Using a Dictionary & Other Tools

The Head Monkey from Canada posted this as a comment, but I thought maybe it should be posted.

Okay, Ohio Monkeys, how about this one?? I just gave my Canadian Monkeys a vocabulary test today to see where their strengths and weakness are (Gates-MacGinitie). Should I have let them use a dictionary???

To add to this thought, when is it OK to use all of the tools available? When should students show what they know without the help of tools like dictionaries, thesaurus, word processing and other technology, peer help, teacher help . . .?

Writer's Block

When I have writer's block, I just write some hooey. I just put some words down, knowing that it ain't gonna be to good. What the heck, it's just a first draft, so it don't really matter. First drafts are supposed to suck.

Sometimes I will crank up the music. Sometimes I will read a little, or surf the net. But the main thing I do is just keep trying to get words down. Good, bad, or ugly, I just keep adding a word here, and then a word there until I have a sentence. Before I know it, I have written another post on the blog.

Now, my brilliant young students, I am sure you are asking, "what does this have to do with me and Reading Workshop?"

I have noticed that some of you are sitting there, looking like the keyboard might electrocute you. It won't. I promise. Just put down some words. Any words. You are allowed to make mistakes. You are allowed to not make sense. Go ahead, screw up. We can fix it. If you are not sure about the assignment, ask.

If you are not quite sure, just throw some words out there. Before you know it, the assignment will be done. You will be a success. Your teacher and your parents will be proud. They will smile and tell you that you are wonderful. You will get A's and be on the honor roll. You will win all of the awards.


P.S. Even if all of that doesn't happen, at least you will get the assignment done.

Role of Technology in Education

I first viewed this on Betchablog.



Parents, students, and teachers, how should technology be incorporated into education? What would the ideal Reading Workshop look like? What would reading and writing instruction look like? What processes would we follow? What activities would take place in this "ideal" classroom? What would determine success?

Learning Styles

What kind of learner are you? North Carolina State University has a test you can take to find out how you learn best.

Just follow the link, take the test, and then print out the results.

Felder and Soloman, researchers for NCSU look at four areas of learners in their report of Learning Styles and Strategies. Listed below is a breakdown of the areas.

Active and Reflective Learners

Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it--discussing or applying it or explaining it to others.

Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first.

Sensing and Intuitive Learners

Sensing learners tend to like learning facts, intuitive learners often prefer discovering possibilities and relationships. Sensors often like solving problems by well-established methods and dislike surprises.

Intuitors may be better at grasping new concepts. Intuitors tend to work faster and to be more innovative.

Visual and Verbal Learners

Visual learners remember best what they see--pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations.

Verbal learners get more out of words--written and spoken explanations.

Sequential and Global Learners

Sequential learners tend to gain understanding in steps, with each step following logically from the previous one.

Global learners tend to learn in large jumps. Global learners may be able to solve complex problems quickly or put things together once they have grasped the big picture.

My Results

The chart below shows the results from my test. As you can see, I am strongly an intuitive, global learner, with a tilt towards visual learning. Basically, this means I tend to work quickly, always looking for new ideas, and need to see the whole concept. I need to picture an idea to understand it.



What is your learning style? What does this tell you about how you learn best?

Rambunctious Reading

Not to say that my students started out slow this morning, but this is a picture of one of the boys. This called for desperate measures. What's a reading teacher to do. Wwwweeeelllllllllll, how about some

RAMBUNCTIOUS READING!

I am always looking for new and exciting ways to make learning fun. One method we use daily is singing in the classroom. Students sing as they read the lyrics. Now, we have another way to actively learn to read. Rambunctious (energetic, boisterous, lively) Reading is a method where students work in pairs to improve their reading. One student acts out the words as he reads. The listener actively listens, affirming thoughts and statements, and commenting to the reader.

We are reading an excerpt from I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew by Dr. Seuss. Students having been ouching from kicking a hard rock and sailing along. This active reading gets everyone involved--even boys that start the morning looking a little rough.


Great job to our Study Island Students of the Day--Jacob T., Dustin C., Emily S., and Trevor G.