Blog Archives

Lesson Planning

2/28/2013

My lesson planning form is in a constant state of change. I am always refining it as I learn more and more about effective instruction. I am also finding a need to change it as my memory wanes! If I don't have a prompt on the page in front of me, I am likely to forget to consider a key element in lesson design.

After a recent conversation with some extremely thoughtful secondary teachers, I decided to add the element of STUDENT REFLECTION to my lesson planning form. I know the importance of this for all learners, but I don't weave it into my lessons as often as I should. Now that I have it listed on my "elements to consider," I hope to address it more frequently. Download a copy of my revised lesson planning form here.

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Ideas for Engagement

2/26/2013

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For the last few years I have been collaborating with a Nebraska school district to improve their co-teaching practices. Through a series of workshops, observations and job-embedded modeling, teachers have engaged in analysis and reflection. I am excited to see so many teachers embracing new ideas for engagement and hands-on learning!

Last week I visited co-taught classrooms at two different middle schools, both teaching author’s purpose using the RIPE acronym (Reflect, Inform, Persuade, Entertain.)

In one class, the co-teachers used a novel approach to activate student thinking. They began class by putting on banana necklaces! Students immediately wondered what was happening, and started making predictions. What a creative, novel way to activate learning! (For more ideas about novelty, download a Novelty Schedule on this website's downloadables page.)

In the other class, the co-teachers chose to use “cootie catchers” (also known as fortune tellers) to increase their students’ motivation. The teachers made the largest cootie catcher I have ever seen and used it as a model. What I loved about this was that it was impossible for one person to manipulate – it had to be collaborative. Students then made smaller versions and paired up to practice their knowledge of the four author purposes. Watch this video clip from the BER video Making Inclusion More Successful.

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Slow Motion Writing Strategy

2/7/2013

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Writing standards require that students develop a topic with detail. Many of our struggling students find it difficult to expand their writing, describing in enough detail for the reader to picture the experience. The Slow Motion Writing Strategy we used this week helped students acquire a method for doing this with verbs.

I asked two students to act out the following sentence:

"The quarterback threw the ball."

As they did this, I used an iPad app called SloPro (free) to videotape them in action. We then watched the slow motion replay. As we watched, I pointed out the variety of actions taking place - grasping the ball, cocking his arm back, looking down field, turning his body, aiming, tossing the ball. Instead of one verb - threw - we identified at least six separate actions. Then we rewrote the original sentence into three sentences. We practiced this several times, watching a variety of actions in slow motion with the SloPro app.

Students then worked in pairs, choosing an envelope that contained a simple sentence, and acting it out in slow motion. After acting it out, they analyzed the actions and expanded the original sentence into two or more sentences. Several of these were videotaped with SloPro for the whole class to watch.

If you don't have an iPad, you can find lots of great slow motion videos on the internet. Here are a few that the students loved! Slow Motion Sneeze, Slow Motion Flying Cats, Slow Motion Water Balloon

Finally, students searched their journals for simple sentences that they could expand with more detail, especially focusing on breaking verbs down into multiple actions.

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What makes a good app?

2/4/2013

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Ask anyone who knows me well and they will tell you that I love my iPad. The opportunities the iPad provides for engaging students in the learning process make me very excited. I spend hours and hours searching through the app store, reading reviews and testing out new apps. But there are times when I am puzzled by reviews.

For example, I recently read a review that raved about a series of apps called iTooch Junior High. You can sample them for free and buy complete versions in app. I spent some time checking it out, and it seems to me that it is just a bunch of online worksheets with a quirky character that gets excited if you get the answers correct. This is the type of app that simply replaces paper and pencil or computer practice activities. Perhaps a bit better than paper and pencil because of the graphics and sounds, but really not taking advantage of all the iPad has to offer.

Just because an app is free, doesn’t make it worthwhile. I believe educators need to use a quality rubric to evaluate apps before using them with students. There are dozens of criteria to consider, including:

Is it culturally responsive?
Is it intuitive? Easy to figure out?
Does it allow for differing abilities?
Does it have accessibility features?
Does it have ads?
Does it support the Common Core Standards?

I have a new workshop called “Current, Best iPad Apps for Effective Differentiated Instruction in Inclusive Classrooms” in which we examine a variety of quality indicators and the apps that meet them. Join me if you are in the following cities in March – Indianapolis, Atlanta, Chicago North, Chicago South and Denver.

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Analogy Tower

2/1/2013

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After introducing students to the concept of analogies a few weeks ago, I decided to return to the idea as an enrichment activity, but with a tactile twist.

The lesson objective for the day was about the differences between narrative and essay writing, After a mini-lesson in which we generated a T-chart and analyzed samples, a quick formative assessment told us which students grasped the concept thoroughly and could engage in enrichment.

Students in the enrichment group were given a bag of Duplos (large Legos) and a water-based marker. A laminated direction sheet was included in the bag so that the activity could be self- directed. (The analogy prompt on the direction sheet can be changed to fit the lesson content.)

The directions provided students with the first part of the analogy:

narrative is to essay

and they had to complete the analogy on the duplos as they built a tower. I was impressed with their creativity and grasp of the concept! Students were engaged with higher level thinking skills and enjoying themselves.

Perhaps the best part is that this bag can be kept in the classroom and pulled out at any time we feel that some students need a challenge. All the teacher will need to do is provide the first part of the analogy. Examples might include sun:food web; vertex:angle; democracy:communism; adjective:nou

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Lesson Planning

Ideas for Engagement

Slow Motion Writing Strategy

What makes a good app?

Analogy Tower

Anne M. Beninghof

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