Group items tagged

Week 7: We are always looking for new strategies for teaching fitness to our middle school students (the article focuses on students aged 13-19). Focuses not just on their physical ability but also their cognitive abilities. When we discussed this reading we all agreed when the article said " Be aware that many teenagers have a short attention span. Create variety to keep them excited and engaged. Circuits, boot camps, strength training and partner yoga are great choices for teens." We recently did a circuit workout that included all of those things. (Stevenson, 2013)

This site has a series of videos that shows the basic features of using Inventor. This would be most beneficial to anyone that is new to Inventor.

This artifact is a student handout of Bloom's Taxonomy for Science and Math. This table gives examples of different levels of questioning: Recalling information, understanding meaning, using learning in a new situation, ability to see parts and relationships, parts of information to create new whole, and judgement based on criteria.

This site provides multiple tutorials on how to use the different features of Inventor. It also provides a section for whats new to the 2015 version.

This article talks about the use of technology in the classroom to help student in our culture and our society.

This research paper examines a strategy of using concordance lines to assist L2 students in identifying patterns in the written language to help inform a student's overall writing. The research included one control and one experimental group. Each group was taught by the same instructor, given the same amount of time and writing prompts. Students in both groups were given a set of (5) new vocabulary terms. They were each given a writing prompt prior to learning the words, just after learning the words, and a delayed post-test. The only difference between the (2) groups of students was that the control group was permitted to use a dictionary to assist them in understanding the words, and the experimental group was required to engage in a series of condordance learning activities. These activities presented the experimental group with multiple, short statements from real text, which each modeled use of one of the (5) vocab terms. Students engaged in an analysis of how those terms were used. They studied grammatical aspects of the statement directly related to the key term. Research results indicated that there was significant improvement in the experimental grouping of students in their ability to correctly use each of the (5) new vocabulary terms. Data from the pre, immediate post, and delayed post-writing assessments showed a vast improvement by the students in the experimental group. Those students were able to construct much more well-developed, descriptive statements using the key terms. There was a marked difference in their language control and the level of their writing.

This describes a new feature of Diigo which allows you to create outlines of information, including notes, links, images, videos, etc. This could be a great way to help students think about the information they are collecting and to analyze and synthesize the information they are collecting and learning about.

This article emphasizes on a new teaching strategy called the flipped model which was created to improve student involvement and academic achievement using technology to move teacher's lecture outside the traditional classroom environment. This model introduces new subject area content to students at home (prior to class) for continual review of content, and moving homework and exercises with concepts inside the classroom with learning activities. Learners within this study preferred this method over the traditional approach, as it improved instructional practices. Therefore with improved instructional practices students can be better motivated and eager to learn thus resulting in improved assessments.

This resource offers a variety of strategies to differentiate the content of the Physical Education curriculum with a focus on making the learning accessible for English Language Learners. Although this resource is targeted to middle school physical education courses, the strategies can easily be adopted to meet the needs of high school ELL students. By implementing these strategies in my physical education classes, students will be engaged in learning and able to apply new skills to further understand the content of the course.

Week 8: In our Data Action meeting we discussed intructional strategies involving simulation and games. This article explain some advantages and fears for educators implementing games into their lesson plans. Matthew Farber Social Studies Teacher, Ed Tech Leadership EdD Candidate, Author In the fall of 2014, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (a nonprofit founded by Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney) assessed the impact of the gaming in school settings.

Initially, I was very hesitant to buy into learning through online games. I know that children today spend so much time in front of screens, and I didn't want to contribute to this obsession (for some children it does border on that). I did see that BrainPop, a site which I use frequently, introduced GameUp and Spotify. I figured if BrainPop was okay with gaming for learning, then I had to give it a try. Well, my students will now beg for BrainPop and will do evey activity, quiz and graphic organizer associated with a lesson in order to get to sortify. What a great tool. I am now a firm believer.

I too see the benefits of using these online games within instruction. The games provide students with a means of engagement that we often struggle to provide students. With the growth of technology, students are becoming more in-tune with new technology and are using it more often at home. By connecting technology to instruction, we are able to meet them in the middle. There are so many tools available online that it's a shame not to use them!

This article, How We Learn. Ask The Cognitive Scientist. The Usefulness of Brief Instruction in Reading Comprehension Strategies, was found in Diigo. Written by cognitive psychology professor Daniel T. Willingham, he surfaces the importance of teaching reading comprehension strategies that students may benefit and receive all they're supposed to out of their reading.

"The Think-Pair-Share protocol is a simple way for all students to get a chance to think, talk, and learn from others. "

Think-pair-share is a great way to get students talking about information that is being taught. This is a great way to help students think about the topic that is being taught from a peer's point of view. Dimension: Student learning Rating: 2 This would work towards my fellow teammate's SMART goal,"By the end of quarter 1, 60% of students will score a 70% or higher on the Quarter 1 Literacy Assessment. This allows students to talk about what they are understanding about theme and gain new understandings.

SMART GOAL: Given 1 month of guided reading instruction, students in below grade-level reading groups will increase their reading level by at least one level. (Heather's goal) Dimension: Impact on Learning Impact: 4 Reason: Think-Pair-Share is a strategy where students have a discussion with a partner to solve a problem or answer a question posed by their teacher. After which, the students individually share their ideas/solutions with the entire class. I believe that this strategy will be useful in Heather's attempt in eliminating the reading comprehension gap in her class because asking varying levels of question encourages students to discuss new ideas that deepen their understanding. This strategy will also give Heather the opportunity to assess student understanding by monitoring their discussions. It also has the bonus factor of stimulating student engagement

Transfer of learning uses explicit teaching, group learning, generalizing, reflection and analogies and metaphors to increase student success. I think this would be a new and innovative way to increase student success on exams.

This study focuses on the stages of literacy development in Kindergarten up to 8th graders. The author states how children's minds do not learn by taking mental pictures or by memorizing but by constructing mental images over time. It also includes resources to engage students in word study at various levels.

This resource explains how children from grades K-8 develop their knowledge of words/vocabulary. It explains how teachers can instruct in a way that meets each learner's needs by expanding from what they already know, adding new content, but not too much where the teacher frustrates the learner. This resource helps with my groups SMART Target Learning goals because it meets everyone's grade level (K-8), and focuses on reading skills.

While a bit long (10 pages, including the reference list), this article provides ideas and strategies to help students with learning differences (LD) be more successful in Spanish classrooms. It references recent brain research and also reminds readers that students with LD do not have diminished intellectual capacity. The first part of the article gives background on LD, latter sections give suggestions about things Spanish teachers can do to help their students with LD be more successful in their classes.

(Week 8: Margarita, Erika, Frances) Article originally posted in Diigo. An additional source is here: http://www.academypublication.com/ojs/index.php/tpls/article/view/tpls0502225234/64 This article describes "multi-sensory approaches" and the kind of instructional strategies, informed by brain-based research, that can help students with learning disabilities succeed in learning Spanish or another second language. The article focuses on how to create meaningful inclusion and skill building in Spanish courses through general accommodations, existing resources, and learning strategies. The article also references the relative lack of scholarly research on this topic and how that negatively impacts wider knowledge of ways to help students with learning disabilities learn a foreign language. This article was of interest to our group because the SMART goal is directly tied to improving the performance of special education students in Spanish class. In some schools, special education students are often pulled from language classes to get reading support, so implementing strategies that might keep the students in language class are of interest to the Spanish teachers. While several of the strategies discussed were already known, there were a couple that reinforced practices that have already been implemented as a result of our group's data action plan and at least one new idea that our practicing teacher would like to try. Reference Tolbert, J. B., Killu, K., & Lazarus, B. D. (2015). A framework for supporting students with learning disabilities in Spanish courses: connecting learning characteristics and instructional methods. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(2), 225-234. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0502.01

(I tried to edit my previous comment with some corrected info, but the changes wouldn't stick, so I am just reposting again) (Week 8: Margarita, Erika, Frances) The original link for this article was to a standalone PDF link. An additional source is here: http://www.academypublication.com/ojs/index.php/tpls/article/view/tpls0502225234/64 Students with learning disabilities commonly either avoided or have been discouraged from taking World Language classes. This article describes "multi-sensory approaches" and the kind of instructional strategies, informed by brain-based research, that can help students with learning disabilities succeed in learning Spanish or another second language. The article focuses on how to create meaningful inclusion and skill building in Spanish courses through general accommodations, existing resources, and learning strategies. The article also references the relative lack of scholarly research on this topic and how that negatively impacts wider knowledge of ways to help students with learning disabilities learn a foreign language. This article was of interest to our group because the SMART goal is directly tied to improving the performance of special education students in Spanish class. The goal of the world languages department is for every student to learn one of the languages taught, yet that is not always possible since special education students who are not meeting the reading goals are frequently pulled from language classes to get reading support. Implementing strategies and other instructional moves that might keep the students in language class, are of interest to the teachers. While several of the multisensory strategies discussed were already known, there were a couple that reinforced practices that have already been implemented as a result of our gr

SMART Goal: Given 1 month of guided reading instruction, students in below grade-level reading groups will increase their reading level by at least one level. This article explains how implementing consistent guided reading in the classroom can improve reading levels. This directly relates to my SMART Goal because it gives suggestions on how to organize and implement the difficult task of guided reading groups.

Active Growth & Youth Programs (AGYP) is a network of employers, entrepreneurs, institutions, and education/training stakeholders whose purpose is simple: focus on youth so as to build inclusive growth leverage on the continent through Entrepreneurship, Business and its partners.

Physical education is shifting gears in a major way to help students become more comfortable and successful in PE. Introducing technology is a new way to engage students in PE other than just rolling the ball out on to the floor. Recognizing that obesity is a huge problem in the US, teachers are turning to technology to help motivate students and present PE in a new fun light.