I-Touch, Final Thought

I really enjoyed having the privilege to use I-Touch this quarter.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get access to WiFi at my school so I had my difficulties.  However, I did use Voice memo and dictionary app efficiently.  My second grade students were so fascinated to see with my I-Touch.  They would ask what games I play or would tell me with excitement that they have an I-Touch at home too.  I really wished that I could’ve used other great APPS that I downloaded like math games, phonic games, etc.  They all required access to the Internet which I didn’t have.  I did use my Voice memo frequently with students.  They really had fun hearing their voice recorded for the student interviews I did for my Science homework.  I also think that it would’ve been better if I had more devices for the kids.  Since I only had one device, allowing a particular student to look at my I-Touch made other students think that I was favoring them (hope they understand that I wasn’t). 

I can see how I-Touches can be so useful in classrooms.  Not all kids have access to technology at home.  The more tools that are available in classrooms, the better for kids.  Students can be engaged a lot longer with new technologies than paper and pencil activities.  I hope to incorporate technology into my classroom and make learning fun and efficient.

Math, what I learned

The most valuable thing that I learned from this class is that math can be fun and engaging.  I was amazed by how creative teachers can be to make their lesson fun and interactive.  I really enjoyed learning about the uses of manipulates in classrooms.  I am a visual learner and actually playing around with miras, algebra tiles, and virtual manipulates like GeoSketch helped me understand math concepts better.  When I was in school, I didn’t learn math through using a whole lot of manipulates.  It was more of the drill and practice thing.  I think I would’ve enjoyed math if I did have all of these great resources around me to understand.  I hope to incorporate what I learned about the uses of manipulates in my own classroom to make learning more enriching and FUN.   I also like the idea that math can be learned better in groups than alone.  Like real Mathematicians, students can learn so much from sharing their ideas and thinking with one another.  I hope to incorporate this idea as well into my own classroom and make the learning collaborative and enriching.

Math, week 8

This week in Math, we learned about TinkerPlots.  TinkerPlots allows the user to play with the data plotted in variety of formats. I think this software is great for students to develop a stronger understanding of what their numbers mean. 

 We also talked about the wolframalpha.com site, where kids can get answers to almost everything in a click.  It is amazing what technology can do for us, making it so convenient to get the answer to any math problems in just seconds.  Things are not the same anymore.   Teachers need to know their students, where they are and what they need to learn.  This leads to the 4 questions Robin gave us to ask ourselves whenever we are creating a lesson. 1) What do they already know? 2) What do I want them to know? 3) How do I get them there? 4) Did they get there?   I think these four questions are crucial and I will try to use these four questions every time I create a lesson.

Math, week 7

This week, I learned how graphic calculators can be fun and exciting.  Learning how to use the graphic calculator for the first time was no fun for me.  It had so many buttons and functions that I needed to know which made me feel really overwhelmed.  There were certain rules and codes I needed to input in order to make my graph.   Robin's demonstration of graphing our movement was fun and very engaging.  I wish I learned how to have fun with my graphic calculator when I was in high school.  Showing our movement on graphs would've really made sense to me back in high school and I think I would've enjoyed learning it.
What other ways can we make graphing calculators more fun and engaging without using a motion sensor?  I would love to learn other ways to make my teaching more fun and engaging. 

I also enjoyed working with GeoSketch and Fathom.  Trying to fit all of the geometric shapes was difficult than it looked. I think primary kids will have fun working with GeoSketch eventhough it can be a little challenging for them.  I can picture couple of my second grade students enjoy working with GeoSketch.  Trying to figure out and fit in all the shapes into a given pattern will stretch their thinking and help them better understand the characteristics of each shapes.
What other strategies can I use to integrate technology and math in primary grades to make my teaching more fun and efficient?

iTouch - part 2

Honestly, I haven’t had much opportunity to use my I-touch in my 2^nd grade classroom. I went out and explored on my iTouch on some great educational apps that can be helpful in my classroom, but just couldn’t find the time to try it out with students in our tight schedule yet.  I also couldn’t get access to wi-fi at my school, so it was difficult for me to use most of my apps that I downloaded.  However, I found some great apps that I think will be helpful to some of my students who are struggling with math.  They can play short math games to build on their math skills.  For my ELL students, I think they can have fun playing with a phonic game that I downloaded.

Moving from assessment to instruction

My buddy is a strong reader and writer.  I learned that my buddy loves to read fantasy and non-fiction books.  She loves to read books about wolves and even writes her own fantasy stories about them.  She told me that she even acts out as wolves with her friends during recess.  I was amazed by her love of wolves. 

On the 4^th grade level reading passage of “Amelia Earhart,” she answered 7 out of 8 questions correctly.  Her comprehension skill was strong, being able to answer almost all of the questions accurately and in detail except for the tricky one we talked about in class.  I think she was over thinking the question.  Her retelling of the story was excellent with great use of the vocabulary words such as "adventurer" and "pioneer." 

Taking all of these into consideration, I feel that my buddy can move to the next level reading.  I think reading strategies (punctuation and fluency) can help her with her reading fluency, although she did great reading “Amelia Earhart” without any trouble. 

Math week 5, Geometry!

I had fun learning geometry through folding up a paper box.  It was fun and interesting to hear how other people explained their thoughts and thinking on geometry.  It was challenging for me to explain how I knew a square shape.  We are just so used to saying "I know it's a square because it looks like a square."  We are not used to expaining our thinking.  It was challenging but I think I learned/refreshed my understanding of geometry through the activity. 

My question is: how can I make my teaching fun  and creative to engage all my students? 

I am in a second grade classroom for my Main placement, so I haven't had the chance to teach them geometry yet.  I think folding the box activity (or something similar) can be fun to just teach them the concept/idea of geometry.

Math, week 4

This week, we had a gallery walk to observe other groups' charts from gapminder.org.  It was interesting to see how other people interpreted and portrayed their findings.  What I learned from this lesson is that we need to be aware of how we are accurately presenting our findings in our graphs and that it needs to make sense to the readers.  I think gapminder.org is a great learning tool to teach kids almost about anything.  The students can explore and discover so many things.  It can also spark their curiosity to go and do further research about what is going around the world. 

One question I had in mind was, how could I incorporate gapminder.org to teach my 2nd graders in my main placement?  Is it possible to use this great tool to teach primary students? 

It's always amazing to see how technology is changing our educational system.  We can benefit so much if we are just aware of how many great tech tools are out there to help us teach to our students.

Analysis of Student Writing, Part 1

1.  My 4th grade buddy, Becky(pseudo name) shared her story called The day my dog talked.  The story was based on a prompt given to write about a day when all animals were able to talk.  My buddy’s story was about an experience of being shocked and surprised to see her dog, Ruby, talk for a day.  I think Becky might’ve really enjoyed writing this story because she loves fantasy and animals, which her story was all about.  Even though it was a prompt given by her teacher, I think it gave her more meaning to her work and a sense of ownership.


2.  6 Traits:

• Ideas: Becky’s story is definitely clear and focused.  Throughout her paper, she is focused on her topic and provides details to support her main idea (NWREL, 1992).   Becky’s story of her dog Ruby being able to talk was fresh and original.  Since she loves fantasy stories, I think Becky might’ve really enjoyed coming up with a fantasy story about her dog being able to talk for a day.
• Organization:  Becky’s story is strong enough to move the reader through the text without too much confusion (NWREL, 1992).  However, I think she can improve on her organization by focusing on one or two main events.  She keeps going back and forth to events that were happening at home and in school, which might confuse her readers.  I think Becky can work on her introduction and conclusion to make her story more tight and strong.  The order and structure is pretty well compelling and moves the reader through the text.  She starts her story with a dialogue of her having a conversation with her mom, which draws the readers in to be curious about what the story might be about.  Throughout the story, she does a great job of transitioning one scene to another; there is a clear sense of direction.  Pacing is also well controlled, slowing down or elaborating when needed.  Another thing Becky can improve on is her conclusion.  She provides a lot of details for her other paragraphs, but when she gets toward the end, she confuses her readers by having someone say “it’s the end of the world.”  I think she can definitely improve on her conclusion paragraph to make her organization stronger.  
• Voices: Becky strongly connects with the audience.   She uses natural and engaging language that makes her writing interesting and appropriate for her audience. Although, I think she can improve on making her story sound less choppy.   You can tell by the tone that it is written from a kid’s perspective, which I think it’s appropriate for this work.  Her voice really stands out as she uses lots of dialogues throughout her story and punctuation for expression.  
• Word choice: Becky’s choices of words were mostly everyday nouns and mundane modifiers, although she used few powerful words that were specific and engaging.  She attempts to use colorful language to be creative.  In some instances, you can almost picture the scenes in your head as you read along (“we all exchanged smiles”, “Ruby yelled she was fine too, very sarcastically”).  Becky was able to use some creative words that added more meaning to her story.  The language and phrasing are natural, effective, and appropriate for the audience (NWREL, 1992).  
• Sentence fluency: The writing sample we received was a draft with many corrections made.  Just from the draft and the corrections she (or the teacher) made sounded smooth.  Some sentences were a bit choppy but when she orally read to us, it flowed well together.  Becky used lots of dialogues throughout her story and they sounded natural.  Most of her sentences were constructed correctly.
• Conventions:  There were quite a few spelling errors in the writing sample.  She does a good job of sounding out words, but seems to have trouble spelling double consonants and short vowel words (wrote “soden” for sudden, “fond” for found, “princables” for principal.)  Overall, I think Becky did a great job of using end punctuation.  She always seems to remember to put a period at the end of each sentences.  She used exclamation marks quite a few times to show expression, but sometimes she missed out using a question mark at the end of a question she was asking in her dialogue.  Capitalization skills were present with correct grammar usage.

3.  Bekcy shows ownership in her writing.  I feel that she sees herself as a good writer and a reader.  Through our two informal reading conferences, we were able to learn that she loves non-fiction and fantasy.  She also claimed that she loves reading about animals and during our conference, she brought with her a book she was reading about wolves.  Therefore, I think Becky might’ve felt confident writing the prompt for her classroom since it was one of her favorite genre; fantasy and animals.

4.  I feel that Becky is a good speller or appropriate for her grade.  During our first spelling inventory, she missed about 8 words on the list (she wrote “surving” for serving, “catle” for cattle, “rippen” for ripen, “celler” for cellar, “pleasher” for pleasure, “forchanit” for fortunate, “sivilize” for civilize, “apasihion” for opposition.)   Through her spelling inventory and her writing sample, we were able to notice that Becky is really good at stretching words out, but she seems to have trouble with digraphs, short vowels and consonant doubling.

Lesson Plan

Standards:

GLE 3.3.7: Applies paragraph conventions

GLE 3.1.2: Selects effective organizational structures

EARL 3: Student writes clearly and effectively

Objectives:

Student will be able to define a paragraph.

Student will be able to write a paragraph that includes a conclusion.

Materials:

·         Paper

·         Pencil

·         Sample of student’s writing draft.

Instructional Strategies:

I will begin the lesson by defining what a paragraph is.  Then I will ask her questions about how she can write a strong conclusion in her papers.  I will explain that a paragraph is a group of sentences about one main idea or topic, with good supporting details.  I will provide strategies to write a strong introduction and a conclusion.  I will explain that the conclusion brings closure to the reader, summing up your points or providing a final perspective on your topic.  Then I will provide some strategies to writing a conclusion.

Strategies to write a strong conclusion:

·         Summarize the key points

·         Encourage action

·         Provide food for thought

·         Convince the reader

I will go over these four strategies and have her choose one strategy that she may want to use in her writing.  We will read over the student’s writing sample draft together and see how she can incorporate one of the four strategies to writing a strong conclusion.   

Assessment:

The teacher will assess by reading over the student’s writing sample to see if she was able to incorporate the strategies learned into her writing sample draft.  The teacher will also check for proper use of paragraph rules.

Uses of I-Touch in differentiated instruction, part 1

Like many other technologies, I feel that Ipod-touch can be very useful in classrooms.  In my 2nd grade main placement, I can think of three students who can benefit from using Ipod Touch. 

The first child, is an ELL student.  She has hard time understanding instructions in classroom.  I think voice memo will help her understand better.  She can record the teacher's instruction if she feels she can't quite understand well.  Once recorded, she'll be able to go back anytime to listen to it again.  Also, translating apps will help her and her parents to communicate with the teacher when necessary.  The second child is a boy who always forgets his homework, take-home folder, and sometimes even his backpack.  I-Touch memo can help him be reminded to bring his homework, take-home folder, etc.  I think he'll love the idea of using an I-touch to keep himself organized.  The third child is a boy who has trouble writing.  He has great ideas, but doesn't like writing it down.  Using an I-touch to keep a journal will benefit him to practice writing.  I'm guessing that he's a little shy about his writing.  Writing a journal on an I-touch can be fun and private, which I think he'll enjoy. 

There are so many ways that I-Touch can be be helpful to many students.  I am so excited to explore our device and many great apps to help us teach and learn.

Math Week 2

I learned that manipulates such as beans or algebra tiles can be very powerful.  I was amazed by how algebra tiles made it so simple and easy for me to understand quadratic formulas.  When Robin demonstrated how the FOIL method can be so easily understood by using the manipulates, I thought of how this would've helped me so much when I struggled learning algebra in high school.  I think I would've enjoyed math a lot better if someone taught me different strategies to solve the math problems (like using algebra tiles to visually see and understand the idea) than just trying to memorize rules and formulas to solve.  I think that these strategies we learned in class today will definitely help me in the future when I'll be teaching math to students who struggle.

Question: manipulates are great teaching tools.  How many strategies should I teach to students but not have them feel overwhelmed?

Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say!

I really enjoyed this week's article on Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say!  I liked how the author gave tips and strategies that were student-centered and problem based approaches.  Students need to be able to explain their thinking to learn and teachers should do the listening part.  The one strategy that I really liked was point 3 on page 480, use more process questions than product questions.  We want our students to stretch their thinking.  Teachers need to ask questions that require more thinking rather than just a yes or no response. 

In class, we worked with partners to solve three algebraic problems.  These problems allowed us to share our thinking and to learn from each other.  When I was stuck with a problem, my partner helped me understand the question better and we worked together to come up with an answer.  It was fun seeing how other colleagues solved the problem.  I feel that we can learn so much from each other and it's important for us to build a safe community for us to share our ideas and thinking.