Ok- I can't get in to Facebook with this computer. Is there any way the district could lift the "ban" on all those horrible web sites like You Tube and Facebook for us? There are some great videos on You Tube and there is quite the network of MPS teachers on Facebook too. Although I can't imagine how any of those sites could be used in class. I guess it's more of a networking thing for teachers right?
Maybe I will try that Ning site...
http://www.allyoucanread.com/
2 minutes and I already found something really useful! Check out this web site. Great for current events or anything else for that matter. You can choose to look at papers from any major US city or go outside the US too. I spent some time right now with the Japan Times- an english language paper I used to read every day when I was an exchange students in Japan many years ago! Pretty interesting. You can also see what is advertised in the different nations. I clicked on a link for a Disco Career Agent.
The only bad thing is, I tried to go to the Amalfi paper to read about where I would travel this summer, and I can't read Italian!! I need that tool where it turns what you are reading to English!
But this is something I could definately use in class. Even right away!
Monday, March 16, 2009
What we learned last month.
Giving the students the chance to communicate/chat with each other in class? And giving them a grade for it? I would be the most popular teacher ever! I must admit, I haven't quite gotten around to trying that out yet. Our tech guy has this cool thing where you can watch what your students are doing my pulling up their screen. As soon as I have access to that, I might think about piloting this with one class. Probably my smallest class.
I don't know when I turned into al old fuddy-duddy teacher that hate it when the kids socialize instead of work. But I can't stand it! I should probably just let go and let natural consequences take their course. Giving them the chance to do what we did last month in class would be great. All those shy, quiet students I have that never get to talk would have a chance to contribute to the learning.
So maybe before the end of this year... I'll put it on my "To Do List" and see how that goes1
I don't know when I turned into al old fuddy-duddy teacher that hate it when the kids socialize instead of work. But I can't stand it! I should probably just let go and let natural consequences take their course. Giving them the chance to do what we did last month in class would be great. All those shy, quiet students I have that never get to talk would have a chance to contribute to the learning.
So maybe before the end of this year... I'll put it on my "To Do List" and see how that goes1
Notetaking
"Please be warned: teaching summarizing is no small undertaking. It's one of the hardest strategies for students to grasp, and one of the hardest strategies for you to teach. You have to repeatedly model it and give your students ample time and opportunities to practice it. But it is such a valuable strategy and competency. Can you imagine your students succeeding in school without being able to break down content into manageable small succinct pieces? "
This is one of my major struggles as a teacher. The dilemma is three fold; when to give notes, how to give notes and how much to expect from the students as far as their skills level. When is come time to actually taking notes during something like a movie, students like having choices. If I give them specific questions to answer they seem to get frustrated faster. I usually give them choices in terms of doing Cornell notes or just writing a hodge podge or facts and questions.
When they were taking notes during History Day, I gave them topics and suggested (quite firmly) that they take notes using the Cornell Notes Style- which most of them are familiar with due to their AVID Class. (Yay) I still ran into the issue that they would write things down word for word and not have a clue as to how to summarize.
So I guess my next step, to avoid a class full or plagiarists, is to work with our wonderful language teacher on how to help them do that.
This is one of my major struggles as a teacher. The dilemma is three fold; when to give notes, how to give notes and how much to expect from the students as far as their skills level. When is come time to actually taking notes during something like a movie, students like having choices. If I give them specific questions to answer they seem to get frustrated faster. I usually give them choices in terms of doing Cornell notes or just writing a hodge podge or facts and questions.
When they were taking notes during History Day, I gave them topics and suggested (quite firmly) that they take notes using the Cornell Notes Style- which most of them are familiar with due to their AVID Class. (Yay) I still ran into the issue that they would write things down word for word and not have a clue as to how to summarize.
So I guess my next step, to avoid a class full or plagiarists, is to work with our wonderful language teacher on how to help them do that.
Breathe
Now that History Day is done, I have time to actually do that teacher thing and reflect on the whole process. I asked my students to write letters to next years 8th grade class to give them advice about how History Day worked or did not work for them. I actually got some usable feedback from them. They were happy with the different internet tools that were available and the ways to access them. They had an easier time finding Primary Sources then my students last year did (Thanks MILI).
In terms of things they did not like, they found it difficult to communicate with each other when taking notes and finding answers to all the questions on the History Day Steps. If I would have been comfortable using Google Docs, I think that would have solved many of those issues.
In terms of things they did not like, they found it difficult to communicate with each other when taking notes and finding answers to all the questions on the History Day Steps. If I would have been comfortable using Google Docs, I think that would have solved many of those issues.
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