Recent Changes

Assignment 7
Reflection: Providing and modeling questions that are all at levels will lead to great sharing opportunities for students. This will also lead to transfer of knowledge in which students will learn how to ask quality questions to one another during negotiations. I think it's important to have questions thought out and to have them carefully mixed in class and group discussions as well as just in time instruction questions. I will definitely be more thoughtful in my questioning, and include questions as part of my unit plans.

Big Idea: The human body is made of systems that work together.

Knowledge : What are the 3 systems we are studying?

Comprehension: What are similarities that these systems share?

Application: How can you keep these systems and your body healthy?

Analysis: Why is oxygen important to all body systems? What would happen if our world became heavily polluted and air quality diminished?

Synthesis: What would happen is one of these systems failed?

Evaluation: What advice would you give to someone who wasn't treating their body healthy?

Assignment 10
This year I really want to give the students the opportunity to choose how they summarize and present their information. I believe that student choice is huge and will help students become motivated. Page 117 provides a table with a variety of writing opportunities for students to try.

Assignment 9
My takeaway from chapter 6 is the use of templates. Teachers need to model using them so students can be successful. I was wanting to create science notebooks with the templates included in them.

My takeaway from chapter 7 is using the token piece in small groups. I think that this would be very helpful with students who need help learning how to negotiate and socialize. Another takeaway would be the conclusion activities that include writing the information learned through plays, songs, and stories. I will definitely use these activities.

Assignment 8
From Karen and Natalie
SWH is Incorporated throughout our day. We see this being evident when students are learning about graphs and data in math, they are learning new representations of data. In our literacy block, students read books based on our theme in either guided reading groups or partner reading. SWH is also included in our literacy block in our writing rotation. Students are working on their writing and this is usually created around the big idea.

Assignment 5B
Language is essential to learning. The strongest point this chapter has shown is that language is not always communicated orally. Students are able to process their thoughts and the thoughts of others through communication and language.

One quote that I think we as teachers need to remember is that, "All writers need opportunities to write, read, and discuss their writing." We need to make sure we are providing multiple models and examples of writings, books, and the purpose they serve to help students find their way to writing for specific purposes.

Assignment 10
This coming school year I am going to continue to teach thematically. It is the only way that I can see all of the components working. Two main items that I am wanting to focus on is presenting and unit summary.

I relied so much on whole group presenting of claims and evidence. I think this is ok sometimes, but feel that it would be more powerful in smaller groups. I think that the students would have time to go back and reflect more with their group and have more discussion.

As for the unit summary, I previously had a project that they worked on a writing piece, create a game board, poster, technology project. As the year goes on in Science, I would like to release control and let them have student choice to express their understanding of the Big Idea. Let them choose a project to show their understanding. I would use the form on pg 123 as a rubric for their project, and we would discuss it in a student-teacher conference.

Assignment 5A
Writing is a vessel in which students can process their thinking and learning. It allows students to make a personal connection with authentic experiences. Language is essential in learning and also within science. Writing is key in science because it allows students to express/organize their thoughts and evidence of an experience.

Assignment 4
My focus is going to be group work. I need to work extra hard on challenging the groups thinking. There have been times in which I see a group working wonderfully so I leave them alone to continue to work. Instead of walking by and smiling, I need to listen and then challenge their thoughts through questioning and seeking answers.

I also like the idea of having students put their ideas on butcher paper to hang up so all can see. The goal of small groups is to be negotiation across the entire class. I want to have a non-threatening, comfortable environment in which student's confidence will grow along with their knowledge and understanding.

Assignment 3
I have been in the process of mapping out Big Ideas throughout the content areas. I believe that the Big Idea is the idea or concept that connects topics. In fifth grade students are expected to learn about concepts from the Revolutionary War and Civil War. My big idea for these concepts is simply war effects people. Off of this big idea I can find myself connecting land acquisition, westward movement. Off of westward movement I can connect the Gold Rush and connect the gold rush to the GLE of chemical and physical earth properties.

Over all, I believe that Big Ideas are connections between concepts or GLE's that we are wanting the students to understand. It's within the explorations in which the students can find both the connections, similarities and differences of the topics.

Assignment 2
As a learner, I found that what I am learning needs to be interesting and motivating. I find experiences to be interesting when they are hands on. The more I am exposed to an interesting experience, the better I become at it.

In my own classroom I need to make sure that the learning that is taking place revolves around authentic meaningful subjects. I need to provide support and motivate students positively as they are learning.