Week+8+Journal

__Week 7.5 Journal__
=== I just don't seem to have enough time this week. I am having difficulty getting through all of the things I need to do. Even though this is technically not a journal week, I have come to rely a little on this, as a way to reflect on my trials and tribulations! I am working in a 6th grade math classroom, and having a lot of trouble getting technology into the class. It seems to me the class is moving so quickly, that there is only time for the basics, going over homework, introducing a new topic, or continuing to work on a topic, and assigning new homework. My head is spinning by the end of the class, so I wonder about the kids. The pace is just too fast for my liking. I have spoken to the teacher about this, and she agrees, but to be able to touch on all standards prior to the testing dates, the pace is what it is. In order to be able to work with the kids on any kind of "project," we need time to work it in, and I just don't see it happening. In the ELA classroom I am in this week, we are writing poetry, and our plan is to create some kind of end project, that te kids will get to create, to present their best work to the rest of the class. I'm thinking a "publishing" piece of some kind, but the teachers want to leave it open for the students to be creative. Time to plan this project is hard to come by, as usual. ===

Fritzi, I enjoyed meeting you and the rest of your team last week. I wanted to share with you a book on math formative assessment, but I had borrowed the books and the person who loaned them to me needed them back. As late as I was arriving at Urbana from Miami, I did not have enough time to even make a copy. (I also know that the ones I have in science are even better). I will be emailing you separately -- I'm wondering how you would feel about me returning to Urbana on Wednesday to learn about podcasting. I'll be in touch. Kathy Kathy, You are welcome to come learn about podcasting, but we will be doing it during the school day. The team will get their training from about 12:30 until 3:00pm. After school, we will have a second iPod Touch session to answer questions that have come up since last week. Fritzi

__Week 8 Journal__
===This week I have dusted off the Carol Ann Tomlinson books in my library. Differentiation has been a buzzword for quite some time now. This week in my classes, I tried to focus on looking at the lessons I had planned, and decide how they could have been better if they had been differentiated.===

===With my district focusing on formative assessment this year, this is a good time to try to use differentiation techniques as well. In Tomlinson's book titled __[|The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners] ,__ she defines differentiation as "a teacher's response to learner's needs guided by general principles of differentiation, such as respectful tasks, flexible grouping, and ongoing assessment and adjustment." I have chosen to try to put together a JIGSAW activity in my S.S. class this week.===

===In S.S. we are studying ancient China and I have decided to assign our reading to be done in JIGSAW groups. Students will be divided into 4 groups and assigned a section of the reading. Once the reading has been completed, one or two students from each reading group will go back to their learning groups and share out the information. We'll see how it goes...===

===...For starters, the assignment took much longer than I had anticipated. I had developed instructions for each group, and 2 different worksheets that I thought would be good for them to take notes on, making it easier for the sharing out part of the assignment. ===

[[file:JigsawGrp2.doc]] [[file:JigsawGrp3.doc]] [[file:JigsawGrp4.doc]]
===I tried to be careful when I put the groups together to ensure that the groups would be heterogenous and include members of varying abilities. The idea of having a group leader worked out well in some of my classes, but not all. Some of the leaders really had difficulty being "leaders." It was interesting to see who the groups thought were leaders. By the end of the activity, it was obvious to all that "popularity" didn't always make a good leader. The groups were able to do the note-taking activity fairly quickly, but they did have difficulty making group decisions about what to share with their home group. The sharing out process didn't take as much time as I thought it might, mostly because some of the students were very uncomfortable with the sharing process. this really opened my eyes to what needs to happen in my classes. My students need to have a lot more experience with group work, and I need to spend more time making sure they understand the entire process.===

===Our next unit of study will be economic principles. For our culminating project, will be taking a one day field trip to JA BizTown in Columbus. I am going to try to differentiate as much as possible! I can see that I am going to be very busy...===