Two Truths and a Lie - First Post for 337

1. I have two dogs and also foster dogs for the humane society

2. I am colorblind 

3. I have two brothers 

Anchor Charts

I know that Anchor Charts aren't technically a strategy, but I feel like they are incredibly useful and deserve a shout-out. I taught my lesson this morning and it went really well! The kids were SO engaged and I think a large part of that is because we were working together to create the anchor chart. I expected them to have trouble coming up with some synonyms, thinking they would all think of the same few, but they had their creative juices flowing! One synonym for cute that a student thought of was "ooh la la"! I wish I had taken a picture of the chart so I could share all of their ideas with you all!

Anchor charts allow students to learn and create at the same time, even if they aren't the ones physically creating them. To top it off, they can hang around the room to serve as a reminder for the information you need to know! Another bonus -- you can do them with any grade! This morning I was in first, I have seen them in fifth. The content changes but the usefulness stays the same! 

Week 6 post on strategies

I found the Power Notes strategy to be really useful. It is like mind mapping but (I think) more structured. I did end up using it in a lesson plan. The nice things about Power Notes is that they can be used for all subjects. Mind mapping I also used in a lesson plan, and I am using in a second one I am writing right now. I think it is a great way for students to take notes and keep organized. Utilizing a strategy that was not in the text (flipbooks) was also a lot of fun. I actually took the idea from the classroom that I volunteer in. It made it easier to create my own lesson having seen the flipbook in action. These three are all strategies that I would use in my classroom and will try to incorporate into my student teaching if I am able to. 

I am glad I got to share my lesson over synonyms with you all before I teach it next week, which I am very excited about! If you have any feedback other than what was said in class, I welcome it. 

DOKs DOKs DOKs

Class tonight was helpful but a bit stressful for me. I haven't quite mastered the creation of lesson plans on the fly. It takes me time to think about what I want to teach and how I want to teach it. Then there's the matter of the DOK questions. It is great to get all the practice we are getting in class, and I am always glad to have done it after class but when it is happening I am trying not to pull my hair out! 

When I was first asked to include DOK questions in a lesson plan I had a tough time doing it. I went online to find verbs to use in the questions and found a lot of helpful tools. One thing that has helped me quite a lot is a Bloom's Taxonomy verb wheel. Hopefully it is a useful tool for some of you as well! 

Strategies and Reflections thus far...

So far this class has really taught me a lot. There are so many strategies in section two of the book it is hard to know which ones to use when. I have had some trouble finding strategies to use for third grade math lessons. My plan was to do fractions but I can't find a strategy to fit it. My other ideas are multiplication or time. If anyone has any ideas about what might fit into a plan over these topics, please let me know! 

I definitely plan to incorporate mind mapping into one of my plans. From what was done in class I have seen how useful a mind map can be. It is also something students of most ages can do (with varying level of detail) so that makes it a very useful tool. 

Good luck with lesson plans everyone!  

Lesson ideas

I have actually been having a harder time coming up with lesson ideas for this class than I normally do. I think it is because this isn't a thematic unit so I have to have 10 individual ideas instead of one culminating one. I don't have any lesson plans finished, but I hope to by the end of the weekend. Third grade will be my focus because I have been placed in third grade for student teaching this fall and hope to get a feel for it. I have ideas for my first two plans. First is a math lesson on fractions where students will create flip books. It shouldn't take more than two days. The second is a science lesson over the life cycle of plants. Students will be creating foldable flower books that I found online (they are the cutest!). 

Introduction poem

Claire

Friendly, Loyal, Intelligent, Thoughtful

Sibling of Sam

Lover of animals, family, and friends

Who feels anxiousness, strength, and loved

Who fears creepy crawlies, confrontation, and change

Who will finally graduate next fall

Who would like to see the ocean, more people adopt animals, and more support for victims of sexual assault

Resident of Columbia

Jeffery