Monday, July 7, 2008

Wednesday, July 13, 2008

Low Prep-High Impact instructional strategies may seem like an oxymoron, but we learned today that it is not! What did you think of today's ideas? Please post your thoughts here.

6 comments:

Dawn78 said...

Dawn says,

Today we reviewed assessment vs testing. We talked about the purpose of assessement is to find out where tudents are so that we can evaluate where each needs to go. we talked about how if you are going to assess, then you need to evaluate. we learned that there are three main areas to assess --- learning profile, interest, and readiness.

Next we got into some nitty gritty ways to assess students. We looked at interest inventories and took a learning style assessment. We also discussed and practiced a few concept map types of assessments. I liked when we made the cahrts and then went "shopping." Collaboration is a critical skill for students and i really liked the term 'shopping" and not stealing or something like that. i am looking forward to tying the IIOEE (ick ee) as an anticipatory set. The experiences piece really appeals to me. maybe it is because I am a Type one learner.

Although i need to take more time to read the chapter from Differentiation: Simplified ... what I did read was very practical and i actually liked writing style and should probably get the book.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Angel Renninger said...

What a day---whew! So much information so little time  Today was great though….we learned so many low prep - high impact teaching strategies! I really enjoyed doing the abc’s with the strategies. This gave me an organizational tool for these techniques…yes believe it or not I like things put in a neat and orderly fashion (and I’m a music teacher?). I could really make the connections now with the strategies listed in the book. I do learn better by doing and seeing it done. Even though many of the strategies were for literacy, math and learning environment I can visualize how I can use those same things in the music classroom. I also got a lot out of the book references and websites too. I’m planning to check those out later on tonight. I was also excited to know that the flyswatter game we are already using is considered a strategy. In the past we called them learning experiences or to students “games”. I also had a great time learning the dances (thanks mindee). When I was in school the only time we used dance was in our elementary music methods class….it’s nice to see ideas that catch the middle schoolers attention. I’m looking forward to interviewing students tomorrow to get a different perspective on things.

Hannah said...

Today was a great day. We received so many low-prep, high-efficiency strategies to use in all areas. Some of the ideas were higher but I kept my mind working to figure out how to do it in my Kindergarten classroom. I liked how so many of these strategies were having children use higher level of thinking. I am admitting that I have not used much high level thinking with my kindergarteners but I can see where this will help some of those that are ready for those higher levels. I cannot wait to put these strategies and differentiated instruction in place in the fall. I have had so many strategies that I have been wanting to do and time just flies away so this is a great thing to be able to put some of the strategies together to use. It will be such a great thing to have in my classroom. I will be able to target all of the learners to a better ability thus the learners will grow even more. I cannot wait until tomorrow to interview the students but also to see how classroom management works in the picture of differentiated instruction. I can see how this will help with classroom management.

Marcia M. said...

I enjoyed today's work with the low prep-high impact literacy, comprehension and math strategies. These activities will help me plan DI for the classroom. I was concerned that I would not know what to do to help my students with their work--but not to worry, it was discussed today. As we move along in this class, it is apparent that DI is "do-able", and I can see the students being excited about their work. I am interested in the menu portion of this instruction. Good day, and thank you. Marcia

Mindee said...

What another action packed filled day! I am even more excited about today and learning more new strategies that are effective and high impact, but most importantly low prep. I can’t wait to try DooRiddles, Silly Nilly rhymes, cubing, and especially R.A.F.T. in the fourth grade. What great practice for the state writing test! Also, even though I find Q.A.R. a little challenging for me, I promise to try it with your help. I am pretty sure the kids would eat it up. I know that I will use the new websites given. They are very educational and fun! I love the new ideas of positive reinforcement. Some ideas that I would like to try are the “Praise Behind Your Back”, “Sticky Note Chart Words or Pay it Forward”, and the “I Can! Can” . I had a blast helping incorporate the dance and music. All of you gave me warm fuzzies. Thanks. I’m still a little hesitant on my action plan, but I know that I need to make it for me. It is hard to put it all down in one little plan and narrow down so many good choices. I have so many ideas my mind is racing!

cindy said...

I really liked spending time learning so many high impact low prep strategies. I found many of them useful for kindergarten and even more that could be easily adapted down to kindergarten. I really liked the bingo game to keep track of what we covered. It worked to keep me on task and also forced me to review the name of the strategy again as I looked for it on the bingo card. (And what nifty paper clips, thank you!)
I also liked the review we used at the end with the abc's. It is so important to review the ideas of the day at the end of the day. It is also fun to work together and get creative on letters such as x or z!!