During-Reading Strategy: Think-Pair-Share

Think-Pair-Share is an excellent activity for students to be able to stop and take a moment about what they are reading and share and compare their thoughts with one of their peers.

How-To Guide:

1. Think – During an in-class reading, take a moment to stop and ask the students a specific question  about the current point in their reading. Announce the discussion topic or question to the students for them to begin pondering over. Give students about a minute to think to themselves about how they might would answer the discussion topic or question.
2. Pair – Place students into pairs, either by choosing for them or allowing them one minute to choose partners on their own. Ask students discuss their individuals thoughts with their partner. Partners will then compare their ideas and come up with a conclusive answer to the discussion topic.
3. Share – Have each group of partners share to the class what they came up with together.

Helpful Tip:

• Having the student pairs fill out a worksheet or make notes of their own in which they write down both their individual ideas as well as their conclusive answer they and their partner came up with could really help students remember the topic that is being discussed in a more long term sense.

Example:

 

Completed Think-Pair-Share (Refer to the content of Unit #2) – [click the picture to enlarge]

Post-Reading Strategy: Think-Draw-Write

Think-Draw-Write is an excellent strategy to use as a post-reading activity, not only because it is a great way for students to reflect on what they have learned from the reading, but also to transition from reading into writing practice as well.

How-To Guide:

1. Think – Upon finishing an assigned reading, have students think to themselves about what they have just read. You could prompt students by having them choose a favorite part of the reading that stood out to them, assign a specific element of the reading to think about, or even have them describe what they would do if they were to be in the situation one of the characters experienced. Ultimately, anything can be used as a prompt for Think-Draw-Write.
2. Draw –  Then have students sketch out their thoughts. These thoughts do not necessarily need to come together to make a completed picture. They can just sketch several different objects to represent their ideas about the given prompt. No matter what route the students take, just be sure that they are doing some sort of sketch to represent their thoughts. This allows students to have something visually to look at and reflect on when they begin their reflective writing about the reading. Having students label their sketches is also a helpful tool in establishing a visual brainstorming tool for their writing.
3. Write – Finally, have students explain their sketches/drawings and labels in a written form. The length of their writing can be flexible, but should properly explain their sketches and fully describe their thoughts on their personal answer to the initial prompt. You can also include writing instruction in this area by encouraging students to use certain types of sentence structures, key vocabulary words, or other skills that have been recently discussed or taught during English Language Arts lessons.

Examples:

The following is an example of a teacher-made Think-Draw-Write worksheet. Although, the students can just as successfully complete the activity on their own paper.

 

Completed Think-Draw-Write (refer to content of Unit #2) — [click on picture to enlarge]

A Summary and Review of Vocabulary (Chapter 8)

Summary of the Chapter:

Throughout this chapter, the vocabularies of students are described and analyzed. It is found that although there are two “overall” vocabularies, receptive and expressive, there are a total of four general vocabularies that students possess. These four vocabularies are speaking, listening, written and reading vocabularies. There are many, many aspects to vocabulary, no matter what type of vocabulary you are referring. There are several parts involved in language and vocabulary. There are also many means to which a vocabulary can be acquired, such as context clues, external resources (textbook, glossary, index, dictionary, etc.). With this all being said, the most important part of vocabulary, in the sense of the teacher’s responsibility, is to make the vocabulary meaningful and generalized across the students’ lives.

Vocabulary Strategies:

1. Some students with disabilities greatly benefit from the use of visual learning tactics. Therefore, using graphic organizers to teach, enhance, and generalize vocabulary could be incredibly successful for these students. There are several different types and styles of graphic organizers that would be able to adhere to the specific needs and desires of a specific student’s learning process. For these reasons as well as my own experiences of successful learning using graphic organizers, I will most definitely utilize graphic organizers in my future vocabulary instruction. Graphic organizers would be great to use when words are being introduced so that students can associate these words with pictures and other words.
2. Many students with disabilities also benefit from prompts and cues. If the clues and questions strategy for teaching and learning vocabulary was to be used with these students, success would likely follow. In this strategy, students would be prompted by either questions or fill-in-the-blank statements that hint towards or lead up to the vocabulary word(s) being taught at that time. This would be a great strategy to use after the words have been initially taught and are then being practiced for memory and generalization.

‘Know, Want, and Learn’ about “Overlapping Vocabulary and Comprehension”

This summary describes my thoughts while reading the following article:

Greenwood, S.C. and Flanigan, K. (2007). Overlapping Vocabulary and Comprehension: Context Clues Complement Semantic Gradients., The Reading Teacher, 61 (3), pp. 249-254.

What I Know:

• As a future special educator, I know that vocabulary comprehension may be a difficult task for some of my future students. Therefore, context clues will be of incredible importance in making vocabulary “click” in the minds of my students. By building on words (context clues) that students are already familiar with, they will most likely have a much easier time grasping the new words.
• I also know that if a student with disabilities has a larger vocabulary they will have a better “recipe” for greater comprehension. Therefore, it is important to help these students enhance their vocabulary using any strategy that works for them.

What I Want to Know:

• How can I bring my students in my future special education classroom that have difficulty with comparisons to be able to utilize semantic gradients? Are there any specific strategies that would help to assist these students in utilizing this process. Would the assistance of pictures help them to place the words along the “line graph” appropriately, or are there better ways to teach the idea of “semantic gradients” to students with vocabulary difficulty?

What I Learned:

• Before reading this article, I had never even heard of a semantic gradient. I think that the use of semantic gradients could be incredibly successful in teaching and enhancing vocabulary. Students who have difficulty with comparisons would be able to work on two different skills simultaneously if they were to use semantic gradients: enhancing of vocabulary and comparing of words. I think this article would definitely be a strategy that I might would use in my future classroom, as long as it was the best strategy for the student at hand.

Roni Jo Draper’s Chapter on ELA

After browsing Doug Buehl’s Reading Room, I chose and utilized a summarizing strategy located on that website to summarize Roni Jo Draper’s Chapter on English Language Arts. A PDF file of the summarizing strategy (two column notes) is located below:

Chp 8 – Two Column Notes

A 3-2-1 Summary of “Making Reading Relevant for Adolescents”

A 3-2-1 Summary of Making Reading Relevant for Adolescents by Thomas Bean

• 3 Main Ideas of the Overall Article:

1. Students in today’s middle and high schools are not spending enough time recreationally reading. Students feel that this has much to do with the texts they are reading in class not motivating them to read due to a lack of required readings that actually match their interests. For example, teachers and schools are not choosing modern and relevant books, but instead are still using outdated readings.
2. This decline in recreational reading is a big issue because it robs students of the several benefits that may result from recreational reading. A few of these benefits include better academic success, vocabulary development, standardized-test performance, additional reading attitudes, and word-knowledge development.
3. Teachers need to analyze their teaching methods as well as their overall curriculum goals. Standardized-testing is obviously very important, and although it must remain a priority within the curriculum, teachers must find ways to incorporate teenage literacy into their lesson plans in order to fulfill their curriculum goals in a way that will also engage their students.

• 2 Key Points that are Critical in Establishing Positive Student Engagement:

1. During lessons, teachers should constantly analyze the overall interest of their students in whatever resources and texts are being used to reach their curriculum goals. In order to keep students engaged in the learning process, teachers must be able to constantly maintain their students’ attention. If this means allowing students to choose one book out of a list of five for a particular unit and then have the students complete the same project, then do so!
2. There will be situations where teachers are unable to allow students to choose their own books or use modern literacy due to school curriculum requirements mandating that they teach classic book lists. In these cases, teachers should incorporate moments of their lesson where they tie in the relationship between the book they are teaching and today’s society.

• 1 Most Important Aspect Related to Teaching and Learning:

1. In order to successfully engage students while also achieving curriculum goals, preparing for standardized-testing, and ensuring academic success, teachers must be sure that the resources and texts they are using either directly relate to the interests of their students or can be compared and correlated with today’s society.

Relationships Unit – Anchor Text and Alternate Texts #1,#2, & #3

In a continuation of our 6th grade class’ English Language Arts unit on relationships, there  are several text resources we will be utilizing to reach our final goals.

Our anchor text we will often be referring to throughout the unit is the book Crash written by Jerry Spinelli. The synopsis of this book is as follows:

• “Crash” John Coogan is the typical jock. At least what most of us have in mind as a jock. He’s cool; he’s popular; he’s well-dressed. Crash has a wonderful life, until life deals him a hand that he could not have expected. When Crash’s grandfather unexpectedly has a stroke, Crash unconsciously steps back and re-evaluates his life — without even realizing he’s doing it. Suddenly, his cool friends don’t seem so cool anymore. Things that were once the most important in his life, become trivial. As a result of his grandfather’s illness, Crash becomes more aware of the world around him and realizes there more important things in life than breaking records in football.

We will also be supplementing our unit by focusing on a few factors that could possibly play into our relationships with family and friends that also tie into our anchor text, Crash. In order to do so, we will be utilizing some alternate text resources that are related to these subtopics. These subtopics and resources are as follows:

1. We will look at the background and history of the Quaker religion so that we will be able to understand what exactly it is that Penn Webb’s family believes and why. In order to do so, we will use the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJXdICz1nA4

2. We will also research the Penn Relays and look at some pictures that display the track that is used at the Penn Relays, as well as a middle school track team competing at the Penn Relays.

     

3. We will talk about the definition of and effects of bullying and read the North Carolina laws that address bullying so that we understand how harmful bullying can be on our relationships. The link to the laws is as follows:

http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/north-carolina.html

Relationships and “The Core”

Throughout this English Language Arts unit, our 6^th grade class will focus on the theme of relationships, especially looking at those relationships that would be categorized under the topic of family and friends.

The Common Core Standards we will be addressing are as follows:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

At the end of this unit, these students will be able to answer the following topical questions that will be able to lead them to the essential question which is also identified below:

• Topical Questions:
  • What does it mean to be a friend?
  • What does it require for a relationship to thrive?
  • How does bullying hinder relationships?
  • Do relationships have to be between two (or more) people that are exactly alike?
  • Can there be diversity within mutual relationships?
• Essential Question:
  • How do you develop and sustain a relationship with someone different than you?

CATAPULT: Bloom’s Taxonomy and the NC Common Core

• Covers front and back: What are  your initial reactions when comparing Bloom’s Thinking Skills Continuum to teaching in your content area?
  • First off, I noticed that while Bloom’s Taxonomy has three categories (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation), the NC Common Core does not seem to equally include and focus on each category. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a great resource to assess student’s learning on a certain section of the Common Core standards. As teachers, we should remember that the Common Core and Bloom’s Taxonomy should not have to stand alone because they are not properly combined. Especially for special educators, we need to be able to modify and manipulate our curriculum to meet the needs of our students. Therefore, we should get a handle on utilizing multiple resources, like the NC Common Core and Bloom’s taxonomy simultaneously to best benefit our students.
• Authors: When designing effective instruction, what is your role as a teacher? How do you think you will effectively support student learners?
  • As a special educator it is my job to accommodate my students’ needs into any (and every) curriculum, lesson, subject, or goal. In order to ensure that my students can succeed to the best of their ability, I need to design a learning process and environment that fits them perfectly. Therefore, I need to be able to combine multiple resources and strategies to best suit each individual student. Using Bloom’s taxonomy in tandem with the Extended NC Common Core (the special education version of the NC Common Core), I would be able to assist my students in the best way possible while also assessing their progress and growth in accordance to my teaching. Evaluating my own teaching will be nearly as important as evaluating the growth of my students if I want to be sure that I am teaching them in a way that works for them!
• Title: As a user of the Common Core Standards, what is their major emphasis compared to Bloom?
  • The NC Common Core standards are a mandated curriculum that teachers must go by in terms of what they will be teaching in their classrooms. Bloom’s Taxonomy is used as more of a resource for how to teach these standards in a way that evaluates student progress. Although, the NC Common Core does tend to focus more on the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation sections of Bloom’s Taxonomy rather than the knowledge, comprehension, and application sections.
• Audience: How will you organize instruction for the students to become more responsible for their own learning?
  • In a special education classroom, student learning is typically teacher-supported, but is very much student-motivated. I plan on using Bloom’s Taxonomy as a way to have a conversation with my students about the passages and books we are reading. I plan to allow student to choose their own books (within their reading level, of course!) so that they will be highly interested in what they are reading and will therefore actually enjoy our conversations (with the Bloom’s sneak attack!). I will use these conversations in a casual manner so that students understand that as long as they participate and try their best, that I am proud of their progress. I find it incredibly important to encourage our student’s learning progress so that they are able to sustain motivation to keep pushing forward.
• Pages: What is your definition of literacy? What is your definition of text?
  • Literacy is simply the ability of someone to functionally read and write. Text is any written material that one can read or interpret.
• Underlying message or purpose: How do you mesh the two definitions or functions of text and literacy within your discipline?
  • With special education students, many students have difficulty in the area of literacy. Therefore, my first priority is to achieve literacy at a functional level for my students. In order to do so, I would need to utilize texts that are appropriate for my student at every level of their progress.
• Look at visuals, maps, or sketches in the text: Within your content discipline, how will you utilize visual, maps, authentic documents, or sketches to convey meaning? Share suggestions with your colleges/fellow teachers.
  • In a special education classroom (or any classroom for that matter), teachers will encounter multiple learning styles. Students that learn differently are going to need different types of supplement to assist their learning, especially when it comes to reading. For my students, I will have many ways to incorporate visual learning. For example, I may introduce a fictional text/story by showing related pictures before even placing the text in the student’s hands. This may spark interest in the story if the student can first see what the story/text is about. Then while having the student read the story/text, I may have them place the related pictures in chronological order of the events in the text. Then I will ask the student to draw/sketch their depiction of the text/story. Finally, if applicable, I may introduce a map of the location in which the story took place and have the students point out the locations of the events in the story.
• Teacher: Summarize your new knowledge of literacy within your discipline.
  • The main thing I learned through this exercise was that by using multiple resources, I can more successfully accommodate to the needs of my students in terms of advancing their function of literacy. I will have to use Bloom’s Taxonomy in a way that best suits my students individually, and therefore, may have individual sets of questions for each student based on the actual text they are reading as well as their level of literacy. Basically it all boils down to keeping each student’s individual curriculum within the special education classroom unique and appropriate for their specific needs and goals.

Review: i-Pad Apps

           

• Evernote:  Evernote is an incredibly useful free application that is used for organizing webpages, notes, documents, and etcetera. You can also make your own notes on this application. These notes function similarly to Microsoft Word documents, in which you can have text, links, pictures, and more. As a current student preparing to be a special educator, I have been saving all of my class notes from courses during my time in the College of Education. I personally could use Evernote as a storage place for all of these notes instead of having to save ten different spiral notebooks. Also, if I transferred my notes to Evernote, I would be able to quickly search the notes for specific topics when I needed to reference something due to the “tags” feature of Evernote. In my future classroom, I would also use Evernote for class notes and extra practice notes so that my students could access these notes anywhere with internet, due to this application also being accessible on a normal web browser rather than just being confined to an i-Pad.

• Evernote Peek: Evernote Peek is a quizzing application that is linked with your Evernote account. This free application is one of a kind and is only available on the i-Pad. Evernote Peek features “quizzing notebooks” which are made as a folder of notes within your Evernote account. The title of each note is the clue/question and the actual content of the note is the answer to the clue/question. The application utilizes an actual Apple SmartCover, or a virtual SmartCover that is within the application. To begin the quiz, you click the notebook you want to study, close the SmartCover or (pull down the virtual SmartCover), and then slowly pull the SmartCover up to “peek” at the clue/question and then check your answer. I could definitely see myself using this application in my future classroom with students who needed extra study time on certain topics or ideas. I also have downloaded this application on my personal i-Pad and am currently using it for a study tool and am loving every minute of it!

• ExplainEverything: ExplainEverything is also an i-Pad only application that costs $2.99. This application features a recordable interactive whiteboard. This interactive whiteboard is also one of a kind because not only can you import photos, videos, browser pages, files, sounds, and more, but you can access all of these imports within the application. With most other applications, you have to switch between applications to view videos, pictures, and browser pages. I would definitely use this application in my future special education classroom so that students would be able to access my whiteboard lectures and presentations repeated for extra practice.