Let me know if there is anything else!
You will find the power point that I used for the choices day presentation. I have included the two lists of words that I discussed as well. The book in which I used was entitled "Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core: 55 Words That Make or Break Student Understanding." The APP that Linda Tillman spoke about for her phone was called "Heads Up Charades." This is the one that you put up on your forehead and guess the word or phrase. Let me know if there is anything else!
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A short article that outlines the need for more students interacting with each other about the topics being learned in class. Using this strategy allows students to dive deeper into topics and provides a smaller, safer environment to share their ideas rather than just a whole class discussion. Also provides a list of times that this strategy would be appropriate to use. Putting the responsibility back on the students. A necessary college and career readiness skill. This video helps to understand how to pick the right kind of texts for our students in any discipline, not just our Language Arts classes. It emphasizes that text complexity comes in a variety of ways, not just a book. This works well with the new Common Core/ELA standards that we are all to be implementing in our classrooms this year. It is 14 minutes long, but a great review of how to pick those difficult texts for our students and challenge their thinking. Click to set HTML Today's students are 21st century learners. As a 21st century learner, "self-direction" is a characteristic that our students must possess. Much of the 21st learning is done using technology and other mediums which requires students to think for themselves and determine their next steps.
In the classroom, Self Direction can look like choices. Giving students choices on what kind of assignment or assessment to do in order to show you what they have learned can go a long way in helping them self direct. As teachers, many of us don't want to give up that kind of control over our students, but providing those choices can increase student engagement in the assignment and really allow a student to open up and show you what they really learned. IDEAS FOR SELF DIRECTED ASSIGNMENTS: A list taken from "Overcoming Textbook Fatigue"
What does Engagement Look Like? (Adapted from "Overcoming Textbook Fatigue.") In an engaged classroom, the textbook or one central text is seldom the center of the teaching. Students who are looking for understanding to a problem or topic should guide the classroom instruction. Often, students read their text without really understanding the information. They are searching for the answers to a worksheet and to appease the teacher and get the grade. There is little interaction with the words and little comprehension. As teachers, we are trying to instill a sense of curiosity in students so they want to learn and want to use the resources, like a text book to find those answers. Below is a chart that shows a model for creating engaging literacy lessons in your classroom. Ideas for the classroom to create engaging lessons: 1. GRAB THEM RIGHT AWAY! Provide a question on the board as students enter the room that sparks that desire to learn. By posing a question for them as they come in to class, already you have engaged the students to want to learn and in turn want to interact with the text that could possibly give them the answer they want. They are now in control of their learning. You posed something to intrigue them, they now want to learn! This question that you pose could be in turn, your learning goal for the day. The students don't know that you are in a sense "tricking" them into wanting to learn that day! But you have now set them up for their own inquiry.
As you create your lesson plans, always ask yourself "Why do we have to do this?" Make sure you can answer that question as your students have the right to know! Ask yourself the following:
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