Greetings!

I have to say that being an English major and helping my 6 year old daughter with learning how to read has given me a lot of insight on the reading process. So I came to this class not expecting to learn as much as normal.

However, I was wrong. I learned the terminology for reading that I never even knew. Methods of reading I've been using for so long finally had names to them. This will make it easier to pass the information along to my own students in the future and has already helped with my instruction of my daughter.

I like the way this session was handled. The big lesson and then the smaller lessons based on our own content areas was a very good different to this class versus the other classes. Having the breakout sessions based on our content areas fit much better than the other methods. (I know. I repeated myself. But I thought it was worth doing so.)

The techniques we learned to engage the students in their reading were new information to me also, and very informative. I also loved the way we practiced every single thing we were taught.

All in all, this was a great way to present the information, and I truly came out feeling that I understood the information.

Kudos!

Rubrics and Examples

When I turn in an assignment for this class, I look at the examples they gave us and at the rubric. Although it tells us to look at the rubric, I would do it anyway. I've always done my assignments that way. I find out what the teacher expects and then provide them with it.

That's simple enough right?

1. Teach the students information through whatever method seems to stick it in their head. Make sure your questioning techniques involve wait time.
2. Review the information.
3. Provide an assignment on that information.
4. Give the students a rubric and an example of the assignment.
5. Assess the returned assignment. (Or have students assess it.)
6. Let the students fix the assignment while looking at the examples and maybe an updated rubric.
7. Repeat steps 5-6 as often as is needed.
8. Now grade the final assignment.

I wasn't being rhetorical. That's the basic philosophy behind the article and it would seem to work quite well.

Now, I read that people have an issue with peer assessment. Here's the deal: Let the students review YOU. You're the teacher. You should know this information like the back of your hand. YOU do the assignment. Give a copy of the rubric to the students. Let them assess you. It gives them practice with meeting the expectations of the rubric and examples. It lets them know you DO know what you're talking about. And, in those cases where you make mistakes on purpose or by accident, not only does it let them know you're also human, and it's ok to make mistakes, but the ones who find those mistakes and point them out to you should definitely be rewarded. Finally, if you're willing to let the students assess you, maybe, just maybe, your students will let other students assess them.

And yes, I've done this. I presented a speech to a speech class. They had a copy of the rubric and graded me. The best rubrics that were turned in? The ones with low grades. They commented tremendously on the things I could have done better. My favorite comment was "If you know your daughter so well, you shouldn't have to read from a piece of paper." I was proud that the student pointed that out.

My only regret... I didn't copy those rubrics before letting the students take them home. Would have been great for my portfolio. *winks*

Interesting Lesson Plans

Another idea is to apply the lessons to your own daily life. What examples of things that happen in "real" life vs. things that happen in "school" life can you find?

Present those examples to the students. Use them to focus their thoughts on what you're trying to teach.

I've been teaching a creative writing/speech/drama class for most of the year. There is no set textbook or checklist for that class. My mentor and I had to come up with all of the ideas ourselves, yet still make them fit in the core content.

To be honest, I feel I have learned a lot more about creating lessons by teaching such a class then I ever would have learned teaching everything directly from the curriculum provided through textbooks. I've learned to come up with my own curriculum. I've learned to outline what I want them to learn. I've learned to take those outlines and create lesson plans from them. I've tied in a lot of core content in those lessons.

I've also learned another major thing about classes like those: Do not be afraid to grab core content outside of the scope of the class. Some creative writing could include information normally taught in social studies. Drama includes information from humanities. Etc. Etc.