Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Critical Strategies for English Language Arts

  • Reading comprehension
  • Grammar
  • Essay organization
  • Decoding
  • Sentence structure- syntax

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Understanding by Design: Research Paper

Understanding by Design:
Writing a Research Paper


Summary of Curricular Context:
The skills needed to write a research paper are important to be successful in 9th grade English, as well as for the rest of English and High School. The prior knowledge that students will have is:
*      Knowledge of basic paragraph and essay format.
*      Familiarity with the internet, and how to utilize it for research.
*      Knowledge of the MLA format.
*      Knowledge of how to peer edit.



Illinois State Standards (Objectives):
Research:
5.B.5a- Evaluate the usefulness of information, synthesize information to support a thesis, and present information in a logical manner in oral and written forms.

Writing:
3.B.4b  Produce, edit, revise and format work for submission and/or publication (e.g., manuscript form, appropriate citation of sources) using contemporary technology.

3.B.4c  Evaluate written work for its effectiveness and make recommendations for its improvement.



Unit Goals:
1. Students will be able to synthesize the research material that they have gathered into a coherent and interesting research paper.
2. Students will be able to apply the skills that they have learned to construct future research papers, no matter the subject.







Stage 1
Enduring Understandings:

  1.  Why does research matter?
  2. Can anyone conduct research?
Essential Questions What are the essential questions you can ask to guide inquiry?
  1.  How should research be conducted?
  2. Does format, with regard to writing a paper, matter?
  3. Is it important to break the research process down into smaller steps?
Knowledge:                                                 
*      Where does a thesis belong?

*      How do you determine between a quote that is viable and one that is not?

*      How do you gather facts?

*      What is the importance of drafts and editing?

Skills:
*      Word Processing

*      Searching on the internet

*      How to write an outline

*      Paragraph and essay structure

Monday, July 4, 2011

Xtranormal- Top Travel Destinations with Leonardo and Gandhi



Top Travel Destinations with Leonardo and Gandhi

Teacher Identity- Mr. Feeny from "Boy Meets World"





When I was thinking about a clip to choose that portrayed a teacher in media, my mind jumped to the show “Boy Meets World”. This show was a staple of my upbringing, and one of the central characters was Mr. Feeny, the wise-yet-tough high school teacher of Cory, Topanga and Shawn. In the clip I chose, Mr. Feeny is chastising his students for not taking advantage of all of the technology at their fingertips. Instead of using the internet to learn, the students use it to play computer games. Because this clip is about 10-15 years old, it is interesting to think about how much has changed in our classrooms since then. Although not all schools have the same resources, many have smartboards, and teachers are encouraged to integrate technology into their classrooms. Mr. Feeny’s character illustrates the dichotomy between “old” and “new”. Although I think that technology can have some negative implications for our students, the attitude that it is something insidious that is detracting from our students’ learning is dying out. At the end of the clip, Mr. Feeny walks out on his class. He does this to show his students that he is disappointed in them. Mr. Feeny is depicting the stereotype of the paternal, and somewhat gruff, older male teacher. 

Sunday, June 26, 2011

ADDIE Model

ADDIE Model

I just want to say that I was having some definite issues with this. On one of the slides, I wrote out the letters of ADDIE and the letters appeared on some of the other slides when they were not supposed to be there. I am not sure how or if I can fix this. Other than that, enjoy!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Philosophy of Education


   I believe that school should be a very exciting place for a student. To engage my students, I employ a variety of methods in the classroom. My goal is to integrate as many learning styles as possible into my lessons. I feel that visual learning, though art and media, is an extremely important and relevant strategy to use in my English classroom. Students should be exposed to a variety of sources and information, so that they can better understand the outside world.
            It is important to be flexible in the classroom.  I encourage my students to question and be curious. I enjoy the spontaneous conversations and discussions that arise from such interest. These lessons often speak to the real world skills that my students will need in life.
            It is important to me that I know my students, and understand their respective cultures, as well as their personalities. Each student is an individual, and I want my teaching style to reflect my understanding of this as much as possible. It is very important to conference with students, so that I may better understand their goals for their education and life as a whole.
            It is important to me that I provide my students with real world skills that they can use outside of the English classroom. I seek to provide my students with information that is relevant and helps them to better understand the world that they are living in. Many students ask the question “why are we learning this?” It is important to me that I have a good answer for my students when they ask this question. I want to highlight the universality of certain themes including love, loss and the human condition. I will help my students to make the connection between these themes that we see in books and in the real world.
            My classroom will be a place of open books and open minds. I seek to foster a passion in my students for reading and writing, while helping them to develop a better sense of themselves and their place in the world.

June 17

This is the first session of our TIE 535 class.