CEDO525 week 6

This was the final week of this class.  For one of the final projects we had to review a lesson plan to see which strategies and technology.  For the other final project I had to revamp a lesson that I had previously used or created.  I choose my Mystery Grab Bag language arts lesson.  This particular lesson did not include technology, so I was able to incorporate technology fairly easily.  Now I can do the same lesson two different ways, depending on if I have technology available at the time.

The textbook for this course was all about various strategies.  This book was very similar to Marzano’s book of very similar strategies.  While I already use many of these strategies in my teaching, I am able to take away some different technology components.  I have learned about some other programs to explore and use with my students.

CEDO525 week 5

This week’s strategies are identifying similarities and differences, homework and practice, and generating and testing hypotheses. 

Identifying similarities and differences

When it comes to identifying similarities and differences I use this strategy a lot with my students that have special needs.  This week I used it on their spelling test.  They had 16 words and within those words were groups of words that rhymed, had similar spellings, or sound the same with different spellings.  As a way to prepare for the test we used handheld whiteboards in which they had to tell me which of their words (from memory) rhymed, etc.  I wasn’t sure how well it would work prior to doing it, but it went very well and they had fun.  Then when they took their spelling test the students were able to refer back to the previous days activity.  In social studies, I recently had them do a test comparing China to the United States using a Venn diagram.  They were given a list of the words/topics and they had to correctly place them in the correct area of the Venn diagram.  They did very well with this too, and in addition they got more out of this test then they would have from a multiple choice or fill in the blank.  

Homework and practice

When it comes to homework and practice I think there are a lot of mixed reviews on this.  Students should not be learning new concepts as homework, but they should be practicing what they learned in the classroom.  Much of the homework I assign my students is class work that was not completed during class.  Working with students with special needs we do a lot of repetition throughout our lessons.  When class work is not completed they are then expected to take it home and complete it.  I make sure that before it goes home they understand what they are to do.  At times I will make additional comments on the work itself or the students’ daily reports to parents so that if the student gets stuck with the directions parents know how to help.  The problem I see with homework is that many times I get the homework back and it’s clear the student didn’t do the homework.  I’ve had students tell me their other siblings or even parents have done the work for them. 

I teach in a very poor urban school and many of my students do not own computers, and because of this most if not all, of their homework involves paper and pencil activities.  For students that own an iPod I have written down free apps for parents to download for their child, if they can get to a computer, to help practice skills worked on, for example sight words or grammar.    

Generating and testing hypotheses

I think teaching overall is all about generating and testing hypotheses.  Anytime a lesson or activity is introduced I’ve generated hypotheses, and my hypotheses are being tested by the results of the activity or the students’ scores.  As I see results I make modifications or alter my lesson or activity.  One way this year that I have generated and tested hypotheses in my classroom was by introducing the use of iPods.  I was fortunate enough to be part of a special project using iPods, but it meant creating lessons and collecting data.  One of the ways I use iPods is by creating podcasts for when students do closure spelling stories.   By creating a podcast of the story the students could work independently, before I either read the story and everyone had to stay together or they read it to themselves.  Some of the very first feedback I received was the story went to fast in the podcast.  With every podcast I created I tweaked the graphics or the recording, and the results were what I had hoped for in the beginning.  Now the students do the podcasts most weeks very successfully.  

CED0525 week 4

It’s a Wild Ride is a project based interdisciplinary unit where students design a roller coaster and then they need to convince an amusement park to accept their design.  Some of the things that I like about this unit are the collaboration of staff and students.  In order for this project to be successful all of the team members (principals, teachers, and assistants) need to be on board.  They need to see their role in the students’ success of this project.  The same is true for the students.  I like the interdisciplinary unit and that every subject is included as part of the project.  I found it intriguing that this is the unit for all academics during the duration of the project.  For a project like this to be successful everyone needs to see his or her role and want to be successful.

For a project like this to work students need to be willing to do work outside the classroom.  They also need to be familiar with project based learning before something of this magnitude could be taken on and be successful.  Currently I know of a teacher who has never used project based learning with her students and is currently having her students do a 6 week ambiguous project of their choice.  Both the teacher and the students are frustrated - for many reasons.   Some questions I have are, have all the students bought into the project?  What about those that have never been to an amusement park or have never ridden a roller coaster?   Do they care about the project?  Since the students are working on the same project for weeks throughout the whole school day, do they all stay focused on the task?  Working in a very poor urban school these would be challenges I would be faced with.

The next assignment was to watch the Clay Shirky on institutions vs. collaboration video. His overall message is that collaboration and institutions are changing and that not only should we get used to it, but we might as well get good at it.  In this video he stated not all is created equal in collaboration. This isn’t a new revelation in the world of collaboration as far as I’m concerned, but it’s definitely worth mentioning again.  He used the site Flickr as his example.  He stated while some people posted hundreds of pictures, many others posted one.  However, Clay stated if you were to look at the site, it shows an average post of 10 pictures per person. He uses Flickr as an example of how institutions and collaboration is changing.  Flickr is a website where people can share photos they have taken.  Before this site people might not have had a chance to view or use photos that are now readily available.  This changes the logistics of institutions.  Before these types of web/collaboration tools, we would have only had professional photographers pictures to look at.  He also brought up a journalist that is currently sitting in jail because they are not willing to share their sources.  He referred to this as the “shield”.  However, today people can post whatever they want on the web, for example blogs, with a click of the button.  While this provides everyone with a voice to be heard through the power of words, it also leads to a lot of incorrect or nonfactual information.  Unfortunately we see this everyday.  Before we relied on responsible journalists and today we don’t always know what is factual.  An example of this would be Wikipedia – where people have previously commented about seeing incorrect information.  Most of what Clay Shirky stated I had already thought of.  The most profound item for me was the cell phone.  Since I don’t use cell phones I hadn’t thought of this.  He stated that with the use of cell phones people don’t make plans like they used to.  Where people used to make plans, now with the use of cell phones people call when they get somewhere or when they are leaving.  That wasn’t something that had thought of until now. 

Cooperative learning and reinforcing efforts

This week’s strategies are cooperative learning and reinforcing effort.  As a special education teacher we use cooperative learning all the time in our classroom.  For students to successfully do cooperative learning they have to have a clear understanding of the assignment/project, their role in the assignment/project, and the end product.  Beginning this week my students will be doing a debate on recycling.   The students will be working in teams to research their side, put together their arguments, and present the debate, which will be videotaped.  Then they will be able to view the video.  My role is a facilitator and to insure that all the students are engaged, doing their part, helping by posing questions for them to research.  This is just one example of cooperative learning.  Other ways I have used cooperative learning in my classroom is through research projects and presentations, partner reading, labs, etc. 

Reinforcing efforts goes a long way.  I think it’s very important to reinforce a student’s (peoples) efforts, not always the results.  I feel this is an area I’m strong in.  I do this throughout the day without giving it much thought.  My students’ academic abilities are very low so we read everything aloud.  I make sure that I acknowledge when a student tries to read a word when they are really struggling, even if they didn’t get it correct.  I let them know effort is key.  I use a lot of verbal praise throughout the day.  From time to time I will give the students “rewards” (a piece of candy, I’ll make treats, a special school supply, a few minutes of “free time”, etc.), but not too often. I really want them to develop a sense of self-satisfaction, rather than the expectation of extrinsic rewards.  When students first come into my room I often hear  “what do I get?” after a couple of weeks I don’t hear it anymore.  This is one way I know that it’s working.  I also know that the positive reinforcement is working, because within a few weeks students are also providing positive reinforcement to one another.