Some Highly Effective Strategies to Create Quality Homework Assignments

All classroom teachers assign homework regardless of the subject taught.  Students spend hours on it every week, but are they really benefiting from it?  What types of assignments are often given where students actually are challenged to think beyond the text?  After all, the goal of common core based lessons is to have students apply academic knowledge to the real world.  If this link is established, it will open the door to preparing students to successfully enter the global workforce where project based activities are often the norm.

Teachers should try to move away from the traditional assignments such as answering questions from a text to activities that make the leap from text to real world.  For example, if studying biology, why not have students begin a project where they must plant a garden on campus and justify their selection of plants.  This type of project might involve blogging on the progress of their plants, ideas on what to do with the produce, creating detailed charts on the nutritional value of each of the vegetables planted, etc.  Notice how such an assignment would naturally lend itself to student collaboration beyond the school day as students text, email, or call each other to monitor the progress of their plants.  A project like this involves not only a knowledge of biology, but also math, writing, and research.  All these elements dovetail quite easily.  There is also built-in support for English language learners.

In this article on homework, teachers might walk away with a new outlook on what constitutes effective homework for them and why:)

Denise

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9 Methods to Provide More Effective Feedback to Student Writing:)

Very few English language learners find the writing process in English a challenge.  The same can be said for the average native speakers of English.  The simple act of writing anything academic in nature is often seen as a painstaking process.  So what are teachers to do to change attitudes and, by doing so, raise self-confidence in accomplishing this crucial skill?  The red pen/pencil is not the way to go.

The article, "9 Ways to Give (More Effective) Writing Feedback", provides some very creative approaches to nurture students through the writing process.  Each of these 9 suggestions could easily be woven into any writing instruction with ease. 

I have used 2 (for me 2) stars and a wish.  In fact, this is done through a gallery walk where writings are posted around the room and students, with post-it notes, find 2 things they liked in a student's writing and 1 area where they wish they had more information. 

Creating little mini-lessons personalizes the writing experience.  Teachers identify unique writing problems that some students have and then design little 2 minute mini-lessons to address those errors.  This can be done at the teacher's desk as a "conference."  Students really enjoy that one-on-one time with the teacher.  Embarrassment is never an issue here since it is a conversation between the teacher and the student only.

Bring in peer editing.  My policy is that I am the 3rd reader of a student's work---never the first.  Students seem to be a bit more attentive to writing when they know that their classmates will read their work before I do:)

The article has additional suggestions.  Add them to what you already do and see student attitude towards writing change for the better:)

100 Best Videos for Teachers to Use as Part of Classroom Instruction

Since it is summer, I have not been blogging daily, but with the return to school for me in 2 weeks (yes, that's right), I will be back on a daily basis soon:)

In preparing for the upcoming school year, many teachers will be searching for video support to add vital context to meaning for their students.  English language learners will especially require extra measures to ensure both their access to content along with language development.  Often times, locating non-Hollywood video instructional tools can often times be a very time consuming process. 

In 100 BEST VIDEOS, teachers are provided with a wide range of tech tools to bring life to any content lesson.  With common core, such a resource will enable more students to "see the big picture" and this should lead to a stronger grasp of content.  Further, students may revisit them at home since they are free video sources. 

The academic categories covered are history, science, language, and arts.  General topics as well as specific ones are addressed here and most are no more than a few minutes in length.  This is long enough to build student interest as the teacher prepares them to tackle the academic topic of the lesson.

There are also videos that might assist teachers in honing their teaching skills:)  Clips on classroom management, inspiration, how-tos, technology, and humor are also found.  Check them out for some ideas on new approaches to running classes. 

Hope you like the site:)

Denise

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How About Some Engaging End-of-the-Year Projects For Students:)

The year is almost over so what can teachers do to keep students focused for just a couple more weeks?  Think outside the box and provide students with imaginative ways to demonstrate their understanding of key material that they will need to know for their final exams.  Why not provide students with a variety of choices to show what they know?  What about asking them for their own ideas on demonstrating what they know?  Such an approach involves everyone since multiple options are available from which students can select.  

Take a look at the projects in this article from Edutopia.  Here is a starting point if this is new.  If not, there may be some new approaches worth considering to add to course syllabi:)  I have had students create video productions covering topics they really enjoyed working on during the year.  The rubric created is done by the class as a whole and when the productions are finished, they are scored by the team who delivered the video, classmates, and myself.  The three scores are averaged together and then a grade is assigned.  I have also had students created a book for elementary school age students where they explain a topic studied during the year in language a young student would understand and enjoy reading.  Again, a rubric is devised by all.  Scoring is done by the student who created the book, fellow classmates, and myself.  Scores are averaged.  Creative powerpoints with video to convey understanding of a complex topic covered over the year is another favorite.  Scoring approach is the same.  With any of these activities, students have choices, and that is differentiation in practice!

If you have ideas in this topic that you would be willing to share, please go the comment section and add your thoughts:)

Denise

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Recycling--Project Based Learning in Action!

Project based learning is an incredible tool to use in any common core lesson.  It demonstrates a direct connection between theory and real world.  Further, it engages all students, involves students working in teams to accomplish a common goal, creates built-in support for students who might not process information as quickly due to language proficiency or limited background in the topic, taps into several disciplines within the same project at the same time, puts the responsibility for learning on the students, and allows the teacher more time to monitor/facilitate.  PBL prepares students for future careers in a global economy.

This  project based learning activity taps into the theme of recycling.   It is one that resonates with students of all ages in this day and age since students are more aware of the health of the planet than earlier generations were.  Earth has only a certain amount of resources so the need to recycle and reuse is paramount to preserving life here.  Unchecked disposal of man-made materials has major negative impacts on all lifeforms here including humans. 

So, through PBL students are given a mission to address this pressing issue in any way that resonates with them.  For this, students must arrive at a plan that articulately makes the case with their communities.  Students must articulate their argument in writing (English), devise plans to collect, organize what they find (math),  and recycle what they collect (science).  More may be involved here, but for a start, it is pure common core since more than one discipline is required to reach their goals.

Common core will offer many options for student learning.  When students have choices and collaboration is actively encouraged, they have a chance to experience what will be asked of them in the global community. 

Denise

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Teachers--Are You Getting the Most Out of Your iPad? Here Are 23 Things You Need To Know:)

Apple has created a gem of a tech tool which offers a great deal of potential in revolutionizing the typical classroom and the ways lessons are delivered to students.  The latest invention, the iPad, offers a world of information presented along with a wide range of applications most of which are FREE or almost FREE (ex. $.99 on average).  Education apps permit struggling students to actually have more time to process information in non-traditional ways.  They often times monitor student progress or lack thereof.  Teachers can access the results with ease almost immediately. 

So, once the iPad is in a teacher's hands, what happens next?  After all, before these learning tools are turned over to students, teachers have to become almost instant experts in the basic operational features of the device.  It seems obvious, but to have instruction run smoothly, teachers have to be prepared for the many questions students will have.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

This is a site that every educator will appreciate.  It truly supplies a new iPad owner all the basics in its use.  With the basics fully understood, teachers can move on to mobile power points, whiteboards, etc. with ease.  The quicker the teacher becomes confident in its use, the quicker the technology will be in the hands of students with a master of its use guiding them:)

Denise

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How About Some Fun Informational Text to Use with Struggling Readers in Common Core ELA Lessons:)

As summer fast approaches, teachers will begin the planning for interdisciplinary common core lessons.  It is truly an exciting time to be in education with the US finally creating national standards.  With full support and buy-in from administration, classroom educators, and parents, the ever escalating D/F grades for long term English language learners as well as other struggling students should finally turn around.  The goal is to fully prepare all students for life beyond high school whatever that is---university or global workforce.

So literacy will be the goal in every class across all subject areas.  Students will be reading, writing, and building academic vocabulary all day long in every class/subject in school.   To begin the process of determining meaning from complex informational text for their students, teachers may wish to model the process using material that will be motivating for students to read but not overwhelming in length.

To meet that goal, why not try ...predictions from 1900 on life 100 years from then...?  The text was written John Watkins back in 1900 for Ladies Home Journal.  Writing from the perspective of people from the the beginning of the 20th century, he made predictions about what life in 100 years would be like.  Not only would students have multiple opportunities to explore PREDICTIONS and ACCURACY, but enjoy the process.  The individual predictions could be cut up and assigned to teams to not only pull meaning from but also to identify the accuracy of the prediction.  Students would need to research whether or not that prediction came to be in the 21st century.  Once identified, they would need to justify the accuracy (or not) of the writer's beliefs using concrete details to address the success or failure of his predictions. 

Moving from this fun introduction, students might have an assignment on making their own predictions for the evolution of tech products today to what they might be in 100 years from now.  How successful would students be with this?  They will have fully explored the process with the teacher, the whole class, their partners, and on their own.  They are set up to be successful:)

Denise

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Incredible Resources For Use in Common Core From De Paul University!

Though there are probably many examples of non-fiction and fiction texts for teachers to use in conducting lessons on literacy based on the common core, most are not free.  This free site from De Paul University has a wide range of both fiction and non-fiction reading passages for grades 2-10.  Each reading is equipped with assessments, scaffolding devices, and graphic organizers.  There is even bilingual support for some of the readings.

Since common core is still in its infancy, teachers would benefit from seeing solid examples of what instruction should look like as well as have some initial reading passages ready to use.  After all, to secure teacher buy-in, one must offer credible supports to build teacher self-confidence in successfully carrying out common core based lessons with as many valid instructional materials as possible.  Further, money is still scarce with many districts so using free quality materials such as this will provide sufficient guidance for schools down the road in buying quality support materials.  Using this tool, they will be more informed on what they are looking for in buying programs from publishers thereby eliminating the trial and error approach. 


Denise

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Remember to sign up for our newsletter.  The focus of this one will be on fun ways to review for final examinations:)

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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Classroom Time Management--A MUST for Common Core Lessons!

For teachers already actively engaged in common core lessons as well as those new to implementing them, they all must grapple with time management:)  How does a teacher release students to project based learning activities built on the lesson concepts without total mayhem setting in?  After all, no learning can take place if students are not trained on how to use their time wisely. 

Spending the first 3-4 weeks of a new school year familiarizing students with class rules and repercussions for breaking them is time well spent.  Once students know the limits, they learn to respect them. That in place, the class is ready to undertake the exciting tasks awaiting them in common core based lessons.

So, setting limits to speech noise levels, time to complete academic tasks, think-pair-share activities, cooperative learning projects, etc. can easily be accomplished by using a timer.  When students hear the timer go off, they know that they have 30 seconds to complete their conversation.  Once the timer has gone off and the class is quiet, the teacher can do random call-ons to see how well the groups tackled the task.

Holding every student accountable to produce work is crucial if they are to do well on final projects.  Calling on volunteers is not effective since those students already know the answers.  It is necessary to take the pulse of entire class learning by calling on those students who don't raise their hands.  If they understand, the lesson is effective.  However, if after calling on 4 or more students who don't know the answer, the teacher knows to re-present the material in a different way to make sure that every student grasps key concepts.

This video on classroom time management  does an excellent job in showing the before and after of a lesson by a new teacher.  Though the teacher being filmed is new, what she learns here with support from her department chair and instructional coach could help any teacher regardless of the number of years spent in the classroom. 

As teachers watch this clip, they can either congratulate themselves for already doing such activities, or contemplate adjusting instructional activities to create a more effective learning environment for students.

Denise

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Visuals, Visuals, and More Visuals--Teachers Can Never Have Enough of Them:)

For students to create those vital connections to content, they should be provided with as much visual context as possible.  This key component of any lesson clarifies for students important vocabulary.  Why is this crucial to their mastery of content?  If teachers verbally explain/define core content words in the academic language, they will lose students who encounter many difficulties in deriving meaning from challenging vocabulary.  An verbal explanation with antonyms, synonyms, analogies, examples, and non-examples will leave such students behind.  Referring them to dictionaries is also an activity that yields little support since difficult words are being explained by often times equally challenging words.

Regardless of the learning styles of students, visuals are key tools to opening the door to academic success for English language learners as well as English speaking students who have a difficult time learning.  The saying that picture is worth a thousand words fits in this scenario with ease.  Instead of inundating academically weak students with lengthy definitions of content vocabulary, provide visuals, graphics, posters, charts, photographs, etc. of crucial lesson vocabulary.

So how can teachers find and store key visuals to use in class?  Pinterest is a great free source to compile great visuals from a wide variety of sources found on the site.  Teachers create bulletin boards (as many as they like) on topics that they wish to "pin" what they find.  Further, in navigating the net, there are many opportunities to add web photos, videos, graphs, etc. if the PIN button is found on the page.  If teachers also like to create their own visuals for class, they may pin them on this site as well.

Have fun pinning:)

Denise

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Incredible Tool To Scaffold Instruction Of ALL LEARNERS!

Every teacher in just about any teacher credential program over the last 57 years has had experience with Bloom's Taxonomy.  It provides teachers with support to provide quality instruction to students at levels moving from factual recall up through analysis/synthesis.  Using Bloom's taxonomy assists teachers in developing quality lessons that continually challenge students to eventually be able to tackle the more demanding assignments they will eventually encounter in college, the work force, and the university.  ELLs especially benefit from this since they do not always face as many of the same academically challenging questions as the native speakers.

 BLOOM'S TAXONOMY--21ST CENTURY EDITION  Well, with the arrival of the Common Core, teachers are now turning to an updated version of Bloom's which assists teachers in meeting the academic content and language needs of all their students with relative ease.  It offers a fresh way of engaging students in active learning without watering down content.  This is especially beneficial to ELLs who are often not in academically challenging classes until they have exited ELD classes.  Once the transition occurs, they are often at below average grade reading levels by 2-3 years so it becomes a constant game of "catch-up" which they often fail to accomplish. 

Creating, Evaluating, Analyzing, Applying, Understanding, and Remembering (new levels of Bloom's Taxonomy)--There are iPad apps for each of those levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.  Students at every level of the learning process would find additional support in becoming more proficient at all those key academic skills that students must master to succeed academically.  They would not take the place of a teacher, but when teachers need to differentiate based on need, the iPad app could fit in with ease.

Consider this a brief recap on Blooms and see how it can assist in the planning of assessments, lessons, activities, and projects.

Denise

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EXIT SLIPS: Highly Effective Formative Assessment Tool For ALL Content Areas

Common core will enable teachers to deliver far more powerful, and therefore more effective, lessons than in the past.  This radical change in instruction which will reach a much greater student audience including the rapidly growing English language learner population. 

With this new approach to approaching learning (more emphasis on informational text with practical applications to the real world), teachers will need to monitor student grasp of key concepts every few minutes.  This checking-for-understanding (cfu) must go beyond simply asking a few questions on what a teacher just lectured about to those few students who have their hands up to answer questions.  To engage all students (and hold them accountable for learning), teachers must have a variety of tools to use throughout a lesson to make sure that students who don't understand the point of the lesson can be quickly identified and supported.  This is how a teacher can be sure that at least 80% of the students are fully prepared to go on to more complex work, start individual assignments, attempt the homework assignment, etc.  For that 20% who are lost, the teacher can pull them aside to offer a mini-lesson (typically such lessons only last for a few minutes where problems are quickly sorted out and addressed in a format that is more easily understood).

Though there are many techniques to check for student understanding, one popular one is EXIT SLIPS.  It can take several forms from half-slips to index cards (and more).  What ever tool is used, it should not be overwhelming in size (no 8 X11 sheet of paper for example).  English language learners are especially intimidated by paper that size.  An index card is less scary and more effective since students want to fill up the card with everything that they can recall whereas an 8 X11 leads to writer's block.  The link in this blog does offer some PDF with various types of exit slips.  They should serve as models.  They are here just to provide some examples of what is out there.

Typically, this type of assessment takes only about 5 minutes of class time.  Students can turn them in as they leave the room (hence "exit slip") or just before the teacher enters closure (a last check before students move on to assignments based on the class lesson or before they start homework).  If the teacher gives this assessment as an EXIT TICKET, s/he would review the results before the start of the next class and then open up the class with either a review of the areas the students didn't understand or some praise on the results and move into the next lesson.  Again, this is only one tool of many a teacher should weave into classroom instruction.

Denise

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Stop Writer's Block For ELLs and Others With Low Stress Creative Writing Activities!

Writing is the one skills which prevents many English language learners from being reclassified (changing status from English language learner to Fluent English Proficient).  Since these same students are now in regular mainstream classes with class sizes ranging from 25-35, they may be quietly struggling even though teachers are trying their best to address their needs in class along with all the others.

Well, one way to provide regular, low-stress access to the writing process is through fun writing activities done on a regular basis.  I had my students write every day for 10 minutes on a host of crazy topics--some related to the lesson while others not.  In the process, they were not to use dictionaries, but to just write.  In the beginning, it was like pulling teeth, but as time went on, they went from producing one small paragraph to two pages!  The work they generated was also tapped by me to include in grammar lessons.  After all, when editing one's own work, retention of the grammar rules is far easier to accomplish than working solely with a grammar text.  I also had students keep track of their glaring errors in their binders along with the correct forms.  This was a section that they were required to review in editing formal essays.  They also kept a spelling section in their binders of words they frequently misspelled.  In this section, they would write the misspelled word with the correct spelling right next to it.  These were some of the activities I used the journals for and I am sure that every teacher reading this blog probably has even more uses:)

So, how does a teacher start the process of regular writing?  Here are some websites with possibilities:

JOURNAL JAR
The topics are actually fun.  There is literally something for everyone.  How could it be used in class?  Maybe the teacher would have one student "shake it" at the start of the period.  Whatever topic appeared, everyone would write on it in her/his writing journal books for 5-10 minutes.  ELLs could initially be paired up to produce a partner paragraph until such point that they felt confident enough to write on their own.  I gave points based on much writing they produced.  I did not grade the work (if I had, that would have raised the stress levels).  I then used random passages (typed to hide author's identity) to address the various elements of the revision process with my document camera.

OUTTA RAY'S HEAD WRITING
This site is packed with awesome writing themes and activities--power points, journals, writing checklists, hilarious grammar exercises, and much more.  Basically, there is a writing topic for every content are.

CREATIVE WRITING PROMPTS
More activities here which are equally engaging.  This might be more for high school students though there are a few prompts which middle school students could handle with some support.

EAST SIDE UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT  (blogged on this earlier--just wanted to include it for new visitors to this site)  For those of you who are new to this blog, you will be impressed with this one.  Though it is geared to preparing students to pass the California High School Exit Exam, any teacher could use them in class.  What I liked especially was that there are over 280 prompts!

I would also suggest that you have the students use composition books.  They are half the size of binder paper and therefore less intimidating for students to write.  Typically, these books are only about $1.00 (link below).

Good luck with changing attitudes about writing:)

Denise

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CHALLENGING SCIENCE MATERIALS-Great for New Common Core Standards!

With the arrival of COMMON CORE STANDARDS, ELLs will be expected to tackle grade level content and succeed in doing so.  The English Language Arts standards address specific skills which carry over to other content classes such as doing research, analyzing primary sources, reading informational text, understanding textbook content, writing essays, and more.   This type of instruction will call for the teacher to also do more with students who have limited skills in English (or those who need more time to process information). 

To provide full access to science class instruction for ELLs, teachers will need not just more visuals, but visuals accompanied by activities that are hands-on and naturally scaffold an ELL's attempts to follow instruction.  Teachers will need to model more and provide time for students to process new information in a variety of partnering settings.  Further, key vocabulary must be a manageable amount (no more than 10 a week and those 10 words must be used regularly in the lesson so that students will remember them).   ARKIVE EDUCATION  has resources that will enable every student to not only understand the main idea, but also develop a deep enough knowledge of the concepts to teach others about what s/he has learned and that is the best indicator of a student's mastery of content. 

In addition, a teacher will find already prepared powerpoints, lesson notes, student handouts, flash cards, and more.  Instructional packets for students ages 5-18 are all found here as well and all are free!  There are also online games based on the concepts learned as well as a list of additional websites that might provide additional insight for both students and teachers in exploring any given lesson on ARKIVE.This would be an excellent resource to supplement any science lesson.

Denise:)
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Will Common Core Standards Help ELLs? See What The GUARDIAN (U.K.) Thinks.

The U.S. is moving from individual academic core standards that varied from state to state to something like a national standard (for those states willing to participate) in all academic subjects.  It is a first for us, and one that offers a great deal of potential if school districts are supported so that teachers will be set up to experience success in implementing it.  Only 4 states elected not to take part:  Alaska, Virginia, Nebraska, and Texas.  The other 46 have embraced it.


LANGUAGE LEARNERS ARE "CORE" CONCERN (need for common core standards)  offers Great Britain's view on the matter and they see the same urgency many in the US feel.  As the language minority population grows here, schools must do more to raise high school graduation rates thereby offering students a chance to attend universities or technical colleges.  These students have the same right to aim for the American Dream that all the native speakers have.

Denise

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