Monday, October 31, 2011

Learning Styles Survey



Here are the results for the Learning Styles Survey I gave my students.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Double Entry Journal #12

3 Things I Learned:
1. The construction of any "institution" implies that communication is taking place between various people for a common purpose. I never thought of an institution in this manner before.
2. Language communicates control. I have thought that language and communication is powerful but I never considered language a way to show, establish, or communicate control.
3. "The three-part sequence of teacher initiation, student response, teacher evaluation (IRE) is the most common pattern of classroom discourse at all grade levels.

2 Things I Found Interesting:
1. The IRE structure of discourse set up an imbalance of power in a number of ways. First because everything is teacher initiated showing that teachers can speak at any time but the students must wait on the teacher to let them speak. It also says that the teacher knows what knowledge is important and what will be learned.
2. Characteristics of effective questioning:
clear
purposeful
brief
natural and adapted to the level of the class
sequenced thought provoking

1 Question I have:
How can we best balance a teacher initiated questioning format with a student centered approach to create the best learning situation?

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Technology Survey

How many computers are in the classroom? One-teacher computer
Do they have internet access? Yes
Can you access Google tools? Yes
Do you have access to a laptop cart? Can they get on the internet? There is one laptop/media center but not a laptop cart.
Is there a computer lab? Do the computers have Internet access? Can you access Google tools? How to you reserve it? Yes, there are two computer labs. Yes, they have internet and you can access Google tools. There is a weekly calendar that you use to sign up for use of the computer lab.
How many of your students have computers with Internet access at home? 10 of the 11 students in the classroom have computer at home but only 9 of those computers have Internet access.
Are there locations in the community where students can access the computers and the internet? Students can go into downtown Fairmont and go to the Marion County Library to use computers.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Double Entry Journal #11

The first example of an exemplary PBL is in the authenticity area. *The problem or question has meaning to the students and *There is an external audience for the student work. The students were very interested in the Top 10 books and videos they had already seen. Also, they were choosing the animals and researching them. This project became very meaningful to them. Also, they presented their project to the school board and community and created a commercial for people to see.

The second example of an exemplary PBL is under academic rigor. *The project demands breadth and depth of specific knowledge of central concepts. The students did some very in depth research regarding the animals, their habits, and their habitats. Once this project had been completed these students knew quite a bit of information about those particular animals. Everything they learned (or almost everything) they found on their own which should hold more meaning for them.

The third example of an exemplary PBL is under applied learning. *Students use multiple high-performance work organization skills (e.g., working in teams, using technology appropriately, communicating ideas, collecting, organizing and analyzing information). The students are working together to create their lists and research the information. They are correctly using research methods on the internet to retrieve the information. Also, all of the information they used, they gathered themselves, they organized it into the categories, and then they analyzed it to decided how to rank the animals.

WV CSOS:
Reading and English Language Arts
RLA.O.4.1.1 identify and practice appropriate vocabulary:
•multiple meaning words
•synonyms
•antonyms
•homonyms
•content area vocabulary
•context clues

RLA.O.4.1.6 examine meaning clues to aid comprehension of content across the curriculum (e.g., pictures, picture captions, titles, headings, text structure, topic).

RLA.O.4.1.13 judge the reliability or logic of informational texts.

RLA.O.4.1.14 select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources).

RLA.O.4.1.15 use graphic organizers and visualization techniques to interpret information (e.g., charts, graphs, diagrams, non-verbal symbols).

RLA.O.4.2.6 write to persuade using order of importance, classifying differences and similarities, classifying advantages and disadvantages.

RLA.O.4.2.7 develop a composition that demonstrates an awareness of the intended audience using appropriate language, content and form.

RLA.O.4.2.12 use strategies to gather and record information for research topics:
•note taking
•summarizing
•paraphrasing
•describing in narrative form
•gathering information from direct quotes, maps, charts, graphs and tables

RLA.O.4.2.14 use strategies to compile information into written reports or summaries (e.g., incorporate notes into a finished product, include simple facts-details-explanations-examples, draw conclusions from relationships and patterns that emerge from data of different sources, use appropriate visual aids and media).

RLA.O.4.2.15 critically evaluate own and others’ written compositions.

RLA.O.4.3.4 create an age appropriate media literacy product that reflects understanding of format, characteristics and purpose.


Science

SC.O.4.1.4 demonstrate curiosity, initiative and creativity by developing questions that lead to investigations; designing simple experiments; and trusting observations of discoveries when trying new tasks and skills.

SC.O.4.1.6 support statements with facts found through research from various sources, including technology.

SC.O.4.2.1 describe the different characteristics of plants and animals, which help them to survive in different niches and environments.

SC.O.4.2.8 construct and explain models of habitats, food chains, and food webs.

SC.O.4.3.4 given a set of objects, group or order the objects according to an established scheme.

SC.O.4.3.7 use an appropriate engineering design to solve a problem or complete a task.