Teaching Tech Tools!

Technology in the classroom is HUGE! And because of the growth of technology use within the classroom, there are SO MANY TOOLS that teachers and students can use to help further their learning. I've had the opportunity to explore a few new tools that I haven't heard of, and I've thought about how I can use these in my classroom in the future, and in this post, I'm going to share those tools with you, and share how I can use them.

1. SOCRATIVE 

This site is SO COOL. It's for grades  3-12. This site provides activities, quizzes, results, and so much more. The skills that this sites focuses on is communication and collaboration, character and SEL, as well as critical thinking. The purpose of this site is to help with assessments, and classroom management. There are so many ways that we can use these in our classrooms. Rather than writing up our own quizzes, we can use some quizzes that have been made for their age group already, with the proper content. We, as teachers, can tweak the content as needed, and we have access to the results to the quizzes right away. It tracks what they've grasped, and what they need to work on, and we can see what we need to spend more time on with them. I think the students could have fun with the activities that are provided, and with the quizzes, they'll know right away what they got wrong, and what they need to work on, rather than having to wait for you to grade them, which sometimes, can take days. This way, we have instant results and we can move forward quicker.

2. KAHOOT

This site is designed to MAKE LEARNING AWESOME!  It is designed for grades 4-12, and there are so many different activities that make learning fun. The skills that this site focuses on is communication and collaboration, tech skills, and critical thinking. The purpose of the site is to provide assessments, and targeted practice. This site is focused on engaging kids, and making learning fun for them again. While it doesn't allow for tracking of their progress, there are other ways that teachers can do that. We can use this site to give the kids a break from lectures, and test their knowledge in other ways. In my classroom, I would love to use this to help the students further their learning, while they're having fun. They can play in groups, or individually, but I definitely think they can benefit from this site.

There are so many more sites out there that can help further a students learning, and to help teachers in their classroom. Assessment tools are a great contribution to the classroom, and if we can make learning just a little more exciting for the kids, then there's no question of what we should do.

Differentiating Content and Assessment

In any classroom, regardless of content area or grade level, there are so many different ways that you differentiate instruction and deliver different learning materials. In particular, what I’m going to talk about throughout this post, is differentiated instruction in a Language Arts classroom. 

Most Language Arts classes use textbooks, but they also use literature that is age and content appropriate for what they are teaching. Every student is at a different level. They read at different speeds, and some are ahead of their reading level, and some are behind. In order to complete assignments and lessons successfully, we have to get creative with how we reach our students. 

In a lesson where I am teaching my class about analyzing literature, and to dig deeper into the text, and look at different literary devices, and how the plot functions in the story. There are different ways that I could make sure to reach my students. One way is to have the students work in groups, and they can help each other identify different types of literary devices, and analyze the characters and focus on the plot. If they work in groups, the can each use their strengths to help the others weaknesses. They can get other students opinions on what they got out of the reading. The students can be split into groups that include strong general education students with ELL students and/or special needs students. The next thing I can do is make sure to pay attention to their reading levels. While planning the lesson, I can assign groups based on their reading levels, and each group will have a different story that they are focusing on. There will be general worksheets for the entire class to use, and this will help guide the conversations. To make ELL students comfortable in the classroom, I could also allow them to work individually, and the text and worksheets could potentially be in their language, depending on where they're actin learning the English Language. For assessments, I would have the students give presentations on their text. I can also prepare general questions that will make them think about what they're reading, and how they’re doing in their analysis. 

As far as how I will deliver the lesson, I will take into account how my students learn, and how I can do my best to make sure that everyone is where they should be. Everything that we alter in our classrooms is essential to making sure our students are learning and practicing to the best of their abilities.

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning, by definition, is a very successful teaching strategy where there are small teams of students, each with different levels of abilities, who use a variety of learning activities to improve the understanding of the subject they are working on. This type of learning is so important to have in the classroom, to help increase the success of the students. There are so many types of grouping that you can use in the classroom to achieve the highest level of understanding. If we group appropriately, we can use grouping fully to our advantage. Two ways that we can group our students is through homogeneous and heterogeneous grouping. Homogeneous grouping is when you place students with similar abilities into one group. Heterogeneous grouping is when you place students with various abilities into a group, such as mixing ELLs and Special education students into the general education groups. If I were to use homogeneous grouping, I would strategically place the students who were at the same level of learning together, place the ELL students together, etc. If I were to use heterogeneous grouping, I would place one ELL student in a group with at least one general education student who was excelling in the subject, so they could help guide them and help them grasp a better understanding of what they’re learning. 

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is another way that we can group students together. There are 9 types of intelligences: naturalist (nature smart), musical (sound smart), logical-mathematical (number/reasoning smart), existential (life smart), interpersonal (people smart), bodily-kinesthetic (body smart), and linguistic (word smart). There are so many ways that we could group using the intelligences. You could group them simply by the intelligence that they identify with. You could group them in smaller groups where maybe you place a naturalist with a one who favors logic and math. You can place one who is body smart with someone who is word smart. You can have each person work individually, and they can take the lesson from their strong point, or we can have them look at the lesson through different eyes and challenge themselves to do something they wouldn’t usually go with. There are so many ways that you can group your students to challenge them and to help them get a better understanding, and to maybe see the learning from a different point of view. Cooperative learning, I believe, increases student performance in the best of ways. While there are students who groan and moan about having to do group work, once they get started they actually enjoy the work, and they tend to get more out of it, because they’re learning from their peers and they’re learning in a way that they wouldn’t have done otherwise. Yes, we as teachers teach them all that we can, but sometimes learning from their peers gets to them in a way that we couldn't. We can offer different types of learning within our classroom. We can offer different activities for the different types of intelligences, so that we have practice differentiation in our class. Grouping and differentiation is one of the best things that can practice in our classes.

Project Based Learning!

Project based learning is a student-centered style of learning that involves of dynamic classroom approach that allows for students to acquire a deeper knowledge through real world challenges and problems. These lessons are active and they can make the learning of a subject so much fun. In this blog, I am going talk about a lesson for Math and possible English Language Arts for 4th-5th graders using a project based lesson.

THE LESSON

Students will be designing a school carnival by using their math knowledge of area and perimeter. Their principal is asking that they help with the design and making the most use of the space they have in their field. To start, they will be given guidelines, in the form of worksheets, that tell them the requirements for entertainment, games, and other various carnival areas. 

THE ACTIVITY

Students will work in groups of 2-3, or individually if they choose, and they will design a carnival. They will design where each ride, game and food area will go, along with areas for tables. They will strategically place them where there would be the most room for them, using their knowledge of the use of area and perimeter. They will use worksheets to figure the numbers for each game, ride, etc. Their final presentation will be color coordinated and labeled for each area on graph paper, with their measurements labeled as well. I will also offer different activities that they can do throughout the lesson. They can transfer their carnival they made on graph paper to a larger scale poster board and present it to the class. They can create a game and write out the rules for an optional ELA portion for the assignment. Within the optional ELA areas, they can create a poster announcing the carnival, persuasively announcing that everyone should be at the carnival. 

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Within this lesson, I hope to offer two different worksheets when students are working out the calculations. There will be the basic one, which has the length and width already there, and all the students have to do is calculate the area and perimeter. The second option is a little more advanced and the students will have to figure the length and width, along with the area and perimeter. It’s more challenging for the students who think they can handle it. 

REFLECTION

I think this lesson will be great for testing students knowledge, and figuring out where they are in understanding how to work out area and perimeter. If i provide different options within the lesson to help students along, then that will help increase their access to the content. They will be able to achieve a better understanding, especially if they aren’t understanding it to begin with. Working with a group would also help in their understanding, because students are more likely to ask for help from their peers, in my experience. They can explain it in simpler terms. I think this lesson could be a lot of fun and show us how much our students know in that content area.

Differentiated Assessment

The point of differentiated instruction is to cater to the needs to each individual student to the best of the teachers ability. Knowing what best suits our students is crucial to having a successful learning environment. If we can offer different ways for a student to show what they learned or different ways to complete different types of activities in lessons, then we can make sure our students know the content and did their best to the best of our abilities.

When we plan lessons, we need to try and make sure that we offer different types ways for our students to be graded. Within our rubrics, we can have different areas that work best for the different types of students we have in our classroom. Within each rubric, we should try and have areas for visual, aural, physical, logical, social, and solitary. Because each student has a different way that helps them learn best, we can determine which area to focus the weight of the grade on. It definitely needs to be in more than one area, but this helps us focus on our students strengths, and help them improve their weaknesses.

In the visual area, the students prefer using pictures, and spatial understanding. In a math assignment, maybe these students would use the area around them to work out their math problem with building blocks or rulers and books. 

In the aural area, the students prefer to use sound and music. In an art or theatre lesson, these students could create a video, or use music to help them with their presentation or analysis.

In the verbal area, the students prefer to use their words, both in speech and writing. These students would excel in writing a paper, or giving a presentation on what they’ve been working on.

In the physical area, the students prefer to use their body, hands and sense of touch. In a science lesson, the students would excel in a hands assignment, where they use their sense of touch to identify the object, or work with their hands.

In the logical area, the students prefer to use logic, reasoning and systems. These students would excel in solving problems.

In the social area, the students prefer to work in groups or have the option to collaborate with other people. Giving students the option to work on an assignment with other people, they’ll be more confident in their work.

In the solitary area, the students prefer to work alone and like the chance for it to be reflective on what they’ve learned. 

In any one lesson, some, if not most, of these areas can be available for the students to use as their medium for completing an assignment. Most assignments should have a time for the solitary area, as well as the verbal and social. Anything else can be used to the students and teacher discretion. Within each lesson, we can have the options available for each of these areas. While it takes more time for planning, it gives our students the best opportunity to succeed in our lessons. When we grade these students, we need to take into account which area they focused on, and grade them accordingly. When we create rubrics like this, we can also take note of what they need to improve on, and how we can help them try a new area to complete their assignment in. 

Our students success is our greatest success. If we give them the tools to succeed, they will. 

Beginning Differentiation

In this blog, I am going to discuss 5 ways to differentiate instruction during a reading and character analysis lesson for the following groups of students. They read “Charlotte’s Web” aloud and analyze the characters as they go along.

1. English Language Learners

        1. Students placed in pairs or groups of 3, with at least 1 ELL student per group. They read it together, and help the ELL student   with the words. 

2. Pair two ELL students together to try and work through a section of the reading together.

3. Pair two ELL students together to analyze the characters, whether they analyze in their first language or in English to the best of their abilities.

4. I will have words written on the board to help with the character analysis.

5. We will do one analysis as a class to help get everyone started.

2. Special Needs Students

1. One Special needs student will be partnered directly with a general education student to help them out.

2. I will observe this group(s) more closely and help them as needed.

3. I will provide a worksheet specifically for these students, to help them with the focus.

4. I will work one on one with the special needs students to help with the reading and the analyzing.

5. I can provide an alternative one on one quiz verbally to see what they’ve grasped.

3. Advanced or Gifted Learners

1. These students will help me demonstrate what I want from this activity.

2. They can, in a way, act as leaders in their groups to get the discussion on the characters going.

3. I can, at the end of the lesson, give them an advanced quiz on the text if necessary. 

4. They can, when completed with their analysis for the day, go around and see if any other groups, specifically those with ELL or Special need students need any help.

        

Differentiated Instruction

The classroom that does differentiated instruction can be such a fun classroom. Every student learns differently, and in this classroom, every students needs could be met. There are so many ways that we can use this type of instruction in our classrooms. One way is group work. With the students in groups, they can work together use their strengths to help the others weaknesses. Another way is to offer different types of reading materials, that cater to the students needs. You can also offer different types of activities for your students to do. While this takes more planning on the teachers part, it is more beneficial to the students. Focusing on the student's multiple intelligences is another crucial way for you to use differentiated instruction in the classroom. While teaching a lesson, there are so many ways you can tap into the different intelligences, such as providing quizzes, acting out scenes in groups, studying for the final test as a group. Students can't sit in their chairs behind desks for long periods of time, and be expected to retain the information. If we make learning active, and fun for them, the chances of them remembering what they learned is far more likely. This gives us the opportunity to make learning fun again, and I am so excited to be apart of it. 

**For an about me, see my first post in January! 

MASHUP! Cross-Curricular Learning

Cross-curricular learning is such a fun way for students and teachers to work together on one topic, and it reach across at least two different content areas. It shows them that what they’re learning doesn’t just apply to one class. 

ACTIVITY

The activity will take place between a 5th grade History class and a 5th grade English class. The students will be studying Colonial America in History, and in English, they will be reading some primary sources from that era. The students are studying to prepare a group presentation. They will be in groups of 3-4, and they are assigned a specific topic from the era they’re studying. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The learning outcome would be that they would increase their research skills, and their analysis skills. The students will be introduced to new vocabulary through the lesson, and they will have to use critical thinking to analyze the sources they read from that time period. This will also be a new idea for them, because two of their classes will actively be studying one subject, rather than not. The students in English class will have to do some active reading, to evaluate the contents for its relevance. 

CONTENT STANDARDS

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1

Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3

Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.9

Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.4

Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

PRE ASSESSMENT

Before we start the lesson, I would work with the other teacher and we would have the students do a warm up activity. It could be a series of questions to test their knowledge. It could be a coloring page that is related to an element of colonial america. It could be a crossword or word search for terms that are common in colonial america. There are several options that we could do to get their brains somehow engaged in what they are about to dive into.

POST ASSESSMENT

The students will be placed into groups of 3-4, and they will prepare a presentation, based on a specific element of Colonial America. This is how we will test their knowledge, as well as a test at the end of the lesson. The presentation will be graded in the English course, while the test will be graded in the History course. The presentation will be graded individually, based on each persons performance and involvement. 

TEACHING REFLECTION

There is always room for improvement when you’re a teacher, especially when you’re working on a cross-curricular activity, and you have to make sure your plans line up perfectly (well, almost) with the other teachers. There are so many different ways that you could teach this lesson and make it enjoyable for the students, and that’s something we need to focus on. I think working on a lesson like this with another teacher would be such a fun experience. Yes, it would definitely take more planning in regards to making sure the lessons on each side flow, but it would be great for both the teachers and the students. We'd have a partner to help us out if needed, and sometimes, it is needed. 

Motivation in the Classroom

There were many times in my educational career where, as part of an assignment, I was told I had to perform, or give a presentation. There one that stands out the most to me, was when I was in my last year of college, finishing up my undergrad, and I had to teach a lesson, with a couple classmates, and we had to go ALL OUT. Speaking in front of my peers still, to this day, makes me so unbelievably nervous. YES, I want to be a teacher. YES, I know I have to talk in front of students day in and day out at my desired career, but it is SO different. This lesson that I had to perform was unlike anything I’ve ever done before, and it was SO MUCH FUN. We had to lead lesson plan, and it had to be active. My peers were mainly who motivated me to do my best while working on this project. The lesson was safari themed, and we had to be enthusiastic and we had to be able to teach the lesson. It was fun, and I was still nervous. What go me into it, and inspired me, was that someday, I would be able to teach a lesson just like this, and my students could be just as excited as I was. Its remarkable being able to think about what you can do for you students in the future, and knowing that what you’re training for is to better you and make sure you give your students the education that they deserve. 

There have been many times in my educational career where I’ve felt deflated, and asked myself what I was doing. Am I doing the right thing? Am I going to be good enough? There was this one time during a class and I had to analyze a passage from a text, and present it to the class. My professor, during the question time after my presentation, attacked me (well, I felt like I was being attacked), and I failed. I remember walking out of class humiliated, and I never wanted to go back. I needed to pass this class in order to get my degree. No question. So, two days later, I went back, and I talked to my professor, and she gave me another chance. It was rough. I worked so hard, and it wasn’t good enough, and when something like that happens, you begin to question yourself, and your ability to do what you thought you were good at. After that, I was able to pick myself up, and realize that I’ve come too far to stop. There are always going to be setbacks, and there will always be times that you question yourself, but it’s always worth it to keep going. 

As a teacher, I hope to motivate my students to do the best they can, and that they can do anything they put their mind too. I never want them to feel like they can’t achieve anything. I will makes sure they know that mistakes are OK and that everyone makes them. I want them to never give up on their dreams. Dreams keep them going, and no matter what, even if their dreams change, they'll make it if they keep trying. If you want to make your dreams happen, they'll happen if you keep motivating yourself, and allow others to help you along the way.

Examining Depth and Rigor in the Classroom

As teachers, we want our students to go through the steps and understand what it is that we’re teaching them. We want them to be able to take what we’ve given them, and put it to the test in recreating the content in their own way, whether it be a project or helping other students simply understand. In order to do this, we can have help and use different ways of making sure that our students use their full brain capacity. 

Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) has four levels that educators go through to educate their students: Recall and Reproduction, Basic Application of Skills and Concepts, Strategic Thinking, and Extended Thinking. Bloom’s Taxonomy is another set of objectives that educators set for students: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create.

Webb’s Depth of Knowledge and Bloom’s Taxonomy are both large ideas within the schools. They each tell us what can be done on each level of learning and understanding. With both of these concepts, they both require you to remember what it was that you learned, and do your best to show that you understand it. They require you to apply the skills that you learned, and analyze to have a deeper understanding. They require you to evaluate and to use strategic thinking and reasoning. Then, lastly, they require you to put your knowledge to the test and create something to show that you have an extensive amount of knowledge about the particular topic. 

Webb’s DOK and Bloom’s Taxonomy are essentially full of the same ideas, and that effects my way of teaching. Bloom’s Taxonomy is more well known, as far as my education goes, and there are more steps to get the students to the understanding that we, as teachers, desire for them. Webb’s DOK takes Bloom’s Taxonomy and includes almost all of those dimensions within the four levels that Webb has. In order to be successful in the classroom as an educator, I need to make sure that I fully understand how Bloom’s Taxonomy correlates to Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. We need to look at the DOK not as a target, but a ceiling. This isn’t something that we aim for, because if it was a target, there’s a chance that we could never reach it.

There will be new strategies and information that I will need to obtain in order to continue making sure my students have the tools they need to succeed. For example, in regards to teaching writing, we will need to start them with brainstorming, and recalling the right vocabulary that they need for that specific assignment. Students write what they know, and what they learn. We could give them proper worksheets to help them brainstorm their thoughts. We can give them worksheets that would help with organizing the structure of their paper that they are writing, and keep track of their notes that they use. We could work with peer editing, where the students could work on their editing and revising skills. With the help of other students and their teacher, they are able to see if their paper they’re writing makes sense, or that their is a flow to it. They can make sure that proper grammar and punctuation are used. In the end, they’ll be able to create a paper that they worked through the levels for. 

Teaching students with Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, I believe, could be a bit more complex, but more beneficial for the educators and the students. It sets the students up to think deeper, essentially. It takes them deeper than the surface, and the deeper the thinking, the better. When leading students in discussions, we want them to be rigorous. We want them to participate because this discussion is about something they know, and something they are familiar with, because they have be taught it. Before discussions, start talking to your students about the content. Get their memory going, and have them throw out related terms, and go from there. Before the start of a new lesson, see what your students know about it. Not everyone has the same depth of knowledge, but we, as educators, can try and get them there.

Navigating the Teacher Life

Hello and Welcome!

My name is Ashley Fischer, and I am a graduate student at National University. I am working on my Master's in Education, as well as a credential in Primary Education. I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with my Bachelors in English with an emphasis in Literature and Language. I am 25 years old, and i reside in Huntington Beach, CA. Since I was a little girl, being a teacher was always the dream. I've worked in many classrooms, mostly as an aide or an observer. I used to teach Sunday mornings at my church, in the 1st-4th grade classroom. Tutoring has also been in my line of work for as long as I can remember. 

As a teacher, I like to pay attention as much as I can to each student, focus on how they each learn differently, because let's face it, everyone has a different learning style. It will be a rare day when you have a classroom full of students who all learn by just studying a text book. Every student has a different intelligence, and some learn better by doing, by reading, or by example. By trying to focus on how they learn, I can adapt my lessons to their needs. Some days can be more geared towards those who learn by doing, and other days can be geared towards those who learn better by reading and studying. In my experience, I've seen that group projects work very well with all ages of students. 

Being around students and being able to work with them makes me INCREDIBLY happy and excited. When working with students, seeing them finally understand that concept that they didn't before, is remarkable. You see the light in their eyes and they get excited when happens. I am upbeat, and always ready for a challenge. 

After taking a teaching and learning style questionnaire, I found out a lot about my learning and teaching styles, but most of while I already knew. I found that I have a pretty equal balance between the different styles: active and reflective learners, sensing and intuitive learners, visual and verbal learners, and sequential and global learners. By having an equal balance between all of these, I am able to have a strong understanding of how to go about approaching my students. In order for them to succeed, with my help, I need to know how they learn best, and what makes sense to them. It will make the classroom a more exciting environment, and it will help the students succeed, when I have the a better understanding of who I am teaching.

The more I learn, and the more I experience time in the classroom with students, the more excited I am about teaching them. Everyday will be a new adventure, and it is so exciting. It's an adventure I'm so excited to be apart of.