How effective were your actions in helping to meet your goals?
Things have been going well. I really worked hard this week to meet my 2nd goal of offering students choices and catering lessons to individuals by giving them several options for our poetry unit. The challenge was explaining each type of poetry for the students to choose from. This was really time consuming and I might re-evaluate how I explain the choices if I use this strategy in the future.
What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
I've learned that it giving students options means more time needs to be set aside to explain each option and give students choices. This is an adjustment that I needed to make so that I could delegate enough time for students to then work on there projects, which this week was poetry.
What do you still have to learn?
I would like to organize a wikipage for my Washington State social studies unit. I can remember learning about a good place to set up a wikipage from early in my Walden coursework, but can not recall. If anyone can remember or can recommend a appropriate site for organizing a wikipage I would appreciate it. I will do some research and see what I can come up with as well.
How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?
I am going to continue to implement my goals, but I need to start organizing time better. Since I teach elementary school I divide the day by subjects so I am lucky that I can plan to delegate more time on certain days for projects that require this. When I am looking at implementing strategies and technology this is something that I want to make sure I take into consideration for the future.
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Jason,
ReplyDeleteI was wondering while you are on the previous sections, if you could give the students an assignment to look up the type of poetry as a next step like we have in our Walden weekly lessons. It would be implementing inquiry method where students would be able to tell you what the components of different types of poety would be. That way, the students will already have a good idea what types of poetry exist and when you present the projects, they will have the idea.
Giving students a choice is key to keeping them engaged in the learning process. I agree, though, that it can be time consuming explaining all of the different choices. One thing that I have done in the past is type a short description of each activity and post it on my webpage so students can look ahead at what we are going to be working on. I also post direction sheets, rubrics, etc... on my webpage. Does your district provide teachers with a webpage for this purpose?
ReplyDeleteAs requested in your post, I am forwarding the URL to the site where you can set up wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/
ReplyDeleteThis is the address to the tutorial:
http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour#introduction
In a few quick steps, it shows you how to get started. I hope you find it useful.
Miriam
I appreciate all the suggestions this week. Especially about the wikispaces.com, I just couldn't remember the website, so thank you. I'm going to look into adding inquiry to my poetry unit and also see about expanding my classroom website to include more about what is coming up in the class. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and thank you again for your responses.
ReplyDeleteJason Henne
Jason, I agree with Jodi's suggestion of putting the information online so students can access the information. Also, it saves paper so you don't have to copy it. I try to post everything on my school's website. If I really have to, I'll copy it. If you can't post the information through your school's website, then post in on a class blog.
ReplyDeleteWikispaces is a relatively easy to work with. I remember using it in a previous Walden course. At first I was very apprehensive because I hadn't used it before. However, when I started to "play with it" I realized how easy it was.
Good luck!
It is great to give students choices. Sometimes trying something new is time consuming. That's ok, next year you know what to do different and better. I have never tried a Wiki before so using one diring this class will be a new experience for me.
ReplyDeleteJason,
ReplyDeleteI like Jennifer's idea of making the students responsible for researching the different types of poetry as one assignment, and then, having them choose their favorite for the final class assignment. Another way to create a more learner-centered environment and minimize direct instruction would be to jigsaw the various forms of poetry from which the students have to choose. Have small groups research one option and let them teach the class. For example, one group might research Haiku, another might research acrostic poetry, but it is their responsibility to relay the new material to their classmates. In this way, you would be the facilitator and they would be the teachers. Do you think they might listen more attentively if they taught each other? I'm not sure this method would be a time saver, but it might be more effective.
Good Post,
Kim
The wikipage would be ouitstanding for your students. they would be able share, comment, and discuss. Our staff just had an inservice on wiki pages. I am looking forward to starting soon!!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as organizing...can you give me the answer?
have a great week!
Mark