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Dedicated Teacher at Work!

10/20/2014

Recently, I had the chance to visit a co-taught biology class at a Colorado high school. Many of the students at the school are English Language Learners, and the district is committed to supporting them by having ELL specialists co-teach the major subject area classes.

When I walked in the room, the ELL specialist turned toward me and this is what I saw. She had a piece of paper clipped to her shirt as she moved around the room. On the paper she had quickly illustrated a language concept (few, some, many and most) that was critical to the biology lesson. I was excited by how simple the idea was, but even more excited by her dedication to doing whatever it takes to help students succeed. What an easy and effective idea.

Bravo!

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How is architecture like writing?

9/12/2014

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Rick Wormeli, in his thought provoking book, Metaphors and Analogies, encourages teachers to frequently weave analogies into instruction. Analogies help students make connections with prior knowledge and paint a visual image that strengthens retention.

My co-teachers and I have decided to use an architectural analogy to teach students the various text structures they will encounter throughout the year. Our introductory lesson began by giving them blueprints to explore.

We then created a Venn Diagram to compare architecture to written text (both have plans, both have purposes that determine structure.)

Next students examined a variety of photos showing buildings with interesting architecture. They were asked to choose a building whose structure represented the structure of a poem (and then a story, an opinion piece, etc.) and be prepared to justify their thinking. Some students struggled but we encouraged them to work with a partner and develop their rationale. We made it clear that there was not a correct answer, as long as they could justify their thinking.

One student chose this photo to represent the structure of a fictional story because of all the twists and turns and unexpected surprises usually found in a good story.

Try it yourself! Which of the following buildings would you to choose to compare to the structure of a poem? Why?

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Brain Bursts

7/18/2014

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Keep students actively attending during read aloud or lectures with these Brain Bursts!

Combine a brain image with a burst image, print, laminate and adhere to a wooden craft stick.

Explain to students that their brains have bursts of electricity when they make connections and think about new ideas.

Then give each student a Brain Burst and ask them to use their dry erase markers to write the concept of the day on the brain. In this example, students were learning about similes.

They kept the Brain Bursts on their desks, and were encouraged to raise it high whenever they heard a simile. During read aloud time there were several, but the teacher also used them in her conversation throughout the day.

Students were paying attention and excited to have the opportunity to share their brain burst with the class.

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Learning Time Line

6/19/2014

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A Learning Time Line is a wonderful way to capture learning over time or throughout a unit of instruction. Because research supports the use of non-linguistic approaches to capture and review concepts, I have used this strategy with students in the past. This week I decided to try it with adults. During a 3 day professional learning workshop on co-teaching, we documented our learning with words and pictures on a scroll of chart paper hung on the wall. I love no-prep strategies like this one!

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Looking for a new vocab strategy?

3/24/2014

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Memory researchers tell us that it is easier to retain semantic information when it is linked to unusual locations. This strategy, Vocabulary Shapes, capitalizes on that by linking spelling or vocabulary words to a simple shape. I have used it with elementary, middle and high school students as a simple, no-prep strategy.

Play this short Educreations video to see how easy this is - and then try it tomorrow with any vocabulary terms you are teaching!

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Are your students REALLY watching that video?

2/24/2014

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Are you looking for a better way to engage students with videos? The newest entry to the field of interactive video viewing might be just the answer. eduCanon, currently in beta stage, is the first interactive video tool that I have found to be flexible enough for teaching. It allows you to load any youtube, teacher tube or any public video and then insert questions at any point in the video. Other tools have limits on when and how many questions can be entered, but educanon gives teachers control over these decisions. The free version allows for multiple choice questions, but the paid version incorporates open ended questions. In addition to the Q & A, teachers can include detailed explanations of why an answer is correct or incorrect. Set up multiple classes, assign video viewing and collect student response data.

While much of the promotional material touts eduCanon for flipped lessons, I think it also has value within classrooms and for professional development activities. I tested it this week with a group of educators in my "Co-Teaching that Works" workshop and it received positive comments from everyone.

For a non-tech way to be more interactive during video viewing, check out this post from last year.

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How do you compare 2 informational texts?

2/4/2014

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How do you compare 2 informational texts? One of the anchor standards for reading expects students to be able to analyze two or more texts on similar topics to compare approaches the authors take. My co-teachers and I worked on this standard with our students this week, and, as usual, I wanted to be put a visual/tactile spin on it.

We distributed pieces of yarn, about 12 inches in length, to each student, and broke the students into two groups. They read a passage in the history book, and then another document detailing the same event in history. The second text was chosen in part because it portrays the event with different facts.

After reading each text, we asked a series of questions designed to encourage students to read closely. For example, “Who was Edward H. Moffat?” This historical figure is described very differently in each text. We then asked the students to use their piece of yarn to connect the location in each text so that we could compare. This forced them to be very focused on the textual evidence, before beginning to draw inferences. We then had robust discussion about why the authors chose to describe the person so differently.

The yarn served a great purpose of focusing students on specific evidence, and engaging tactile learners during a difficult reading task. Simple yet effective!

PS Some students chose to tape the yarn in place using restickable highlighter tape.

image by Lori Ann mamawit.wordpress.com

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Activating Prior Knowledge - Helping students do it independently!

1/21/2014

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Activating prior knowledge is a common educational phrase. Almost any teacher will tell you the importance of getting students to make connections to their background knowledge before they learn about a new topic or read a new story.

Recently I searched for ideas on how to activate prior knowledge. Everything I found included the teacher doing the activating of the students - an external event, rather than students learning how to activate their own brains. We need our students to be able to do this independently! During standardized assessments, teachers are not able to prompt students with questions, KWL charts, and other hints about the topic. During most authentic learning situations, I don't have someone saying to me "What do you Know about this topic?"

So how does one activate one's own knowledge? What do you do when faced with a topic you know little about? I reflected on my own experience and then developed a tool to help my students. The Prior Knowledge Spinner provides 6 questions to stimulate metacognition, particularly as it relates to prior knowledge. I provided students with the topic, then had them spin and answer the questions.

I also created a second version with visual prompts to help our English Learners or other students who needed some additional support.

Our goal is to have students use the spinners frequently enough that the questions become embedded in their metacognitive processes. This will include a transition phase when we fade out the actual spinners and encourage a visualization.

Interested in these tools? Email me a request at [email protected] and I will be happy to send them to you.

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Math Discussion Chips

10/23/2013

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The Common Core State Standards in math expect students to be able to explain their thinking and discuss mathematical concepts. This is quite a challenge for most students, but especially for those who struggle with language as English Learners or students with disabilities.

Discussion Poker Chips are something I have used successfully for literature circle discussions. Last week we tried them out in an inclusive, co-taught Algebra 1 class for the first time.

Students were placed in groups of 4 and provided with a Math Discussion Board. This is available for download here. (Modify to fit the level of your students.)

Each student was given 3 poker chips of a single color (1 student had green, 1 student had red, 1 student had blue and 1 student had white.)

My co-teacher and I modeled how to use the chips to have a conversation while working together through a set of problems.

We explained that the goal was to use the vocabulary represented on the board. If a student used the word, he could place his chip on that space. Students were encouraged to cover as many of the spaces as they could – just a hint of competition!

While it took a little while for the conversation to get started, we began to see students who never talk participating in the discussion! I credit three aspects of the activity – the symbols on the board serve as cues for students who can’t think of what to say, the poker chips add a tactile component that heightens alertness and the friendly competition between groups provided some motivation.

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Stop for Popcorn

10/15/2013

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Video is a wonderful media for engaging students and providing them close to real-life experiences. However, its effectiveness is maximized if students are given a viewing purpose and a concrete way to capture their ideas.

Today I took yellow sticky notes and cut them to look (a bit) like popcorn. We gave each student one and explained that when you go to the movies, you take time out to munch on popcorn – just like we would stop during the video to make a note on our popcorn stickies.

A specific prompt was provided on the board. In this biology class, we wanted to students to complete an analogy based on ideas in the video, so the prompt was:

Cell: city

______:_______

After viewing the video students came up to the board and placed their popcorn, on which they had written an analogy, in a large popcorn tub that I had drawn. Discussion followed.

How do you keep students engaged and responsible for learning while watching videos?

Photo by Enokson, Flickr

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<<Previous

Dedicated Teacher at Work!

How is architecture like writing?

Brain Bursts

Learning Time Line

Looking for a new vocab strategy?

Are your students REALLY watching that video?

How do you compare 2 informational texts?

Activating Prior Knowledge - Helping students do it independently!

Math Discussion Chips

Stop for Popcorn

Anne M. Beninghof

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