# data[].attributes.body
Renee,

The example of priming you mentioned with the science class could be applied to any subject area and really sounds like a way to spark student's curiosity about what they would be learning next

# data[].attributes.body
Lois,

I think it's a great idea to use the sitcoms as a way for students to see different scenarios modeled for them. Also, having them discuss rather than a written reflection probably allows for a much better understanding of the topic because they are able to hear and add on to their classmate's responses.

# data[].attributes.body
I like the idea of having examples along with the rubrics. If I had three examples of student artwork that received a 3, 2, and 1 on the rubric, students would be able to see visual cues of what a 3 artwork looks like, which then they could look for in their own work.

# data[].attributes.body
It seems that some students opt out of the learning log idea because it almost always asks them to write something, and a good number of students hate writing day after day, and it becomes tedious or boring to them, even if it is a short response to a prompt. Perhaps giving students other options from time to time, such as, "Illustrate an example of chemical change" or "Write a true/false statement about chemical change", instead of , "Write one thing you learned today about chemical change" may help them to buy into completing them a little bit more.

# data[].attributes.body
I used sheet protectors as well. It is a great way to provide differentiation because you can put different worksheets for different students in them and it is easy to see what students know and don't know quickly. Students also like the novelty of using a dry erase marker with a sheet protector, they are not expensive and easy to store.

# data[].attributes.body
Priming can be fun and challenging as well as helpful with introducing upcoming material. In one of the 8th grade science classes last week, the drill was actually a inquiry-based discussion where vocabulary and facts were given to the students for them to predict what they thought the new science unit would be about. Students really got into it, and the teacher was very pleased that one of the students on my caseload was the one who put the clues together and predicted what the new unit was! It was a cool way to bring student engagement, critical thinking, drawing conclusions, and science information together in one activity.

# data[].attributes.body
Lisa and Erica, Can't wait to start using the boards! (or sleeve protectors!) Thanks for the confirmation.

# data[].attributes.body
I am a real proponent of using Howard Gardner's ideas of multiple intelligence to meet the needs of all students. I use to test all my students the first weeks of schools and group accordingly. I think in the future, I will plan on testing as in the past. I think this will be useful to have information on all students.

I am hopeful with the new curriculums being written for common core and the new tablet technology, there will be more information included about how to assist students using multiple intelligence and lessons that include these learning profiles.

I found the section on peer interviews to be useful as a strategy at the beginning of the year. I often do a meet and greet but peer interviews seems fun. Has anyone used these strategies? How does it work?

Many strategies in this reading this week were quite useful. This was a good section to ponder now and in the future.

# data[].attributes.body
I love to use white boards. It is a great way to assess learning and not put a student on the spot. If they flash their boards and it is incorrect then they can change it. I think it builds confidence in kids too. If you place a piece of paper in a sleeve protector, those make good boards.

Erica, Crayola company makes erasable crayons now. I have used those of the boards. It is less expense than markers If you need to replace them.

Lisa Stover

# data[].attributes.body
Denise,

I am also hopeful that the new devices will be helpful for responses and surveys. It is quite time consuming to look through all those journals as mentioned by many of you. I was like you, Gail, bringing those journals back and forth from school to home and it just seemed like some of the kids didn't take it too seriously.

Lisa

# data[].attributes.body
Liz, (Elizabeth)

Thanks for the insight with you daughter and how to assist her to react to things. I often have to assist are students in the strategy club that do not always know how to react when they lose a game or think they are being slighted. I have seen real growth with the kids in this club. May have learned to lose gracefully and have learned that it is a game. It is so rewarding to see the kids handle life's disappointments with grace.

Thanks again for sharing a personal perspective,

# data[].attributes.body
I model skills a lot, but also find it important for students to model the skill for their peers.  I also have the student talk through the problem as they are doing it.

# data[].attributes.body
Maybe students could begin to complete learning logs on their new devices when they receive them.

# data[].attributes.body
A  lot of you have mentioned priming.  This is a great way to help students come in to a lesson better prepared to be successful.  Even just knowing the words is helpful!

# data[].attributes.body
I'm really interested in this idea of learning logs.  I think that it would be very easy for students to maybe take notes in their learning log and then relate the skill to something in their world.  The connection from the lesson to how they might use or need to use that skill in their world might make it stick with them better!

# data[].attributes.body
To Denise,

I think giving a completion grade sounds good.  I have done that in the past and then had the students take the entries to complete a final project. Grading the entries helped with this final project. I was able to analyze if the students really understood what was going on and it better prepared them for the final project.

I will need to re-think the purpose of the journal entries in my mind if I am grading them on completion only. I can not expect them to show mastery of the content, a "Bible" to refer back to. It will need to be just a reflection of the day's content which will definitely help them day to day.

# data[].attributes.body
To Erica, I agree with doing away with the typical journals.  I found myself having students write entries, but I could never get to them to grade or check.  I just lugged the marble composition books everywhere.  I like the new ideas for "journaling."  Quick checks and immediate sharing are good ideas and beneficial.

# data[].attributes.body
I really like what Lois is doing with the video clips!  Kids love to watch tv and watching even a portion of a show helps them to visualize the situation so much better.  We could use this to help kids with social situations too!

# data[].attributes.body
I too love priming, both academically and socially.  We do this a lot with our autistic kids mostly about social situations.  I have also had to do this with my daughter, for example in a new situation like her birthday.  I said that ok...you might get a gift today that you don't like...how will you handle it.  Then we have to go over how she should respond if she gets a gift that she doesn't care for or a duplicate.  We also prime kids here at school to handle a consequence the next day.  If someone might have to be ARC, they get prepped that they will be there so they don't walk into the situation and then get upset all over again.

# data[].attributes.body
I was interested in the teacher modeling section.   We do a lot of teacher modeling for behavior so that students can hopefully learn to emulate this behavior independently.  We try to do this prior to incidents happening, but sometimes have to do this after an incident as well.  Sometimes when we meet with a student after an incident we model what they should have done and also how they need to apologize.

# data[].attributes.body
Haha Amber...you are a spaz sometimes!  I know for me, I need to try to switch things up.  Maybe do logs for a unit and then try something different.  That way you don't get bored with it!

# data[].attributes.body
Denise, I pretty much did grade on completion when I tried the logs, with the accuracy spot checks. There was no way for a spaz like me to keep up with full on accuracy grading. :) I used the logs for drills as well, once upon a time, but again, if I get behind, then the students start losing class work points because of me.

# data[].attributes.body
Erica and Amber...LOVE academic priming.  Even giving students vocabulary words with definitions a few days or the night before can help them anticipate the lesson and help with participation.

Could the learning log be graded just as a completion grade and then just spot checked sometimes for accuracy?

# data[].attributes.body
Gail, I couldn't agree more about the info in this portion of reading and the teachers implementing these ideas!  It's good to have reminders to help us use these ideas in order to reach every type of learner.  I love the white board ideas...Erica you're right, it is a blank canvas!  Ask for more supplies (dry erase markers) from your DC or Doris as needed!  One thing that I have done is use page protectors and insert either a chart or graphic/visual organizer so that students can use that as their 'dry erase' board...works just as well.

# data[].attributes.body
I was interested in the partial participation strategy.  I find with many of my special needs students that they are hesitant to participate because they feel that everyone else 'knows' the answer.  Often times they are unwilling to take a chance with making a guess because they are worried that their peers will laugh at them.  I think it's a great strategy to give kids like this a heads up as to what question they will answer by looking at their paper ahead of time.  This will give them confidence...maybe they will begin to take more chances independ of teacher prodding.

# data[].attributes.body
To Lois,

I like how you use relevant family shows to make your point.  The TV shows represent values and family unlike the entertainment on TV today. We educate our students everyday, not just on content, on being a good person. We model how to solve problems and how to react to negative situations. Not all students take note on how the teacher responds to negative activity in the classroom but if we model good behavior daily, an impact will be made. I have mentioned Finding Nemo a lot recently as we talk about relationships in science class.  The students engaged in discussions about the other relationships in the movie and even brought up other Disney movies. In the end, they understood how relationships work in an ecosystem. It involved very little reading and almost 100% were engaged in discussion. Please send me any clips where the fresh prince is studying science :)

# data[].attributes.body
To Lois, First I hope the appointment went well.  Always good to take time for ourselves!  And your Cosby episodes are famous.  Students seem to be getting a lot out of them as I hear references to your videos quite often.  They certainly promote thinking, and the fact that students continue to discuss the topics outside of your class proves they hit home!  All students usually can relate.

Erica - Glad I could help! :)

# data[].attributes.body
To Gail,

I have an ample amount of white boards and limited amount of dry erase markers. I think that is why I use the white boards rarely.  I keep them locked up type in one of my multitude of cabinets (must keep everything neat!) and often forget I have them. You have motivated me to pull them out. The students are motivated by them and it is a good way to measure who really knows the answer and who is just going along with the crowd. It also applies a different style of learning as some students are more artistic.  They see the white board as an empty canvas and feel more creative with their responses. Thanks Gail :)

# data[].attributes.body
I actually found this whole packet this time to be pretty informative.  First, I keep telling myself that I want to use white boards as was suggested.  To me, they seem motivating and non-threatening.  Our department goal of focusing on getting inclusion students to participate more would truly be met.  It would give immediate feedback and less paper collection.  Also, to me, it is reassuring and a wonderful compliment to teachers at this school (especially to those of us in this book club!) that we already implement most of these ideas.  I see them daily.  Learning logs, goal-setting, choice offerings, modeling, individual attention, assessments, challenging work, making kids feel unique yet parts of groups, praise, mind breaks, and considering learning styles.  We are certainly a group dedicated to strategy trying and helping all students.

# data[].attributes.body
I tried learning logs a few times over the years and it was never as successful for me as it can be for other teachers. Part of the problem, is probably me...the logs are one more thing to grade and I would forget or fall behind or the kids would notice that I hadn't checked them and would get lazy. I do like their uses, I just can't ever stick to them for math.

# data[].attributes.body
Academic priming is of interest to me, since I already try to do this on a regular basis. I'm not the best planner when it comes to myself (you've seen my desk :) ), but I always try to let the kids know what is coming. I usually discuss all of the topics of the unit a the start, than in each section we discuss all that it entails as well. We discuss vocab, skills that will be learned and skills that we already have that we will use and apply to the new material, etc. For the students who are on point and actually hear and care what I say, I think it really helps them build a mental framework and helps them feel a little more prepared.

# data[].attributes.body
Erica,

I like the idea of learning logs too.  I think I may have tried them years ago when I taught Health, but can not remember for sure.  I like the idea of students connecting to the new information as they see fit. I tried your idea last week of making personal connection sentences to remember vocabulary and it worked really well.  I gave a pre and post test on some vocabulary and I think doing that helped them improve.  I may try learning logs too for a couple weeks to help them make personal connections to the topics in writing. Perhaps I will include draw a picture or write a song or poem too as choices in the learning log to address those different learning styles/multiple intelligences

# data[].attributes.body
I found this exerpt interesting.......for community building.....in the inclusion classroom....

Another effective tactic teachers can try is exploring tangents. In Teacher Man, a memoir about his 30 years as an English teacher in a vocational high school in New York City, Frank McCourt (2005) describes his community-building strategies of getting off subject and following student leads. McCourt’s students appreciated the stories he told them about his own life because he spoke to them as peers, not as inferiors. As a result, they opened up to him and showed a desire to work with him and one another. McCourt also remained open to their leads. After a long stretch of reaping only dismal results from his formal writing assignments, he realized that students’ forged excuse notes from their parents contained creative and dramatic prose. He seized the opportunity to have students write essays and letters in the form of excuse notes, such as one from Adam and Eve to God, or from Lee Harvey Oswald to the Kennedy family.

I find it works also.  For example during the goal setting lesson I share some of the goals I had and how I went about achieving them.  I ask them what theirs are and they love to share no matter what their reading or writing ability.    Today I had a student ask why I was absent yesterday. I told her I would answer that later, and plan to do a lesson on skin cancer and relate to them how my Mom had melanoma and how I was concerned about some moles I had so I wen to the dermatologist.      Also I have had long stretches of students not responding in writing to questions about situations (ie  How should John respond to Mary if she calls him a name?)  Then I started showing clips of sitcoms)Cosby, Family Ties, Fresh Prince of BelAir)  that may have had that situation in it and the verbal discussion/answers come forth exuberantly!!!

I have been reading Teacher Man....I like one story where the kids are throwing a bologna sandwich around and he picks it up and eats it!!  They thought it was great and helped his rapport with them actually!!   (Discipline strategy? redirection? LOL)

# data[].attributes.body
I also like the idea of a learning log.  I tried this before when I taught 7th grade.  Students were asked to make a journal entry which involved answering a question based on the days lesson.  The 7th graders for the most part did not take this assignment seriously.  When I switched to 6th grade, I got rid of the journal entries. The reading (p30) gave me some new perspective. Students can connect to the new information as they see fit, maybe a summary or even a diagram. They can even share their entries with classmates the following day to provide another way to look at the topic.  Because the students are given a choice as to how they journal the information, the information may have more meaning to them and they will enjoy learning more.

# data[].attributes.body
I like the idea of academic priming.  I try to do this everyday, to prepare the students for what is to come the next day.  I do not often succeed in really giving them a true picture. After the reading, I decided to have the students define any new words the day before so that they can think about how the words fit together if they so choose. This will ease any frustration with hearing about the new words the day of the lesson.  Hopefully, the students will build confidence and feel better prepared to dive in to the lesson.