Common Core Gives Purpose to Grammar:)

All too often, many teachers spend a great deal of instructional time on the teaching of grammar in isolation.  Though the intention is good, it rarely leads to a deeper understanding of the written language.  This issue surfaces often in classes where there are English language learners.  Well-intentioned teachers provide a wide range of activities all around mastering a specific form of grammar--tense, word choice, subordinate clauses, etc.  However, this instruction occurs out of context so students rarely see the "big picture" on the need for specific forms of grammar.

With common core, the shift will be addressing grammar within the context of a novel, piece of informational text, a textbook, the internet, a writing assignment, a math word problem, student writing assignments, etc.  The ten tips for teaching grammar in this Eye on Education link are excellent guides for teachers in this area.  Using them, grammar will take on lasting meaning for students.

I was particularly impressed with #8.  The suggestion here is to avoid writing sentences on the board with mistakes for students to correct (popular in many English classes) because such sentences may stay with students more than the corrections.  This is especially true of those still learning English. 

Grammar will find its place within quality reading and writing activities:)

Denise

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Practical Strategies to Deliver Academic Language in Common Core Lessons to ALL Students

In well planned Common Core Based Lessons, teachers imbed powerful academic language in accessible formats throughout all content classes.  The question quick to surface for most educators is how to teach key vocabulary without losing most of the period in doing so.  This need becomes even more pressing when academic language is added to the mix.

How does a teacher proceed here?  One can take an entire period teaching vocabulary, but this would not be an effective use of limited class time.  A better use of class time is identifying a few key words and providing supports to have students try to guess the meaning of words.  The teacher provides the visual to start the process, includes sentences with the mystery word inserted, lists synonyms and antonyms, affixes, and includes a list of all the grammatical forms the word takes.  Students then have enough information to pull from in finally arriving at a definition. 

The teaching of academic English need not be a boring process by any means.  Further, charts with all the key parts of the word/meaning analysis can easily be posted around the room for students to reference when needed.

I am including the YOUTUBE video which highlights the process and including the website from Amy Benjamin who has create many creative tools for teachers to use in meeting the language demands of common core based lessons.  She has generously offered many of her materials for free.

Denise

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Want to Boost Student Self-Confidence in Taking Exams? Let THE STUDENTS Conduct the Review Sessions:)

How do many teachers prepare students for examinations?  The traditional ways include, but are not limited to, worksheets, teacher lectures, practice examinations, teacher prepared notes, special homework assignments geared to the upcoming test, etc.  Now, there is nothing wrong with these techniques to be sure, but are they the most effective?  How engaged are students generally in completing such activities?  Of course the A student will do well no matter what approach is used.  However,  what about the students with special needs, the English language learners, the students in need of just a few more minutes to digest the data, or those who struggle when lessons are developed that do not take into account their learning styles?

Here is an approach that can be quite effective if teachers are willing to step outside their comfort zones.  Assign review topics to small groups to teach to their classmates.  The teacher would split up a chapter into 4 or 5 sections and then assign one section to a group of 3 or 4 to teach to their classmates.  This would entail their becoming thoroughly familiar with their assigned part, preparing charts or power points or videos to capture the main parts of the reading, creating handouts for classmates to complete on the section presented,  asking quality questions and picking on non-volunteers, "grading" (up to them how they might like to proceed, but teacher could offer suggestions as well) to see if fellow students fully understood the review session content, etc.  Further, the teacher, as a passive observer, would have another way to assess how well prepared the students are for the upcoming test.  This technique will tell teachers if there are any foggy issues still present or not.

One more advantage, the student presenters develop a deeper knowledge of the topic themselves making them in-class experts:)

Here is an example from a middle school, but it can easily be adapted for upper grades.

Passing the controls over to students can truly be a rewarding experience for everyone:)

Denise

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Thinking on One's Feet--a Gift Every Teacher Possesses:)

What happens when a lesson a teacher has carefully and thoughtfully planned out turns into a disaster?  This is an event that happens just as much with new teachers as it does with veterans (I include myself here as well).  How can such misjudgements be handled quickly and efficiently in time for the next class? :)

This clip is one that will raise the self-confidence of any teacher.  Notice how her original plans fell by the wayside when she noticed the rising noise level.  When her students starting chatting, she realized that they felt overwhelmed by the assignment.  When her hard working student raised her hand to explain that she didn't understand the vocabulary in the first sentence, she realized that she misjudged their reading skills.  By trying to attempt a heavy reading assignment in only a few minutes was unrealistic.  In fact, one student commented on how many papers they were expected to read.  He did not feel he could accomplish the task.

In between the students of one period leaving and the new ones for the next period about to come in, the teacher started reflecting on how to adjust the lesson to make it more accessible by carefully scaffolding accompanied by a teacher modeling and reading key paragraphs aloud (with time allotted for commentary from students).  She also employs a group charting strategy where small groups analyze an assigned passage and then note key phrases or create sentences using sentence starters on that topic.  After a minute or so, the charts are passed to the next group where students must first read what the prior group wrote and then add to it (like CAROUSEL but here students sit).  Students were doing most of the talking ON TOPIC than the teacher was (that is the ideal scenario).

When this class left, the teacher sought feedback from a colleague (a great support for any teacher and non-threatening since a colleague is not an administrator) where she shared her experiences between the two periods and why she was especially pleased by what happened in the second class.  Her colleague confirmed her good judgment.

WHEN LESSON PLANS FAIL

The bottom line here is that all teachers have those occasional days when carefully planned lessons fall flat on their faces.  With reflection (which all dedicated teachers do), adjustments are made so that the next time a lesson is delivered, it is a more successful one:)

I hope you enjoy this very positive affirmation of what we strive to achieve with the delivery of every lesson.  Teachers never give up on trying to meet the needs of their students every day in every lesson.

Denise

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Block Scheduling Might Offer More Opportunities for Teachers to Reach Struggling Students

With English language learners and others with special needs suffering academically, schools are looking at different options to create more supportive learning environments for all students.  With this very present need to reverse the dropout rates, block scheduling as once again resurfaced as a learning environment which has the potential to meet the needs both of teachers as well as the students they serve.

Common core based lessons will offer teachers the freedom to create and deliver lessons that will see textbooks as supports in a lesson.  Teachers will drive instruction in imaginative ways which will motivate even the weakest student to succeed.

To facilitate this transformation, schools may need to revamp the present the middle/high school class schedules.  In this day and age with the demographics of American classrooms radically changing around the country, teachers will need more time to accommodate the unique language and academic needs of a student population including, but not limited to, English language learners, English only, students with special needs, gifted and talented students, etc. 

Such a mixture in a block schedule setting would provide teachers with 90-110 minute class meetings 2-3 times a week.  Yes, the classes would be longer in length, but ideally, the need for "homework" could disappear since all student assigned tasks could be completed within the time period.  This is not to say that projects would never be assigned as homework, but in this scenario, all students would be better prepared to tackle them.  There will be enough time within the class for teachers to provide additional support to those who need it (or have students, who understand the material, assist those who are unsure), allow re-takes of exams, clarify language issues for English language learners or special education students. 

Block scheduling might also ease the stress some teachers are dealing with over the unveiling of common core lessons.  As they enter in the process of re-designing lessons, they will quickly see that a "less is more" approach will be the norm.  Fiction and non-fiction will be the major focus along with writing across the curriculum.   English teachers will not be the only ones teaching writing.  Ideally, this new approach to teaching will better prepare students to not only enter colleges, but graduate from them:) 

BLOCK SCHEDULING HAS POTENTIAL TO REACH MORE STUDENTS THAN TRADITIONAL SETTINGS --offers not only descriptions of what such a schedule would look like, but also many ideas on fully engaging all students in the learning process in this new time schedule. 

Denise

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Great Interactive on Development of English From 449 A.D to Present

Both English teachers and English language enthusiasts will truly enjoy this site.  This BBC site looks at the development of English from 449 A.D. from many angles.  The audio clips contain language puns, insults, and riddles from old English.  Students will be able to hear the language the way it was spoken over 1500 years ago.

How does this tool enrich English class?  Click on Beowulf from the 8th century to hear it read in English's earliest forms.  Supports such as these not only broaden the students' knowledge of English, but also transfer over to world history in the study of Vikings, Anglos, and Saxons:)  Remember in the new common core, teachers of all content areas will be demonstrating to students that content knowledge in one course can and does transfer to other subject areas.

For vocabulary development, this site provides samples of words that each time period added to the language.  Again, such information easily bridges over into world history, English, science, and mathematics.  Everything now known about English took hundreds of years to evolve.  This site provides just enough to grab student interest without overwhelming them.  Think of it as a "hook" to build interest AND it is fun.

What about studying puns, jokes, and insults in the various forms of Old English?  What could be more fun for students studying Shakespeare than insulting each other in the language of Queen Elizabeth's reign?   What better motivator to fully engage all students in studying English literature:)

Explore the other great options this site offers and see how it can tap and hold student interest:)

A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE FROM BBC

Denise

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Great Free Vocabulary Building Site With Many Additional Features

English spelling is often times a headache for English language learners and native speakers alike.  With silent letters (ex. knight), irregular spelling patterns (ex. "i before e except after c or when sounded like a as in neighbor or weigh"), etc. , mastering spelling is no easy feat.  For English language learners, the problem is compounded by the fact that they are still trying to acquire English.

SPELLING CITY takes the pain out of mastering spelling.  English learners will especially benefit from not only typing in the words they need to learn (any number of words can be entered, but more than 20 would probably be overwhelming), but also hear the words read back to them.  Furthermore, the program will teach students the definitions and then test them when they are ready.  Students may retake the test as often as they like and that leads to better retention.

SPELLING CITY FREE GAMES 
For those students who benefit from word game approaches to learning new vocabulary, they will find lots of activities to keep them busy here.  Match It Sentences, Which Word Sentences, Sentence Unscramble, Sentence Writing Practice, and Paragraph Writing Practice all over students many creative approaches to working on those skills which will transfer over to many of the writing activities required in class. 

FREE TEACHER RESOURCES  will offer teachers a treasure trove of lessons, educational articles, word lists covering vocabulary words in most content area subjects, and instructional videos on a wide range of language building topics.

All of the above is from the free section.  The premium version is relatively inexpensive, but I have been quite content with the free version.

Denise

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Fun Foldable Ideas for Exam Review--Guaranteed FULL Student Engagement Both English learners and Everyone Else:)

With the semester drawing to a close, teachers are actively planning out content review strategies for their students.  Planning may become a bit more complicated when English language learners are in the classroom.  Here it is not only content that is the issue but also language.  Teachers must design activities which weave the two together so that ELLs are fully prepared to demonstrate their grasp of the content in language that is comprehensible for the teacher.

So, how can this be done in such a way that ALL students are actively engaged in completing academic tasks, but also having fun in the process?  Sounds impossible?  No, it is actually not that difficult to accomplish thanks to imaginative paper foldables:)

 FUN FOLDABLES  Go to the table of contents and decide what section you wish the students to study.  Simple foldables are included in every unit.  Start with pages iii and iv where the table of contents is found.  Select the subject matter being covered and go to that page number.  You will see the foldable accompanied by the directions for creating it. 

When teachers use such original approaches to assist students in learning content (and language), students are more alert and rarely off task.  Such approaches lead to group and partner discussions as they work on completing challenging, but not overwhelming, academic tasks to help them master content.  Further, teachers have multiple opportunities to interact with students since they are in small groups.  This type of layout allows the teacher to move from group to group interacting with ELLs especially who normally would be too shy otherwise to speak out in class.  In a small group setting, it is far less intimidating.  Further, the teacher gets a better picture of where each student is in the learning process.

Denise

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TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR VISUAL (ELLS ESPECIALLY) LEARNERS

If English language learners are to reap maximum benefit from any lesson, they must be provided with content embedded visuals frequently throughout the lesson.  This must occur not only at the elementary school level where it is done in every lesson, but also in the upper grades such as high school.

Though the success of using visuals has been proven again and again in the lower grades,  it is not done much at the high school level.  All too often, classes focus predominately on lecture.  More talk to ELLs does not provide access to content, but rather more confusion.  All too often teachers explain new words using words that are unfamiliar to ELLs so nothing makes much sense.  This language barrier can many times lead to ELLs going to sleep, being sent out of the room, talking to friends, note passing, etc.  and earning that eventual F.  Is it because they don't care or because they don't understand?  It is because the lack of visuals makes the lesson incomprehensible for them.

TEACHING STRATEGIES WITH VISUALS FOR ELLS

Teaching ELLs requires support above and beyond lectures supported by text. ELLs need to silently read material before the teacher lectures.  Reading a novel aloud to them every day is guaranteed to lead to their nodding off in class.  It is too much oral language to process compounded by the use of total alien vocabulary.  Then there are the oral directions.  With English not being the native language, ELLs often miss key parts of the directions.  This leads to misunderstanding the directions and that leads to no work being turned in or being incorrectly done etc.

So what is a teacher to do?  Here are some suggestions which assist ELLs in following a lesson.  Provide notes of what the lecture will be about.  If directions are detailed, put them under a document camera or hand out copies of the directions.  Without such directions, ELLs will be lost.  Use lots of visuals including but not limited to power points, charts, photos, diagrams, wall charts, etc.  Such resources must be in the class if the students are to succeed.

There are more tips in the article which will provide other tools to use which will not only make content accessible to ELLs, but also to students who are visual learners.

Denise

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Regular Formative Assessments Dramatically Improve Overall Performance

The regular use of informal assessments throughout a lesson is a must if students are to fully grasp the content of any lesson.  This type of checking goes far beyond the simple act of a teacher asking a general question of the class with the usual 2 or 3 answering.  For students to feel confident in their ability to complete homework tasks based on a lesson, the teacher must include regular and varied methods of assessing student understanding.  With the feedback from such activities, the teachers can identify and support those who are still struggling, provide the accelerated students with slightly more challenging work, and send those who have grasped the key points to other activities which provide deeper insight into the subject matter.

For English language learners, time spent here makes a world of difference in building their confidence to complete homework assignments.  Some formative assessments here can be ones completed as a group (structured cooperative learning groups where language support is built in so ELLs can learn the content as well as develop English language skills).  Peers have amazing communication skills when explaining concepts to each other.  Further, since this is an activity with peers, ELL anxiety levels are lowered.  Here there is no fear of embarrassment in front of the entire class.  Other formative assessments can be done on a individual basis.  One good one is the exit ticket.  I use 3 X 5 index cards for my students here.  I write 2 or 3 questions on the white board covering key ideas from the lesson.  If the student can answer them correctly, he has grasped the main idea of the lesson.  I also like the 3 X 5 card because the size is not intimidating and I have never encountered a student who couldn't write something in those 3 minutes.  If multiple classes are involved (ex. 5 English 10 classes), make the index cards different colors.  Formative assessments are also a must before major assessments are given.  In doing so, students are better prepared to take the summative assessment. 

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS  In this article, you will find more information on the importance of providing many informal assessments in class.  You will also find some additional forms of summative assessments.  Typically, these checks-for-understanding should be given every 3-7 minutes within a class period.  If students are lost based on poor results, teachers must go back and reteach.  If instruction is conducted this way, students will be fully prepared to tackle homework successfully.

Denise

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MAKE ENGLISH LIT ACCESSIBLE TO NEW ELLS WITH THIS FREE SITE:)

With 3 out of every 30 students now being ELLs in American classrooms, teachers must be able to deliver common lesson themes through different lenses.  For ELLs, the issue is a mixture of limited English skills and a lack of knowledge of American/English culture.  These two limitations can lead to major struggles in an English literature class.

One way to address this is through internet supports.  Spark Notes (a favorite of all students studying English literature) has had short online summaries of major works available for years.  The problem for ELLs is that the language level used is too difficult so there is minimal benefit in reading them for those students.

However, Spark Notes has added a new feature that will definitely benefit ELLs--short illustrated versions of 24 major works of literature with narration.  Of course, a student won't be able to use this in lieu of the actual text, but for an ELL, s/he would be able to attend the class with some background knowledge of the book before the teacher starts the lesson.  With the building of background knowledge, the novel will make more sense.  In fact, the questions which the ELLs may pose about content will be far more academic in nature than what they would have been had the ELLs not had access to the quick summary overviews.  CARTOON SUMMARIES OF MAJOR PIECES OF LITERATURE

Now, though many students don't own computers, most do have cell phones, access to school computers in the school library, and occasional use of classroom computers.  This site would make the text less overwhelming.

Denise

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Themes-WHAT are they and WHY are they important?

Identifying themes in literature is a major part of any English class regardless of grade level.  This many times is an issue with English language learners since they have to tackle not just unfamiliar culturally based literature, but also wade their way through overwhelming amounts of never before seen vocabulary words.  It is not easy.

Here is a quick video on how to identify themes and what to do them when writing-- THEMES AND HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM .  The explanations are basic and, at the same time, highly detailed with clear examples all along the way.  Further, this can be added to a class website for ELLs to refer to after school either from a computer (at home, at an after school program, or in a library) or a smartphone (many students carry them -- they are basically mini-computers).  When students have access to instructional materials to review at their own leisure, they develop both a deeper grasp of the content and a boost in self-confidence since they have had additional time to process the meat of the lesson.

If the goal is to have students eventually compose essays on key themes from literature, using clear definitions of what is a theme along with solid examples of what they are will set students up to produce the assignments required to both the satisfaction of the teacher and student alike:)

Denise

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COMMON CORE and ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

Though every one of the 46 states who adopted the common core might weave a few state related adjustments here and there into their state education plans, they will leave the bulk of common core in place.  This will hopefully lead to national standards eventually.

One common thread found in every state's version of the CCSS is the need to build academic vocabulary of their students.  Two issues surface here.  One is WHICH words does a teacher focus on in a given lesson.  Here, teachers have to differentiate between words which will be used in different content areas and which ones are words that are so content specific (ex. mitosis) that they will rarely, if ever, be found outside of that content area.  Then teachers must devise ways to activate student prior knowledge to the new word.  Once that occurs, teachers can refer back to it as needed to ensure that the student can apply this new knowledge to the reading in which the word is found.  Second, as the teacher covers such key vocabulary, s/he needs to build on that word knowledge by showing different forms of the words, bringing in antonyms/synonyms/examples/non-examples, visuals, etc.  Further, students need time to strengthen that knowledge not just with reading, but also writing.

COMMON CORE AND ACADEMIC VOCABULARY is from New York.  In this 6 minute video, NYS Commissioner of Education John King, David Coleman (contributing author to the Common Core), and Kate Gerson (a Sr. Fellow with the Regents Research Fund) discuss the shift in academic vocabulary. 

How will this change the way a teacher addresses new vocabulary choices?  Here are some areas to think about in viewing the video. 

1.  They will need to decide on how many words in a given selection must be taught.
2.  Teachers will need to select words deemed useful across disciplines. 
3.  They will need to see which words are worth the time to fully explore and reinforce with students. 
4.  They will need to create writing activities  to provide practice in using the words. 

To support teachers in making these decisions, download the PDFs at the bottom of the page under the paragraph describing the video.


You may register for updates to their plans for implementation of the new standards.  You will also have access to many more resources including videos, lesson plans, lesson plan templates, common core exemplars covering K-12, etc.  It is one of many sites teachers will want to save:)

Denise

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PBS PROJECT BASED LEARNING Video Library for Most Grade Levels (Perfect Support for Common Core)

The video library in this site is an excellent resource on project based learning initiatives around the United States.  Their projects cover all 3 grade spans:  elementary, middle, and high school.  Closed captioning allows full access to content and dialogue.  When opening a link, click on QT since that is the only one which allows full screen access.  The FLASH one does not.

Project based learning is the ideal tool to building connections between content and the real world.  Imagine the delight in eyes of students as they discover through the learning process how math, science, and language (for example) are interrelated!  For ELLs especially, this will break down the barriers of content language which sometimes muddies the waters when it comes to tackling grade level content course materials.  Now, small teams of students will combine all the skills and content knowledge of the group to explore projects in engineering, aerospace, 21st century energy, education in the next 50 years, etc.  ELLs will not only develop a deeper understanding of the content, but also sharpen their English skills.  Actually, it is truly an exciting time to be both a teacher and a student. 

Hopefully these short videos will inspire teachers new to project based learning to give it a go:)

PBS FREE VIDEO LIBRARY

Denise

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How to Use LATIN and GREEK Affixes to Expand Academic Vocabulary Base for ELLs and Others

How do students make major jumps in their knowledge of academic vocabulary?  They achieve this goal through mastery of some key affixes.  With just a few, vocabulary bases grow.  Here is a fun rap on affixes.  It drives home the point with ease AND kids will like it:   FUN RAP ON AFFIXES   The song covers just a few, but that is enough to make the point that being familiar with a few can expand one's vocabulary with ease.

Ideally, the instruction should be tied to the work they are studying.  This way teachers can spend time on reinforcing the concept.  For example, the GEOLOGY has the root GEO (earth) and LOGY (the study of).  From that word, there is the adjective GEOLOGIC and the adverb GEOLOGICALLY.  Break the word down into its components.  Bring in the use of the suffix to identify the part of speech.  The more affixes they know, the more their vocabulary base will grow.  It is also never too early to learn.  Elementary school students start exploring it in the early grades so they have a head start on many of the older ELLs.  Tie it to what students are studying, give points for applying their new skills outside of class, bring in games with prizes, create class competitions on affixes, have kids create their own words to test classmates on (lots of fun), bingo, etc.   All of this leads to a better grasp of academic text, literature, and higher test scores on college entrance exams. 

If you need some lists of common affixes, I have the following two: 

PREFIX SUFFIX CHARTS AND MORE Pick the affixes which work for your discipline.  You can do a copy and paste.  This will allow you the freedom to pull affixes out as needed or to create personalized reference sheets for your students.  One more comment on the need to allocate time on this area of vocabulary development comes from
READING ROCKETS--COMMON GREEK AND LATIN ROOTS Just another source:)


Denise
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Word Walls--Great Support For ELLs in Content Classes

Amazing as it is, the first semester is half over.  For those ELLs in mainstream classes, this may not be good news for them since their grades at this point of the year might not be as high as they had hoped.  With teachers working their best to accommodate the many language and academic needs of ELLs, they need quick effective strategies to address the gaps such students face.  These strategies must be ones that visually provide student access to content not just for a few days, but for the length of the lesson.  How can this daunting task be met? 

Welcome to WORD WALLS The download here covers 14 pages of just about every possible use of word walls conceivable.  It is well written and quite easy to follow.  One of the most effective uses is to make it accessible to all by posting it in a highly visible section of the room.  After all, if students can't see it, they won't be able to use it.  Another way to use it is to have students keep copies in their binders to refer to as needed.  In this day of age of smartphones, students can take pictures of it to store on their phones for home use.  Teachers could also expand the vocabulary by identifying word parts (prefixes, roots, suffixes).  As students become more familiar with word parts, they become more effective in using what they know to determine meanings of unfamiliar words. 

Games?  There are many possibilities here.  How about having students look at several word walls, creating categories and then grouping words under those categories?  This is another vocabulary builder.  Another fun activity is to have students in small groups, select a word and draw a picture of its meaning to test the class on identifying the word? 

You will of course have your own activities here.  The main message is that a word list does little to nothing on building academic vocabulary for students, especially ELLs.

Denise

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FREE CLASSICAL MOVIES WHICH CAN SUPPPORT ANY CONTENT AREA

With ELLs (English language learners) in all mainstream classes, teachers must build in additional instructional supports to provide access to content for the ELLs in their classes.  Word walls, posters, content based charts, etc. are all good tools of course.  However, for ELLs especially, short video clips tied to content can make all the difference in clarifying instructional messages from the teacher in every content class.
 
OPEN CULTURE-FREE MOVIES ONLINE  is a treasure house of 500 free videos and video clips.  Many of these films are movie classics and can be part of lessons in English literature, science, social issues, social studies, history, etc. 

For example, if To Kill a Mockingbird  is the current novel, why not take select clips from the film (found on this site) to provide context for the ELL.  After all, the experiences of blacks in the U.S. before the Civil Rights Movement are unfamiliar to them since they were not born and raised here.  Inserting key film clips provides clarity for these students.  Also, in using clips (with activities tied to them), all students have time to reflect on what they saw, understood or didn't understand, and discuss their interpretations of what they watched in small group discussions.  For ELLs, time spent on using language in an academic context, builds not only academic fluency, but also self-confidence in being able to tackle academic grade level content. 

This site should save teachers money since they can access the films for FREE:)

Denise

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Project Based Learning--More Effective Assessment/Learning Tool Than Traditional Paper and Pencil Tests

By 2014, project based assessments will play a major role in testing.  To ensure that students are ready for this, teachers will need to start thinking about how they will shift from the more traditional testing instruments to hands-on projects.

Project based learning offers many creative avenues for students to demonstrate their comprehension of core content material by applying that knowledge to solve real world problems.  Imagine using geometry to layout the groundwork of a playground for children.  Bring in some physics students to assist in the design of safe playground material.  What about having students design a solar powered car (students in engineering programs are already doing this on a small scale)?  For younger students, have them design a community garden where the produce they grow could be given to food banks or to the school cafeteria to create more healthy meals for students.  For tech students, have them design educational apps for Google or Apple.  Students ARE doing this already with grants from high tech firms under the guidance of their teachers.  For students in English and social studies classes, why not have them start letter campaigns to spur their political leaders to correct environmental problems affecting the globe such as water pollution, CO2 emissions, global climate change, rising water levels around the world, poverty, drought, refugees, etc.  For civics classes, have them identify problems in their cities, and how those problems might be corrected. Assist students in "connecting the dots" so to speak between the concepts learned in school with the global community outside the classroom. 

With Common Core project based learning activities, students will be better prepared to  to enter the university and actually graduate.  This will be a major plus for especially ELLs since of those who do make it to college generally end up in 2 year colleges and generally drop out before the end of the first year. 

Below are two links.  One is a video on what project based learning looks like in practice, and the other is an article on it.

PROJECT BASED LEARNING--VIDEO

ARTICLE ON PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Denise

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Bring Student Video Projects Into the Classroom--Great Vehicle for Project Based Learning:)

Video projects are definite crowd pleasers at any grade level.  They involve everyone including the ELLs.  Here is a vehicle which offers many ways to contribute to the project:  set design, script, props, director/s, actors, theme, costume, etc.  In other words, it has something for everyone and certainly requires no prodding from the teacher:)

In this digital age, students generally feel far more comfortable with tech than do many of their teachers.  Textbooks should only be one of many classroom resources for teachers to use in the delivery of their lessons.  So, how can a teacher start the process?

First, visit Apple's site and see all the wonders of  iMovie.  The "how to" videos are easy to follow for a novice.  Teachers should literally experiment with the process.  In fact, why not have students involved in this process during lunch or after school.  They may already be able to use the technology and would probably enjoy teaching the teacher:) 

Here is Apple's instructional video with sample classroom activity shots.  You may use it with the iPad ($4.99), the MacBook (already included), or the iPhone ($4.99).  I have used it to create videos of myself doing demo lessons for teachers as well as filming them.  It was not as intimidating as I thought it would be.iMOVIE  

Once you have experimented with the process, start planning out on paper how it might be used by students.  To get you started, take a look at some ideas which were well received by readers.  There is even a video included on how to use iMovie on the iPad.  Again, the best way to learn it is to play with it.  13 WAYS TO USE iMOVIE IN THE CLASSROOM

iMOVIE APP FOR IPHONE AND IPAD 
iMovie site to purchase it for iPad and iPhone--it is only $4.99, BUT free on a MacBook, MacPro, Mac Desktop.

iMOVIE APP FOR WINDOWS
Now, though I also have a PC, I have not have a need to download this free program to create videos.  Instead, I have the digital camera below (Samsung) which I lend to teachers and then help them clip/edit it with my MacBook. 

Denise

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TWITTER--GREAT TOOL FOR INSTRUCTION, CLASS COMMUNICATION, AND INFORMATION SOURCE FOR PARENTS

Twitter has amazing potential for classroom instructional use.  Many students already use it so the only one who might not be fully familiar with it will most likely be the teacher (humor intended).  So, using a social media tool which kids already use and like motivates all students to take an active part in any lesson.  Even normally quiet students are engaged since silent participation is acceptable.  In fact, as such students demonstrate a deeper command of the content, they will be more confident in taking part in class discussions/projects after completing their tweets as well as reading the tweets of others.

TWITTER IN HIGH SCHOOL  Notice the use of digital media in this high school.  Students are using digital tools which they enjoy-iphotos, blogs, imovie, twitter, etc..  This is a motivator for all.  It actually makes learning fun and there is nothing wrong with that.  Twitter offers immediate feedback (classroom twitter feed) which is available for as long as the teacher wishes to keep the material available.  Ideally, material could be kept there all year in topic folders/lists.  Students could review material as needed as well as add ideas using their individual class twitter account.  Further, teachers could make the twitter feed available to parents so that they would know everything that is happening in class including important class announcements on tests, projects, readings, homework, etc.  It is probably the most efficient way to contact parents since emails don't always work.

Some suggestions for its use?  Why not use it for vocabulary building activities?  For example, provide sentences where students must use context to determine meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.  Students would have to twitter their guesses on the meaning of the word in say 10 seconds.  Since they are limited to 140 characters, they will not be able to be wordy in their responses.  Another use might be to put up a photo related to a content area and have students tweet their reactions to the photo.  For mathematics, teachers could tweet problems and then time kids to find and post their answers as tweets.  The class could then poll the results to see how many had the correct answer.  Also, students could challenge responses by other students to document their findings.  This would necessitate having kids research the sources from the web which would support their position.  In an English class, teachers could pose an open ended question as a check for prior knowledge and have students tweet their reactions in 140 characters or less.  Later, the teacher and class could try grouping the responses by topic.  This would provide writing support for the weaker students especially (like the ELLs).

 Could TWITTER be used in lower grades?  Sure.  I have seen 4th graders use TWITTER.  It can be done.

100 WAY TO USE TWITTER IN CLASS BY DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY

How does a teacher start TWITTER in class?  Check out the suggestions in this link.  Whether a teacher is a beginner at this or a pro, this site will offer some new ideas for everyone willing to give it a try.  If a teacher struggles a bit, s/he only needs to ask a student for help since they are probably already pros at it:)

Denise

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