Read Across America Day

Read Across America Day is Monday, March 3, 2008. The NEA’s website is rich with resources for implementing our own read across America programs.
http://www.nea.org/readacross/index.html ......You may wish to check it out.. .. I would love to…if I had any time….

Modified Vocabulary Matching

After the success of the first vocabulary matching cards activity I did with biochemistry, I decided to do it again for the cell organelles in Biology 1 Part 1. This time, however, I did it a little bit differently but with surprisingly great results.

For the lesson on the organelles, I have always had my students correlate cell structures to city structures and then create a "Cell City" where they draw and label a poster of a city with the names and functions of the cell organelles. This has worked fairly well in the past, but when students reached Biology 1 Part 2, they could often remember the name of the organelle and what city structure it was, but not necessarily the function of it.

What I did was to take the vocabulary matching activity with the 3 piles of cards, one with the organelle, one with the function, and one with the picture and changed it slightly so I had 2 piles, the organelle name and function piles, but copied some pages with large pictures of each organelle on them. Then I had the students color and cut out the pictures and arrange them in a poster "cell," then label it with the other two piles of cards. This worked amazingly well! The students were engaged in the activity and had fun trying to match up the picture, word, and definition while trying to build a giant plant cell. As an added challenge, I had several of each type of organelle (where appropriate) so that students could see that cells don't always have just one of everything. I then used this activity as a springboard for the cell city project, and got better results from that then I have ever gotten before! This was a great way to add another element of critical thinking and understanding to the vocab matching activity by having them construct something using what they were matching. The students also seem much more able to recall the facts about the cell organelles as well! I am definately sticking this one in my bag o' tricks!

Vocabulary Strategy

I used a chart called "Alike but Different" to help my students differentiate between range, variance, and standard deviation in statistics. In previous years, the students always seemed to have a hard time keeping them straight, especially variance and standard deviation. This year, my concepts kids really liked the "Alike but Different" graphic organizer and they did much better on keeping the three straight in their minds on the quiz we had. I can't wait to see if it holds through to the test.

I can't wait to see the strategies that my study groupmates feature.

Adopting Mathematics Textbooks

Textbook adoption in many math areas is just around the corner. Our day at GHS, and listening to those wonderful speakers as they addressed many aspects of viewing textbooks, I found interesting and informative. There are many areas to look at. Of course, content, with minimal ambiguities, and specific relevance to the math area, be it, algebra, geometry or whatever, is of primary importance. The supplementary materials are an important factor as well, but certainly, as was addressed in the inservice, readability is a huge part of choosing the student friendly mathematics textbook. As we go through this process over the coming months we will concider the areas suggested by the speaker. Legibility of print, graphs, charts, pictures, colors, descriptions of the pictures and appropriateness of labels and placements within the topics discussed are all areas to be looked at.

Vocabulary Matching

To review the chemistry vocabulary for Biology 1 Part 1, I used the vocabulary matching activity Dee showed us. It worked really well! I had 3 stacks of "cards" (really I just printed, copied, and cut them on paper) and had the students match up the word, the definition, and a picture of an example of that word. They seemed to have a lot of fun doing and and most really took their time and really wanted to get it right. Even my 4th block class, which is not the most enthusiastic of the bunch, enjoyed this activity. I am planning on doing it again as a reinforcement for cell structures this week.

Literacy Day at Gilbert

I am still thinking about the segment from this morning's session that showed the eye-tracking involved with reading books that have illustrations. As a grandmother who often buys books I am going to be more aware of the placement of visual cues with regards to the verbal cues. Even though we had previewed our textbooks in our study session with Dee, Erin, and Mark I was reminded the role the organization of the verbal cues as well as the picture cues can play in instruction and learning. I have never been involved in a session involving the Socratic Circle, so I did walk away from the afternoon with a lot to think about and the ways it could be used in the classroom to engage students in the lesson as well as to develop deeper levels of thinking about issues or concepts. Thanks to the GHS staff who made the PHS staff feel welcomed. pwr

Medicine Man

This movie is about the race to find a cure for cancer in a rainforest that is disappearing around two scientists as they frantically carry out scientific research using scientific inquiry. They pose hypothesis after hypothesis and carry out scientific method to refute each one of these hypothesis, until the end of the movie when they find the answer to the problem. The scientists show the use of appropriate laboratory apparatus such as the gas chromatograph, which is an instrument used to analyze different bio-chemicals. They organize, interpret and evaluate data from a controlled scientific investigation which identifies the control, as well as independent and dependent variables. The movie exhibits the rainforest biome and alludes to the interdependence of all living organisms within this living system. The destruction of the rain forest means less rain and the encroachment of savannahs and deserts with each year, as well as the possible destruction of vast numbers of plant and animal species that possibly carry the cures for many diseases. I used this video to introduce scientific method. My students were given a worksheet with questions that followed along with the movie. They were asked to determine the problem, three different hypotheses, the control, as well as the dependent and independent variables. They were asked to do a journal write in which they discussed what they had learned and if they thought the movie helped them better understand the scientific process. Most students really liked the movie and thought it was helpful to see the field research involved in solving a scientific problem.

KUDOS

I just want to let all of you RAISSERs out there know how extremely impressed I am with all of the activities you are trying. I have truly been atonished at the amount of strategies being used at both Gilbert and Pelion. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!!!!!!!!

Finding Short Pieces to Read Aloud

I was looking over my books after our latest meeting, and I thought I would share some ideas about books in which I have found some good Read Alouds. When my parents were cleaning out their old books, I snagged a few that have great pieces in them. I found several Books of Amazing Facts, Facts and Fallicies, Guiness Books of World Records, Travel Stories, Amazing Stories of the TwentiethCentury, etc... Some of these are a little out dated, but they have some interesting stories. Also, whenever I happen to be strolling the flea markets, or antique malls, or garage sales, I always see lots of books for $1 or less. Sometimes there are books like these stuck in the bottom of the box. In fact I picked up a few good ones at the LMS garage sale over the summer. Finding the right Read Aloud for a lesson could be serendipitous or it might take some reading. I don't know if that helps, but anyway...
Vicky Jackson

One of the books we read in US History is The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw. The students like choosing stories to read and journal. The primary stories are written by people who lived during that time period and were close to the age of the students.

Badminton Vocabulary

In PE, I gave a test on the Badminton equipment vocabulary with just a study sheet. I gave the test to the students yesterday and many failed the test. My plan next week is to re-teach the vocabulary for the equipment using the vocabulary words, racket, birdie, and badminton court diagrams with placing the words on the correct parts of the equipment. This will help with visual and the actual parts of each equipment while learning the words. I am hoping this literacy strategy will help the students pass the test.

We use several types of scavenger hunts in our classes. One involves a Constitution Scavenger Hunt in which the students have to find a list of items in the Constitution. They have to write down the Article, section and clause to prove that they have found it.

Marianne Haney

In our AP US Government class, the students analyzed their political ideological beliefs by visiting several websites and writing the results. The students were able to compare their beliefs to famous people as well. It's interesting sometimes when a student thinks they're liberal, and then discover that they are closer to moderate or conservative.

Marianne Haney

For the past couple of weeks, students in AP US History have been researching and working on a newspaper project of the Gilded Age. They researched the people, events, economy, technology, politics, etc. of the era and composed a newspaper on publisher. Included in the project, was an obituary, an editorial, a political cartoon and an advertisement. The students enjoyed seeing the ads during the time period, and sharing these newspapers with the class.

Marianne Haney

Adding Clipart to make reading/handouts/notes more fun

I have noticed a difference in my classes with thier graphic organizers that I had out and other notes when I add clipart. They seem to be more engaged and less afraid of work. I add clipart on tests to make them more relaxed. I love to see them smile about the clipart as handouts and readings are handed out. Some people might think that the clipart is a little "elementary" or "too childish" but the students appreciate the fact that I am trying to make their notes and other material more friendly. For example, I teach Spanish and when teaching about J-stem irregulars in the preterite tense, I found a little dog thats body and tail formed the letter J and it was really cute. All of my PowerPoints have a handout with 1/2 the notes already written out for them, so that we can move along with the material and not waste time with note taking. Their notes are extremely helpful when they are going to study for a test or quiz because their notes are organized. If you haven't tried doing this for your students, you should try it and enjoy the reaction from your students!

class activity

This week in US History, my class did an activity called written conversation. Working in pairs, they read a section of their chapter and then wrote their reaction to what they read. The students enjoyed it because they could write notes in class and pass them back and forth to their partner. They read silently and seemed to enjoy this activity.

Marianne Haney

Re: Teaching to the Test

I am a physical science teacher and can relate to the issue of teaching to the test. We have increasingly eliminated interesting aspects of science education, including hands-on activities, in an effort to sufficiently cover the standards so students can demonstrate knowledge on a 55-question EOCT. I could view this cynically and say that the main goal is to make the school and the district look good, but I choose to view it positively and say that at least the students have demonstrated some basic knowledge.
By focusing on the tested standards we have improved our performance tremendously, but at the cost of taking a lot of the "fun stuff" out of science. This semester I am giving up quite a few hours of instructional time to read books to my classes -- about 10-15 minutes a day. Though I hope not, I expect my scores to decline somewhat as a result, but am convinced that in the long run the students will be better off. I am already getting a good bit of positive feedback from the students, and when I finish my book I am going to take the classes to the library to check out a book. Then I will let them write a brief commentary on the books they have read and give them extra credit for it.
Sometimes you just gotta do what feels right, and this feels OK to me.

FitnessGram and Looking Good Feeling Good Chapter

During PE class, all students participated in the Fitnessgram for a week. The students tabulated their scores and then the next week we went to the classroom for our one day a week session. In the classroom the students used their scores to help them with Chapter 2. We discussed which tests/scores represented health related fitness and which tests/scores represented skills related fitness. The students did a great job listing and relating the two items. I believe next time I will have the kids also input their scores into the fitnessgram program on the computer for media literacy. Any thoughts on how to make this different???

Teaching to better students or teaching to the test

I was thinking back the other day to a conversation I had with a collegue. The person told me that everything s/he was going to read/teach was to prepare for the End of Course test at the end of the semester. Everything. This person was not going to do anything that wouldn't prepare students for the test. Now, I completely understand why the person felt this way. Now that these tests are a part of school report cards, there is more pressure on teachers to help their students do well. If your school doesn't get an "Excellent" rating because the passage rate goal wasn't met, then you better believe there is going to be pressure on these teachers to meet that passage goal. However, when has teaching become all about the test? I feel like the strategies and ideas promoted in this course do more than just help us teach to the test. I don't want to just teach to the test. Yes, I do want my students to pass these high stakes tests. I would love to have a 100% passage rate. However, it just bothered me a little when this colleague said this to me. Again, I completely understand it; but it's sad that education has come to this. Let's face it. The reality is that test scores are everything. We can come up with the most engaging fantastic lesson imaginable; but if these lessons don't help raise test scores, then you better believe you'll be told these lessons are the wrong way to go.

Time to cause some vocabulary controversy

I was looking back at the section in the textbook on teaching vocabulary. Now I know I'm going to start some controversy on this, but I have to say it (maybe because I like to cause some intellectual debates in my classes). Do we really need all of these fancy, all-out methods of teaching vocabulary? Having word meaning graphic organizers, vocabulary trees, and other methods sound nice; but are they really needed? If I was a high school student, heck even today as an adult, and I was given the task of making a word meaning graphic organizer for some words, I would laugh and just take a zero. Who needs all of that work? Do we really need to have kids figure out the prefix and suffix, the etymology of the word, examples of where the word is found and other such tasks? I think our motives are fantastic. Yes, we need to increase students' vocabulary skills. However, is this the way to go? Does this really work or is it teaching students that vocabulary is a pain? Granted, giving words and definitions and then quizzing them does not work either. They memorize the words five minutes before the quiz and then forget them 30 seconds after the quiz. However, there has to be a happy medium. As soon as I figure it out, I'll write a book and become rich. Until then, anyone have any great ideas for teaching vocabulary?

Graphic Organizers!!!

We have discussed the use of graphic organizers to increase understanding. Graphic organizers can also be really nice when giving notes. I have tried using them to organize notes from a lecture or direct instruction. Students then know exactly what to listen for and it helps them organize their notes.

I found this site...http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/spanish/ which has a HUGE amount of graphic organizers. This is the Spanish link, but you can also get them in English. This page includes traditional graphic organizers (KWL) but it also has some more fun graphic organizers. My favorite is the "Sandwich" which actually uses a sandwich with bread, tomatoes, lettuce, and meat! Currently we are doing a read aloud about an illegal family from Bangladesh. The students are going to be asked to determine a theme, details and major events that take us through the story (meat, tomato, and lettuce) and then summarize how it ends in one sentence. Based on time restraints, they may even make predictions on the ending based on the events leading up to the end. With our upcoming school wide read aloud, this may be a good tool to use to hold the students accountable and help them keep up with the story throughout the day? Just a thought. Hope y'all enjoy this wonderful resource.

Writing About Graphs

One of the things that I struggle with in my Intro to Algebra classes (these are the students in the bottom quartile on standardized tests) is getting them to understand that slope is a rate of change and what this will look like on a graph. One of the activities that I tried this week is to have them look at a graph and write a story explaining the time passing and the rate of speed. My students really got into this activity. They were actually quietly working and being creative and learning. It was great. Some of them got so involved in the activity that they wanted to make their own graph to write a story about. I am thinking about making this a children's book or making it more detailed by using Powerpoint.

Newspapers and Mathematics

Reading a summary of this book, A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper , I thought that I would try some of the techniques in my Algebra 1, part 2 class. When we got to the statistics, I saw that the newspaper was an excellent source of very relevant data. The students were required to read a newspaper and gather some data that they found interesting. It could include any data, and these are a few of the topics that they worked with: sports, politics, health, fitness nutrition, and sales prices. We did stem-n-leaf plots, box-n-whisker plots, scatter plots and lines of best fit. We found mean, median, mode, range, upper and lower quartiles,. rates of change, and their final task was to verbally summarize as they went along.
The next time we do this activity, I will try to make time for oral presentations as well.

Blind Writing

As we finish reading The Miracle Worker in English I Part 1, I am preparing them for a RAFT writing assignment. One activity we did to prepare for this was a Blindfold Activity. I blindfolded students in groups of four at a time. Then each of those students had to perform some task in the room, like place a marker in a cup full of markers without turning it over. The cup was across the room. One student did turn it over and had to find all of the markers and put them back. (I told them ahead of time how many there were.) Another activity was to put papers in order that had hoes punched in the upper right corner. The page with one hole first, two holes second, etc... Then they had to staple them. Another group had to writ their names on paper after folding it in half. After the activities, students wrote about their feelings while they were blindfolded and their observations of others doing the activities. Later we will use these notes to help them write a RAFT paper. (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) Students will choose a role of one of the characters in The Miracle Worker and write a letter to Aunt Ev from the play explaining the miracle that has taken place. I hope to see many masterpieces from this!
Vicky

Twice Told

I just processed a really cool book that I think would be interesting to use in a class. The title is Twice Told: Original Stories Inspired by Original Art. Scott Hunt, the artist, says in his introductory note:
"So I did a series of nine drawings, using a visual vocabulary of clues to suggest stories - stories that the viewers have to discover for themselves. And then we gave each of the drawings to a different pair of authors and asked each of them to write a story based on what they imagined was going on in the picture. The following collection is the delightfully surprising result.:

The authors of the short stories include YA authors Sarah Dessen, Ellen Wittlinger, William Sleator, Nancy Werlin, Alex Flinn, etc. It would be very interesting to read both stories inspired by the art, and then have the students use the "Written Conversation" strategy for either or both stories.

Is there anyone who would like to partner with me in this endeavor?
Janet

Music in the Classroom

Several people have discussed how they use music in the classroom, so I thought I would share this site and information.
http://www.voicesacrosstime.org/
It is primarily a history resource, but I think some of the ideas could be used in a variety of classes.

The information about their institute is quoted below. I would love to go, but I doubt that I will be able to do it! Maybe someone can.
------
Summer Institute
Voices Across Time was also the basis of a Summer Institute for Teachers funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. Offered in 2004 and 2006, we hope to offer the Institute again in 2008.
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Janet

Telling a Story by Making a Music Video

In my Broadcast Production classs, students learn how to tell a story by producing a Music Video. I like to have them use "Oldies"
making because the lyrics are descriptive and benign. When I play the song for the first time, they think it's too old and not hip, but once they get into the process and story telling they have a lot of fun with it. Surprisingly, some of their favorite videos are these "oldies". I'll put some up at www.lexington1.net/phs/video.html for you to view. I like "Charlie Brown"...that's me playing the grumpy teacher. Also, "Hey, Mickey"and some others. Bookmark the site page and over time I'll put some more up. We have a few almost "in the can".

Give me until about 12 pm today to get the page uploaded.

enjoy,

yogidon

Online Books that are Interactive for Foreign Language teachers

This is an awesome site that has an interactive story - like a comic book. You can also choose the names of the characters. After you choose, the story is read aloud to you. The teacher does not have to read it to them. http://www.storyplace.org/sp/eel/eel.asp?themeID=12 I am planning on using it with my students today. This is wonderful for all levels of students, since they have infant books and up. I kind of got hooked on it today - and I can't wait to use it with my students today!

Candidate's Biography Children's Books!!

After Kelly and Riley assigned us our project - I knew what I was going to do since I was already planning on having my government students research the presidential candidates. I would have them take their research a step further and have my students select their favorite candidate to write a children's book about. With Kelly's guidance and the help of our fabulous media specialist at GHS, we were introduced to some of the newest resources on DISCUS and Janet also found a great example of a children's book about Abraham Lincoln. Lots of students were relieved when they learned that a childrens book may only have a sentence or two on a page. The first few turned in have been terrific! Now I just have to get the rest in!

Marlene, I used the NPR site and love it! I plan to use it in my US Government class for updated politics and society news. Thanks for the great idea!

Seven Blind Mice

I just read aloud this book Seven Blind Mice and it talks about how it is important to know all parts of something instead of pieces to be successfull. I related it to my PE classes in that it is important to know all rules and skills of each sport to be able to be successfull at it.

3- D Project: Math- Geometry

For my geometry class, I'd like students to build a structure of an "animal' or a "building" etc. and have them calculate Volume and Surface area of the entire structure. In addition I'd like the kids to write a short story or a poem concernig their animal or structure. I need help with a grading rubric. Any advice or ideas? Patty Spires with Gilbert High School

My US History classes will be working on a newspaper project for The Greatest Generation. In the project, they will include an editorial, news articles, weather, and other items back in that time period.

A Copied Strategy-Blogger!

In my Spanish classes we do a lot of short writing activities. Spanish IV writes daily journals, and Spanish I and II students have a short/long writing components with each unit. In an attempt to make these journals more fun for Spanish IV students, I set up a blog for them. Each time we blog I post a question or prompt. The students answer the prompt on the blog and then read each others blogs. They also have to respond to the other blogs. I ask them to find any errors and offer corrections, but they also respond to what the students mentioned in their blogs.

In example, the students wrote a blog about their school schedules and what they like or don't like in various classes. One student mentioned disecting cats in their biology class, and another student responded that they couldn't do that to a cat. They also asked each other questions about how they like those classes and how they are taught. All of this is written in Spanish (with Spanish IV students) so it is really neat to see the students read, understand, and respond in Spanish to one another. It's great to meet our written communication standards as well as incorporating literacy in Spanish!

Literacy in PE

Recently completed read aloud from Looking Good Feeling Good. Perhaps a book thats a little more interesting would appeal to the students. Another problem is that students look forward to being active in my class and working in the classroom is a disappointment. I need to rethink my strategies for more interesting techniques in physical education class. Any ideas?

listening to npr

Since our last meeting I have been downloading many npr recordings to start the Marine Science class. The students listen to the recordings and many have led to meaningful discussions about how our use of resources impact the world and vice versa. It only takes about 5-8 minutes at the start of the day and the class and the students are engaged in discussion. The site is easy to use and has always seems to have relevant topics for our class. You can also recordings by topic or by program guide. I also like the fact that the voice can vary from male-female.

Walking the Walk Part II

Back on Jan 17 I shared that I was going to read a youth novel to my classes this semester. I am happy to report that I am actually doing it, a chapter a day, and if for some reason (time constraints) I have to miss a day the students actually complain! A few will put their heads down, but most are interested, and when a chapter ends on a suspenseful note, there is usually a chorus of "don't stop! keep reading!"...which I do not do, because I want them to look forward to it. I'm enjoying this new aspect of teaching. My EOCT scores may suffer a bit, but if I can get some kids to read (I'm going to take them to the library to check out a book for extra credit when we finish the book) then, hey, it's worth it!

"Gym Candy"

A great book to use for S4S and drugs section is called "Gym Candy" by Carl Deuker. Deuker uses athletics and anabolic steroids (various types of steroid usage) in a football player. It is great. My kids enjoyed this read aloud for Alcohol, Tobacco, & Other Drugs section. The player is conflicted with the stresses of trying to live up to his father's expectations, being the best running back on the team, and getting a college scholarship. He ends up compromising his integrity. (This book could also apply to a PE class).

Algebra Unplugged

I teach algebra at GHS, and I recently ran across a good book to use with algebra students. The book is titled Algebra Unplugged. What I like most about this book is that it provideds answers to questions like "Why to we have to learn Algebra?" and "When will I ever use Algebra?". We all know that students ask these questions all the time. The book also provides a good breakdown for many algebra topics that students struggle with.

Using Music and Media

I'm finally able to blog again. One of the neat things that Erin and Dee and Mark (our fearless leaders) talked about was using music in the classroom. There are actually some "math" songs out there... Math Sucks by Jimmy Buffett, and That's Mathematics by Tom Lehrer. I was able to find these on YouTube along with video. I know we can't access YouTube at school but my husband, who is computer savvy, found a program that let's you save the file on your hard drive. One of the first days, I played Math Sucks and had the students write a couple of sentences about their feelings about math. Not surprisingly, those who said "math sucked" said it was because they didn't do well in math.

Scavenger Hunts

In class last week, our group leader modeled a scavenger hunt on character education. Each of the six members in our group chose one of the pillars of character education. We were asked to find a cartoon, a quote, a photograph, and a read aloud that demonstrated the traits of that pillar. Using this model, I developed a scavenger hunt for my Geometry class that I plan to use this semester. Students will be introduced to the idea of 3-D shapes with a Read Aloud (The Greedy Triangle) and then divided into 5 groups. Each group will be assigned one of the following shapes: prism, pyramid, cylinder, cone, or sphere. The students will go on a scavenger hunt outside the classroom to locate objects that represent their shape. Upon returning to the classroom, the students will use poster paper to list the objects found, write an appropriate definition for the shape, draw a 2-D net and a 3-D drawing of the shape, write the surface area and volume formula for the shape, and create a word problem using the formulas. If anyone has additional ideas for scavenger hunts that could be used in math, please send them my way.