Where I'm From

6 Days Until PASS Writing!

Ummmm...I don't know where to begin. I am feeling just a LIT-TLE FRUST-RATED! I want to be better at technology so I can share the knowledge with others. The problem I am facing is that I do not have enough time and energy to study and grow technologically while I am trying to keep my head above water. My thoughts are drowning in ideas, expectations, duties, meetings, chores, paper work, and field trip preparation. I must be crazy because I am taking my 5th graders camping the Thursday and Friday after PASS Writing. We are looking foward to that. I also need to be concentrating on the assignments for the digital writing course. On a better note, I am blessed to be healthy, alive, and employed.

Phlog #1- "The See Through View"

This story was written by a fifth grade student. This was a Pass Writing practice prompt. Pay attention to the descriptions.

MStephens_Pause and Ponder February 7, 2010

It has been an overwhelming 2 weeks. We have had Core Reading Specialists visit our school. I have had a sinus infection with a touch of bronchitis. I have had a data conference with my principal. I have had to turn in 10 explicit guided reading lesson plans in addition to the other curriculum requirements. I have had to organize and plan 2 field trips. I have had to make time to work on our new house. I have had a lot to do......So with great-a-do, I am pleased to take this time to pause and ponder on writing in the digital classroom!

I agree with Sara Kajder that through modeling and close monitoring of student thinking, teachers need to ensure that students have strategies for assembling knowledge and understanding content. She suggested that graphic organizers and structured reading activities were great ways to monitor student understanding hypertext. Kadjer emphasized that too much discovery can lead to wasted instructional time if teachers are not tightly controlling the outcome of student work.

It seems like yesterday when I started living the life as a blogger. I have enjoyed the purpose, invititation, and audience that blogging gives me. It is evident that teaching is a passion and a work of art. It has been inspiring to read how my classmates are growing as a tech-savy teacher. I have gotten several ideas from reading other posts. Blogging is like a reality show as well. I get into the teacher drama, stress, and frustrations too.

I am presently using moderate technology in my classroom. I use the internet a lot for various reasons during the day. I like SC Streamline, MS Powerpoint, Interwrite Pad software, and MS Word most of all. In the picture, I was happy to receive an external hard drive for my birthday. My loving husband proudly purchased this for me. Luck for me he has a keen interest in Populat Mechanics Magazine. The biggest hinderance in my classroom is that I have a smart board that is on a stand that I can not use. The projector light shines in our face and we trip over the legs on the stand. So the smartboard sits in the back of my room. I am supposed to be getting the smartboard mounted on the whiteboard and the projector mounted in the ceiling. Yay!!!

Grammar 911

My students wrote a pass like writing the other day. I have been using a checklist based on SC standards and the writing rubric to keep record of what each student knows or does not know. Surprisingly, the largest weakness was grammar. I have students in 5th grade who do not write in complete sentences. If they can't do that, you can forget varied sentence structure. They also do not understand subject verb agreement and commonly misspelled/ misused words like homonyms. I have a lot of wor to do to prepare my students for the assessment and more importantly for the world. It is my desire to teach them how to write grammatically correct. I am not so worried about the other aspects of the writing. I need some ideas beside skill and drill to teach grammar in a meaningful, engaging way. I did get an idea of using video clips with captions as mentor text examples. I could also model a podcast using the grammar skill and then have the students complete a podcast applying the skill in their writing. That is the only idea I have at this time. If you are looking for mentor text examples that are read aloud and animated visit this website http://http://www.storylineonline.net/.
I am also very excited about taking my students on a camping trip at Playcard Environmental Center. For more information, visit their website http://http://www.horrycountyschools.net/departments/learningservices/playcard_center/.

Pass Writing is 7 Weeks Away!!!

I am trying to think of ways to prepare, review, teach, reteach... Sarah Kajder suggests using interactive multimedia mini-lessons to review writing or content skills to customize student instruction and as an effective differentiation tool. Samples are posted on the web site for her book The Tech-Savvy English Classroom. It will take me a while to get one of those going because I teach all subjects. As for now, I can use the resources I have like Compass Odyssey which is a differentiated multimedia online program that is aligned with map data. I am very interested in building a class website. I have scanned over chapter 9 in the same text. I plan on coming back to this chapter in a few days to get started with a class website. I am sure it is not hard. I am aware that it does require upkeep and management just like my class room. In the mean time I will be thinking of ways to prepare, review, teach, reteach .....

Lesson Planning

I wish I had a penny for every minute I have spent planning lessons! Some times I feel that is all I do. If I am not planning, then I am thinking, talking, sleeping, or worrying about it. Although, I am lucky that my grade level works together to share the load of planning. Each person on my grade level plans a different subject and shares the plans. I am happy to report that I am responsible for the writing plans for fifth grade. :)

Currently, we are writing a newsletter article from a muckraker point of view from the progressive era. This will be published in their writing portfolio that is required by the district. The next requirement for their portfolio is for them to write a response to literary text with a focus on understanding figurative language. I was very excited when I found this lesson plan- Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares. Students are invited to think symbolically to provide evidence of comprehension in a unique way. I am sooooo excited!!!! I think the children will enjoy the novelty of this assignment.

If any of you bloggers out there have any ideas, suggestions, or comments, please let me know.