Lisa+W.

April 14th, 2011 Teaching Tremendously When I taught my science lesson, the girls had a lot of helpful comments. They thought about the post-it notes and how they could be improved. They approached my lesson from a totally different way than I did and it was refreshing. It was nice because I felt my science lesson was the best one I had done yet they showed me that I still had room for improvement. They were positive and very helpful. It felt good to stand up, teach, and then feel good about it!

My math lesson was the opposite of my science lesson. Reading through it, I could not even follow it and I had written it! It was not a bad lesson once I realized what I had originally wanted to do but I tried to teach it to the girls and it was not successful at all. I saw how confused my peers were and I immediately stopped, reworked it and was able to come up with different ideas/activities. With the girls help, we made the lesson plan into something that it could never have been without teamwork and a lot of different ideas.

Next time this is done, it would be more helpful if we were in our grade levels because our grade level group members know how old to act/seem when "acting out the class". Also, they know how much information that the respective grade would know because we have been observing all year. They have also seen the lessons be taught in different ways than my own classroom and have great ideas/information/resources that other grade levels may have but it would not be relevant to ours.

MARCH 28, 2011

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT What did you learn from reading the Stiggins article (on Sakai - under assessment)? The article says that order in schools should be a thing of the past and students who did not take the advantage of the school's education, that was there fault. Formative testing is very important because it is less of a high stakes test and the children, sometimes, won't recognize it as a test. They tend to perform better in them because of this. Also, it is a great way to track growth over time.

Identify 3 ways that you might create a formative assessment for your unit (either this lesson, or the lesson you created for Science, or even another lesson you plan to do). Identify several sources for formative assessment ideas - including your texts from your current methods courses. the assessments should be given throughout, questioning, observations, and student's presentation of the material they have worked on so far would be a great way to promote learning and take assessment during the lesson. in my lesson plan i make sure to walk around the room with my clipboard with questions on it to ask students and also writing down observations about each students (how much they have written/contributed/said/etc)

How will you document the information you receive from collecting information on your students' understanding? What will you do with that information? How can it inform your future instructional decisions? Can you identify ways to use a SmartPhone to collect data? i think i will use a lot of checklists and quick ways to check each day, every other day. having a folder for each child will be helpful that holds every type of assessment that i take the video recording on a smartphone during class would be a good way to see everyones reaction to the material and tell when the students lose focus, etc

There is a new solar farm in Taylorsville, NC (see: [] ). How would you plan a field trip to this this solar farm? Explain how you could connect the field trip to the content areas. Can you think of ways in which math would naturally fit into this field trip?

In your response: 1) Outline your student outcomes for the field trip. 2) Connect the field trip to relevant NCSCOS objectives (you may choose a grade level). 3) Outline the day (briefly) 4) Create at least one task/activity that obviously and purposefully addresses math. 5) Don't forge to add outside sources and links!

A secondary problem-based alternative energy lesson plan that I ran across and thought it would be good for you to peruse... []

Students will have a better understanding of solar energy. Students will be able to suggest other ways to use solar energy. Competency Goal 1... the students will discuss the need for energy in homes and businesses, related to light, air, food, shelter, etc A field trip would need to include previous knowledge about what solar energy is and then the field trip would give the real life examples for it. The students should have worksheets that ask question and have a space for the students to ask their own questions before they got to the farm. They would need to observe the places where the energy is used, where is it necessary and where is it not necessary. Ask students to find out how much energy (a number) is needed for each place that is supported by the farm and how much will be used over the 20 year contract.

More info: [] []

"Connecting Music and Math"

How can music help you teach math? CONTENT Music can be used for math in many ways. One way is to use songs to help students remember the many rules and processes in math. The students can use the songs for memorization of skills and eventually it will be second nature to them. The music could be broken down into beats and discussed while working on twos, fours, etc and with each bar of music the students could add/subtract/multiply/divide by twos/fours/eights.

PEDAGOGY Music is great way to connect to 21st century skills through collaboration. Groups could work together to create songs to help them remember certain math steps. Also, different learning styles are touched through music. Visually through seeing the music on paper and verbally through speaking/singing the songs while those who enjoy songs and music will take an interest in creating a piece of music. Music works because all types of learners and levels of learners can partake in songs and dancing if that is added

TECHNOLOGY Music is great because it can incorporate technology really well. If students have an ipod or and iphone, they can look up some songs they already know and bring them into the lesson. Also, radios, cd players and ipod players are all technology that bring the music right into the classroom.

SUSTAINABILITY? Identify (One each): Assessment - An assessment could include a performance of the song/dance and each child has to have a quick line or a motion that symbolizes the math concept. Mobile Apps - [] KidSong Machine Lite Other Media - [] awesome RAP.

"Counting on Estimating"

Establish a question first...What is?...How do?and then answer it in your connections below:

Question: How many magnolia trees are on campus?

Content: The students would need to know or understand what a magnolia tree is and how to identify it. Also, the students would need to know how to record data. They would work with estimating the number of trees and then creating a quantifiable answer.

Pedagogy: I think it works really well when the students can do the “research” by themselves. With enough scaffolding and guidance, the students could walk around campus in groups and find the magnolia trees. In regards to estimating, this would be a good to have the children guess how many trees they believe there are. For the more visual learners, having a map of campus would be nice because they could draw out the areas where they think the most trees would be.

Technology: It would be a good use of technology to have the students record their data on smartphones or laptops. Also, if they look on the internet to find a picture of the magnolia tree to carry around with them they would then be able to identify the trees fully. If the students took pictures of a few of the trees on campus, they could then add the pictures to a PowerPoint or slide show later.

 Sustainability is huge in the lesson because the students would learn the use of trees, beyond shade, like homes for animals, cleansing the air and even stability for the earth’s surface. This lesson could grow into another project writing the school about planting more trees or even having a “class tree” that the students can nurture and watch grow.

Assessment: An assessment of the understanding could consist of the student's giving a presentation of their findings and having each child state what they guess and why it was wrong/right and what they would do better next time.

Mobile Apps: [] This is an app that will help the kids graph their research on the go!

Other Media: [] This youtube video further explores the importance of trees in children's eyes. I could play this and see which ones each child agrees and disagrees with as a pre-test.

JANUARY 20th, 2011 "Less than, More than, Scarcity, Abundance" What do we have too much of on our campus? What do we have too little of on our campus?

CONTENT (Math, Science, Literacy, Social Studies): When we interviewed people on campus, one of the professors mentioned "too much speeding" on campus. This could be used in the classroom to work out math problems, considering reasons why people would speed, etc. In younger grades, the concept of different vehicles that are used to get to campus could be employed. In regards to something missing from Wake’s campus, the lack of cafeteria and eating spaces was a hot topic. We could use money skills to discuss a fundraiser for a new cafeteria or a chart to graph the most popular eating times in the Pit.

PEDAGOGY: Allowing students to leave the classroom and do their own research is incredibly important and effective. This reminds students that the stats and graphs in their textbooks are not just random figures but actual facts. Also, the broad questions let the students come up with their own specific ones. We knew what we were supposed to find out but we didn’t know the right approach. We thought of our own ideas and then asked other people on campus. We had to figure out how to ask the other people the question and how to make sure we got a good response. The information we gathered will be excellent to use as a presentation for the class or even the WFU administration. Being involved with all aspects of the research, gathering, and presentation the students will feel a sense of ownership over their material.

TECHNOLOGY: We used iPhones and Blackberrys to gather our research. This is important for the students because we were able to take pictures, voice notes, videos, notes, and use GPS all at the puch of a button. This rapid accessibility to so many useful tools is great for the classroom and can be used on a daily basis.

SUSTAINABILITY: Another topic that came up that Wake is lacking is enough places to put trash. We saw a lot of a trash bags and trash on the ground. This relates to sustainability as the environment is harmed by non-degradable objects just in the grass or in bushes. Also, recognizing needs for a community is a great way to teach about resources, not just for animals but for humans as well.

Identify (One each): Assessment, Mobile Apps, Other Media

An assessment could be a presentation of their research. Using a rubric to include the necessary requirements like a charted graph, pictures with captions, and solutions to one or two of the answers would show that the group identified and can solve the problems surrounding them while also learning math, money, and writing skills.

I found an iphone app that the students could use to graph their information, allowing them to continue to use technology as a tool. []

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in;">I found this article about technology and literacy combined. I think it’s interesting because a lot of times reading is not really connected with technology. Also, it gives actual examples of programs to use with children. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in;">[]