My Teacher Site: Enhancing Classroom Communication

Wendy Says

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Changing the Classroom from the Inside Out

Last month, the emerging roll of a teacherpreneur was introduced in this blog. This growing trend has only been happening over the last few years, but it is already making a huge impact in places where administrators are accepting the reality that students need to be taught how to be innovative thinkers if they are going to be solving problems of things we don’t even know about yet. This is the time for the development of teacher-leaders, design-thinkers, and teacherpreneurs. Ariel Sacks, a member of the TeacherSolutions 2030 Team, has “predicted that the schools of 2030 will need growing numbers of teacherpreneurs, which she described as teacher leaders of proven accomplishment who have a deep knowledge of how to teach, a clear understanding of what strategies must be in play to make schools highly successful, and the skills and commitment to spread their expertise to others—all the while keeping at least one foot firmly in the classroom.” 

Educators love to use big words and lots of abstract concepts in writing, so I’ll simplify what I can. Comprehensive reading and writing skills will always be important, as that is the basis for how we share our ideas. What does change is how these skills are taught, and due to an increasingly electronic/digital environment, the tools are continually evolving. Those of you who are currently entering the educational field come from the first generation that has grown up with computer-based toys since birth, and it is easy for you to relate to a mobile device as an educational tool. You see its possibilities and potential, how it can help a student instantly reach outside the classroom walls.

All of us are familiar with the ubiquitous lesson plans that lay out in detail the curriculum for each school day. While this can be extremely helpful, it can be a ball and chain, or it can be a springboard for creative discussion. We are living in an era in which we don’t know what the questions are going to be in the next ten years, let alone what their solutions are; it’s important that we encourage our students to see possibilities.

The schools that will succeed in preparing future thinkers and innovators will be those that are open to using the talent that already exists on their own campuses—their teachers. Teacher leaders will be an important part of integrating the foundational skills with the need to think beyond what’s in front of them. We understand the need to have solid reading and writing skills, but it’s their future application that is changing. Forward-thinking administrators know that if they are going to keep highly motivated and creative teachers in the classroom, they need to give them a voice.

A lot of publicity has been given to the changing face of how some corporations are being run, particularly think-tanks such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple. The standard cubicle is not going to inspire the ideas for products that don’t yet exist, but will inevitably shape the future; eventually, we will see more of this approach in the classroom. 

This is an exciting time to be in education, and I, for one, look forward to the great things that will be happening. These changes are not about throwing away the past, but rather using the past as part of the future; a strong educational foundation will always be necessary. 

There are many highly innovative and creative after-school programs that are being offered, and the people who are running them are your future teacherpreneurs. Is your school adopting any of these teacher-leader concepts? If yes, be a part of it; if not, make it happen!

 

Online Reading Resources

Teachers, raise your hand if reading time is your favorite part of the day! Without a doubt, one of the most frustrating issues a teacher has to deal with is reading. In a normal classroom, you may have a few students who are dyslexic, some who might need glasses but don’t know it, others who barely get by, and of course, the few whiz kids who are beyond their age level. Thanks to teacher’s aides and volunteers, you can usually divide your students into categories of similar skill levels. We know that the better a child’s reading foundation is, the better his/her chances are at succeeding in school.

The availability of the computer and internet in the classroom has profoundly changed our teaching strategies. We already know that our young students can easily outdo us when it comes to digital games, so I want to share with you a couple websites that are using current technology designed to help all of us. I’m in support of anything that can make a difficult job easier, especially when it’s free!

1.    Children’s Storybooks Online (Magic Keys) 

  • This site provides illustrated stories for children from the beginner level to young adult.
  • Many of the stories also come with audio capabilities.
  • Because this is a free site, there are several ads displayed. In this case, I suggest you check them out as they offer even more ways to effectively enhance your teaching success.
  • Click on any story, and you will see that you can easily control what page you are on. If your classroom has a projector that you can access with your computer, you can easily share this with everyone at the same time. Conversely, just using your monitor is useful for a small group.
  • Book choices are limited, but it is a great place to begin.

2.    ABC Fast Phonics 

  • This is a sister site to the above one and is a phonics tutorial with sound and cartoons for all ages.
  • The homepage is cheerful and colorful, which is an immediate attention-getter.
  • It offers a variety of words and topics and then breaks them down into phonetic categories that are easy to understand.
  • The learning activities are handled like games which takes away much of the apprehension experienced by the children; this is the kind of thing they’ve been doing since they were old enough to push buttons on toddler-style keyboards!
  • Be sure to note in the right sidebar that the site is included in the Association for Library Services for Children.

By doing a Google search for “free online books,” you will be amazed at how many resources are out there. Technology is here to stay, and it is our job, as well as our responsibility, to make the best use of it as possible. Teachers, you can do this!

 

Make Reading Fun

March 4, 2014 Tagged as Engaging Students, Reading, Teacher Ideas

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, would have been 110 years old this month and to this day he is remembered as one of the most well-known authors of children’s literature. His fun, whimsical books were some of the first that many of us read. And in our March celebrations of Dr. Seuss’s life and legacy, we often look for ways to bring that fun back into reading for our students.

Nothing excites my students more than free reading time. It’s like a sigh of relief in the classroom—they can read what they want and not have to prep for standardized post-reading questions. They know I’m not going to sit them down with paper and pencil and make them summarize what they read. But as a teacher, I also know that I must hold my students accountable for the time they spend reading, and in doing so I try to make it fun. Here are some fun reading-response activities to try in your classroom.

  • Have students tweet about their books. Social media is everywhere and no matter what grade you teach, it’s likely your students are at least aware of Twitter. Rather than have students summarize what they’re reading, have them tweet it to a bulletin board. Provide sentence strips or small cuts of colorful paper where students write a 40-character (or other designated length) tweet about what they read. Even better, show them how to use hashtags to highlight the book’s theme or title.
  • If you’re trying to encourage students to branch out to different genres, have them play 20 questions with another student once a week. Two students pair up and one students asks the other up to 20 questions about the book they are reading. Strict “yes” and “no” answers are optional; you might want to give them the opportunity to give short answers. Not only will students have to reflect on and remember what they’re reading, but you are also requiring them to practice language skills while they find out more about another book. If your students have a difficult time forming quality questions, start by providing some for them to use. But encourage creativity to avoid the feel of traditional reading response questions. You’ll be surprised at the conversations that ensue!
  • Kids love to be silly and move around. Give them time to act out a short scene from their book—either in a small group setting or for the whole class. Use this as a reward for a struggling reader or as motivation for your class to work on a specific task. If you’re one of the lucky teachers who gets to do recess duty, you can have students perform for you during recess too so you can avoid using class time!

It can be a challenge to get students reading, especially with the ever-stressful reading response questions to prepare them for standardized tests. I don’t know anyone who likes to be quizzed about what they read, and when you’re reading for pleasure—as we should be encouraging our students to do—answering questions takes all the enjoyment out of it. But to hold students accountable to some degree, make it fun and keep the writing and questioning to a minimum.

What are some ways you encourage students to read? Do you have any fun tips to share?