Moving to Assessment

In the past couple of weeks I have been able to see C as both a writer and a reader.  As mentioned in my analysis of C’s writing, she has shown strengths in her interest and ability to write (both from the creative and conventions aspects).  As a reader C has demonstrated that she is at the instructional level for a 4^th grader.  Though she makes some mistakes in her reading, most of those mistakes insertions (adding either “a” or “the”) or substitutions and retains meaning in the text.  C has demonstrated that she is able to summarize the text, and usually points out main characters and major details in the retelling, in her personal reading, classroom assigned reading, and in the readings that I bring to our meetings.  In comprehension, though, C seems to struggle a little with some of the implicit or inferred questions even though she can summarize the passage and answer explicit questions with ease

Taking all of these factors into consideration, I believe that C would benefit from practice and lessons that revolved around reading comprehension.  Since C has expressed interest in reading and writing about animals and fantasy situations, using this as a basis of a lesson on comprehension would be ideal.  Finding a passage about any or all of these subjects will engage C in the lesson and the personal interest may help show her true potential to comprehend reading and ability to answer implicit questions.  As part of the lesson, C could be shown strategies of writing in the text (or making notes) to remember main point or questions that she had while reading.  If the lesson goes better than planned and C demonstrates the ability to answer implicit questions, slowly transitioning to passages that do not involve these subjects may show true improvement in these skills.

Math Blog 3

What did I learn?

Gallery walk, the way we see things (and makes sense to us), students may see things differently.  Graph should stand on its own, interpreting other graphs.  Important for everyone to be able to read graphs (create, make inferences, draw conclusions, and justify reasoning).

A new math tool that I learned about was a mira, which is mainly used for teaching about symmetry/congruence.  When I was in school it seemed like these concepts were taught using memorization and direct instruction, so it’s good to learn about tools that will put concepts into action.

What do I still have questions about?

Similarly to my questions from my last math blog, I am wondering if it more beneficial to have students use GapMinder to find information to use (to use real data) or to come up with their own data.  In both class discussion and in one of our Anneburg videos, the idea of having students create their own data will make the students own their work.  Or, like before, is that dependent of grade level?

What are the implications for classroom practice?

In my main placement I would have students create their own graphs, since the information on GapMinder may be too complex for their practical use.  The other thing that we used in class, the mira, would be beneficial for 3^rd grade when learning about kinds of triangles (for example equilateral).  If it was not realistic to introduce the mira to students in this manner, an introduction to the tool would be helpful in an art project, so they can get some exposure to the tool and the concepts of symmetry.

Winter Quarter Math Blog 2

What did I learn?

One of the activities that we did today was to create charts about a change in population, through history, for a given area by using GapMinder.org.  After having an introduction to the activity and website, we were broken into groups and needed to find a world phenomenon and use the graph from GapMinder to help us explain the phenomenon.  Though there were so many options from GapMinder, but it seemed that the ideas that we had didn’t have enough information on the graph to help support the phenomenon that we anticipated, so we had to brainstorm another set of data to use.

What do I still have questions about?

This activity was rather frustrating because it seemed like we could not find the graphs to support the phenomenon that we wanted to present.  If I were to do a similar activity in a classroom I wonder if there would need to be additional boundaries or expectations, so that students don’t get frustrated and become disengaged.  It seems that many students need some requirements to follow, at least with my 3^rd graders.  Or, is this activity (and GapMinder) intended for older students?

When conducting an activity like this, would it be best to have the students (older students – particularly in a middle school setting) become focused by working together with block teachers in order to integrate or enhance other lessons?  Or is it the open-endedness alone that will engage students because they will be using their interests to select data?

What are the implications for the classroom?

Having students find their own data makes the activity more relevant to their lives.  For my 3^rd grade classroom, I would have students find a topic of interest or create a hypothesis before doing research, simply because of the amount of time that it seems to take the students to complete open-ended tasks.  Students at this age can collect data from their peers and graph it, telling a story that is about their classroom.

Analysis of Student Writing/Lesson Plan Rough Draft

Meaning

“Talking Dog” is a writing piece that was a result of a teacher prompt, though, in discussion, C has expressed interest in writing fantasy stories that include animals.  In the story, C incorporates her real life pets and puts them in a fantasy setting, in this case, where they talk to each other for a day.  Being able to engage these animals, which C is so fond of, makes here enjoy the writing process and take pride in her work, because of the personal interest that C has. 

Six Traits

Ideas & Content

Though C’s story about a talking dog does include her dog, which talks, the story tends to be focused more on the talking squirrel.  Since the title of the story is “Talking Dog,” I would believe that the story would focus on the talking dog.  Even during the planning process of the story, C includes more details that entail the squirrel as a main character, instead of the dog.  Instead, the squirrel’s dialogue is present in more of the story.  Then, at the end, C closes the story by saying, “I still remember the day animals talked.”  These lead me to believe that C has a hard time staying focused on the main idea and gets pulled into the details. 

Another example of this was when I first met C and was helping her brainstorm ideas on ways to make Juanita Elementary better.  She had said that adding an indoor swimming pool would make the students happier because students could exercise and a school team could form, similar to the team at the local junior high.  When talking more about making students happier, C seemed to focus on the detail of creating a school swimming team and seemed to leave the other ideas behind.

Organization

C includes a recognizable beginning and conclusion to her story, but both the beginning and the end of the story tend to cause some confusion to the reader.  The story beginning with C’s dog, Guy, waking her up in the middle of the night by saying that he has to “go” (to the bathroom, I presume).  Since this is the first time that the dog talked, and it takes place in the middle of the night, the reader is lead to believe that this story is about a dream, instead of believing that it was a real occurrence.  The last event of the story also takes place at the same time (in the middle of the night), but then it was suddenly the following day and the animals didn’t talk anymore.  Having both the beginning and the ending events of the talking animals occur in the middle of the night, the reader is still left to believe that this was a dream, but at the end of the story C says that was the day the animals talked (coincidently, she never mentioned the animals talking during day hours).

Voice

Knowing her audience, her teacher, and the purpose of the writing was in response to a teacher prompt, C does a good job at writing an engaging story because the purpose is of personal interest to her.  The narrative does come across as C’s perspective of how animals would interact if they were able to do so through talking.  In other points throughout the story C inserts her voice, or something the sounds typical of a fourth grader, by saying things like, “go figure.”

Word Choice

Few striking phrases are used in “Talking Dog”, but the one that stands out the most is when C says, “Guy was acting like he was in a Mexican cha cha dance.”  This descriptive phase gives the reader a clear understanding of the image that she is trying to convey.  There are many opportunities that C has to add more descriptive phrases that will paint a picture in the reader’s head if that were the focus of the writing.

Sentence Fluency

Each sentence that C uses is well thought out and each of them flow well with the use of transitional phrases.  Considering the topic of the story and the perspective of the author, the dialogue sounds natural between the dog and the squirrel.  Though completely unnatural, I could imagine that a dog would say, “hurry, hurry, hurry,” and repeating short words to convey what they want, just like I would imagine them saying things like “ball, ball, ball” or “Leash? Walk. Leash?  Walk.”   In addition to allowing the reader to hear the dialogue in their own head, C’s dialogue gives the reader to give good expressions if being read aloud.

Conventions

The rough draft of “Talking Dog” has some conventional problems, but she has also self-corrected some as she has gone along in her writing.  In the beginning, C did not capitalize her dog’s name and wrote “guy”, but then had the correction marks on the page (though it’s hard to tell if that was the correction of C or her teacher), but later on the name was capitalized.  Another convention problem that C seems to have is having the dialogue flow into the paragraphs, instead of separating them out into individual paragraphs that are indented (I’m not sure if that has been taught at C’s grade level).  Overall, though, C’s use of spelling, punctuation, and grammar is correct and does not distract from the readability of the story.  As stated before, it is hard to tell which corrections have been made by C herself or the teacher.

Ownership

Though this story was written based upon a teacher prompt, C has expressed interest in writing fantasy stories.  Equally, C mentions her love of her animals, including her dog Guy and a “pet” squirrel that she has at home.  These two things, in addition to the way that C introduced the piece of writing to me, makes me believe that she took a lot of pride in this piece of writing in particular.

In general, C has mentioned that writing is one of her favorite subject in school, along with math.  In further questions about her interests, C mentions that she enjoys writing fantasy, specifically something that could possibly happen.  If given her choice in starting a writing prompt, C would begin a story with, “One day on a cold day in January” and would substitute the weather and month depending on the time of year that the prompt would occur.

Spelling Development

In her writing sample, C does a good job at spelling, though misspells squirrel as squiral and lying as lieing.  The misspelling of these two words is understandable, since they are uncommon to a forth grader’s written language and lying, in particular, does not follow most of the –ing rules that would have been taught up to this grade level.

During the spelling inventory, C made only two errors within the first 17 words, and one had to do with using the incorrect tense of a word.  During this time of the spelling inventory, I only said the words and did not use them in the sentence.  Then, as I progressed through the word list, I started using the words in sentences, since they were words may be uncommon to fourth graders.  In this process I was having a hard time using the word, and the correct tense, in a sentence, which may have contributed to some of the misspellings.  Anyways, I would C needs help with syllable junctures or inflected endings, specifically at the early stage of syllables and affixes.

Conclusion

Based upon the finding in the six traits, I believe that C would benefit from working on focusing on a main idea and supporting it throughout the story.  Especially because C enjoys writing, and assuming that she will want to continue writing in her free time, C would benefit on focusing her ideas and supporting them.

Lesson Plan

Objective

To analyze the student’s main idea and support it by including details to support the main idea of the story “Talking Dog” and re-writing the existing sentences.

Standards –

GLE 1.1.1 – Applies more than one strategy for generating ideas and planning writing.

GLE 3.1.1. Analyzes ideas, selects a narrow topic, and elaborates using specific details and/or examples.

Material – Pencil, lined notebook paper, and worksheet (provided by teacher).

Instructional Strategies – I will be working with C in writing conference format with her rough draft of “Talking Dog.”

I will introduce a worksheet with C that will ask her to write out the main idea of the story and the three events that occurred that support the main idea.  After each event, C will write in how the event supports the main idea.  If C struggles with finding the events, or expressing how the events support the main idea, I will assist her by asking her leading questions in hopes that she will come to the conclusion on her own.

After this part of the worksheet is completed,  I will ask C if she can find a way that she can use the ideas that she has and turn them into sentences that support the main idea.  If she is unable to do so, I will ask her to write new sentences that will replace the existing sentences.

The last step would be to have C rewrite her draft by including the revisions that were made as a result of completing the worksheet and working with her.  In addition to seeing how she has progressed in her writing, it will also give me a better understanding of which conventions corrections were made by her and which ones were made by the teacher in the original rough draft.

Assessment

I will assess C’s new draft with her original rough draft to see if the ideas and events support the main idea.  Additionally, I will ask her questions, after reviewing the new draft, about her events and why they support her main idea, to make sure that the written words convey the ideas she had in her head.

Winter Quarter Math Blog 1

Today in class, I mostly learned about different ways to come up with the same solution, as we did in finding the functions for the garden.  While I quickly saw patterns and would come up with a function, my partner was able to come up with a totally different way of finding the solution.  In our first problem, which I was able to quickly solve, I did not allow my partner enough time to follow through with her thoughts, therefore, my method deterred her complete thought process.  As we continued working, I knew that I would have to keep my solution to myself for a while until my partner was able to complete her thought and come up with her own solution.  Then, we would show the other person how we came to that conclusion and from there were able to brainstorm alternative methods of finding the solution.

As a teacher, I know that there are many ways to solve the problem, I just need to allow the students enough time to explore their thoughts before everyone share, as to know skew their ideas.  When everyone’s ideas and methods of solving the problem are so different, how do I present the information in a way that will cater to all of those students’ needs (to make sure they understand the information)?  I’m sure that, over the years, I will learn more ways to solve the same problems giving me real examples to use and reference, but what about the first years?  Will the way that I see the problem and present it be enough for every student?  I’m afraid not.

When I do present math in class, especially in my dyad placement, I would often notice that either the language I used or the way I presented the problems was insufficient, making me think about how I could have present the information better, so the students will actually learn the concepts.  When planning new lessons, one thing I strive for is alternative ways to explain concepts or solving problems (which can be found in the modifications section of Jean’s long form lesson plans).  If there are new ways that students come up with solving or explaining, I can then make notes on the lesson plan, so I can use them in the future.

Differentiated Instruction using an iTouch

Many students in my main placement would benefit from differentiated, especially when it involves using technology.  Most of the students are very familiar with technology and are excited about using it in school, in addition to their personal lives.  Three students, in particular, come to mind when I think of using technology to differentiate instruction.

The first student I think of is a male ELL student that struggles in subjects that he generally excels in because of his difficulty understanding the language.  In this case, I would use technology to demonstrate the connection of the words and concepts, especially in math.  Additionally, he could use an app to translate words that may deter him in his success.

Another student that comes to mind a female student that has a fascination with fantasy and finds joy in playing online fantasy based games (in addition to drawing cartoons based upon the fantasies that she is exposed to).  Using technology may be a way to engage her in classroom activities while relating it to things that are so very important to her.  I have seen the way that integrating video game talk in a math interview resulted in the student fulfilling the math questions, but not seeing it as doing math problems because he was talking about something that he likes.  Taking this approach may have similar results with this student.  One drawback with this student, though, may be that we are encouraging the student to live in a fantasy world that she seems to be overly involved with to the point where it could be dangerous for her development (this has been a worry for me as I have heard her mention certain situations with online games and meeting strangers).  But, would that be pushing my personal opinion on what is too little/much exposure to video games?

There is another male student that would benefit from differentiated instruction because he has a hard time staying attentive and focused and tends to act up in class.  Engaging this student may be one way to help this student succeed and reverse the behavioral problems that have been occurring.  Having the student follow along with the lesson, or controlling the speed of information, may help the student.

Using an iTouch in the classroom has both pros and cons.  I know that there are a lot of apps available to help students in many ways and, since many of my 3^rd grade students already have a personal iTouch, they will know how to navigate the technology.  Though, their familiarity with the technology may cause the students to get off task or abuse the privilege (for example playing games).  Managing the students’ use of iTouch may be hard, since the screens are small and my aging eyes have a hard time noticing them from a distance.

I am excited to learn more about the capabilities of the iTouch as I spend more time playing with it and exploring new apps.

Random Thoughts

Last week at lunch I overheard some of my students talking during lunch.  They were in the classroom to take advantage of the time to complete work and get help when they need it.  Of course, as middle schoolers, they were talking the whole time and may have only gotten about two words written.  Instead, they were talking about many things that children these ages talk about – facebook and who like who.  I laughed to myself as I heard the students go on and on about who posted a picture of who and how they were tagged.  I was thinking that these students seemed too young to have a facebook page and the statement, “I was tagged as Snow White, but I think I look more like Tinkerbell, “ only confirmed this.

Another thing that was brought up during this lunch conversation was the going rate to pay someone to do your homework.  Apparently, for $20 you can get your homework done for you.  This is definitely something that teachers need to be aware of.

Later on during the day, one student came up to me and said, “I stayed up until 1 in the morning last night.”  I asked him why and he told me it was because he was texting.  I was not too surprised, yet surprised at the same time.  As I learned in the Spring, children in this age group need to have more sleep because they are growing at such a rapid rate.  The increase in technology, and accessibility by children this age, may be interfering with students being able to get enough sleep that will keep them functioning in school.  Yet another thing that teachers need to be aware of.

After class that day, my dyad teacher began talking about random factors that are affect the teacher’s ability to ensure that all students succeed – most of which are out of the teacher’s control.  This conversation evolved from important changes in a child’s home life, like moving in with grandparents from their parents’ house because their parents couldn’t handle taking care of them anymore, to the child suffering the loss of a loved one, especially a parent.  In thinking about it, I started to wonder about how I would handle this and being a caring teacher that the students can come to for support.  Then, the kicker, something that had never crossed my mind – the loss of a student.  How will I deal with this as a teacher?  As much as I hope that I will never experience this, I know that is a real possibility and should prepare myself accordingly (as much as that is humanly possible).

Random classroom ideas:

I was at a craft bazar earlier in the quarter and saw that some people had created magnets out of scrabble pieces.  I really liked this idea, especially for the classroom, so people could play with letters and create words.  At the time I was not willing to pay $2 per magnet, but thought I could easily make these magnets myself.  Instead, I headed to a thrift shop and bought 2 scrabble games for $2, giving me almost 200 letters, then went to a craft store to buy a 10 foot long roll of magnets for $3.  With a little hot glue and these materials, I should have almost 200 magnets for about $5 and a couple hours of work.  I’m excited about getting everything made.