Friday, November 28, 2008
Novel Units For Sale
I have developed several novel units and love to develop them. If you have a request please let me know. I can develop a unit and match it to your standards for $25. The units that I develop contain vocabulary lists and activities, extension activities, assessments and anything else you would like to request. I can develop the unit to fit any time frame you choose. I take paypal so that payment isn't an issue. If you want your unit in a binder I'm afraid that will cost an additional $12.95 S&H, or I can send it through the email as an attachment for no additional cost. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I will let you know how to contact me for a more private discussion.
Access Prior Knowledge
Accessing prior knowledge is probably the single most important step in the educational process. If the student is to retain the information long term, it is imperative that they connect it to something that they know and can comprehend. There are many ways to do this.
If the prior knowledge is something universally known. For example pets, or food, the activation of that knowledge could be as simple as a classroom discussion or a journal prompt. However if the topic is something that some or even most of your students don't already have prior knowledge of, there are several ways to frontload this information.
1. Realia, if the subject is camping for example, you can bring in a tent, lantern, sleeping bag etc. When teaching a third grade classroom one time I brought in a dome tent, and set it up in the back of the classroom. I put a sleeping bag, flashlight, and air mattress inside the tent. On the outside of the tent, I put out a lantern, paper plates, a camp stove and lawn chair. Then we made solar ovens out of pizza boxes to make 'smores. The kids had a blast and were then able to understand the novel we were getting ready to read.
2. Show a video. I have found that movies are a great way to frontload. The more entertaining the movie, the more successful the unit. A perfect example of this is the Disney movie Pocahontas. I know that a lot of schools/districts have rules about movies, so please make sure you understand your school's policy before showing a video.
3. Picture books and/or fairytales and fables. The older the kids the more they enjoy picture books. Trust me on this one. Picture books work better on middle school and high school kids than they do on elementary school kids. Find something with a similar theme, character, plot, etc.
4. Take a field trip. If you can take a field trip this is preferable, however you can always take a short walk around the school or surrounding community. There are so many things in your immediate area that will a little thought and creativity you will be able to frontload for many subjects.
5. Invite a guest to speak. I have found that if you ask people they will be more than happy to come talk to a classroom. Most people are excited to come in and tell your kids about their area of expertise. I have had rangers, hunters, mailmen, AIDS victims,train engineers, scientists, college students, etc. come to my classroom and talk to my students.
Front loading is limited only by your imagination. It is more often than not fun and will pay off more than you can imagine. If there is nothing you take from this website, please make sure you understand the importance of accessing prior knowledge.
If the prior knowledge is something universally known. For example pets, or food, the activation of that knowledge could be as simple as a classroom discussion or a journal prompt. However if the topic is something that some or even most of your students don't already have prior knowledge of, there are several ways to frontload this information.
1. Realia, if the subject is camping for example, you can bring in a tent, lantern, sleeping bag etc. When teaching a third grade classroom one time I brought in a dome tent, and set it up in the back of the classroom. I put a sleeping bag, flashlight, and air mattress inside the tent. On the outside of the tent, I put out a lantern, paper plates, a camp stove and lawn chair. Then we made solar ovens out of pizza boxes to make 'smores. The kids had a blast and were then able to understand the novel we were getting ready to read.
2. Show a video. I have found that movies are a great way to frontload. The more entertaining the movie, the more successful the unit. A perfect example of this is the Disney movie Pocahontas. I know that a lot of schools/districts have rules about movies, so please make sure you understand your school's policy before showing a video.
3. Picture books and/or fairytales and fables. The older the kids the more they enjoy picture books. Trust me on this one. Picture books work better on middle school and high school kids than they do on elementary school kids. Find something with a similar theme, character, plot, etc.
4. Take a field trip. If you can take a field trip this is preferable, however you can always take a short walk around the school or surrounding community. There are so many things in your immediate area that will a little thought and creativity you will be able to frontload for many subjects.
5. Invite a guest to speak. I have found that if you ask people they will be more than happy to come talk to a classroom. Most people are excited to come in and tell your kids about their area of expertise. I have had rangers, hunters, mailmen, AIDS victims,train engineers, scientists, college students, etc. come to my classroom and talk to my students.
Front loading is limited only by your imagination. It is more often than not fun and will pay off more than you can imagine. If there is nothing you take from this website, please make sure you understand the importance of accessing prior knowledge.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tell Them What They Are Going to Learn
To me this is the most obvious step, but also the most under achieved step in the instructional process. The steps for this will work for any classroom, any age group, any subject.
1. Have the standard that you are working on posted. Don't just copy it out of the standards book, write it in a way that will be meaningful to the kids. This doesn't mean to dummy it down. You should always use academic language when doing this.
2. Tell the students what they are going to learn today.
3. Tell them why it's important that they are going to learn to do this.
4. Have them repeat what they are going to learn today. (This way you know that they know and they will be watching to see if they can really learn it. This step defines it for them so it doesn't seem so abstract.)
5. Give an example.
6. Teach them. As you are teaching them, make sure you are checking for understanding.
7. Question the students on what you just taught and if they learned what they were supposed to learn.
8. Have them explain to you what they learned and how it related to the lesson.
9. Assign independent practice.
10. Work individually with the students who didn't learn it.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving but on Friday, I will post a lesson here showing how to meet these steps. I'll try to do a lesson that is between 5th and 8th grades because it will be easier to adapt both up and down, rather than doing a 12th grade or 1st grade lesson. If you have any questions or would like to request that I write a lesson for a particular topic and a particular grade level, please leave a comment and I'll get to it. Thank you and everybody have a very wonderful Thanksgiving.
1. Have the standard that you are working on posted. Don't just copy it out of the standards book, write it in a way that will be meaningful to the kids. This doesn't mean to dummy it down. You should always use academic language when doing this.
2. Tell the students what they are going to learn today.
3. Tell them why it's important that they are going to learn to do this.
4. Have them repeat what they are going to learn today. (This way you know that they know and they will be watching to see if they can really learn it. This step defines it for them so it doesn't seem so abstract.)
5. Give an example.
6. Teach them. As you are teaching them, make sure you are checking for understanding.
7. Question the students on what you just taught and if they learned what they were supposed to learn.
8. Have them explain to you what they learned and how it related to the lesson.
9. Assign independent practice.
10. Work individually with the students who didn't learn it.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving but on Friday, I will post a lesson here showing how to meet these steps. I'll try to do a lesson that is between 5th and 8th grades because it will be easier to adapt both up and down, rather than doing a 12th grade or 1st grade lesson. If you have any questions or would like to request that I write a lesson for a particular topic and a particular grade level, please leave a comment and I'll get to it. Thank you and everybody have a very wonderful Thanksgiving.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Novel Units for Sale
Items on eBayI have a couple novel units on ebay for the Diary of Anne Frank. I have developed several novel units and love to develop them. If you have a request please let me know. I can develop a unit and match it to your standards for $25. The units that I develop with contain vocabulary lists and activities, extension activities, assessments and anything else you would like to request. I can develop the unit to fit any time frame you choose. I take paypal so that's payment isn't an issue. If you want your unit in a binder I'm afraid that will cost an $12.95 S&H, or I can send it through the email as an attachment for no additional cost. If you have any questions please feel free to let me know.
Top Ten Teaching Tips
1. Tell them what they are going to learn. Students can hit any target as long as you don't move it. Start the lesson by telling them what you expect them to learn. Flat out say, "Today we are going to learn what the Mayflower Compact is and why it's important." Or, "Today we are going to learn how to solve equations with two variables." This way the students know exactly what they are supposed to learn.
2. Access prior knowledge. NEVER skip this step. It is really important that students have something to tie the new information too. If the students have no prior knowledge then you will have to front load knowledge. Show a movie, take a walk, read a book, do something ANYTHING to give them something attach the new subject to.
3. Give the students opportunities to process and summarize their learning. Give them the opportunity to use their knowledge in class and see that they have the opportunity to process it outside of class. Make the new knowledge part of classroom discussions throughout the week and beyond. Referring back to the new knowledge requires the students to summarize in their brains what they learned.
4. Teach the students about self-evaluation. They need to know if they are learning the new information. Once they know if they are learning it or not they can adjust their learning and figure out what it's going to take to learn it. ie...pay attention, do homework, ask more questions, do independent practice....
5. Use a variety of teaching methods to real the different learning styles of your students. Don't just stand and lecture. Some students learn very well this way, others...not so much. It is best when the same information is given in a variety of ways. The students get an opportunity to learn the information and review it. The more ways they are exposed to the information the longer they will retain and understand the information.
6. Let the students learn. I have always told my students that I can teach them the information but that I can not learn it for them. They need to be the learners. They need to actively learn. Give them the opportunities to learn, not just sit and listen to you lecture (they really don't listen when you are lecturing, they are usually writing notes, daydreaming, or completing homework from another class unless you are entertaining. It's a sad but true fact.)
7. Be aware of the assessments that are going to judge what the students are learning. Use a variety of questioning techniques including a style that mirrors any standardized tests they will need to know the new information for.
8. Your classroom environment is the single most important thing you can control. You are the only person in control of your classroom. Make sure you are aware of that and remind the students of that as needed.
9. Focus on learning. Your job is to make sure the students are learning. Let compliance go out the door. Don't worry about everything else. The learning is what is important. Do whatever it takes to make sure the students have the opportunity to learn.
10. Teach your procedures. Think about how you want things done, and teach the students to do it. Your success at teaching procedures will directly impact the kind of year you will have.
My next ten blogs will be taking each of these tips and expanding on them. I will give ideas, examples and where applicable lesson plans. Good luck and happy teaching!
2. Access prior knowledge. NEVER skip this step. It is really important that students have something to tie the new information too. If the students have no prior knowledge then you will have to front load knowledge. Show a movie, take a walk, read a book, do something ANYTHING to give them something attach the new subject to.
3. Give the students opportunities to process and summarize their learning. Give them the opportunity to use their knowledge in class and see that they have the opportunity to process it outside of class. Make the new knowledge part of classroom discussions throughout the week and beyond. Referring back to the new knowledge requires the students to summarize in their brains what they learned.
4. Teach the students about self-evaluation. They need to know if they are learning the new information. Once they know if they are learning it or not they can adjust their learning and figure out what it's going to take to learn it. ie...pay attention, do homework, ask more questions, do independent practice....
5. Use a variety of teaching methods to real the different learning styles of your students. Don't just stand and lecture. Some students learn very well this way, others...not so much. It is best when the same information is given in a variety of ways. The students get an opportunity to learn the information and review it. The more ways they are exposed to the information the longer they will retain and understand the information.
6. Let the students learn. I have always told my students that I can teach them the information but that I can not learn it for them. They need to be the learners. They need to actively learn. Give them the opportunities to learn, not just sit and listen to you lecture (they really don't listen when you are lecturing, they are usually writing notes, daydreaming, or completing homework from another class unless you are entertaining. It's a sad but true fact.)
7. Be aware of the assessments that are going to judge what the students are learning. Use a variety of questioning techniques including a style that mirrors any standardized tests they will need to know the new information for.
8. Your classroom environment is the single most important thing you can control. You are the only person in control of your classroom. Make sure you are aware of that and remind the students of that as needed.
9. Focus on learning. Your job is to make sure the students are learning. Let compliance go out the door. Don't worry about everything else. The learning is what is important. Do whatever it takes to make sure the students have the opportunity to learn.
10. Teach your procedures. Think about how you want things done, and teach the students to do it. Your success at teaching procedures will directly impact the kind of year you will have.
My next ten blogs will be taking each of these tips and expanding on them. I will give ideas, examples and where applicable lesson plans. Good luck and happy teaching!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Novel Units for Sale
Items on eBay
I have a couple novel units on ebay for the Diary of Anne Frank. I have developed several novel units and love to develop them. If you have a request please let me know. I can develop a unit and match it to your standards for $25. The units that I develop with contain vocabulary lists and activities, extension activities, assessments and anything else you would like to request. I can develop the unit to fit any time frame you choose. I take paypal so that's payment isn't an issue. If you want your unit in a binder I'm afraid that will cost an $12.95 S&H, or I can send it through the email as an attachment for no additional cost. If you have any questions please feel free to let me know.
How to Quit Drowning In Uncorrected Math Homework
This is actually a very easy way to take care of math homework, without having the students correcting each other's homework. It's really easy if you follow the steps every single day.
1. When the students come in the room have the answers only to the homework on the overhead.
2. Students take out their homework and check their own answers, while you take attendance, sign absent passes or whatever housekeeping activities you need to do.
3. Students ask for clarification on any of the answers they may have gotten wrong. Do the problem on the board or overhead for the students to figure out why they got a wrong answer.
4. Students keep their homework in their notebook.
5. On Friday, when the students come into the classroom have the "Homework Quiz" on the overhead. The "Homework Quiz" consists of one problem from each night's homework for the week.
6. Students may use the week's homework to help with the quiz.
7. Students turn in the "Homework Quiz" with the 4 or 5 problems on it.
8. Correct the "Quizzes" over the weekend to be returned on Monday.
I will not correct any problem on the quiz that doesn't show complete step by step work. Remember the students had the chance to ask about any problems they missed during the week. I like to use this method because if a student understands the lessons well enough that they don't need to do the homework then they don't have to do it as long as they think they can get the problem correct on Friday's quiz.
As long as you remember the purpose of homework is to reinforce learning and not to teach, this method works great. The students are responsible for knowing if they need the practice or not, and their grade depends on whether they take that responsibility seriously. You only have to correct papers once a week and then only 4 or 5 problems. It's a win/win situation for everybody and the students actually do their homework more consistently.
1. When the students come in the room have the answers only to the homework on the overhead.
2. Students take out their homework and check their own answers, while you take attendance, sign absent passes or whatever housekeeping activities you need to do.
3. Students ask for clarification on any of the answers they may have gotten wrong. Do the problem on the board or overhead for the students to figure out why they got a wrong answer.
4. Students keep their homework in their notebook.
5. On Friday, when the students come into the classroom have the "Homework Quiz" on the overhead. The "Homework Quiz" consists of one problem from each night's homework for the week.
6. Students may use the week's homework to help with the quiz.
7. Students turn in the "Homework Quiz" with the 4 or 5 problems on it.
8. Correct the "Quizzes" over the weekend to be returned on Monday.
I will not correct any problem on the quiz that doesn't show complete step by step work. Remember the students had the chance to ask about any problems they missed during the week. I like to use this method because if a student understands the lessons well enough that they don't need to do the homework then they don't have to do it as long as they think they can get the problem correct on Friday's quiz.
As long as you remember the purpose of homework is to reinforce learning and not to teach, this method works great. The students are responsible for knowing if they need the practice or not, and their grade depends on whether they take that responsibility seriously. You only have to correct papers once a week and then only 4 or 5 problems. It's a win/win situation for everybody and the students actually do their homework more consistently.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Items on Ebay
I have a couple novel units on ebay for the Diary of Anne Frank. I have developed several novel units and love to develop them. If you have a request please let me know. I can develop a unit and match it to your standards for $25. The units that I develop with contain vocabulary lists and activities, extension activities, assessments and anything else you would like to request. I can develop the unit to fit any time frame you choose. I take paypal so that's payment isn't an issue. If you want your unit in a binder I'm afraid that will cost an $12.95 S&H, or I can send it through the email as an attachment for no additional cost. If you have any questions please feel free to let me know.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Classroom Management
I am currently working on a book about classroom management that works in the real classroom. If you are like me, you have read many books and attendend many seminars on classroom management. Everything you hear and read sounds wonderful and doable. Then you stop and look at your particular classroom and you realize that what you heard sounds great, but it's not realistic. What do you do with your classroom?
If your classrooms are anything like mine have been you will look at those faces looking back at you and see a student with Asperegers, a student with PPD (a level of autism), at least one student who speaks no English, several students in the 7th or 8th grade who read about the 2nd grade level. What do you do with this class? How do you teach those very special students and still teach the standards, and keep the kids on and above grade level challenged?
I know that my classes have been the rule instead of the exception. I'm going to write a series of articles about classroom management that works for your classroom. The real classroom. I will give you real strategies that work in the "real" classroom.
I'll start by posting my Philosophy of Education and continue from there. Thank you for taking the time to read me and please feel free to ask questions. If I don't have the answer I will fiind the answer.
If your classrooms are anything like mine have been you will look at those faces looking back at you and see a student with Asperegers, a student with PPD (a level of autism), at least one student who speaks no English, several students in the 7th or 8th grade who read about the 2nd grade level. What do you do with this class? How do you teach those very special students and still teach the standards, and keep the kids on and above grade level challenged?
I know that my classes have been the rule instead of the exception. I'm going to write a series of articles about classroom management that works for your classroom. The real classroom. I will give you real strategies that work in the "real" classroom.
I'll start by posting my Philosophy of Education and continue from there. Thank you for taking the time to read me and please feel free to ask questions. If I don't have the answer I will fiind the answer.
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