Obviously research is important. Especially when you get a new pet. Like a bubble tip anemone that you assume will just look pretty, wave around, and provide a nice home for your clownfish. And then you take said pet home, put it in the water, and watch it like a hawk. Said pet looks okay...for the first hour. Then it changes a little. It starts moving around. (*MOVING??? You mean it doesn't stay put and just wave around?) It attaches to your live rock on the back side so you can't see it or what it's doing. Then it shrivels up and the tips turn green!! What's up with that? It's supposed to be tan! So I got worried and started researching to make sure I wasn't killing my new pet. Apparently, I was, sort of. Did you know that anemones eat meat? They actually have to be fed! Like real fish! And they need special lights. My tank didn't have any lights at all. Oh, they also need heat. Which I also didn't have. So I sent the hubs out to the pet store to chat up the man to find out all the info I didn't have. Meanwhile, the anemone has been in the tank for a week, and has changed shapes and colors so much that I was beginning to think I had an alien in there! I would catch myself hovering over the tank and blowing on it to see if it would move. (They don't). It was almost like I had a new baby in the house, constantly checking to see if it was still alive. (Didn't help that the research said it was way fragile and hard to keep alive.) So we bought a heater and a thermometer, and some zooxant..something food for him. Durham couldn't find the brine shrimp at Wal-Mart, go figure. A few hours after feeding and installation, POOF! Massive blown-up super-size anemone on the move! Seriously, it was 5 times the size it was the night before. And it was moving straight for the heater... I went to work, came back home, and bam! It looked curly! Seriously! And it was in the middle of the tank, not attached to the rock anymore. So like the worried parent I am, I watched it until it started shriveling up again, and I got scared again. The mouth opened up real big, white stuff popped up out of it (looked like guts), tentacles turned green, and I just knew it was the end. I called Durham in to confirm it and we discussed taking him out of the tank. We finally decided to leave it for a while just to make sure. Sure enough, after supper, the mouth is closing, and brown stuff is coming out. Apparently my anemone just needed to poop.
Still, I have no idea whether it will survive or not. It's a daily roller coaster ride! And the clownfish? Adorable Nemo who just needs a home? Yeah, he won't go near the thing. He still hides behind the filter until feeding time. I'll post pictures later.
Good afternoon everyone! Well, I just learned that today is my brother's anniversary. So my first order of business is to say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CONNOR AND KIMBRE!!! Hope it's a good one. Hey, get Mom to watch the kids and go out and celebrate!
This past week was Fall Break here in our town. The family had planned to go down to Key Largo for a nice little vacation, but I opted out at the last minute. So my husband went without me. :( I'm okay with that. Really. No really, I mean it. He was planning to SCUBA dive with his brother the whole time anyway, so I'm not sure how much time we would have spent together. I decided that I would get more rest and get more accomplished if I stayed home. Durham did call me every day, though. (Awwww) We shared the sunset together every night long distance. It was actually kind of nice. I think I talked to him more this past week than I have in a month. Maybe there's some truth to the old adage "Absence makes the heart grow fonder".
The first part of my week off was spent at home. My daughter thinks any time out of school is a great time for a slumber party, so she had friends over for 4 days straight!!! (What was I thinking????) The last day I sent the kids home and took my daughter to the doctor. She had been running a fever and feeling tired. (I thought maybe she had just stayed up all night for too many nights in a row! Am I bad parent for waiting so long??) Anyway, sure enough, she had strep throat. Did I mention that it was a new pediatrician? Yeah, the old one moved off to New York and left us hanging. At least it gave us an opportunity to meet the new one, right? Okay, so medicine for the kid and now she's feeling good again. So the last half of the week was MINE!!! I went to my grandmother's house to hang out. Hehe, I love to go there, she spoils us all! Good home-cooked breakfasts and dinners every day. Playing Aggravation and working in puzzle books every night. Nothing but pure relaxation!
Here's a funny story: One of those days, we decided to go to the lake where my grandparents had their camper. I told my son we were going to the lake and he got really excited. (He loves the lake!) We get into the truck and the conversation goes like this:
Elliot: Are we going to the house to get the boat?
Me: No, we're not going to get the boat.
Elliot: Well, where are we going then?
Me: We're going to the lake?
Elliot: Well what are we going to use?
Me: HUh? What do you mean?
Elliot: Where are we going?
Me: To the lake.
Elliot: Are we going to get the boat?
Me: No.
Elliot: What are we going to use??
Yeah, apparently the 3 year old didn't understand that you can go to the lake without a boat!! It was amazing to realize that even at that young age, they get used to things being a certain way, and don't really like it when we go and change things on them!
Let's see, what else happened last week? Right, my cousin Tony's shed burned down. He lives across the street from my grandparents. I had gone to town for a few minutes and completely freaked out when I came back and the whole street was filled with ambulances, fire trucks, and policemen. I had to park up the street at another cousin's house and walk to my grandmother's. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the shed and everything in it was completely lost. On top of that, he was worried he would lose his job for having to leave work to check on the fire. Apparently, the economic situation in my hometown is terrible. Uncle Mike is laid off, Tony was worried he would lose his job, Roxie doesn't have a job and can't find one, Kevin lost his job, and Tommy got permanently laid off the day before I came home. Job prospects are very slim. I believe the only business hiring is McDonald's.
On a brighter note, Aunt Faye jumped on the trampoline with Elliot for a while and it was a sight to see! I don't know which of them had more fun! Sure do wish I had gotten pictures of that. We also celebrated birthdays yesterday at Rocky Mountain. Dianna, my sister, held a joint party for her entire family. We ate great burgers and enjoyed the nice cool breeze. Never could get Tommy to join the Mexican baptism going on down the river, though. Shame.
Now I'm home, and it's back to the grindstone. I'm enjoying the fall weather and spent yesterday cleaning the pool and thinking about Thanksgiving. Thought about it so much I ended up making a big pan of dressing for lunch today. Yummy!!!!
I also took Elliot to the pumpkin patch yesterday. He was super excited about carving a pumpkin!
I haven't blogged in a while, so I thought I would. Kristan and a couple of friends are playing Rock Band loudly, so I can't watch House, and I can't read. Well, I can, but I've read all the good stuff I have, and I need some more suggestions. So instead, I did some research. BE CAREFUL!! Don't click on this link if you are fainthearted, single, or under 18! Hehe. Good stuff, though. Check it out: http://www.sexinfo101.com/sexualpositions.shtml
It's another assignment for my class I'm taking. I told you I wasn't very driven to write blogs or journals, so I haven't really done any other than my assignments. However, for my oh-so-interested audience, here's an update.
Elliot skin is fine. Apparently he has molluskum contagiosum. Yes, it's contagious. Sure do wish his pediatrician had told me that 3 months ago!!! So it's spread all over him and now I know why. The dermatologist froze the three big ones on his face and gave me some cream for the other 20...50...1000!!!! Okay, not really that many, but it seems like there are new ones every day! We go back in a month to see how it's working.
I decided not to go to Florida with my husband on my Fall Break. I'm staying home to rest, recuperate, breathe, clean my house, and work on my school work. I'm just too tired to take a vacation right now! (Does that even make good sense??) Anyway, I didn't want the hassle of packing, entertaining 4 young kids for a 14 hour drive, entertaining 4 kids in a hotel room that may or may not have access to a beach, cooking, cleaning, stressing over not getting anything done at home, packing again, driving home for 14 more hours, laundry,....*sigh* I was getting stressed just typing that, so I'm staying home. :)
That's enough about me for now! Here's the grand finale: my lesson plan!
Reading/Language Arts: 3rd Grade
Amanda Mayo
Standard:
FLUENCY-ELA3R1: The student demonstrates the ability to read orally with speed, accuracy, and expression. The student
a. Applies letter-sound knowledge to decode quickly and accurately.
b. Reads familiar text with expression.
c. Uses self-correction when subsequent reading indicates an earlier misreading within grade-level text.
Objectives:
The student will demonstrate fluency with our weekly story, Allie’s Basketball Dream.
Task:
The student will read Allie’s Basketball Dream fluently to a kindergarten classroom or student.
Steps:
1. Teacher will have arranged for each 3rd grader to be paired up with a kindergartener.
2. The kindergarten students will walk to the 3rd grade classroom and get with their buddies.
3. Each pair of students will go to an assigned spot to read.
4. The 3rd grade student will read the story Allie’s Basketball Dream aloud, making sure to use lots of expression.
5. The teacher will walk around to monitor activity and check for fluency.
Materials:
Reading textbooks
List of reading buddies
List of assigned reading spots.
Anecdotal note charts for each 3rd grade student
Instructional Strategy:
Reinforcing effort and providing recognition: As the teacher walks around taking notes, she will make a concerted effort to provide positive feedback to each student. She will use the T.A.G. approach for feedback. T-tell one good thing she sees the student doing; A-ask questions; and G-give advice. Afterward, each kindergarten student will draw a picture or write a sentence telling the 3rd grader what they enjoyed about the experience. These will be hung in the hallway to provide recognition of each student who participated.
(I chose this strategy because 3rd graders love having the younger students look up to them. The drawings/sentences from the kindergarteners will be something they can hang on to all year as a reminder of a job well done. My hope is that this will encourage the 3rd graders’ enjoyment of reading.)
Standards-Based Achievement Target:
Mastery of Skill: Students can read fluently enough and with enough expression that their audience will understand and enjoy the story.
Option: Performance Assessment
Description: Read to a kindergartner student using at least 2 of the 3 kinds of expression discussed in class.
Why I chose this Assessment Option: I chose this assessment because it allows the students to demonstrate fluency of the story they have been practicing all week. The 3rd grade student gets a captive audience and it promotes friendly behavior between grades.
Understandings and Patterns of Reasoning: Students understand the concept of using expression while reading. They understand that expression can be shown through voice changes, facial expressions, and hand movements.
Option: Performance Assessment
Description: Student will read a paragraph of the story aloud to their classmates and use voice changes, facial expressions, and hand movements to convey expression.
Why I chose this Assessment Option: I chose this assessment option because this activity will allow the child to practice reading with expression in front of an audience and will allow me to see that they understand there is more than one way to convey expression while reading.
*On a side note, I think I might actually try to do this lesson plan at school. It started out as just an assignment, but I'm kind of digging the whole idea now!
My second blog!! Maybe this
isn't so bad after all.
Today I'm blogging about school
and making lesson plans. Or more specifically, how to create engaging lessons.
I've been watching some videos and reading some discussion posts from some of
my classmates that have really shown me the error of my ways.
For a whole year I have been
looking at my teacher's manuals and saying, "Okay, Monday we'll do this,
Tuesday, we'll do this.." You get the idea. It was boring and rote and
predictable. Every week the same activities with the same students, and, of
course, the same results. (What a surprise, huh?)
Appar ently, there IS a better way!! After
watching the video, Desig ning Curriculum and Instruction :
"C urriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment Design Process," I learned
that there were four steps, or components, to the design process. The first of
these components is Knowledge, or what exactly will the students be learning
during this lesson? Oohhh, you mean I have to know ahead of time what I want
them to know at the end??? Isn't that what the state standards tell me?
Don't I just throw together a lesson and then look to see what standards will
"fit"? Dr. Pickering, the one on the video who is telling me this
wonderful information, assures me that if I know the knowledge before I plan
the lesson, the lesson will be smoother. So, I took her advice and chose a
standard to hone in on for a lesson. I have to practice this stuff in order to
learn it, you know. I chose the Georgia 3rd grade standard of Fluency which
states: The student should know good decoding skills and
how to apply them while reading, especially when encountering unfamiliar words;
The student should be able to read with expression those texts that are
familiar; The students should recognize a misreading and self-correct that
misreading. Okay, now you know the knowledge that will be learned by my
students! And they will know it, too.
On to the next component of
Learning Activities. This is what the students will be doing in the classroom.
Or basically, their assignment. For this lesson I'm practicing with the
assignment goes like this:
Read the story from the basal
text at least 3 times. The first time you read the story, check to make sure
you know all the words. The second time you read the story, check to make sure
you understand what the story is about. The third time you read the story,
imagine that you are one of the characters. How does your character sound? What
facial expressions or hand movements does your character use?
Sound good? I hope so. I'm
still new at this, so I don't really know if this right or not. But....that's
what practice is for, right?
The third component is Instructional Strategies.
This is how the students are going to accomplish their assignments or the tasks
they do and how they do them. So I came up with a few tasks, hoping that I was
able to incorporate enough differentiation to account for my students'
different learning styles and intelligences.
1. Read the story silently as you listen to the
story on tape. (This task provides the student with an opportunity to hear the
correct way to decode unfamiliar words so the student will be able to do it on
their own in subsequent independent readings.)
2. Draw a picture of your favorite event in the
story. (This taks provides the opportunity for the student to make a connection
between how a character acts in the story and how that character would look or
sound during that event. This will transfer to the student knowing how to put
that expression into his/her reading. It also helps the kinesthetic learner and
those students who are good at expressing their understandings through art.)
3. Read the story with a partner and ask each other
questions about the story. (This provides a second reading of the story, which
is critical for making the story familiar so that self-correcting and
expressive reading can happen.)
4. Read the story with a kindergarten student.
Remember to use lots of expression so they will stay interested! (This provides
an opportunity for the student to read with plenty of expression and show that
he/she has learned to decode quickly and can self-correct if needed.)
The fourth component is Assessment, which is the hardest one
for me to develop. I’m big on using rubrics, but I know that not every student
can be assessed by a rubric and show their true learning. So I also do a lot of
observing. For this lesson, the assessment would most likely be me listening to
each student to check his or her fluency. This is a standard that is expected
to “grow” over the course of the year, so fluency is best assessed by checking
the student’s reading at regular intervals to see if the student is getting
better.
Now, here’s
the best part. During this lesson, I didn’t just teach that one standard! Oh,
no! It’s a 2 for 1 deal! Make that a 3 for 1 deal! Come to my class on this day
for this lesson and you can expect to also learn two elements of the
Comprehension standard! That’s right! The Georgia Standard for comprehension
states: The student uses a variety of strategies to gain
meaning from grade-level text. The student: Reads a variety of texts
for information and pleasure; and generates questions before, during, and after
reading. Both of which my students will be doing while performing the above
tasks.
It wasn’t easy to plan my lesson using this method. I’m a
girl who thrives on patterns and constants. I like knowing what’s happening
next. I was comfortable with the way I had been preparing lessons. I have to
say, though, this lesson is comforting to me because I do know what’s coming
next. It’s already planned out through the tasks. I even know what my students
are supposed to learn, so that makes assessment easier. It took a long time to
plan this lesson, but I’m thinking that’s only because it was my first time.
Hopefully it will be easier next time.
I've never been one to do much journaling or writing, so I'm not sure how well I'll do this. However, there are always funny things my kids are saying that I want to share. There are times when I want to vent about the unfairness of life. And there are times when I simply want to brag about something. So I'm here, trying to figure out exactly what one blogs about...
That's right, there's nothing really exciting going on right now. Well, that's not totally true. Kristan is playing her clarinet at the local football game tonight. We watched for a while, but then Elliot spilled his drink on his shirt and decided he had enough football for one night and we came home.
Elliot has his first dentist appointment on Monday. I've never been sure how old they need to be before they start going, but he's 3 now, so I guess it's time. We finally have a Children's Dentist here, so I'm thinking he'll enjoy it. (As much as one can possible enjoy a dentist. Personally, I abhor them.) I did tell him there was a treasure box and he was excited about that. We'll see how it goes. Elliot's also going to the dermatologist on Thursday. I'd swear he's been sleeping with a frog the way bumps keep popping up on him.
And does anyone out there know just how much DRAMA a 13 year old girl can get into???? I'm glad she shares her stories, they are incredibly funny. And they provide a good reminder of why Middle School is best left in the past.
Okay, I guess that's it for my first blog. I hope submitting it isn't nearly as hard as getting started was!!
Blog Posts With the Most Comments
My crazy anemone My crazy anemone
So here's my crazy anemone.This is April 4th, a few days after I got him.
Same day, different pose. :)
Our clownfish! He loves the filter. It's his favorite hiding spot.
April 8th. Now he's all curly. I don't know why.
Same day, different perspective and no flash.
Same day, two hours later. What happened? He looks terrible!
Today, still looks weird. Like a bad balloon animal.
What did I get into? What did I get into?
Obviously research is important. Especially when you get a new pet. Like a bubble tip anemone that you assume will just look pretty, wave around, and provide a nice home for your clownfish. And then you take said pet home, put it in the water, and watch it like a hawk. Said pet looks okay...for the first hour. Then it changes a little. It starts moving around. (*MOVING??? You mean it doesn't stay put and just wave around?) It attaches to your live rock on the back side so you can't see it or what it's doing. Then it shrivels up and the tips turn green!! What's up with that? It's supposed to be tan! So I got worried and started researching to make sure I wasn't killing my new pet. Apparently, I was, sort of. Did you know that anemones eat meat? They actually have to be fed! Like real fish! And they need special lights. My tank didn't have any lights at all. Oh, they also need heat. Which I also didn't have. So I sent the hubs out to the pet store to chat up the man to find out all the info I didn't have. Meanwhile, the anemone has been in the tank for a week, and has changed shapes and colors so much that I was beginning to think I had an alien in there! I would catch myself hovering over the tank and blowing on it to see if it would move. (They don't). It was almost like I had a new baby in the house, constantly checking to see if it was still alive. (Didn't help that the research said it was way fragile and hard to keep alive.) So we bought a heater and a thermometer, and some zooxant..something food for him. Durham couldn't find the brine shrimp at Wal-Mart, go figure. A few hours after feeding and installation, POOF! Massive blown-up super-size anemone on the move! Seriously, it was 5 times the size it was the night before. And it was moving straight for the heater... I went to work, came back home, and bam! It looked curly! Seriously! And it was in the middle of the tank, not attached to the rock anymore. So like the worried parent I am, I watched it until it started shriveling up again, and I got scared again. The mouth opened up real big, white stuff popped up out of it (looked like guts), tentacles turned green, and I just knew it was the end. I called Durham in to confirm it and we discussed taking him out of the tank. We finally decided to leave it for a while just to make sure. Sure enough, after supper, the mouth is closing, and brown stuff is coming out. Apparently my anemone just needed to poop.
Still, I have no idea whether it will survive or not. It's a daily roller coaster ride! And the clownfish? Adorable Nemo who just needs a home? Yeah, he won't go near the thing. He still hides behind the filter until feeding time. I'll post pictures later.
October 12, 2007 October 12, 2007
Good afternoon everyone! Well, I just learned that today is my brother's anniversary. So my first order of business is to say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CONNOR AND KIMBRE!!! Hope it's a good one. Hey, get Mom to watch the kids and go out and celebrate!
This past week was Fall Break here in our town. The family had planned to go down to Key Largo for a nice little vacation, but I opted out at the last minute. So my husband went without me. :( I'm okay with that. Really. No really, I mean it. He was planning to SCUBA dive with his brother the whole time anyway, so I'm not sure how much time we would have spent together. I decided that I would get more rest and get more accomplished if I stayed home. Durham did call me every day, though. (Awwww) We shared the sunset together every night long distance. It was actually kind of nice. I think I talked to him more this past week than I have in a month. Maybe there's some truth to the old adage "Absence makes the heart grow fonder".
The first part of my week off was spent at home. My daughter thinks any time out of school is a great time for a slumber party, so she had friends over for 4 days straight!!! (What was I thinking????) The last day I sent the kids home and took my daughter to the doctor. She had been running a fever and feeling tired. (I thought maybe she had just stayed up all night for too many nights in a row! Am I bad parent for waiting so long??) Anyway, sure enough, she had strep throat. Did I mention that it was a new pediatrician? Yeah, the old one moved off to New York and left us hanging. At least it gave us an opportunity to meet the new one, right? Okay, so medicine for the kid and now she's feeling good again. So the last half of the week was MINE!!! I went to my grandmother's house to hang out. Hehe, I love to go there, she spoils us all! Good home-cooked breakfasts and dinners every day. Playing Aggravation and working in puzzle books every night. Nothing but pure relaxation!
Here's a funny story: One of those days, we decided to go to the lake where my grandparents had their camper. I told my son we were going to the lake and he got really excited. (He loves the lake!) We get into the truck and the conversation goes like this:
Elliot: Are we going to the house to get the boat?
Me: No, we're not going to get the boat.
Elliot: Well, where are we going then?
Me: We're going to the lake?
Elliot: Well what are we going to use?
Me: HUh? What do you mean?
Elliot: Where are we going?
Me: To the lake.
Elliot: Are we going to get the boat?
Me: No.
Elliot: What are we going to use??
Yeah, apparently the 3 year old didn't understand that you can go to the lake without a boat!! It was amazing to realize that even at that young age, they get used to things being a certain way, and don't really like it when we go and change things on them!
Let's see, what else happened last week? Right, my cousin Tony's shed burned down. He lives across the street from my grandparents. I had gone to town for a few minutes and completely freaked out when I came back and the whole street was filled with ambulances, fire trucks, and policemen. I had to park up the street at another cousin's house and walk to my grandmother's. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the shed and everything in it was completely lost. On top of that, he was worried he would lose his job for having to leave work to check on the fire. Apparently, the economic situation in my hometown is terrible. Uncle Mike is laid off, Tony was worried he would lose his job, Roxie doesn't have a job and can't find one, Kevin lost his job, and Tommy got permanently laid off the day before I came home. Job prospects are very slim. I believe the only business hiring is McDonald's.
On a brighter note, Aunt Faye jumped on the trampoline with Elliot for a while and it was a sight to see! I don't know which of them had more fun! Sure do wish I had gotten pictures of that. We also celebrated birthdays yesterday at Rocky Mountain. Dianna, my sister, held a joint party for her entire family. We ate great burgers and enjoyed the nice cool breeze. Never could get Tommy to join the Mexican baptism going on down the river, though. Shame.
Now I'm home, and it's back to the grindstone. I'm enjoying the fall weather and spent yesterday cleaning the pool and thinking about Thanksgiving. Thought about it so much I ended up making a big pan of dressing for lunch today. Yummy!!!!
I also took Elliot to the pumpkin patch yesterday. He was super excited about carving a pumpkin!
Just another day Just another day
I haven't blogged in a while, so I thought I would. Kristan and a couple of friends are playing Rock Band loudly, so I can't watch House, and I can't read. Well, I can, but I've read all the good stuff I have, and I need some more suggestions. So instead, I did some research. BE CAREFUL!! Don't click on this link if you are fainthearted, single, or under 18! Hehe. Good stuff, though. Check it out: http://www.sexinfo101.com/sexualpositions.shtml
Yeah, um. Happy Late Valentine's Day!
September 27, 2008 September 27, 2008
Here's blog #3!
It's another assignment for my class I'm taking. I told you I wasn't very driven to write blogs or journals, so I haven't really done any other than my assignments. However, for my oh-so-interested audience, here's an update.
Elliot skin is fine. Apparently he has molluskum contagiosum. Yes, it's contagious. Sure do wish his pediatrician had told me that 3 months ago!!! So it's spread all over him and now I know why. The dermatologist froze the three big ones on his face and gave me some cream for the other 20...50...1000!!!! Okay, not really that many, but it seems like there are new ones every day! We go back in a month to see how it's working.
I decided not to go to Florida with my husband on my Fall Break. I'm staying home to rest, recuperate, breathe, clean my house, and work on my school work. I'm just too tired to take a vacation right now! (Does that even make good sense??) Anyway, I didn't want the hassle of packing, entertaining 4 young kids for a 14 hour drive, entertaining 4 kids in a hotel room that may or may not have access to a beach, cooking, cleaning, stressing over not getting anything done at home, packing again, driving home for 14 more hours, laundry,....*sigh* I was getting stressed just typing that, so I'm staying home. :)
That's enough about me for now! Here's the grand finale: my lesson plan!
Reading/Language Arts: 3rd Grade
Amanda Mayo
Standard:
FLUENCY-ELA3R1: The student demonstrates the ability to read orally with speed, accuracy, and expression. The student
a. Applies letter-sound knowledge to decode quickly and accurately.
b. Reads familiar text with expression.
c. Uses self-correction when subsequent reading indicates an earlier misreading within grade-level text.
Objectives:
The student will demonstrate fluency with our weekly story, Allie’s Basketball Dream.
Task:
The student will read Allie’s Basketball Dream fluently to a kindergarten classroom or student.
Steps:
1. Teacher will have arranged for each 3rd grader to be paired up with a kindergartener.
2. The kindergarten students will walk to the 3rd grade classroom and get with their buddies.
3. Each pair of students will go to an assigned spot to read.
4. The 3rd grade student will read the story Allie’s Basketball Dream aloud, making sure to use lots of expression.
5. The teacher will walk around to monitor activity and check for fluency.
Materials:
Reading textbooks
List of reading buddies
List of assigned reading spots.
Anecdotal note charts for each 3rd grade student
Instructional Strategy:
Reinforcing effort and providing recognition: As the teacher walks around taking notes, she will make a concerted effort to provide positive feedback to each student. She will use the T.A.G. approach for feedback. T-tell one good thing she sees the student doing; A-ask questions; and G-give advice. Afterward, each kindergarten student will draw a picture or write a sentence telling the 3rd grader what they enjoyed about the experience. These will be hung in the hallway to provide recognition of each student who participated.
(I chose this strategy because 3rd graders love having the younger students look up to them. The drawings/sentences from the kindergarteners will be something they can hang on to all year as a reminder of a job well done. My hope is that this will encourage the 3rd graders’ enjoyment of reading.)
Standards-Based Achievement Target:
Mastery of Skill: Students can read fluently enough and with enough expression that their audience will understand and enjoy the story.
Option: Performance Assessment
Description: Read to a kindergartner student using at least 2 of the 3 kinds of expression discussed in class.
Why I chose this Assessment Option: I chose this assessment because it allows the students to demonstrate fluency of the story they have been practicing all week. The 3rd grade student gets a captive audience and it promotes friendly behavior between grades.
Understandings and Patterns of Reasoning: Students understand the concept of using expression while reading. They understand that expression can be shown through voice changes, facial expressions, and hand movements.
Option: Performance Assessment
Description: Student will read a paragraph of the story aloud to their classmates and use voice changes, facial expressions, and hand movements to convey expression.
Why I chose this Assessment Option: I chose this assessment option because this activity will allow the child to practice reading with expression in front of an audience and will allow me to see that they understand there is more than one way to convey expression while reading.
*On a side note, I think I might actually try to do this lesson plan at school. It started out as just an assignment, but I'm kind of digging the whole idea now!
September 14, 2008 September 14, 2008
My second blog!! Maybe this isn't so bad after all.
Today I'm blogging about school and making lesson plans. Or more specifically, how to create engaging lessons. I've been watching some videos and reading some discussion posts from some of my classmates that have really shown me the error of my ways.
For a whole year I have been looking at my teacher's manuals and saying, "Okay, Monday we'll do this, Tuesday, we'll do this.." You get the idea. It was boring and rote and predictable. Every week the same activities with the same students, and, of course, the same results. (What a surprise, huh?)
Appar ently, there IS a better way!! After watching the video, Desig ning Curriculum and Instruction : "C urriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment Design Process," I learned that there were four steps, or components, to the design process. The first of these components is Knowledge, or what exactly will the students be learning during this lesson? Oohhh, you mean I have to know ahead of time what I want them to know at the end??? Isn't that what the state standards tell me? Don't I just throw together a lesson and then look to see what standards will "fit"? Dr. Pickering, the one on the video who is telling me this wonderful information, assures me that if I know the knowledge before I plan the lesson, the lesson will be smoother. So, I took her advice and chose a standard to hone in on for a lesson. I have to practice this stuff in order to learn it, you know. I chose the Georgia 3rd grade standard of Fluency which states: The student should know good decoding skills and how to apply them while reading, especially when encountering unfamiliar words; The student should be able to read with expression those texts that are familiar; The students should recognize a misreading and self-correct that misreading. Okay, now you know the knowledge that will be learned by my students! And they will know it, too.
On to the next component of Learning Activities. This is what the students will be doing in the classroom. Or basically, their assignment. For this lesson I'm practicing with the assignment goes like this:
Read the story from the basal text at least 3 times. The first time you read the story, check to make sure you know all the words. The second time you read the story, check to make sure you understand what the story is about. The third time you read the story, imagine that you are one of the characters. How does your character sound? What facial expressions or hand movements does your character use?
Sound good? I hope so. I'm still new at this, so I don't really know if this right or not. But....that's what practice is for, right?
The third component is Instructional Strategies. This is how the students are going to accomplish their assignments or the tasks they do and how they do them. So I came up with a few tasks, hoping that I was able to incorporate enough differentiation to account for my students' different learning styles and intelligences.
1. Read the story silently as you listen to the story on tape. (This task provides the student with an opportunity to hear the correct way to decode unfamiliar words so the student will be able to do it on their own in subsequent independent readings.)
2. Draw a picture of your favorite event in the story. (This taks provides the opportunity for the student to make a connection between how a character acts in the story and how that character would look or sound during that event. This will transfer to the student knowing how to put that expression into his/her reading. It also helps the kinesthetic learner and those students who are good at expressing their understandings through art.)
3. Read the story with a partner and ask each other questions about the story. (This provides a second reading of the story, which is critical for making the story familiar so that self-correcting and expressive reading can happen.)
4. Read the story with a kindergarten student. Remember to use lots of expression so they will stay interested! (This provides an opportunity for the student to read with plenty of expression and show that he/she has learned to decode quickly and can self-correct if needed.)
The fourth component is Assessment, which is the hardest one for me to develop. I’m big on using rubrics, but I know that not every student can be assessed by a rubric and show their true learning. So I also do a lot of observing. For this lesson, the assessment would most likely be me listening to each student to check his or her fluency. This is a standard that is expected to “grow” over the course of the year, so fluency is best assessed by checking the student’s reading at regular intervals to see if the student is getting better.
Now, here’s the best part. During this lesson, I didn’t just teach that one standard! Oh, no! It’s a 2 for 1 deal! Make that a 3 for 1 deal! Come to my class on this day for this lesson and you can expect to also learn two elements of the Comprehension standard! That’s right! The Georgia Standard for comprehension states: The student uses a variety of strategies to gain meaning from grade-level text. The student: Reads a variety of texts for information and pleasure; and generates questions before, during, and after reading. Both of which my students will be doing while performing the above tasks.
It wasn’t easy to plan my lesson using this method. I’m a girl who thrives on patterns and constants. I like knowing what’s happening next. I was comfortable with the way I had been preparing lessons. I have to say, though, this lesson is comforting to me because I do know what’s coming next. It’s already planned out through the tasks. I even know what my students are supposed to learn, so that makes assessment easier. It took a long time to plan this lesson, but I’m thinking that’s only because it was my first time. Hopefully it will be easier next time.
My first venture into the Blog My first venture into the Blogging World
I've never been one to do much journaling or writing, so I'm not sure how well I'll do this. However, there are always funny things my kids are saying that I want to share. There are times when I want to vent about the unfairness of life. And there are times when I simply want to brag about something. So I'm here, trying to figure out exactly what one blogs about...
That's right, there's nothing really exciting going on right now. Well, that's not totally true. Kristan is playing her clarinet at the local football game tonight. We watched for a while, but then Elliot spilled his drink on his shirt and decided he had enough football for one night and we came home.
Elliot has his first dentist appointment on Monday. I've never been sure how old they need to be before they start going, but he's 3 now, so I guess it's time. We finally have a Children's Dentist here, so I'm thinking he'll enjoy it. (As much as one can possible enjoy a dentist. Personally, I abhor them.) I did tell him there was a treasure box and he was excited about that. We'll see how it goes. Elliot's also going to the dermatologist on Thursday. I'd swear he's been sleeping with a frog the way bumps keep popping up on him.
And does anyone out there know just how much DRAMA a 13 year old girl can get into???? I'm glad she shares her stories, they are incredibly funny. And they provide a good reminder of why Middle School is best left in the past.
Okay, I guess that's it for my first blog. I hope submitting it isn't nearly as hard as getting started was!!