CDLP

Visual Article

Some of what I read in this article seemed like it would go over the heads of an elementary student. However, I feel that some of these things could be altered and used in an elementary classroom. One of my favorite things in the article was when it said that teachers and students should act as “co-learners”. I think that is very important. I think it is also important to remember that sometimes our students will know more than us. When working like technology, it is very likely that some students will know more than me. I also liked the evaluation that students would complete for their classmates. I think this helps build the idea of a community of learners. I also liked that the article suggested using a reflection sheet for composer/designer. This requires students to really think about what they have done. I do think it is very important for students to be exposed to these visual literacies. A lot of what we do is technological and students will just fall behind if they do not learn these things.

Chapter 11

As I read this chapter, all I could think of was my tutoring student at South Forrest. It seems that she has been taught that writing can only be boring. Whenever we begin to write anything after we have read our story, she almost seems to cringe. This child has never been shown that we use writing everyday.
I never thought that even these blogs could be considered "writing". According to Conley anything that is typed (IM, web addresses, or even doing online research) is considered writing. I think it is very important for teachers to take this in to consideration. If we do let students know that even things like this are considered writing, we may could entice more students to want to type.
I believe it is very important for students to learn how and why to write. If students are never taught how to write, they are crippled after they are out of high school. If a student continues his/her education with college he/she will be very busy writing. If a student chooses not to go to college and simply pursue a career, he/she will still be writing. Because they will be writing in any occupation they choose, it is very important for students to be taught how to plan their writing.
I believe it is very important for teachers to use some of the strategies that Conley suggests for teaching students how to write and review and revise their writing. Doing so will ultimately fill the world with students who not only love to write but are great writers. In my opinion you can never have too many great writers in the world.

SMART BOARD and Promethean

Sadly, I have had very little experience with either of these technologies. When I was a sophomore in high school, my zoology/marine biology teacher had written a grant for a SMART Board for his room. He used this tool almost every day. Although he did use PowerPoint with this he made them more interesting by drawing quick sketches to clarify. However, students were never allowed to use this board. Last semester I took the online tutorials for the Promethean software. I then attended a very brief training session of this technology. Because it was so brief I had no opportunity to use this technology.
I think both these technologies could be very valuable tools in the classroom. Unfortunately, most teachers who have this capability in their classroom do not use for anything more than a way to show a PowerPoint presentation. I think it would be great if teachers could allow students the opportunity to use these technologies.

Chapter 7

I read this chapter and immediately thought about what I had seen in lab. This semester we are at a school way out in the country. Most of the kids talk about hunting and fishing and wear camouflage all the time. One day the math teacher was teaching about the quadrants of a coordinate plane. To introduce quadrants, he asked each child if they had ever heard of some four-wheeler called the king quad. Most of the students of course had heard of this. Introducing something the students knew using the word quad, gained their interest about quadrants.
Unfortunately, not all students are lucky enough to have a teacher that cares about what their int rests are. I find it very sad that there are teachers out there that do not take the time to get to know their students and therefore the student does not succeed. I think it should be the goal of every teacher to have every student in the class succeed. It should not matter the color of the child's skin, their SES, their cultural background, or even what they are interested in. A teacher should get to know his/her students and what helps them to learn the best.
The tools that Conley mentions are great ways to get to know your students. If used correctly anticipation guides are a great way to see what students know about a topic or idea that is to be taught. I think it is very important for teachers to remember to not hold students accountable for information on an anticipation guide until after the information has been taught. It is also important to go over the anticipation guide before the information is taught and after the information is taught. The Pre Reading Plan is a great way to activate a students prior knowledge. It helps teachers make decisions about how to increase that knowledge. A KWL is a simple tool that can be very easily incorporated into any lesson. With all these tools it is important to remember to revisit what the students predicted/already knew.

Lesson Plan

Curriculum Standard: Investigate the history and cultures of the regions of the Western Hemisphere (e.g., Canada, North America, Middle America, South America, and Antarctica).



Big Idea: Examine the characteristics of societies in the Western Hemisphere and trace their developments.



Preparation:

1. Introduce the regions of the Western Hemisphere.


2. Ask students if they know anything about any of these areas.


3. Go to www.brainpop.com/socialstudies.


4. Show students how to navigate around the site.


5. Break students up into groups.


6. Assign each group a topic

Guidance:

1. Groups use http://www.brainpop.com/ to investigate given topic.


2. The teacher walks around providing help with information and the website.

Application:

1. Groups work information into a lesson.


2. Groups teach the lesson to other classmates.

Assessment:

1. Each group will create an assessment that goes along with thier lesson for other students to take.
2. Teacher and class will work together to create a rubric assessing presentation skills (information, presentation, assessment, etc.)
3. Students will help assess each groups presentation according to the rubric.

Teacher Blog

coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/feeds/114140911226993274/comments/default