I decided to try a read aloud to my class one day. It just so happened to be a book we're currently reviewing as a choice for Literacy Day next year called The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. I read the last half of the first chapter to my Biology 1 Theory class, and boy did it ever work! Every student was intrigued by the book! They did not want me to stop. This also led to a great discussion about viruses that really reinforced the unit on DNA we were finishing up. Several students told me that they even went out and got the book so they could read it themselves. I was thinking this would be a great strategy for a class with students that really have no interest in reading. Even if you don't read the whole book, just a small section of it could really peak their interest and might actually encourage them to go out and get it so they can find out what happens.

Using Newspapers

I have my math students use the newspaper to gather data. I'll give them a set of questions pertaining to the day's paper and they'll have to search the paper to find the answers. I include fun stuff, like "What does your horoscope say for today?" along with activities like "Find the average price of the dogs advertised for sale in today's paper" and "Find the median price of the items advertised in the Dillard's ad on the last page of the first section". The students also have to pick one article and summarize it. By choosing questions from each section of the paper, the students are exposed to all parts of the newspaper and may learn about things happening beyond the doors of PHS.

Long Term Read Alouds unsing Young Adult Novels

I used a young adult novel called The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan in conjunction with the teaching of The Odyssey in ninth grade English class. It is a modern story with modern characters that are intertwined with the Greek mythological gods. There are sequels that go into mythology even further called, The Sea of Monsters and The Titan's Curse, with another on the way. I don't know that all of these could fit in to the time period of study, but I have had several students who rushed to the library and finished the book before we did in class, and now have read all of the current sequels. Also, students excitedly asked if we were going to have a chance to "read The Lightning Thief today?!"

Not just for kids.

If you look carefully, you can use picture books to emphasize a concept. Most high school students, I have found can relate to the book if you present it properly. It would also be a learning experience for students to create their own picture books. I have done this in the past and some of the books were fantastic. Just show them a large variety of books, or they could do an alphabet picture book. Hope this helps.

We use of a variety of methods to encourage students to read in Physical Education I. Many students do not think there should be much reading in Physical Education so we have to incorporate games and other methods to make reading interesting. We recently covered a chapter on the proper way to stretch and how to stretch. There were good and bad stretches listed in the chapter. Students had to demonstate and explain why stretches were or bad. They then had to explain what types of stretches were listed. In order to this they had to completely read the chapter for these explanations. They also had to list the muscle areas which were affected.

Reading

I will have to say that read alouds have worked well in my class. Students have taken well to them. I am working on picking out better books for the read alouds. If you have any ideas, I will take them. Another assignment I did last year, was I required my students to read a book and then present the book in a PowerPoint. This was also very successful for me. If students finished and assignment early, they could read silently. Students really enjoyed sharing their books with the class. I also enjoyed the presentations. It is a really good idea to try. I have also tried another project that my students are currently working on. My students are creating digital books using PowerPoint and Microsoft Movie Maker.

Useless Information

I ventured into Books a Million last night to find some "fun" books for my classes and purchased a great one titled The Book of Useless Information: Thousands of things you didn't think you needed to know...and probably don't.

I placed the first tidbit on the board today without any type of journal prompt to see what type of response I would receive. Overall, students found it interesting that Ben Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national bird...especially those students that like to hunt the beloved turkey!

I plan on adding journal prompts to some of these facts to entice students to think on paper. I'll keep you posted!

RAISSE-ING at PHS

Project RAISSE is helping me realize that using my geomety textbook, as the only resource, is not the best strategy to use in enhancing student learning or encouraging students to read. The literacy strategies that I have tried so far and seem to work well with my students include webquests, games, read alouds, exit slips, silent graffiti, journal writing, and guided reading. Cartoons can also be used as an excellent strategy. Some cartoons can be used to teach from and are academic, not entertaining, in nature. They make excellent bell-ringers. One of my personal goals in Project RAISSE is to try to develop literacy strategies that will assist my students in better comprehending word problems in math. Who would have ever thought that I would be doing this in math? This approach is foreign to most math teachers. However, I am already seeing positive results.

Literacy Days

Has anyone ever been a part of a Literacy Day at another school? Looking for ideas.

Any new strategies Working

Has anyone tried anything lately that really worked and would love to share?

I Haven't Blogged In Years....at least 3!

I am really enjoying our RAISSE class and the strategies from the text. Our leader is doing a great job of demonstrating the strategies to our class of "seasoned and sometimes reluctant" learners. I was surprised how many of these same strategies were taught by our guest speaker at the in-service sessions on October 26th. (Gretchen Goodman @ LHS)

First Time Blogging

This is my first experience blogging. I was happy to get successfully logged on and read the comments. I am looking forward to more group discussion and continuing to learn new ways to bring reading strategies into my science classroom.

Never too old to try aomething new

This is a first for me as well. It is wonderful to be in a class that reminds you that students need some concrete learning strategies and then gives you the tools to use. I used a vocabulary game a few weeks ago that was similiar to PASSWORD for the students to learn their words. I was surprized at the participation level as well as the retention after playing. I have also given the students notes on the left side of the paper and blanks on the right for them to make notes or write questions that they have while studying. This was a boost also.

Old Dog, New Tricks

Being on the downside of a career in teaching, I have been witness to a decline in reading skills that is rather alarming and sad. Most students simply will not focus long enough to absorb content through reading it. I can either complain that students won't read or do something to make a difference. I guess I am, with some trepidation, doing the latter. This past week I used the "bookmark" strategy for the first time. We learned it in our last meeting, and it sounded like something simple that even I could try. Well, most of the students actually did it! There were questions about "why", of course, but most got the idea that it focuses your attention on the passage and allows you to very briefly summarize your reading with a few key ideas. It also gives you a place to jot a question you may have. And last, but not least, you have a bookmark!

Raisse-ing in Mathematics

At first a little skeptical about teaching reading in high school mathematics classes, I wondered how we would have time to meet the required topics and teach literacy. I have changed my mind and decided that we have no other choice. Our children, many, sad as it is, cannot read. Project Raisse is addressing this state of affairs. While researching since our last study group, I have found some good sites that emphasize teaching with original historical sources in mathematics, but not just reading the history and biographies, but my particular preference is using analysis of some of the “great problems in mathematics”. One website suggested examining the evolution of certain “great problems”. Let the students use their own “discovery methods”. The students should then write about the mathematical details of the problems, in their historical context, and their thoughts while trying their own problem solving techniques. These writing assignments should help in understanding as well as provide the much needed writing and reading time.