Chapter 11, Science

I don't teach Science, but there are some useful things discussed in this chapter that could apply to me in ELA. One great strategy mentioned on page 250 is inquiry-based approach. I think this is a great strategy to use in the science setting as it allows the students to learn in a more hands-on style. The "5 E's" would be great for a science teacher to utilize as I bet it fits in nicely with their standards. I think it's wise (as discussed on page 251) that a science teacher be more of a facilitator and allow the students to be engaged and direct themselves in the process of testing and learning. The science teacher could definitely apply some of Bloom's Taxonomy in this aspect, which would be very beneficial. As discussed starting on page 252, I think it's wise for a science teacher to handle their vocab. carefully. We have one science teacher who simply makes them write the vocab. down and really never comes back to it! I'm sure they forget about it as soon as the pencil goes down! I think he should read page 253 for these good tips! There were several good thinking maps scattered in this chpater that I think would be great to implement with the science topics. The science teacher across the hall from me uses a lot of these, and I think they really help the kids learn the material.

One thing I need to work on is using more thinking maps as shown in this chapter. As I said, it would be a great, appealing way for material to stick. I also could improve my questioning tactics. I really love the examples suggested on page 267, esp. the "Roundtable" idea. Another area I need to work on is my approach to vocab. just as I mentioned earlier. I could pre-teach the words and scaffold more. As always, I need to continue to improve utlizing resources from many avenues, as mentioned on page 268. This is a must!

I will converse more with our science teachers. We will work together more on ways to serve the students in a way that we can both do. I could show them some strategies I use to teach new vocab. and I could ask them tho show/teach me. I will also ask their advice on how they scaffold.

Chapter 10, SS

I don't teach Social Studies, but before even reading the chapter, I realized how important this subject is. I agree with the very first page of this chapter that SS can be vital to all subject areas. As it said, it helps students recognize and appreciate diversity and various cultures, exlpore our rich history as humans, solve problems from various perspectives, and helps with reading/writing skills. As it mentioned on page 227, SS isn't required to be tested yearly by all students and doesn't count towards AYP. This is the case in our district as well. Half the students test on SS, and the other half test on Science. Surpringsly, all 3 grade levels in our school do extremely well on SS testing. As the book touches on, our SS teachers target higher-thinking skills and do lots of creative things to capture their students' attention. As I've talked to our SS teachers, I know that the instructional approach they take is to find many other methods to get the lesson across beyound their textbook. THe approach our SS teachers take is to find ways to implement Bloom's Taxonomy as much as possible to promote deeper thinking and probing. Obviously it works, as their high test scores are a result. I know that our SS teachers also take the approach of leading the students to make connections with what they're studying. Our 8th grade take a field trip to Charleston every Spring, led by the SS teacher. I've talked to all 3 of the teachers here in the building, and they all seems to have good strategies and approaches to delivering instruction.
Although I don't teach SS, one idea mentioned in this chapter that I could utilize is the POSSE strategy on page 231. This idea very well applies to writing and literature. I could think of a lot of lessons in which I could implement this simple (but brilliant) idea! I could also very well utilize the idea of POWER metnioned on this page as well. THis would be very helpful when I teach the writing process and everytime we write an essay. Mnemonics is also another good strategy I could use with spelling and vocabulary, as discussed on page 232. The students can learn ways to learn the new words as well as making easy associations with the word.
I could continue to talk with the SS teachers to glean new ideas of how they can serve our students and how I can as well. We could work together using some of the same strategies. We could learn from each other. I could use some of the websites on page 236 when I'm teaching settings of the things we're reading. I could also continue to use partner work and peer-tutoring as mentioned on page 238.

Running List of Websites

Some good websites I've found......
http://www.nagc.org/ A website that describes the true meaning of gifted and talented, offers a link for parent support, a free e-guide for parents of gifted and talented children, tools for teachers and parents. Helpful for any teacher or parent who has connections with gifted and talented students. I know it can help me!

http://www.adhd.com/ a website that gives the definition of adhd and this website leads to another good site..

http://www.help4adhd.org/ which parents can follow on twitter, lists and explains symptoms of ADHD, recommended treatments, how to deal best with children who have this, how to live with ADHD children, and teacher tools. Every teacher I know has at least one child with ADHD, so I know this can be helpful!

http://www.pacificnet.net/ a site for teachers helping teachers, offers free lesson plans, a guest book that acts also as a forum for teachers wanting to chat and network with each other, even offers a poem of the week (for ELA teachers like me). So this is a helpful website for all teachers, special ed. and general ed.

http://www.ncld.org/ this site is dedicated to "helping serve the 15 million kids who have learning disabilities". A link to give donations, defines various types of learning disabilities, a blog to share insights about the various learning disabilities.

http://www.ldam.org/ a site you can learn more learning disabilities, make donations, offers a blog for parents and educators to share insights that may help each other, also offers separate links for parents and educators and even researchers! I guess this might be for doctoral candidates wanting to get research regarding learning disabilities. This site is specifically designed to offer support "worldwide."

http://www.spellingcity.com/ this is a site that I use as an ELA teacher. Any teacher who gives spelling or vocabulary words might find this site helpful, especially for the students who have weak vocabulary, spelling, or writing skills, for ESOL, for any child who may have trouble transferring information from brain to written hand

http://www.prepdog.com this is a good review site that could be very beneficial for all students. For those who need extra help, you could find ways to tweak the review. You could read the question, have a classmate tutor read them, or find another solution to help them successfully review. I love using this to review for PASS, and I would definitely recommend finding a way to utilize it.

http://www.community.educationworld.com

A great overall website that is interactive and allows you to connect with others in the world of education.You can view blogs and blog about hot, current topics. A good website to share experiences and knowledge and to learn from others.

http://www.nichy.org
A great website that teaches what different types of disabilities are and mean. This would be a great page for anyone to check out who was wanting to learn what a particular disability was. THere's a wealth of information here. They even have it organized into a "A-Z Topics list" for easy scouting.

http://www.brighthub.com
This is a good, informative website for serving ADHD students and a few other disabilities. This website gives definitions, strategies, and even some good lesson plan ideas. I saw a good lesson plan idea for serving ADHD students in a Social Studies lesson. It suggested tips for role play, review games, and flashcards.

http://www.mrdonn.org
This is a good website that would be beneficial for those who teach the Gifted and Talented. It offers free lesson plan ideas, tips on early finishers, and even articles on the GT students who are low achievers. Yes, they exsist....I have one this year! I will definitely take this article to heart. It also has numerous links if interested in one of the many topics listed. This site gives a lot of good info. and has a lot of links to good info. as well.

http://www.musictherapytunes.com
This is a good site for incorporating music. This site has some great ideas and activities for those with hearing and speech impairments because it provides a musical way to learn social and speaking skills. It would be a great way to learn ideas to use music to teach.

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline
This is a site that offers good information on cooperative learning and explicit instruction. It gives good definitions to learn more, explains the benefits of using these instructional strategies, and offers insight on various perspectives. A site worth looking at. These 2 instrucitonal strategies could be used for any classroom and for all students.

http://www.unitedstreaming.com
This site is a part of Discovery Education, and I recommend it because it has a lot of great video clips that can enhance lessons. If a student was struggling with a concept, you could locate a video clip on this website and it could really help them. There's a lot of topics you can research here to enhance your units.

Ch.9, Math

I don't teach Math so I don't know a lot of the right things I do because I don't do any. I will try to relate this chapter the best I can in what I do with ELA. As mentioned on page 207, I don't rely solely on textbook to give instruction. There are other avenues I utilize to deliver material. Another thing I'm good at doing in my ELA classroom is drill and practice. We obviously don't do this with math or numbers, but with other things like spelling words and literary elements. I agree that this is a good method to use in all kinds of ways. Another thing I'm good at using for ELA is mentioned on page 213. I ask the students to use highlighters or markers (whatever they have) to highlight the question they're being asked. A lot of times I've found they give good answers but don't really answer the exact question. This is a good way to get them to slow down and look at the exact question. By analyzing the exact question, they're also rereading and identifying relevant/irrelevant information that might be needed in their answers, as listed on page 215.

One thing I need to continue to work on is teaching and requiring self-regulation. Just as students need this in math, it can also be very helpful in the ELA setting. ALthough they're not computing numbers or a word problem, they can self-regulate as they read or write or spell. And one of the biggest ways they can learn to self-regulate is through speech! Even I have to do this! So this is a good tool that is definitely worth working on and increasing in my classroom setting. If I could improve on teaching self-regulation, this could help my students become better writers, speakers, and readers, which all align (in one way or another) to my standards. ANother thing I could use help in is identifying with students who struggle with semantic memory. This is one of my strongest areas, so I have a very hard time identifying with students who struggle with it.

I could continue to learn more about utilizing self-regulation. What's the best way to teach this through reading and writing? What's the most effective way to teach this so they will continue to do it outside my classroom door? I could talk more with math teachers to see the way they teach students how to deal with math problems and how it could relate and be beneficial in my ELA classroom setting. What do they teach that students could use in both our rooms?

Assistive Technology

I think I'm good at utilizing technology that will benefit the majority of my students. When preparing for a lesson, I will do my research on the Internet to see if there's anything that would be beneficial and effective. I also utilize my promethean board nearly everyday. It's a good tool to use because I can make it creative and colorful, which is appealing to the kids. It's also easy to see, and there's a lot of neat little tools on it the kids like. I also take my students to the computer lab to do research on topics related to the novels we read. After researching and taking notes, the students compile the notes into a Power Point. They enjoy this assignment, and it really teaches them at the same time. For struggling students, I tweak the assignment down a little bit to make it more manageable.

One area I could improve on is simply finding more technology tools to utilize. Some of the tools mentioned in this chapter I've never heard or used. One thing I could do since I teach ELA is use the picture symbols and other visual tools. I could really utilize the animations with parts of speech. This tool could probably be beneficial to all learners--high, middle, and low.

I plan to learn more about these tools in this chapter. I'm going to look at these sites suggested and see how I could utilize them in my classroom setting. I also plan to keep utilizing the technology I am using to assist my students in learning. Any technology I can use to cover my standards is what I need to do.

Ch. 7, Reading Comprehension

I cover the 7th grade Reading standards when I teach novels. When we are reading one, I really hit on the one standard that says "Respond to literary texts in a variety of methods." I think it is wise when looking at reading comprehension. I think I am good at motivating my students to want to read our material and learn from it. I establish the "rule" at the beginning of the year that when anyone is reading, no one is to giggle or ridicule if a classmate makes an error or doesn't know a word. This helps with self-efficacy, as the book mentioned. Establishing that respectful reading culture plays a key part in reading comprehension right there. As we read, I'm good at stopping at points of importance to ask questions. This way I can gauge their comprehension as we go. We also, of course, discuss and answer questions when finished too. Throughout the 7 years I've taught, I've gotten a lot better at my questioning strategies. I try to write the questions in a way that will be familiar to PASS and that makes them dig deep to find the answer. My questions vary in that they may ask about main idea, direct questions about certain chapters/sections, and literary elements.

Although my questioning strategy/approach has improved, the one area that still needs improvement is how I approach summarization. I'm not really good at helping students to understand which details are important and which ones are irrelevant. I need to find ways to cover this more. Another area I need to improve upon is self-regulation. A lot of times I feel like I have to keep such a fast pace, I don't take the time to remind students to monitor themselves as we read. This is something I could model and be more consistent on. I think this is a good idea that would definitely be worth the time and effort. Another thing I need to do more of is peer tutoring and cooperative learning. The reason I don't do this very often is it takes time away from me actually teaching and the fact that they can easily get side-tracked. It drives me crazy to think we are wasting valuable time when I could just be teaching myself.

I really enjoy teaching reading, so I definitely want to keep learning more about how to be a better reading teacher. I plan to take more time to analyze and assess myself. I need to ask myself am I implementing these strategies when we're reading? I need to assess what I'm doing to help them and tweak my approaches as needed.

Ch. 6--Reading Instruction

I teach partly grammar and reading, so I can most definitely relate to this chapter. One area I believe I"m strong in is the four comprehension strategies listed on page 147. Very often I have the students respond to our reading by questioning them. I question them verbally and in writing. This is one of my standards, so this is definitely hit on in my classroom frequently. As in strategy 2, I often have my students summarize what we've read either with a partner (verbally) or by writing a brief paragraph. I clarify things as we read based on my personal judgment. By knowing my students, I can often predict areas in our reading that they're going to have some mild difficulty, so I often clarify as we read. As for the strategy 4, I most definitely do this one as well. Making inferences and drawing conlcusions is also one of my standards, so we hit on this frequently. So I feel confident that I do these things, which will help English and non-English students. As mentioned on page 14, I also feel like I'm pretty strong with scaffolding as we read. Some classes need this more, of course, but I do think I do this pretty well when it's needed. I like to think I'm stretching my students but with just enough support that they feel safe but are learning too.

One area I could improve on is the fact that I simply don't know enough of another language to help a CLDE student if I were to have one. I realize these students bring unique characteristics with them, and I wouldn't be familiar enough with their culture and/or language to help them the best I could. I took several years of Spanish in high school and college and have visited Spain, but I simply don't feel like I know it enough to truly help a non-English student in reading instruction. Language would definitely be a barrier. Another area I'm weak in that I could improve is giving "picture walks". I think this is a great idea because I've found it very helpful for students to see ways to make personal connections to what we're reading.

To improve in my reading instruction, I should continue scaffolding, continue hitting my standards frequently, and having knowledge of my students and their reading needs. I could also learn more of the Hispanic culture and language to prepare myself if I should have a CLDE student walk into my classroom. I would also like to implement the neat idea of picture walks.

Ch. 12, Assessment

One thing, as mentioned in this chapter, that I feel I'm strong at is giving assessments that are "doable" for my students. I think I'm aware/keen on what they can and can't do. Yes, I challenge them and try to broaden their thinking, but I never assess beyond their capability. My school is good at this too. They encourage us to challenge and have high expectations but also to do everything in our power to help the students succeed. If our assessments are on track and target our students' capabilities, then they have every chance to be successful. I think both my school and myself are good at conferencing with our students to see what they believe is their best testing methods. We attempt to give them input and listen to what they tell us. Another strong point for me in the area of assessment is the fact that I'm good at developing PASS-like questions. I aim to get my kids to be familiar with the types of questions they will see on PASS in May, so that's what I include in my assessments throughout the year.

One thing I'm not so good at, that I could definitely improve, is monitoring my students with things like watching for mechanical skills. Although it seems so easy, some of them aren't exactly sure how to correctly bubble in answers or where to write them. I could be a better monitor when it's test or quiz time. Another thing I could improve on is the rigor of my assessments. ALthough I think I'm good at challenging them, I could always become better at stretching their minds on assessments. It's hard for me to knowhow to challenge and stretch without being too hard. I figure this is something I will continue to improve on as I teach. I can tell my assessments are written better now than just a few years ago.

One way I could improve as an assessor is by talking more to veteran teachers and seeing some of their assessments. I could ask for their advice on challenging without being too tough. There's one teacher in our building who has excellent PASS scores every year. I could talk with her and probably glean great assessment advice from her. Obviously she must develop some solid assessments to come out with such excellent PASS scores every year.

Ch. 5--Classroom Management

I think I am good at clearly reviewing classroom management periodically. I reflect on strategies that are working and are not working to see what needs to be tweaked and how. I've learned that each year's group of students are different, behave differently, and have to be dealt with in different ways. I think I'm good at evaluating myself and re-evaluating how I am as a classroom manager. I can see that I've really changed from my first few years as a teacher in that I am enforce rules and expect them to see ME as the classroom manager. In my first years in this career, being younger, it was sometimes hard to be mean and enforce things as needed. Deep down I wanted to be thought of as cool and funny, but most of the time that just doesn't work. Now I don't care about their opinions on my management skills. Don't like me? Fine, but are you able to concentrate and focus and succeed under my watch? Yes, then that's what matters most. As the book points out, I have to judge as a "manager" whether the current conditions meet the most primary goal I have as a teacher, and that's if they can succeed academically under my care. I like that page 112 points out the fact that 85% of new teachers admit to not knowing how to handle certain student behavior. This is so true to me! I also think I am good at establishing a positive classroom environment, stating rules in a positive manner, and expecting things that are age appropriate. I think I'm clear on what I will accept and won't accept, and I've learned the students appreciate structure. They appreciate knowing what to expect and knowing the guidelines. I think I'm a very good delegator. I can delegate jobs and responsbilities well without sounding too bossy.

One thing I could improve on is preparing my classroom in a way that reduces interruptions and negative behavior. Sometimes I wonder if I re-arranged my seating, would that help? Another thing I could work on is letting go of some of the control I want to have when we do group work. I could let them pick their own partners, as mentioned on page 114. I could work on explicitly enforcing the rules by modeling more. I bet some of the kids don't know how to act because they haven't been shown. If I modeled, they might "get" it. I could do more role-play and repeat procedures more to ensure they understand. ANother thing I could improve upon is setting up expectations when I'm out and have a sub. I often feel like they don't treat the subs well enough and this is scary to me. I truly appreciate any sub who walks in the door, as I realize it's a hard job to fill. I want them to treat him/her as good as they would me, maybe even better! THis is something I need to work on. They need to better know what I expect with them and a sub.

I could use parents more in having effective classroom management. I've gotten better at this, but I'd like to continue using parents as supporters and using them more when needed in behavior issues. I've learned they want to be informed and want to give me support so that I can help their child. This is something I could continue to learn about and implement in different ways. I'd also like to implement more of the concept called "tootling". I think that's a neat idea that I'd like to look more into.

Collaboration

I think collaborating with my peers is extremely important. My school is involved with the TAP program, so we meet to collaborate every Tuesday during one of our planning periods. We collaborate during these weekly meetings. I also collaborate when I attend a mandatory district meeting with fellow 7th grade ELA teachers. We meet for an hour once a month to collaborate. We just finished collaborating ideas and strategies on informational text and research. We will next discuss and share ideas on the new common core standards that's going to be implemented in the next few years. This weekly collaboration time is mandatory, but I would still make time to collaborate regardless. I do find time to collaborate with the other 7th grade reading teacher on my hall. We talk 3rd period every single day. We run ideas by each other and reflect on what we've tried. Collaborating with her, since she teaches the same material, is extremely helpful to me on a daily basis.

I wish I could collaborate with the other reading teachers in my building more. However, we have different planning periods and they're on different halls. This makes finding the time to talk much more difficult. This is something I wish could be worked out. I know I could glean good information from them and vice versa.
Collaboration is a great way to reflect upon yourself and glean great, new ideas from your peers.

Chapter 2

I have a current Autistic student who I have a great relationship with. He is highly intelligent and is in my GT class. He has the 3 characteristics as listed on page 55. He has trouble verbally expressing that he needs help with an assignment. I can't think of one classmate he is personal friends with. He has unique, repetitive habits with his pencils and the way he holds his papers. In spite of all these things, he's a very likable boy who is a joy for me to teach. I feel like I've established a really good rapport with him. Coming into my classroom, I had been told that he would get easily upset and shut down. So way back in August, I purposely set out ways to establish a good relationship that would help him thrive. I use humour with him, and I'm patient and open-minded with him, which from what I've seen, is exactly what he needs. In spite of his unique ways, I've helped him thrive within my classroom because of things I've done to establish a good rapport with him. I've seen him succeed and am excited to see how far he can go this year under my watch.

One way I could improve as an educator is to learn more about low-incidence disabilities, other than Autism. I have never taught a student with Rett Syndrome or CDD. Therefore, I am not knowledgable of these disorders. If I were to have a student with one of these diablities, I would have to learn more about them quickly! Another way I could improve on is finding additional ways to help my Austistic student. Sure, I feel like I do a pretty good job now, but I could always find additional activites and things to help him thrive evern further.

I would like to read more material on various low-incidence disabilities. Another thing I've always wanted to do is learn sign language. I don't need it now, but who knows when I might have a student who could benefit from it. I realize it would be best to learn before I really need it.

Chapter 1

As mentioned on page 28-29, I think I do a good job of assessing and identifying my students who seem to be struggling with my assessments, whether formative or summative. I think one of my good characteristics as a teacher is I'm insightful. I am pretty keen, and I always look for puzzled facial expressions, students "holding back", and verbal and written expressions. I feel like it comes natural to me to spot students in my class who are struggling. I also fee like I'm pretty in-tune with these students who seem to be socially withdrawn from their peers. I try to find ways to praise them and offer them plenty of opportunities to share what they're feeling through speech and writing. I feel like this is one thing I do right, and I want to keep being on my toes in this area!

One thing I could improve upon is identifying with the students enough to solve the problem they're struggling with. Since I did not have a learning disability of any kind, I often have to MAKE myself realize that some of my students may simply not "get" a skill I'm teaching just because I picked it up so easily when I was in their shoes. Yes, I'm good at identifying there's a struggle, but I could definitely improve in being a problem solver when I DO see a struggle. I could improve the way I strategize. Another area I could improve upon concerning this area is the way I deal with my many ADHD students. Being a very laid-back, easygoing person, it's very hard for me to sometimes empathize with them. A lot of times I get frustrated that they just can't be still long enough to listen to what I'm trying to teach them. I could work on being more patient and empathetic to their needs.

One way I plan to improve as an educator is becoming more aware of my students and their individual needs from the very beginning. I would like to take the time to learn who they are at the beginning of the year. I think this would help in many ways.

RTI

I would score my school as a 2 for RTI. I would score us as a 2 because I don't think we respond for interventions soon enough or pursue it seriously enough. Personally, I don't think my adminstrators value our (teachers) view on students as seriously as they could. Sometimes it feels like our opinions and insights are swept under the rug or just not looked into like they could be. Yes, of course, I think we have a good school and do a lot of things right, but this is one area we could improve in!

Introduction!

Hello, my name is Shannon Vaughn, and I teach 7th grade ELA at DMS in Pickens County. I am in my seventh year of teaching. I mainly focus on the standards related to writing and grammar. We have another 7th grade Reading teacher who mainly focuses on teaching reading. However, I cover a few novels as well.
I love teaching my students how to have effective skills in communication through writing, reading, and speech.