Homework should be given at every grade level, but in moderation. It should be given for extra practice and not just because you can. Using a specific homework structure many times will help ensure the success of ESL students. They need a constant rather than having things change daily. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it needs to be the same every day, all the time. That is just unrealistic and does not take place in most classrooms. It is, however, important to use homework as a tool. The extra practice that takes place at home will continue to allow the student to get more practice. “Not all homework or practice needs to be the same. Some students may reach 80 percent proficiency well before 24 practices. If so, they should move into extension activities. English language learners, however, are likely to need more than 24 practice sessions to be competent at a skill, so some of those practice sessions can be assigned as homework.” (Hill, 2006). This homework may take place in forms of reading logs, graphic organizers, or composition notebooks. While these are just a few, there are many other homework structures that are used. I like to use composition notebooks. They use them for math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. While each notebook all have a little bit different structure, they all have a constant within that subject. This constant allows students to always know what the expaectation for that particular notebook is. If they miss a day a school, they do not have to be re-taught as to what they should do.
Providing appropriate and timely feedback is also vital to a child’s success. They need to see what mistakes they made and what changes they can make before continuing on to the next task. If they do not have this feedback, it is very likely that they will the same mistakes on every assignment because they were never told that it was wrong. “Reinforcing effort is about helping students to understand the relationship between effort and achievement.” (Hill, 2006).
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
EDRG 604 Blog Entry 9
Graphic organizers are very useful when working with ESL students. They can be used in a number of subjects and there are many different options to choose from when deciding on which graphic organizer best fits the text.
I chose one graphic organizer for fiction, one for non-fiction, and one for poetry. I really liked the poetry one because we really focus on figurtive language in my class and this graphic organizer allows them to find figurative language on their own within the poem. To use this graphic organizer though, you need to make sure that the poem contains figuartive language. The series of poems in "Where the SIdewalk Ends," by Shel Silverstein would be great examples to use.
The graphic organizer that I chose for non-fiction focuses on either a persuasive or argumentative article. I think it is important for students to have to pick out the arguments and then find the supporting evidence to these arguments. This graphic oragnizer allows them to do that. This graphic organizer owuld work for subjects such as Social Studies or Science. My students use it when reading about Colorado History.
The graphic organizer I chose for fiction is my favorite, because it requires the students to focus on predicting outcomes. I require my students to make predictions for every story we read. I like that this graphic organizer requires them to go back and state whether or not their prediction was correct. This graphic organizer would work for fiction text. A story that would be great to use with this grpahic organizer is "The Great Kapok Tree," by Lynne Cherry. It has many important events and not a lot of main characters, so it is easier for the student to do.
Below are the links to my graphic organizers.
Fiction graphic organizer: https://worldclass.regis.edu/AngelUploads/Content/SP_XIN_MD_EDRG604_XP40_11M8W1/_assoc/49D25D239AE749539CFB2B719E249E74/D44A09EBAB96E0118D630019B9E69F4B/Fiction%20Graphic%20Organizer.docx
Nonfiction graphic organizer:
https://worldclass.regis.edu/AngelUploads/Content/SP_XIN_MD_EDRG604_XP40_11M8W1/_assoc/49D25D239AE749539CFB2B719E249E74/D44A09EBAB96E0118D630019B9E69F4B/Non-Fiction%20Graphic%20Organizer.docx
Poetry graphic organizer:
https://worldclass.regis.edu/AngelUploads/Content/SP_XIN_MD_EDRG604_XP40_11M8W1/_assoc/49D25D239AE749539CFB2B719E249E74/D44A09EBAB96E0118D630019B9E69F4B/Poetry%20Graphic%20Organizer.docx
I chose one graphic organizer for fiction, one for non-fiction, and one for poetry. I really liked the poetry one because we really focus on figurtive language in my class and this graphic organizer allows them to find figurative language on their own within the poem. To use this graphic organizer though, you need to make sure that the poem contains figuartive language. The series of poems in "Where the SIdewalk Ends," by Shel Silverstein would be great examples to use.
The graphic organizer that I chose for non-fiction focuses on either a persuasive or argumentative article. I think it is important for students to have to pick out the arguments and then find the supporting evidence to these arguments. This graphic oragnizer allows them to do that. This graphic organizer owuld work for subjects such as Social Studies or Science. My students use it when reading about Colorado History.
The graphic organizer I chose for fiction is my favorite, because it requires the students to focus on predicting outcomes. I require my students to make predictions for every story we read. I like that this graphic organizer requires them to go back and state whether or not their prediction was correct. This graphic organizer would work for fiction text. A story that would be great to use with this grpahic organizer is "The Great Kapok Tree," by Lynne Cherry. It has many important events and not a lot of main characters, so it is easier for the student to do.
Below are the links to my graphic organizers.
Fiction graphic organizer: https://worldclass.regis.edu/AngelUploads/Content/SP_XIN_MD_EDRG604_XP40_11M8W1/_assoc/49D25D239AE749539CFB2B719E249E74/D44A09EBAB96E0118D630019B9E69F4B/Fiction%20Graphic%20Organizer.docx
Nonfiction graphic organizer:
https://worldclass.regis.edu/AngelUploads/Content/SP_XIN_MD_EDRG604_XP40_11M8W1/_assoc/49D25D239AE749539CFB2B719E249E74/D44A09EBAB96E0118D630019B9E69F4B/Non-Fiction%20Graphic%20Organizer.docx
Poetry graphic organizer:
https://worldclass.regis.edu/AngelUploads/Content/SP_XIN_MD_EDRG604_XP40_11M8W1/_assoc/49D25D239AE749539CFB2B719E249E74/D44A09EBAB96E0118D630019B9E69F4B/Poetry%20Graphic%20Organizer.docx
Monday, June 6, 2011
EDRG 604 Blog Entry 8
I really enjoyed watching the videos of the sheltered lesson this week. One thing I noticed right away is that some of the techniques she used are techniques I use everytime I read a story with my class. It felt good to realize that it is something I already do even though I never knew the correct term for it.
I noticed the teacher do many different things to promote comprehension in the video. I liked that she had the students relate things that were happening in the story to real life experiences that they have had. The students seemed to respond very well to this and were able to come up with experiences. I also think it was an excellent idea to discuss the vocabulary before reading and having students come with synonyms for the words. Many times unknown vocabulary in text can greatly hinder a child's comprehension, so I feel that this techniques is extremely important in promoting comprehension. I noticed that many times, as she explained the word, she would give an example, which then allowed the students to come up synonyms for the word. I think that if she hadn't given the example, she would not have had as great a response from the students. I enjoyed the fact that she read clearly and annunciated words or phrases. She also did an excellent job of using repetition to ensure that the students understood. The students were also very good about asking questions if there was something they did not understand or were unsure about. The teacher did very well at answering those questions by again using repetition or putting it back on other students who did understand it to answer it. I thought the post-it idea was such a neat idea. Students love using anything different from a regular sheet of paper and a pencil. She had so many different uses for the pos-it notes and the students seemed to have a good response to this technique. The fact that she used lots of modeling and gave the students a visual of what she sees when she reads the text is a crucial key in students understanding. Many times I have noticed that if the students see the teacher doing it, there is a much better response from them.
I thought this teacher had many excellent ideas, and I really appreciated in the introduction that she said "It doesn't meany dummying down the curriculum." I think that is a huge misconception when teachers hear the term "sheltering." This video was extremely helpful and gave me great insight as to how a well sheltered lesson should look when it takes place.
Attached is a link to another sheltered lesson that I researched. This one takes place in a special ed classroom. I thought it would be beneficial to see a regular classroom sheltered lesson looks compared to a special ed classroom sheltered lesson. I also really liked the fact that it was a much younger group of kids compared to the previous video. It was helpful to see how sheltered lessons can look with different age groups and different types of classrooms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsY0dVkeZSI&feature=related
I noticed the teacher do many different things to promote comprehension in the video. I liked that she had the students relate things that were happening in the story to real life experiences that they have had. The students seemed to respond very well to this and were able to come up with experiences. I also think it was an excellent idea to discuss the vocabulary before reading and having students come with synonyms for the words. Many times unknown vocabulary in text can greatly hinder a child's comprehension, so I feel that this techniques is extremely important in promoting comprehension. I noticed that many times, as she explained the word, she would give an example, which then allowed the students to come up synonyms for the word. I think that if she hadn't given the example, she would not have had as great a response from the students. I enjoyed the fact that she read clearly and annunciated words or phrases. She also did an excellent job of using repetition to ensure that the students understood. The students were also very good about asking questions if there was something they did not understand or were unsure about. The teacher did very well at answering those questions by again using repetition or putting it back on other students who did understand it to answer it. I thought the post-it idea was such a neat idea. Students love using anything different from a regular sheet of paper and a pencil. She had so many different uses for the pos-it notes and the students seemed to have a good response to this technique. The fact that she used lots of modeling and gave the students a visual of what she sees when she reads the text is a crucial key in students understanding. Many times I have noticed that if the students see the teacher doing it, there is a much better response from them.
I thought this teacher had many excellent ideas, and I really appreciated in the introduction that she said "It doesn't meany dummying down the curriculum." I think that is a huge misconception when teachers hear the term "sheltering." This video was extremely helpful and gave me great insight as to how a well sheltered lesson should look when it takes place.
Attached is a link to another sheltered lesson that I researched. This one takes place in a special ed classroom. I thought it would be beneficial to see a regular classroom sheltered lesson looks compared to a special ed classroom sheltered lesson. I also really liked the fact that it was a much younger group of kids compared to the previous video. It was helpful to see how sheltered lessons can look with different age groups and different types of classrooms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsY0dVkeZSI&feature=related
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