Synthesis Blog #4

I’ve enjoyed both the article about connecting science and literature and the one about connecting history and literature. I think history and ELA almost go hand in hand because most of history is communicated through literature. In the article, a study was done where three teachers (an ELA teacher, a social studies teacher, and a social studies teacher educator) all monitored each other’s teaching to learn how to create the optimal learning environment for their students.

Each teacher agreed that in order to teach historical fiction effectively they need to abide by three different rules of thumb. First, teachers need to grow students’ background knowledge of the historical event they’re learning about. Second, students need to embrace historical empathy to really understand the reasoning behind historical leaders’ actions. Lastly, teachers want to encourage the comparison of fictional and nonfictional writing to give students different ways to think about texts.

I personally think these are all great mindsets to have when teaching any social studies class because many of these classes are based on history. ELA teachers need students to understand history just as much as history teachers need students to be knowledgeable in literature. I think if we as teachers focus on these three, key strategies many students will become more passionate about these particular subjects. Many times, students are passionate about a single subject, and other subjects seem pointless to them. Teaching in ways that promote two different subjects at the same time can increase student engagement in subjects they were previously uninterested in.
This strategy can be used for other subjects as well, and the goal is to show students that what they learn in one classroom can have a positive or negative impact on their understanding in another class. Obviously, our goal as teachers is to set up our students for as much success as we possibly can. 
(WC: 311)

Lesson Plan 1 Reflection

I really enjoyed our lesson strategy, but I think we should’ve begun our lesson using a different standard for this particular strategy. The point of the strategy is to have our students apply prior knowledge to discuss what the upcoming lesson will be about, but if we are assuming our students don’t know about these concepts, then they hardly have any prior knowledge to guess what’s happening in the picture.

After looking over our classmates’ glows and grows report, I realized there were a few things we need to change for future presentations. A commonly written grow was about our use of time. We had quite a bit of dead time while we waited for our classmates to finish the exercises, and I think we just needed to practice running through the lesson a few more times to get a better understanding of our time management. One of our classmates (pretending to not understand what a cell was) noted that the mitochondria looked like a jelly-bean, and we didn’t take that opportunity to build off of her observation. Next time, we will take these seemingly silly observations and incorporate them into our lesson plan to help the students remember the concepts based on their own, initial observations.

For me personally I need to come more prepared for my future presentations. I walked into class 1 minute late thinking my group was presenting at the end of class, but my group members were waiting for me to present. I didn’t have time to put my phone on silent, and it buzzed the entire time I was presenting which distracted me significantly. I am also just easily distracted; I need to not let people’s activity on our google doc distract me while I present.
(WC: 292)

Resource Blog #3

I found the Annenberg Learner website as a third potential resource for when I become a teacher. This particular website was developed to reach a wide range of students reaching from K-College. It is also an excellent resource for a variety of subjects including art, foreign language, language arts, literature, mathematics, science, and social studies/history. I personally do not think this site would provide useful examples of lesson plans to help create new ideas. What I do think is helpful is how it speaks directly to the teacher about how to improve teaching strategies and facilitate better discussion.  As part of the Annenberg Learner’s mission, it wants to create flexible teachers who are always willing to learn and integrate their findings to create the most optimal learning experience for the students.

As I mentioned, I wouldn’t use Annenberg Learner as a primary source for lesson plan ideas mainly because of the lack of lesson plans that are available. While the few, available plans can be helpful, there aren’t enough of them to cover weeks’ worth of material in a single subject. There is an interactive section that offers fun activities for the students to take part in.  I think the video series category is extremely useful because it offers multiple, free videos covering several, specific topics within a unit. I could see myself using these videos to help further my students’ understanding after I teach the content myself. The use of videos to sum up information was always useful for me as a student because it was a change of scenery and kept me interested in the topic.

(word count 268)

https://www.learner.org/

Synthesis Blog #3

This week’s topic has been about properly using a textbook. I am 100% in favor of the use of textbooks, but they have grown to be so monotonous. While I understand organizations are trying to make textbooks more entertaining to promote student engagement, I think very little has changed.

During an in-class activity, my group discussed the aspects of a textbook that can be more hurtful than helpful. Nowadays these books, especially math and science textbooks, are riddled with extra fluff including multiple examples, quick history lessons, fun facts, etc. These extra components can be helpful for the most enthusiastic readers, but they don’t work for everyone. When I was in middle school, I simply wanted to know what I needed to get done, so I could hangout with my friends and play outside. Even if teachers assign the more important information, the fluff can still be distracting to someone who struggles with reading.

A tangible way that might help students that the book discusses, is focusing on reading strategies. Even with a difficult text, students can adapt and learn to find the information they need. Before reading a piece of the text, students should always question and hypothesize what they’re about to read. As someone who personally struggles with retaining information, I would advise my students to take notes. I think the real key to success is refreshing over the information the day after reading the text. The information is fresh enough to remember, but it’s already beginning to fade away.
(Word count 252)

Resource Blog #2

For my second online resource, I was pleasantly surprised by the website, Howtosmile. This website is a compilation of professionally assembled lesson plans that are oriented towards mathematics and science. The creators of this site had a vision to make math and science come alive through their videos and activities, and they particularly wanted this to be a tool for out-of-school teaching for grades K-12. Howtosmile is completely free for both teachers and students, and an account isn’t even required to access this useful tool.

                One of my favorite components, is that any teacher can post self-created lesson plans. These lesson plans then get reviewed and revised by a team of experts before they can be accessed by the public. This site offers 9 different subjects for teachers and students to choose from including astronomy, energy, climate, life sciences, chemistry, math, health, ocean literacy, and even cooking! That’s right! This site integrates math and science and the fun, life-lesson of cooking! Within these 9 broad subjects there are several subcategory topics that cover a wide range of material within the subject.

I like that this site lists the essential principles that one needs to understand before moving onto the next topic; I think it is a good way of challenging students to be diligent readers. Each lesson includes helpful information like the preparation time, learning time, cost of materials per student, and the age range that each lesson was created for. For each hands-on activity, an extensive amount of helpful, play-by-play instructions are provided, so that even the most ill-equipped teachers could complete the lesson with confidence. I would use this particular resource in my classroom. While it is more geared towards out-of-school teaching, I could still implement these lesson plans in my classroom setting. (295 word count)

https://www.howtosmile.org/

Resource Blog #1

While researching respectable, online resources for science teachers, I stumbled upon National Geographic Education. This website truly exceeded my expectations, and I will be referring back to it when I’m teaching full-time. I initially thought the website would focus more on geology, biology, and other natural sciences, but it addresses dozens of subjects, including 3 of the 4 main content areas. While National Geographic Education doesn’t focus on English, it does have an English as a Second Language category.

On the homepage, there’s an option to filter and find exactly what you’re interested in. There are lesson plans and activities already written up, and the filtering option allows teachers to choose exactly what grade level to pull these lessons from. Along with its professionally written lesson plans and interactive activities, National Geographic Education offers articles, maps, pictures, videos, and other helpful resources within the specific grade levels and subjects. There is also a vocabulary list within each lesson plan to help students learn the basic building blocks of the subject. An “Explore More” option is available if students want to continue their learning which includes more articles, websites, videos, profiles, etc.

I think this website could be extraordinarily helpful. I personally wouldn’t use its lesson plans because I would want to create my own, but I would briefly look over them to get an idea of how to start mine. The activities on National Geographic Education are both fun and educational; I could see myself using them to go along with my lessons. As I previously mentioned, this website offers material for many different subjects, so most teachers can use it!

(word count 271)

Synthesis Blog Post #1

Although I have never been intrigued by the idea of reading books, I was actually quite fascinated by the content in this chapter because humans read so differently. I know for myself I have to reread a passage several times to fully grasp it, whereas others can skim in half the amount of time it takes me and understand the text perfectly. As a teacher, I need to be cognizant that each of my students will be at their own reading levels. Not all of them will have the reading skills and background knowledge to properly decipher certain texts, and it’s my job as an educator to set achievable goals for my students and to help them reach those goals.


(Picture from BW Education)


In chapter 2, we were given samples of random texts with no background knowledge. The passage discussing a game of cricket confused me more than I’d like to admit; I thought it was talking about a video game or some fantasy land. That activity forced me to thoroughly read the text several times, and that reading process all came naturally. I don’t think through my thinking process while I read because I read hundreds of times a day. Chapter 2 has helped instill the importance of reading for myself. Whether I am teaching science or social studies, I need to be intentional about teaching basic reading skills and making sure my students understand key principles. The goal is to get my students to feel comfortable enough with the content to think on their own rather than feeling overwhelmed with completely new material and exceedingly high expectations.

(word count 267)