Mind Blowing Quote of the Week

There are weird similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. 

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were shot in the back of the head in the presence of their wives.

Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.

Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theatre. Kennedy was shot in a Lincoln, made by Ford.

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse. Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran And hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

Read more at http://www.omg-facts.com/top#8wRw3WSyOdWVXIWj.99 


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Mind Blown!!!!

Olivares' Final thoughts on Ladybugs

          As a future teacher, I am always on the lookout for fun activities to do with my students. This book brings up a lot of good points to take across as I deal with ELLs in my classroom. In fact that acronym, ELL, is new vocabulary for me. I like it a lot better than ESL which seems to carry some negative stereotypes when you hear it. Kids catch on too subtleties like that very easily. I think the biggest thing the book impressed upon me was reality of having to teach ELLs. I didn’t think too much about teaching students whose primary language wasn’t English until this book. Maybe I assumed, or hoped, that most of my kids would be speaking English already. Perhaps in the upper grade levels it would be less common, but if I stick around in elementary school I am likely to find many students who are initially struggling with a new language.

         

          But back to the book. Ladybugs and Swirling Galaxies gave me great ideas for showcasing my students work in the classroom. It also conveniently allows me to have a fairly blank room with the promise that it will be filled up later; a boon to just starting out teachers without a lot of stuff. The book, along with the guest speaker, reinforced the value of structure to the students. In a system that seems to be greatly favor student creativity, it is good to know that structure is important and that students will do better with it.  This is of course especially important when we consider the difficulty in trying to teach large class sizes where individual help will be hard to give. But the book also points out to when too much structure can be a negative. ELLs tended to like poetry because it was freer than regular writing.

    

          I am glad to have read both Nonfiction Matters and Ladybugs and Swirling Galaxies. It’s given me a better grasp on how important nonfiction reading and writing is and given me the confidence to teach it. I came in to this class thinking that I didn’t like reading nonfiction work. If you had asked me to name off some nonfiction that I liked it would have been either hard or a short list. These books have expanded my horizons. I can feel that my brain has grown from the experience and I am glad that I went through it. Above all I’d recommend these books to all elementary school teachers. They will give insight into how to deal with English Language Learners and nonfiction material, both of which are extremely important and both are topics that I was lacking in experience with.

What is a News Wall?

Chapter 9 had a little something on page 128 where it talked about meaningful print. One way the book mentions to make print meaningful was by having a news wall. Anyone have any idea what a news wall looks like.?

Olivares' Reflections on Chps 7-10

             The end of chapter ten in the personal reflections left me with a very moving idea. “Start now! Start with one student or a small group, and you will find that their energy to explore their world is spectacular!” (pg 148). I’ve said before how I find myself scared of how I will do in front of a full classroom of students. But this gives me a foothold into that world. Start experimenting with a small group of kids and when I finally become a teacher I will be ready. I have young nieces and nephews that I can experiment with, most of them will be elementary level, but one is middle school and the other in high school. I should be teaching the young members of my family the things I learn so that I will be ready when the time comes to be a teacher.

            Chapter seven made me question some thoughts I had on Bilingual languages in classrooms. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to have both Spanish and English, or English and another primary language, being used at the same time. I figured that students who could switch between languages wouldn’t want to, and maybe some won’t want to, but I see now that it is a great boon to them if they can. Not only will they be learning conventions in one language, they will learn how to simultaneously use them in another language. Except when explicitly teaching English, I also see now that giving instructions in the child’s primary language would be a boon to them because they’d understand more. I’m not fluent in Spanish, but one day I will finish my learning.

            Chapter 8 was about showcasing the students work and it’s no surprise that they love to showcase their stuff. When I do something amazing I like to be acknowledged for it. I imagine all adults are the same way. Students who have their work showcased are filled with pride and accomplishment. That accomplishment brings such feelings of joy that they want to continue working, which is what we want as teachers. Showcasing student work is important for their self esteem and my students work will be all along the walls of my classroom.

            “Meaningful print.”  That is a fun concept. When I was in school memorizing vocabulary words, I often made stories with one of the vocab words needing to be in every sentence. That helped make the words meaningful to me and I learned more that way. That’s just one way to do it, but there are multiple ways to make print meaningful. The book outlines a few ideas for meaningful print by having content word walls, news walls, magazines, and others kids work. Content word walls can have pictures attached to them so they can have an image to associate with it. I’m interested in what a news wall is. I don’t remember if the book already covered it. Is it news with the vocab words in it so there is a real world connection? I’d be interested to know if that is what it really is.

Mind Blowing Quote of the Week

Along with being the only 1 of 5 mammal species to lay eggs, they are poisonous (the poison located on their ankles can incapacitate a human), they keep 50% of its fat stored in their tails, and they can see electric fields generate by muscle contractions of their prey.

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MIND BLOWN!!!!!!!!

Olivares' Thoughts on Ladybugs book PART 2

            Comprehension strategies like questioning schema making connections, sensory images, inferring, determining importance, and synthesis are all different strategies that I’ve dealt with in great detail during Peter Kittles’ English class. These are strategies that do work and I know because I have used them. By using these strategies it is possible to delve into deeper critical thinking and understanding. I already knew that read-alouds are important for kids from the fact that kids who are read to at home are better readers and generally like books more than kids that are not read to. For those kids who are not read to and especially ELL’s, it is important to have read-alouds in the classroom. It gives experience with the way that English is played with and used. You can be lectured about how adjectives and adverbs give flavor to a text, but to actually experience this in a vocal way is empowering.

            My group’s book, Nonfiction Matters, explained in great depth how to foster an interest and gather information for a nonfiction research paper. Chapter 5 reminds me a lot of our Wonderbook activity where we had them think of topics they were interested in, write down some stuff they already knew, asked questions about what they didn’t know, and looked up that information later. Writing and reading about something you are interested in is a lot easier than reading something that is boring. So it makes perfect sense that focusing on the kids’ interests is a much better way to get them to write rather than forcing everyone to write on the same topic, especially if that topic is confusing to them.

            Questioning has been a big part of my education in my class NSCI 321, Scientific Inquiry. The class is lead by the questions and experiments that we come up with. This is a class I definitely don’t have to study for because I am constantly and personally engaged in leading my own learning experience. I’ve seen personally that kids who are bored are more likely to act out and cause disturbances in class. So if this could be set up in an English class then the kids will be fully engaged and on task. They will be the leaders in their own knowledge and that knowledge will stick with them for much longer. I can guaranty that I will remember the knowledge I learned in my class for years to come.

            I’m always impressed with young students that use big words. I seem to always think “how do you know that word already?” It still surprises me even though I know how smart students can be excellent with new words, especially when they own those words. Such a weird concept, to own a word, but it’s a good way to think of vocabulary words. Students who don’t own their words may use them, but will use them incorrectly or put them in awkward places. Students who own the words they use know exactly what they mean when they say or write it. Helping students to own a word will make their writing that much richer and their ability to comprehend more complex text will increase.

Inspiration for when you're scared

Whenever I'm scared I just tell myself "fall flat on your face, cause if your at your lowest point you have nothin else to be afraid of."