Genius Hour- Teaching Students to Take Notes while Reading

Reading is not just about reading every word on the page, turning the page or finishing the reading as quickly as possible. Reading incorporates many elements like looking at the main points of each chapter, looking at the main characters and themes etc. When students read, the main benefits don’t come from the actual reading, but more from things like reading the summary at the start and imagining what is going to happen during the reading, stopping at certain parts of the reading and reminiscing on what just happened, jotting down the main points of different elements of the story, while at the same time thinking of how every idea of the story relates to each other. Everyone interprets the reading differently, so jotting down these notes can help the teacher and student make sure that the students are understanding the reading and on the right track. Looking in-depth at the content while reading and taking notes allows the students to keep up with the reading and understand what is happening at each part, have something to look back at when they have finished the novel so that if they need to look back and check something they don’t have to read the whole book again or go through every page to find what they are looking for. This also allows the teacher to see how much attention the students have been paying to the reading and whether they are on the right track or not when it comes to the main points of the novel they need to concentrate on.

Even though we don’t see it all the time, reading incorporates many different aspects into the classroom. As well as the reading aspect, students are learning how to reflect on the readings and look for the main content in each part, pay attention to what they are reading, and make sure they are understanding and are concentrating on the reading as a whole, not just some parts here and there. Students should go over what the reading is about at some parts and mark the main objectives. This allows them to keep focused on what they are reading and remember what they have just read so that they can understand how it connects to the next part. This will help them understand the reading as a whole at the end. Writing notes down is also a good way to remember the information, not just reading it once and trying to remember everything.

Britt Huxley- Blog 5

7.   ‪Watch ‘Wanna Work Together?’ Creative Commons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3rksT1q4eg

What does this movement mean for you as an educator?

What tools do you see yourself using in the classroom and why? Write two paragraphs.

Watching this video made me realize how much working together with other people can help me and other teachers with our classrooms. It is a great idea for people to put their own ideas out there to help others, only after making sure they are okay with everyone copying their ideas. We can learn off many different teachers (art, music, writers etc.) and use their different ideas in our lessons to incorporate every aspect of learning into our classroom. Even though we don’t realize it, we as teachers are working with other people we don’t know to come up with ways to educate our students. We may put our own ideas up on the Internet, or tell them to others who then spread the word. This can get around to other teachers and help them with their classrooms. This is collaborating together, even if we don’t realize it. Everything teachers do in the classroom they have either thought of themselves or looked it up, and when they have looked it up, this means that they have used someone else’s ideas for their own classroom. This is working together to be the best teachers we can be. Everyone is helping everyone. If teachers don’t have their own ideas, they use many different resources they can like pinterest, websites, books etc. to find new and exciting ideas. This movement of working together under ‘Creative Commons’ allows everyone to put their ideas somewhere (books, internet etc.) so that other people can look them up to either use them or modify them to suit their classrooms. For me, this movement means people helping me and me helping others to be the best teachers we can be. It means putting every idea we come up with out there so that we can collaborate together to come up with ways to teach every lesson possible for every different type of student. The more ideas and ways to teach, the better it is for teachers.

I will use a variety of tools in my classroom as every student is different and learns in different ways with different tools. It all depends on the students I have in the classroom and how they learn best. Most of the time, however, I will use many visual tools like solid models, books, drawing on the board and then getting them to repeat the process, etc. Things that the students can hold, do themselves, and understand by actually ‘doing’ the activity will be used the most in my classroom. Technology will also be used, as it is becoming a bigger tool when teaching students. Either getting them to look things up on the internet, playing math games, learning how to use certain tools on the technology like Microsoft Word or other programs, will all be better if the students do them on their own devices and follow along as I give them the instructions. There are also tools online that help students and teachers out in the classroom like ways to keep up with students grades, online collaborative learning environments, ways to help students learn the material in different ways (like quizzes or flash cards), or social networks just for school. Even though I will give the students work sheets for some lessons and work they have to do by themselves with writing, using notebooks or more lecture type lessons, I will use many visual and hands on learning devices as I believe students enjoy this more. They are more likely to remember activities and lessons they enjoyed and will connect the fun activities with the content without even knowing (will remember it because they actually want to).

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5.   Read or listen to John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!! He argues that texting is another form of communication. https://goo.gl/gmuwBT

John McWhorter is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and the author of What Language Is (and What It Isn't and What It Could Be).

What are your thoughts about texting killing the English language? Any other ideas? Is email on its way out? (or been out for quite some time:)

Write two paragraphs.

I believe that texting is killing our English language. I can see where the guy from this video is coming from when he says texting is more like speech than writing and that is technically what texting is. However, I believe that English is being simplified too much with some words, and a lot of these habits may transfer over to a student’s writing when it comes to school and later on in work. Today everyone texts more than they communicate with people in person in some instances. People are always on their phone, messaging someone or just looking at their phones in general. Texting a lot, even if we don’t know it, can get us into bad spelling habits, modified words, and acronyms. Casual speech is in word packets of 7-10 words as said on the video, which I agree with. I like that texting is a lot like talking in that way and I think it is good to write to someone you are talking to like you would if you were talking to them in person. The only thought I have about this is that we don’t shorten words when we speak in person like LOL, soz, BTW etc. If people are texting like they would really speak without those kinds of words, I believe that texting would not be killing the English language. As long as people are spelling words correctly and not abbreviating them too much, but still texting in short sentences, sending emoticons or a little ‘haha’ to show expressions, I believe that texting it is fine. It is just showing us how we speak, but this is not possible with shortened words and abbreviations. It is good to have a balance between having to write ‘properly’ and being able to write casually. A bad thing about texting is that people put too much empathy in and use different symbols to express what they want to come next. This would not be expressed as much if we were talking in person. It would flow more accurately face to face in person. Texting would be much better if it TOTALLY resembled in person communication, with the right punctuation, no abbreviations etc.

When I was in high school, I believed that emails were going out. Since coming to college my thoughts have changed a bit. I think that emails are not as popular as they were before. They are not as easy to respond to at all times, so since everyone has mobile phones, it is easier to get in touch with people through them as they always have them nearby. However, being a college student I find that I keep in contact with all my professors, advisors etc. through emailing. It is easier for them to keep track of everyone emailing them and respond. They check daily as they know they will be getting emails, where as other people don’t check them as regularly because they know that people will text them or Facebook them if they need to get in contact with them. Emails also take longer to write, receive etc. Even though emails are not used as much as they were, they are still definitely used a good amount. People still need to have an email address in order to communicate in different situations as needed.

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6.   Watch Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm1sCsl2MQY Write two paragraphs.

Today’s world is changing every day. It is changing in the amount of people, in the buildings around us, the way we complete activities, and even the way we are teaching today compared too many years ago. Buildings are getting bigger, machines are doing factory jobs and helping people live their day to day lives, people are keeping in contact with people many miles away from them, and student’s classrooms are relying more and more on technology to teach them the curriculum. Technology is making a major impact on our world. All around us we are looking at different technological advances that are helping us live our day to day lives. Apps on phones and online activities are making creative ways to play ‘games’ to allow students to understand the curriculum in fun and easier ways. The teachers are using websites to teach kids, as well as electronics in the classrooms, like projectors, electric whiteboards, and more technological calculators. We need our students to learn how to use technology in the classroom so that they can keep up with the work and curriculum that they need to know throughout their schooling career and into adult life.

This video shows the importance of knowing how to use technology to learn in today’s world. There may be a few teachers who sit at the front of the room and lecture so the students can take notes, but generally, no matter how the teacher teaches, there is some kind of technology helping them. Anyone who is older, or born and went to school a while ago would have trouble in today’s classroom with all the technology. They weren’t taught how to use it and don’t understand it like the children today so they would feel uncomfortable in many of the classroom situations today. There has been so much change from a century ago to now, changing every year and many argue whether it is a good thing or not. Of course it is helping the world in so many ways, but many are considering whether it is taking the world in the right direction or not and whether it should stick with more traditional ways of life and teaching as technology is taking over our lives too much in some aspects. This will always be a question up in the air, but technology is helping teachers in the classroom, it’s just a matter of how much they use it. Some people would rather it how it was many years ago, some would rather it how it is today. People who went to school a few decades ago or more would have trouble in the classroom today. It is about adapting the children to the world today and using the technology to help them succeed in the best way possible.

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4.   Read or listen to the story: Vocab Tech For Toddlers Encourages ‘Anytime.Anywhere Learning’ http://goo.gl/NtB4M9

What are your thoughts about this article? Agree or disagree? Write two paragraphs.

I definitely agree with this article. Sesame Street is a tool that allows children to watch the entertainment side of it but also allows them to take in the basic knowledge of what the characters are saying. The great thing about this show is that the children don’t even know they are taking this knowledge in and are actually learning something from an entertaining show. It gives the children the basics of reading and math in a fun and enjoyable way that the students will listen to (counting to a certain number while cookie monster eats each of the cookies). Starting up an app in today’s world is definitely going to benefit the child. Technology is all around us, and even if we don’t agree, our students and children need to incorporate this into their learning as they will struggle without it in the future, that’s just the way our world is turning. Having this app allows the students to use it anywhere they want and is interactive on a fun level as the majority of children love using technology. Having children use their own way to control the app and making them think about how to complete the activity (how do I get Elmo up the beanstalk- tap, swipe etc.) allows the students to be thinking intelligently but they aren’t realizing they are doing it. I agree that the important thing is the content. If it is interactive but does not have the correct content they should be learning, then the students may as well be sitting in front of a screen playing whatever game they want. Having this Sesame Street app, ‘Big Bird’s Words,’ can improve literacy skills, show students how words are related and see how certain groups of words go together and relate in real life. Having the student find the word they are given on an object in the room makes it fun but challenging at the same time, and allows them to see what other words are on that object so they can see how that one word relates to all the other words on the object. Adults need to help their children with this app which encourages interaction between child and adult which is critical in today’s world.

Even though these apps and watching videos on iPads/iPhones help students if used correctly, they need to be given time limits. Like any technology, they should be only used for a certain amount of time before having a break. After a while the children will not think as clearly as what they should be doing with the app and will just ‘go through the motions’. They will also get addicted to the technology and not want to do any learning any other way than on technology, which is not good. Everything needs to have a time limit and be in the right time and place to be used correctly. Whether we like it or not, technology is always going to be a part of our lives and especially our children’s, so we need to come up with the best possible ways to incorporate it into our learning, which I think this article is showing.  

Britt Huxley- Blog 1- Big Ideas for Better Schools

3. Watch: Big Ideas for Better Schools http://www.edutopia.org/big­ideas

What are your thoughts about the information shared in the video? How does this relate to you as a teacher? Write two paragraphs.

I believe that this video shows a good range of different ways to make schools better, even though some ideas are definitely better than others and used more. I feel it opens student’s minds up to more information in different ways that would be interesting to them. All of these ideas involve different ways to help the students and the school be the best they can be and learn in the most effective ways. They are really good ways to teach students the information in fun ways so that they will remember it later on. It keeps outside people included in the school and the student so that the school gets help to be the best they can be and so that the students feel appreciated and that they are receiving help from everyone and everything around them. The project-based learning, technology integration, integrated studies, cooperative learning, and comprehensive assessment are all great ways to teach a student to learn with different methods. Teaching the students each of these aspects allows them to learn information differently, work with others, share their knowledge, go more in depth with information, use the latest interventions that help them in the classroom, and be the best students they can be in many different ways. These aspects can then be used in life later on. Emotional intelligence is important to let the student know that they are appreciate and wanted to do well. Everyone around them is there to help them be the best they can be, in and out of school. Teacher preparation, parent involvement, community partners, and maximising resources, are ways in which allow the student to learn in the easiest and most appropriate way possible. Having people and resources around the students who help and are involved when the student needs them will always allow them to be better students. All of this information is great for teachers to give them indications as to how to build the best classroom and school they can for their students.

This relates to me as a teacher as it allows me to see all the different options I have as to how to teach my students. It gives me many different options to think about as to how to teach different aspects of the curriculum in different ways, and what is the best way for each student to learn as everyone is different. After watching this video I realize the outside resources I can have as a teacher that help the students in my class, making sure I am in good terms with the students’ parents and the community around the school, as well as being prepared myself. This gives me a good perspective as to things I need to think about when teaching my own class and how best to teach the students the information, depending on what it is they are learning. This has given me a good inside to think about as to what I have to do to allow me to be the best teacher I can be, and making me look at every aspect around me that could help me as a teacher, my students, and the school.