Current Events

Yesterday, as I got the news about an Earthquake sending tremors all the way to NYC (and further), I couldn't help but think how relevant this is to my teaching. As an Earth Science teacher, earthquakes are right up my alley (though I hope never to experience one). I am excited to teach the earthquake unit this year and hear stories from my students about their experiences with the tremors. This also made me realize how useful current events, or memorable events, are in a classroom. My first year teaching, I do not think I ever watched the evening news and did not read the newspaper that regularly. I tried to make up for that some by listening to news radio on my way to and from work. However, I think it is important, as a teacher, to know what is going on, both locally and in the world. Some of my colleagues use their smart phones to have quick access to the news. I know others that read the New York Times, cover to cover, everyday. There are many different ways to get access to the news. One of my favorites, because it is also accessible to our students, is This Week in Rap, a short video clip put out on fridays by Flocabulary that summarizes a week of current events.

Here are a few other resources to use when looking for current events:

• New York Times
• CNN
• Infoplease
• Teaching Current Events
• Current Events Graphic Organizer

Coming Back from Vacation

I just finished a short trip to Iowa to visit my grandparents, aunts, and cousins. It was an incredible time! On the trip back, I texted some of my closest friends, telling them about the highs and lows of my short "vacation." This got me thinking about how people like to tell their stories. I wondered how I could use this in a classroom as a community building exercise as school is about to begin. Here are just a few ideas for icebreaker activities to address this:

• Surprise Highs: Ask students to share their favorite part of the summer. This can be done in multiple ways in groups or individually. Grouping students, like in a think, pair, share type of format, would help students get used to this classroom practice and working with classmates using a very simple prompt.
• Dream Vacation: Have students draw a picture of their dream vacation spot on blank side of an index card and write why this is their dream vacation on the lined side of the index card. Again, a think, pair, share type activity could be used. This would also provide some good insight into strengths of your students. For example, which students are artistically talented and which students have an eloquent way with words.
• Interview: Pair students up and give them a "vacation" related theme. Have students share their partner's story about their vacation with either the rest of the class or another group of 2.

Here are some other resources to consult that might have some ideas about how to break the ice on the first day back from a vacation. These sites also help us think of other important issues surrounding the start of a school year:

• The Critical First Week of School: This site gives a few general ideas about how to establish a positive classroom atmosphere and classroom guidelines with a class. Also discussed is creating goals and a few icebreakers to use.
• Back-to-School Planning Guide: This site offers a ton of information regarding different units, icebreakers, activities, bulletin board/decoration tips, etc.
• 101 Things You Can Do the First 3 Weeks of Class: This site offers a list of good things to think about when approaching a new school year. Interestingly, it separates purposes for ideas in categories such as, helping students transition, challenging your students, providing support, building community, and more.
• Activities for the First Days of School: Here is a list of more things to think about and further resources to consult to help begin a successful school year.

Hopefully we will all be able to start a new school year off positively. We have heard how important the first few weeks of school are, which is why all of these things need to be thought through and prepared for in order to start a successful and positive school year!

Theatre Games in a Classroom

I remember being in youth group and doing silly games that encouraged everybody's participation. They were somewhat like improv games and took the pressure off to be "right" about something. The purpose was to try. I had a lot of fun doing these types of activities and now, as a teacher, wonder about the value of adapting these games to a classroom atmosphere. Here are some ideas that I have found that could be easily adaptable.

From Creative Drama and Resource Site Theatre Education:

• Categories: Students create a clapping beat. A category (I am thinking of kinds of minerals, I am thinking of United States Presidents, I am thinking of foreign countries, I am thinking of geometric shapes, I am thinking of American Poets, I am thinking of Shakespearean characters, etc.) is stated. Students have to name something that fits in that category, moving around a circle, taking no more than one beat to think of something that fits in. The objective is to keep the beat going as long as possible. In a class of 34, I could easily do this in two or three groups, and bring a competitive edge to the game. Some people would argue that competition isn't good in a classroom atmosphere, but I do think it is valuable sometimes as long as nobody is sore winners or sore losers.
• Improvisation Starters: Teachers can develop scenarios to use in order to get students to reflect or act out different situations. These can be used to teach different social responsibilities (see some of the starters listed on the website linked above), or they can be used to teach content. Here are some improvisation starters I thought of: Rosa Parks, a black woman during the civil rights era, goes to sit on a bus. She sits in the front and is asked to move to the back of the bus, solely because of the color of her skin. , A hurricane hunter is flying into the eye of the storm. , Bob is able to dig a hole to the center of the Earth, on the way down, he journals about what he sees. , etc.
• Name Game #1, Name Game #2: See the sight linked above to find a description of how to do these games. Great for first day of class to encourage people to learn classmates' names.
• Object Permanence: One great way to modify this game would be to use pictures/paintings as the objects rather than actual objects. Students could view a photograph/painting and be instructed to pay attention to details. Picture would be taken away and students, individually or in groups, would have to list every object/detail they can remember from the photo. (Another modification would be to loosely re-create the photo/diagram/picture by drawing it.) Team with most correct details wins. This would be especially useful if the details in the photograph were important to the content being taught. For example, the photograph could be about the anatomy of a hurricane and students could draw and label the different parts of a hurricane.

These are just a few of the many options available. Some more resources to use for ideas can be found below:

• Story Robot
• Contemporary Drama Service
• Kid Activities
• Classroom Lesson Plans
• Supercharge Your Classroom with Improvisation
• Using Drama Skills in the Classroom

Enjoy! I'm already thinking of ways to incorporate these activities into my classroom! Please comment if you have used improv effectively in a classroom and how. Share ideas!

Using Playing Cards

Today I was helping my mother get ready for a garage sale and saw that she was going to sell about a bajillion decks of playing cards. I thought, hmmm, these would be very inexpensive materials to use for games or responses in a classroom. Here are a few ideas (underdeveloped as I was just brainstorming):

• Hand each student or student-pair playing cards labeled 1-4. When asking students questions (multiple-choice), have students raise the corresponding playing card.
• Pick out cards that match. This is how students could be randomly paired (Red 2's, find each other, or for groups of 4, all 2's find each other).
• Use a modified version of the card game "war." Have students paired and both student flip up a card. The higher value card wins, but students quiz each other and can only take their winnings if question is answered correctly. If question is answered incorrectly, both cards can go in the kitty and the first person to answer a question correctly (on following turns) gets the kitty. (This might take preparation to have two question sheets prepared, with answers, to play. This could also take place in a group setting where group A and group B devise a sheet with questions and answers and the pairs to play war consist of one student from group A and one from group B)
• Each student can take a playing card as they enter, teacher can randomize responses by asking the student with the four of diamonds or the jack of spades (etc.) to respond or reflect on class material.

I'm sure there are many more options to think about in terms of the use of playing cards. Please add your comments if you have had success with playing cards in the classroom or if you have any additional ideas that might be exciting to try!

Visualizing Important Themes

One more resource I would like to share when talking about vocabulary is the following website:

http://www.wordle.net/

I have used this before to find the words in a text that show up quite frequently. This was a tool I used to help me pick which words should be included in instruction and on our word wall. Not only is this a good site for teachers to help make important decisions, it is also a fun activity to utilize with our students. Creating something using technology that is surrounded around words allows them to focus on their writing. It could be an interesting inquiry regarding how much students use the vocabulary words that are taught in class in their academic writing. To give you an example of the wordle website and how it can be used for vocabulary, I created a wordle cloud of this paragraph. Notice how the words I used most often are HUGE and those used only once or twice are quite small.

You are able to change the font and color schemes and do a bunch of fun stuff with the arrangement of the words on your page.

Anyway, as promised, today we are moving on to another topic. When reflecting on my previous 2 years of teaching, I have found that some of my most successful lessons have been when I used or created a game-like way to learn content. For example, when teaching about ancient Mesoamerica (Olmecs, Aztecs, Mayans, Incas), my students were not getting very excited about the content like I thought they might. So, when looking at my student body, I realized I had quite a few sports players in my class. Since they were generally very active in my class, I decided to take a risk. Fashioning a ring out of paper, I taped it sideways on the wall like the first team sport. I showed a short clip from The Road to El Dorado of the game and let my students determine what the objectives were and observe what the rules might be. Then I made a ball out of paper and explained we were going to play this sport with a few twists. We split the class into 2 teams. Every time they made the ball through the ring, they got a point. If they missed, they had to answer a question correctly, or support their answer if it was a "what do you think" question, in order to receive the point. Some of my better questions sparked conversations, thoughts, and debates that placed the game on hold. My students were finally showing excitement, and all I had to do was spend like 12 cents on paper and tape supplies.

There are other ways to re-create this type of game. A teacher could put two bins on the side and do the same type of point arrangement. The way points are awarded could be changed to your liking. This type of game can be easily used for a review activity. In fact, a very similar activity was related to vocabulary instruction in my Vocabulary Games post.

Throughout the next week, I'll be sharing some of the game-type activities that I have utilized in class. To bring your attention to another game we have played, refer to my Human Bingo post.

One thing I am researching/reading about right now is the use of video games in the classroom. This I haven't done yet, so I am looking at different sites and viewpoints of it. Today I found the following website, and thought I would share it (Games Work in Education).

Wrapping Up Vocabulary

Wrapping up our week on vocabulary. Over the next week I'll be focusing on a different general topic. I haven't chosen it yet, so if you have suggestions, leave a comment.

Today I just wanted to make a few statements that should be considered when talking about vocabulary:

• Research has shown that words should be used at least 10 times before they are really learned.
• Words that are used in a variety of settings will help students gain the ability to use the words we are teaching.
• Vocabulary words should be looked at both in how to decode them, their word parts, and a relevant meaning.
• Examples and Non-examples are important when helping students classify and put new words into existing categories.

There are plenty more things to think about when addressing vocabulary instruction. For more strategies and research, I suggest consulting the resources I have cited in this week's blogs.

Reading Levels and Vocabulary

When I used to think about reading levels, I thought about the grade level number that was printed along with the book, calculated by some magic people I couldn't see and I didn't know how they figured it. After researching more about language instruction, I found out a lot more about reading levels that I did not realize before. Reading levels for each of our students can be different and are based on 3 different things. As Ivannia Soto-Hinman and June Hetzel state, "One should keep in mind that there are three student-text matches when it comes to readability: the independent reading level, the instructional reading level, and the frustrational reading level" (2009, p. 22).

In order to clear up what is meant by these different student-to-text matches, a table is provided on page 24 that shows different ways to approach texts that are located on these 3 different levels. This is also tied to vocabulary instruction in that a lot of what causes texts to be frustrating or on instructional level is the student's ability to decode the vocabulary and text found in the passage. To outline the table provided, I have included below a list of the 3 types of levels and the different purposes for reading that should be located on which level of individual students.

• Independent Reading Level: Recreational reading; fluency development; reinforcement; child reads alone

* These should be texts that students are able to read relatively quickly and with recognizable vocabulary terms. When assigning tasks at this level, I ask myself: Can this student bring home this assignment to complete on his/her own and do it without wanting to give up?

• Instructional Reading Level: Teaching level; instructor provides support for appropriately challenging text

* When choosing texts on this level, I ask myself: Can this student learn from this text with my support? Will this text be challenging enough? Too challenging?

• Frustrational Reading Level: Instructional Read Aloud (IRA); provides opportunity for student to hear teacher read text above his current ability; teacher helps build and model new understanding of concepts and vocabulary.

* Texts that require more teacher modeling are those which could be packed full with words that are unknown or difficult to decode. Especially, when comprehension is more important than ability to read fluently, IRAs can be used to help provide an example of the decoding while students can focus their energy on the meaning rather than the reading. When deciding to approach texts in this manner, I ask myself: Does my student need so much support that reading it aloud would provide a better understanding? Would my modeling of this text/word be more beneficial to my student than laboring through the decoding process?

Overall, this is a lot to think about; however, there are even more factors to consider. When looking at appropriate texts, frustrational levels may be different depending on the background knowledge students have in the topic/ideas being addressed in the text. This is why it is so important to choose text and material that is culturally relevant to our students, with explanations and vocabulary around topics that are able to be applicable to our students' lives. This is not an easy thing to tackle.

This idea also points out the importance of our knowledge of student levels. If we are unable to assess our students' abilities, we may be assigning them tasks that are beyond their frustrational level, leaving them feeling inadequate and stupid. We do not want this to happen. Our students should be able to feel successful when approaching language and literacy within our content areas. So, even as science or social studies or math teachers, we need to do our own assessments of literacy levels within our content specific vocabulary. It is also beneficial to have an open relationships with our students' English teachers, so we can be mutually helpful when approaching our students in helping them make progress in each of these 3 levels.

Works Cited:

Soto-Hinman, I., & Hetzel, J. (2009). Decoding. In The Literacy Gaps: Bridge-Building Strategies for English Language Learners and Standard English Learners (p. 21-54). California: Corwin.

Vocabulary Activities

During my search for different ways to approach vocabulary, I found a web page that pretty much sums up a lot of information. The Vocabulary Activities web page outlines:

• What research says about vocabulary
• How words are learned
• How words are taught
• Different graphic organizers to use while teaching vocabulary
• Word Wall guidelines and examples

I really enjoyed looking at the examples that are pictured and downloading the graphic organizers that were provided from this page. I also found that some of the strategies named I had not heard of before and will need to research further. The two books listed as references on the page I have not read yet; however, from the outline that was provided here, I think I have found some more summer reading material.

Reorganizing Text for Vocabulary Instruction (Strategy Bank!)

Again, from my reading, I have found a simple idea with a lot of possible modifications and uses in a classroom. Again, this idea is not solely for the use of vocabulary instruction; however, it can be helpful for teaching and assessing a students' knowledge of vocabulary and concepts. Taken from Ivannia Soto-Hinman and June Hetzel in The Literacy Gaps: Bridge-Building Strategies for English Language Learners and Standard English Learners, here are some ideas about how to reorganize text and why it might be a useful strategy:

"(Re)organization of text involves the student making the text his or her own by actually changing the form (e.g., rewriting a story in a simpler register for younger children, taking a short story and writing a Reader's Theater script). (Re)organization of text enhances the English Language Learners' and Standard English Learners' processing of text and assists in providing student ownership and understanding of text for long-term memory... Because reading is a receptive literacy process, strategies for (re)organizing text will include expressive literacy process--writing and speaking... Combining writing, speaking, and other expressions of understanding and (re)organizing (e.g., drama, art), teachers can inspire students to express their understanding through multitudinous approaches." (2009, p. 96-97)

Following this explanation of (re)organizing text, Soto-Hinman and Hetzel provide a chart outlining different ways to (re)organize text. This list provided is not exhaustive; however, it is a great bank of ideas to try in a classroom. Here is the strategy bank (ways to reorganize text) from figure 4.18 on page 98: (*Ideas in [ ] are ones that I have added into the bank, those with *** after it are strategies I thought would work best specifically for vocabulary)

• Cartoon
• Chart***
• [Children's Book]***
• Computer Graphics
• Concept Diagrams
• Correspondence
• Diagram
• Diorama
• Display
• Drama
• Film
• [Game Show]***
• Glossary***
• Graphic Organizer***
• Illustration
• Illustration Chart
• Illustration Text and Chart***
• [Interview/Response]
• Journals
• L1 Summary (summary in their first language)***
• Model (e.g., clay, pipe cleaners)
• [Movie Film Strip]
• Murals with Key Words Outline***
• Outline***
• Pair-Share
• Pair-Square
• Picture Dictionary***
• Play (Skit)
• Poetry
• Poster***
• [Powerpoint Presentation]***
• Rewrite
• Series of Illustrations
• Songs
• Speech
• Summary***
• Timeline
• Video
• [Video Game Level]
• Vocabulary Diagrams***

It is clear that some of these ideas are more simplified and some more complicated, making this strategy perfect for classrooms in need of tiered activities due to vast differences in student levels. Also, this strategy can work for many different grade levels. Another thing to notice is how the different ways to reorganize text require different amounts of working time. Some can be easily done as a reinforcement in a homework assignment, others would be better done during class so teacher can have more immediate feedback and ability to guide students. When planning to use this strategy, all of these things must be considered carefully and catered to the students that make up the classroom in which you are planning for.

Works Cited:

Soto-Hinman, I., & Hetzel, J. (2009). Comprehension. In The Literacy Gaps: Bridge-Building Strategies for English Language Learners and Standard English Learners (p. 75-117). California: Corwin.

Vocabulary Murals

I have a lot of former English Language Learners (ELLs) in my classes. Even though they are not necessarily classified as ELLs any longer, a lot of my ELL students continue to need extra attention to ensure that they are developing the same knowledge as my other students. Interestingly enough, a lot of the strategies I can use with ELLs are applicable to my other students with special education services and in general education.

The following strategy I read about as I was taking a graduate course in Adolescent Language and Literacy, taught by Dr. Pabon. Taken from Chapter 4 of The Literacy Gaps: Bridge-Building Strategies for English Language Learners and Standard English Learners by Ivannia Soto-Hinman and June Hetzel, this strategy continues to take a look at how to increase and strengthen vocabulary:

"Using murals with key vocabulary is another way to assist ELLs, particularly Beginning and Early Intermediate students, in demonstrating their understanding of the content topic at hand. In these particular murals, the teacher has provided space on her bulletin boards for students to illustrate three biomes: rain forest, desert, and prairie. The students create the mural and add key words. As the students build the mural, the teacher directs conversation to build English language acquisition... Artistically oriented children also enjoy illustrating their understanding of text through cartoons. Cartoon illustration are a fun way to motivate students and clearly demonstrate comprehension and (re)organization of passages." (2009, p. 103)

This could be a fun activity for visually oriented students and also show that they know what the words mean by connecting their mural design with concepts around the word. Teacher driven conversation around the mural they are creating will also help assess a student's true understanding of the words and the idea they are illustrating. Asking questions like, "Can you point to..." or, " What is this called?" or, " Why did you choose to include..." will help assess and drive more thought. If students need extra support, they can be given a list of required words to include on the mural, and their definitions or a dictionary along with it.

Again, though I am focusing on vocabulary development this week, this concept can be used for other activities. As a science teacher, I was thinking about using the mural idea for the different types of volcanoes or types of clouds. In history perhaps different people, places, or time periods could be used as the theme of a mural. English could be themes, books, people, etc. This type of project also helps art get back into the schools in a time period when a lot of budget cuts affect the art and music opportunities our students have. Most importantly, this type of activity might help students make connections from the words they are learning to a visual component, increasing the likelihood that they are learning it, rather than memorizing and forgetting.

Works Cited:

Soto-Hinman, I. & Hetzel, J. (2009). Comprehension. In The Literacy Gaps: Bridge-Building Strategies for English Language Learners and Standard English Learners (p. 75-117). California: Corwin.

Human Bingo

It appears as though I decided to focus this week's blogs around the idea of vocabulary. Today will follow in suit. This past year, one of my colleagues partnered up with my co teacher and I to create a fun activity to help as a review for a history unit on the enlightenment. As I am focusing on vocabulary, I now realize how easily this activity could be adapted to fit in with the vocab theme. Let me preface the activity by saying that our students had a lot of fun with this!

Human Bingo: This game requires a pretty big amount of open space. We were able to use the courtyard in front of our school area to draw the bingo board. Using sidewalk chalk, we drew on a 5x5 square board (25 boxes). I told another friend about this activity and she wasn't able to go outside, but she used electrical tape on the floor for the bingo boxes and taped down the words/terms in the squares. In each box, we had written something that was relevant to our unit. For example, we had written terms, written work, important people, new ideas, and places on our game board. Students were divided into two teams. Each team would send 2 students up at a time to try to claim a space. This is how it happened: Teacher read a question aloud for both teams to hear. Students had to stay behind the line until the question was completed. After teacher finished reading, the student pair would have to run to the spot on the bingo board that matched with the teacher's question. Once arriving, the team would have to answer a follow up question. If they answered it correctly, those two students would stand in that spot. If they answered the follow up question incorrectly, then the other team's pair would have a chance to steal the spot. If both teams answered the follow up question incorrectly, first team to arrive gets the spot, and the teacher knows this is an area to review and reteach. Same process continues until one team has 5 of the spots in a row.

This is easily adaptable to vocabulary instruction. Writing vocabulary words in the bingo spots and reading definitions as the questions could be one possibility. Or a teacher could read a sentence with a (blank) in it and students would have to fill the blank with the appropriate word. Easy peasy.

With all of the different learning styles teachers need to be aware of and attend to, this activity helps a lot with kinesthetic learners. Also, it is just a fun game! Other aspects can be added, such as prizes or bonus squares, and I am sure there are a lot of other ways to make this activity even better.

Vocabulary Games

I love playing games. When I can create or use relevant games in my classroom, I try to do it! It is interesting to see that even though my students are "playing," they can remember information just as well as or even better than if I chose to lecture or teach in a different style. Because of this, I went on a search to find some fun ways to teach/review vocabulary. One of my favorites is taken from Bryan Cohen, and eHow contributor, and is explained below:

• "Vocabulary Toss: This game requires a chalkboard eraser, or small sponge, and a wastebasket. Divide your class into two teams and have them stand in two single-file lines parallel to each other. This game combines a vocabulary guessing game with a basketball shooting game. Ask the player at the front of one team to define a vocabulary word. If he gets it right, his team gets a point and he has a chance to earn a second point if he makes the eraser into the basket. If he gets the word wrong, the player on the other team has a chance to answer it and shoot the basket. Keep rotating players until everybody gets at least one turn. The team with the most points at the end wins." (2011)

  This game can be adapted to any typical review activity as well. Change the vocabulary words to content questions, and you have a great unit wrap-up game. I think this activity could be changed to have each "turn" be pairs, so as not to intimidate the shy students. If the classroom is already one created in a feeling of community and collaboration, using partners in this game could only enhance that atmosphere.

  Games make learning fun. Though I don't think that every lesson must be a game, or that every review activity must include something being thrown across the room, games are worth checking into.

  
  

  Works Cited:

  Cohen, B. (2011). Fun Vocabulary Activities for High School. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/list_6580695_fun-vocabulary-activities-high-school.html

Vocabulary Instruction: Examples and Non-Examples

One of the facets of teaching that is still difficult to me is reading my students' understanding of vocabulary words. It occurs to me that even though my students may be able to tell me a definition of a word or point to the word on the word wall, that their true understanding and ability to apply this new vocabulary goes without being noticed. While I was reading Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching by Anita L. Archer and Charles A. Hughes (2011), I was provided with many strategies to use to both teach vocabulary and assess for understanding. One very simple and seemingly effective scenario was presented as follows: (Lesson was teaching vocabulary word elude to prep for reading a biography on Harriet Tubman, but method is adaptable to any content)

"Please get out your Yes and No cards. I will ask a question. When I say, 'Show me,' hold up a Yes or a No card.

If a slave wanted to elude patrollers, would that slave protest slave practices in the marketplace? [Pause.] Show me. [Students hold up a No card.] Ones, tell your partner why runaway slaves would not protest slave practices in the marketplace.

If a slave wanted to elude patrollers, would that slave move only at night and then sleep undercover during the day? [Pause.] Show me. [Students hold up a Yes card.] Twos, tell your partner why a slave would move only at night and sleep undercover during the day." (page. 77)

This was a simple way to help students develop examples and non-examples for a word. Also, completing an activity like this would be especially helpful for a classroom containing students on multiple levels. Numbering students by ones and twos allows the teacher to purposefully number students. The higher level student could be asked to "tell their partner" first, to provide a model to a student who might need extra support in that area.

Archer and Hughes argue that, "In fact, a vocabulary word or concept is not truly understood unless the learner has learned both when and when not to apply it" (2010, p. 53). Completing and activity like this might help our students develop the associations and categories necessary for taking a vocabulary word from the wall to their language.

Works Cited:

Archer, A., & Hughes, C. (2011). Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching. New York: The Guilford Press.