Module 6

Presentation Tips PPT

This was a great PowerPoint presentation that provided plenty of tips on how to make a “good” PowerPoint presentation. In fact, I used the slides while I created my presentation of my tutorial highlights. I enjoyed the good and bad examples as this was a great refresher. I never thought of adding a question slide, but it now makes sense because you do not want to abruptly end your presentation without any follow up. I also added an outline slide at the beginning so my viewers knew what was in store for them before starting the presentation. I use to love adding animation and pictures all over my slides when I was younger, but now I understand that it takes away from the information you are presenting. Overall, this was a great PowerPoint to view before making our final tutorial highlight presentation for this course.

 

Kid Pix and PowerPoint Games Resources

My students often use Kid Pix in their technology class during their specials rotations. We have a wonderful technology teacher that instructs our students on various programs such as Photo Shop, Kid Pix, PowerPoint, Kidspiration, etc. My students enjoy Kid Pix because there are numerous art tools and they can be very creative. Also, text can be added fairly easily to any picture they create or draw on Kid Pix. This link had plenty of projects that were created with PowerPoint and Kid Pix. I really enjoyed how they turned the students’ individual projects into books! There are numerous great ideas that I will have to keep in mind as we approach the end of the school year.

Module 5

Effective Classroom Management Video
It is vital that students learn how to work together at an early age.  I agree that students need to be held accountable for their actions and work ethic. I make sure that I do not overwhelm my students when they are working at their centers. I want them to feel that they can be successful at that specific center. I always place my students into groups where they can work collaboratively together. They are reminded of our classroom rule, which is showing C.A.R.E.S. (cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control).  At every center and throughout the school day, students are held accountable for their work. I might have them complete a worksheet, write down their work for math, or create a book much like the students were doing in this video. Overall, it is important that the students know and understand the rules of the classroom which in turn creates an effective classroom and environment where the can learn.

What is Literacy and why is it important Video
I will have to admit that I cracked up when I heard the background song as it is Michael Jackson’s instrumental of “Smooth Criminal”. I enjoyed how this video presented all of the different definitions of literacy. It opened with “Literacy is the ability to read and write” but expanded upon that definition and applied it to our everyday world. There were a lot of great quotes about becoming a reader and what it means to have literacy in today’s world. It also talked about being illiterate and what issues may arise for those that are. One quote that spoke to me was from Gov. Kathleen Blanco. She said, “Think about it: every educated person is not rich, but almost every educated person has a job and a way out of poverty. So education is a fundamental solution to poverty”.  This quote is very true because literacy empowers you, as a reader, to learn more in life. However, motivation comes from within and sometimes people limit themselves due to lack of motivation.  I agree that it would be very difficult to live in today’s world if you were illiterate.  Even something as simple as eating requires you to be able to read the food label or menu.

Using Literacy Centers Video
I agree that small groups should remain flexible. I do not utilize literacy centers since I am a teacher in the fourth grade and our school follows the Reading Workshop model. However, I believe literacy centers are a great way to practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills that students have already learned. Literacy centers should be directly related to the curriculum and should NOT be busy work. The students enjoy practicing and applying their literacy skills while at the centers. A teacher must have great management skills so she can better use her time to work with small groups and individuals while other students are at the literacy centers. Literacy centers do take a great amount of planning and setting up, but the outcome is great for both the teachers and students!

Designs for Balanced Literacy Video
I was able to relate to this school because we have a population of over 1,000 students in prekindergarten through fifth grade. That means that we have a lot of students in each of our classrooms. However, the main language at my school is English. I loved (and was secretly jealous of) how large her classroom was! I also try to layout my classroom where the students can comfortably work either in a large group, small group, or individually. We have a large area rug that we gather on for our whole group lessons. We also have a rectangular table that is low to the ground so the students can sit easily on the floor and work at it. Finally, I have a kidney-shaped table where I gather my small groups. The students’ desks are set up in rows and some groups are facing the Smart board so they can work with partners, if necessary, and benefit from the technology available in our classroom daily. I agree that “kids crave structure” because my students know their routine immediately and hate when we have to change our schedule. I also agree with the second grade teacher that if we model our lessons well, children will be able to do the specific skill that was modeled. I always set reasonable but high expectations for my students because I want them to be successful students, not only this school year, but all the school years ahead of them. I model and scaffold their thinking throughout the school year. I also provide them with tools to use so they can develop their skills and behaviors and can become independent citizens of our community.

Spaces and Places Video
I have seen this book in our school library before because I am always one that wants to organize my classroom that is appealing to my students and me. At times, I feel that my classroom is too little with all the furniture I have. J I like how the book is broken up into chapters: planning your space, arranging your room, come on in, using your walls, and organizing your stuff. I feel that I am a very organized but after you place all of the desks in the classroom, the space seems to disappear! I thought I had a great plan this year but then after placing 31 desks in the classroom, the room became quite crowded. We still make it work but would enjoy more storage space for items. I had to buy cubbies for supplies so my students could access these items throughout the school day since they are quite old enough to do so. I think I will re-examine this book at the end of this school year and see how I can redesign my room and use my space more systematically.

Module 4

Literacy across the Curriculum
I agree that literacy should be taught across the curriculum because it is easy to integrate with all subject areas since they all incorporate some aspect of literacy.  It is difficult to teach all of the literacy components separately during the “assigned” reading and writing times. I have been teaching social studies and literacy together lately because my fourth graders are learning to take notes on the S.S. curriculum. They also are responding to events with their own personal reactions and they love completing R.A.F.T. (role, audience, format, topic) papers. With the Common Core, I believe there is a stronger emphasis on spreading literacy across the curriculum because we are raising the text complexity for all students. These “pirate plans” looked interesting and was an entertaining approach to integrate information across all areas including the arts.

RTI Articles and PowerPoint Presentations
I found all of these articles useful and teeming with information. I feel very comfortable with the RTI process here in Georgia since I have always had at least 6 students a year on this tiered system. I have had students go back to tier 1, but have also had students that have been staffed into tier 4 with special education. I believe the RTI program is helpful for early prevention and providing students several opportunities to succeed in their academics.  I wish there was more information about the behavioral side of RTI since I have seen a lot of students lately tiered due to their behavior. I agree with Brozo that that there is more pressure on the teachers to meet the needs of all learners in all subject areas.  I also agree that we need to increase print encounters and experiences with informational text for all students. In fourth grade, I focus a great amount of time on note-taking and reading/understanding informational texts. I am always surprised at how much students do not understand on how to critically evaluate information from nonfiction texts. By the end of fourth grade, my boy students love informational texts especially if they like sports, history, or science. When I read Brozo’s opening statistics in his Response to Intervention or Responsive Instruction? Challenges and Possibilities of Response to Intervention for Adolescent Literacy, I found that I was not surprised by the low achieving scores and how our high school graduates are not prepared for college. I met several friends in college that could not write papers nor understand the basic fundaments of literacy. Unfortunately, a lot of students that are “sweet” and “low-achieving” students get looked over. I have tiered many students in fourth grade that have always struggled but are the most caring children you’ll ever meet. I never want to do a dis-service to my students and I hate to see them struggle. I often use the visual aid of the pyramid and discuss with my families that this is a team effort to improve their child’s education. Why should we let students struggle if there is a program that will offer them different strategies and interventions to help them succeed at school and later in life?

Reading Rainbow New Theme Song
I grew up watching the Reading Rainbow and remember loving the adventures I would go on as a child since I was not into reading individually. I did not see much of a difference in the theme song other than they modernized it and made it more “pop” sounding. It still has the lyrics “I can go anywhere, friend to know, and ways to grow” which was the most important part of the message to me growing up because as a reader, you are always growing. I think it is a great program that lets children “go anywhere” and “be anything” while reading and exploring.

Writing Express with First Graders Video
I love how this teacher had the students interact when constructing a sentence! It is a wonderful idea to have all of the students involved as much as possible during lessons. I feel that students learn more when they are actively participating instead of just listening. I appreciated how he stressed the importance of what a sentence actually does. I was surprised that the students knew a sentence has two parts: “name something” and “what it did”. He reminded the students about capitalization and punctuation throughout this activity. Then near the end of the video, he talked about expanding the sentence, which is a concept that many students struggle with. The teacher asked “Where?” which made the students think and expand their sentence. Overall, this was a great lesson with first graders learning about the essential elements of a sentence.

PowerPoint Presentations & Articles of Literacy
I disagree with the quote by Francis that “Children do not outgrow reading difficulties” because I believe that with the correct amount of motivation and scaffolding, a child can become successful. Children need plenty of time to practice their skills and help to guide them. Many students tend to dislike reading because of reading programs that place pressure on them (i.e., Accelerate Reading). Students need to learn how to read for entertainment and should have a choice of what to read. I appreciated one of the presentations that started off saying “Literacy begins at birth, and is a lifelong process!” because I truly believe that it is something that grows with everyone throughout their entire life. The Conquer the Code presentation was very informational about how reading is the union of comprehension and decoding. I have some fourth graders that have excellent fluency but lower comprehension skills. However, most of my students struggle with both fluency and comprehension because they go hand-in-hand. It is vital for students to be taught phonological and phonemic awareness so they can properly decode. I am noticing more and more fourth grade students that do not know the basic phonic rules and cannot decode because of this.  After looking at the 44 sounds in the English language, I understand why it is one of the most difficult and confusing languages in the world today. I guess I never really thought to analyze and separate out all the different sounds in our language. However, students need the ability to “play” with their native language early in their life so they are aware of letters and their sounds before they try reading and writing. I like the different phonological activities they listed in the presentation and agree with all of the examples.  It is important to teach children that learning how to talk, read, and write can be FUN!

WebQuests
WebQuests have become a very popular way to integrate technology within a students’ learning. I have never made a WebQuest but I often use them for my fourth grade students. I frequently use those that are related to our social studies and science curriculum. I know my students love when we travel down to the computer lab to “play” on the computers. I think WebQuests are helpful in a student’s education because it is designed to be interactive where there are specific tasks and questions the students have to discover while on this quest. The students have to search for information on given links, play curriculum-based games, analyze charts/data, read timelines, etc.  The only problem with WebQuests are sometimes the links are out-of-date and do not work. Nevertheless, one of my favorite WebQuests that relates to our science curriculum is http://mrscienceut.net/phasesofthemoonwebquest.html.