I struggle mightily with homework. On one hand it is kids' time, and they should do with it as they will. On the other it is an opportunity for extra practice, connecting families (homework help), and good study habits. I dislike the daily homework seeing the legwork on my end to be significant compared to the payoff.
What I started doing 2 years ago was a current event. Kids select an article of their choice to read and summarize. It shows comprehension while also focusing on distilling ideas from a larger article into 4-5 key points. It ties into reading standards in a variety of ways while leaving little legwork on my end, and allowing kids choice.
This year I am going to tweak it a bit. Instead of an open ended free for all we will have a structured context to pick from within. For example, we started with Government this year in order to highlight the 2012 presidential election. The month of October will be focused on election stories- who is running, what they are saying, etc. it will provide some interesting context to go through facts/opinions and persuasive writing also. Later we will highlight other important events/milestones/themes. We will likely do something around community needs in December. January we will come back to government as the inauguration/government start up begin. February might be for finding something you love- animals, video games, etc.
I'm pretty excited about it. The evolution to something meaningful is going on, which is pretty great.
Showing posts with label current events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label current events. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Why I Like the Netbooks
We are three months into our netbook pilot. As with any tool, you need to exercise your professional judgement. I can see some teachers opting to pull them out at any opportunity with a variety of activities that don't necessarily further students' understanding of concepts, or don't utilize the tool effectively. An example of that might be simply sending kids to a website (that is technology use right?!). That isn't the way that I have, or plan, to use the netbooks.
What I'm really excited about is the ability to go paperless. I've mentioned this previously here. If you follow #edchat on twitter you'll often see mentions of dropboxes, and other paperless tools. We have those in district, cutting out the need for many outside tools or sites. On Friday I opted to have the kiddos do a current events summary of an article on the space shuttle Endeavour (by the way, 2nd to last shuttle launch from NASA). After firing up the netbooks, the kids went to our class wiki to find the article. They opened the article, and most read it on the netbook. Since I had it in Word instead of as a PDF, they were able to highlight information right on the screen (some opted to print, but that was about 10-15% of the kids; I know you could highlight in a PDF assuming you have Acrobat... we just have Reader). Once they finished reading they started typing their summaries, saving them to their network drive. After that they dropped it into a folder in our class dropbox, which makes grading a snap.
Next year I'll likely do two different lessons on finding main ideas. The first will involve printing an article (integrating the netbooks, adding a printer as well- which can be a pain!) and highlighting or underlining on the page. We'll look at the underlined work to see if it encapsulates the article, as well as taking the time to debate which information is essential to understanding the article. The second lesson will be entirely paperless. Once we've worked on the skill, we'll integrate technology through practicing highlighting information (and possibly using the strikethrough tool). I see the possibilities, but also the glaring need to ensure they have success as readers and tech savvy students.
What I'm really excited about is the ability to go paperless. I've mentioned this previously here. If you follow #edchat on twitter you'll often see mentions of dropboxes, and other paperless tools. We have those in district, cutting out the need for many outside tools or sites. On Friday I opted to have the kiddos do a current events summary of an article on the space shuttle Endeavour (by the way, 2nd to last shuttle launch from NASA). After firing up the netbooks, the kids went to our class wiki to find the article. They opened the article, and most read it on the netbook. Since I had it in Word instead of as a PDF, they were able to highlight information right on the screen (some opted to print, but that was about 10-15% of the kids; I know you could highlight in a PDF assuming you have Acrobat... we just have Reader). Once they finished reading they started typing their summaries, saving them to their network drive. After that they dropped it into a folder in our class dropbox, which makes grading a snap.
Next year I'll likely do two different lessons on finding main ideas. The first will involve printing an article (integrating the netbooks, adding a printer as well- which can be a pain!) and highlighting or underlining on the page. We'll look at the underlined work to see if it encapsulates the article, as well as taking the time to debate which information is essential to understanding the article. The second lesson will be entirely paperless. Once we've worked on the skill, we'll integrate technology through practicing highlighting information (and possibly using the strikethrough tool). I see the possibilities, but also the glaring need to ensure they have success as readers and tech savvy students.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Monitor and Adjust
We do a ton of summary writing. Students have a chance to chose articles from a variety of news sources, identify main/supporting details, and then put it together in a short summary. I emphasize the word short, although it has been a struggle getting there. Condensing and filtering information is a difficult skill, and my kids have struggled striking the balance between too much and too little (at least at times).
What do you do? Last year I would have said that I would do some individual instruction, or whole group instruction. This year I've been going through their weekly current events, identifying gaps and issues, then pulling kids in small groups within their rotation. Instead of giving 6-7 kids the lesson again in an individual manner, I can do a small group or 2. Be direct in what is missing, and areas where they need to improve and then let them make necessary changes.
Since we revisited summary writing today, I'll be interested to see the quality of work that is turned in tomorrow. Just part of the process of monitoring student work, and adjusting instruction to help them grow.
What do you do? Last year I would have said that I would do some individual instruction, or whole group instruction. This year I've been going through their weekly current events, identifying gaps and issues, then pulling kids in small groups within their rotation. Instead of giving 6-7 kids the lesson again in an individual manner, I can do a small group or 2. Be direct in what is missing, and areas where they need to improve and then let them make necessary changes.
Since we revisited summary writing today, I'll be interested to see the quality of work that is turned in tomorrow. Just part of the process of monitoring student work, and adjusting instruction to help them grow.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Audience
During this school year, I had kids writing a lot. One of the pieces of writing that my kids had to do on a near weekly basis was summarizing a news article for current events. A key mistake that my kids made was assuming their audience (whole group, or myself) had read the article. For example, when the BP Oil Spill started we had quite a few articles summarized for current events. My kids might lead off with: "An oil spill happened and it is hurting wildlife in the water." I'd often reply, "Where was this? Was it in Elliot Bay? Did this happen last night?" My tone would often be one of surprise, showing how the missed information was a big deal (I might run out the door and be more responsive if it was so close).
You need to know your audience, and can't always assume they'll fill in the gaps. You need to know who is reading, what they likely know, and how to draw them in on your writing. Where is this going? A Philadelphia high school private school teacher was fired because of her blogging back in April. I had heard little about it until seeing a post come through my Google Reader. The student's parents claimed that the teacher had effectively bullied a student through posting about a presentation's political views, and lack of tone (per the assignment). I spent a good 30 minutes trying to find the original post, as well as reading some of her other stuff.
Without seeing the original post, it is difficult to make a complete judgement. But there are a few things that came to mind when reading about this situation. First, you need to know who is reading your blog. If you were asked to blog by your school, you know that they will likely be reading it. Being that it is a private school (and high school), it is likely that a student or parent is reading your work too. Even veiled comments about students can be trouble. Negative comments can easily be taken down a path you don't want to go (and which she found out). Second, kids' work is often a reflection of your practice. If you want them to do something different, then you need to provide instruction that moves them in that direction. If you really were upset about a student missing the lesson on "conciliatory tone," then it would be helpful to write about ways to fix it (or how you'll teach them to get there). Similarly, I can't simply be upset students are forgetting to include integral pieces of information. Instead I need to think about my plan to get them to include that information, and improve their work. The issue becomes my own issue, and not the student's.
Lastly, don't forget that the blogosphere isn't an isolated place. What you write creates a digital fingerprint, a paper trail, of you. You're intent needs to be clear, otherwise you run the risk of your words being misconstrued. Whether you like it or not, the digital you (your postings) are a representation of you (from blogs to twitter to facebook etc). Whether I like the author or agree with her isn't the point (don't know her, and haven't read enough written by her). But I do know that I'll re-read my work to be sure it is clear, and can't be confused as disparaging a student.
You need to know your audience, and can't always assume they'll fill in the gaps. You need to know who is reading, what they likely know, and how to draw them in on your writing. Where is this going? A Philadelphia high school private school teacher was fired because of her blogging back in April. I had heard little about it until seeing a post come through my Google Reader. The student's parents claimed that the teacher had effectively bullied a student through posting about a presentation's political views, and lack of tone (per the assignment). I spent a good 30 minutes trying to find the original post, as well as reading some of her other stuff.
Without seeing the original post, it is difficult to make a complete judgement. But there are a few things that came to mind when reading about this situation. First, you need to know who is reading your blog. If you were asked to blog by your school, you know that they will likely be reading it. Being that it is a private school (and high school), it is likely that a student or parent is reading your work too. Even veiled comments about students can be trouble. Negative comments can easily be taken down a path you don't want to go (and which she found out). Second, kids' work is often a reflection of your practice. If you want them to do something different, then you need to provide instruction that moves them in that direction. If you really were upset about a student missing the lesson on "conciliatory tone," then it would be helpful to write about ways to fix it (or how you'll teach them to get there). Similarly, I can't simply be upset students are forgetting to include integral pieces of information. Instead I need to think about my plan to get them to include that information, and improve their work. The issue becomes my own issue, and not the student's.
Lastly, don't forget that the blogosphere isn't an isolated place. What you write creates a digital fingerprint, a paper trail, of you. You're intent needs to be clear, otherwise you run the risk of your words being misconstrued. Whether you like it or not, the digital you (your postings) are a representation of you (from blogs to twitter to facebook etc). Whether I like the author or agree with her isn't the point (don't know her, and haven't read enough written by her). But I do know that I'll re-read my work to be sure it is clear, and can't be confused as disparaging a student.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Example- wcydwt flooding
I would start with the image on the left (courtesy of KWTV in OKC) with no other information. The next task would be to ask the kids: -What questions do you have about the image?
-Describe what you see in the picture?
There are a few things that the kids will be practicing as they do this. For 1, they will be practicing asking questions which is integral to everything (in particular in reading). For 2, they will be making inferences from what they see. They are saying "water is high, dark skies, then I can reasonably infer that it is raining hard and maybe causing a flood." People are having a difficult time because there are cars that aren't moving, and one has its trunk open, which is not normal.
From there we go to: what questions go together, and how can we make an organized attempt at learning more information. Perhaps even going as far as "what do we hope to know when this is all done?"
I feel like this can be done using everyday images that are both local and international. It intersects well with our current events, which will start far earlier in the year.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Short Week, Deep Breath
My school district has a funky midwinter break. Instead of President's Day week off, we have the Thursday and Friday before Pres. Day off. We then get the holiday off, and are back at it on Tuesday. As a whole, I'm excited for the break. I've got lots to do, and some sleep to catch up on.
We got a bunch done during the short week, but yet didn't make a dent in the content that needs to be covered. Why the running in place? Well because of our current events summaries. Backing up to the Super Bowl, I sat down to read 60 summaries of news events written by my kids (52-3 if you subtract kids who forgot their articles). The summaries just weren't of the quality that the group can produce. In fact, the words I would use to describe the effort would be: thoughtless and lazy.
Each rotation got a chance to hear some of the student work, from sentences that don't make sense to seeing sight words misspelled (ie precedent oboma, priuseos). They also heard work that was significantly over grade level, ie plagiarized ("Hey that sounds like the author of my article!"). I did so carefully, not naming names and allowing kids to keep their dignity. But you can bet that everyone was embarrassed with the quality of work to some degree. Usually I'll let a misspelling or an awkward sentence slide, but the number of careless errors littering the papers was alarming (lacking periods, no capitalization, fragments, misspelling names from the title, etc).
So we re-did them. I re-taught how to find a main idea, how to craft a main idea into a sentence that makes sense, as well as how to put it all together. What was the result? Significantly improved summaries. I told them I'd take the higher of the two scores, and discard the other as that would likely confuse them more than help them. The combination of high expectations for student work, and explicit reteaching made the time useful for everyone.
We got a bunch done during the short week, but yet didn't make a dent in the content that needs to be covered. Why the running in place? Well because of our current events summaries. Backing up to the Super Bowl, I sat down to read 60 summaries of news events written by my kids (52-3 if you subtract kids who forgot their articles). The summaries just weren't of the quality that the group can produce. In fact, the words I would use to describe the effort would be: thoughtless and lazy.
Each rotation got a chance to hear some of the student work, from sentences that don't make sense to seeing sight words misspelled (ie precedent oboma, priuseos). They also heard work that was significantly over grade level, ie plagiarized ("Hey that sounds like the author of my article!"). I did so carefully, not naming names and allowing kids to keep their dignity. But you can bet that everyone was embarrassed with the quality of work to some degree. Usually I'll let a misspelling or an awkward sentence slide, but the number of careless errors littering the papers was alarming (lacking periods, no capitalization, fragments, misspelling names from the title, etc).
So we re-did them. I re-taught how to find a main idea, how to craft a main idea into a sentence that makes sense, as well as how to put it all together. What was the result? Significantly improved summaries. I told them I'd take the higher of the two scores, and discard the other as that would likely confuse them more than help them. The combination of high expectations for student work, and explicit reteaching made the time useful for everyone.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Daily Grind
Coming back from break has been a bit of a grind. The first two weeks launched us into the Revolutionary War era, and this week is a continuation of that. But I've felt like it hasn't taken off the way I want, and I'm mired in a series of stops and starts. We completed our slave trade posters with mixed results, not entirely unexpected considering they spanned the 2 week break. We then started in on the events leading up to the Second Continental Congress, which seems to have taken an eternity.
As that was happening I've also strategized starting book groups (to break out of our basal reader), and weekly current events (to alleviate the pressure of daily homework, and lots of copying). The last two things were to start this week, but have been pushed back temporarily. Why? Well because this week has gotten in the way, and it hasn't even started. Meetings and observations clutter this week, and I have a sub for a new teacher support training on Friday. Instead we have some other intentional reading instruction in non-fiction, as well as easing into the current events. The current events should be fun though.
As that was happening I've also strategized starting book groups (to break out of our basal reader), and weekly current events (to alleviate the pressure of daily homework, and lots of copying). The last two things were to start this week, but have been pushed back temporarily. Why? Well because this week has gotten in the way, and it hasn't even started. Meetings and observations clutter this week, and I have a sub for a new teacher support training on Friday. Instead we have some other intentional reading instruction in non-fiction, as well as easing into the current events. The current events should be fun though.
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