Secret 1
Respond to 3 of the 6 questions below:
Please respond by October 2, 2009.
1.1. Discuss one of your great lesson plans. . Why is it great? What components make it great? (i.e. cooperative learning, hands-on activities, student-led activities, discussion, etc.)
1.2. What do you do when your plans don’t take an entire class hour? Do you begin tomorrow’s lesson? Have students do SSR? Explain.
1.3. How can a teacher be less distracted by interruptions? Can the phrase “ Attitude is Everything” be applied to the interruptions which arise? Explain your thoughts.
1.4. Provide an example of a lesson objective you use in your classes. What activities (list 2-3) support this objective?
1.5. Respond to the author’s quote:
“We know that whoever is doing the “doing” is doing the learning. In your classroom, are the students “doing” the work or are you – the teacher – the person most actively engaged?
1.6. Provide examples of how you are proactive with your students, whether in class, in the hallway, or with co-curricular activities.
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1.1 Fitness Days. We have several activities the students will perform that day to keep the heart rate up and teach team concepts. We move from one activity to another, occasionally check our heart rates, and everyone is ACTIVE.
ReplyDelete1.2 I like to practice more problems, either from that day's lesson or to introduce the next one. If I put 3-5 problems on the overhead, they can answer them on scratch paper. Then I can call on students to give their answers. If some students aren't done yet with their daily work, they can continue working. Then we can keep doing sets of 3-5 problems until class is over.
ReplyDelete1.2 When I have a lesson which ends up being shorter than expected, I will try to have something "in my pocket" to use in the interim. I have several activities to review vocabulary (word slap, flash cards). If giving a review sheet or written assignment in class, I will often review the assignment or grade it in class if there is time. I will also sometimes ask questions over the day's lesson to the whole class orally. As an add-on sometime, I will have the students partner up and create a list of 4-6 important ideas from the lesson that day.
ReplyDelete1.3 Distractions are a part of everyday life in a middle school. A teacher that can accept this fact and learn to be flexible will be much happier. Whether the interruption is via the intercom, a late student, another teacher needing to talk to someone, etc...it happens. If a teacher can just "roll with it" there will tend to be a minimal disruption to what is going on in the classroom. If the teacher doesn't allow it to disrupt the class, the students won't think that it is going to be a disruption.
1.4 Obj.= Sudents will understand how technology led to advances in early civilizations, particularly Mesopotamian society.
Activity 1 - We discuss the vocabulary word technology and have students give examples of modern technology (tools, computers, phones, agricultural products, etc...) and how they have helped our society. We then make a list of early technologies (scraping tools, cultivating tools, the wheel, etc...) and how they might have helped early societies.
Activity 2 - Partner work - students pair up and create a drawing showing how people in early Mesopotamia used their technology (irrigation, the wheel, cuneiform) in their daily lives.
Activity 3 - Students generate a list of ideas on the board to suggest how early Mesopotamians might have been able to construct large ziggurats in their cities.
1.3 Interruptions happen. Flexibility when dealing with interruptions can be simple. Take it in stride, pretend it is not a distraction and go on as if nothing happened. Students can stay on task and go on just as the teacher does. Attitude towards the interruption is key.
ReplyDelete1.5 Who is doing the doing? I try to incorporate student "doing" as I am doing the lesson. Keeping students involved gives them ownership and it is easy to check for understanding. Students are always willing to offer their help. Hands are always in the air. They love to contribute.
1.6 Just today, we practiced our first marker board activity. I explained the procedure, showed them what it looked like and we practiced it. It will happen all year at various times so it is essential they understand the process.
1.1 When I was an elementary librarian, I would do a unit on technical writing where I would have the 3rd graders write a cookbook. This project would take several weeks, as we would first look at recipes, then each child would think of their favorite dish, and then we would all help each child write the recipe. After the recipes were written, we typed them on the computer and I would have each child illustrate their recipe. I would then copy the recipes and make a little booklet for each child. Why was this successful? It gave them power, there was cooperative learning and a clear finished product. Even though the recipes really couldn't be made, that didn't matter, they were still proud of their product. Years later, I have had parents and students tell me they found the cookbooks and had so much fun reading the "recipes".
ReplyDelete1.3 Interruptions are a part of life. As a librarian, I know my day will probably be different than how it was planned. If one is not flexible, as the book says, one will be a very unhappy person.
1.6 Students know they can use the library before and after school, and do on a daily basis. I feel sponsoring the Project Patriot Club and organizing the school supply drive for students in Afghanistan, also makes me proactive with the students.
1.2 I always over plan when I write LPs for the chapter. Then, if something happens to go faster than I'm expecting, I can go back to a day where we didn't get to all the activities and use it as a review of content.
ReplyDelete1.4 Explain and apply knowledge of world vegetation regions.
Activity 1 - Create a chart for each vegetation zone that includes the rainfall, temperatures, seasons.
Activity 2 - Give each group a longitudinal location at 30 degrees North latitude. Look at what landforms are present there and how that effects travel and proper planning. Discuss what climate, season, landforms, and vegetation might be present in different seasons.
Activity 3 - Short video clip on Biomes
Activity 4 - Research world biomes to create the vegetation, landforms, climate, animals at an absolute location as a hypothetical zoo director.
1.6 I am proactive with students by using MAP scores to do ability grouping. I have about 10 set partner groups formed for the year. I use MAP scores to place low-avg-above avg students in groups and then place similar abilities together (use this for DI - ex: Blooms Taxonomy and giving students who need remediation Remembering level thinking and giving students who have the basics down Application/Analysis questions.) It makes partnering very quick and easy and the kids have no idea they are being placed with so-and-so because of ability level. They also have a BFF partner and alphabetical by first & last name and other things to mix it up.
1.2- I often have classes that end at different times. I have a read aloud book that we always have going. With the current book I have a booklet of activities each student has a copy of. Each hour is at a different place in the book and that is ok- it is always there to grab and go with, and it goes right along with reading.
ReplyDelete1.3- My room is a constant interruption sometimes. There are a lot of adults coming and going from my room, and we couldn't make it without them so we deal with it. I talk with students about how we continue and they get used to hearing the doors, etc. If someone needs me I often direct one of the students to continue on reading, etc. They like to feel like they have something important to do. I believe it is all in how the teacher handles it. If it stresses me they sense that and they get stressed, so I just can't let it get to me.
1.5- I have found with my students who often struggle at school they get so much more out of something if they are "actively" involved. If I talk to much they stop listening. I try to vary activities and put my lecture into small pieces so they can get the info. they need, just not all at once. I also try to involve them anyway I can- especially hands-on things, flipbooks, writing on marker boards, showing notecards with their answers, them writing on the board, etc.
1.1
ReplyDelete"Sack Secrets" - We did this activity last week in class as an activity to start our unit on "What is Matter". (Unfortunately, I wasn't there when we did it this year). What I do is go around my house and gather up about 15 small items that will fit into a brown paper lunch sack. I try to find a variety of things so that the students can use 4/5 of their senses to describe different properties of the matter that is in the bag. They write down different properties of the matter in the bag and then make a "hypothesis" of what they think is in their bag based on the different properties that they have listed on their data sheet. When every group has made an educated guess, I open the bags to reveal what is inside. The anticipation level is high as they find out what is actually in each mystery bag.
1.4 Lesson objective - How to make wise choices when eating fast food. Activity 1 - Match the 20 Worst Fast foods to the actual foods by drawing items and finding the matching food partner. Activity 2 - Students write down a meal they like to eat at a particular fast food restaurant. Using the mobile cart computers, they look up the nutritional information and then revise that meal to stay within specified nutritional guidelines.
ReplyDelete1.5 I think that it is important for the exploratory classes to provide experiences in which the students are actively participating in projects, labs, or group learning experiences. Usually after introducing a unit, the time is spent with the students interacting with each other or working on a project.
1.6 I am proactive in the foods lab by selecting the groups and attempting to change the groups so that each student works with most other students. I try to include the special education students in this mix and let the para help them in their assigned group to give them a change to interact with the regular ed. students. Assigned seats in the classroom also help to spread students who need to be apart.
1.1 I really like my new lesson plan on author's purpose. I have struggled with teaching this indicator in the past. In the new lesson, I have moved past the PIE lesson of persuasion, inform, and entertain...and try to get kids to think more about analyzing, reflecting, taking a stand, etc...they choose a topic such as swimming (or anything they enjoy) and try to come up with 16 different purposes for writing on the topic. For example, safety, competition, enjoyment/personal narrative, etc. Then, in groups they look for the different purposes in the newspaper. It has worked well. So the lesson involves critical thinking, and yet students realize that in the sports page, an author's purpose is analyzing a sports game by breaking down the stats. They also use cooperative learning in the process, relate to their own lives, etc...I've really enjoyed the lesson.
ReplyDelete1.4 The objective for my plot unit: Students will recognize through short stories that author’s have a game plan when writing. Writers let us into their character’s minds, so we can learn how the characters handle external and/or internal conflict in positive or negative ways. Reading becomes a “rehearsal for life” experience.
ReplyDeleteI support this by teaching the elements of fiction. I use the roller coaster metaphor to give students a visual as we discuss the different parts of plot. I also teach author's point of view and internal and external conflict.
1.6 I try to be proactive by giving students some choice. This way they have some say in the activity. I have them choose partners on an appointment sheet at 10:00 at 12:00. I also "choose" an appointment for them at 2:00. I use their lexile scores for this grouping.
ReplyDeleteAnother example is in research. I give them a choice in a career or any interesting topic from the 1980's. I think students appreciate having some choice in their day.
1.2 I think I can honestly say that under planning has never been a problem for me in band. The place I had the most problems with this was in elementary music. My work with special ed. kids actually helped me with this problem because it got me thinking about how to simplify and expand lessons to fit all levels. I learned different ways to make simple songs more complex for the kids who were able to complete the levels I had planned.
ReplyDelete1.5 In performance based classes, I think the ratio is a little more than 60/40. I try to spend very little time talking and give the kids as much playing time as possible. I encourage them to use each other as a resource and to direct instrument specific questions to their section. My goal is that they spend almost the whole hour playing or solving musical issues with their sections.
1.6 At the beginning of the year I always have the students go through very specific set up and tear down procedures, warmups, and equipment repair and purchase. This provides structure and safety for a classroom with a lot of students and expensive equipment.
1.1 One lesson I do with my classes pertain to the indicator of reading different kinds of graphs and recognizing how a graph may be drawn misleading. We each drew a bar graph as accurately as possible. Then, we redrew the graph using different intervals or using a break in the y-axis. The topic of our graphs was "What did you drink for supper last night"? This lesson allowed the students to have an active participation throughout the lesson.
ReplyDelete1.2 Usually my lesson plan takes the whole hour. When it doesn't I allow the students to read a book, take an AR test, or work on other class subjects. Also, I may give the students a short introduction to the next lesson. I feel the students sometimes need some free time to unwind and relax, if there is less than 5-10 minutes of class remaining.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember a day we ran out of things during a lesson. On fitness days or sport skill days (ex: passing in volleyball), I plan numerous drills and try to get to every one. Some days we do, some we don't get to. Most days, we can do an activity (ex: soccer game) for as long as we want. The more we do it, the more calories we burn!
ReplyDelete1.3 I'd like to talk about distractions in the classroom (i.e. student acting up), I think the better prepared you are, the fewer distractions you will have. If students are active, they are probably less likely to distract you or fellow students. I think it's best to focus your attention on the students doing things the right way, which is usually the majority, and don't empower the ones who aren't by giving them the negative attention they are wanting.
ReplyDelete1.6 I feel that I am usually pro-active with my students. Although there are always a very few who try to see how much they can get away with. I stand in the hall between classes and remind the students what to bring if it is a something that is not brought to class daily. I have a set routine for the first 5 minutes each day of class. As the students are working on an assignment I am moving around the room. The class is dismissed by rows so that there is not a lot of pushing or hurrying out the door. I try to go to the co-curricular events so that the students know I am interested in their activities.
ReplyDelete1.2 Like many of us, I always over plan. When I do not over plan enough I always have those “pull out of my pocket” activities. During health, I have Chatter Box questions that cover all of the standards of health. These are both open-ended and closed questions that always start a great discussion about many different health issues. In PE if we have a couple minuets, I do some type of relay or team building activities which always seems to be the loved by the students.
ReplyDelete1.4
Objective: Students will be aware of various tobacco related products.
Activity: “It’s in the Bag” I will have a bag filled with different products related to smoking such as: roofing tar, model of a healthy lung, anti-tobacco poster, cough drops, spit cup, dentures, etc. Students will pull an item out of the bag and talk about how it pertains to tobacco products.
Objective: Students will be aware of the different personality types.
Activity: I will use boiling water to simulate stress. Then I have a carrot, egg, and coffee beans. Each of these represents the three personality types. I will then explain how they each change after being in a stressful situation (the boiling water).
1.3 Distractions are a part of the classroom and a part of life. If a student is being a distraction, the most important thing you can do is to not let it be a distraction for the rest of the students. As I always say, you just have to roll with the punches. Being prepared for class and adjusting to the different climates of each class is essential.
1.5
ReplyDeleteI've made it a point this year to be in front of the classroom less, and let the kids do the "doing." One way I do this is by having them teach the week's vocabulary words to one another. On Monday, they are given all ten words, and are responsible for teaching two to thier class on the overhead. On Tuesday and Wednesday the students teach each other, and on Friday, we take the quiz. It requires them to take some ownership of their learning.
1.2.
Lately I use the time at the end of hour to hand back papers to students, so they can document and keep track of thier grades in thier grade tracker. This doesn't happen very often. I have noticed that overplanning has eliminated the possibility of having too much time at the end of the hour. I try not to do SSR at this time, because it is usually five minutes at the most. Five minutes is usually not enough time for a student to really get into what they are reading.
1.1.
I tried a play-doh lesson for the first time this year. Students worked with play-doh as an analogy to the writing process. Playing with the clay represented the brainstorming step, beginning to mold the clay represented the drafting step, they passed thier creation to a partner during the editing stage, etc. It helped them understand that writing is a process, and does not happen overnight. It was also hands-on.
1.2 My problem is the exact opposite - I usually plan for too much. Anyway, if we have a moment, we take out our zip lock bag of vocabulary cards for the unit we are currently studying. (These also coincide with the list of vocabulary from the KSDE) and do a review game such as Bingo, Concentration, or Taboo.
ReplyDelete1.6 To be proactive with my students, I worked on a syllabus this summer that I put a lot of thought into. I tried to anticipate questions and situations that my students have had in the past such as know what to bring to class. I had them place certain parts of the syllabus in their notebooks so that they can refer to them when they are in doubt about something. I also had them make a list of things that they will need to bring to class each day that they can refer to. I have a bulletin board outside my door that I can post "extra" things such as markers or colored pencils that I want them to remember. It sure saves a lot of time going in and out of the classroom to get things that they may have otherwise forgotten. I send out an email to all parents when I have a test coming up. I have received so many positive responses from parents telling me that this is very helpful.
ReplyDelete1.2. Most of my lessons are on a continuum and rarely go in hour/45 minute chunks. On the rare occasion that something is finished during the hour I generally expand the lesson.
ReplyDelete1.3. I usually try to keep the attitude that there is no such thing as a distraction. Whose day never has any kind of a glitch in it? If we let small things bother us then we will be bothered all the time.
1.6. For me, it really starts in the 6th grade hall and continues through 7th and 8th grades. I try to learn names and give high-fives or “knuckles” in the hall. Saying quirky little things like “peace” or “groovy” seems to catch them off guard and grab their attention. And smile and have fun as much as possible. This is a fun place to be.
1.1. In 7th grade I introduce my careers unit with a study of Holland Codes. The goal is for the students to understand how their interests must be taken into account when determining a career. After the students take an interest inventory and receive their Holland Code, I describe a party with 6 different groups of people gathered together. As I describe each group (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) they go to a spot in the room that reflects themselves. Then to check for understanding we use the clickers as they are shown pictures of people from the community, teachers, and fictional characters and the students must guess their primary Holland Code and then defend that guess. (We discuss why Craig and Marilyn opposite codes - that's fun!)
ReplyDelete1.3. The information on interruptions is interesting to me. This is because I am often the interrupter. I also run my program with a sort of MTSS triangle in mind. Most kids respond to whole group guidance. However, there are some who need additional support in some areas. This is often when I must interrupt to call a student out of class. I appreciate the teacher's flexibility. To me I feel like we are ALL working toward the same goal of student achievement and positive school climate. When teachers allow me to intervene with students, I truly believe I can help with a few things that will eventually positively affect the classroom.
ReplyDelete1.6. As a counselor I do lessons and work a lot with individual students on understanding body language. This has really helped me to become a more proactive teacher, I think. I feel like I am better able to understand student feelings and can get to that student they make the choice to react poorly.
ReplyDelete