your students to know what to expect from you as a new teacher.
10. Until you have established a relationship of respect from your students, pushing them too hard academically will only make them resent you. Academics are only a part of teaching. Once you have created a productive, learning environment, you can assess your class to determine how hard they can be pushed academically.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Transcript Submitted for Publication
Reading Comprehension Strategy for Learning Disabled: Segmenting and summarizing reading assignments for high school students with learning disabilities, ADHD and dyslexia.
By: Karen Yancey M.Ed
In February of 2009, I taught three special education English classes to learning disabled high school students. I had nineteen students some of whom were ADHD, dyslexic and autistic had learning disabilities in reading and reading comprehension. The classes were small and designed to give much individual instruction. Most of the students were economically disadvantaged and considered at-risk for dropping out.
As a result of the reading disabilities, most of my students read at a slower rate and had a low reading endurance. When I gave my students long reading assignments, many of them struggled. I knew that when they started to feel a sense of defeat, they stopped attempting to understand the passage. According to Jay Smink in “Effective Dropout Prevention Strategies for Students with and without Disabilities in Urban Schools,” two common indicators for students leaving school before graduation is low academic achievement and lack of motivation. Smink also states that early interventions to help low-achieving students improve their reading and writing skills are effective at keeping students in school. With the knowledge that people with weak literacy skills are less likely to be able to connect with community resources and be successful at advancing in their careers , I wanted to help my students become prepared for their adult lives.
Also, some of my students could decode the reading quickly but did not understand what they read. According to Joanna Williams in “Improving Comprehension for Students with LD” some learning disabled students can master the mechanics of reading but still not comprehend the passage. Frequently, this problem is not noticed until later grades when comprehension challenges increase (Williams 7)
As a result of these problems, all of my students had not mastered the reading strategies that they needed to know to be able to pass the state standardized test.
One important task I had going into this class was to teach reading and literacy skills that would help them to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills standardized test that is administered yearly in Texas schools. It was only the second year these students had been required to take the TAKS test. Before 2008, special education students in Texas took the Locally Determined Alternate Assessment and the State Developed Alternative Assessment as their annual test.
I knew that according to Joseph Torgesen, learning disabled students must receive instruction that is explicit and systematic. Learning disabled students at the high school level must receive reading instruction that is focused and intensive and our expectations of what is reasonable progress must be adjusted. Some studies make it clear that teachers must be active in guiding students through each step during instruction (Williams 7).
Furthermore, there was one ADHD student in the class and two autistic students. Autism tends to keep the student from being able to process large amounts of information at one time. Autistic students benefit from visual segmenting and organizing the material on the page. Task analysis such as working on one step at a time promotes students success (Redden 4). ADHD students who have difficulty staying focused on a task also benefit by breaking up assignments as it allows them to think reflectively on what they are doing rather than respond with irrelevant answers (Child Development Institute 1).
Possible Solution?
In an effort to come up with a solution to the problem, I postulated that breaking up long reading assignments into smaller ones and making the students process the information they read into a summary sentence for each paragraph would help them understand the meaning of the text in a step by step manner. Then, the student could go back and piece together the meaning of the text by looking at his or her summary sentences. Many reading comprehension strategies are based on summarizing text. The Generating Interaction between Schemata and Text or GIST method puts students in groups that read a passage one paragraph at a time and discuss how to summarize it into one sentence.(Herrell 2).
I examined the available data.The Eighth and Ninth grade Reading TAKS scores from Spring 2008 revealed that the average score for my Freshman Applied English classes showed fifty-eight percent mastery. The average score for my Sophomore Applied English class was lower at twenty-eight percent mastery. Only two students out of eleven students met mastery expectations. These very low scores led me to look further. I then examined two benchmark tests that were given in the fall and winter of the current 2008-2009 school year. Benchmark tests are shortened form of older released TAKS tests that are designed to diagnose performance levels on the actual TAKS test. The average scores for the freshman at 56 and 58 were no better than the TAKS score taken in the spring of 2007-2008. The sophomore averages on the checkpoints only increased by a maximum of thirteen points.
Plan of Action
I decided to implement my thesis into the curriculum of my English classes. I was hoping that my students would view the assignments as achievable and would develop a “can-do” attitude that would aid in the learning process.
I would teach the students how to cut a long reading assignment into paragraph sections and write a one sentence summary of each paragraph on the back of the paper. They had the option of using scissors to literally cut the assignment or to use pencils to draw lines between the paragraphs. If they simply drew lines, I would have the students cover up all of the passage except the paragraph that they were reading.
The students would do a group of three reading comprehension assignments before I taught them the segmentation strategy so I would have some data to compare their later scores. I would calculate the average of the three initial reading assignments. I then taught them how to section their assignments and summarize. I would require them to do ten more reading comprehension assignments using the new strategy.
I had my students complete a pre-reading strategy survey that asked their opinions of reading long assignments. Half of the students indicated that they felt bored or overwhelmed by long reading assignments that would cause them to loose their place, get distracted and “shut-down.” The other half did not feel this way but indicated that they felt using a reading strategy would help them improve their reading comprehension.
The one sentence summaries were intended to help the students recall information and process the information they just read. They then could go back and review the summaries when they were answering the reading comprehension questions. The process of breaking the reading assignments into sections was intended to help reduce anxiety in the students, help them stay focused and to increase reading comprehension.
Proving a need:
The students completed a group of three simple reading comprehension assignments at the beginning of the fifth six weeks. At that time, they were not using the reading strategy. This data was collected to indicate the need for more targeted reading comprehension instruction. Assignment 1 was a simple summary assignment, Assignment 2 was a reading for meaning assignment and Assignment 3 tested inferencing. Most did well on the first, about half of the students passed the second and very few passed the inferencing activity.
The low grades on the classroom assignments indicated that the low test scores were not just the result of testing anxiety nor did many of the student have decoding problems. The student could read the words in the passage. However, they could not understand the message that the sentences were trying to convey.
Collection of the Original Data:
I gave a total of ten reading comprehension assignments over two weeks. I also ensured that the assignments were similar to material encountered on the TAKS test and that it was of high interest to the students.
The assignments consisted of several short stories about children of high school
age. Some were anecdotal and some were exposition pieces. I also included pieces with dialogue which are usually present in stories on the TAKS test.
It took my students three times of using the segmentation strategy to fully understand the process of reading and writing a one sentence summary for each paragraph.
At the end of each week of reading practice, I showed each student their grade trends to let them know if he or she was improving.
At the end of the two week practice period, a final checkpoint test was given to determine if the reading strategy would benefit the students during testing. Table 5 shows the results:
• Sixty-eight percent of the students showed an increased score on the final checkpoint.
• Fifty-eight percent of the students showed an increased score of at least ten points.
• Thirty-one percent of the students showed an increased score of at least twenty points.
The sophomores showed significantly more progress than the freshmen. The sophomore grades increased by an average of 25 points. The freshman increased by an average of five points.
Conclusions:
It is clear from the assignment data and checkpoint data that the sophomores benefited most from this strategy. However, it is important to note that the sophomores started out with lower grades than the freshman. Another explanation is that 2009 was only the second year all special education students were required to take the TAKS test.
The post reading strategy survey indicated that eighty percent of the students felt segmenting the reading helped them remember what they read and helped them keep track of where they were in the passage. Eighty percent said that writing the one sentence summaries helped them understand the passage better. But only fifty percent of the students said that the strategy made them feel more willing to complete the assignment. From this I can conclude that the strategy is helpful for reading comprehension but it does not always make the overall activity seem easier to the student.
The summary strategy did not seem to help some of the students to identify the context clues that help a reader understand an unknown word. Many of my students did not have large vocabularies so they struggled when the stories were about unfamiliar topics. In this case, texts on unfamiliar subjects should be accompanied by a word bank with definitions.
I also noted that several of the students were still interpreting expressions in the reading at a literal level even when they used the summary strategy. These same students had difficulty identifying everyday concepts in unfamiliar story settings. I concluded that this is evidence of a lack of reading practice. With more practice, students can identify concepts that have been integrated into a text or conversely synthesize meaning from a text.
The overall success of this reading strategy implies that this and other close-reading strategies need to be implemented in high school classrooms for the learning disabled on a regular basis. Explicit instruction and repetitive practice in reading comprehension appears to be very effective at helping students be able to recall information they have read.
It is important to note that reading comprehension strategies have not been emphasized in the elementary years and evidence has shown that such strategies help readers understand texts better (Pressley 3 ).
Children who learn more slowly require more repetition. Unfortunately, reading practice varies directly with the severity of a child’s reading disability so the children with a reading disability usually receive only a fraction of the total reading practice nondisabled children receive. However, many teachers are not trained in giving explicit, supportive instruction (Torgesen 6). Early training in reading comprehension skills could benefit students and reduce the need for reading classes at the high school level. For those students who still need reading help at the high school level, specific reading instruction in the form of segmenting texts is effective.
Bibliography
1. Child Development Institute, "Suggested Classroom Interventions for Children with ADD and Learning Disabilities." Child Development Institute. Available from www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/teacher.html. Internet; accessed April 2008.
2. Herrel, Adrienne, Michael Jordan. Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2004.
3. Pressley, M. "Comprehension Instruction: What Makes Sense Now, What Might Make Sense Soon." Reading Online. Available from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/pressley/index.html. Internet; accessed April 2008.
4. Redden Shea. Occupational Therapist, Strategies For Modifying An Assignment, presented during an In-Home Training Workshop at Burleson Independent School District, July 2008.
5. Torgesen, Joseph K.. "Preventing Early Reading Failure." American Educator. Fall 2004, Available: http://www.aft.org/pubsreports/american_educator/issues/fall04/reading.htm
6. Williams, Joanna P.. "Improving Comprehension for Students with LD." Reading Rockets. Available from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/86. Internet; accessed 2 April 2008.
7. Smink, Jay. "Effective Dropout Prevention Strategies for Students with and without Disabilities in Urban Schools." Urban Perspectives 9, no. 2 (2004): 1,4-5,11 Available: http://www.urbancollaborative.org/urbanperspectives/summer04.pdf
By: Karen Yancey M.Ed
In February of 2009, I taught three special education English classes to learning disabled high school students. I had nineteen students some of whom were ADHD, dyslexic and autistic had learning disabilities in reading and reading comprehension. The classes were small and designed to give much individual instruction. Most of the students were economically disadvantaged and considered at-risk for dropping out.
As a result of the reading disabilities, most of my students read at a slower rate and had a low reading endurance. When I gave my students long reading assignments, many of them struggled. I knew that when they started to feel a sense of defeat, they stopped attempting to understand the passage. According to Jay Smink in “Effective Dropout Prevention Strategies for Students with and without Disabilities in Urban Schools,” two common indicators for students leaving school before graduation is low academic achievement and lack of motivation. Smink also states that early interventions to help low-achieving students improve their reading and writing skills are effective at keeping students in school. With the knowledge that people with weak literacy skills are less likely to be able to connect with community resources and be successful at advancing in their careers , I wanted to help my students become prepared for their adult lives.
Also, some of my students could decode the reading quickly but did not understand what they read. According to Joanna Williams in “Improving Comprehension for Students with LD” some learning disabled students can master the mechanics of reading but still not comprehend the passage. Frequently, this problem is not noticed until later grades when comprehension challenges increase (Williams 7)
As a result of these problems, all of my students had not mastered the reading strategies that they needed to know to be able to pass the state standardized test.
One important task I had going into this class was to teach reading and literacy skills that would help them to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills standardized test that is administered yearly in Texas schools. It was only the second year these students had been required to take the TAKS test. Before 2008, special education students in Texas took the Locally Determined Alternate Assessment and the State Developed Alternative Assessment as their annual test.
I knew that according to Joseph Torgesen, learning disabled students must receive instruction that is explicit and systematic. Learning disabled students at the high school level must receive reading instruction that is focused and intensive and our expectations of what is reasonable progress must be adjusted. Some studies make it clear that teachers must be active in guiding students through each step during instruction (Williams 7).
Furthermore, there was one ADHD student in the class and two autistic students. Autism tends to keep the student from being able to process large amounts of information at one time. Autistic students benefit from visual segmenting and organizing the material on the page. Task analysis such as working on one step at a time promotes students success (Redden 4). ADHD students who have difficulty staying focused on a task also benefit by breaking up assignments as it allows them to think reflectively on what they are doing rather than respond with irrelevant answers (Child Development Institute 1).
Possible Solution?
In an effort to come up with a solution to the problem, I postulated that breaking up long reading assignments into smaller ones and making the students process the information they read into a summary sentence for each paragraph would help them understand the meaning of the text in a step by step manner. Then, the student could go back and piece together the meaning of the text by looking at his or her summary sentences. Many reading comprehension strategies are based on summarizing text. The Generating Interaction between Schemata and Text or GIST method puts students in groups that read a passage one paragraph at a time and discuss how to summarize it into one sentence.(Herrell 2).
I examined the available data.The Eighth and Ninth grade Reading TAKS scores from Spring 2008 revealed that the average score for my Freshman Applied English classes showed fifty-eight percent mastery. The average score for my Sophomore Applied English class was lower at twenty-eight percent mastery. Only two students out of eleven students met mastery expectations. These very low scores led me to look further. I then examined two benchmark tests that were given in the fall and winter of the current 2008-2009 school year. Benchmark tests are shortened form of older released TAKS tests that are designed to diagnose performance levels on the actual TAKS test. The average scores for the freshman at 56 and 58 were no better than the TAKS score taken in the spring of 2007-2008. The sophomore averages on the checkpoints only increased by a maximum of thirteen points.
Plan of Action
I decided to implement my thesis into the curriculum of my English classes. I was hoping that my students would view the assignments as achievable and would develop a “can-do” attitude that would aid in the learning process.
I would teach the students how to cut a long reading assignment into paragraph sections and write a one sentence summary of each paragraph on the back of the paper. They had the option of using scissors to literally cut the assignment or to use pencils to draw lines between the paragraphs. If they simply drew lines, I would have the students cover up all of the passage except the paragraph that they were reading.
The students would do a group of three reading comprehension assignments before I taught them the segmentation strategy so I would have some data to compare their later scores. I would calculate the average of the three initial reading assignments. I then taught them how to section their assignments and summarize. I would require them to do ten more reading comprehension assignments using the new strategy.
I had my students complete a pre-reading strategy survey that asked their opinions of reading long assignments. Half of the students indicated that they felt bored or overwhelmed by long reading assignments that would cause them to loose their place, get distracted and “shut-down.” The other half did not feel this way but indicated that they felt using a reading strategy would help them improve their reading comprehension.
The one sentence summaries were intended to help the students recall information and process the information they just read. They then could go back and review the summaries when they were answering the reading comprehension questions. The process of breaking the reading assignments into sections was intended to help reduce anxiety in the students, help them stay focused and to increase reading comprehension.
Proving a need:
The students completed a group of three simple reading comprehension assignments at the beginning of the fifth six weeks. At that time, they were not using the reading strategy. This data was collected to indicate the need for more targeted reading comprehension instruction. Assignment 1 was a simple summary assignment, Assignment 2 was a reading for meaning assignment and Assignment 3 tested inferencing. Most did well on the first, about half of the students passed the second and very few passed the inferencing activity.
The low grades on the classroom assignments indicated that the low test scores were not just the result of testing anxiety nor did many of the student have decoding problems. The student could read the words in the passage. However, they could not understand the message that the sentences were trying to convey.
Collection of the Original Data:
I gave a total of ten reading comprehension assignments over two weeks. I also ensured that the assignments were similar to material encountered on the TAKS test and that it was of high interest to the students.
The assignments consisted of several short stories about children of high school
age. Some were anecdotal and some were exposition pieces. I also included pieces with dialogue which are usually present in stories on the TAKS test.
It took my students three times of using the segmentation strategy to fully understand the process of reading and writing a one sentence summary for each paragraph.
At the end of each week of reading practice, I showed each student their grade trends to let them know if he or she was improving.
At the end of the two week practice period, a final checkpoint test was given to determine if the reading strategy would benefit the students during testing. Table 5 shows the results:
• Sixty-eight percent of the students showed an increased score on the final checkpoint.
• Fifty-eight percent of the students showed an increased score of at least ten points.
• Thirty-one percent of the students showed an increased score of at least twenty points.
The sophomores showed significantly more progress than the freshmen. The sophomore grades increased by an average of 25 points. The freshman increased by an average of five points.
Conclusions:
It is clear from the assignment data and checkpoint data that the sophomores benefited most from this strategy. However, it is important to note that the sophomores started out with lower grades than the freshman. Another explanation is that 2009 was only the second year all special education students were required to take the TAKS test.
The post reading strategy survey indicated that eighty percent of the students felt segmenting the reading helped them remember what they read and helped them keep track of where they were in the passage. Eighty percent said that writing the one sentence summaries helped them understand the passage better. But only fifty percent of the students said that the strategy made them feel more willing to complete the assignment. From this I can conclude that the strategy is helpful for reading comprehension but it does not always make the overall activity seem easier to the student.
The summary strategy did not seem to help some of the students to identify the context clues that help a reader understand an unknown word. Many of my students did not have large vocabularies so they struggled when the stories were about unfamiliar topics. In this case, texts on unfamiliar subjects should be accompanied by a word bank with definitions.
I also noted that several of the students were still interpreting expressions in the reading at a literal level even when they used the summary strategy. These same students had difficulty identifying everyday concepts in unfamiliar story settings. I concluded that this is evidence of a lack of reading practice. With more practice, students can identify concepts that have been integrated into a text or conversely synthesize meaning from a text.
The overall success of this reading strategy implies that this and other close-reading strategies need to be implemented in high school classrooms for the learning disabled on a regular basis. Explicit instruction and repetitive practice in reading comprehension appears to be very effective at helping students be able to recall information they have read.
It is important to note that reading comprehension strategies have not been emphasized in the elementary years and evidence has shown that such strategies help readers understand texts better (Pressley 3 ).
Children who learn more slowly require more repetition. Unfortunately, reading practice varies directly with the severity of a child’s reading disability so the children with a reading disability usually receive only a fraction of the total reading practice nondisabled children receive. However, many teachers are not trained in giving explicit, supportive instruction (Torgesen 6). Early training in reading comprehension skills could benefit students and reduce the need for reading classes at the high school level. For those students who still need reading help at the high school level, specific reading instruction in the form of segmenting texts is effective.
Bibliography
1. Child Development Institute, "Suggested Classroom Interventions for Children with ADD and Learning Disabilities." Child Development Institute. Available from www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/teacher.html. Internet; accessed April 2008.
2. Herrel, Adrienne, Michael Jordan. Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2004.
3. Pressley, M. "Comprehension Instruction: What Makes Sense Now, What Might Make Sense Soon." Reading Online. Available from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/pressley/index.html. Internet; accessed April 2008.
4. Redden Shea. Occupational Therapist, Strategies For Modifying An Assignment, presented during an In-Home Training Workshop at Burleson Independent School District, July 2008.
5. Torgesen, Joseph K.. "Preventing Early Reading Failure." American Educator. Fall 2004, Available: http://www.aft.org/pubsreports/american_educator/issues/fall04/reading.htm
6. Williams, Joanna P.. "Improving Comprehension for Students with LD." Reading Rockets. Available from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/86. Internet; accessed 2 April 2008.
7. Smink, Jay. "Effective Dropout Prevention Strategies for Students with and without Disabilities in Urban Schools." Urban Perspectives 9, no. 2 (2004): 1,4-5,11 Available: http://www.urbancollaborative.org/urbanperspectives/summer04.pdf
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Good Ideas I Picked Up while Subbing as a Teacher
One elementary seemed to deal with dicipline problems very well.
-- Children had to walk quitly in the hallway. They could earn a Panther point if five teachers observed their good behavior and wrote up a commendation.
-- Five points allowed the class to have a special treat like a movie or party.
-- Fifteen points allowed them to have lunch with the principal.
In elementary schools the students had to stand and wait for everyone to get a tray before the all sat down to eat at lunch.
In Title 1 elementary schools, where most were on Free Lunch, if someone did not drink his milk, he could put it in a crate during lunch for others to have as needed.
In middle school lunch: Children had to hold up a V-finger if they want to go get seconds and a crossed finger to go to the bathroom.
Elementery and Middle school: During recess, the children had to run three laps around a Basketball court before they could go play.
Elementary: The teachers stressed school family and children being "Friends". "Some of our friends are not staying quiet." "One of our friends, is still in the room and not lined up properly."
Elementary and Middle: A running program where children had to run a number of laps to build up points.
Elementary: CAMP Comp, Art, Music, P.E
Mon-Friday, half hour of a special and half hour of P.E.
-- Children had to walk quitly in the hallway. They could earn a Panther point if five teachers observed their good behavior and wrote up a commendation.
-- Five points allowed the class to have a special treat like a movie or party.
-- Fifteen points allowed them to have lunch with the principal.
In elementary schools the students had to stand and wait for everyone to get a tray before the all sat down to eat at lunch.
In Title 1 elementary schools, where most were on Free Lunch, if someone did not drink his milk, he could put it in a crate during lunch for others to have as needed.
In middle school lunch: Children had to hold up a V-finger if they want to go get seconds and a crossed finger to go to the bathroom.
Elementery and Middle school: During recess, the children had to run three laps around a Basketball court before they could go play.
Elementary: The teachers stressed school family and children being "Friends". "Some of our friends are not staying quiet." "One of our friends, is still in the room and not lined up properly."
Elementary and Middle: A running program where children had to run a number of laps to build up points.
Elementary: CAMP Comp, Art, Music, P.E
Mon-Friday, half hour of a special and half hour of P.E.
In Between the Lions
I am impressed by the PBS kids show called In Between the Lions. It is intended to teach reading to first through third graders. It follows a variety show format much like Sesame Street and The Electric Company. Sesame Street is intended for preparing preschoolers by teaching letters and numbers. The Electric Company is for fourth, fifth and sixth graders to expand vocabulary, reading skills and social skills.
In Between the Lions features a family of lions who live in a library. Sesame Street and The Electric Company is set in the city. The library approach is good because it parallels the setting of elementry schools. The lions have a computer mouse friend who uses technology to illustrate the simple stories the lions read. They also have monkeys with various personalities who appear in the show.
The mother lion is nicely dressed in the African style with large necklaces. The father, son and daughter lion are dressed in a typically American style. The artistry of the library is also impressive. It is a large building in a wooded setting with human children sitting around reading quietly. I only wish my local PBS station showed it more often. It only appears once at 8 a.m.
In Between the Lions features a family of lions who live in a library. Sesame Street and The Electric Company is set in the city. The library approach is good because it parallels the setting of elementry schools. The lions have a computer mouse friend who uses technology to illustrate the simple stories the lions read. They also have monkeys with various personalities who appear in the show.
The mother lion is nicely dressed in the African style with large necklaces. The father, son and daughter lion are dressed in a typically American style. The artistry of the library is also impressive. It is a large building in a wooded setting with human children sitting around reading quietly. I only wish my local PBS station showed it more often. It only appears once at 8 a.m.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Blogging to Present Slideshows
Blogging is a great way to present pictures of a recent project or trip. Students should be encouraged to start blogs. Some programs in education like Moodle allow students and teachers to have a private network to share their blogs. Posting pictures with captions in addition to text posts give students multimedia ways to show knowledge.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
I am listening to the audio book Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. He also wrote Angela's Ashes.
It tells about his thirty-year career as a high school teacher of English in New York City. I identified with many of the passages about teaching in the classroom since I taught high school English myself. The student responses during the classroom discussion are classic.
The following is an excerpt of a discussion he has with his Creative writing class while he is teaching at Stuyvesant High School, one of the most prestigious high schools in the New York School system. They are discussing "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke.
McCourt: Jonathan?
Jonathan: What I like about this poem is there it is a simple story. Oh no wait a minute, it's not that simple.There's a lot going on. There's a before and after. If you were to make a movie about this poem you'd have a hard job directing it. Would you make the opening scene have the kid and the mother waiting for the father or would you just show the opening lines where the kid is wincing over the whiskey?
McCourt: Ann?
Ann: I don't know. Theres a lot in here afer we talk about it. Why cant we just leave it alone. Just take the story and feel sorry for the kid and the mother and not analyze it to death?
McCourt: David?
David: We not analyzing. Were just responding. If you go to a movie, you come out talking about it don't you?
Ann: Sometimes. But this is a poem.And you know what English teacher's do to poems. Analyze, analyze, analyze. Dig for the deeper meaning. That's what turned me against poetry. Someone should dig a grave and bury the deeper meaning.
McCourt: I asked you only what happened when you read the poem. If nothing happened, its not a crime. You don't have to respond to every stimulus. If "My Papa's Waltz" leaves you cold, then it leaves you cold.
Ann: That's one thing, Mr. McCourt but we have to be careful. If you say soemthing negative English teachers take it personal and get mad. My sister got in trouble with an English professor at Cornel over the way she interpreted one of Shakespeare's sonnets. He said she was off the mark. She said a sonnet could be read a hundred ways otherwise why would you see a thousand Shakespeare criticism books on the library shelves. And he got pissed of and told her to see him in his office. This time he was nice to her and she backed off and said maybe he was right and she went out to dinner with him. And I got pissed off with her for giving in like that. Now we only say hello to each other.
McCourt: Why don't you write about that Ann? Its an unusual story. You and your sister not talking because of a Shakespeare sonnet.
Ann: I could. But I have to get into the whole sonnet thing. What he said, what she said and since I hate getting into deeper meanings and she's not talking to me anyway. I don't have the entire story.
McCourt: Daved?
David: Make it up. There are three characters here Ann and her sister and the professor. And there's the sonnet that is causing all the trouble. You could change the name,get away from the sonnet. Say its a big fight about "My Papa's Waltz" and the next thing is you have a story they want to turn into a movie.
McCourt: Jonathan?
Jonathan: No offense to Ann. But, I can't think of anything more boring than a story about a college student arguing with a professor over a sonnet. I mean Jesus(excuse the language) this world is falling to pieces people starving etc. And these people have nothing better to do than to argue over a poem. I'd never buy that story and I wouldn't go to the movie if they let me take my whole family for free.
Ann: Mr. McCourt
McCourt: Yes, Ann
Ann: Tell Jonathan he can kiss my ass.
McCourt: Sorry Ann, Thats a message you'll have to deliver yourself. There's the bell. But remember you don't have to respond to every stimulus.
It tells about his thirty-year career as a high school teacher of English in New York City. I identified with many of the passages about teaching in the classroom since I taught high school English myself. The student responses during the classroom discussion are classic.
The following is an excerpt of a discussion he has with his Creative writing class while he is teaching at Stuyvesant High School, one of the most prestigious high schools in the New York School system. They are discussing "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke.
McCourt: Jonathan?
Jonathan: What I like about this poem is there it is a simple story. Oh no wait a minute, it's not that simple.There's a lot going on. There's a before and after. If you were to make a movie about this poem you'd have a hard job directing it. Would you make the opening scene have the kid and the mother waiting for the father or would you just show the opening lines where the kid is wincing over the whiskey?
McCourt: Ann?
Ann: I don't know. Theres a lot in here afer we talk about it. Why cant we just leave it alone. Just take the story and feel sorry for the kid and the mother and not analyze it to death?
McCourt: David?
David: We not analyzing. Were just responding. If you go to a movie, you come out talking about it don't you?
Ann: Sometimes. But this is a poem.And you know what English teacher's do to poems. Analyze, analyze, analyze. Dig for the deeper meaning. That's what turned me against poetry. Someone should dig a grave and bury the deeper meaning.
McCourt: I asked you only what happened when you read the poem. If nothing happened, its not a crime. You don't have to respond to every stimulus. If "My Papa's Waltz" leaves you cold, then it leaves you cold.
Ann: That's one thing, Mr. McCourt but we have to be careful. If you say soemthing negative English teachers take it personal and get mad. My sister got in trouble with an English professor at Cornel over the way she interpreted one of Shakespeare's sonnets. He said she was off the mark. She said a sonnet could be read a hundred ways otherwise why would you see a thousand Shakespeare criticism books on the library shelves. And he got pissed of and told her to see him in his office. This time he was nice to her and she backed off and said maybe he was right and she went out to dinner with him. And I got pissed off with her for giving in like that. Now we only say hello to each other.
McCourt: Why don't you write about that Ann? Its an unusual story. You and your sister not talking because of a Shakespeare sonnet.
Ann: I could. But I have to get into the whole sonnet thing. What he said, what she said and since I hate getting into deeper meanings and she's not talking to me anyway. I don't have the entire story.
McCourt: Daved?
David: Make it up. There are three characters here Ann and her sister and the professor. And there's the sonnet that is causing all the trouble. You could change the name,get away from the sonnet. Say its a big fight about "My Papa's Waltz" and the next thing is you have a story they want to turn into a movie.
McCourt: Jonathan?
Jonathan: No offense to Ann. But, I can't think of anything more boring than a story about a college student arguing with a professor over a sonnet. I mean Jesus(excuse the language) this world is falling to pieces people starving etc. And these people have nothing better to do than to argue over a poem. I'd never buy that story and I wouldn't go to the movie if they let me take my whole family for free.
Ann: Mr. McCourt
McCourt: Yes, Ann
Ann: Tell Jonathan he can kiss my ass.
McCourt: Sorry Ann, Thats a message you'll have to deliver yourself. There's the bell. But remember you don't have to respond to every stimulus.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
WonderPets
I think so well of the Wonderpets children program that I am making a post about them on this blog aswell as my other theme blog Moms and Little Ones.
Wonderpets is a charming television series that features a trio of kindergarten classroom pets; Lenny the guineapig, Tuck the turtle and Ming Ming the duckling. Their adventures consist of saving baby animals all over the world while singing in almost opera-like style during the fifteen minute segment. Their are two segements to each program.
Their songs teach teamwork, problem solving and friendship and are accompanied by light ochestral music. The animation is simple but brightly colored and gracefully artistic. The kindergarten classroom setting is always cleverly decorated according to the theme of the episode. Even the animal cages have objects that relate to the theme. For example, during the Save the Sea Turtle episode set in Japan, images of turtles and japanese culture were all over the classroom and in the cages.
The clue to how to solve the problem in the episode is usually presented at the beginning when the Wonderpets are still in the classroom. For example, the Wonderpets know how to rescue the Beetles band from seaweed that is wrapped around the Beetles' submarine because first they had to disentangle their Flyboat from a mobile in the classroom.
The Wonderpets sing the same three specific songs each episode that mix in with changing dialogue per episode: What's Gonna Work? Team Work, The Phone Is Ringing and The Wonderpets Saved the Day.
The benefits of this kind of visual and auditory learning are obvious. I like the social skills and multicultural aspect of the lessons. My daughter is learning to appreciate lovely music, how to play well with others and how to solve problems. I even find myself humming the bars of some of these upbeat, cheerful songs sometimes.
I am also impressed with how the music is stylized to fit the theme of the episode. "Save the Bengal" has Indian music and "Save the Beetles" has music inspired by the Beetles.
Wonderpets is a charming television series that features a trio of kindergarten classroom pets; Lenny the guineapig, Tuck the turtle and Ming Ming the duckling. Their adventures consist of saving baby animals all over the world while singing in almost opera-like style during the fifteen minute segment. Their are two segements to each program.
Their songs teach teamwork, problem solving and friendship and are accompanied by light ochestral music. The animation is simple but brightly colored and gracefully artistic. The kindergarten classroom setting is always cleverly decorated according to the theme of the episode. Even the animal cages have objects that relate to the theme. For example, during the Save the Sea Turtle episode set in Japan, images of turtles and japanese culture were all over the classroom and in the cages.
The clue to how to solve the problem in the episode is usually presented at the beginning when the Wonderpets are still in the classroom. For example, the Wonderpets know how to rescue the Beetles band from seaweed that is wrapped around the Beetles' submarine because first they had to disentangle their Flyboat from a mobile in the classroom.
The Wonderpets sing the same three specific songs each episode that mix in with changing dialogue per episode: What's Gonna Work? Team Work, The Phone Is Ringing and The Wonderpets Saved the Day.
The benefits of this kind of visual and auditory learning are obvious. I like the social skills and multicultural aspect of the lessons. My daughter is learning to appreciate lovely music, how to play well with others and how to solve problems. I even find myself humming the bars of some of these upbeat, cheerful songs sometimes.
I am also impressed with how the music is stylized to fit the theme of the episode. "Save the Bengal" has Indian music and "Save the Beetles" has music inspired by the Beetles.
Playing Water
As the summer heat set in, I thought about getting a little toddler pool for my daughter. But my mother came up with a better idea. She filled a bucket with water, put out two small plastic basins, a watering can and several small plastic cups of various sizes and let my daughter have fun pouring water from one container to another. My daughter really enjoys this game and she gets soaked in the process. Sometimes she grabs her duckies and plays with them in the bucket of water too.
Developmentally, children subconsciously learn about the basic properties of water when they pour it from one container to another, spill it on the concrete and push toys into it. They learn about volume, conservation of mass, adhesion and cohesion. Though, to them it is just fun playtime. I wish college classes were like that.
Developmentally, children subconsciously learn about the basic properties of water when they pour it from one container to another, spill it on the concrete and push toys into it. They learn about volume, conservation of mass, adhesion and cohesion. Though, to them it is just fun playtime. I wish college classes were like that.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Lessons at the Park
I was in the park today exercising. Here is a field trip idea that am elementary teacher can use to teach science, English, and math.
Age K-4
Science: Take the children in the morning and have them sit beside the pond. Have them write in their journals what they observe about the pond. First read an example entry to them. Give them twenty minutes to write. Then ask some children to share their writing. Talk to them about the kind of water it is, the kinds of animals that live in the water and how trash can affect the pond.
English: Have the children write and rewrite a few simple sentences that the teacher makes that are about the pond. Practice spelling a few words about nature. Touch on new letters of the alphabet and print skills.
Math: Take the children to an adult exercise station in the park and do simple addition and subtraction using the repetitions and minutes of aerobic exercise that is recommended.
Age K-4
Science: Take the children in the morning and have them sit beside the pond. Have them write in their journals what they observe about the pond. First read an example entry to them. Give them twenty minutes to write. Then ask some children to share their writing. Talk to them about the kind of water it is, the kinds of animals that live in the water and how trash can affect the pond.
English: Have the children write and rewrite a few simple sentences that the teacher makes that are about the pond. Practice spelling a few words about nature. Touch on new letters of the alphabet and print skills.
Math: Take the children to an adult exercise station in the park and do simple addition and subtraction using the repetitions and minutes of aerobic exercise that is recommended.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Snow Art
A great lesson for elementary art teachers during the winter is to teach children how to make simple snow sculptures.
Enduring lesson: teach children to appreciate and manipulate new materials for the purpose of art.
Objective: teach children how to pack and roll snow for sculpting purposes and how to use accessories for embellishment.
Materials and Methods: Roll, pack, shave and cut snow, leaves, branches, shells, flowers, grass, digital camera.
Warm-up: show children a clip of an Alaskan Native Inuit creating an igloo.
Discussion: Snow is a building substance that can be packed into bricks, cut like wood, used to fill in cracks like mortar. It is sturdy enough to be used to make sculptures.
Lesson: The teacher takes the children outside and shows them how to roll snow, pack it and cut it. The teacher selects helpers to make a snowman in front of the class.
Practice: The children practice rolling, packing and cutting snow with partners. Then, they are given a randomly selected topic from which to create their own sculpture with their partner.
Reflections: The teacher takes a picture of each sculpture with the children beside it. The class discusses how their classmates used available materials along with the snow to help support or embellish the sculpture.
Enduring lesson: teach children to appreciate and manipulate new materials for the purpose of art.
Objective: teach children how to pack and roll snow for sculpting purposes and how to use accessories for embellishment.
Materials and Methods: Roll, pack, shave and cut snow, leaves, branches, shells, flowers, grass, digital camera.
Warm-up: show children a clip of an Alaskan Native Inuit creating an igloo.
Discussion: Snow is a building substance that can be packed into bricks, cut like wood, used to fill in cracks like mortar. It is sturdy enough to be used to make sculptures.
Lesson: The teacher takes the children outside and shows them how to roll snow, pack it and cut it. The teacher selects helpers to make a snowman in front of the class.
Practice: The children practice rolling, packing and cutting snow with partners. Then, they are given a randomly selected topic from which to create their own sculpture with their partner.
Reflections: The teacher takes a picture of each sculpture with the children beside it. The class discusses how their classmates used available materials along with the snow to help support or embellish the sculpture.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Vocabulary
I like the PBS children's shows that teach vocabulary. I have always felt a rich vocabulary helps make communication easier and writing more fun. Martha Speaks has a very nice introductory song that lists all the ways to say "speak." It goes: Martha speaks, she communicates, enumerates, elucidates, exaggerates, indicates and explicates, obviates and overstates. To reiterate, Martha speaks.
WordGirl has a feature at the end of the program that asks children to name their favorite word. Many of them talk about how they like the way a word sounds and what it means to them. I like the sound of convivial and the meaning of pontificate.
WordGirl has a feature at the end of the program that asks children to name their favorite word. Many of them talk about how they like the way a word sounds and what it means to them. I like the sound of convivial and the meaning of pontificate.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Electric Company on PBS
I am very impressed with the Electric Company on PBS. Just as Sid the Science Kid teaches young children about science, the Electric Company teaches young children about literacy and the creative process. Each episode has a problem the Electric crew must solve. It stresses using the combined talents of your friends to work on a problem together.
They present different phonics concepts and the writers use metacognation to explain ideas like detail, character traits and conflict in a story plot. The show also uses this as a way to teach vocabulary. And, the show is programed like Sesame Street so children as young as two can watch and learn something. The idea of having short segments that teach one idea and then move on to something else is ideal for young children who have short attention spans.
PBS has other children's programing dedicated to expanding vocabulary. Martha Speaks and WordGirl are good examples.
They present different phonics concepts and the writers use metacognation to explain ideas like detail, character traits and conflict in a story plot. The show also uses this as a way to teach vocabulary. And, the show is programed like Sesame Street so children as young as two can watch and learn something. The idea of having short segments that teach one idea and then move on to something else is ideal for young children who have short attention spans.
PBS has other children's programing dedicated to expanding vocabulary. Martha Speaks and WordGirl are good examples.
Monday, January 25, 2010
My New Website
I have created a new website called Lesson Plans for Teachers. Below is the link:
http://lessonplans.webs.com/
The site offers a my research ideas, reproducable assignments, forums for discussion, feedback forms, member sign-in, a blog and a place for photos and videos.
http://lessonplans.webs.com/
The site offers a my research ideas, reproducable assignments, forums for discussion, feedback forms, member sign-in, a blog and a place for photos and videos.
Vacation Bible School
My daughter and I were listening to the Discovery Canyon Music CD this morning. I was the storyteller for that Vacation Bible School program last year. Each day had a different lesson about Jesus and an activity to go with it. The two I really ran with were the Canyon Rescue and the TV News Story on Jesus.
The lesson for the Canyon Rescue was "working together." The pews in the sanctuary were perfect canyon walls. I created obstacles for the kids to get past before they could get to the stuffed animal that was the creature they were rescuing. They all had to work together with the given materials to get over each obstacle. I lined the children up like a bucket line and they passed the materials down to the ones at the front. I created a river from blue blankets and a hill or "rock fall" from several chairs. We used ropes, flashlights, poster board to represent a boat to get across the river. I used a large piece of wood as a backboard for the "injured" stuffed animal and a table worked as the EMS vehicle.
The lesson for the TV News Story on Jesus was "Spreading the Word." The kids played out the scene of Jesus healing the sick girl as if there was a live T.V News crew broadcasting the story. My helpers and I had a great time making the props. We had a fake video camera, microphone and noise makers for the cheering crowd. Several children really enjoyed playing the T.V. news correspondent who narrated the action.
The lesson for the Canyon Rescue was "working together." The pews in the sanctuary were perfect canyon walls. I created obstacles for the kids to get past before they could get to the stuffed animal that was the creature they were rescuing. They all had to work together with the given materials to get over each obstacle. I lined the children up like a bucket line and they passed the materials down to the ones at the front. I created a river from blue blankets and a hill or "rock fall" from several chairs. We used ropes, flashlights, poster board to represent a boat to get across the river. I used a large piece of wood as a backboard for the "injured" stuffed animal and a table worked as the EMS vehicle.
The lesson for the TV News Story on Jesus was "Spreading the Word." The kids played out the scene of Jesus healing the sick girl as if there was a live T.V News crew broadcasting the story. My helpers and I had a great time making the props. We had a fake video camera, microphone and noise makers for the cheering crowd. Several children really enjoyed playing the T.V. news correspondent who narrated the action.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Antique Mall
So I went to an antique mall this morning with a friend and we saw an amazing variety of furniture, jewelry, clothes, china and wall art. It was after I saw the second oriental apothocary drawer set that I decided this would be a great place to take children to learn about their world and their country's history.
Mom's who home school, listen up. Here is my field trip lesson idea:
Age group: 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th graders (no more than three students per adult)
Subject: American History, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
Lesson Objective: The student will be able to explain how technologies have changed American lifestyles over the last one hundred and fifty years.
Materials: notepad and pencil for each student. Internet pictures
Motivation: Show students pictures of people using household objects in each decade from 1850 to the present. "Ask what are these people doing and what are they using?""What technologies today have made that item obsolete?"
Teaching procedures: The teacher will explain that being able to identify items from different time periods based on what technologies they use will give the student a better understanding of how new technologies can change our daily lives. Having an understanding of how new technologies change will prepare students for changes in their future. The teacher will show the students different items in the shop that represent different time periods. For example, old sea chests, cooking ware, old coins, grandfather clocks and letter desks, crank operated sewing machines. She will explain how the materials used and ornamentation can indicate the time period it was made. She will mention what materials became more readily available to families in different time periods (tin, aluminum, wood, plastic) . She will explain what technology is utilized and what replaced that item later in history.
Background knowledge: Discuss what technologies we use today and when they were discovered. Talk about old movies the students have seen and what the furniture and kitchen items looked like.
Demonstration: The teacher will chose a piece of furniture at the shop, read the tag, discuss what time period it was probably used in, what technology is uses and what technology replaced it. She will write the information in her journal. She will look it over for clues about when it was made such as if it is made from plastic, wood, metal and if it has artistic features that are not currently popular.
Questions for understanding: What kind of furniture would we use today to replace that item? What would it be made from?
Guided practice:The student explores the antique shop and writes down the name of fifteen objects that represent different time periods in American history from the last one hundred and fifty years. The student writes what those objects were used for and who used them in their journal.
Closure: Review the technologies and furniture items that were discussed. Be sure to recap which technology came before another. Ask "How can a new technology change our daily lives?" "Give an example of one household item that has been replaced or affected by new technologies." "How will knowledge of change help you to deal with change in the future?"
Extension: When the students finish the trip, they must look up each item name online and record what years they were used and order their item list chronologically.
Modification for Special Education students: For students who can't write, have them explain verbally what they think the item is used for and who used it. Ask them how other people adapted to change and how they might adapt to change.
Mom's who home school, listen up. Here is my field trip lesson idea:
Age group: 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th graders (no more than three students per adult)
Subject: American History, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
Lesson Objective: The student will be able to explain how technologies have changed American lifestyles over the last one hundred and fifty years.
Materials: notepad and pencil for each student. Internet pictures
Motivation: Show students pictures of people using household objects in each decade from 1850 to the present. "Ask what are these people doing and what are they using?""What technologies today have made that item obsolete?"
Teaching procedures: The teacher will explain that being able to identify items from different time periods based on what technologies they use will give the student a better understanding of how new technologies can change our daily lives. Having an understanding of how new technologies change will prepare students for changes in their future. The teacher will show the students different items in the shop that represent different time periods. For example, old sea chests, cooking ware, old coins, grandfather clocks and letter desks, crank operated sewing machines. She will explain how the materials used and ornamentation can indicate the time period it was made. She will mention what materials became more readily available to families in different time periods (tin, aluminum, wood, plastic) . She will explain what technology is utilized and what replaced that item later in history.
Background knowledge: Discuss what technologies we use today and when they were discovered. Talk about old movies the students have seen and what the furniture and kitchen items looked like.
Demonstration: The teacher will chose a piece of furniture at the shop, read the tag, discuss what time period it was probably used in, what technology is uses and what technology replaced it. She will write the information in her journal. She will look it over for clues about when it was made such as if it is made from plastic, wood, metal and if it has artistic features that are not currently popular.
Questions for understanding: What kind of furniture would we use today to replace that item? What would it be made from?
Guided practice:The student explores the antique shop and writes down the name of fifteen objects that represent different time periods in American history from the last one hundred and fifty years. The student writes what those objects were used for and who used them in their journal.
Closure: Review the technologies and furniture items that were discussed. Be sure to recap which technology came before another. Ask "How can a new technology change our daily lives?" "Give an example of one household item that has been replaced or affected by new technologies." "How will knowledge of change help you to deal with change in the future?"
Extension: When the students finish the trip, they must look up each item name online and record what years they were used and order their item list chronologically.
Modification for Special Education students: For students who can't write, have them explain verbally what they think the item is used for and who used it. Ask them how other people adapted to change and how they might adapt to change.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Science Education on PBS
My daughter likes to watch Sid the Science Kid on PBS. I am impressed with the way the show is structured to teach children the scientific method. In each show Sid makes a brief observation that he formulates into a question. For example, in one show he is rushing to clean his room and he finds he is breathing hard so he asks "Where does the air go?" He always does a survey in which he asks his classmates what they think and he talks about the results. Then, the teacher does "Rug time" where she teaches a lesson on the topic and they all go to the "Super Fab Lab" to do experiments. After they experiment, they draw observations in their journals. The kids all go out to play and reenact the concepts they learned. When Sid's grandmother drives him home, she tells Sid a story about what she did in her youth that is related to that science concept. Then, before Sid goes to bed, he comes up with a Super Duper New Idea that applies the concept into a device that people can use.
The show has many of the steps in Bloom's Taxonomy. The Super Duper Big idea is the synthesis part, the Super Fab Lab is the comprehension and analysis part, the playtime is the application part because they frequently solve problems at playtime, and the Circle time is the comprehension part.
Parts of the scientific method are there to: observe something (breathing hard), come up with a question(where does the air go), gather data(the Sid survey), test the hypothesis (Super Fab Lab), record the data( Journaling).
Dinosaur Train on PBS also teaches science. Usually one of the little dinosaurs has a question and the mother takes them on the train to meet other dinosaurs who can answer it. The little dinosaur Buddy always says "I have a hypothesis..." and the hypothesis is tested by gathering information from interviews with other dinosaurs. The show discusses lots of different dinosaur species, what features they have, and what those features are used for.
It is amazing to consider the sophisticated concepts that are being taught in shows intended for children that are two years and up.
The show has many of the steps in Bloom's Taxonomy. The Super Duper Big idea is the synthesis part, the Super Fab Lab is the comprehension and analysis part, the playtime is the application part because they frequently solve problems at playtime, and the Circle time is the comprehension part.
Parts of the scientific method are there to: observe something (breathing hard), come up with a question(where does the air go), gather data(the Sid survey), test the hypothesis (Super Fab Lab), record the data( Journaling).
Dinosaur Train on PBS also teaches science. Usually one of the little dinosaurs has a question and the mother takes them on the train to meet other dinosaurs who can answer it. The little dinosaur Buddy always says "I have a hypothesis..." and the hypothesis is tested by gathering information from interviews with other dinosaurs. The show discusses lots of different dinosaur species, what features they have, and what those features are used for.
It is amazing to consider the sophisticated concepts that are being taught in shows intended for children that are two years and up.
Intro
This is a blog on teaching methods I have used and observed. Many good ideas are discussed among teachers in the hallway, between classes and in the lounge. I want to have a record of the ideas that have crossed my path.
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