All in all it was a great day and we really enjoyed presenting to them. Can't wait to hear about your implementation of some of the strategies shared with you. We could see the wheels turning!
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Bland Reading Presentation
We had a wonderful day presenting to the faculty at Bland County Schools. We appreciate the privilege of presenting to them and spending the day with them. They were a very receptive audience and we enjoying collaborating with them on reading instruction and primarily ways to improve reading comprehension through application, as well as a ton of other strategies that we shared and allowed them to interact with during the day. We look forward to possibly seeing them more in the fall.
Caught Jessica taking pictures of student work to download on our presentation for Bland. We enjoyed pulling this altogether.
Participating in a Power Note activity during the session. This is a silent activity in which participants are given different topics all with the same theme, and they have to determine how to arrange themselves like an outline. Very good interactive reading note taking strategy that works on main idea and supporting details also.
Working on the classifying and categorizing vocabulary sort. Great teamwork and good discussion about ones that could go in either category depending on their definition.
All in all it was a great day and we really enjoyed presenting to them. Can't wait to hear about your implementation of some of the strategies shared with you. We could see the wheels turning!
All in all it was a great day and we really enjoyed presenting to them. Can't wait to hear about your implementation of some of the strategies shared with you. We could see the wheels turning!
More Goosh - Nonsense Words - Making Inferences
Don't forget to check out all of the new goosh products that are available on our Teachers Pay Teachers store. We have been working hard to get a lot more of these out there, per your request, so you hope you enjoy!
FUNneling with Nonfiction Text
How did this strategy come about? I was sitting in reading class one day teaching my heart out, trying to make my students understand how reading nonfiction is different to reading fiction. I was pointing out all of the text and graphic features and telling them how the author actually gives you a lot of hints to look at before you ever read, so that you will know what you are reading about. As I kept on teaching, I asked them to come up with the prediction for the book that we were getting ready to read, and I was talking about all of the "tons" of information that we already had before reading and how much more we would have when we finally read. We read the text and then I asked them if their prediction was correct. They looked at it and wanted to tweak it a little more, and make it more specific, and just like that a "funnel" came to mind. I said, "This is just like a funnel!" My kids looked at me strange, but I drew a picture of a funnel and how big it is at the top, and we talked about all of the information before reading and during reading, and then we talked about what happens when a mixture goes through the funnel, and how the opening is so much smaller. So, I told them that they were funneling all of that information to sift out what was the most important, or the main idea. Thus "FUNneling" was born, and we worked to create a "FUNneling" graphic organizer and bought some funnels to make it more meaningful for our students. Our students love "FUNneling", but don't we all like to do things that have meaning?
Look for ways to make learning more meaningful for your students this year! They will never forget it! Application is the KEY to success!
Look for ways to make learning more meaningful for your students this year! They will never forget it! Application is the KEY to success!
Monday, July 6, 2015
What Effects Do I Have On My Students? Does It Even Matter?
Does the way that you view a subject matter affect the way that you teach? Does it affect your students? Does it even matter?
This year I witnessed this first hand, as I worked with some struggling readers in my school. As I am writing this post, I am thinking specifically of one student. This student was struggling, but I really think that the real problem was self confidence, motivation and a loss of the love of reading. She was able to read pretty well, but just did not really know what to do with what she was reading. If she got stuck on a word, she would just stop and look at me. I realized early in the year, that she just needed some motivation, so our journey began... I used a lot of the same tactics that I use daily with my students, but since this group could read fairly well, I started really adding in a lot more (scavenger hunts, interactive graphic organizers, interactive notebooks to incorporate more note-taking and writing), and challenging them to step it up and reach for the stars. It really challenged me as well to think outside of the box, and become even more innovative in coming up with new ideas in reading to motivate these learners. I have to say, that I loved going to this reading group daily, and challenging them more and more. I was so surprised by their accomplishments, and they were surprised by their accomplishments, and it starting showing up a lot. It was not uncommon for one of them to tell me that they read the entire story for homework, instead of the few pages I had assigned, and the little girl I mentioned earlier, always read ahead. I challenged her several times to rewrite ending of stories or to finish a story that left us hanging, and she would every time. As I challenged my students, I was also challenging myself daily and weekly to come up with even more and more for them. IT WAS CONTAGIOUS! Did my decision to challenge my students and get them motivated affect them? Most certainly it did! If I had walked in there and noticed her lack of self confidence and continued to teach reading the way it had always been taught to her, would it have made a difference? No it would not have worked!
As the year came to an end, I came into my office one day and found a note and some chocolates, and you guessed it, it was from that little girl. I cried as I read the note from her, and it is taped on the side of my desk right now. It said, "Thanks for believing in me and making reading fun! Thanks for teaching me all that I needed to know to be successful in reading!" Does the way that you view a subject matter affect your students? It most certainly does!!!! They will walk away with a love of learning, or they will walk away bored and maybe even hate learning. As educators, we have the POWER to make positive effects, or we have the POWER to make negative effects! Which will you make this coming year? No matter, what your school system decides to do, or what you have to teach that you don't like, remember that you are affecting way too many lives to make a negative impact! I challenge you - MAKE IT FUN & MAKE THEM WANT TO LEARN!
Of course, I love to teach reading, and I have no problem wanting to make reading fun! There is so much to do with reading, but I know there are those out there that hate to teach reading, and dislike that they have to do certain things that their school requires, etc. However, no one but you can change that. Challenge yourself to look for every possibility to make it fun and worthwhile, and make your students fall in LOVE with reading this year! Does the way that you teach affect your students? Most definitely, so have FUN, make a DIFFERENCE, and MOTIVATE them to read!!! There are tons of great ideas, skills and strategies that can be inter-weaved to any reading lesson and any reading series! Read that main selection, or the leveled readers, but add in tons of other things to make it all come alive! Good Luck & if you need any ideas or are struggling, feel free to comment and ask for suggestions.
This year I witnessed this first hand, as I worked with some struggling readers in my school. As I am writing this post, I am thinking specifically of one student. This student was struggling, but I really think that the real problem was self confidence, motivation and a loss of the love of reading. She was able to read pretty well, but just did not really know what to do with what she was reading. If she got stuck on a word, she would just stop and look at me. I realized early in the year, that she just needed some motivation, so our journey began... I used a lot of the same tactics that I use daily with my students, but since this group could read fairly well, I started really adding in a lot more (scavenger hunts, interactive graphic organizers, interactive notebooks to incorporate more note-taking and writing), and challenging them to step it up and reach for the stars. It really challenged me as well to think outside of the box, and become even more innovative in coming up with new ideas in reading to motivate these learners. I have to say, that I loved going to this reading group daily, and challenging them more and more. I was so surprised by their accomplishments, and they were surprised by their accomplishments, and it starting showing up a lot. It was not uncommon for one of them to tell me that they read the entire story for homework, instead of the few pages I had assigned, and the little girl I mentioned earlier, always read ahead. I challenged her several times to rewrite ending of stories or to finish a story that left us hanging, and she would every time. As I challenged my students, I was also challenging myself daily and weekly to come up with even more and more for them. IT WAS CONTAGIOUS! Did my decision to challenge my students and get them motivated affect them? Most certainly it did! If I had walked in there and noticed her lack of self confidence and continued to teach reading the way it had always been taught to her, would it have made a difference? No it would not have worked!
As the year came to an end, I came into my office one day and found a note and some chocolates, and you guessed it, it was from that little girl. I cried as I read the note from her, and it is taped on the side of my desk right now. It said, "Thanks for believing in me and making reading fun! Thanks for teaching me all that I needed to know to be successful in reading!" Does the way that you view a subject matter affect your students? It most certainly does!!!! They will walk away with a love of learning, or they will walk away bored and maybe even hate learning. As educators, we have the POWER to make positive effects, or we have the POWER to make negative effects! Which will you make this coming year? No matter, what your school system decides to do, or what you have to teach that you don't like, remember that you are affecting way too many lives to make a negative impact! I challenge you - MAKE IT FUN & MAKE THEM WANT TO LEARN!
Of course, I love to teach reading, and I have no problem wanting to make reading fun! There is so much to do with reading, but I know there are those out there that hate to teach reading, and dislike that they have to do certain things that their school requires, etc. However, no one but you can change that. Challenge yourself to look for every possibility to make it fun and worthwhile, and make your students fall in LOVE with reading this year! Does the way that you teach affect your students? Most definitely, so have FUN, make a DIFFERENCE, and MOTIVATE them to read!!! There are tons of great ideas, skills and strategies that can be inter-weaved to any reading lesson and any reading series! Read that main selection, or the leveled readers, but add in tons of other things to make it all come alive! Good Luck & if you need any ideas or are struggling, feel free to comment and ask for suggestions.
Presentation this Week
Jessica and I am working feverishly to make sure we have everything together for our 5 hour presentation for Bland County school Wednesday. We have a ton of information to share with them - some things that we have shared with others before and some brand new things that we are super excited to be sharing for the first time. We have tried several of them this past school year and found that it works, so we are excited to share! Our new scavenger hunts and vocabulary sorts were a big hit with our students, and we really want to get the word out! Reading can be so much fun, it is just taking the time to find what your students enjoy, and taking that time is well worth it when you see the smiles on their faces as they enjoy learning! Get them motivated!!!!
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