Week 8 Responses

Article from Disability Scoop-"Inflexibility May Be Hardwired In Those With Autism"-Michelle Diament

Not only do I work with children who have Autism but I also have family members that are living with autism.  I am always interested in learning more about autism.  This article was about a study that used MRI's of the brain to see how typical developing children and children with autism approached new tasks.  The studies found that the brain connections of children with autism didn't change when a new task was introduced but he brain connections of the other children did.  “The fact that we can tie this neurophysiological brain-state inflexibility to behavioral inflexibility is an important finding because it gives us clues about what kinds of processes go awry in autism,” said Vinod Menon, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the senior author of the study.  This study could have a positive impact on how different therapies are used.  Therapies that increase the brain’s flexibility at switching from rest to goal-directed behaviors may be a good target, for instance.


Article from Edutopia-"Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding" Todd Finley

I was excited to find this article that gives some great tips on using formative assessment in the classroom.  I am always looking for new ways to do a quick check in with my students.  The article gave 53 ways to check for understanding.  Some of the ideas on the list seem a little involved for a quick check in but regardless they are all great.

1. Summary Poem Activity
   • List ten key words from an assigned text.
   • Do a free verse poem with the words you highlighted.
   • Write a summary of the reading based on these words.
2. Invent the Quiz
   • Write ten higher-order text questions related to the content. Pick two and answer one of them in half a page.
3. The 411
   • Describe the author’s objective.
4. Opinion Chart
   • List opinions about the content in the left column of a T-chart, and support your opinions in the right column.
5. So What? Journal
   • Identify the main idea of the lesson. Why is it important?
6. Rate Understanding
7. Clickers (Response System)
8. Teacher Observation Checklist
9. Explaining
   • Explain the main idea using an analogy.
10. Evaluate
    • What is the author's main point? What are the arguments for and against this idea?
11. Describe
    • What are the important characteristics or features of the main concept or idea of the reading?
12. Define
    • Pick out an important word or phrase that the author of a text introduces. What does it mean?
13. Compare and Contrast
    • Identify the theory or idea the author is advancing. Then identify an opposite theory. What are the similarities and differences between these ideas?
14. Question Stems
    • I believe that ________ because _______.
    • I was most confused by _______.
15. Mind Map
    • Create a mind map that represents a concept using a diagram-making tool (like Gliffy). Provide your teacher/classmates with the link to your mind map.
16. Intrigue Journal
    • List the five most interesting, controversial, or resonant ideas you found in the readings. Include page numbers and a short rationale (100 words) for your selection.
17. Advertisement
    • Create an ad, with visuals and text, for the newly learned concept.
18. 5 Words
    • What five words would you use to describe ______? Explain and justify your choices.
19. Muddy Moment
    • What frustrates and confuses you about the text? Why?
20. Collage
    • Create a collage around the lesson's themes. Explain your choices in one paragraph.
21. Letter
    • Explain _______ in a letter to your best friend.
22. Talk Show Panel
    • Have a cast of experts debate the finer points of _______.
23. Study Guide
    • What are the main topics, supporting details, important person's contributions, terms, and definitions?
24. Illustration
    • Draw a picture that illustrates a relationship between terms in the text. Explain in one paragraph your visual representation.
25. KWL Chart
    • What do you know, what do you want to know, and what have you learned?
26. Sticky Notes Annotation
    • Use sticky notes to describe key passages that are notable or that you have questions about.
27. 3-2-1
    • Three things you found out.
    • Two interesting things.
    • One question you still have.
28. Outline
    • Represent the organization of _______ by outlining it.
29. Anticipation Guide
    • Establish a purpose for reading and create post-reading reflections and discussion.
30. Simile
    • What we learned today is like _______.
31. The Minute Paper
    • In one minute, describe the most meaningful thing you've learned.
32. Interview You
    • You’re the guest expert on 60 Minutes. Answer:
      1. What are component parts of _______?
      2. Why does this topic matter?
33. Double Entry Notebook
    • Create a two-column table. Use the left column to write down 5-8 important quotations. Use the right column to record reactions to the quotations.
34. Comic Book
    • Use a comic book creation tool like Bitstrips to represent understanding.
35. Tagxedo
    • What are key words that express the main ideas? Be ready to discuss and explain.
36. Classroom TED Talk
37. Podcast
    • Play the part of a content expert and discuss content-related issues on a podcast, using the free Easypodcast.
38. Create a Multimedia Poster with Glogster
39. Twitter Post
    • Define _______ in under 140 characters.
40. Explain Your Solution
    • Describe how you solved an academic problem, step by step.
41. Dramatic Interpretation
    • Dramatize a critical scene from a complex narrative.
42. Ballad
    • Summarize a narrative that employs a poem or song structure using short stanzas.
43. Pamphlet
    • Describe the key features of _______ in a visually and textually compelling pamphlet.
44. Study Guide
    • Create a study guide that outlines main ideas.
45. Bio Poem
    • To describe a character or person, write a poem that includes:
      • (Line 1) First name
      • (Line 2) 3-4 adjectives that describe the person
      • (Line 3) Important relationship
      • (Line 4) 2-3 things, people, or ideas the person loved
      • (Line 5) Three feelings the person experienced
      • (Line 6) Three fears the person experienced
      • (Line 7) Accomplishments
      • (Line 8) 2-3 things the person wanted to see happen or wanted to experience
      • (Line 9) His or her residence
      • (Line 10) Last name
46. Sketch
    • Visually represent new knowledge.
47. Top Ten List
    • What are the most important takeaways, written with humor?
48. Color Cards
    • Red = "Stop, I need help."
    • Green = "Keep going, I understand."
    • Yellow = "I'm a little confused."
49. Quickwrite
    • Without stopping, write what most confuses you.
50. Conference
    • A short, focused discussion between the teacher and student.
51. Debrief
    • Reflect immediately after an activity.
52. Exit Slip
    • Have students reflect on lessons learned during class.
53. Misconception Check
    • Given a common misconception about a topic, students explain why they agree or disagree with it
    
     

Week 7 Responses

Article from NPR Education "In Louisville, Ky., Minecraft Teaches Math"-Devin Katayama

The title of this article made me cringe!  I can't tell you how tired I was of Minecraft by the end of the school year.  If I saw another Minecraft shirt or had to listen to a student tell me they didn't do their homework because they were playing Minecraft I was going to scream.  I decided it was time to embrace Minecraft and us it my advantage in the classroom.  The article was about a 5th grade teacher who used Minecraft to teach graphing on a coordinate plane.  I thought the idea was great and I know my students would love anything to do with Minecraft.  My new motto is "Embrace and Engage!"

Article from Edutopia "Motivation: The Overlooked Sixth Component of Reading"-Heather Lambert

This was a great article about how educators can support students with deficits in reading by really getting to know them and empowering them.  The article discussed the importance of knowing our students learning style, their reading level and their skills deficits.  My favorite part of the article was when it talked about celebrating the little things for our students that struggle.  If they feel confident they will be motivated to learn. " To give our kids a true feeling of success, we must observe, honor, and reflect on their work, and help them to set goals to improve on it."(Rick Wormeli)

Week 6 Responses

Response to article from Edutopia " 4 Tips for Flipped Learning" By Joe Hirsch

I chose this article because I wanted to learn more about creating quality videos for flipped learning.  I was hoping I would come across some useful tips that I could use for the digital storytelling project.  The article suggested that you ask yourself the following questions before you get started:

1. Once students understand the entry-level information, what will they be able to do with it?
2. What kinds of activities will reinforce these concepts?
3. Will students add value to basic ideas by simulating them through experiments, deepening them through inquiry-based discussion, or broadening them through project-based learning?
4. How will teachers facilitate and monitor classroom collaboration?
5. How will students demonstrate their burgeoning knowledge in these learning laboratories?

The article said there is no point in making a great video if you don't know what you want your students to get out of it.  One of the tips that I found useful was to upload your video to a site where you can monitor student activity.  As the teacher you can see who has watched the video and you can also create questions that the students must answer while watching.  I thought that was great advice.  The site they recommend was "educanon."  The article also talked about something called "Office Mix" where you can turn your Power Point presentations into interactive videos that have quizzes. 

Overall, I found a lot of the information in this article useful and I feel that I have a better understanding of flipped learning.

Response to "7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking"

I had never heard about Social Bookmarking until I started this class.  I was glad to see this article in our course materials for the week.  The article talked about using social bookmarking to share resources on a specific topic with other people.  This made me think about how social bookmarking could be shared among teachers.  It seems that we are always working on our own to discover new things to use with our students.  Social bookmarking would be a great way to share our resources with one another instead of constantly reinventing the wheel.   The article also talked about how social bookmarking can be useful when creating a bibliography or resource list.  I know I will be using social bookmarking when I am working on my projects. 

 

Week 5 Responses

Response to article from Edutopia Feed

"Teachers: Five Ways to Ease Back into School" By: Elena Aguilar

When I read the title of this article in my news feed my heart started racing and a knot started forming in my stomach.  I figured I better read it and see if any to the tips could help me out!  To be honest the tips annoyed me and I wished I had never opened the article up.  As I type this I am up north sitting outside enjoying every moment of this summer and I could care less to think about curriculum planning and deciding what professional development opportunities I would like to take part in...yuck! 

Response to "7 Things You Should Know About Wikipedia"

I really enjoy reading the series of "7 Things You Need To Know" documents.  I like how the articles are organized and I tend to like the "Why is it significant" and "What are the implications for teaching and learning?" sections.  Both of these sections talked about how we can use Wikipedia in the classroom to help students understand how knowledge is created.  The document suggested having students create their own Wikipedia entries on an assigned topic.  I do think it's important that we teach our students that Wikipedia is only one of many tools that is available to us for research. 

Week 4 Responses

Response to Article from Disability Scoop News Feed-

" Self-Advocates Train To Have Safe Encounters With Police" By Sandy Banks LA Times

As a special education teacher and the wife of a police officer this article immediately caught my attention when I read the title on my feed.  I have often thought to myself that officers do not receive enough training on how to handle situations with disabled individuals.  This article specifically discussed the misunderstandings individuals with autism have had with police.  A mother who is advocating for her son and others with autism has teamed up with the LAPD to create the "Be Safe" campaign.  Not only do they teach the officers how to recognize people with autism but they have also created a DVD that teaches people with autism what to do if they encounter an officer.  The"Be Safe" campaign has even brought individuals with disabilities together with the LAPD officers to watch the video and role play situations together.  I think this is a great program and it should be happening all over the country. 

Response to "7 Things You Should Know About Podcasting"

I didn't know much about Podcasting and when I saw it was one of our assignments I got a little nervous.  This document helped me understand it better and realize what a valuable tool this can be in education.   I like how they discussed the significance of Podcasiting.  I didn't realize the tools to create a podcast are "easy and affordable."  I also didn't know that the term Podcasting came from i-pod, I thought that was cool.  The idea of having students create their own podcasts has got me thinking about how I could incorporate this into my teaching next year. 

Week 3 Responses

Response to article from Edutopia Feed-

"Myth-Busting Differentiated Instruction: 3 Myths and 3 Truths" By: John McCarthy

I chose this particular article because my school has been focusing on differentiated instruction (DI) for the past several years.  I am a special education teacher and I spend a lot of time co-teaching in the general education classroom.  DI is something that I am constantly doing to meet the needs of my students.  I liked the way this article gave the myths and the truths about DI.  

One of the myth's the author discussed was, DI is incompatible with standardized state testing.  I was glad this was addressed in the article because I sometimes worry that when I differentiate instruction for my students I am somehow putting them at a disadvantage for when they take a standardized test.  The truth is if we don't differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students the learning gaps will continue to grow and those students may shut down completely.  "As the knowledge or skills gap widens, the learning obstacle may turn into something too massive to overcome. If we know that not all students learn at the same pace and may not process skills and concepts in the same way, then differentiation is the solution to maximizing the number of students who can apply their understanding of standards on high-stakes tests."  After reading this "truth"  I felt much more comfortable with the way I teach.  It just makes to sense to make sure that all students are learning and succeeding even if we have to do things a different way at a slower pace. 

Response to "7 Things You Should Know About Flickr"

I probably should of read this document before I completed the Flicker assignment...I had been searching for images through the Creative Commons search but every time I wanted to get the HTML code it wouldn't let me.  I finally figured out that you had to be logged in order to "share" photos.  

I was very interested to read about the partnership that Flickr has recently made with the Library of Congress.  The project is called "The Commons" and it has 3,100 images that you can add tags and comments to.  Having students search pictures on "The Commons" and add their comments would be a great assignment for a history or writing class. 

I really like how you can search for images on Flickr that have a Creative Commons License.  It makes it so much easier to know that you are doing the right thing.  The document also mentioned how useful Flickr can be when creating a Digital Story.  I will be sure to keep that in mind as I am creating mine!

Week 2 Responses

Response to "7 Things You Should Know About Twitter" and "Twitter in Plain English"

When I think of Twitter I think of it as something celebrities and young people do.  I'd never thought about how it could be used in the classroom to support student learning.  After reading the article and the video I started to think about how it could be used in  the upper elementary education setting.  The article described Twitter as a "micro-blog", a way to let people know what you are up to.  Unfortunately, in the building I work in the staff is large and we never have time to get to know each other.  This can sometimes create an awkward and uncomfortable working environment.  I think Twitter would be a great way for all of us to get to know about each other without taking a great deal of time out of our already busy lives.  I also thought of using Twitter with my students for writing assignments.  What a great way to brainstorm with each other.

Sources-
Twitter in Plain English
User: ijagriti - Added: 12/29/10
7 Things You Should Know About Twitter- Educause Learning Initiative

Respsonse to article from NPR Education News feed "Giving Boys A Bigger Emotional Toolbox"

I chose this article because I work with a lot of male students who display behaviors that often get them into trouble.  In fact my district has been fined by the state of Michigan for having a very high suspension rate of African American boys.   This article was about a teacher in California who has started a boys club for his at risk male students.  He stated that the boys need a place where they can fell safe and their weaknesses aren't pointed out.  A place where they can talk about their feelings and get their emotions out.

"Our boys are in trouble; they're in crisis now," Branch says. "Because of the type of energy that they are bringing to school, maybe they don't have the kind of house and neighborhood they can go play at in the evening."  This quote was a such a light bulb moment for me.  I never even thought of it this way!  I do know that many of my students go home to apartments where they are left on their own for the night.  They aren't outside playing or involved in extra curriculum that help them socialize and get their energy out.  School is that place for them.

Another part of the article that I really liked was that the boys club has two meeting times.  One is a voluntary after school club and the other is a mandatory lunch time club that disruptive boys get an invitation to. 

"In the two high schools where Branch has started Ever Forward Clubs, he says, they helped dramatically halt the class-failure and dropout rates. He says about 90 percent of the kids who went through his club went on to graduate."  I was really impressed with what I read about this program and I thought this article gave me a couple of things I could add to my teacher toolbox.

Source-
"Giving Boys a Bigger Emotional Toolbox"-by Eric Westervelt

Week 1-response to "Creative Common-Get Creative" video

First off, I like any video that starts off with the White Stripes!  They had my attention right away.  After watching this video I felt like I finally had a clear understanding of Creative Commons.  The video did an excellent job at combining voice, text and pictures to create a easy to follow informative video.  My favorite part was when they said "think of the big C as a red light and the CC as the green light."  If it has a big C it is copyrighted and you don't have permission to use it.  If it is CC the creator has put it into Creative Commons and you may use it.  In several of our classes we have learned about Richard Mayer and his "Multimedia Principles,"  I think that this video applies many of those principles and I  learned a lot from it.

Resources
"Creative Commons-Get Creative" by

Week 1-response to article from NPR Education News feed

As I was scrolling through my news feed from NPR Education there were many interesting articles that I read.  One that really stood out to me as a parent and an educator was an article on the importance of introduction literacy at a young age.  The article was called "To 'Immunize' Kids Against Illiteracy, Break Out A Book In Infancy."  The article was based on the new guidelines that the American Academy of Pediatrics have adopted.  Instead of just mentioning to parents how important it is read to children they will now be telling parents when their children are infants "immunize their children against illiteracy."

The article went on to say "the difference between children who have been read to starting at six months and later on in terms of their word production eventually. So they are able to read and understand more words in the long-term, they say words earlier in the short term, and they actually know what a book looks like, and that's very important for their development."  Another interesting topic that the article brought up was how children in high poverty areas are not exposed to a higher vocabulary level and this greatly impacts their reading when they start school.  Books are an excellent way to introduce these children to more vocabulary starting at a young age.  Books for young children also provide a logical sequence of events which helps with reading comprehension. 

I am a special education teacher and I work with many students with reading disabilities.  One of the biggest factors that impacts their basic reading and reading comprehension skills is their lack of vocabulary.  I am so happy to hear that the American Academy of Pediatrics have adopted these new literacy guidelines.  I do however hope that there is a way to get these books into the hands of underprivileged families.  I know the United Way sends free books to low income families through a monthly book program.  This article also reinforces what I have been doing with my daughter, her book collection is massive and we read all of the time! 

Reference
To 'Immunize' Kids Against Illiteracy, Break Out A Book In Infancy by Audie Cornish

Screen shot of RSS feed