1. Am I the Only One Who Can't Make a K-W-L Work? Literacy Paths to Content Knowledge
2. Taming the Text: Engaging and Supporting Students in Social Studies Readings
I absolutely LOVED the K-W-L article, because I've never liked them. I had to use them in 340 with groups of students and I never felt like they were working as we were told they would. There was almost a "magic" about them when we first learned how to use them...but the kids didn't seem to like them much, or respond very well to them. It was nice to know that "real" teachers can't always make them work either. : )
The story she presented about her students and the Civil War was hilarious, but I think it also makes us think. How many times are we teaching lessons that don't make sense to kids b/c they don't have enough background knowledge? In a sense (at least to me) we're failing our students if we give them lessons they can't do b/c they don't have enough pre-existing knowledge. When she wrote about the "Writing to learn" strategy I was blown away!! I want to make worksheets like that ~ however, I was puzzled about why no one ever filled in the "connection" blank... But, what a great way to get students thinking and processing!! Just reading the info in the article, I felt like I learned more than I would have if I just read the poem and I STUDY HISTORY!
I thought the information about the 'readabilty' was also interesting. I didn't really know that the system that decides that is somewhat crazy and not quite accurate. When I was reading about when the kids assigned numbers, I was interested to see what they wrote. However, my favorite thing (of possibly all time) from this article was the Reader's Theater of "The Lonely X" and the "Scientific Method". I really dislike math, and I'm not too big on science, but when I read these, I was somewhat inspired to solve equations or scientific problems - which is really saying something! I immideately brought those ideas into a history classroom, and I can't imagine what great things kids could do with it. WOW. : ) !
Article #2
This article didn't "wow" me as much as the KWL article, but I really liked it because it made me think. Throughout my reading, there was some kind of something running around in my head constantly asking "HOW CAN WE CREATE INTEREST IN THE CLASSROOM?" Although this reading was about reading I really couldn't control myself in thinking about the rest of Social Studies : )
I liked the first chart which was a graphic organizer, but I am horrible at creating them. I'm not so visual in that respect (as a learner) so it would be hard for me to create. However, I am going to have to learn as I think it would be good for my kids in the classroom.
The second figure was of a Herringbone activity that explores who, what, when, where, and why...including a summary. I really liked this - and could see how it could be modified to fit older and younger leaners.
The Retelling Checklist, Word Maps, and Story Pyramid were also all good. They made me think when i was using them, and I think that they could be used rather effectively in a history classroom. My favorite from the set was the word map. I like kids to know words, and I could also change it up to create a "people" map that could be used for historical figures - OR I could create an "event" map that could be used for historical events : )
-In this section of the article, it also mentioned picture books, and I thought that was great. I don't know of a single person who doesn't like a picture book now and then, and it might be just the thing that a HS classroom needs for a change of pace.
The authors also discussed timelines ~ this is something I've always intended on using in the classroom, so not much new information there except instructions on how to do it : )
BIOPOEM!!
Obviously, from the caps and !!!, my favorite one. Here is the template to be followed in poem lines (so...1. = line one, 5. = line five etc.)
1. First Name
2. Four Traits that describe the character
3. Relative (Brother, sister, mother, son etc) of...
4. Lover of....(List 3)
5. Who feels....(List 3)
6. Who needs ...(List 3)
7. Who fears...(List 3)
8. Who gives... (List 3)
9. Who would like to see...(List 3)
10. Resident of...
11. Last name
SO COOL! I'm going to do one later : )
and moving on...
ABC books were the last thing. I did them in MS and HS, and liked them. It was good too, but just not nearly as exciting after I nearly lost control over the bio-poem. I feel like such a nerd right now...haha. But that is okay. It is fun to be this excited over a "strategy" but I can't stop thinking about it!!
I feel as if my toolbox is just shy of exploding. : )
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