Monday, January 11, 2016

Part 2 - Complete Before January 26th

After implementing your chosen strategy in your classroom twice, reflect on your experience.

Questions to consider while responding:

  • What worked well?
  • What would you do differently next time?
  • How did your students respond to the strategy?
  • How did this strategy impact your students?
  • How can you sustain the use of this strategy in your classroom?
  • What additional resources or help do you need?

17 comments:

  1. I will be using the RAFT writing and be paring it with articles on earth systems/tectonic plates.

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  2. The strategy I plan on implementing in my classroom would be the Read, Write, Run strategy. The first time I use this strategy I will use it as a review for our genetics unit to teach the students the procedure of the activity. The second time we implement this strategy will involve a reading on natural selection with some follow up questions to assess their reading.

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  3. I used the ABC Brainstorming activity with my 8th grade students. The majority of the students enjoyed the activity after they understood how the activity worked. It helped my students become more familiar with the vocabulary and they were saying the words correctly. They were also using them in their conversations. I would like to continue using this strategy when we read articles because they pay more attention to the vocabulary words in the article. They are also more engaged in the piece of literacy because they were searching for those words and what they meant.

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  4. I used the Anticipatory guide twice. I thought it was very helpful for the students to know what to look for throughout the reading and the lesson. I actually heard students say, "Oh, I was wrong!", or "Oh, I was right!" as we were reading and learning. It is an easy strategy to implement, and I will be using it more often.

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  5. I've been lucky to observe these strategies in action in a few different science classrooms--what amazing efforts and results! Astrid is right, I've seen students tricked into engagement with their reading and learning. Well done!
    One piece that has been tricky for kids is the introduction of a new process in class--it brings on new directions, new words, and new habits. This is hard for anyone! In one class the students did not know what a relay was and therefore did not realize that the "Read, Write Relay" was a competition. Later in the day, when the teacher reported explaining what a relay was to students, they were into it. I've learned that the more clarity adults can provide and the more opportunities for kids to practice the strategies the stronger the process will be become.
    I'm excited to see more of these strategies in place at SWMS--Go Science Hawks :)

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  6. The strategy I used was ABC brainstorming. I actually used this as an exit ticket to see how which words stuck with my students and which vocabulary words I may need to go back over. We are in genetics right now so words like "homozygous, alleles, etc" are easy to forget. My students loved it! We made it into a game. I gave them 2 minutes to think of as many words as possible individually. I then gave them 1 minute to come up with more words as a group. The students got real competitive and wanted to get more words than other groups.

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  7. I also used the Anticipatory guide twice. We gave the students 3 "agree/disagree" statements at the beginning of the lesson and then after. I like the fact that the students can do this activity without having to fear being right or wrong. They can answer with what they are thinking. I also experienced some of the same comments as Astrid. The students were commenting how they were right or how they "knew it". It was also a learning experience when they realized that after the reading they changed their opinion.

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  8. I did the ABC brainstorming with my Pre-AP and my grade level / co-teach students
    the GT made it a great competition. Some had several two work phrases with the same first letter.

    My co-teach kids were really happy that they know a lot of the words...a few felt a little sad...was a great learning process for me and for them. Some of them did pretty well and some did not.

    I am going to do the ABC words at the beginning of the ISN so they will have practice with the ABC words. This I think will really build the confidence of the co-teach kids.

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  9. I used ABC twice during this period. The first time as a review at the end of the unit. The students did well and seemed to enjoy it.
    The second time I did ABC was the second day of a new unit. I explained what the topic was and gave examples, then I let the students try. After they tried I gave a short reading for them to skim over looking for other words then let them have a chance to finish. Because the unit was new to them and they did not have a background information it was much harder. Also I think both abc were done to close to each other.

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  11. I used the anticipatory guide twice. Students enjoyed "guessing" and looking for the clues while reading. The students were very competitive the second time around even my academic and co-teach students. Some of them remembered information from elementary school (potential/kinetic energy). They couldn't wait to start reading , they felt they were reading with a purpose (there is always a purpose but they got it with this activity). It was easy to create and had great impact. I also used ABC brainstorm but only once, the students had to stretch their thinking and it was interesting to hear the connections they made to be able to use certain words.

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  12. I used the ABC Brainstorming strategy with my students. First we did it at the end of the energy sources unit with an article they used on the day of our training. The students did well and we were able to review what they did with the sub. Next, we did the strategy with an article on energy conservation. The two topics were too similar and the timing was too short between the units. We are starting space right before spring break that would be another opportunity to use this strategy.

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  13. I had planned to do the RAFT template with my PreAp students, but due to time constraints, I ended up doing the roving paragraph with my grade level biology and IPC classes. I think it worked well in the fact that reluctant writers did end up with four complete sentences when often times they would only have one or two. I think it could have worked better if I read their initial sentences before they traded with other classmates to make sure that they had enough detail. I would also have liked more time for them to share their paragraphs with the class. I do plan to continue using this activity, especially to review for tests.

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  14. I used the write run relay in my class last week and my students loved it. I had 3 multi-step questions around the room and used the colored paper for each table like we did in the training. I think next time, I will use less-complex questions but more of them to make it more of a race. Students were still excited, but there wasn't as much movement as I would have hoped.
    I also used the roving paragraphs a few times. This worked well and I think my students enjoyed it.
    I will definitely continue to use both of these strategies and hope to use even more in the upcoming weeks. I can definitely see these benefiting my students and I know they enjoy doing something different. Getting them to talk and share in a structured way is always beneficial!

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  15. I used the 10 most important words strategy in my class. I did it two different ways the first time. I did it with and without sticky notes. I felt that both had their benefits but using the sticky notes was an overall more successful experience. It was done at the end of a unit as a review. It was a great teaching tool that I will continue to use as it is completely student centered.
    The second time I used 10 important words, I had the students first read a passage. After they read the passage I asked them to go back and highlight the 10 words they felt were the most important to the article. The list of words was much smaller than it was as a unit review.
    I feel the students benefited greatly from both and I will continue to use this strategy both as a review to a unit and after a reading assignment.

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  16. I used the ABC Brainstorming strategy and the kids enjoyed it. I used it first with an energy resource article that the students were responsible for reading during our training day. The students did a wonderful job and got the chance to review that information. I used it again on an article about energy conservation, and it was successful this time as well. I felt as though the two topics overlapped a bit much, so I would use this strategy during different units next time.

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  17. I used the SUMO strategy with my students and loved it! I was able to use it twice- once for energy (potential/kinetic) and the second for force/motion.

    I felt like the strategy was able to impact all of my learners and they had a good time with it. Also, some days I would take a few minutes at the beginning of class to review over the words/motions to keep it fresh in their minds!

    This strategy was a success in my classroom! I will continue to use it with my students as I introduce new vocabulary.

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