It Would Have Been More Fun If It Was Figuring Out a Trip for Us: Mr. C, What Is a Real World Scenario Part 2

The students finished figuring out the expenses to my baseball trip in July yesterday. Depending on the price of hotel and tickets it will cost between $1,000 an d$1,100 dollars for a three day trip. Apparently you need to be a major league baseball player to afford going to back to back to back games :(

After the students all shared their totals I asked them if they liked the activity. I had two very interesting responses from two different students. One student asked me if I liked the activity. I told them I really enjoyed their enthusiasm for the project. Another student then told me that she would have liked the assignment more if it had been a trip she wanted to go on. (This is what we in education circles call a teachable moment ;) So we immediately started making plans for a trip they will research.

I gave them some guidelines to help them:

• The trip would be five days long. We picked a week in July so they wouldn't miss summer school :)
• I told them they needed to budget $75 a day for food per person.
• I also had them spend $50 a day on souvenirs. 

I learned a lot in just the first day:

• Several students planned the trip around a real trip they are going to take later this year.
• Many students wanted to plan the trip together so they could share the experience (although I don't know if they want to share the actual trip or just the planning.)
• Most of my students have a very limited view of where they can go on vacation. I had to emphasize many times that they could go anywhere for those five days. Money was not an issue. Most still tried to find bargains with their hotels. 
• Many of the students wanted to visit relatives that don't live nearby. Isn't that wonderful!

The reality is this has been a great way to get our minds off of test prep for a few days and get them engaged and rejuvenated for math. 

They Had to Fail to Prepare for Success

I am observing my class work on an assignment due yesterday. They spent 4+ days pretending to do what they were supposed to. I say pretending because they obviously (today) weren't prepared to share. For all intents, they failed. The obvious question is "Why?"

I am sure that the responsibility lies with me. I intentionally keep my mitts off the students work. If they ask questions I send them to other students to have them answered. Typically this works very well. It requires the students to get over their fear of asking others for help (others who are not the adult in charge.) It didn't work this time because none of the groups really understood what to do.

It wasn't that they were not capable or that I didn't show them (several times). Their problem is they excel at school so much they don't know that they can't figure it out even when they aren't really paying attention. Basically they get started before they hear the instructions and assume they can figure it out.

I have known this and yet I am still surprised by the failure. I could have lost it; I could have blown up. I didn't, instead I redirected them to work and now I am watching them finally work together like they should have done in the beginning. I suppose they had to fail to prepare for success.  I guess the next question (or extension as I call it in science) is 'Will they remember this or will they repeat it?'

This post was inspired by @Philip_Cummings's post: Asking for Help

Modeling Bad Behavior

A couple days ago I was using an aluminum foil boat to collect data for our math class. We were practicing on mean, median, mode etc. (see post below) and I wanted to tie it in to what I had planned to do in science. As I conducted the experiment the students kept asking me about what I was doing. They knew it was to collect data, but they wanted more information. Kids get indignant when you refuse to share information with them!

A thought occurred to me and I decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to have them watch me do an experiment and allow them to critique what I did. This would give me a good idea about what they already know and what we should focus on. Today I conducted the experiment.

I was looking for the students to identify a few specific behaviors that I modeled incorrectly including:

1. I did not have my instructions for the experiment.
2. I did not do any measuring or data collection.
3. I played around by shaking the wet aluminum boat at a nearby student.

Most of them didn't identify any of these three behaviors. They were more focused on safety (I didn't wear gloves!) and the fact that I left my tools out instead of putting them away. I suspect that both of these ideas have been well instilled in them and now I know where to put in my effort.

Was this a better pre-assessment than giving them a multiple choice test?

My Mostly Positive Experience With Donors Choose

This was previously posted on the MSTA blog. 

A few years ago on a lark I asked my wife to buy me a ukulele for Christmas. After almost two years of noodling with it at home and at school (modeling learning to my students) I decided that I wanted to start a ukulele club at school. I talked to my building principal about it and she was very supportive. With money always an issue I told her that I would like to try Donors Choose, a site where teachers can ask for money to be used to fund projects.

I went to the Donors Choose site, DonorsChoose.org, and set up an account. I had to look carefully and read a couple help files to figure out how to set up the project. I wish it had been easier, but I did eventually figure it out. As I was setting up the project I discovered a few things that almost made me stop.

The first problem I had was that there was an 'optional donation' figured into the price. After reading the information I saw that it was to help defray any changes in the amount that was quoted because many projects don't get funded in the usual 30 days the quotes are good for. Any monies not used that way are then used by the organization to help fund other projects. This seems reasonable to me.

The second problem is that I was restricted to specific sites to order from. The ukuleles I wanted were $20 cheaper on Amazon than on the site I was required to use. That being said, choosing the products for the project was as simple as adding them to the cart. That worked seamlessly and I was very impressed.

After finishing up putting all the information required for the project I submitted it to be checked over. Donors Choose uses volunteers to make sure the information meets the site's expectations. It only took a few days until I received the email that it was approved and live.

After getting the email I wrote a blog post for my class blog. There I explained how to use the match code I received from the organization. This code allowed donations made through the first seven days of the project to be doubled up to $100 a piece! This effectively made each donation using the code double. Because of this, I tweeted the link on Twitter to my post that gave the match code. I wanted all the matching funds I could get!

While waiting for the project to be approved I spent some time talking about it on Twitter with my friends. I had several that asked t be notified when it went live so I tweeted to them first. Many of the donations I received came from people that I talk to on Twitter. Don't underestimate the power of social media to help fund your project! If you don't use Twitter, Facebook can also be a great place to ask for help.

I anxiously kept a watch on my project site to see how the donations were going, I was completely shocked that in less than twelve hours it was fully funded. I received notice the next day that the items have been ordered (much faster than going through my school district's bureaucracy :) I was very surprised by the speed of the whole process.

Enrichment Needs to Be Embedded, Not Added On

Being a teacher in a high poverty, rural district I have been expected to read a lot of books about how children in poverty are different when it comes to their ability to learn. Typically the argument is that the life they lead outside of school makes a difference in how they learn and what they learn.

I'm not brain researcher and I have no experience with students that come from upper middle class or wealthy homes either so to speculate on the truthfulness of these arguments would be just that. What I do have is a long term exposure to children that live in poverty because I grew up here from the perspective of a middle class upbringing (although to be truthful my parents worked long and hard to get to middle class even though they both have college degrees.)

I have been reading Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen. I see a lot of familiar information in the book, things I have been exposed to since I was in my education classes. Something that is sticking with me from this book is the idea of student enrichment. The idea being that students in high poverty areas need more enrichment opportunities at school because they get fewer of those opportunities at home.

Did I mention we have a very large percentage of our students that ride buses home? Guess who don't get to participate in enrichment activities outside of school?

This year my school started a before school enrichment program (with a 'let's increase our test scores by doing computer based learning' component). Students have the opportunity three times a week to participate in an activity during time they used to sit in our gym to get ready for the day. I am pretty sure this just isn't enough enrichment to bridge the gap.

I realize that enrichment to my students has to happen in the classroom, but what exactly does that entail? How do I give my students enriching learning activities during the school day? I'm pretty sure that I can't do it successfully if all I do is test prep. Seriously.

When Something Isn't Working, Recognize it and Do Something Different

I have known for about a month that my math class wasn't working. Let me give some background first. This is the first year I have taught math in the last ten. I only have a couple years' experience as it is so I am by no means a master math teacher. Because of my lack of experience I was given the 'high' math group, the idea being that they can learn without me if needed (more on this later.)

I started the year explaining that we were going to spend more time trying to really master the math, not just go through it. To foster that idea, I emphasized that when students didn't show mastery through their assessments they needed to go back, identify the problems, fix the problems and retest. We spent a lot of time after every assessment modeling that behavior. It seemed to work very well as long as the math was easy, it has fallen apart now that it is harder.

A typical lesson runs like this, the first day I would work examples of the new material on the board and then assign practice work for them to do. The answers for these problems are in the back of the book so the students can check their work. The next day I would ask if they had any questions or needed any particular problems shown to them. Usually I ask that question and hear crickets. Then I assign the problems that don't have answers in the back. The third day I answer those questions and do a quick assessment to see if we are ready to move on.

Over time I noticed that several students were not doing the practice work, and doing miserably on the 'ungraded' work. (I try hard to not take grades on any practice.) Not surprisingly, they failed the assessment miserably. I thought they had learned their lesson and they did much better on the make-up assessment a couple days later. I assumed wrong. The cycle is repeating, but their is no drive to learn from the mistakes.

As you can imagine this is a pretty frustrating development. The lack of effort seems to be spreading and I am at the point that I have to change something because this is not working. Do you have any ideas you would like to share?

A Very Successful Writing Activity

To start with, I didn't come up with the idea for this writing activity and I regretfully admit I don't remember who on Twitter told me about it. I really hope they read this and leave me a comment so I can fix that.

Today my class tried out a new writing activity. It might as well be called speed writing because I can't think of another name. We started with a topic and I gave them three minutes to write. when the time was up I added another story piece. After three minutes I added another. Here are the prompts and extra pieces:

• Today my class took a surprise trip to the zoo.
• then Mr. C fell into the gorilla pit!
• Mr. C started poking an alligator with a stick
• then Francisco (one of my students) came back with no shirt on
• When we were ready to leave, we discovered Jason (another one of my students) was missing.

At first the writing prompt didn't inspire many of the students, but when I added myself falling into the gorilla pit the writing took off. I spent twenty minutes watching my students write furiously and listening to them giggle as they wrote. When we were finished the students asked to do it again. In fact they asked to do it again the next time they came back to the home room! 

Here are the two stories we managed to get published on our new writing blog. 

Brayden's Zoo story

Brandon's Zoo story

Real Learning is Messy, Embrace It

Here is Stephanie working through an expression with a variable. I just introduced this concept today and there was a lot of push back from the students. Apparently they didn't want to be challenged. This is a real lesson where this wonderful student struggles and is slightly embarrassed about it. We have to push kids beyond their comfort zone and allow them to struggle. We have to push them to show what they are doing and how they are doing it. If we are fortunate they may even share what they are thinking too. Compare this to a Kahn Academy video. Which do you think is more valuable? Why?

Juan Teaches Division

In this video, one of my students teaches division. What I find interesting here is the way he asked questions. It is very easy to see the influence past teachers have had on the way he perceives he needs to teach math. What do you think?

My Room Deconstructed

This post is meant to explain some decisions I have made with the set up of our classroom. I won't know if it is successful for some time. When we (teachers) make this many choices for our community we are bound to make some mistakes. 

This first picture is what you see against the back wall, right when you walk into the room.

 This area is meant to be a place where students can relax, read a book, or catch some educational videos. I have a couple exercise balls that will be placed in the area later. I am not sure that this is the right space for them yet, I may be better served having them used by the students at their desks or tables.

 Above the relaxation area are two frames full of school memorabilia from when I attended this school and later attended our high school. The left frame shows a few examples of the grades I earned. I was not a great student at the elementary or junior high level. In retrospect I see how lazy and disinterested in school I was. There really was very little beyond the library that interested me. Also included is my high school graduation program and my acceptance into Missouri Southern's Honors Program. I plan to have conversations with my students about how I changed from being a poor student to a good one and the reward I earned from the hard work.

The frame on the right contains reminders of the extra-curricular activities I participated in as a student. There is a picture of myself in our 8th grade play, A Little Rascals Christmas. I have a newspaper picture of me making a tackle during a football game as a senior. (My form is pretty sweet too :) I also have some clippings from being on the golf team. I really think being active outside of class helped me to be a better student.

 This is our class library. It doesn't yet have a lot of books because I left my classroom library behind when I left 5th grade three years ago. The reason it is mobil is because I want to be able to move things around the room easily. I can create large areas of space very quickly this way.

This is my IWB. My plan is to use it mostly for small group work. I think its value lies literally in the hands of the students. 

 This the is the back, left corner of the room when you walk in. It consists of a record player, a sound board, amplifier, and a couple large speakers. I can hook up the electric guitar and my electric ukulele for the students to play with. They can also play with the conga drum. I am hoping to spend some time teaching the students how to read chords and play some rhythms. How great would it be if we formed a band?

 I pinned this shirt on the bulletin board because I love the pop art feel of it. The shirt is from Walt Disney World (my preferred vacation destination) and it depicts a cowboy holding a churro. I read an article where the artist said that the picture was inspired by Sergio Leone's westerns. I included this in my room because I want my students to be inspired by real art. I also have a couple Ork prints that I will be putting up later after I find the right frames. Hopefully we soon will have a lot of student art work on the walls as well.

 On the left wall I have a station with two computers that will be used by the students. I have enough computers for each of my small groups to have computer access.

 Underneath the computers is a shelf where I have hung grow lights. We will be growing plants soon. I wonder if our community will choose flowers or food? I am hoping for food ;)

 This is a 50 inch HD TV I bought for the classroom. I have hooked up a Blu-Ray player and an Apple TV. I can mirror my iPad or my iPhone onto the television screen and this gives us a lot of flexibility. Students will be able to manipulate the images using the iPad. We will be able to see our class videos without covering the windows and blocking the natural light. I really can't wait to see how we find different ways to use this.

 Here is our class aquarium. It is empty because the community is going to decide what we will put in it. Here is the lesson plan we will be using. I sure hope they make a wise decision. I don't want dead fish floating in it.

 This is my Photosmart printer which allows me to print wirelessly from my iPad, iPhone, or Nexus 7. This is going to be mainly used for printing pictures documenting our year together. Soon we will have pictures being placed around the room by the students which show what they are learning. Below is an example.

 Above my desk (more on that later) are my diplomas and a few certificates I have earned. I want my students to be aware of my accomplishments. This is important because I am a hometown boy and I want them to know that being from Noel does not mean having to work at the local chicken processing plant.

 Here is my desk. I tried very hard to do without a desk, but I just couldn't do it. I really need a place to call my own. Because I realize how important it is for me, I have integrated that thinking into my classroom. I have three tables in my room for students to sit at and eight desks. The desks are put together in a table arrangement but I have explained that if a student needs to take a desk and move it away from the crowd so they have their own 'space' they can. We need to be very cognizant of the students that need to feel ownership of something in the room to be comfortable.

 Finally, as you leave my room this is what you see above the door. This was a gift from my brother because I am a fan of Spongebob. I put this up because I want my students to see that I appreciate having fun. It is a both a insight into my personality and an opportunity for the students to see that enjoying something that may not seem 'cool' is okay in my classroom.

Blogging Isn't the Answer to Your Students' Writing Needs

Yes, I am an advocate of student blogging. Yes, I helped create the #comments4kids meme on Twitter and made the Comments4Kids blog. Yes, I have presented both online and face to face on the value of blogging in the classroom. Yes, I know that blogging isn't the answer to your students' writing needs.

While reading some blog posts by college students today and mixing that in with my thoughts on what I am going to present next week at a technology conference session on blogging I had a conversation with Nancy Van Erp that helped me clarify my thoughts.

To become a better writer, practice is required. Along with the practice there needs to be specific feedback that addresses issues with the writing. It simply isn't enough to praise the fact that the students wrote something, or that addresses the content of the writing without touching style or context. Let's face it, specific writing feedback on a blog post is very difficult for the writer to take. Imagine having your shortcomings exposed to the world!

I am not suggesting there is no value in posting work that isn't polished. If that were the case most bloggers would never post a thing. What I am saying is that for teaching writing, blogging isn't the best choice. Your students will learn much more and be less likely personalize their mistakes if you have those conversations face to face.

Where blogging shines is through the ideas shared and the conversations created by posting online. If that isn't the goal of your writing assignment, perhaps you need to rethink the medium you have chosen for your students to use.

What Uncomfortable Part of Teaching Are You Working On?

There is a lot more to a successful classroom than a networked teacher and a great lesson plan. I have always been willing to try to creatively create lessons that are both engaging and ambiguous. Truthfully lesson design comes very easy to me. Unfortunately the more important side of teaching, creating personal relationships with my students has always been hard for me. My goal for the beginning of school is to create opportunities to spend one on one time with every student. I want to grow a real learning community in my classroom and I need to be willing to invest myself into my students. I am moving into some uncomfortable places. What uncomfortable part of teaching are you working on this summer?

Who Are You Discipling?

Over the summer I have been sharing with the youth group the book of Matthew. Throughout the book it becomes very clear that Jesus is the teacher and his class is 12 men. Read through the book and you will quickly understand that when Jesus taught it was directly to them. When he addressed a crowd, the lesson was still pointed to the disciples, that is why he often gives further instructions to them after the crowd left. Jesus knew he had three years to mentor the men who would later be responsible for sharing his teachings. He was focused on them. He mentored them. He changed their lives, and in turn they changed millions more. How does this relate to your classroom? Every class has a few students that need more time, more attention, more of you. You are in a unique position to take them in, give them a little more of yourself, and impart upon them the understanding they are valuable. It isn't enough to say 'you matter', you need to live it. Be an example to them. Make them your disciple. If you are really committed to making this world, your school, and your class a better place then start with a few students.

A Better Way to Learn and Teach Vocabulary

In Marzano's Classroom Instruction That Works there is a section that explains how the use of visual representations of words help student recall them. This makes a lot of sense since it requires students to create a picture in their brain that is then attached to both the word and its definition. 


The way I approach this in the classroom is to:

1. Write the word on the board.
2. Draw a picture of what the word reminds me of or means to me. 
3. Explain why I drew that picture.

At this point the students have a reasonable idea of the definition. They have also had a picture (poorly drawn of course) that represents both the word and its definition. Then the students are expected to:

1. Create their own pictures which are not the same as what I drew. This requires them to use their own idea. This means they have two pictures that represents the word and its definition.
2. Write their own definitions in their own words. Notice I do not write a definition for them to copy. The student either infers the definition from my explanation or they may look the definition up from another source. The important part here is for the student to make the definition "theirs" by using their own words, not copying. 

This is a learning activity and needs to be addressed in that way. I explain to my students that learning their vocabulary takes effort. Copying definitions or matching words with definitions will not help them learn, they need time to reflect and create using the words. 

Please note, I am taking a "grade" on this activity this year. While I would much prefer the students do this activity because they see the value, my school district requires two grades from each core class each week. I do not give grades for the students' "right or wrong" definitions. If they do the work (and it is very obvious if they do) they get "credit". 

Where is the proof this works?

I have to fall back on anecdotal evidence to make my case here. I was extremely frustrated for a long time with some of my students lack of success with our standardized reading tests. Many of my ESL students had a very difficult time being successful remembering what the 5-8 vocabulary words they had to study. 

At some point I stumbled upon the section in Classroom Instruction That Works that addressed learning vocabulary and I jumped on it. After implementing this new activity my students that historically scored poorly on the vocabulary portion of the reading tests immediately improved. 

I did some "debriefing" of these students to see why they thought they were more successful. They attributed it to extra work they were doing with the drawing and defining. They felt (best word I have to describe it) that it worked for them. The only difference in the way vocabulary was approached in my class was through this activity, the students were still required to do the traditional worksheets they had been doing. 

When I reflected on the activity I decided there were three possible reasons for the increased scores on the assessment:

1. The new activity worked.
2. Having to spend more time working with the words worked.
3. A combination of extra time and the activity worked.

Since I wasn't writing a research paper, I decided that the reason this activity was successful didn't matter. The fact that it was successful was all the reason I needed to continue having my students use the technique. 

Everybody Needs a Back-Up Plan

There has been a lot of chatter about Missouri Senate Bill 54 that goes into effect at the end of this month. (I have been one of the most outspoken) but as my friend Kyle Pace so eloquently expressed; What's Done is Done. Since I am a problem solver I decided to create a back-up plan for my students this year. What do you think?

Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With: Part 3

This is part 2 of a series I am writing on how I modified my textbook based classroom.

With this post I will deconstruct how and why we approached vocabulary this way. Below is the section on vocabulary the students saw. Each one of these choices had been modeled extensively in the classroom before I turned them loose with this assignment. I also want to make clear that I only took two grades over this work, the written test on Thursday and the project on Friday. No other grades were given (or even necessary.)

Skill

Do pages 243, 246, and 247 in Reading Practice Book due Wednesday and do the following due Wednesday:

• Got to my blog post on the Ghost Towns of McDonald County. After reading the post, click on the map of McDonald County. Make a map of McDonald County and put on it the ghost towns of Coy, Wylie, Saratoga Springs, and Erie.   Write why you think those towns are no longer here.

Typically the reading skills are taught and reviewed through the story read each week. The skill was practiced on worksheets in the workbook where there were usually two pages dealing with that week's skill and a page that was a review from a past skill. I tried very hard to incorporate the skill in an activity that was not just another worksheet.

This particular week's skill was Graphic Resources. I thought it would be a good idea for them to draw a map of  the county we live in and identify where some old ghost towns are/were located. I followed it with a critical thinking question that we discussed in class. We identified the main reason those towns were no longer around as they were not on a major highway.

Content Gathering
Read story on Monday and Tuesday and do following due Thursday:

• Look through the first five pages of ghost town pictures on Flickr 
• Other: See teacher for approval __________________

I had students look through pictures of ghost towns, since their project was to draw a representation of a ghost town.  I chose Flickr as a source because they were familiar with it, they had used the site to retrieve class pictures for other activities.

I also gave them a choice where they could do other types of research, they just had to get my approval. This allowed them to run with an idea they might have with some guidance from me. I don't remember any students asking to use another source, but I had several that did extra research along with the pictures they looked at on Flickr. I think it is very important that we give our students as much opportunity as possible to lead their own learning and I tried to give them the option to do so whenever it was feasible.

Note Taking
Choose one of the following to use to take notes:

• Visual representations (sketch a few pictures of ghost towns)
• Other: See teacher for approval ___________________________

Note taking was an essential skill in my classroom. Not only did I teach Reading, but I also had the three class rotation of science. I spent a lot of time teaching the students different note taking techniques such as webbing, Cornell, and traditional. Here I chose graphic representations since it made sense with the assignment they were doing. Typically they had a list of the different techniques they could choose from, or they could choose their own with approval.

Assessments
Comprehension test over the story will be Thursday and pick one of the following due Friday:

• Use Kerpoof to create a picture of a ghost town. You choose the medium, but remember this is due Friday. Upload picture to the Compendium.
• Other: See teacher for approval ________________________

The reading series assessment was a multiple choice format test. It tested the vocabulary words for the reading selection, the skills and a review skill, and a few other questions depending on the type of story. The project I gave was usually based upon the content of the story. Since this story was about ghost towns, they had to use an online program to create a ghost town. Another project they had to do that I remember well was when we read about the sinking of the Titanic. The students created a radio news broadcast describing the sinking. They then recorded the broadcast. (I place my microphone next to the aquarium for sound effects.)

As I noted in the last post, even though I in effect doubled the amount of work I expected from my students, they performed much better on the assessments. There was a palpable change in the attitude toward reading class where students looked forward to working on the projects, doing the vocabulary, and even listening/reading the stories.

Much of what I incorporated into these lessons were things that I had learned over just a few years, but I coupled that with my ten years of experience, ten years of being unsatisfied and unhappy. Don't be intimidated if you think this is overwhelming. Start with what you know and go from there. Incorporate new things when you and your students are ready. Before too long, you will be doing amazing things that make your textbook bearable!

Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With: Part 2

This is part 2 of a series I am writing on how I modified my textbook based classroom.

With this post I will deconstruct how and why we approached vocabulary this way. Below is the section on vocabulary the students saw. Each one of these choices had been modeled extensively in the classroom before I turned them loose with this assignment. I also want to make clear that I only took two grades over this work, the written test on Thursday and the project on Friday. No other grades were given (or even necessary.)

Ghost Towns Check List

Vocabulary
Do page 244 in Reading Practice Book due Tuesday and choose two of the following due Wednesday:

• Create graphic representations of each vocabulary word

• Write definitions of each vocabulary word

• Create a flash card with definitions for each vocabulary word

• Use in graphic organizer as outlined in Skills section

• Create a word web with synonyms of the vocabulary words (Visuwords is an excellent source)

• Create a word web with antonyms of the vocabulary words (Visuwords is an excellent source)

With this post I will deconstruct how and why we approached vocabulary this way. Below is the section on vocabulary the students saw. Each one of these choices had been modeled extensively in the classroom before I turned them loose with this assignment.

The vocabulary work in our practice book (workbook) was usually a matching assignment with the vocabulary words on the left and the definitions on the right. This required the students to look up the word (if they didn't know it) in the glossary and then make the correct match. I found (no surprise) that the students did not carry this information to the written test given on Thursday. After doing some question analysis I found that there was no actual transfer from this type of assignment to the test. This assignment was done to keep my districts requirement for "using the workbook".

 For the rest of the assignments I gave my students several choices. The first choice, creating a graphic representation of the word, came from Marzano's Classroom Instruction That Works where he explains that the use of visual representations of the words really help student recall them. The way I approached this in the classroom was to 1) write the word on the board 2) draw a picture of what the word reminds me of or means to me 3) explain why I drew that picture 4) have the students create their own pictures. They were required to draw a different picture than I drew. This worked very well for students that preferred visual learning/representations. 

Some students preferred just writing the definitions. While I can completely zone out while I copy out of a book, this does not mean that everyone has the same experience. One in four of my students chose this as one of their learning methods. Oddly, it was usually the students with the best grasp of vocabulary that used this method.

Creating a flash card not only allowed students to carry their learning with them, it also allowed them social interaction with a partner since I allowed them to practice that way. The students would create the cards and then pair off or even work in small groups. This is great for kids that prefer to learn socially.

Creating a graphic organizer using the workbook page. I never had a student do this, and honestly I don't even remember what they looked like. I guess they were not too useful.

Creating a synonym or antonym word web worked well for several students. They would look up the vocabulary word and find the synonyms and/or antonyms and then draw a web with the original word in the middle and the others branched off. Usually the students would choose Visuwords to find the synonyms and antonyms.Visuwords is an interactive, fun site that makes connections between words very visual. This was a popular activity by my students. 

The average written test score was in the mid sixties before we changed to these methods. After we changed the average moved to the high 80's. That includes the ELL student that was in my room that had a 2.3 reading level. (I also modified how she read the story by putting it on an ipod for her to listen to.)

Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With: Part 1

A couple years ago when I was teaching fifth grade I decided to experiment with my reading program. I was not happy with the reading series schedule and my students were even less impressed. I was required to use this series, and I was expected to use the workbooks that accompanied the textbook. I knew that something had to change and one weekend came up with a plan that worked very well for my situation. Perhaps you can modify it to use in your classroom as well.
 
First I would like to state that this is not to replace the act of reading in the classroom. My students had 45+ minutes daily to read independently library books. Our reading series had very few reading opportunities in a week (how can we call it reading class when it is mostly vocabulary and skills that is being taught?)

This is the text from the blog post my students read to introduce this particular weeks work:

Image by mlhradio

After last years great Ghost Town moments, see post 1 and post 2, we have a high standard to meet. Since the skill this week is graphic sources you will have the opportunity to create your own. You will also look at Flickr pictures of real ghost towns to get and idea what they really look like. Then you are going to use Kerpoof to create your very own ghost town.

Here is the link to the checklist for you to use.

 The reading series story was a non-fiction story about ghost towns in the west. Because ghost towns have such a visual appeal I decided that I would incorporate a visual component to the week's work. This is the checklist I created for my students to print out and use. It is linked on the post above. The students would print the list if they needed to and then precede to go through the work. I created due dates because I discovered that many students needed guidance for what to do first. This really helped my students that were not very organized and it modeled how to break down a large task, finishing all this work, into more workable steps.

Ghost Towns Check List

Vocabulary
Do page 244 in Reading Practice Book due Tuesday and choose two of the following due Wednesday:

• Create graphic representations of each vocabulary word
• Write definitions of each vocabulary word
• Create a flash card with definitions for each vocabulary word
• Use in graphic organizer as outlined in Skills section
• Create a word web with synonyms of the vocabulary words (Visuwords is an excellent source)
• Create a word web with antonyms of the vocabulary words (Visuwords is an excellent source)

Skill

Do pages 243, 246, and 247 in Reading Practice Book due Wednesday and do the following due Wednesday:

• Got to my blog post on the Ghost Towns of McDonald County. After reading the post, click on the map of McDonald County. Make a map of McDonald County and put on it the ghost towns of Coy, Wylie, Saratoga Springs, and Erie.   Write why you think those towns are no longer here.

Content Gathering
Read story on Monday and Tuesday and do following due Thursday:

• Look through the first five pages of ghost town pictures on Flickr 
• Other: See teacher for approval __________________

Note Taking
Choose one of the following to use to take notes:

• Visual representations (sketch a few pictures of ghost towns)
• Other: See teacher for approval ___________________________

Assessments
Comprehension test over the story will be Thursday and pick one of the following due Friday:

• UseKerpoof to create a picture of a ghost town. You choose the medium, but remember this is due Friday. Upload picture to the Compendium.
• Other: See teacher for approval ________________________

On my next post I will explain how and why we approached our vocabulary work.

They Didn't Fail, They Just Haven't Succeeded Yet

I just had a knock down fight with my students. They failed an assignment miserably, only one of thirty students even came close to doing it right. Ordinarily I would shoulder some of the blame for their failure, but I refused to do it this time. I think I was wrong....

My students were expected to do some real thinking. I asked them to read about the Wisconsin union troubles and identify what was going on. They were supposed to write a paragraph explaining both sides of the issue and then identify if CNN or Fox News had written stories that the students felt were biased. Here is a link to the assignment.

Today we reviewed their work, and it was not what I asked for at all, not even close. Most of the students had read articles from Fox and CNN and summarized them. Many did not even complete the project at all. After we looked at their work, I sat with them and told them I would not accept responsibility for their failure on this assignment. I went out of my way to explain what I wanted 3 days in a row. As I roamed the room I told them they were not doing the assignment correctly and would have them read me what the assignment asked for. I even told them to look at the one post that was closest to being done correctly, but still they did it wrong.

I allowed the students to give me feedback over the assignment. I got two arguments, both of which I dismissed. The first was about grades. They thought that even though they failed to do what I asked they deserved some points for effort. The second was about not understanding the assignment. This one I jumped on with both feet. What part of write two paragraphs did they not understand? Where does it say in the instructions to summarize the four articles? On an one I went. I was not a happy camper.

Now that I have had time to think about it, I think that maybe they are right. They don't know how to gather in information and think about it critically. For almost nine years they have been given small pieces of information to read and very specifically guided questions to answer. They in effect have been following a formula that all textbook companies (and most teachers for that matter) have been using for years. They really didn't understand how to do the assignment!

When I break down my "simple" assignment I can see where the problems are:

• They have to find their own sources of the information instead of having it given to them.
• They have to analyze that information to determine both sides of the problem.
• They have to have to understand what bias means.
• They have to identify if a story is biased.
• They have to post their insights onto a blog.
• They have to hyperlink back to the stories they wrote.

I guarantee that a very, very large percentage of the adult population of the United States would fail this same assignment. 

I am resolved that this assignment will not remain a failure. We will be doing this same assignment with a different topic tomorrow. Maybe the dissonance my students are feeling over this assignment will gradually give way and we can actually start doing some critical thinking.

Reflecting on My Class Blog

Mike, a student at SUNY Potsdam left a comment on my class blog. I decided that instead of writing a very long comment on that post, I would just go ahead and answer the questions here where it might be seen by more people.


How do you feel this blog improves classroom instruction?


I use my class blog to deliver instructions to my students. Because the words are static, I don't have to worry about inconsistencies in my delivery. The instructions stay on the blog and can be accessed by the students or their parents at any time. There is the added benefit of having tools right there that can be used by the student for purposes of clarification. For example the student can read the text or have it read to them by clicking a button on the post using Odiogo. If the student does not know a word, they can double click it and it will bring up a definition from Answers.com . There is the Google translator widget on the side for students or parents that need the post translated as well. You can find my contact information easily on the site too.


Not only do these tools allow students the ability to work on their own, it also allows students to have choice in how they want the content delivered to them. See this post on the Toolbelt Theory for more clarification. 


Have you seen an improvement in classroom participation and interest with the creation of this blog?  


The blog is a little over four years old. The students I have in eighth grade now were in my classroom when I started it. It is not a new thing to them. What I have seen is that students of varying levels of ability and interest seem to like being able to work at their own pace using the instructions from the blog. I have students that come in, sit down, and get to work very quickly. Some students take more time to process. One major benefit is I don't have to repeat instructions often. They are already there on the blog. 


I don't think interest is sustainable by taking something and making it digital. The process is pretty much the same. Good lesson design and working toward relevancy for the students is much more important than whether or not you use tech tools.


Have you found any difficulties in using a classroom blog for students?


Creating posts that are not wordy, but still get the directions across can be difficult to master. If the students don't have access to tools like I have listed above, there can be a real barrier to learning. Some students don't like using technology (not unlike some adults) so they are maybe less motivated than they would be. The biggest problem I have found is when the hardware or the internet is not working properly. It is very important that you have a back up plan whenever you are using technology, just in case.