Module 2 Summary

Goals for Differentiated Instruction Video

     This video discussed differentiated instruction goals for a teacher. I agree that differentiated instructions help meet the learning needs of all students. I continuously engage my students in all curriculum areas. I believe it is important for all students to be engaged throughout their school day. I let my students choose their individual reading book because I feel that it is important for the students to be interested in the topic as well as feel a sense of ownership. I also engage my students by designing opportunities that enhance their creativity and challenge their individual needs. I provide appropriate scaffolding throughout my lessons so I can watch my students prosper. Additionally, I provide flexible approaches to content instruction and products. This allows the students to work in varied instructional formats. In conclusion, I agree that one major goal for differentiated instruction is to establish learner-responsive, teacher-facilitated classrooms.

The story of Differentiation by Tomlinson Video

     This interview was interesting to watch and listen to and I was hooked in when she discussed her first teaching experience when she had half of students above level and the other half below four grade levels. I think some teachers tend to teach to the middle because it is the easiest. However, we are not serving justice to our students. This is very common in schools. As teachers, we always want our students to work together and excel within the curriculum as well as everyday life. I agree with Tomlinson that we need to use flexible grouping throughout our school year. I use it in math and language arts because students’ knowledge changes almost daily. My students enjoy having different centers or homework in mathematics. Yet, they also love reading their own books at their level. I often remind the students that doctors wouldn’t give a Band-Aid to a person with a sprained ankle or broken arm…only the one with a cut would receive a Band-Aid. This analogy helps the students see that they all learn at different levels and speeds.

Learning Theories PPT

     This PowerPoint discusses the various learning theories. I agree that we need to pay attention to students’ learning styles and teach our lessons with that in mind. I also like the slide about what life really is because I agree that it is creative, abundant, full of surprise, and diverse. My students and I often talk about how boring it would be if we were all the same and acted the same. Students need to learn though discovery and a problem solving curriculum. This helps them become engaged in their learning as well as responsible for new knowledge. They should have technology to utilize while learning new skills or practicing old skills. I like how this PowerPoint encouraged us to “stop reinforcing a curriculum that’s a mile wide and an inch deep” because Common Core has challenged us to change it to a curriculum that is an inch wide and mile deep. We have shifted to a more critical thinking and problem solving curriculum where the students have to develop higher order thinking skills at a much younger age than what we expected prior. I am excited to see how the Common Core changes the ways teachers teach and students learn.

Planning Strategic Reading Lessons PPT

     This PowerPoint provided vast knowledge regarding the definition of strategic reading lessons and how to develop them. Strategic reading is a teacher-directed instruction approach that allows for students to be grouped together based on which strategy they need to review. We utilize strategy groups at my school during reading workshop which is a great way to have students review the basic reading strategies (i.e., comprehension, inferring, fluency, comparing and contrasting, etc.). However, I try to use the students’ texts so they become more interested in the lessons and groups. I personally have never used the format that was discussed on this PowerPoint although I do use parts of it. I always plan with the end in mind so that students know the purpose for reading. I have seen my students’ attitudes increase positively towards reading and thinking critically. They also gain knowledge of other books that they might not have thought of prior to the group.

Literacy Content Reading & Scaffolding PPT

     This PowerPoint identified ways to use content area reading materials to support reading comprehension along with listing materials and resources available for us to accomplish this. I find it easier to integrate all academic areas with each other. I am currently teaching science and social studies via my reading and writing workshop. We are learning how to take notes on the science and social studies curriculum and read nonfiction text. It is important to scaffold students throughout all academic areas so they can become successful. I agree that all students need scaffolding before, during, and after reading. Once you incorporate this method, you will learn which students need more or less scaffolding. It is important that the teacher prepares his/her materials and identifies vocabulary, text structures, and prior knowledge before the students dive into the text. I try to gain my students interest and motivate them to read about our curriculum by showing them video clips or reading a fun read aloud book. I really enjoyed the charts on slides 15 – 16 showing the pattern differences that we can teach using science, social studies, math, and literature materials. All of these literacy skills (i.e., identifying main idea, locating facts and specific details, organizing material mentally, vocabulary comprehension, summarizing, etc.) are vital to have because they will them throughout their lifetime at school and into their adulthood out in the business world.

Module 1 for EDRD 7718

Reading Strategies for Struggling Readers Video
Reading is the pinnacle for all academics. Not having the foundation for reading detrimentally affects students. Phonological awareness is only taught in primary grades but I agree that it should be taught throughout all grade levels. Phonics seems to be difficult because English incorporates over 40 sounds. I like the idea of saying nonsense words like during a game of “war”. In fourth grade, I tend to focus on the fluency of reading so the students can read accurately and quickly. I like the idea of reading the same piece three times in a row to build a child’s fluency – building their confidence and fluency levels. I also focus on building vocabulary. In fourth grade, I teach students to use context clues but oftentimes we have to use a Frayer model (definition, synonym, part of speech, sentence, and picture) to learn a new word. This helps the students learn the new word and gain more knowledge about this word. I loved the idea of using an ice cream sundae as an example of a main idea and its supporting details. I always use box and bullets but appreciate the use of graphic organizers for my students who are lower leveled readers.

Trip to Hawaii Videos
I really enjoyed this assignment because I have only been to Hawaii once and would love to go back, especially since I had to scrape ice off my car this morning! This reminds me that I should always hook my students into my entire lesson – I often use simulations or grabbers in an effort to get them involved. I agree that graphic organizers should be used because they can help maximize students’ exposure, knowledge, and organization. I use them a great deal with my students who struggle with reading or writing or cannot organize their thoughts individually. However, I use foldables and other organizers daily in all subjects. Many students are now visual learners due to the technology they are continuously interacting with, and graphic organizers help students “see” the picture. Since I am a fourth grade teacher, I have often allowed my students to create their own graphic organizers either on paper or the computer. They need to take ownership of their graphic organizers because this helps them complete them and actually use them throughout the lessons. I agree that we constantly are working on improving their cause and effect skills in fourth grade. This video was a great review of the different graphic organizers in grades K – 5 and how they build upon each other as students become older.

Expository Texts – Understanding Text Organization PowerPoint
I believe it is important to teach organization with all texts because this sets the students up for improving their comprehension for both fiction and expository stories. I believe that most people remember more information if they make notes while reading. It is important to teach students how to compare and contrast. This is a skill we are currently working on in fourth grade because my students can talk/write about their differences but have a difficult time seeing the similarities between ideas, which surprised me. I like the idea of telling them about the “signal words” and will introduce this concept to them next week. As I mentioned in the trip to Hawaii summary, I really love having the students involved in making and completing their own graphic organizers (they love to decorate them to their liking).

Expository Text Structures - Lewis and Clark, Website/Reading
The PowerPoint began by comparing expository and narrative texts and I believe most students understand the difference between the two styles. I do agree that boys prefer non-fiction based on the fact that I always have four to six boys that I cannot get to read a fictional book but they love reading the non-fiction books. This was an interesting PowerPoint since “Expanding West with Lewis and Clark” is a fourth grade standard. It is always challenging to have fun with this topic because it is at the end of our school year. I liked the idea of sequencing events with a timeline – my students in the past have used a computer program to create a timeline for their biography project. This helps students see the big picture in chronological order. I have never used the Problem and Solution graphic organizer but like the idea of the flow, and believe that we could use it when we start talking about the American Revolutionary War in a few weeks! I think it is difficult to find primary sources for our students to be exposed to but this is an important standard in fourth grade because they must know the difference between primary and secondary sources and then be able to compare the sources. Finally, I really enjoyed reviewing the SQ3R since I am tutor for studying skills and just printed off slides 45 and 46 to use with my students. It is important to get the students involved in their reading and finding out information about the topics instead of the teachers always being in the front of the classroom.

Fry Readability
I chose to examine the reading level for Number the Stars since I just finished it for another class and did not have any of my fourth grade teacher edition books at home this weekend. For the 100 word passage, there were almost 6 total sentences. The average amount of syllables per 100 words was approximately 130. This indicates that the book is in the fourth grade section on the Fry Readability Graph. This was a difficult task to complete and would not like to do this for every book I had read – very thankful for DRA and AR levels.