In-Class Portfolio

Biopoem

Graphic Organizer

Lesson Cover Page

Lesson Plan

Rubric

Handout-graphic organizer

In-Class Portfolio: Annotated web site

Reading A-Z

• Teacher lesson plan site
• Audience: Educators
• Grade level: K-5
• Subject: Reading

A comprehensive resource for accessing ready-made lesson plans for the 5 components of reading. It also has a teacher corner which is filled with tools to maximize the effectiveness of Reading A-Z.


Raz Kids
   

• Teacher and student resource site
• Audience: students
• Grade level: K-3
• Subject: Fluency and comprehension

Students improve their reading skills by listening  for modeled fluency, reading for practice, recording their reading and checking comprehension. Teachers can record running records and record comprehension through provided quizzes.


Vocabulary A-Z

• Teacher resource/ lesson plans
• Audience: teachers
• Grade level: K-6
• Subject: Vocabulary building

Building vocabulary for remedial readers, ESL, special education students, and struggling readers. Teachers can use pre-made lessons or construct their own lessons. Includes graphic organizers, games and activities.


Lesson Plans ws

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• Teacher lesson plans & resource
• Audience: Teachers
• Grade level: preK-12
• Subject: Content areas

Strictly lesson plans! Areas broken down into Health & Physical, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Visual Arts.


To Learn English

• Teacher lesson plan/resource & student resource
• Audience: Teacher and student
• Grade level: Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced
• Subject: Language Acquisition 

Provides lessons for teachers as well as ESL students to develop all areas of the English language. It also provides tests for assessments, leisure activities, useful tools and placement tests for new students.

School Express

• Teacher lesson plans
• Audience: Teachers, home-schoolers, parents, children & grandparents
• Grade level: K-8
• Subject: Content areas

Thematic units for grades K-8 in all the content areas. Allows opportunity to create your own puzzles, worksheets, word searches and word scrambles.


Wonderville

• Student interaction
• Audience: Teachers, families & students
• Grade level: 1-9
• Subject: Science

Interactive destination to discover the exciting world of science. Provides activities, games, videos and comics.



Fun Brain

• Student interaction
• Audience: Students and families
• Grade level: PK-8
• Subject: Content areas

Safe gaming website that is academically based.


Fact Monster

• Teacher resource/ student interaction
• Audience: Student, teacher & family
• Grade level: K-8
• Subject: Content areas

Comprehensive website of facts, games, dictionary, interactive activities and atlas.


International Public Library

• Student resource mainly, some teacher and parent sites
• Audience: Students
• Grade level: age 4-11
• Subject: Content areas

Library reference website geared for  children.

"Caught" or "Taught"

 The "big B-Balance"

  We all agreed that we find ourselves being distracted with all the pop up ads, and constant usage of cell phones, texting and other modern day technology. We are becoming more instantaneous people and find it hard to wait for anything for long periods of time. Projects that take time to finish, we are growing impatient with. This includes reading! Children are not being "trained" or taught to apply themselves to read. They don't take the time to reflect and think about the text, or how it may affect them. They can not use their critical thinking abilities because they don't really grasp the whole text. There has to be that Balance where students can put aside all technology to maintain focus. They need to be taught how important being able to focus is for them, and that it is okay to use technology, but in moderation. There is a time and place for everything, and teachers need to grasp the time we have with our students to impact them as much as possible. We need to find topics of interest that will motivate the students to want to pay attention, or make the effort to learn on a more deeper level, without any distractions. There is plenty of time to socialize outside of school, in school is focus time.

All About Me

wikipedia review

 I was not well versed in the Wikipedia saga before reading this article. When I first started reading it, I was not sure that this philosophy of having multiple authors, continually modifying the topic was a valid form of research material. However, as I read on, it became clear to me that Wikipedia is not meant to be a sole source of research. It is a tool to activate readers to become more critical in their thinking. It can be used as a introduction to a research project, to establish an overview of the material, as well as allow the researcher to focus in on one or two subjects within the broader realm of material. It allows the researcher to pose questions against the article, spark their inquisitive mind and motivate them to discover more valid references. 

It is a great tool for developing critically thinking minds, however, this practice requires very explicit instruction by the teacher. It can not be assumed that they understand what it means to question the material, and verify the information. The teacher needs to model this by leading them to the references of the article, and reviewing some of the sites to ensure the validity of the reference. They also need to stop during the reading of the article to ask questions about what is taking place, and have the ability and skills to research their questions for further insight into the material. 

Another piece of Wikipedia that seems to provide some positive reaction, as we discussed within our group, is the opportunity for the students to add a piece  of writing to an article. There are guidelines that need to be followed, but that would provide guidance and direction for the writing project. It would require them to learn how to write, edit and rewrite appropriately for this particular type of work. For many students, this would be an exciting endeavor, knowing that what they have to say is important enough to be published. 

Technology Autobiography

My first recollection of technology in my life was when I was about seven or eight years old. My father bought a movie camera and a screen. We were so excited when he would use the camera, to record my siblings and myself playing, or celebrating holidays. Afterwards, we would sit down together with some popcorn for a "movie night" watching ourselves, laughing, and joking with each other. It was interesting to watch, because back then there was no sound with the movies, so we would adlib as if watching a silent movie. It created some great family memories.

Shortly after this time, my friend purchased the Atari video game called "Pong", which was a black and white screen, simulating a tennis game. This was the excitement of the neighborhood. There was a vertical line on each side of the screen, and a small square, meant to be the ball, would bounce back and forth across the screen. The joystick would allow you to move the line up or down to block the "ball". There were no other visuals to this game. It was actually quite boring to look at, however, this game entertained us for a whole summer! To think that we could play on the television was such an amazing concept.

Following this invention came the cordless phone. People were in awe of a phone that did not hook into a wall and allowed for so much more movement during a conversation. It was not so small, actually, it was almost too big to manage comfortably, but the newness of it made it quite attractive to purchase. In addition to the new type of phone, the dials changed from being rotary dials to a touch-tone format. What a concept, more freedom and quicker service!

As I grew into my teen years, and began to listen to music, the introduction of the Walkman became very popular. We had the ability to go anywhere, or do anything and listen to music, via a cassette, on a battery run mini machine. People were using them when they exercised, drove their car, walked to school, etc. they were so portable (kind of).

Movies were also a big area of technological development during my lifetime. With the invention of the VCR, people were now able to stay home and watch a movie, for a fraction of the cost of taking the whole family to the movie theater. Of course, you could not see a current movie, but for a family who did not have a lot of money, we enjoyed watching the older movies on a Saturday night all together.

From these technological advances, proceeded the CD player, Blue Tooth technology, modern cell phones, DVD players, not only in the home, but also available in automobiles, I Pods, I Phones, Touch Phones, I Pads, Smart Boards, and the internet. The Internet provides information with lightening fast speed at your fingertips any time you want. It allows you to talk to people, and physically see them through Skype, even when they are hundreds of miles away.

Many technological developments have occurred in my lifetime, some of which I have not even mentioned, and there are still more to come. Quicker, better, stronger, more compact forms still waiting to be discovered. What an exciting time! Or is it?