Graphic Organizer Station

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I was NEVER a huge fan of graphic organizers. they just didn't work for my brain. Nonetheless, I completely recognize how they help students sort through the ideas going through their brains. Often in class we'll all do a graphic organizer together, but I also know some students who would like to use them more than others.

Thus, I introduce you to: My graphic organizer station.

Nothing fancy, I think I got the "File Purse" at Target and the manila files I scavenged from a teacher who was retiring.

Some of the graphic organizers are ones I've created myself (like the Venn Bow Tie) but a lot of them I got from Love Learning with Liana's store. It has eight different graphic organizers and they each made the cut!

Let's take a closer look at my station

Fancy tape = Decorating :P

1. Before anything else, admire my plant. It has been two weeks and it is still alive!!!

2. It has a quick note on what graphic organizers are and that they may be used any time a student thinks it will help. No fancy font, but I used some gold tape, so that counts as being decorative, right?

3. IMPORTANT It has a note about what to do when they take the last graphic organizer. They are to hand me the empty folder (or put it on my desk) so I can make more copies before the last class.

But how am I supposed to know what copies to make from a blank manila folder? I am glad you asked.

Labeled Tabs

Worksheets taped to the front

4.   In addition to the "title" of the graphic organizer written on the tab (yes I have the handwriting of a five year old boy), I also have the worksheet itself taped to the front of the folder. That way I know EXACTLY what worksheet I'll need to make copies of. This is important because I have several copies of slightly different graphic organizers. 

Compare and Contrast 1

For example you can see the I have three different compare and contrast worksheets. One (above) is just columns for the students who don't really like graphic organizers, but know they need to sort their thoughts.  To the left you can see I have the standard Venn Diagram (from Liana's packet). However, if you follow this blog at all, you'll know I am not a fan of Venn Diagrams, so I also have my Venn Bow Ties (below). 

Since these are all about what helps the student the most I provide all of these options and students can pick the one that works best for them.

Compare and Contrast 2

While the main idea of these worksheets is to help students help themselves, you can also use it as an easy way to differentiate a class. If you know one student struggles with finding the author's purpose, and you know that's a task they'll be doing in class, hand them a copy on their way into class (or while they are working). They'll appreciate it, and they'll be better equipped to answer the question when they get to it. 

Any graphic organizers I am missing?  Do you have a graphic organizer station in your class?

Looking to stock up on some organizers yourself?  You can grab my Venn Bow Tie for free here and Liana's are currently free (no idea how long that will last) here.

Ways to differentiate texts

I've seen a lot of discussion about differentiating texts for student readers, so I thought I'd write up a quick post about fiver easy ways to differentiate texts.

1.Chunk the text differently.
For this method you would still give all the students the same text, but where one student may have a text with questions at the end. Another student would have one question after each paragraph. This makes it easier for lower readers to process the information.

2. Give a graphic organizer
I am not going to lie. As a student I HATE graphic organizers. They don't work for me. I feel contained and held back However, as a teacher I LOVE THEM. Some students just work better when given boxes or lines. I tend to make my own, but you can find many free templates online. Eduplace for example has decent selection. I have a station students can go to and grab whatever handout they want for whatever activity we are doing.

3. Give help
If students are taking notes on a reading give lower level students guided notes, and higher level students no notes. Give lower level students sentence starters and higher level students the basic question.

4. Adapt the assignment for students.
I feel this is often what teachers do. Rather than changing the reading, they change the expectations. What I think is important here is to make sure that you aren't cheating lower level students out of an education. For example, higher level students may need to find ten new words, define them, draw a picture, and use them to tell a story. Whereas lower level students need to find ten new words, define them, draw a picture and make a unique sentence for each word. Telling a story is a higher level skill, but writing unique sentences will still help our struggling reader learn!

5. Make one version easier.

This is often a time consuming process. Basically give some students the text as is,, and other students the text with easier words or less complex sentences. Unless you know you will reuse an activity over and over, I wouldn't do this. Instead, use a site like https://newsela.com/ this site selects texts on popular current events and rewrites them at different levels. The content is the same, but you can divvy up the texts according to the strengths of your students!

There we are, five relatively painless ways to make it easier for your learners or a bit more challenging for those who need a push.

Plicker to Check Student Comprehension

I've read on quite a few message forums that many teachers would love to use programs like Kahoot or the Socratic App in their class, but they have problems. Some schools have a strict no cell phones on campus policy. Other students don't have the financial means to each have an electronic device (cell phone, tablet, laptop, etc.). Sometimes my students all have the technology, but the school WiFi is so slow that the apps and websites just don't work.

There are also completely online alternatives like using Google Forms or SurveyMonkey where you can have students answer directly on the site, but often allowing students to take these quizzes online gives them the chance to use notes, or discuss answers with friends. Sometimes great, but not every time.

There are also plenty of old school no tech ways to get students to answer questions. This blog post is about technology that only requires the teacher to have technology.

Plickers is a free app that can be downloaded on Android or Apple products. This version of low-tech meets hi-teach is made possible through the use of  Plicker's cards. There are enough cards for 40 students, so any class of 40 students or less is set! If you are a technophobe, this may be a great first step for you! You will be using a device, but your students won't.

I like to say it is a 10 step program:

1. Sign up. You can download the app and sign up there, or sign up at their website 
2. Create a class. This has to be done on the site, not an app. 
3. Add students. Simply put in your students' names and they will be assigned a card number.
4. Print the cards (or purchase them from Amazon). If you are printing them yourself I'd suggest you print them on card stock instead of paper. You can laminate normal paper to make it last longer, but sometimes laminating paper causes glare making the reader difficult to work.
5. Make a poll. This is a "quiz" that your students will answer. You can add questions from the app or the website.
6. Give the students the question and answer options. This could be on a PowerPoint, Prezi, verbally, or on a piece of paper.
7. Let your students answer by holding their card up so that the option they think is correct (A, B, C, D) is upright.
8. Use your tablet / phone to "scan" the class and record your students' answers (anonymously).
9. Use these answers to immediately decide if students have a grasp of the material, 
10. Later go back and examine different trends for individual students and try to find ways to help them personally understand the material. This is GREAT to help you differentiate later.

 I don't think this form of technology is useful for every teacher. If you have a 1:1 program in your school you have other options. If you would rather use lo-tech options, that's great too. This is just another tool for your tool belt!

What do you think? Would you ever use Plicker?

Get Students Using Different Words

In fifth grade my teacher Ms. Sipe outlawed “four letter words.” She wasn’t referring to swearing; she didn’t want us to use words like: good, nice, or tall. She thought we could use better words:  noble, pleasant, or towering. Why? Because these specific words gave us a better idea of what we were describing.

This is also very useful when students start paraphrasing something that is useful for many reasons.

Many of our students need help to get out of a vocabulary rut. They tend to use the same words over and over again. In some cases this is fine, whereas in others a larger vocabulary may prove more beneficial.

Here’s an activity that will get your students using different words.  This CAN be adapted to all levels depending on your use of scaffolding and the words you select.

Step 1: Show a picture of something small (an ant for instance). Ask students how they would describe the animal. Once one of them says small, write it on the board and ask what other words they know for small. Here’s a list of the words the book uses: Small, Teeny-weeny, Mini, Tiny, Microscopic. Then show something bigger (an elephant). See what words they use to describe that. Again, the book uses: Big, Large, Huge, Gigantic. If they don’t use a word, you may like to introduce it.   

Step 2: Introduce a cline. The word cline probably looks familiar to you since it is related to incline or decline. A cline is essentially a visual ranking of words. See if your students can rank the words from smallest to biggest.

Step 3: Read, “Am I small?” in the target language. With younger students you may like to read it a few times. Get them to read it. Have them do different listening activities while you read it. Then, see if their cline matches what the author thinks about the words

Step 4a: In small groups give students two opposite adjectives. Depending on the level, these can be easy (tall-short) to more difficult (rich-poor). In groups see if they can create a cline of 5-10 words. NOTE: I would tell them to try this without dictionaries or cell phones, but you may prefer that they use them. *This is an easy task to differentiate. You can give weaker students easier words, require they come up with less words, or you can give the words to them.

Step 4b: Have them identify the differences in the words. For example, the connotations, registers or denotations. For example, childlike and juvenile both mean young. However, childlike is normally more positive whereas juvenile is more negative. Ginormous is normally only used in an informal register. Antique is normally used to describe things, not people.

Step 5: See if they can create a story similar to, "Am I small?" using their own words and a unique character. Depending on the technological capabilities of your class, this can be a book using paper, a video where they act (or use puppets), a book where they cut and paste pictures from magazines, a PowerPoint, or an animated short video. If they make a book see if they can put it in their library so other students may enjoy it as well.

Here are some examples in case you want to give your students words to start.

Rich-Poor: Prosperous, Affluent, Disadvantaged, Wealthy, Well Off, Meager, Flush, Humble, Loaded, Poor, Underprivileged, Comfortable, Needy, Well-to-do, Opulant, Penniless, Destitute

Old-Young: Old, Fledgling, Ancient, Young, Mature, Childlike, Juvenile, Antique, Infantile, Immature, Underdeveloped, Decrepit, Over the Hill

Happy- Sad: Ecstatic, Sullen, Happy, Morose, Cheerful, Content, Comfortable, Unhappy, Miserable, Glum, Jovial, Gloomy

Tall- Short: Tall, Short, Lanky, Elfin, Towering, Petite, Fun sized, Gangly, Diminutive, Small, Big, Puny 

To see another activity that helps students work with different adjectives (and make your classroom pretty), stay tuned for Wednesday's post!

Popcorn Reading

I like having students read out loud sometimes. It doesn't need to be a whole story. It just can be the questions and sentences in a grammar assignment, or the directions to an assignment.

Why?

I really focus on pronunciation errors since I already know what they are trying to say, and I don’t need to focus on the content as much as when they are speaking.

This is also how I have discovered some of my students were dyslexic. Not when they make small mistakes, but when I notice they commonly are mixing up bigger words like, “coffee” instead of “office.” These bigger mistakes are often corrected when typing, so reading a set text is the only time I hear them.

There are also many students who show respect when the teacher is talking, but they don’t show respect when other students are talking. By having other students read out loud this gives students a chance to practice respect for one another, not just an authority figure.

How?

One way that I read is called, “Popcorn reading.” The first time I use popcorn reading in class I make to to explain it carefully. The explanation usually goes like this:

“Does anyone know what popcorn is?”
“How do you make it?”
“When you make popcorn do the kernels pop randomly or in order?”
“That’s right it’s random. So, when you start reading you read until I say popcorn. Some people will read a little longer than others. After I’ve said popcorn someone else will read until I say popcorn again. Does everyone understand?”
To make sure they understand, you can ask: “When do you stop reading?” “What word will make you stop?” “Does everyone read the same amount?” ”Are people called in a specific order?”

To start, “Great, are there any volunteers, or shall I pick the first reader?”

Why do I like it?

1. It keeps things random. When students don’t know when they will be called they have to read along with everyone, instead of counting how many people will read until it is there turn and ignoring everything else.
2. It also makes it easy to differentiate. Yes, I claim that it is random, but I can tell a student I know struggles with reading, “On Wednesday I am going to call on you to read the second paragraph on page 22. Why don’t you practice it at home a few times, so you can be sure you are ready.” This way they are still participating, but they will have the time to practice and not worry so much about making a fool out of themselves.
3. Students think it is fun! I don’t know if it is because the word popcorn is silly or because they feel like it is a game(you win by paying attention), but they seem to enjoy it.

Variations

• After you say popcorn, you call out a student’s name. This is helpful because you can select harder passages for students who are best capable of reading them, or you can call on students who are visibly not paying attention.
• After you say popcorn, ask a question about what was just read. The student who answers the question gets to read next.
• After you say popcorn, use a random number generator (or class cards, or Popsicle sticks) to really show you are “making popcorn” and choosing randomly.
• After you say popcorn the student who was reading gets to call the next name. They like this because they get to pick their friends or crushes. I admit I use this the first weeks when I am trying to get used to the new names.
• You may want to make the rule that people CAN be picked more than once in a reading. This doesn’t really fit with the popcorn theme, but it keeps them on their toes. If it is a class that does NOT exhibit bullying and they are picking the next reader, I often let them pick the same student over and over again, but ONLY when I know the class (and student) well enough. With the right student the class laughs and the person feels like the center of attention. GREAT for students who love the limelight.

That’s it. A super easy way to have your students read in class. How do you like to have your students read aloud?

The VolleyBall Chronicles: Part 1 or How to not hold your students back

A three part look at what I remember from one month at volleyball camp and how it makes me a better teacher.

Part 1

This is me in high school!

I was never a stellar athlete, but I competed in a lot of sports when I was younger. Once, when I was a pre-teen, I attended a volleyball camp in the summer. Most of the girls there were athletes who played club volleyball, and they went on to play well in high school and college. I was one of the younger girls; moreover, probably the only one who was doing it, “for fun,” rather than to fine tune my skills. My father was basketball coach and he knew the coach that led the camp, so I got a discount which made it affordable despite my lack of a future as a professional volleyball player.

I could NOT seem to serve overhanded like this girl

At the time I only knew how to serve underhand. I knew the concept of an over hand serve, but I had never actually used it successfully. Basically, the ball never managed to get the ball over the net. This camp was all about serving overhand. The coaches saw me struggle (with serve after serve landing before the net) and let me serve from a different line about a foot in front of the other one. This way I was still practicing the skill, but without dejectedly falling short of the net each time.

It became a bit of a habit, when there was a rotation and I ended up serving I’d say, “My line, right?” A coach would nod and I’d take the extra step I was so sure I needed. Until one day when the coach was doing an activity where he recorded us all doing the different skills. He wanted to be able to look over our motions, and more importantly have us look over our motions so that we could see what he sees.  After all, there is a difference between a coach saying, “You’re lifting your arm too soon,” and you seeing your arm rise up a full two seconds too soon. (This is true in teaching too, but I’ll save that for another blog.)

This net seemed like an impossible goal

I ran over to the server’s spot when it was my turn and looked at the coach, “My line?” He shook his head, “No the camcorder is set up to record everyone from the same line. Besides, it doesn’t matter where the ball lands; this is about technique.” I faltered a bit, but stayed on the traditional line. I took a deep breath, reminded myself it didn’t matter and served the ball…over the net. After that point I served from the normal line. Did I go on to become an Olympic volleyball player? No, but I have picked up some random beach volleyball games I never would have had the confidence to join otherwise.

If you’ve made it this far I really appreciate you humoring me as I divulged a bit of my past; I have a point I swear.

I’ve read several articles lately against differentiation. These articles suggest that students will not rise up to their potential if they are given less strenuous work to do. Sort of a, “water only rises as high as it is pushed.”

This blog is to say that while I don’t agree, I do see the point.

I had gotten used to “my line” in volleyball. It was comfortable there. I knew I could achieve what I needed to achieve without looking inept or wasting everyone’s time. I would have never left that line unless I was forced too.

However, without “my line” there is no way I would have built up the skill without irritating other players, and convincing myself I was useless.

I still think that differentiation is a key attribute to any class. Without it the lower students fall behind and feel unmotivated and the higher students feel bored and unchallenged.

That being said, while teachers should be sure to scaffold heavily for lower students, we have to remember to take the scaffolding away. Don’t always treat your low students as your low students. Let them flourish out of that category!

When we do take the scaffolding away, we need to be sure to do it at the right time. We don’t remove the scaffolding during a test, or an oral exam worth 30% of their grade.

We remove the scaffolding during a literary circle or in class group presentation. We make sure that the pressure is off and see how far those skills have grown.

Teachers should not treat differentiation as a way of babying students, rather as a way to give some students training wheels. After all, sometimes you just need a little more time practicing the skill before you ride like everyone else.

So that’s that. What do you think? Is differentiation a passing fad that caters to the trend of babying students, or is it something that is here to stay? How do you make sure that your students are still challenged?