Hi and welcome to our course!
Please remember that one of the benefits of a blogging course is to have communication between participants. Remember to read and respond to other participants' comments each week. *** Please keep your responses to the assignments brief so that everyone is willing to read and respond to each others' comments. It is always a better learning environment when participants are more interactive!!! :)
Also, you may want to type your comments in a Word Document and either copy from Word and paste onto the blog or save it in a folder on your computer and then post it to the blog. I have written a couple of lengthy comments that I lost before I was able to post it to the blog. This extra step may save you some frustration later on this term.
Last of all, we will write our comments to your posts on the blog, so you will need to check back to the corresponding week for feedback (and to make additional comments if you wish.)
Let us know if you have any questions. You can email us, but please put the words "Question for Classroom Instruction" in the subject line so that we can respond in a timely fashion.
Assignment #1: Introductory paragraph. Please post your introduction to the course blog in the blog archive under the posting: Week One: Introduction.
Please tell us a little about yourself. Where do you teach? What grade and how long have you been teaching? How many students are in your class and do you have instructional support? What does your current literacy program look like? (If you aren’t currently teaching let us know what your educational background and experiences are.) What is your knowledge/training in the area of literacy? Does your district provide literacy training? If so, what exactly have they offered? Also, let us know a little about you outside the classroom: Interests/Hobbies/Family Life.
Also please read: Classroom Instruction that Works - Chapter 1 – Applying the Research on Instruction: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Sign in to the blog (follow directions below)
o Click on the comment link below. If you do not have a Google account you will need to create a free one. Underneath the “leave your comment” box – click where it says “no Google account? Sign up here.” Then follow the direction to create an account.
o After you create your account you can just type in your user name and password from when you created the account and then click the button “publish your comment” and it will be posted. You should post Assignment # 1 explained below as your first comment.
(Please Note: In addition to posting your first assignment (Introduction) to the blog, please email it to us. This is to enable us to contact you individually should the need occur. Please also make sure that you label your assignment with your name when posting to the blog to ensure that you receive proper credit for your work.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Laura Lemma
Classroom Instruction that Works
Assignment#1: Introductory Paragraph:
I have been teaching first grade in Portland Public Schools for the past five years. Currently, I teach first grade at Laurelhurst School, located in NE Portland. I never expected to become a teacher but fell into the profession during my undergraduate work at Pacific University and I fell in love. First grade has been a wonderful grade to teach. I love watching the students develop throughout the school year and become more confident in their skills.
This past year, I had twenty-four students in my classroom. I was very fortunate to have an instructional assistant in my room 4-5 times a week to provide student support in the AM, including during the literacy block. In first grade, the literacy block is usually an hour and half each day. I teach literacy using a program designed by Scott Foresman called, Reading Street. Last year, I used a Daily Five model for work time and during my small groups which I loved!
Throughout my past five years in Portland Public we have had different professional development opportunities around literacy. When I was first hired, Scott Foresman had just been adopted and we received training on the curriculum. The following year, Portland Public provided enhancement training around Scott Foresman as a way of reaching all our learners and further developing our teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness. This past year, our literacy professional development focused on the Common Core and its integration with our current reading adoption.
Personally, my husband and I are getting ready to celebrate our second year anniversary in Turks and Caicos in July. We recently bought our first home in Happy Valley, OR and we have been enjoying settling into our new house. In my free time, I love cooking, exercising, hiking, watching movies, traveling and spending time with my family, especially my husband Greg.
Hi Laura and welcome to our course! First Grade is such an amazing year to teach...as well as being the hardest to teach! I also LOVE Daily 5 and CAFE. I am working in a new school in my district this past year, and we launched Daily 5 K-2 last year and will start to use in 3-5 next year. We are also doing a book study on CAFE over the summer. If you are ever interestes, I teach an interactive course for TINT on CAFE - check it out in the future;) It definitely sounds as though much of your district PD has been program based, so it's great that you are able to take courses that you are interested in outside of what's offered in district. I look forward to working with you throughout the semester. So far we have a small group - it usually picks up in a couple weeks. We do ask that you keep your responses BRIEF so that other participants will read and respond - it's so much more valuable when it's interactive!
Assignment #1 Introductory Paragraph
David Bennett
I currently teach at North Gresham Elementary in the Gresham-Barlow School District. I have taught fifth grade throughout my entire 14-year career.
I had 31 students in my class last year, and I am projected to have 33 this coming school year. We are a Title 1 school so we have lots of support inside the classroom and outside as well.
Our current literacy program is Literacy By Design. We are required to teach whole group lessons for an hour each morning. The whole group block is followed by two separate small group lesson each morning. We are beginning to use Teacher’s College next year, an assessment and diagnostic literacy program.
Our district provides training in our adoption as well as other current trends regularly. Some of the training includes; Literacy by Design, DIBELS, Teacher’s College, SIOP, to name a few. We have late start every Wednesday and one of those mornings is dedicated to literacy each month.
I enjoy reading, writing, biking, golfing, parenting (that’s more of a requirement). I have two beautiful daughters; Emily who is 12, and Ellie who is 9.
David Bennett
Hi David & welcome to Classroom Instruction that Works. Wow….14 years in the same grade IS quite a long run! Usually a Principal starts to get a little edgy and starts to move people around;) At least you seem to have a decent amount of support with your rather large class sizes. Do you feel that an entire hour of whole group instruction has been effective? Most of the brain research out there would support instruction to happen in smaller chunks of time in order for students to best be able to attend to learning…??? When you mention Teachers’ College, do you mean that you are going to be following their units of study to support your instruction during reading and writing workshop? Or are you just using one of their assessment tools? You are very lucky to work in a district that provides release time for teachers to collaborate or receive PD….I would love for our district to begin to jump on board with give our teachers some PLC/collab time once a week! It really is a necessity with everything that is currently being thrown at classroom teachers!
Assignment #1: Introductory Paragraph:
Hi, all! I'm joining late to the game, but am excited to share in this learning experience with you.
I have been teaching 7th grade for the past four years in Portland Public Schools. Although I'm not currently teaching (welcome, baby!), I am working with kids as an after-school program coordinator at a local elementary school. We run about 60 academic classes per week, M-F, during the critical hours of 3-5:30pm when families are still working and kids are out of school. It's an incredible experience and an amazing program to run.
During my time as a classroom teacher, my middle school kids had exposure to a variety of literacy programs, but didn't follow any particular program exclusively. In the elementary classroom, our teachers are learning to use DIBELS for literacy instruction.
Personally, I've really enjoyed getting used to life as a working mom and spending time with my tiny, but happy family. I enjoy running, camping, and road trips with my husband, little boy, and sweet-as-pie dog, Timber.
Assignment One: Introductory Paragraph:
For seven years I was the reading teacher at John Wetten Elementary in Gladstone, Or. JWE is a Title I school and serves K-5th grade. We are one of the largest grade schools in Oregon serving over 750 students. I developed a program in which all student 1st-3rd grade were served by our “Learning Zone” for 30 minutes each day in small groups targeted to their reading level. The upper grades were targeted for specific reading skills on an invitational bases. This was a very successful program and was different than any reading programs in our area. Due to budget cuts I lost several IA’s and then my teaching partner. Our school no longer has a reading teacher.
Last year I was asked to teach first grade. I began the year with thirty students and over half of my class was “at risk” for reading according to DIBEL assessments and DRA. We use Rigby’s “Literacy by Design” for a 90 minute reading block of whole group and small group instruction. I really struggled with learning how to manage first graders. I understood the curriculum; however, I wasn’t ready for the behavior issues. I used Daily 5 as well, but found it very difficult to develop independence in squirrely little first graders. At the end of the year all my students were at grade level reading and benchmark except for six that were diagnosed with learning or behavior issues. This coming year I have been asked to teach third grade.
I wear many hats in my busy life. I am a wife, mother, teacher and athlete. My husband and I compete in 10K’s through ORRC and in fact have a race this week-end. Our oldest son has a full ride scholarship to Willamette University, Salem. It has been fun having him home for the summer but would appreciate it when he goes back and I can have food in our cupboards and less laundry. Our other two are in high school: daughter who is a junior and son a freshman. They keep us busy with plays, concerts and soccer. The real king of the house is Ollie, our two year old doxie.
Hi Nicolette and welcome to Classroom Instruction That Works! Congratulation on your new baby…and landing a great job that allows you to spend more time with your family! What a wonderful thing for your district to decide to offer to the community!
Hi Debra – welcome to Classroom Instruction That Works. Your “Learning Zone” program sounds like it must have been so beneficial for your school…what a shame that budget cuts make this unavailable for your students…in addition to the fact that you no longer even have a reading teacher in the building??? I think you will find it much easier to manage a third grade classroom behaviorally;) Good luck on your run this weekend!
Assignment #1 “Introduction”
My name is Laura Evans. I am an elementary teacher. I have taught in a small Inupiaq Eskimo village in Wales, Alaska for three years. I taught a Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten combined class. I am moving to Kotzebue, Alaska, where I will teach second grade. I was born and raised in Oregon.
I enjoy hiking, trips to the beach, and family get-togethers.
Hi Laura and welcome to the course! How exciting to be teaching in Alaska – what a unique experience! I think you are my first participant from that area;) I look forward to reading your reflections.
Post a Comment