English Language Learners- Brave School Children.

English Language Learners are the children in American schools who are learning English as a second language. This semester I will be learning how to create curriculum and lesson plans that foster a positive learning experience for these children. I will strive to gain an understanding of what English Language Learners are experiencing on a daily basis. With this understanding I can pave the way for these precious children to learn and grow. I will keep you updated as I move through this semester. If you have any great ideas please feel free to share them with me. I am excited to be diving into this very important experience.

Are you a Computational Thinker?


This week we are talking about computational thinking in education. If it seems like technology and computer skills have become a huge driving force of our world you would be right! All you need to do is turn on the TV to see that knowing technology and digital tools is the new thinking. So what exactly is computational thinking? This last week I had some exposure to a program from Carnegie Melon Institute called Alice. What I knew of Carnegie Melon is that my brilliant nephew went there and he now has an incredible job creating robots that go into remote places for the military. They search out potentially dangerous areas. Most recently he was working on a human robot which was featured in the Popular Science magazine. This robot was being designed to go into fires and rescue where a human couldn't. How does all that work? Computational thinking! That's right, we as educators are raising a generation of students who will be the next great computational thinkers of our time! You see, all the work my nephew David is doing requires a great deal of programming and skilled thinking of how to make his ideas come to life. So my thought is, that we as educators must become familiar with this kind of thinking in some form or the other if we are going to launch these brilliant minds into the future with confidence. 

I created a learning experience on the Alice program that taught first grade subtraction. The game was centered around the story or song of the Five Little Monkeys. The work that went into this program was phenominal! The art of thinking through each movement of the monkeys and placing the right codes to get the monkey to roll or fall off the bed was challenging to say the least! I worked for hours to get the codes right. However I learned a tremendous amount in that time as well. I was continually thinking of what it was I needed to change and asking myself questions to reason out the next step. The amount of critical thinking that goes into this kind of work is tremendous. 

So if you ever get the opportunity to sit down and play around on Alice I would highly recommend it. You will gain a whole new appreciation for the careers that involve computational thinking as well as improve your brain power!

Alice Program Website

The National Council of Teachers of English

As a future English and Language Arts teacher I want to strive to be the best I can be. One way I will do that is by becoming involved in organizations that offer support and advocacy for my profession. One of these support systems is the National Council of Teachers of English. This council's mission statement is as follows,

"The Council promotes the development of literacy, the use of language to construct personal and public worlds and to achieve full participation in society, through the learning and teaching of English and the related arts and sciences of language.“

As a member of this organization I will benefit in many ways. Some of these are benefits are:

• NCTE provides an avenue for teachers to influence public policy and legislation in the public education field. The organization also keeps members informed and up to date on current education issues. 
• NCTE has made available to it's members lesson plans and many teacher resources to use in the classroom through readwritethink.org
• NCTE provides teacher growth and continuing education seminars via face to face at conventions, on webinars and facilitated online courses.

The National Council of Teachers of English has alot to offer in addition to what I named above. The Council was organized on December 2, 1911 and has remained strong since. Originally the council was formed to deal with college entrance requirements and how they affected high school English learning. Knowing the struggles our education system faces today we can see the relevence in this kind of organization. We need a place to go as a professional to make our voices heard and to organize support for our profession. We need the networking and collaboration with other teachers that is available through this kind of council. 

I encourage you to take a moment and look around the National Council of Teachers of English website to see what is available to you. 

Spoken Feedback or Written Feedback

When you are receiving feedback do you prefer someone to relay it to you by writing or by verbal, face to face communication? I personally prefer written feedback for the following reasons:

•  Written feedback can be delivered without emotion or tone.
•  I feel that I can reflect on the feedback with objectivity. 
• Another plus of written feedback is that you can return to it later when working on a project. This will help you remember what it is that needed correction or what it was that stood out in a positive way. You can capitalize on the good and correct the bad.
•  Verbal feedback is effective only as long as the person giving feedback has the ability to choose constructive and helpful words on the spot. When writing you have time to evaluate what you have written to a person to determine whether you are coming across constructive or just critical. We want to always aim for constructive.

Creating a feedback ladder is a great way to give written feedback or verbal feedback. When giving verbal feedback with the written guidelines in place you avoid straying into unproductive talk. The goal of constructive feedback is to affirm another’s work, give helpful insight that could improve the work and to help rethink things that detract from the work.

Verbal feedback can be useful in several ways. For example, if you do not quite understand what a person is trying to convey you can ask for clarification right then. You also have the opportunity to bounce thoughts off of one another and brainstorm new ideas for improvement. 

 Regardless of how you prefer feedback it is very important to be open to ideas from others in an effort to produce a quality, final product. 

Multiple Intelligences- YOU ARE SMART!

Today I learned about Multiple Intelligences. This is a fascinating study that I definitely want to learn more about. Howard Gardner developed the theory that there are eight different intelligences. Every individual possesses all of them but has a dominant one. Weaker intelligences can be strengthened with instruction and use. Traditionally intelligence was thought to be measured by standard testing in core subjects such as math, science and language arts. However, the theory of Multiple Intelligences allows us to see that there is more to be considered. As a teacher the discovery of a student’s MI can direct teaching strategies in order to have a stronger impact on learning. I believe learners will develop an enthusiasm for knowledge when their MI and style of learning is incorporated into aspects of the curriculum. The chart below is found at http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/intro/quickreview.html. I took an assessment (link found below the chart) and discovered that my dominant intelligence is language. This was not a surprise to me as I have always loved everything to do with language arts. The dominant intelligence will be the one that the individual learns the best by. Following close behind language I am strong in intrapersonal intelligence and naturalist intelligence. Once these things were identified and validated I immediately felt a sense of confidence. I think that students will feel the same when they see that they are valued for who they are and not just for their scores on a state benchmark test. 

	Sensitive to language, meanings, and the relationship of words	Vocabulary activities, grammar, poetry, essays and plays
	Keen observer, able to think in three dimensions, likes to use metaphors	Graphs, charts, color codes, guided imagery, pictures, posters, mind maps
	Abstract thinking, counting, organizing; prefers logical structures	Critical thinking activities, breaking words into smaller parts and reassembling them
	Good body control and fine motor skills; often active and animated	Needs "hands-on" learning opportunities, like games, skits, and plays
	Sensitive to rhythm, pitch, intonation, and can remember tunes and rhythms easily	Likes poems, plays, jazz chants, rap music, songs, and musically guided imagery
	Sensitive to others’ moods, feelings, and motivations; outgoing and interactive	Likes to talk with people, enjoys discussion groups, good at verbal problem solving
	Has a sense of self, able to understand and access one’s own feelings	Likes poetry, meditation, guided imagery, journal writing, story telling
	Sensitive to nature and environment; knows the names of rocks, flowers, birds; loves to be outdoors	Likes to work in the garden, read plants and animals, study habits of fish or birds, read nature magazines, go hiking, walk outside

To access a Multiple Intelligences assessment click on the link below.

http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html 

This is a chart of the MI's in my computer apps class. It represents real people with real intelligence. It is a image that represents diversity in learning styles. From just looking at this chart we can see that there is a wide variety of MI's represented. When a teacher employs the MI theory to crafting lessons he or she will be able to close the gap and in some form or another reach each student.

SWEET!

Imagine you are trying to explain the taste of sweet to someone who has never had the taste before. How do you explain sweet? Remember they have never had anything sweet before! As you can imagine this would be rather difficult. The only way to understand the taste of sweet is if you have had experienced it first hand. The same is true with education and learning. Students will gain so much more when they are hands on with their learning. Technology based learning is one of the fascinating ways to do this for students! As they explore what the possibilities are with different learning experiences they will grow tremendously. They will become confident and will take the initiative to reach goals as they set them. Hands on learning is fun and exciting! With technology today students can get beyond text books and open doors to the world around them. So jump on in and give them an experience that is indeed "sweet"!! Stay tuned as we explore different ways to integrate technology into the classroom. 

Blog Away

Good morning! I have been brainstorming some great ideas on how to use a blog in the classroom. Days of the week blogging is one creative way to open each day with your students. A short and simple blog can be a fun way to start or end a language arts class. Each day the student will have a fun prompt to stem off of such as "Finally Friday" or "Marvelous Monday". The student uses the prompt to begin creating a short, fun piece, fiction or nonfiction. It can be a poem, short story, or an on going story from day to day. The only requirement is to be creative and practice writing skills. I believe this would build confidence and open a students imagination.