Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Permanent Changes for My Teaching!

There are several things that I have learned during this summer course that will permanently change the way I teach.
RubiStar

1. Rubistar-I will use this often since rubrics are an effective assessment to be used with many assignments.
Skype logo2.svg
2. Skype-I signed up the night I followed the links in Module 4.  One of my team members already has a Skype account and we have been using it to call each other.  I also informed her of Teacher Skype and she has already signed up so we will both enter this endeavor together which will help.  She speaks Italian and I speak French so we thought if we joined our classes together sometimes we could show the students that people can communicate (the importance of a second or third language) effectively in a foreign language.
3. Edmodo-I signed up but I haven’t had time to play with this yet due to the fact that I am taking three summer courses and my portfolio was due July first.  I am very interested in all this site has to offer.
4. The importance of service learning and student ownership of service learning.  I have done small service learning (recycling, buying animals, and farm supplies from World Vision) but I didn’t really know how to structure the project so that students had ownership and now I do.
5. Blogging- There will definitely be blogging going on in my class!
Number Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies, Grades K–56. Number Talks-It was the idea of the book I chose to read for this class.  I am definitely going to implement these in my classroom.  I’ve already been using my son as a guinea pig and well, it blew me away.  The conversations we have about math problems and how to solve them (he has a summer bridge book) is unbelievable (he is 7).  After using several methods on him unknowingly, we had a conversation because in his book addition of 2 digits by 2 digits popped up.  (22+35) He has not had those types of problems yet.  This is the gist of our conversation.  Mom, I can’t do these problems, I need help.  Ok, let me see…you can do these problems look, how many tens does the first number have (he answers two) which stands for (20).  How many tens are in the other number (3, oh so 30) what is 20 plus 30 (well 2+3 is 5 so 50).  Ok how many ones are there (7 so the answer is 57).  He then, on his own, talked out loud and solved the other 9 problems correctly.  When my husband came home Joshua was so excited that he had a Number Talk with his daddy!  The book is Number Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies by Sherry Parrish.

The Highly Engaged Classroom7. Implementing ideas from The Highly Engaged Classroom by Marzano and Pickering will be a must for me this coming school year.  I also purchased this book recently and now I know what all the hype is about for Marzano. I would like to purchase several more of his books!





8. The importance of partnering with outside educators.  Student will truly be engaged if you choose people and places that tie to what you are teaching and tie to real life.  I think I have done a disservice to students in my past by not having enough fieldtrips or visitors to the class.  I will never be able to make it up to them but I can ensure that future students of mine get that opportunity.
9. Thinking of ways everyday to implement technology into my lessons and the importance of keeping up with technology.  It has been three years since my last technology class and in that time the game has changed dramatically.  As teachers it is very important that we keep up with the changes and teach using these technologies.  Knowing about them isn’t enough.  Our students are immersed in a technological world and most of them already know more than I do but we have to show them there is more…
10.  Videos from Teacher Tube and You Tube.  I created another blog to store videos on since you can’t always control what pops up around videos.  When I want a video for a lesson I will search for it ahead of time and will embed it in my blog to be easily accessed!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Summary of Unit Plan

Title: Greek Mythology and Heroes

Unit Overview:
This Greek Mythology unit is for fifth graders.  Myths are created by cultures to celebrate the diverse, the heroic, the unbelievable, and the unknown.  Students may question how Greek mythology relates to their lives but after this unit of study they will come to realize that myths have provided us with explanations, have influenced our vocabulary, have entertained people for many generations, and continue to teach us many lessons.  This unit will include graphic organizers, understanding of conflict and resolution, word maps, work on punctuation, work on recognizing Greek roots, predictions, analysis, descriptive writing, class debates, collaborative writing, Readers Theater, transactive writing, games, technology, community involvement and much more.

Highlights:
Students will randomly choose a god or goddess who they will research (and step into the role of that person).
Students will create and present a PowerPoint on their god/goddess.
Students will read and analyze Greek myths.
Students will create a blog about Greek Mythology.
Students will participate in interactive lessons using intelligent classroom materials.
Students will create a scrapbook on mythology about their god or goddess.
Students will Skype.
Students will work with Greek roots.
Students will create a newspaper article (feature article) about the Trojan War.
Students will create a script using Reader Theater format and present.
Students will identify a hero from US history and create a speech as well as dress up and participate in a Wax Museum.
Students will identify a hero in their daily lives and invite them to our hero celebration.
Students will identify how they can become a hero in their community and create a service learning project.


Key Leaner Outcomes:
Students will respond to inferential and critical questions with 85% accuracy.
Students will recognize the following Greek roots: chron, photo, phon, hydro, graph, cycl, biblio, tele, astro, scope, bio, geo, dem, gram, metr, hydr, and gen with 85% accuracy.
Students will be able to give proficient oral presentations and debates.
Students will create a feature article that scores at least a 3 on the Kentucky Writing Rubric.
Students will create a proficient scrapbook of mythology on his/her god or goddess.

I will determine if the plan was successful if:
·         Students achieve learner outcomes
·         Students are actively engaged in content
·         Students successfully plan, and engage in a service learning project to become a hero in their community
·         Students enjoy and seek out other mythology (Egyptian, Roman, etc.)

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Locating and Partnering with Co-Teachers

Plan Elements:
1-           Co-Educator Number One:
a.    Cathy Collopy
b.    Education Director
c.    Dinsmore Homestead Foundation
5656 Burlington Pike
Burlington, KY 41005
(859) 586-6117




2-           Plan:
a.            Antebellum Kentucky Farming
The Dinsmore Homestead is only a few minutes away from Stephens Elementary.  It will be a great opportunity to take a short trip that allows them to see what their community has to offer.  I will receive a Teacher Packet of materials that includes pre and post visit activities.  This program is designed for students in grades 4 through 6.  Created to complement Kentucky History, issues of agriculture, labor, and gender will be highlighted.  Students will be asked to adopt the identity of a historical figure from the Dinsmore Homestead, either a member of the Dinsmore family, an enslaved African American, or a member of a tenant family.  Activities included in this program are:
- Tour of the house, with students imagining their own role with relationship to the house and the Dinsmore family.
- Self-guided discovery tour of the outbuildings, including the graveyard, used on the farm, focusing on how their character would have fit in to the world of work around them.
- Hands-on parlor & outdoor games played by different groups on the farm, focusing on their different purposes to different groups.
- Students will be videoed (interviewed) at the end of the day 1-2 minute clip where they describe what it was like to be the character they portrayed and explain their role on the farm and in the family. These clips will then be reviewed by the entire class. The class will then discuss each person and their role; in this way, every student is exposed to every character and/or role describing what it was like to be the character each student portrayed.  Students will then download their videos to the blog created for Mr. Hall (see service learning project blog).
-Pictures will be taken of students throughout the day by chaperones and me.  Students will use these pictures to create a PowerPoint of their experience to be presented to parents on conference night.
b.            The technologies that will be incorporated into this plan will be
             the use of video, downloading videos to Mr. Hall’s blog, and
             pictures to be used in a PowerPoint presentation.

3-           Standards to be addressed:
a.             Social Studies
SS-05-2.1.1 - Students will identify early cultures (e.g., English, Spanish, French, West African) in the United States and analyze their similarities and differences.
SS-05-2.2.1 - Students will describe social institutions (government, economy, education, religion, family) in the United States and explain their role in the growth and development of the nation.
SS-05-2.3.2 - Students will give examples of conflicts between individuals or groups and describe appropriate conflict resolution strategies (e.g., compromise, cooperation, communication).
SS-05-4.1.3 - Students will describe how different factors (e.g. rivers, mountains) influence where human activities were/are located in the United States
SS-05-4.3.1 - Students will explain patterns of human settlement in the early development of the United States and explain how these patterns were influenced by physical characteristics (e.g., climate, landforms, bodies of water).
b.             Technology
Students will use a variety of tools and formats (oral presentations, journals and multimedia presentations) to summarize and communicate the results of observations and investigations
Students will develop, publish and present information in print and digital formats

4-           Student Assessments will include:
a.    A rubric will be created using Rubistar for the interview presentations.  The students will be given a list of questions that will be asked of certain characters. 
b.    A rubric will be created using Rubistar for the PowerPoint presentations.  The PowerPoints created will not only reflect on their time at the Dinsmore Homestead but will focus on answering questions provided by the teacher that directly tie to the social studies standards.

Cost: $2.00 per student, $3.00 per chaperone plus the cost of using county buses.


Plan Elements:
1-          Co-Educator Number Two:
a.    Kate Aug
b.    Educator
c.    Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
       3400 Vine Street
       Cincinnati, OH 45220
       (513) 559-7726
       cell phone (513) 846-8980


2-           Plan:
  1. This plan involves going to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.  I will go in advance and do the activities (the zoo will allow me to do this for free) so that I am aware of the process.  We will be using the Wild Pack for our visit.  The Wild Packs revolve around three inquiry investigations:  Do leaf cutter ants carrying leaves travel faster than ants without leaves?  Are more primates left of right handed? And which seed designs fly best?  Each Wild Pack contains enough supplies for a maximum of 10 students per pack. Each investigation includes clear and detailed steps on how to engage students in inquiry including observing, questioning, predicting, data collecting and recording. Supported by the National Science Foundation, the Wild Packs advance district, state, and national standards while improving student achievement in core concept areas. The best part is everything is formatted in an easy and fun way that any chaperon can lead and all students can enjoy.  There are pre and post activities that I can do with my class to prepare them for this trip. Use the hyperlinked words to view activities. 
    Make sure you hit the back button instead of close; these hyperlinks do not open in new windows.  Inquiry Minds, Leaf Cutter Ant Relay, Lefty or Righty?and Spreading Seeds
    .  Below is a description of what each activity will provide for the students.
Do leaf cutter ants carrying leaves travel faster than ants without leaves?
Using inquiry skills, students will observe the leaf cutter ant colony in the Zoo’s Insect World to determine whether ants with or without leaves travel faster. Results from this inquiry can be taken to the classroom and groups can share findings and graph the information
Are more primates left of right handed?
Students will think about their hand preference. Using inquiry and a variety of tools, they will discover whether the Zoo’s primates are right handed or left handed. Continue the investigation and find out if other animals have a hand preference.
Which seed designs fly best?
Discover whether all seeds fall at the same rate. Do small or big seeds fall more slowly? Students will use inquiry to discover answers to these and other questions.
  1. Technology used in this plan:
a.    Students will use word (and insert tables for data) to create their own experiment (more information on this under what is to be assessed).
b.    Have students explore the following websites: http://www.biology4kids.com/files/studies_scimethod.html
Using our interactive whiteboard we will view The Scientific Method to get the students started on their own experiment plan.
3-           Standards to be addressed:
a.    Science
                      i.        Do leaf cutter ants carrying leaves travel faster than ants without leaves?
Subdomain: Biological Science
Organizer: Unity and Diversity
SC-05-3.4.1 Students will describe and compare living systems to understand the complementary nature of structure and function.
Observations and comparisons of living systems at all levels of organization illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function.
Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms (e.g., bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, animals), and ecosystems. Examining the relationship between structure and function provides a basis for comparisons and classification schemes.
Subdomain: Biological Science
Organizer: Biological Change
SC-05-3.5.1 Students will describe cause and effect relationships between enhanced survival/reproductive success and particular biological adaptations (e.g., changes in structures, behaviors, and/or physiology) to generalize about the diversity of populations of organisms. Biological change over time accounts for the diversity of populations developed through gradual processes over many generations. Examining cause and effect relationships between enhanced survival/reproductive success and biological adaptations (e.g., changes in structures, behaviors, and/or physiology), based on evidence gathered, creates the basis for explaining diversity.
Subdomain: Unifying Concepts
Organizer: Interdependence
SC-05-4.7.1 Students will:
· Describe and categorize populations of organisms according to the function they serve in an ecosystem (e..g., producers, consumer, decomposers);
· Draw conclusions about the effects of changes to populations in an ecosystem.
Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve in an ecosystem. Plants and some microorganisms are producers because they make their own food. All animals, including humans, are consumers, and obtain their food by eating other organisms. Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that use waste materials and dead organisms for food. Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers and decomposers in an ecosystem. Using data gained from observing interacting components within an ecosystem, the effects of changes can be predicted.
ii  Are more primates left of right handed?
Subdomain: Biological Science
Organizer: Unity and Diversity
SC-05-3.4.1 Students will describe and compare living systems to understand the complementary nature of structure and function.
Observations and comparisons of living systems at all levels of organization illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function.
Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms (e.g., bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, animals), and ecosystems. Examining the relationship between structure and function provides a basis for comparisons and classification schemes.
Subdomain: Biological Science
Organizer: Biological Change
Students will describe cause and effect relationships between enhanced survival/reproductive success and particular biological adaptations (e.g., changes in structures, behaviors, and/or physiology) to generalize about the diversity of populations of organisms.
Biological change over time accounts for the diversity of populations developed through gradual processes over many generations. Examining cause and effect relationships between enhanced survival/reproductive success and biological adaptations (e.g., changes in structures, behaviors, and/or physiology), based on evidence gathered, creates the basis for explaining diversity.

iii     Which seed designs fly best?
Subdomain: Physical Science
Organizer: Motion and Forces
SC-05-1.2.1 Students will interpret data in order to make qualitative (e.g., fast, slow, forward, backward) and quantitative descriptions and predictions about the straight-line motion of an object. The motion of an object can be described by it relative position, direction of motion and speed. That motion can be measured and represented on a graph.
SC-05-1.2.2 Students will understand that forces are pushes and pulls, and that these pushes and pulls may be invisible (e.g., gravity, magnetism) or visible (e.g., friction, collisions.)
Subdomain: Biological Science
Organizer: Unity and Diversity
SC-05-3.4.1 Students will describe and compare living systems to understand the complementary nature of structure and function. Observations and comparisons of living systems at all levels of organization illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function.
Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms (e.g., bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, animals), and ecosystems. Examining the relationship between structure and function provides a basis for comparisons and classification schemes.
Organizer: Biological Change
SC-05-3.5.1 Students will describe cause and effect relationships between enhanced survival/reproductive success and particular biological adaptations (e.g., changes in structures, behaviors, and/or physiology) to generalize about the diversity of populations of organisms.
Biological change over time accounts for the diversity of populations developed through gradual processes over many generations. Examining cause and effect relationships between enhanced survival/reproductive success and biological adaptations (e.g., changes in structures, behaviors, and/or physiology), based on evidence gathered, creates the basis for explaining diversity.
b.    Technology
Students will use a variety of tools and formats (oral presentations, journals and multimedia presentations) to summarize and communicate the results of observations and investigations
Students will develop, publish and present information in print and digital formats
4-           Student Assessments will include:
a.    Upon returning to school, students will journal write their experiences using the scientific method to describe what they did.
b.    Students will create their own experiment using the steps in the scientific process.  They will ask a question (of something they can solve or do, for example, how many licks will it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop?), form a hypothesis, test their hypothesis, record observations (data), draw a conclusion, state whether they accept or reject their hypothesis.  A rubric will be made using Rubistar.
c.    Students will type their experiment in a word document inserting a table for the data that they collect.
Cost: $5.00 per student, one free adult per 10 children, other adults $5.00, each Wild Pack is usually $10.00 Kate said this year they will be free, cost of county buses, parking for buses is free.
Plan Elements:
1-           Co-Educator Number Three:
a.    Matt Buddenberg
b.    Estimating Manager
c.    Messer Construction
5158 Fishwick Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45216
1-865-388-8222
2-           Plan:
a.    Matt will be coming to my classroom to share about his career.  He will demonstrate how to use a scale (for drawings of buildings) and will teach math lessons related to his job.  For example if he had a building that he was estimating the cost for and his client wanted to know about flooring, specifically that the client was only willing to spend $10,000 on flooring, Matt would have to estimate the cost for each type of flooring to be used based on the blue prints of the building.  He will pose problems such as I need 50% to be carpet, 1/3 to be tile, and 1/6 to be sealed concrete.  What is the cost for the carpet, tile, and sealed concrete? (based on the $10,000)
b.    Matt will use a scale and the interactive whiteboard.
3-           Standards to be addressed:
a.     Math:

CC.5.NF.2
Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole, including cases of unlike denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. Use benchmark fractions and number sense of fractions to estimate mentally and assess the reasonableness of answers. For example, recognize an incorrect result 2/5 + 1/2 = 3/7 by observing that 3/7 < 1/2.
CC.5.NF.4
Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.
CC.5.NF.6
Solve real world problems involving multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem.
CC.5.NF.7c
Solve real-world problems involving division of unit fractions by nonzero whole numbers and division of whole numbers by unit fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem. For example, how much chocolate will each person get if 3 people share 1/2 lb of chocolate equally? How many 1/3-cup servings are in 2 cups of raisins?
CC.5.MD.1
Convert among different sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multistep real world problems.

b.     Vocational Studies
PL-05-4.1.3
Students will identify a range of academic skills acquired in school (e.g., mathematics, reading, and writing) and explain their importance in the workplace.
PL-05-4.1.4
Students will describe how knowing one’s own interests and abilities is helpful when selecting and preparing for a career path.

4-           Student Assessments will include:
Students will be assessed by using similar real world word problems on a quiz.
Plan Elements:
1-           Co-Educator Number Four:
a.    Josh Turner
b.    Senior Estimator
c.    Messer Construction
5158 Fishwick Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45216
(513) 242-1541
2-           Plan:
a.    I am going to be teaching the gifted kids during RTI intervention time.  My husband has agreed to come in and teach these students how to play chess so that we may form a chess club at Stephens.
b.    Technologies to be used during the lesson are the Interactive Whiteboard and websites such as: http://mytopfreegames.com/lp/?game_id=flash-chess-3&lp=1053&sub_id=1579&ce_cid=000F.L0000003Y7vw70AtGXLp.000000

3-           Standards to be addressed:
a.     Practical Living
PL-05-2.2.5
Students will explain how rules of play and sportsmanship for spectators and participants during games and/or activities make them safe and enjoyable.
PL-05-2.2.2
Students will explain the importance of practice for improving performance in games and sports.
b.     Math
Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems (from NCTM standards)
4-           Student Assessments will include:
RTI is not formally assessed (graded) but I will do formative assessments to see who understands how to play, who understands the game and needs to be challenged, and who will need more one-on-one instruction with Josh.