Here is a podcast I created to make these chats easier to use with the user-friendly Tweet Chat.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Twitter Chats: Where to Start
Are you looking for a way to join those Twitter chats but you are not sure where to start? Are you overwhelmed by all of the posts you see?
Here is a podcast I created to make these chats easier to use with the user-friendly Tweet Chat.
Here is a podcast I created to make these chats easier to use with the user-friendly Tweet Chat.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Visual Literacy in Math part 2
To go with my word problem assignment, which is described here http://stacykoops.blogspot.com/2013/11/visual-literacy-in-math.html I found this rubric that I might use to assess this task.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Visual Literacy in math
For a literacy and technology course I am required to create a visual literacy lesson. I feel that teaching in the primary grades affords me the opportunity to use visual modes of learning in reading and language arts. What about math? I often ask my students to draw and write about what they are learning but I do not engage them in a lot of whole body learning during math time.
Our new unit on multiplication and division got me thinking about ways to do this. Already on our first day students were drawing pictures and arrays and using counters for story problems. What else can I do?
I will have a little extra time after Thanksgiving break before I need to move into my next unit. As a culminating project I will have my students work in heterogeneous groups to create a number story. They will need to solve it by acting it out with props or themselves. Their props can be hand made. They can also demonstrate how to solve their story using the Show Me app http://www.showme.com/create.
Students will be assessed on writing a multiplication number story, solving the story correctly with a number model and a visual depiction for solving, and on their creativity.
Our new unit on multiplication and division got me thinking about ways to do this. Already on our first day students were drawing pictures and arrays and using counters for story problems. What else can I do?
I will have a little extra time after Thanksgiving break before I need to move into my next unit. As a culminating project I will have my students work in heterogeneous groups to create a number story. They will need to solve it by acting it out with props or themselves. Their props can be hand made. They can also demonstrate how to solve their story using the Show Me app http://www.showme.com/create.
Students will be assessed on writing a multiplication number story, solving the story correctly with a number model and a visual depiction for solving, and on their creativity.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Life Lessons Keyboarding Style
Our district has a new keyboarding program and it is not really a favorite with my students but I don't necessarily think it is a bad thing. The program is implemented twice a week. My students often have to repeat lessons because the program deems their progress insufficient. We had a discussion about sticking with something that you may not like and that some things in life will not be your favorite. We also discussed that some tasks seem boring or frustrating but that they are helping us grow and preparing us for better and more fun things. Thanks you Type to Learn 4 for another lesson in grit and resilience.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Resilience
One of my favorite things about being in education is collaborating with my colleagues online and at school. Recently our guidance counselor shared a few articles with me from Educational Leadership's magazine grit/resiliency issue.
The first was Mark D. Jacobson's Afraid of Looking Dumb where he discussed how students perceive the classroom as a stage on which they need to perform well and how we need to change their mindsets and sometimes ours. He questioned what it means to be smart and how feel students feel about their intellect and if that can change. He discovered that people either feel that intelligent is fixed and can't improve or they believe we can grow by working hard or having grit. Students can be influenced by how teachers approach them and how they see learning. Teachers must give feedback that is consistent and relevant to the task at hand, ask open-ended questions, and challenge reluctant learners. The way teachers think reflects what they do in the classroom. If educators have a fixed belief they may not model taking risks for their students.
I have realized that grit is something that I need to show my students by taking risks and trying new things in the classroom.
The next article was The Significance of Grit based on an interview of Angela Lee Duckworth. This article follows her 2009 Ted Talk on the same topic. One of the most important things I learned from this article is that grit is one of the most reliable predictors of success. Angela completed a study at West Point Military Academy where students were given a Whole Candidate Score and a grit questionnaire to see who would stay in the program throughout the first summer. The grit survey better predicted who stayed on into their first academic year and who dropped out.
Students learn grit by sticking with the same thing for the long-term. Staying focused like that helps people realize what their passions are and better decide the course they want to take. Grit can be developed and we need to teach our students that. I have read Your Fantastic Elastic Brain with my students to show them how their brain grows, what parts of their brain does what, and that they need to make mistakes and stick with things in order to really learn. My students are third graders and they are nearing the end of what the book calls their "magic decade" so we talk about how what they do this year will affect how they learn for the rest of their lives. Our motto is to be brave and to take risks in our safe classroom so that we can stretch our brains really far this year.
References:
Perkins-Gough, D. (2013). The significance of grit.Educational Leadership, 71(1), 14-20.
Jacobson, M. D. (2013). Afraid of looking dumb.Educational Leadership, 71(1), 40-43.
The first was Mark D. Jacobson's Afraid of Looking Dumb where he discussed how students perceive the classroom as a stage on which they need to perform well and how we need to change their mindsets and sometimes ours. He questioned what it means to be smart and how feel students feel about their intellect and if that can change. He discovered that people either feel that intelligent is fixed and can't improve or they believe we can grow by working hard or having grit. Students can be influenced by how teachers approach them and how they see learning. Teachers must give feedback that is consistent and relevant to the task at hand, ask open-ended questions, and challenge reluctant learners. The way teachers think reflects what they do in the classroom. If educators have a fixed belief they may not model taking risks for their students.
I have realized that grit is something that I need to show my students by taking risks and trying new things in the classroom.
The next article was The Significance of Grit based on an interview of Angela Lee Duckworth. This article follows her 2009 Ted Talk on the same topic. One of the most important things I learned from this article is that grit is one of the most reliable predictors of success. Angela completed a study at West Point Military Academy where students were given a Whole Candidate Score and a grit questionnaire to see who would stay in the program throughout the first summer. The grit survey better predicted who stayed on into their first academic year and who dropped out.
Students learn grit by sticking with the same thing for the long-term. Staying focused like that helps people realize what their passions are and better decide the course they want to take. Grit can be developed and we need to teach our students that. I have read Your Fantastic Elastic Brain with my students to show them how their brain grows, what parts of their brain does what, and that they need to make mistakes and stick with things in order to really learn. My students are third graders and they are nearing the end of what the book calls their "magic decade" so we talk about how what they do this year will affect how they learn for the rest of their lives. Our motto is to be brave and to take risks in our safe classroom so that we can stretch our brains really far this year.
References:
Perkins-Gough, D. (2013). The significance of grit.Educational Leadership, 71(1), 14-20.
Jacobson, M. D. (2013). Afraid of looking dumb.Educational Leadership, 71(1), 40-43.
Blogging in the Classroom
The Joy of Blogging by Anne P. Davis and Ewa McGrail tells of how blogging was effectively implemented in one fifth grade classroom. The authors describe how thoughtful planning and purposeful instruction can create enriching learning opportunities through blogging.
Students created posts of choice and were engaged in collaboration through individuals chosen by their teachers. This learning community allowed students to learn from people they had never met and would normally not have the opportunity to engage with. They also had the chance to teach others and to persuade them with their points of view. Blogging encouraged students to learn, to sharing their learning, and to reflect upon their learning and interactions with others.
Integrating this type of technology teaches students how to be responsible and safe members of the internet community as well in an environment where they can be monitored.
I believe that blogging is a skill that allow individuals to be life long learners and that skill is enhanced by teachers providing outside audiences for their students. Making blog posts available to multiple audiences encourages students to consider who they are writing for and why. They can also include tags in their posts to engage various audiences.
The Joy of Blogging
Another article I read was Yes, Kindergarteners Can Blog, and So Can Their Teachers! that highlighted the importance of including families in student and classroom blogs. This can make parents feel that they have more of a role in their child's learning and that they know what is happening in the classroom.
Something that I had not considered before reading this article by Sharon E. Davison was creating a blog for individual classroom subjects that can easily be referenced and edited each school year. She created a blog for their life studies unit to engage families with what is happening in the classroom and encouraging families to discuss the topics and take part in their own discoveries.
The opportunities that blogging provides are pretty extensive and many probably have not even been discovered. This type of technology encourages students to write, read, learn, and research with a social aspect that makes these experiences more meaningful and long-term.
Resources:
Davis, A. P., & McGrail, E. (2009). The joy of blogging.Educational Leadership, 66(6), 74-77. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/The-Joy-of-Blogging.aspx
Davison, S.E. (2013). Yes, kindergartners can blog, and so can their teachers! Learning & Leading With Technology, 40(6), 26-28.
Students created posts of choice and were engaged in collaboration through individuals chosen by their teachers. This learning community allowed students to learn from people they had never met and would normally not have the opportunity to engage with. They also had the chance to teach others and to persuade them with their points of view. Blogging encouraged students to learn, to sharing their learning, and to reflect upon their learning and interactions with others.
Integrating this type of technology teaches students how to be responsible and safe members of the internet community as well in an environment where they can be monitored.
I believe that blogging is a skill that allow individuals to be life long learners and that skill is enhanced by teachers providing outside audiences for their students. Making blog posts available to multiple audiences encourages students to consider who they are writing for and why. They can also include tags in their posts to engage various audiences.
The Joy of Blogging
Another article I read was Yes, Kindergarteners Can Blog, and So Can Their Teachers! that highlighted the importance of including families in student and classroom blogs. This can make parents feel that they have more of a role in their child's learning and that they know what is happening in the classroom.
Something that I had not considered before reading this article by Sharon E. Davison was creating a blog for individual classroom subjects that can easily be referenced and edited each school year. She created a blog for their life studies unit to engage families with what is happening in the classroom and encouraging families to discuss the topics and take part in their own discoveries.
The opportunities that blogging provides are pretty extensive and many probably have not even been discovered. This type of technology encourages students to write, read, learn, and research with a social aspect that makes these experiences more meaningful and long-term.
Resources:
Davis, A. P., & McGrail, E. (2009). The joy of blogging.Educational Leadership, 66(6), 74-77. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/The-Joy-of-Blogging.aspx
Davison, S.E. (2013). Yes, kindergartners can blog, and so can their teachers! Learning & Leading With Technology, 40(6), 26-28.
Back to Blogging
Hello!
I am a third (formerly second, formerly first) grade teacher and this is not my first attempt at blogging. It is actually my third. I believe my first two attempts failed because I did not know who my audience was or the purpose behind my blogging. I think I did it more to belong to my Twitter peers but I was not committed. I am required to create this blog for a graduate course which probably does not make me seem too committed this time either. I can tell you what is different this go around.
While creating and ultimately shutting down my last two blogs I had become a member of the fantastic Professional Learning Network (PLN) of Twitter. As @StacyKoops I have learned a lot from fellow educators and had the opportunity to share things I have learned on and away from Twitter. Taking my current class has given me another push to blog in my crazy schedule and to use my new perspective to keep it alive.
My perspective regarding online collaborative learning lead me to create this blog with the intention of sharing and finding pertinent resources that will have the most positive impact on my students. This blog will be used to share with other professionals and to provide myself and others with that "conference day" feeling more often. I also see this as an opportunity to create an intentional habit of writing and sharing what I do know.
In my last two attempts at blogging I think I doubted what I had to offer to the world. I have since retaken stock of my professional life and I hear myself sharing with my colleagues often and receiving wonderful ideas and articles from them. I will do my best to do the same with all of you.
Enjoy and please see my blog as your blog. Join me by reflecting and commenting!
I am a third (formerly second, formerly first) grade teacher and this is not my first attempt at blogging. It is actually my third. I believe my first two attempts failed because I did not know who my audience was or the purpose behind my blogging. I think I did it more to belong to my Twitter peers but I was not committed. I am required to create this blog for a graduate course which probably does not make me seem too committed this time either. I can tell you what is different this go around.
While creating and ultimately shutting down my last two blogs I had become a member of the fantastic Professional Learning Network (PLN) of Twitter. As @StacyKoops I have learned a lot from fellow educators and had the opportunity to share things I have learned on and away from Twitter. Taking my current class has given me another push to blog in my crazy schedule and to use my new perspective to keep it alive.
My perspective regarding online collaborative learning lead me to create this blog with the intention of sharing and finding pertinent resources that will have the most positive impact on my students. This blog will be used to share with other professionals and to provide myself and others with that "conference day" feeling more often. I also see this as an opportunity to create an intentional habit of writing and sharing what I do know.
In my last two attempts at blogging I think I doubted what I had to offer to the world. I have since retaken stock of my professional life and I hear myself sharing with my colleagues often and receiving wonderful ideas and articles from them. I will do my best to do the same with all of you.
Enjoy and please see my blog as your blog. Join me by reflecting and commenting!
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