Tuesday, May 31, 2011

AEA Resources

 Image used with permission from http://auth.grolier.com
While taking a look at all the different resources that AEA will have available for teachers in the coming school year, one stuck out at me as something that could work very well within my classroom. BookFlix is being offered by AEA for the next school year. BookFlix pairs up fictional video storybooks with nonfiction ebooks. This service helps to reinforce reading skills and help students to develop real-world knowledge and understanding.
 
I can see how beneficial BookFlix would be within my classroom. It would be a great resource to use to help student not only get motivated to read, but also to help them relate what they’ve read to real life situations. I think BookFlix would be a great addition to my classroom because of the variety of ways I could use it. I would be able to use it for whole group lessons by projecting it from the projector. Also, I would be able to use it for small group and individual lessons by having students access it from a computer while I am working with other students on other skills.

I cannot wait to play around with this new service and watch my students enjoy it as well!

For more information about BookFlix go to -BookFlix

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

New Learning is Noisy

In chapter 2 of the Teaching the New Writing book, Marva Solomon writes, “Online writing is not quiet... All the children had strong physical reactions to the multimodal elements they added to their pages” How do you feel about a noisy classroom?

A noisy classroom to me means that the students are actively engaged in their learning. This will allow the students to be more involved in what they are learning thus retain the information for a longer period of time. A noisy classroom is not something that educators should be afraid of. Instead, they should embrace the noise as a sign that their students are a part of a rigorous and relevant learning experience.

Too often educators are afraid to let the noise levels rise within their classrooms. They worry that they will not be able to regain control of the classroom. The key to having a successful noisy classroom is to teach the students what an active, noisy classroom looks and sounds like. This will help the students know what is and isn’t allowed during these “noisy” learning periods. If students know and understand what to expect from the teacher and their peers during these times, they will be able to be more actively involved in the learning experience.

A website that I found called The Noisy Classroom, http://noisyclassroom.com/index.html, gives some information about why noisy classrooms are necessary for learning.


Image used with permission from http://fics.us/dailey

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Gaming and Education

As a teacher of second grade students, I know how much they love to be involved and active while learning or practicing skills. Last year my school was able to purchase a mobile lab that housed laptop computers for teachers to check out and use with their students throughout the course of the day. I knew I wanted my students to be able to use the computers in an effective way that allowed them to grow or expand on a skill. I decided to focus on the area of math facts since that seemed to be an area that my students were having some trouble with. I came across a game called Tugboat Addition from http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com. This game allowed students to not only work on their addition facts, but also to compete against their classmates. The competition aspect was a huge motivator for students who were struggling with their math facts more than the other classmates.

Image used with permission from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/


Another great aspect to this game was the fact that I could strategically group the students into various groups each week, so those that were struggling were not constantly playing against the students who knew their math facts very well. I could tell the students really loved playing this because they would often beg to play it on days that we did not have the mobile lab.