First Year Teacher

Our piece was designed to show some of the worries and concerns that first year teachers Such as wondering what to do when a child just doesn't understand what you are teaching, hoping that you live up to the expectations that you have set for yourself and the expectations of others. We finished the video off with a quote that we hope will inspire all the future teachers to keep trying no matter what tests or trials come their way. Remember that our tests and trials come to make us strong. In order to come out stronger we must go through it. It was a challenge but Hope and I enjoyed working on this project. We hope that you enjoy watching it.

Focusing on the Visual

As I read through this article, my mind slipped back to high school and other reading classes that I have been in, where the teachers depended heavily on text books to teach reading. They were weary about using media texts or the "unknown" to enrich learning. The reason for this was because some of the teachers lacked adequate training on these texts and/or do not feel that they can teach a proper lesson using these texts. I agree with the author when she says "if we can help teachers become more knowledgeable and comfortable in working with students to read, discuss, and compose texts that depend primarily on visual elements, they will be increasingly willing and able to apply these understandings to the teaching of new media texts as well." By training teachers on media texts we are preparing them to help our students be prepare to face the challenges of tomorrow.

I agree with the author when she says that she believes that teachers have continued to use alphabetic texts over texts that hae visual elements "because such texts present familiar forms." I believe that this is because teachers have become comfortable with these types of texts and are afriad to step "outside of the box." The teachers haven't been given any other reason to, these texts have only been used to supplement other things that have been taught and teachers don't see how they could help students if they are used alone. This article is going to help boost the confidence of teachers who a weary of trying this type of assignment in their classroom. It will aslo motivate the students since it involves something that they are used to using on a daily basis (myspace, facebook, email or instant messaging), technology. By giving students to opportunity to use technology and giving them guidelines or a rubic we can see what type of work our students can create.

The assignment that stuck out to me was the visual essay because it gives the students a opportunity to reflect on literacies that they have developed in thier lifetime. It also lets them use pictures to represent what they would normally say in words. I think this is a plus because there are times that I struggle with putting my thoughts into words and I believe that a picture would capture what I was trying to say. I think that visual literacies help prepare students for many assignments that they will come across in the future.

Writing to learn requires clear goals and expectations, a strong sense or purpose, a good understanding of audience and lots and lots of explanation, demonstration, and guided practice. Many times teachers assign writing assignments for students and do not provide any examples or workshops to help improve student writing. In order to produce successful writers we have to teach our students how to search to find information, how to write and how to revise/edit their writing. In doing this we are preparing our students to go through the writing process. The Guided Writing Procedure is one that I would use in my classroom. The author states that it has been useful with English Language Learners, but I believe that it would work with all students. This procedure gives the students an opportunity to make an outline mentally before they make one on paper; determining if the topic they have selected will work for them. If I this had been used in my high school classes I don’t think that I would have struggled with writing so much.
Journals are critical in teaching students to write, it allows them to practice writing without worrying about grammatical errors. It also is a way for the teacher to find how well her students write and what she needs to teach them about writing. It is a type of informal assessment. I disagree with giving students prompts to write about, I believe that if we let the students write about what they want to then we will really see who they are as writers. I can remember being given writing prompts in high school and drawing a blank. I would struggle to write a paragraph and when I would go back to reread it I would find that I repeated myself a few times. Journals should not be graded for grammatical errors; they should be graded for completion. Teachers should use journals to have writing conferences with students and as a way to measure their writing from the beginning to the end of the semester.
“Teachers do not help when they only mark problems with a red pen. Instead it is important to show students how to address these problems. “ It is discouraging to students when they get a paper back with a lot of red marks on it with no explanation or suggestions for improvements. Feedback should be given to the students in a timely manner and with suggestions or tip for improvement. When feedback is given we should give the students particular areas that they need to work on. This type of feedback is useful in conferences with students, it will allow the student and teacher to talk through the errors and develop strategies to help improve their writing in the future. In my classroom, I plan to develop a feedback book for class so that I can provide my students with feedback in all areas. As teachers we should be able to receive feedback from our students as well.

Smartboard

Unfortnately, I haven't had a lot of experience with Smartboards; however, I have seen them used in classrooms. I have used the Promethium Board before to present PowerPoint presentations. It was easy to use, all that I had to do was stick my flash drive into the computer and click on the presentation once it popped up. The Promethium Board have been used to for powerpoint presentations and to show students websites. Dr. Manning used the Promethium Board last week to teach about descriptive statistics. I enjoyed this, it was easy to follow along with her because she used the same presentation that we had the only exception was there were blanks on the handout that we had and she filled those in on the board as we went along. I have noticed Smartboards in a lot of the classroom over at Petal Upper Elementary, the sad thing about it is that I haven't seen them used a lot.
From what I have heard about them teachers like them (once they learn to use them), and they allow their students to come up and use them too. It makes teaching easier. One way that I could think of using the Smartboard in my classroom is when I use the KWL chart (one of my favorite reading strategies), it is a lot easier than drawing out an actual chart on construction paper or some other kind of paper, it is big enough for eveyone to see it. I would love to learn more about these new teaching tools. The Promethium Board would be something thatI would definetly have to have in my classroom, because the possiblities for using it are endless.

chapter 7

Anticipation guides are great for activating prior knowledge; not only do they refresh the student’s memory but it sets the stage for what is to come. These guides can be used as a tool to teach the students how to activate prior knowledge. The good thing about anticipation guides it that it can be used in any subject and it can also be a summary of the lesson. If used correctly, it can be something that the students look back on as a study guide. In my literature class Dr. Boyce, used anticipation guides to introduce a new topic. We would answer the questions and then discuss the questions before she taught the lesson. It kept me alert and interested in the lessons because I wanted to get the answers for the questions that I had answered wrong. It would be great to use in a classroom because it gives the students an opportunity to self-assess themselves and then it gives them a reason to pay attention.
The KWL chart is a good learning strategy as well as a motivational tool. It helps children read with a purpose, when paired with something that interest the students it can be a great learning tool. I like the KWL chart because it is student-centered. The focus of the lesson is on the students, it is centered on what they want to know about a particular subject, during the lesson the students are not sitting around taking notes or twiddling their thumbs but they are listening attentively. Like the anticipation guide the KWL chart can be used in almost every subject; the chart also gives the teacher an idea of what interest the students.
“One powerful reason why some adolescent students are so unmotivated is their continual failure to succeed.” I agree with Conerly, I can remember in grade school, I struggled with math, I never understood it but my grades were good enough to get by. My teachers did not take time to find out why I didn’t understand the concepts that were being taught, the just gave extra credit work so that myself and other students could make a C to pass the class. It wasn’t until my last math class that I received the motivation that I needed to know that I could be successful in math. My algebra II teacher, Mrs. Thigpen, took time out of her planning period and time after school to reteach the math lessons to me. She helped me to see where I was making mistakes and gave me hints and little tricks to solve the problems with ease. After I was able to solve the simpler problems with no trouble I had enough confidence to go on to more complicated problems. I believe that we need to set our students up for success, we need to let them pride when they have grasped a subject. By setting them up for success they begin to build confidence and slowly they stop entering any new learning experience with a mind that they are going to fail.

Expository Lesson Plan

Nikesha Jefferson
Fifth Grade
Expository Lesson Plan

Grimes, N. (2002). Talkin' About Bessie The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman. New York: Orchard Books.
Curriculum Standards:
3. The student will express, communicate, evaluate, or exchange ideas effectively.

d. The student will compose informational text clearly expressing a main idea with supporting details, including but not limited to the following: texts containing chronological order; procedural; cause and effect; comparison and contrast; order of importance; problem/solution. (DOK 3)

1) Reports
2) Letters

Big Idea: Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was the first African American female pilot. Bessie’s story teaches us that the sky really is the limit and that if we dream it we can achieve it. Bessie made history not only for African Americans but for women everywhere.


Preparation:
1. Show the students the front cover of the book and make predictions about the book and who Bessie Coleman is.
2. Tell the students what times were like in 1980 when Bessie was growing up and what an people thought could have accomplished at that time being an African American.
3. Read the book to learn more about Bessie Coleman.
4. Check to see if our predictions were right. Make changes if necessary.
5. Have students write a letter to friend telling them about Bessie Coleman based upon what they learned from the book.

Guidance:
1. Allow students to work in groups of two to brainstorm for the timeline.
2. Have students make a timeline of Bessie Coleman’s life. (this will be used to write the letter)
3. Review the letter writing process.

Application:
1. Have students write about a letter about Bessie’s determination to fly an airplane and how it applies to their life.

Assessment:
1. The students will hand in their letter to be grade. The students will have a rubric to ensure that they have covered all the requirements for the letter.

Many of the classrooms today still look like the traditional classrooms; straight rows and the teacher lecturing while students follow along in the textbooks or take notes. In my grade school years I remember my teacher giving a short lecture and then having us read in the textbooks just to answer the comprehension questions at the end. The text was not interesting or it was hard to read, so I can agree with the author when he says that there is an image of students encountering complicated text and stopping cold. As a teacher I believe that we should assess the textbooks that our students are going to read and see if they match up with the student’s reading levels, interest (student interest surveys) and/or prior knowledge. In the lab class we were practicing with finding the grade levels for different texts (expository and narrative, using the FRY readability graph), in many of the books we found that the text was too high for the grade that it was assigned to. For example, a 4th grade text was found to be on a 7th grade level.
In the previous chapter it takes about reading interest surveys and it states “interest is often responsible for students’ motivation to read specific kinds of materials” There have been many times that I have had to read something that was not of interest to me; I have found that after reading the text I couldn’t remember what it was about. This happens too often in our classrooms. I believe that we would be able to reach about 95% of our students if teachers are willing to go that “extra mile” to find other text (that is interesting to the students) that supplements the textbook. “If a text contains knowledge that students really want to gain, they might be persistent enough to overcome a text’s problems.” I believe that if the students have some prior knowledge on the text or it is something of interest to them that if they cannot understand the text they will find other ways to gain knowledge (i.e., other books or the internet). From my experience narrative text seems to be the easiest and most interesting text for students to read, again I believe that if we use this text as a supplement for the textbooks we would see some improvement in our students reading.
Selecting the right text for a group of students can sometimes be difficult because not all readers are on the same reading level. The FLIP readability assessment appears to be more user friendly and student centered. It asks for the students input on the books or websites selected. In doing this the teacher is able to wean out the sites or books that do not relate to the students. The readability chart should still be used to check the complexity of the text. The readability graph seems like a good tool to use when selecting books because it assesses the books on the sentence length, number of words and a number of syllables. The notion that that “the shorter the words and sentences, the easier the reading, and the longer the words and sentences the more difficult the reading” isn’t always true. I believe that what matters most is the students’ ability to understand and relate to the book. I believe that if a book has something that is interesting to a student that they will be able to draw on prior knowledge to help them understand the book, when they come across something that they cannot understand.

http://woodlandrm3.blogspot.com/ This blog is for Mrs. Tool and Mrs. Wagner's kindergarten class. I chose this blog because Kindergarten is one of the grades that I really want to teach. On the blog the teacher posts pictures of the class trips and also keeps the parents up to date on what is going on in the classroom.

Ongoing Assessment

Ongoing assessment is critical for continued growth in any classroom. I believe that teachers should continue to assess their students on a weekly basis, so that their lesson plans stay current with what the students need to know. I believe that teachers should assess students on a daily basis to ensure that the students understand what is being taught. This kind of assessment can be done by observation, asking the students questions, and classroom discussions. High stake standardized tests are great for getting an overall assessment of how students are doing and schools are doing; however, I believe that we should focus more on the students as individuals. Many teachers teach to the test instead creating lessons that are centered on the student’s interests.
"Conversations, interviews, surveys, and observations are some of the ways to get to know students as individuals, what their experiences are like in the classroom, how they approach learning and how they view themselves in multiple ways in and outside of school." One of the keys to having a successful classroom and a warm learning environment is to know your students. I believe that we need to know our students educational background, interests, study methods, and extracurricular activities (to name a few); so that we can build lessons that give students what they need and in the order that they need it. "A prime opportunity for learning about students is by asking them questions while they work." I have seen this done in some classrooms that I have observed and it has worked out great. This is something that I would do in my own classroom, since some students are shy or will not speak up if they do not understand, they won't raise their hand or ask for help during the lecture. If these students ask for help then it is assumed that they understand, so I would go around to each student and ask questions to see if they need help with the task at hand.
Classroom test should be "consistent with instruction and promote student learning." I can remember taking a lot of tests in high school that did not challenge me or promote student learning. There were many test that required me to just memorize facts and regurgitate them on a multiple choice or short answer test. They did not require me to apply what I learned in a short answer question or essay test. What I like about No Child Left Behind is that the students have to be able to apply the knowledge that they've learned in essay or scenario questions. NCLB kind of forces teachers to move beyond the traditional testing or teaching methods into challenging lessons and test.

Blog !

“Against the reality of adolescents—some who succeed and many who struggle—teachers are expected to producse achivement for all students.” As, a teacher what can I do to make sure the all my students not only suceed but exceed expectations? Schools are set up where all children suceed but there are some students (special needs students, English language learners) that need a more one on one instruction. How can I give these students the extra instruction that they need, without pointing them out?
I like the No Child Left Behind act because it forces teachers to move away from teaching students to memorize facts. It requires that students know how to apply the information that they have learned to their everyday life and it makes hands-on activities useful. Standard based big ideas moves teachers past the regular mutiple choice tests, or computer generated tests. “Assessing students’ knowledge about Big Ideas is more than a yes/no (students know it or they do not know it) proposition.” Standard based big ideas are more student centered in the sense that these ideas focus on relating the concept being taught to the students lives. When students can look at the text and relate it back to their lives, then they are eager to learn and particpate in classroom discussions.
When it comes to making sure that students learn the standards that will be on state test; which is more important classroom discussions or lecture? I believe that classroom discussion are more important, if the students stay on the subject or concept at hand. In this type of classroom setting students are able to learn from the teacher and it allows the teacher to assess the students informally. This type of assessment will allow the teacher to go back and personalize the lecture lesson for the students. I believe that by personalizing the lessons to meet the students interest, we are setting them up for success.