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Early Learning Central

Early Learning Central is a great resource for differentiation in the Early Years classroom. They talk about having a deep understanding of the students and an awareness of the stage of readiness that each student is currently in. Each day, we need to think "are the students ready for this lesson?" Quite often, in any class, providing choice is the answer to differentiation. Simply put, kids know what they know and they know what they like. It is a whole lot easier for us to provide choices and see what kids choose and how they perform - than to try to predict every possible outcome and assign work.

Running Records

Oh, eworkshop. Do you have everything?!

Of course we can't forget assessment

I think the biggest point here is that the information we gather during assessment is key to programming for each student's individual needs. Why bother teaching a lesson if nobody needs to learn it? The kids are the reason we are here. Sure, we need to follow guidelines set out by the government. There is curriculum to cover. Pressure. Standardized testing. But, at the end of the day, if the students have not been adequately challenged - and LEARNED something, well why do we bother teaching at all? To ensure that the data we gather is useful, we also need to remember that assessment needs to be differentiated. If a student is not great at writing, but we keep giving him a pencil and expecting him to retell a story - we are not going to have an accurate result. In this example, an oral retell is just fine - because we want to know if he is connecting and inferring, not how well he writes!

 My future students will:

- be able to set goals for themselves based on the clear and kid-friendly expectations I provide for them
-  know what level four work looks like because it will be modelled for them before they give it a go
-  receive lessons that are tailored to each of them according to ongoing assessment
-  understand the feedback they are given, and use it immediately to set goals for improvement
-  have choice – how to practice new skills, and how to showcase what they know

The future me will:

-  be supportive and attentive
-  set clear goals based on success criteria, and plan smarter
-  provide timely and useful feedback – this is the only way that students can know if they are on the right track
-  involve students more in the planning phase of my lessons and units
-  feel confident that my students will learn and be challenged appropriately 

 

Anchor Chart

So I was surfing pinterest today, and I came across a great anchor chart. I mean, I have used anchor charts and I am quite artistic, but I have no idea why I didn't bother to make my anchor charts look fancy and interesting! This teacher's blog was a bit inspiring. I think I will use this inspiration to make some fun and useful anchor charts of my own :) http://www.teachertrap.com/search?q=reading+is+thinking Reading is thinking

Students who have special needs, or are ELL, will benefit from visuals on anchor charts. When I go back and use the charts with my students, I can point to the pictures and words.

Typing Class

I know this is a blog about reading, but I came across a neat idea about writing today (and the two go together, right?) Typing lessons can be a great way to disguise modelling good writing in the older grades. The teacher can use a piece of writing that students have been working with in class - this way the texts are already levelled to meet the needs of each student. The piece of text should take about 5-10 minutes for the student to type. It may take a few 'typing tests' to discover the right number of words each student needs. Set the timer and tell students to type as much as they can in the time allowed. When time is up, they can compare what they typed with the original, looking carefully for punctuation and spelling, etc.

This seemed like it might be a worthwhile task, as it provides a fun and digital way to practice a piece of modelled text. The teacher who I observed using this technique, really had the kids excited about improving their typing. She downplayed the modelled writing aspect - it was grade 7 after all. The kids didn't groan 'we've read this before!" In fact they seemed glad to have the inside scoop. The class had a number of students on IEP (many of whom were boys) and it was great for them to have the opportunity to practice a type of modelled writing without it seeming 'babyish'. I'm going to add this to my repertoire...

Thinking back to boys literacy, this type of task provides technology and a challenge - it is a bit like a game. Once we start thinking outside the box, we will reach the boys in our class.

The Learning Circle

The learning Circle is a series of documents for teachers.Students will benefit from participating in meaningful experiences that broaden their knowledge and understanding of First Nations in Canada. http://www.etfo.ca/resources/forteachers/pages/default.aspx

It is absolutely critical that each student feels like part of our classroom community. Using resources from many cultures will not only help all students feel like they belong, but it will promote a culture of acceptance and celebration of difference.