Lesson Plan Blog

Our lesson plan was based off of the strategy "Text to tweet." To begin the activity, I typed up a reading about Order of Operations. Within the reading I provided examples of what to do and what not to do with clear examples. After giving everyone time to read the reading, we provided them with a problem for their group. We asked them to then solve the problem and sum up their method into 140 characters on the paper we gave them that looked like a new tweet.

A grow that I saw a few times for this activity was more organization at the beginning and giving a better explanation. I think that this was a very good point because I feel as though I was not totally prepared to explain the directions and explain how to properly complete the task. If I got to do this activity again, I would have something for me to read off of so I do not get nervous and miss a step or not explain something well enough.

Overall, I think that our lesson plan went well and it was enjoyable. If we were to do this with our students, I would have each group come up and explain their thinking and explain the steps that they used and how it related to the reading that they did at the beginning of class.

Word Count: 230

Resource Blog #5

Click Here to see my Resource!

While this resource is more guided towards younger grades, K-5, it can be a great resource for 4th and 5th grade teachers. The link that I have provided is to the 5th grade math page. This website provides great games online, as well as worksheets that can be printed out and given to the class. In my opinion, I think that games can sometimes be more effective than worksheets for homework. While it is important for the teacher to have a physical copy of their understanding of the concepts, it is a lot more thrilling for them to go home and play a game and may not even feel like work.

This website provides great games for so many different topics. One way that I would love to use things like this in my classroom is maybe having them take a pre-quiz in class, going home to play the game and coming back the next day to take another quiz. I want to try out this method and see if the game playing is actually effective to their learning and can help teach concepts in a different way that they may better understand. For students that are more visual learners, this will definitely benefit them and encourage them to do more math than they would normally have.

I know that doing homework can be a real downer and can often get boring. For students that are still in elementary school, it might be hard for them to go sit and focus for that long doing homework for multiple classes. This might be a nice activity for them to do once a week or so to get a distraction and break from worksheet after worksheet. It is more hands on and gives them something to look forward to and be excited about.

Word Count: 301

Synthesis Blog #5 (Chapter 9)

Book clubs can be a great addition to any lesson, or subject. While reading may seem like an easy task, it is difficult to some kids and definitely helps for them to discuss what they have read and gauge their level of understanding of the text. When being put into book clubs, it can help the students collaborate and better understand scenes and explanations that they may not have understood during their first time reading it. Having them pull out hard vocabulary words, and paragraphs that were hard to grasp, they can discuss these with a group and get other people's perspective on how they interpreted it.

However, "we cannot plunge kids into book clubs without their knowing how they are to operate" (SM page 244). This is crucial for students to understand the task at hand and understand what they are going to be getting out of each activity. As a junior in college, I still did not understand the purpose for a book club until it was explained to me. If students are aware that they need to come prepared, be respectful and use this book club to its fullest potential, then I can see a great benefit to them.



The only setback is students getting off-task, or students sometimes not completing their reading. If there are some over-achievers and some under-achievers in a group, then it can be hard for them to find balance and may often be frustrating. If each student has not done the reading and have things to talk about, then a book club may not be a very effective group-work activity. And that is why it is important to set guidelines and expectations before-hand so students can participate to the fullest extent.

Word Count: 289

Book for book club!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061229571/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061229571&linkCode=as2&tag=cortlandcolem-20

Resource Blog #4

This is a website that I used to use when I was younger. Not only does this website have games, but it also has lessons about many different levels of math. One of my favorite things about this website are the printable flashcards. Growing up I have always used a lot of flashcards in all of my classes to memorize and better understand information. These flashcards can be used for memorizing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems. If the students have these handy and in their binder, they can refer to the basic problems as they move onto harder equations.

While it is only aimed for Kindergarten- Sixth graders, I still think that this is a great resource. It can inspire teachers to use games in class and maybe assign games for homework rather than a worksheet. It is important for students to know that math is not solely crunching numbers and coming out with an answer. If they are given something interactive either in class or for homework, they are going to become more familiar with the content and more comfortable with the math as they see it somewhere else than a white sheet of paper.

Simply adding colors and games to class can encourage engagement. While this website cannot really be cross-curricular, I think that it can inspire teachers to use games and websites that are similar in their classroom. Lecturing with students this age can get really boring and it is easy to lose their attention. Keeping students participating will encourage questions and begin to limit confusion, which will expand knowledge.

Word Count: 265

Synthesis Blog (Science Article)

Summarize
- Cross-fertilizing with subjects can help students understand each content area in depth individually, as well as teach them how to make connections in the classroom between their subject areas. If students get in a habit of doing this in school, they are going to be more likely to apply the knowledge they have learned in the classroom to their real-life experiences.

Connections
- This article reminded me of an article that I read about math. In this article, it discussed how students often believe they are either good at a subject, or they are not. They have a tendency to believe that they cannot learn the material and are going to stay put at the place they are at. At then beginning of this article, this idea is mentioned and discussed.
- Like the math article that I read, I feel as though this article was written very laid back. When it came to the vocabulary and explanations, I felt very comfortable reading through it with no problems and could definitely talk to someone about what the article was about no problem.

Critique
- At the beginning of the section "Two kinds of writing: Science with literature, literature with science," it begins with way too many names and it is hard to follow. Overall, the article was an easy read and definitely was informative. But, this section in particular stuck out to me because it was confusing from the jump.

Importance
- Connection between 2 content areas may not be easily noticed, or very evident. However, as a teacher, you need to try your best to "break the wall down" and incorporate other subject areas into your lesson plans. While it may be very subtle, and in some word problems or articles, it is going to allow students to understand the material better in both classrooms and they will have a more applicable mindset.
-This article is very important and I believe that it should be read by teachers of all subjects. I think that it is important for teachers to collaborate and try their best to incorporate other material into their lessons, allowing the students to make connections and learn material at a deeper level. If they are learning about something in science and read an article about it in language arts, they are going to quickly make the connection. The information that is provided in language arts can be beneficial in the science classroom and it is great to have teachers collaborating.

Word Count: 416