Art education can lessen the achievement gap, specifically with students from low socioeconomic backgrounds (SES). Unfortunately, an 'opportunity gap' exists with low-income students, which makes them less likely to have access to art education as compared to their higher-income peers.
Blog post: This is a collection of educational resources by high school teacher and prolific blogger and author, Larry Ferlazzo.
These resources are organized by subject, such as art, music, science and Web 2.0. Each link takes you to a blog post that describes a resource, activity or lesson and how it can be used in the classroom. Be sure to scroll all the way down the page to see all the many subject matter resources available!
Students of EDTC 615 might wish to start their Strategies Search here!
Week 7:
The site provides a colorful, engaging environment for mastering math skills. You can sign up for an account or 30 day trail. Educators can sign up for full account benefits with (e.g. student progress tracking and reports; and an awards system for learners for completing certain goals). *Very good site for remedial students learning math and language arts.
This site also includes a page in Language arts for 2nd to 10th graders.Practice math online with IXL. The site offers thousands of online math practice skills covering pre-K to high school, with questions that adapt to a student's individual proficiency.
This site provides students and teachers with different interactive games and resources that can be used to enhance the development of different math skills as well as promote fluency with fact recall. Using this program could help our students when we are investigating our Exploratory Question by integrating this program into their math fact practice time in the computer lab.
I used to use IXL with my students for reinforcement, the only problem I had when using it was it locks students out after a specific number of questions. There was only so much practice for allotted topics which sometimes was not enough extra practice.
Free users I believe get 10 questions a day, but what I like most about this is that when a student gets a question wrong, it provides a pretty in depth explanation. Great resource.
Why reinvent the wheel when making PowerPoint presentations? This online tool is used to upload and download PowerPoint presentations and visuals on all sorts of topics. Users may search for an already created PowerPoint on a subject they may teach and download it for their own teaching purposes.
Although this online source is open to anyone, it can be used in any classroom content or subject area under discussion; however, a teacher may need to customize sample PowerPoint presentations to fit their classroom needs. For example, if a language arts teacher needed to give notes on grammar and parts of speech, they may search for a PowerPoint already made including that information. This tool saves teacher time and helps spark ideas!
This is pretty neat. It reminds me of the "SmartExchange," resource site for SmartBoards. Only this would be the powerpoint/presentation equivalent. Nice find.
The tool I posted is Slideshare, a presentation platform where users can post PowerPoint presentations they have created for their classrooms or even businesses. I have used this tool in the past in order to find ready made notes presentations I could present to my 6th grade language arts students. The great thing about about Slideshare is that I can use already created PPTs and customize them to fit my students needs. I definitely recommend this site for the teacher who just doesn't seem to have extra time to create all new notes presentations. Don't reinvent the wheel!
(Week 8: Javon and Kim)
I found this article on UMUC in the online Library.
Traditionally, classrooms are not assessment-centered focus. Most often students take an assessment after learning specific content, but in an assessment-centered learning environment, the teacher and students have a road map for learning and is more positive. Author and Professor, Steven L. Turner, PhD., raises an article on creating an assessment-centered learning classroom. He does this by presenting PILOT -an acronym for an assessment strategy.
PILOT Assessment Strategy
P- Preassessment
The purpose of Preassessment is to evaluate a student's knowledge about a particular subject that will be taught. Turner suggesting asking a series of questions to gain this information (i.e. "What is the student's current knowledge about this unit", "What students are interested in this topic?" etc.). Preassessment surfaces student thinking and information that helpful for teachers and those designing curriculum and assessments.
I-Identify student strengths and areas of need (readiness)
Identifying the areas where students are strong enables them to be more engaged in the topic. Students are also able to self-assess to identify where they presently are, become aware of their challenged areas, and what it will take for their progress.
L-link differentiated classroom learning experiences to district standards and learning goals
Linking the classroom learning experience to standards and benchmark testing have proven to be successful. Curriculum that links with the Common Core Standards - what students in K-12 should learn in language arts and math, strengthens foundational knowledge for students.
O-offer multiple in-class assessment opportunities
Offering multiple assessment methods allows the student to take control of their learning while putting them in the "driver's seat." Although this step could be time consuming it shows the student that the instructor cares and is conc
This article highlights the benefits of engaging in school partnerships to enrich student learning. With high-art experiences, underprivileged students can improve their performance in various subjects and strengthen the connection with community and learning.
This 90-page publication offers research-based findings on learning and teaching music, including teacher strategies and discussion on essential learner outcomes from the Maryland state music curriculum.
Animated Science, Health, Technology, Math, Social Studies, Arts & Music and English movies, quizzes, activity pages and school homework help for K-12 kids, aligned with state standards
Useful for middle or high school teachers, this kid-friendly, interactive website offers brief activities and narratives related to Greek theatre. I am currently using it to explain how the Oracle at Delphi became Apollo's seer.
Debategraph is a fantastic tool for individual and group study. It is perfect for organizing thoughts, ideas and facts. You can create bullet points and subcategories of information. On Debategraph you can map your ideas and collaborate with team members. I used Debate graph on my website in 605 as a language arts tool. Its a an ideal tool for brainstorming and organizing a persuasive or informative argument. Students can also present information using the debategraph as a visual.
Best,
Denee Devenish
This resource provides teachers with printable activities that can help students build skills linked to the foundations of reading such as:
- Vowels
-Word Families
-Sight Words
-Alphabet
-Phonemic Awareness
-Syllables
Grade Level: PK-2
Most of the resources are available for free, although some of the resources are available for purchase.
The article shares a variety of ways to implement Early Literacy Skills into a Pre-K or Kindergarten classroom.
The resource provides a number of engaging opportunities for students to choose special times to focus on particular skills in your classroom.
Navigate the inContext universe to explore reading, writing, and other language arts skills. You'll discover a giant network of terms, definitions, and activities; add your own examples to clarify terms; create, define, and illustrate new terms; and demonstrate what you've learned about a particular topic by writing a short paragraph in response to a summary question.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1.b Support claim(s) with clear reasons and relevant evidence, using credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
("Week 7" Group members : Ruchel and Beth)
This website has strategies for teaching the alphabet aside from the common "letter of the week" style.
This website can be used as a resource for alphabet related assessments in the Pre-k and Kindergarten classroom.
(Week 7: Ruchel and Beth)
This journal article is accessible through the link given above by accessing the UMUC library.
This journal article discuss practical strategies to help with teaching the alphabet. The importance of the alphabet for early literacy skills is discussed in the article. The article stresses the flaw with the popular "letter of the week" way of teaching the alphabet including the fact that this method takes 26 weeks just to cover the alphabet as well as the fact that if students know a number of letters those weeks are a waste of valuable class time.
Teachers can use this article to further their instructional practices in the early childhood classroom by focusing on EAK (Enhanced Alphabet Knowledge Instruction) which "emphasizes identifying the letter name
and sound, recognizing the letter in text, and producing the
letter form, through flexible, distributed cycles of review
based on factors that influence acquisition of alphabet knowledge" (Jones, Clark & Reutzel, 2013). "Rather than the traditional method of one cycle of massed instruction, EAK instruction advocates teaching letters through multiple, distributed instructional cycles which allows for letters to be introduced, practiced, and revisited several times, as needed, during the school year" (Jones et al., 2013).
References
Jones, C., Clark, S., & Reutzel, D. (2013). Enhancing Alphabet Knowledge Instruction: Research Implications and Practical Strategies for Early Childhood Educators. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41(2), 81-89. doi:10.1007/s10643-012-0534-9
(Week Nine: Ruchel and Beth)
This article is accessible through the UMUC library via Document Express.
This journal article is about differentiated instruction when it comes to teaching students the alphabet. The article highlights the fact that "Early literacy experiences vary widely... and children show substantial differences in their alphabet knowledge development. Thus, children in the same early childhood classroom may exhibit differing levels of alphabet knowledge" (Piasta, 2014).
Teachers can use this article to further their instructional practice by using the strategies and assessments discussed in the article to work with students in ways that will help the individual child learn all the letters verses a whole class approach to teaching the alphabet. The article discuses how, "The familiarity of children with letters included in their own first names, for example, has long been observed" (Piasta, 2014). But when it comes to teaching the alphabet in a whole class approach teachers are not acknowledging "differences across letters, often providing the same amount and types of instructional activities for each of the 26 letters irrespective of the ease or difficulty of learning a particular letter (Piasta, 2014). The article provides an idea that all "Early childhood educators may wish to assess all the children in their classrooms or may first use established alphabet screening assessments" (Piasta, 2014). It is also helpful for educators "To conduct a diagnostic alphabet assessment, an educator presents a child with each of the 26 letters and asks the child to supply the name and/or sound for each letter. The educator marks whether the child supplied a correct name and/or sound. Although the assessment can be scored in terms of the total number of correct letter names or sounds (i.e., 0 to 26), most important for diagnostic purposes are which letter names and sounds the child knows (Piasta, 2014)...
...The article finds that small group learning "has been demonstrated to be more effective than whole-class or even one-to-one instruction in supporting young children's early literacy development (Piasta, 2014). The article also stresses the fact that educators should "plan and use effective teaching practices to deliver alphabet instruction on the selected letters. Alphabet instruction can take place in many fun, engaging, and authentic contexts" (Piasta, 2014). In closing, "Outside of planned alphabet instruction, educators may also take advantage of additional "teachable moments" to review and reinforce children's alphabet learning whenever these occur" (Piasta, 2014).
References
Piasta, S. B. (2014). Moving to Assessment-Guided Differentiated Instruction to Support Young Children's Alphabet Knowledge. Reading Teacher, 68(3), 202-211. doi:10.1002/trtr.1316