Tell me about your final project/portfolio..how is it coming along? Do you have any problems?
To be honest I haven't had much time to work on my final project and the portfolio. With the weekly assignments and the blog, along with work from all my other classes, all I have been able to do is the work thats been assigned to be passed in. I have done the first lesson plan, which is an internet workshop, along with the actual handout that will be passed out to the students to do the internet workshop. I have also started the overview/narrative for the final project and I signed up for the date that I will present. I'm still not quite sure what activity I will present for the class. The internet workshop is all finished and ready to do, but it isn't as exciting as the Amusement Park ride that I'm planning to finish the unit on the digestive system. I've been able to explore the SketchIt program a bit, but I haven't written the lesson plan or designed the handout for the students yet. I think it would be really neat to present the Amusement Park ride activity to the class because it covers a program that we won't be covering in class (and a program that I think is super fun).
I've also decided to try and incorporate the Inspirations! program, mainly because it has an excellent template for structure/functions that I can definitely use in the Digestive System Unit. I'm debating whether or not I want to tie it into the Internet Workshop, the Amusement Park Ride activity, or make it a lesson plan all on its own. I think that the best way to incorporate it would be during the middle of the unit as a lesson on its own, but I don't think I'll have to time to create a whole new lesson plan.
Time Time Time!! I need more time :)
I haven't had time to work on my portfolio either, other than the small amounts that we have done in class creating the actual page and titles. I'm still somewhat wary as to what to write for a paragraph on the different title pages, but that will be something that I'll have to sit down and really think about. I have been trying to figure out which project should go where and I have attached a couple of projects already. I'm looking forward to having more time in class, rather than weekly projects to work on both the final project and the portfolio.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
The Reluctant Learner...
"How will you handle the reluctant learner? This week, we talked about the learner and learning styles. We addressed the fact that there are many different ways to reach students. For this week's blog, I want to give you a fictional situation. You are the teacher of an 8th grade English class. Your class is reading the novel "Huck Finn" by Mark Twain. You have a student named Renee in your class that has some significant challenges. She is living in her 3rd foster family in the past 4 years having been removed from her birth family because of severe neglect. She has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and is receiving speech and language services for a speech/language disorder where she has a difficult time processing what you are saying to her (receptive language). You do note that she has a significant strength in math. You have assigned the class the task of creating a keynote presentation that highlights the main events from each chapter. You have broken the class into groups of 3. Each group has 4 chapters they need to present. Their task is to find a picture online that could possibly illustrate an event or character in that chapter and to note the most important events of the chapter. When this project is complete, your hope is that you can put all of the chapters together and have a keynote summary of the text. Renee is working with a girl named Liz who is a straight A student and a boy name Josh who is the class clown. Renee is refusing to engage with the other members of the group. She says that the activity is "stupid" and she doesn't like the other two members of her group. What do you do? What action do you take to try to get Renee to engage?"
First of all, putting an attention deficit disorder child in a group with the class clown is a really bad idea. Josh, the class clown, will most likely distract Renee and make things that much harder for her. Renee also may be intimidated by Liz, who is obviously a better worker than she is. Although Liz may be able to supplement/aide Renee, Renee is to much affected by other people to find that helpful. Instead, she probably sees Liz as not only intimidating, but a constant reminder that she is inadequate. It is important for Renee to experience teamwork, but it is especially hard to make her work with others at this time. Renee has not felt kindness or love from other people, so she will probably feel that nobody cares and the everybody is against her rather than helping her. Renee also has a hard time understanding what you say to her, so it would be very important that you supplied her with a written copy of the instructions. A bulleted list of what she needs to do to accomplish the project might help her see the big picture.
I think a better idea for Renee would be for her to work independentaly on her own work, and then when she is done she can present her work to the other members of the group. To provide some socialization/team work, she can discuss with her group how she can incorporate her own independent work with the work of the other two members. Renee has a strength in math, so instead of presenting the material using a bulleted list or paragraph summary like the other kids will do, it might be easier for her if she did something like a timeline or graph. Its essential to find some way to incorporate her strength of math into the project to make it less challenging for her to do and to get her more engaged. By allowing her to do something that she is good at instead of something like a Keynote presentation which will further show her ADD and speech/language disorder, she is more likely to be engaged and enjoy doing the work. Also, when she finally completes the work, she will feel more proud of herself for doing a good job then she would if she provided a project that wasn't up to par. Instead of working with Keynote, Renee could design a timeline of events over the four chapters or create a graph that shows specific parts of each chapter. For example, the graph could contain categories like characters involved, setting, conflict, resolution, and exciting events. After doing the graph, either by hand or using the computer, the members of her group could incorporate it into the Keynote presentation. This allows Renee to be a participant of the group without being distracted by them or having to communicate verbally a lot to with them (she can communicate visually instead).
Lastly, you need to be extra sensitive with Renee. She has been neglected and she has a hard and unstable home environment. You should take into consideration that the content material might be too much for her to handle at the moment, or that some of the things that Huck Fin may be going through in the book rings too close to home for her. It's important that you give her extra support with the project, maybe providing extra time outside of class for her to come in and work on it together with you. You should be sensitive and understanding, and never ever get impatient with her.
First of all, putting an attention deficit disorder child in a group with the class clown is a really bad idea. Josh, the class clown, will most likely distract Renee and make things that much harder for her. Renee also may be intimidated by Liz, who is obviously a better worker than she is. Although Liz may be able to supplement/aide Renee, Renee is to much affected by other people to find that helpful. Instead, she probably sees Liz as not only intimidating, but a constant reminder that she is inadequate. It is important for Renee to experience teamwork, but it is especially hard to make her work with others at this time. Renee has not felt kindness or love from other people, so she will probably feel that nobody cares and the everybody is against her rather than helping her. Renee also has a hard time understanding what you say to her, so it would be very important that you supplied her with a written copy of the instructions. A bulleted list of what she needs to do to accomplish the project might help her see the big picture.
I think a better idea for Renee would be for her to work independentaly on her own work, and then when she is done she can present her work to the other members of the group. To provide some socialization/team work, she can discuss with her group how she can incorporate her own independent work with the work of the other two members. Renee has a strength in math, so instead of presenting the material using a bulleted list or paragraph summary like the other kids will do, it might be easier for her if she did something like a timeline or graph. Its essential to find some way to incorporate her strength of math into the project to make it less challenging for her to do and to get her more engaged. By allowing her to do something that she is good at instead of something like a Keynote presentation which will further show her ADD and speech/language disorder, she is more likely to be engaged and enjoy doing the work. Also, when she finally completes the work, she will feel more proud of herself for doing a good job then she would if she provided a project that wasn't up to par. Instead of working with Keynote, Renee could design a timeline of events over the four chapters or create a graph that shows specific parts of each chapter. For example, the graph could contain categories like characters involved, setting, conflict, resolution, and exciting events. After doing the graph, either by hand or using the computer, the members of her group could incorporate it into the Keynote presentation. This allows Renee to be a participant of the group without being distracted by them or having to communicate verbally a lot to with them (she can communicate visually instead).
Lastly, you need to be extra sensitive with Renee. She has been neglected and she has a hard and unstable home environment. You should take into consideration that the content material might be too much for her to handle at the moment, or that some of the things that Huck Fin may be going through in the book rings too close to home for her. It's important that you give her extra support with the project, maybe providing extra time outside of class for her to come in and work on it together with you. You should be sensitive and understanding, and never ever get impatient with her.
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