Currently, I do some part time tutoring with the Japanese international students at Willamette and work on grammar, sentence structure and just teach about the American style of writing to them.
Some of the objectives surround giving main ideas and explaining them in their own words and expressing their opinions to give the reader a clear thought. What I have observed in the past is that it is difficult for many of these students to understand the American style because they grew up in a system that was not as regulated and copyrighted like the U.S. likes to do.
So, what my role as a tutor is to find the students' weak areas in their writings and help them make adjustments and brush up on their clarity in their writing. What seems to help with these students is to simply just talk about what they wanted to say in their paper because many times, their writing doesn't fully express clearly what they want to say. I ask them lots of probing questions to get a more clear verbal answer and then help them with creating proper English sentences.
Checking for understanding:
I check for understanding with these students by reading/scanning over their assignments and evaluate their writing and critique it quickly and give them immediate feedback while making adjustments to their "mistakes" and create teaching moments with repeated mistakes.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Warm-ups in Math Education
Why do warm ups? Is it a waste of time? Is it really worth the bang for our buck?
Let me first start off by stating what I think the importance of using warm ups at the start of a class session. I will use a sports analogy here, for example, before the start of a game, a basketball player will commit some time beforehand to shoot some baskets, cover some drills, go over some plays and stretch! It'd be a foolish thing for the athlete to just jump right in to a game without properly warming up first. In a similar way in math, a student has to be forewarned about what to expect in the upcoming class whether it's a review of something in the past or just reviewing for the sake of reviewing.
Warm ups in math are crucial for students because it allows some time for the students to get settled down and ready to work. I've worked with teachers in the past that gave participation points for students to stay motivated in doing them. Providing warm ups are very simple to implement and does not cost the teacher much energy, money, or time. In my classroom, warm ups will be a form of informal assessment on a daily basis for me where I will strategically ask meaningful, well thought out problems that require critical thinking on my students' end and not just fluff problems that are just to pass the time. These warm ups will not just focus on computation, but the deeper rooted messages that problem solving requires.
Let me now show you an example of a poorly thought out warm up problem and one example of a more deeply thought out problem.
First, "What is the square root of 49?"
While this problem asks the student to regurgitate factual information, it lacks deeper critical thinking skills and does not apply to real life situations.
A better example would be:
A farmer wants to build a fence around part of his yard. He measures the sides which are all equal and there are 4 sides total, and 12 ft each. How much fencing will he need to buy if each foot costs him $5?
Let me first start off by stating what I think the importance of using warm ups at the start of a class session. I will use a sports analogy here, for example, before the start of a game, a basketball player will commit some time beforehand to shoot some baskets, cover some drills, go over some plays and stretch! It'd be a foolish thing for the athlete to just jump right in to a game without properly warming up first. In a similar way in math, a student has to be forewarned about what to expect in the upcoming class whether it's a review of something in the past or just reviewing for the sake of reviewing.
Warm ups in math are crucial for students because it allows some time for the students to get settled down and ready to work. I've worked with teachers in the past that gave participation points for students to stay motivated in doing them. Providing warm ups are very simple to implement and does not cost the teacher much energy, money, or time. In my classroom, warm ups will be a form of informal assessment on a daily basis for me where I will strategically ask meaningful, well thought out problems that require critical thinking on my students' end and not just fluff problems that are just to pass the time. These warm ups will not just focus on computation, but the deeper rooted messages that problem solving requires.
Let me now show you an example of a poorly thought out warm up problem and one example of a more deeply thought out problem.
First, "What is the square root of 49?"
While this problem asks the student to regurgitate factual information, it lacks deeper critical thinking skills and does not apply to real life situations.
A better example would be:
A farmer wants to build a fence around part of his yard. He measures the sides which are all equal and there are 4 sides total, and 12 ft each. How much fencing will he need to buy if each foot costs him $5?
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Appropriate Use of Technology
The illumination that I selected to talk about is called Turtle Pond. This activity is directed to a K-8 audience and works on basic computer skills along with directional and measurement skills. Basically, the purpose of the illumination is to direct the turtle to the pond filled with nice lilly pads are at nice and safely. On the left hand side of the screen, are some directional arrows that the user can command the turtle to move in any direction. It gets more challenging as you play; where you can add boulders and trees that get in the way of the turtle's path, and you must avoid them to get to the pond.
This game reinforces distance, measurement, and directional skills. It is a very simple game and I do believe that it does a great job of showing kids how to manipulate the directions. However, I would just use it very minimally and in supplement to real manipulatives that are hands-on. The use of this technology does has some advantages over hands-on materials in that it takes up less room and doesn't involve a big mess like blocks or big shapes may have. Another advantage of using the computer as a medium for honing these skills is that many of them will enter possible professions that will require them to have certain computer skills and therefore we are helping to foster some of these basic skills early on in the classroom. Does it take away from the "old school" of learning though? That is an issue that I see more and more today; like we are getting out of touch with fundamentals and relying on technology more and doing less thinking because we entrust a machine to do virtually everything for us. Like stated before, I am not super opposed to using technology in the classroom, but I would just use it as a supplement and not make it a main focus. If I were in charge of this particular lesson, I would use tangible items such as meter sticks, tape measures, and use outdoor objects and have the students go outside to conduct these measurements. It will help them to see actual real life distances and then scaling them down on a screen.
This game reinforces distance, measurement, and directional skills. It is a very simple game and I do believe that it does a great job of showing kids how to manipulate the directions. However, I would just use it very minimally and in supplement to real manipulatives that are hands-on. The use of this technology does has some advantages over hands-on materials in that it takes up less room and doesn't involve a big mess like blocks or big shapes may have. Another advantage of using the computer as a medium for honing these skills is that many of them will enter possible professions that will require them to have certain computer skills and therefore we are helping to foster some of these basic skills early on in the classroom. Does it take away from the "old school" of learning though? That is an issue that I see more and more today; like we are getting out of touch with fundamentals and relying on technology more and doing less thinking because we entrust a machine to do virtually everything for us. Like stated before, I am not super opposed to using technology in the classroom, but I would just use it as a supplement and not make it a main focus. If I were in charge of this particular lesson, I would use tangible items such as meter sticks, tape measures, and use outdoor objects and have the students go outside to conduct these measurements. It will help them to see actual real life distances and then scaling them down on a screen.
Standards, Standards, Everywhere
As I looked through the 3 different sets of standards online, I got a sense of each one trying to create an individual name for itself, and therefore did not get a sense of unity or having a common goal. As I looked further into each resource, I found that each site was saying practically the same thing but just used a different way of communicating it with the verbage.
The subject area that I researched was in middle school math in the topic of geometry and measurement. In the Common Core standards site, they broke down the topics very clearly and used less formal language to communicate what the students should be able to do at the end of each unit. It didn't necessarily tell the teacher how to present the information which is great I think because it gives teachers flexibility to use whatever activities they want to use. In the NCTM site, the language they used was a little more formal compared to the Common Core resource, but was still understandable for me to interpret. Lastly, in the Connected Math standards, they presented the topics by grade level and associated them with specific workbooks (ones you find at teacher supply stores) that have catchy titles in an attempt to grab students' interest. Overall, each of the standards' sites presented similar topics, but just had their own language to convey their message, and because of the competition aspect of these three resources, I didn't get the feeling of unity that I'd like to see in the education realm; especially when it comes to teaching to standards.
The subject area that I researched was in middle school math in the topic of geometry and measurement. In the Common Core standards site, they broke down the topics very clearly and used less formal language to communicate what the students should be able to do at the end of each unit. It didn't necessarily tell the teacher how to present the information which is great I think because it gives teachers flexibility to use whatever activities they want to use. In the NCTM site, the language they used was a little more formal compared to the Common Core resource, but was still understandable for me to interpret. Lastly, in the Connected Math standards, they presented the topics by grade level and associated them with specific workbooks (ones you find at teacher supply stores) that have catchy titles in an attempt to grab students' interest. Overall, each of the standards' sites presented similar topics, but just had their own language to convey their message, and because of the competition aspect of these three resources, I didn't get the feeling of unity that I'd like to see in the education realm; especially when it comes to teaching to standards.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
EDUC 533 - Best Practices Research
One of the best practices that I came across in my search was from Teaching Today (http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/meeting_ms_standards.phtml). It mentioned a strategy where the focus is on the student (student centered learning) and how the students should self-monitor themselves in their learning throughout any given day. By assessing themselves frequently, it allows the students to be more conscious of what they are taking in and what they still need to digest. I have a real life example for this type of learning where one of the science teachers that I work with currently does this with her students at least once a day. She uses smiley faces to determine students' feelings towards how they feel about the lesson that day. If a student feels confident about the material then he/she would draw a happy smiley face in a planner. If a student feels like he/she understood a lot of what was going on that day, but didn't grasp the entire picture, then the student would draw a smiley face that was neutral. Lastly, if the student felt like he/she was lost, then the student would draw a sad face. Overall, I believe by checking in with the students throughout the period is a great way to gauge where they are at, and more importantly have them check in and be honest with themselves.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
About Me
Hello!
My name is Joe and I'm originally from the great mile high city of Denver, Colorado! I am very sports and outdoors oriented and enjoy the great scenery that it has to offer! I received my Bachelor's at Colorado State University in Health and Exercise Science and didn't really use my degree for a set career path, but instead turned towards K-12 education and therefore pursuing my Master's and license. One of my biggest dreams in this life is to become an NBA head coach down the road after accruing a winning culture in my practice as a coach at other levels of the game. My overall vision for becoming an educator goes beyond the classroom; where students will never forget my teachings and will practice what lessons I give them so that they can carry them wherever life takes them (things that just go beyond grades and tests).
My name is Joe and I'm originally from the great mile high city of Denver, Colorado! I am very sports and outdoors oriented and enjoy the great scenery that it has to offer! I received my Bachelor's at Colorado State University in Health and Exercise Science and didn't really use my degree for a set career path, but instead turned towards K-12 education and therefore pursuing my Master's and license. One of my biggest dreams in this life is to become an NBA head coach down the road after accruing a winning culture in my practice as a coach at other levels of the game. My overall vision for becoming an educator goes beyond the classroom; where students will never forget my teachings and will practice what lessons I give them so that they can carry them wherever life takes them (things that just go beyond grades and tests).
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Study Finds a Drop in Percentage of Latinos in Preschools
The percentage of Latinos in a 4 year period from 2005 to 2009 has dropped in enrollment because of the steady decline in the economy. Many Latino parents have lost jobs and are unable to pay for preschool fees. When they are compared to their White and African American peers, those two groups have managed to stay in the preschool system even though the life situations are similar. One of the problems that many Latino families face is the accessibility to these services. They may have to rely on public transportation or other less convenient sources of transportation. The article summarizes this point with this, "Until Latino children gain equal access to preschools that display robust quality , it's difficult to see how early achievement gaps can be narrowed."
The argument here is find ways to close the achievement gap within this population and to observe the effectiveness of early childhood education in those precious preschool years. I believe that early childhood education is important for the development of a child to get on the school track at an early age, however, I don't think it's completely necessary. Firstly, the cost of sending a child or multiple children can be very costly especially for low income families and limit them for further growth. One thing that these lower income families could do in stead to save them the cost; they could go to the local public library and check out books and read at home to get a head start in the literacy race, and the best part is, it won't cost them nearly as much as preschooling would be.
The argument here is find ways to close the achievement gap within this population and to observe the effectiveness of early childhood education in those precious preschool years. I believe that early childhood education is important for the development of a child to get on the school track at an early age, however, I don't think it's completely necessary. Firstly, the cost of sending a child or multiple children can be very costly especially for low income families and limit them for further growth. One thing that these lower income families could do in stead to save them the cost; they could go to the local public library and check out books and read at home to get a head start in the literacy race, and the best part is, it won't cost them nearly as much as preschooling would be.
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