Collaborative Reports

Tompkins, had given me alot of methods when it comes to writing techniques that I should incorporate when I begin teaching in my own classroom. The main one that I got to implement in my classroom with my five students was called collaborative reports.  I am in my masters project class and my action research had to do with improving their vocabulary with some writing. 
   The main reason I chose this particular writing lesson was to get my students to create short reports.  They needed to learn that there are times when a long report is not needed as long as they could get all the information into the shorter report.  However, they also needed to use the information that they had found and be able to explain it in these short reports to their readers easily. 
   I asked the students to collaborate together to create a story about their trip to NASA.  We had been talking about stories and what impact they have on their readers.  We also discussed how many paragraphs make up a story and what parts make up those paragraphs. They needed to have the who, what, where, when, and why, they also needed to tell what would be in the body of their story.   First, Second, and Last paragraphs that will explain the main points to their readers. 
          I wanted them to collaborate together in order to create a graphic organizer such as a T-chart to help with their report.  I explained to them that Tcharts are used when a story is going to be created.  The students were able to collaborate together to edit and revise their papers.  During this time, I was able to meet with the students individually to see if they had any questions or needed help with their tchart in order to create their stories.  
   When the time came, I was able to allow my students to present their stories and tcharts to their classmates and teacher.  They were even allowed to come to the smart board and present it that way if they wanted.  
    One thing that I learned from this activitiy is that I would incorpate the internet or other resources next time for the students to use to get more information about their topic.  One thing that did help was that we were able to just focus on this topic because I implemented this lesson while TCAP was going on that week.  I know now that I would need to teach this lesson to my students when there were little interuptions.  They need all the help of the teacher that they can get.   
    Another thing that I need to remember is that students need a variety of teaching techniques in order to complete their assignment.  Students tend to want their input and one way to do so is to let them choose their writing topic just as long as they ok it by the teacher first.  This is one exercise I tend to use for my future students.  I will keep my options and ideas open for my students writing!

Improvements in the Classroom

When I began my student teaching with my fifth graders, I found that I needed to explain one writing tip at a time.  When I first began teaching all of the writing methods at once, students began giving me some puzzling looks.  That's when my CT explained that students need to be introduced to each writing tip
I also found it to be helpful to first let students choose their topic that they want to write about.  When it came to choosing a topic for them, students began to not show any interest and would complain.  So in order to keep their attention, I chose to let them pick a topic as long as I could approve it before they began.  One thing that I made sure that my students focus on were the words that are classified as figurative language.  Some of these examples are onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, simile, and many more.  I wanted them to be able to use some of these words in order to get their reader interested in their writing.  Plus these will help my students when they are tested in the spring over their writing methods.  The things that I learned from this method is that the students writing will improve as long as they use one of these methods in their writing.  I was able to compare these lessons with the ones that I used when student teaching for my third graders.  I found that when they were introduced to these words it improved their writing and they were able to use more creative words then the same ones over and over.  I feel that the figurative language words would help students with their writing.  I would recommend them to anyone!~

Writing Resources for Teachers!!

1.)
   

A) When looking for ideas for writing take a look at Internet4Classrooms. www.internet4classrooms.com

B) This site offers a variety of lesson plan topics, activities that can be done, printable materials for students and their parents, extra practice work for students, and even some interactive games for students to practice with after learning a lesson.   One thing that intrigued me about this site is that it gives a list of writing prompts for teachers to use when teaching their lesson.  Each one is classfied by grade level in order for every grade to use this site.

C) There are times when my students would have problems trying to find something to write about.  This site is there to help with topics that might intrigue them or even give them some idea on what to write.  I know that some of my students also told me that it helps with even showing them how to finish their paper if they are stuck.  There are even games that can show students how to start their paper and even sum up a paper that they might be having problems finishing.  This site would be used in order to help my students improve their writing techniques.  I would let them take the time to explore the site and even participate in some of the games that are offered on it. 

2.)

   a.)  The second site that I like to use with my writing techniques is called Everybody Writes. http://www.everybodywrites.org.uk/

   b.)  This is a site that is based on writing.  It makes it enjoyable and relevant for young people.  It is also used to give teachers innovative ideas and practical resources to get their students excited about writing.   There are four components that this website is based on: taking writing beyond the classroom, giving children authentic events to write about, finding real audiences for children's writing, and also exploring writing across the curriculum. I found these ideas to be relevant to what I believe in when it comes to my students writing.  

   c.)  This can be used in my teaching with  creating writing lesson plans for my students.  There are times when I want the lesson plan to have a meaning or show some excitement and in order for that to happen, I turn to this site in order to get some ideas.  This site also helps my students with ideas on what to write.  There are times when I want my students to be given an option on what to write.  I know that they dont always want to be given a topic so this site can be used in order to give some students that need help picking a topic ideas for their papers. 

3.)

     a.)  This particular writing site can be used when it comes to improving my students writing, its called:  PBS Teachers  http://www.pbs.org/teachers/

     b.)  This site is dedicated for teachers K-12.  It provides educational resources ofr them that can be used in their classroom.  This is where teachers can find classroom materials that are suitable for a wide range of subjects and also grade levels.  This site provides teachers with thousands of lesson plans, teaching activities, on-demand assests, and also interactive games for students.  The resources are correlated to state and national educational standards.

     c.)  I used this site when it came to getting ideas for my student teaching lesson plans.  It was able to give me plenty of games and activities that I could use when delivering my lesson to my students.  I was able to keep their attention and actually have them ask me for more games for the following day.  I know that I will be able to use this site for even more ideas and even be able to do some of the interactive games with my students when teaching one of my lessons in my future class. 

4.)  

     a.)  This is the last site that I used when creating lesson plans and also getting ideas.  Its called  PowerPoint for writing.  www.pppst.com/writing.html

     b.)  This site revolves around powerpoints.  These powerpoints were created for teachers that wanted to incorporate technology in their classrooms.  I know that there are many examples of writing and also the writing process that teachers can use in order to teach to their students.  There is a wide range of topics that teachers can use in their lessons.  Some of them include writing process, prewriting, graphic organizers, journalism, and many more. 

     c.)   This site can be used when I need powerpoints to explain my lesson in more detail.  I know that when I was at my placement, there were times when my visual learners needed something to see in order to grasp the topic that I was teaching about.  I know that there are times when I may have problems creating powerpoints and this site can help by offering examples of powerpoints that I can download and use in my classroom.  I also like the quizes that are offered at the end of some of the powerpoints.  I find it interesting to see who was paying attention and who wasn't.  I just find that it helps my students when there is some technology used in my lesson.