Book Club Styles and Inquiry Units

     These chapters weren't as exciting as the other chapters that we have read, but  were very important none the less.  I really appreciate how this chapter set up how to do the lessons effectively.  Timing can be so difficult when planning a lesson especially while we have very little experience to judge with.  So I love the suggestion of the amount of time we should give them in a reading workshop.  I found it extremely important that they stressed the conclusion of a unit or reading group.  The students want to see that we are having do things that matter, so it is important that we tie together their readings.  When we have them conclude with a project we have something to evaluate their understanding and it gives the students something to work towards.  However, we don't want to restrict their investigation so that they loose their intrinsic motivation for looking for things to learn.

     With so many of the projects I did for school I did not feel motivated to look for any extra information than was specifically asked for in the rubric.  Although that may have been because I never really had a choice of what type of project or the topic of the project.  Allowing the students to choice is what I think will help to eliminate lack of interest.  But, I do want to specifically make sure that I set up the rubric so that I don't restrict the students in anyway.  

     I also want to acknowledge the list of online tools they provide.  I currently use Google docs, but the one that I am most interested in getting to know Glogster.  This sounds very useful because of the ability to demonstrate the different dimensions of the processing done by the student.

My name

I just wanted to let you guy know for future reference that I spell my name Alix.  My full name is Alexandra but I change it in my nickname.  My mother did it so I have always liked it.  Thank you!

Chapters 5&8

     Before I get to what I want to say, because we are doing the textbook analysis right now, I want to talk about how it was cool to see the different strategies that the authors used to make the book easier to read.  For example the bold stars that they use in chapter 5 to emphasize the strategy they are focusing on.

I found this on Facebook a long time
ago I'm not sure who's photo this is.

     Okay, so I really appreciate the tools that are starting to fill my tool box with these chapters.  Having a tool box of different activity ideas will help to start our classes with valuable activities.  In math I think that it will be especially important to have prereading activities because of the complex vocabulary that can be involved.  It also helps, because math builds upon itself, to review and check the understanding of the known concepts that are needed for the material.

    I think that it would be really cool to use the dramatic role-play activity.  This activity would get the students moving around and it would get the students to think of different ways of visualizing the material.  At times math can be really dependent on the 2D, paper visual, but to bring math off the paper and to have them express this in a brand new way, I think would help the students to see that there are actual connection in the world to math.  It would also be an activity to help them to learn how to be social with one another while getting them up an out of their seats.

The Amazing Chapters 6&7

     So I really liked these chapters!  First of all I really appreciated that the first chapter acknowledged that math, in particular, seems to get a lot of hate dished out towards it.  Second, I really liked the concept of the Guide-O-Rama and the word sorts.  The Guide-O-Rama seems like it will be a great way to get the students to focus on what they need to pick up from each section.  It also shows the students that you have actually read through the section and that there is a purpose for them to read the section.  The word sorts seems like a great way to introduce the terms to them and to get them thinking about what they are about to read.  Before they even have to touch the book, they have already become invented in and curious about the assignment.
    My favorite part of this reading was chapter 7.  I got so excited when I read about the 11% score gain that correlated with the education of social skills!  As we were exploring last class, learning through social interactions can be a valuable method.  I have also learned, from my involvement with The Student Leadership Training Program (http://www.sltp.info/) ," of the quote by Theodore Roosevelt "Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care."  I feel that this is explained and demonstrated in this chapter.  I believe that the explanation expresses why all of the concepts that we have read about in the previous chapters is so important.  The concepts demonstrate intentionality which lets the students know that you put time into what you prepared for them and it shows them that you care.  Therefore, the students will be more receptive to what you are teaching them.  I appreciate all of the suggestions for making the class as a community and I can't wait to try them out.

Strong Chapter 6

Photo from moviepilot.com

     I really enjoyed the visual of Darth Vader in the beginning of this reading.  It provided a great mental image.  We don't want to let Darth Vader win in his campaign to ruin the student's educational experiences.  Like the other methods that we have learned about in the readings, this one requires preparation.  These writing assignments that are created in the RAFT format are tasks that will take the students extended time to complete because of the creative nature of the tasks.
     I have never been a fan of busy work.  As a student, to receive busy work I used to think that the teacher was not competent.  I felt disrespected and that would, in my eyes, ruin the relationship with the teacher. I was never disrespectful to the teacher, but I cannot say the same for my classmates.  I don't remember where I saw this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlDt0PX4rVg but it is a video that I believe expresses how the students who receive busy work feel.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think that the student was very respectful in this video, but I understand how he felt.  To avoid these feelings we need to make sure that the students understand that we respect them, and we should respect them.  They are not all going to be perfect students, but neither were we when we were growing up.  Using the RAFT format for framing an assignment can insure that we express that respect to the students.
    Then to use the RAFT to assess textbooks sounds like it would help to focus the evaluation.  With such a large text that the textbooks tend to be, anything to help narrow the search is appreciated.  It also makes sure that it covers the things that we might not intentionally think of when reading the text, so why would we rate the text based on that.  RAFT makes you think of the bias that everyone has and doesn't mean to express.