Week 4

During this course, one of our assignments is to write 10 lesson plans, which will include specific strategies, activities, and criteria.  The fun yet challenging thing about these lesson plans is that I am able to choose any text for each lesson plan.  One of the books that I chose to create a lesson plan on is Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  I chose this story for many reasons.  One of those reasons is that this story is insightful over a topic that needs to be discussed, which is bullying.  This kid receives insults and gets bullied due to medical issues that resulted in him looking different than his peers.  I think everyone needs to be aware of how painful negative words and actions can be on another person.  This book will provide a great insight into this kid's life and the concept of bullying, which will hopefully help students be more understanding and empathetic to others.  I like choosing books that have meaning and will increase the students' personal and academic skills.

Honestly, there are so many great activities that I could implement into this lesson plan.  It was hard to narrow it down, but I knew I wanted to assign a group activity that would be meaningful.  The main activity, aside from the thinking map, that I chose for this lesson plan is a writing activity.  I will pass out two worksheets that have a helmet (like Auggie wears) with open shapes for the students to write about each other.  Once I pass out the worksheets, each student will cut their helmet out that will state "I am a wonder" or "You are a wonder".  The students will write their name on the helmet, then color the two pages with whichever colors they want.  Next, I will give clear instructions to the students to help alleviate any confusion.  I will instruct the students to pass their papers to the person next to them and then write down a genuine compliment about them.  This activity is meant to encourage the students to uplift one another and give a reason why he/she is a wonder.  Some questions for the students to consider during this activity are as follows:

1. What makes this classmate special?
2. What do you admire about this classmate?
3. Why is this classmate important to you?
4. What do you like the most about this classmate?

I will write these questions on the board so they can use it as a reference.  I will reset the timer each time they pass their sheets on to the next classmate.  Once each student has filled out a bubble or shape on each of their classmate's sheets, we will hang these up on the classroom's bulletin board.  This activity will be encouraging, powerful, and teach kindness.

I think this activity meets the criteria because it challenges the students in different areas.  The students are required to write full sentences about the students, so they are practicing their writing skills, which includes correct spelling and grammar.  They are also challenged to think of genuine and kind compliments to give to each of their classmates based on what they know and/or observe of them daily.  This teaches students to be kind, caring, and supportive of one another.  These are admirable traits to possess that will also benefit them throughout many aspects in their life.  I think filling out the thinking map (which I have not completely decided which one yet) and completing this activity will help teach the importance of empathy and that bullying is never okay.  I think this activity integrates and connects well with the book.

So, what are your thoughts?  I'd love to hear!

Week 3

The three strategies that we discussed in class were chapter tours, K.W.L., and written conversations.  I liked each of these strategies and could see myself utilizing them in the future.  The one that really stood out to me was written conversations.  I love how students are able to be paired up to make connections to one another and the text through writing activities.  During this activity, the students will write down their responses to the question or statement that I provide and pass it back and forth with their partner.  An example of a statement would be "I made a connection to..." and the students would write their response(s) down.  I like how the students are able to connect to their text in a different way as well as their classmates.  Also, it increases their writing skills which is connected to reading skills.

The other things that stood out to me in class this week was the strategy of quick-write and the use of Padlet.  I've never heard or seen these strategies used, so I was impressed at how effective it was when we used it in class.  Thinking maps are great visuals and organizers to use with the students to help enhance their level of understanding.  I like the variety of options there are when it comes to thinking maps, too.  This helps differentiate the lesson plans and assigned tasks for the students.  In class we filled out a double bubble map, which is a compare and contrast organizer, and I will definitely implement this in class.  I really like these thinking maps and believe they will be very effective in my future classroom.

http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=a4c416cd-607d-42a8-b2e0-718763b6dfa9

Week 2

The strategies that we discussed in class would all be effective to use in the classroom.  The two that I liked the most was the compare and contrast model and the anticipation guides.  I think the compare and contrast model is a great way to have the students think of the similarities and differences between two items or concepts.  This model will also help the students attain a better understanding on the differences and similarities, too.   These models can be used to compare an older concept to a newer concept, too.  The compare and contrast model can be used for any subject, such as reading, writing, math, science, and social studies.

Found on Pinterest but redirected to https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Compare-and-Contrast-Graphic-Organizers-To-Use-With-Any-Books-491689 

Found on Pinterest but redirected to https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Compare-Contrast-Bats-vs-Birds-venn-diagram-freebie-3418879

I found the anticipation guides to be interesting because it was a new concept to me.  I have done many compare and contrast models during my childhood educational experiences, but I don't remember completing an anticipation guide.  One of the main benefits for using anticipation guides is that it can be used as a way to assess the students' previous knowledge and level of understanding.  It can also be used as a hook for the lesson plan since it gives the students a preview of the lesson beforehand.  After the lesson, I would have the students fill out the second part of the anticipation guide.  Then we would either discuss our answers as a class or in groups of 2 to 3.  Another positive thing about this strategy is that it can be used in any subject as well.  Here is an example of an anticipation guide for math.

https://strategiesforspecialinterventions.weebly.com/anticipation-guide1.html

Again, I think each strategy that we discussed in class would be effective in the classroom for all subjects.  These two strategies stood out to me the most.  The compare and contrast strategy is an older strategy, but still beneficial for the teacher and students.  The anticipation guide is also beneficial for both the teacher and students.  This was the first time that I heard of the anticipation guide, but I see the benefits of it.  I would like to incorporate these two strategies, along with the others, in my future lesson plans.

Week 1

I think each of the three strategies that we discussed in class are beneficial and effective for the students.  The one that stood out to me at first was the frayer model.  I would use this strategy with my students to learn about the definitions of vocabulary words.  I like the organization chart used within this model, because it helps the students understand the word better.  The frayer model challenges the students to analyze the definition and characteristics then apply that information into examples.

(This picture is from the website, www.teacherspayteachers.com.)

I found this example of a frayer model that students would fill out while reading a book or story.  I taught a reading lesson to 1st grade students last semester and we read the book, Tomas Rivera by Jane Medina.  I was going to have the students read in an echo style, but they requested popcorn style so we did that instead.  While we were reading the book, I would stop and ask inquisitive questions to challenge the students to analyze the text compared to the pictures in the story.  I think the frayer model would have been an effective strategy to use within this type of situation, especially for older grades.  I like the idea of writing a word in the middle then filling out the other boxes to better understand the word in the middle and make connections.  This process helps students attain a better understanding on the word, details in the story, and book altogether.