Week 6, JOURNAL ENTRIES

Week 6, Assignment: 5 Journal Entries

FIELD OBSERVATION JOURNAL

6/3/2019

THE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

The classroom environment is warm and welcoming for the students in an everyday basis. There are 25 students in this class, a general education teacher and a teacher assistant. The special aid teacher comes in few hours daily and helps 4 students that need special assistance. The students sit in tables with groups of 4 (one table has 5) and rotate every week, so that they have different groups members to work with every week. The classroom has 7 lap top computers and centers are set up around the classroom. The tables are in the middle of the classroom. The classroom has a pretty rich word wall that the students visit and enrich every day. There is also a reading center where students sit in groups of 4 or 5, math manipulatives center, behavior management chart, library with many books classified according to the level of the students, and smart board.

6/7/2019

SMALL GROUPS

The teachers utilize the small group techniques as the best way to provide effective instruction. The groups are usually formed based on the learning abilities and level of the students for some subjects, while for other subjects they will change groupmates so they can enjoy everyone’s company. They rotate groupmates weekly for some of the subjects. The teacher provides instruction for the class in general in most of the subjects, and then she and the teacher assistant works with every group to make sure that the instruction major elements were absorbed by the students. They will provide extra instruction in every group or student as needed. The research or work assigned is then announced in general and the same technique as above is followed with the groups/students that need additional assistance. Quite often, the work of each group is shared / presented to the class and students are invited to evaluate the work of the other groups or classmates.

6/11/2019

TECHNOLOGY

The classroom is equipped with a smart board that the teachers use in almost every subject that they teach and work with the students. There are 7 laptop computers in the classroom that the students use for research or assignment completion. Each student has his/her individual account that they access with a password. They submit their work most of the times in this account that serves as a digital portfolio of their work. They present it at times and the parents or students from another class are invited. The teachers use different platforms on audio readers as well when needed, and especially with two of the students with learning disabilities (especially in reading).

6/14/2019

DIFFERENTIATION

The teaching tasks were differentiated in every lesson that I happen to observe. One technique that drew my attention in this classroom was the one when the teacher sent home a questionnaire in an effort to gather data about the technology used at home and outside of the school to the parents of the students in order to gather more accurate information about the actual exposure of her students to the technology and media. She then designed carefully the lessons that were introduced under a very interesting thematic unit called “Technology good / Technology bad”, where she grouped the students according to the data she had collected from the questionnaires sent in from the parents. The students worked with more passion in a subject that was quite close to reality and themselves and each group presented their projects to the class, parents and students of another class as well. She then invited the parents on a separate day after the presentation to help them understand their children’s development and interests so that together they can work for the best of the kids…at least for the remainder of this academic year.  

6/24/2019

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES

The lesson I would like to mention today is a lesson on ILIAD. They were working on a thematic unit on mortal and immortal characters of ILIAD for at least a week now. The teacher started this lesson by asking the students about the names of the characters (human and gods) that they could recall from the last lessons. She encouraged them to do some group or independent research through the books, pictures, word wall and laptops that they have used in the past days while working with this project. They gathered with the data collected and mentioned all the names they could remember or recently retrieved from the search. They proceeded then with reading: they read the sentence, phrase or paragraph that referred to each character from every available source and tried to figure out whether each character was mortal or immortal. Some of the sources were videos and they enjoyed those as well. Then the teacher presented them with a big chart with columns referring to the character, type (mortal, immortal) and evidence. Writing all this info (one at a time or simultaneously 2-3 students at a time, as the chart was quite big) took place. They were eager to record as much as they could. They transferred all this info in a digital chart then and an art project followed: they used characteristics from the ILIAD characters to create their own. Some students were so inspired that they decided to design their own shields, based on Achilles’ shield.

Week 6, Assignment #1 - ONLINE SOURCES - Learning Disabilities

Week 6, Assignment # 1

3 ONLINE LEARNING SOURCES – LEARNING DISABILITIES

“ALL CHILDREN CAN WRITE”

http://www.ldonline.org/article/All_Children_Can_Write

This is a great article as it is considered the best approach to writing. It is known that many children who have learning disabilities are poor writers. This article touches the four essentials to successful writing-process program: the adequate provision of time, child choice of writing topic, response to child meaning, and the establishment of a community of learners. It is a very useful article for someone to consider in applying in the classroom, as the most critical factor for children with learning disabilities is the meaning-making decision. We, the educators, need to first believe we know and we have important and useful information, and to work and confirm for the child the importance of that information. From the beginning, we should work to build strong history for writers through collections of all their work, publishing and their effective sharing with other members of the class. We should always encourage them to write, even with errors and move on, always move on.

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“STUDENTS WITH NONVERBAL LEARNING DISABILITIES”

http://www.ldonline.org/article/Students_with_Nonverbal_Learning_Disabilities

In this article, the author refers to the difficulties faced by students with nonverbal learning disabilities, who do not process accurately information that is not verbal/linguistic in nature-conversely, they rely almost exclusively on their interpretation of the spoken or written word. Such nonverbal information includes tactile, kinesthetic, visual-spatial, effective, experiential information that the learner does not integrate with language. We, as educators, should aspire to help these students to adapt and to achieve fulfillment in their lives, we should engage them in explicit and direct instruction to remediate their difficulties and to use their strengths in the most effective way. We can achieve a lot by teaching them to use their own verbal analytic strengths, anticipate situations in which they might have difficulty, teach them to interpret facial expressions, gestures and nonverbal aspects of communication, teach them to be particularly careful to ensure their understanding when spatial language is involved, teach and practice organizational skills with them. It is important that we are confident and as helpful as possible, because our effective interventions in those cases can make a positive difference in the lives of these students.

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“TECHNOLOGY-SUPPORTED MATH INSTRUCTION FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: TWO DECADES OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT”

http://www.ldonline.org/article/Technology-Supported_Math_Instruction_for_Students_with_Disabilities%3A_Two_Decades_of_Research_and_Development

This article is a guide on how to identify students with disabilities who have difficulties with math and how to provide support on this matter. As we know, when it comes to mathematics, there are three basic types of mathematical knowledge that are required for the development of mathematical literacy and competence: declarative, procedural and conceptual. Today, a variety of technologies are available to enhance students’ mathematical competency by building their declarative, procedural and conceptual knowledge. In an effort to resolve problems that are affiliated with the above-mentioned, researchers and educators have turned to technology with varying degrees of success to help students achieve fluency in math facts. Scaffolding has been defined as a “process that enables a child to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal which would be beyond his unassisted efforts. This scaffolding technique reduces or fades itself overtime as the student becomes more capable on moving on by itself. As educators, we can find this article very useful in guiding us on how to develop fluency in math-delayed children using technology, how to convert symbols, notations and text, build conceptual knowledge and understanding, make calculations and create mathematical representations, organize ideas, build problem solving and reasoning, and more. A major goal for us educators in dealing with students with math difficulties should be to conduct ongoing research to determine the best way to use the existing technology to enhance mathematical learning and to successfully identify areas of need that will serve as a start point for future effective research and helpful activities that will help in the development of the student.

Week 5, Assignment #1 - KEYSTONE ASSIGNMENT - Case Study

Week 5, Assignment # 1

KEYSTONE ASSIGNMENT: CASE STUDY

PROFILE OF THE STUDENT, STRENGHS / WEAKNESSES

The name of the student for this case study is John. John is 7 years old. He is in First Grade and his native language is English. John was diagnosed with Learning Disability a little more than a year ago. John shows difficulties in obtaining information and processing it. He has a hard time following the work presented in his grade level and was falling behind in comparison with his classmates. He is not able to recognize the letters easily and as a result, his reading abilities are below grade level. He also shows difficulties recognizing shapes, colors, numbers and more. As a person, John is a very intelligent individual, very well behaved, very polite and kind. He is a shy student, with self-centered behavior in most cases. He will never ask for help when he needs and he definitely needs special attention, constant motivation and encouragement, especially since his condition has made him fall behind academically and struggle socially.

In addition, John also has attention issues. He has a hard time focusing and concentrating in what is taking place in class. He needs constant reminders to stay in task and focused.

His learning and attention issues are brain-based difficulties in reading, writing, math, organization, focus, listening, comprehension and social skills. John is an intelligent boy, and his learning and attention issues are definitely not results of low intelligence, poor vision or poor hearing as his peers and others easily assume. His learning and attention issues rend to run in his families’ history, as his parents say. Those genes can affect John’s brain structure and chemistry passed down from parents to children.

LEARNING NEEDS OF THE STUDENT

John is a very sweet boy that definitely needs support in all academic areas and social skills as well. John has a hard time processing the information provided to him. He seems to get stressed when a large amount of information is presented to him, and that draws him back from his task (any task assigned) and deprives him from proceeding. The written information is what makes him more nervous most of the time. He seems to accept better anything that has a picture next or any audio component. John is below the reading level for his age/grade because he lacks basic reading mechanics. John had a hard time recognizing and distinguishing some letters while reading. He was guessing most of the time in an effort to proceed. He also faces difficulties in remembering information that was presented in reading text that he read. John has a hard time distinguishing measuring unit during math class and his efforts in pretending he knows things that he doesn’t, in an effort to keep up with the classwork and his peers, causes him additional stress and enforces his self-centered behavior quite often. He also faced difficulties in basic math when asked to solve basic computation problems as well.

It seems that John has more than one learning or attention issue.

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

John is a student in a class of 26 in his day school. His class has a lead teacher (general education teacher) and a teacher assistant sometimes. The class has a smartboard and all the required centers for this level. The classroom has 10 desktops as well where students can use for their individual tasks when needed. The desks are placed in the center of the classroom in a group of 5 or 6. The students are encouraged to communicate often, especially when they work in groups. The students also are encouraged to provide constructive criticism and feedback on the work of other friends or other groups. John goes to an afterschool activity center every day.

INSTRUCTIONAL TASK

In the attached designed lessons, you’ll find John will be involved in a number of activities such as writing, reading, listening, thinking, measuring, comparing and communicating in the form of discussion, guided research, and also using online technology to enhance the above-mentioned.

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION AND ACCOMODATIONS

John will be able to use the internet (classroom desktops) to research himself (in a guided denominator) for whatever is needed during the lessons below.

He will also be able to enjoy audio readers and practice his readings with a plethora of games at teachyourmonstertoread.com. The games take children on a magical journey, meeting colorful characters along the way and collecting fantastic rewards. When children are engaged, they’re motivated to learn. As they progress, they rehearse a range of essential reading skills; matching letters to sounds, blending, segmenting, tricky words and reading full sentences. He will be using this platform in an effort to improve his reading skills and keep up with the classwork with some extra help from the teacher assistant or the teacher whenever needed.

UDL Lesson #1 Overview

Title:	Fill them up!
Author:	Kelly Demetra Varsami
Subject:	Measure / Comparison
Grade Level(s):	1st
Duration:	One Period
Subject Area:	Science / Math
Unit Description:	This lesson teaches students to compare how much different containers can hold. Get ready for some overflowing fun! Students will learn by experimenting with: measure, more, less
Lesson Description for Day:	Students will compare which container holds more.
State Standards:	1.Asking questions and defining problems 2. Developing and using models 3. Planning and carrying out investigations 4. Analyzing and interpreting data 5. Using mathematics and computational thinking 6. Constructing explanations and designing solutions 7. Engaging in argument from evidence 8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Goals

Unit Goals:	Students will be able to acquire basic knowledge about measure using science and math topics and compare containers based on how much they hold.
Lesson Goals:	Students will learn how to measure and compare

Methods

Anticipatory Set:	Introduction Take out two cups of different sizes. Show students the snap cubes. Tell them that you are going to fill each cup with snap cubes. Ask which cup they think will hold more. Have students turn and talk to a partner to share which cup they think will hold more. Have students point to the container they think will hold more. Have students use the sentence frame: "I think the __ __ __ __ holds more." Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling Fill the cups with snap cubes, counting the cubes as you put them in. Record how many cubes each cup holds on the board. Ask, “Now what if we fill the cups with pennies. Which do you think will hold more?” Take a few answers from the class. Fill the cups with pennies, again counting as you put them in. Write the numbers of pennies on the board and ask students, “Did the same cup hold the most pennies and the most cubes? Why do you think that is/isn’t true?” Use gestures to indicate more vs. less and invite students to repeat words after you. Ask students to turn and talk to tell a partner which container they think will hold more pennies.
Introduce and Model New Knowledge:	Enrichment: Challenge students to order the objects they measured from the object that holds the least to the object that holds the most. Support: Have students measure the capacity of two objects and determine which one holds more and which one holds less.
Provide Guided Practice:	Allow students to count in their home language. Put all the objects that can be filled (boxes, bags, and cups) in the front of the room. Have students work with a partner to choose one object to measure. Hand out snap cubes and paper to each pair. Have students guess how many snap cubes their object can hold and write their guesses on the paper. Then instruct students to add snap cubes to fill their objects, counting as they go. When they are done filling the object, they should write the actual number of snap cubes they used on their papers. Provide visual instructions for students to follow in their groups.
Provide Independent Practice:	Now have students choose three more objects to measure, following the same process that they did with their first object. Have students draw or write what object they are measuring next to their estimates and actual measurements of how many snap cubes the objects hold. When students are done measuring, they should circle the object that holds the most snap cubes and draw a rectangle around the object that holds the least snap cubes. Work with students in a small group to measure the additional objects. Support students to use the new vocabulary ("more," "less," "same") when describing how much a container can hold. Intermediate Pair students together with a partner.

Assessment

Formative/Ongoing Assessment:

Assess students’ understanding by looking at the papers where they record their work. Assess students understanding by taking note of how they interact with the materials and their classmates when comparing which container holds more. Ask guiding questions as students work in pairs: "Which do you think will hold more?" "How do you know?" "Can you show me?" Have pairs raise their hands to share which object that they measured held the most and which object held the least. Have students point to the object that held the most and least. Have students turn and talk to a new partner to share their findings. The responses of all the students will be checked to make sure they did comprehend the key points.

Summative/End Of Lesson Assessment:

Hand out worksheets related to the above project in order to ensure that the topic covered was fully understood by all students.  You can also ask them to find fun facts about measuring.

Materials

Cups of different sizes Boxes of different sizes Bags of different sizes (sandwich bags, gallon bags, etc.) Snap cubes Pennies Paper Pencils

UDL Lesson #2 Overview

Title:	Where did the snow go?
Author:	Kelly Demetra Varsami
Subject:	Measure / Density
Grade Level(s):	1st
Duration:	One Period
Subject Area:	Science / Math
Unit Description:	Students will learn by experimenting with: measure, density, more, less
Lesson Description for Day:	Students will change the density of powdered sugar by adding a liquid. They will use the changed sugar to decorate a snowflake cookie.
State Standards:	1.Asking questions and defining problems 2. Developing and using models 3. Planning and carrying out investigations 4. Analyzing and interpreting data 5. Using mathematics and computational thinking 6. Constructing explanations and designing solutions 7. Engaging in argument from evidence 8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Goals

Unit Goals:	Students will be able to acquire basic knowledge about measure and density using science and math topics
Lesson Goals:	Students will learn the relationships between density, measure and space

Methods

Anticipatory Set:	Ask: How do you think snow melts? What happens when it melts? Explain that when snow melts, the density (how much space it fills) changes. The students will see how this is done by dissolving powdered sugar. Direct a student to fill a measuring cup with powdered sugar, making sure that the sugar is not packed into the cup. Level the top with the handle of the spoon. Direct a student to pour 1 teaspoon of milk into the center of the cup of sugar. Ask: What is happening to the powdered sugar? Direct another student to add a second spoon of milk. A third, etc. Observe what happens to the sugar. Use no more than a total of 6 teaspoons. Ask: Why does it look like there is less sugar in the cup? Where did it go? Repeat steps 2 and 3. Stir the contents of the cup into a bowl, adding 2 teaspoons of vanilla to flavor. *ask: Is the cup full of sugar? Let’s see if we can change that. Use the steps in lesson 2 to create snowflakes that are 1.75″ in diameter from the parchment paper. Cover the cookies with the powdered sugar icing. Place the parchment snowflake on top of the cookie and sprinkle generously with colored sugar, tapping off the extra before removing the snowflake pattern. A clean pin helps remove the parchment snowflakes from the icing.
Introduce and Model New Knowledge:	Take the time to let the students know that there is a close relationship about measure, density and space. You can start reading to them Sometimes Snow Falls in the Summer, by Deb Troehler.
Provide Guided Practice:	You can have the students read aloud in groups or independently and highlight what draws their attention more, write down important or unknown vocabulary words
Provide Independent Practice:	Have each student do an independent (or in a group of 2 or 3) research on the internet regarding the topic of the lesson. Where does the snow go?

Assessment

Formative/Ongoing Assessment:

Explain what they should keep from the above activity: When liquid is added to powdered sugar, the sugar dissolves into the liquid, increasing the density of the sugar. The amount of air between the particles of sugar is reduced, causing the sugar to take up less room in the cup. This is similar to how the density of snow is changed when it melts. The air between the snowflakes is reduced as the snow becomes a liquid.  The responses of all the students will be checked to make sure they did comprehend the key points.

Summative/End Of Lesson Assessment:

Hand out worksheets related to the above project in order to ensure that the topic covered was fully understood by all students.  You can also ask them to find fun facts about snow.  Here is an example: Snowy fact: If a snowstorm produces a light fluffy snow, then it is possible for 10 inches of snow to melt into merely 1 inch of water.

Materials

2 pounds powdered sugar & colored granulated sugar Milk (2 TBSP per demonstration) Prebaked sugar cookies Vanilla and butter (optional) Set of measuring cups and spoons Spoon and spreading knife Parchment paper

UDL Lesson #3 Overview

Title:	Can you make your own rainbow?
Author:	Kelly Demetra Varsami
Subject:	Elements of rainbow
Grade Level(s):	1st
Duration:	One Period
Subject Area:	Science / Math
Unit Description:	Students will learn the relationship between simple elements and natural phenomena
Lesson Description for Day:	Students will be able to create a rainbow by simply using sunlight and water
State Standards:	1.Asking questions and defining problems 2. Developing and using models 3. Planning and carrying out investigations 4. Analyzing and interpreting data 5. Using mathematics and computational thinking 6. Constructing explanations and designing solutions 7. Engaging in argument from evidence 8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Goals

Unit Goals:	Students will be able to acquire basic knowledge about natural phenomena and how they are formed
Lesson Goals:	Students will learn the relationships water and sunlight and how that gives us a rainbow

Methods

Anticipatory Set:	Show the students images of naturally occurring rainbows (single and double rainbows). Ask: What colors do you see in the rainbows? How do you think these rainbows are created? Look closely at the double rainbows. How are they different? Show students the picture of a right triangle.
Introduce and Model New Knowledge:	Demonstrate: Position yourself with the sun directly behind you so that you and your shadow form the legs of a right triangle, as shown. Position the hose approximately halfway between your shadow and you. The actual angle is 42 degrees for the primary rainbow and 50 degrees for the secondary rainbow. However, halfway will be easier for the students to understand. Have a student turn the water on FULL blast. Arc the hose spray to create the rainbow. The rainbow should be formed close to the halfway point between the legs of the triangle.
Provide Guided Practice:	Ask: What colors do you see in the rainbow? What color is at the top? At the bottom? Have the students take turns creating their own rainbow. It may be possible to create a double rainbow in this manner, but the secondary rainbow will be faint.
Provide Independent Practice:	Have each student do an independent (or in a group of 2 or 3) research on the internet regarding the topic of the lesson. What can they find out about the formation of the rainbow?

Assessment

Formative/Ongoing Assessment:

Explain what they should keep from the above activity: To create a rainbow you need a source of light and something that will refract and reflect the light. The light from the sun is refracted (bent) and reflected (bounced) inside the droplets of water from the hose. As each color of the rainbow has a different-sized wavelength, the way they are refracted and reflected causes the sunlight to split into the different stripes of the rainbow. The responses of all the students will be checked to make sure they did comprehend the key points.

Summative/End Of Lesson Assessment:

Create a rainbow in the classroom: In the story, Sometimes Snow Falls in the Summer, a rainbow is created in Ella’s room by a prism. There are many ways to create a rainbow–using CDs, water, water and oil, and many more. Try your own hand at creating rainbows in the classroom.

Materials

Garden hose with an adjustable nozzle attached Photographs of naturally occurring rainbows Picture of a right triangle or angle Open space outside Sunshine (the sun should NOT be directly above you)