From Cheryl Hallman Week #2

Which strategy did you use? Verb Tense Study using the Present Perfect Tense.



· Which subject area/grade level? Fourth grade, Science. The students have been studying Landforms.





· How effective was it? I thought it was very effective because it helped the students to understand the cause and effect relationship between erosion and the forming of the Grand Canyon.





· Any challenges? Not really, but I did provide quite a bit of support; and we have been studying the unit for about a month so the vocabulary was very familiar.





· Any suggestions to make it a better learning experience for your students? I need to remember to have the students repeat back the sentence from hearing it before I write it down.



Cheryl Hallman

Week #2: From Rae Dewberry Language Arts 8th Grade

Rae Dewberry 8th grade Language Arts. Did very tense exercise with my classes – Present Perfect. The small AEP classes loved this exercise – admitted they knew little about the tenses of verbs. Really had fun adding adjectives and adverbs to the sentences! They were very creative. My large regular class was more difficult to engage. Need to think about that…

Post of Nikki Pavone

I practiced the strategy of having the students read the objective aloud.
8th grade language arts
I thought it was really effective. In the past, I had always read the objective and maybe one or two students. I think having the whole class read it aloud really set a purpose for learning.
The only challenge with this strategy is the size of font for my objective. Some of the students had to move up so that they could see it.

Post of Katie O'Neill

Which strategy did you use?

1) Language Warm-Up: During my afterschool homework group I created my own variation of a language warm-up. We were working on counting and manipulating money (mostly change). Prior to beginning the lesson I charted all the names of coins on the board. I said the name once and had the students repeat after me, careful to annunciate each sound and syllable correctly. Next I wrote the value of each coin next to the name of the coin. I then had each student repeat after me, the name then the value (i.e. 1 quarter = $0.25)



Which subject area/grade level? Third grade (mathematics & reading)

How effective was it? After the language warm-up I felt as though all students had a good handle on pronouncing money vocabulary correctly. Now as we progress with our usual math lessons it is exciting to hear my students say the words correctly and use them accurately in a complete sentence!

Any challenges? Not yet. However, I will need to remain aware of the level engagement (are all students interactive and participating in the lesson) and selecting vocabulary that is relevant to the current curriculum and relevant to my students learning. Are the vocabulary words going to contribute to a student’s academic success?

Any suggestions to make it a better learning experience for your students? My goal is to incorporate this learning strategy more often and into more of my lessons. I like that the language warm-up does not have to be limited to a specific subject. I feel as though you could incorporate a language warm-up regardless of the subject you teach.

Post for Michelle Plesinger

Which strategy did you use?

I used the Choral Repetition with Egyptian vocabulary and definitions.

· Which subject area/grade level?

Sixth Grade social studies

· How effective was it?

I have done this before with classes but just the words and call it "You say, I say".

· Any challenges?

My students are use to seeing the words we are using and were thrown a little off. The definitions were the hardest part for each of my classes.

· Any suggestions to make it a better learning experience for your students?

I think having them practice without seeing the words again will improve the lesson.

Post of Jocelyn Espinosa

I used choral reading with two of my language groups (4th and 6th grades) during our vocabulary sessions. I modeled for them how to break down the word. I read it slowly (to accentuate the syllables). I read it at a normal rate. Then I had them repeat the word aloud, once slowly, and one at a normal rate. It definitely helped my one articulation student in one of the groups because he was able to really hear all the sounds and practiced through the repetition and was more accurate. The challenge will likely be that as I fine tune how I modify the choral reading, that I don’t confuse the students. So far so good. No specific suggestions at the moment.

Post of Cheryl Hallman

Which strategy did you use? Choral repetition of big ideas/outcomes in science having to do with landforms, erosion and slope.





· Which subject area/grade level? Fourth grade, science





· How effective was it? I thought it was very effective because it helps to keep all the students engaged and learn the important ideas from the experiment.





· Any challenges? Some students need to hear it a few times before they can repeat it back.





· Any suggestions to make it a better learning
experience for your students? I just need to focus on making sure all of the students participate.