Entry 10: Homework

1. What will constitute meaningful homework?
     Meaningful homework is a tough question... You hear parent talk about the lack of homework or that there is too much homework... So where is the happy medium? Meaningful homework to me would be homework that will benefit or prepare the student for future lessons, for example, I would have students read for at least 20 minutes a day because reading is one of the most important things you can ask a child to do at home. The second would be math homework, to review what they learned in the lesson, and to give them a glimpse of what the next lesson will be. I would also do vocabulary/spelling homework on a nightly basis, the only way for a child to grow in reading and writing would be learning vocabulary. Those are the major areas I see myself giving homework that will have meaning to the students.

2. What are your intended homework objectives for your students?
     My objectives for homework for my students would be to get the parents involved in what their child is learning at home. It may not always happen but I feel that if a student can learn outside of the classroom and ask for help or learn together as a family the better off the student will be in the future.

3. How will you provide specific feedback?
    Feedback will all depend on the student. Some students will "get it" by simply writing a note on their homework, some students will need verbal explanation, while others will need to you "spell it out" or physically show them what is expected or what to do, especially ELL learners who are still struggling with the translation, these students will need verbal and physical translation/feedback.

4. How will you incorporate technology?
    I feel that technology is very important! I feel that if you can get students to look up an article to read and print it out that would count for their 20 minutes of reading a night and it teaches them to research something they want to read about and navigate online. I would use my technology websites, especially National Geographic for Kids, so that they can learn about the world around them. I could even have them type up a summary or a comparison to their life as a meaningful homework assignment every now and again, that way they are still navigating the web, but they are also practicing their typing  and writing skills.

Entry 9: Graphic Organizers

For my graphic organizers I took some that would be geared for grades 2 - 5 depending on the level of student, SPED, ELL/ESL, and so on.

For the chapter book graphic organizer, I thought it was important to find a graphic organizer that touched on all parts of the book. "Building blocks" if you will, and this graphic organizer is just that, I feel that students should build on their information as they read. They might not understand the plot until chapter 3 or 4 but they are looking for it, and as they find it they add it to their graphic organizer.

The second graphic organizer for non-fiction was "The Big Idea." In nonfiction there can be several big ideas depending on the story. SO I chose a graphic organizer that revolved around a star and for every point on the star, the students are to fill out a main idea they found in the story.

For the poetry graphic organizer (this is probably geared more towards 4th or 5th grade) I used a sort-of checklist sort of organizer. The student must provide examples of the differnt types of poetry that are found in the poem, as well as find out the main idea of the poem as well as determine the tone of the poem.

Entry 8: Sheltered Lesson

I really enjoyed watching the sheltered lesson, I was a little confused as to what a sheltered lesson was until I watched it. After I watched it I had a much better understanding of the term "sheltering instruction" as it is talked about in the text. (I had a hard time getting the videos to play as well.)

 

Pre-Reading

 

-- Objectives were clarified and understood.

-- Went over the strategies they already knew.

-- The teacher checked for prior knowledge

-- Vocabulary was defined

-- She had the students review the directions with her while she read them aloud (for the visual learner)

-- Words that were or could be hard for ELL students to understand were pointer out explicitly

-- Had the students "visualize" ("I wonder..?)

 

Reading

 

-- Students did a picture walk

-- Teacher made a connection to the story then had the students make a connection

-- Students are participating and not just sitting there "zoning" out because they do not understand what it going on or what is being said

-- Teacher gave adequate time for the students to process, eliminate other thoughts and answer

-- Repetition, repetition, repetition

-- Students "define" the story and relate it to the "birthday song" they use in their own culture

-- Uses visual aids - overhead projector

 

Post-Reading

 

-- Teacher reviewed what strategies they used during their reading

-- Vocabulary was re-defined

-- Summarizing

-- "Post-it" board for all the students questions and thoughts (very interesting and it seemed beneficial)

 

I looked at this lesson as a way to incorporate "sheltered instruction" in a every day lesson, not matter the subject. I am really glad I was exposed to this type of teaching instruction.

Entry 7:

Student 1: Spanish
This student was very interesting to observe. She was definitely an ELL student, but when she spoke English you would not know she spoke any other language. The reason for this was that she learned to speak English by speaking with her Aunt, English speaker only with whom she lives with due to family troubles. She how ever does not know how to read or write Enlgish very well. So when I was observing her read an AIMSweb assessment it was very interesting. She knew a majority of the words but only got them by understanding what the sentence was saying. Her visual ques were that of commas and periods, she did not understand what a question mark or exclamation mark were. All in all I think she did pretty well given her circumstances and just learning to read English.

Student 2: Spanish
This student came to the school mid-way through the year due to his father being in the military and getting stationed here.  He spoke very little English and could read even less. He did not get very much practice at home so he was not gaining or retaining anything he was learning. I also observed an AIMSweb assessment and his visual cues and syntax clues were present, but not utilized as much as they should be. He also would say words with inflections that were not necessary.

I think for furture teaching for both of these students would be to send them home with cassette tapes of reading materials so they can read in English and follow along, then have them start reading along with the tape. I also think that these student should be paired up with a fellow student to help them and encourage them to keep working on their English.

Entry 6: Learning v. Acquisition

The students:

L: Look up words in the dictionary to write definitions

A: Make a Venn diagram to compare two stories

L: Practice sounding out words

L: Read in round-robin fashion

L: Correct peers when they make a mistake during reading

L: Identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound

L: Group cards with classmates’ names by a criterion such as first or last letter

L&A: Write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same sound L: Ask the teacher how to spell any word they don’t know

A: Read a language experience story they have created with the teacher

L & A: work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences

L: Divide words into syllables

L: On a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound

A: Make alphabet books on different topics

The teacher:

L: Pre-teaches vocabulary

A: Does a shared reading with a big book

L & A: Makes sure that students read only books that fit their level

L: Has students segment words into phonemes

L & A: Writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words

L: Asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter

L: Uses decodable texts

A: Sets aside time for SSR each day

L&A: Teaches Latin and Greek roots

A: Has students meet in literature circles

L: Conducts phonics drills

A: Chooses predictable texts

A: Teaches students different comprehension strategies

A: Does a picture walk of a new book

When I look at Learning versus Acquistions I think about the "learning" meaning "hands-on" while acquisition means more of acquiring over time.