DLP

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Towards New Media Texts

Visual literacy involves the ability to understand and learn through the use of visual materials and also creating and using visual images to communicate. As I read in the article, many teachers do not practice using visual literacy because it involves a lot of work, time, and a certain amount of status. They have invested precious time in alphabetic literacy. The result of this, in my opinion, is that the students miss out on learning something that could benefit them heavily. Visual literacy is on the rise in everyday life, and students need to start working with this as early as possible to gain valuable knowledge about them.

The article lists several assignments for working with digital literacy, but I especially favor text re-design and re-vision. With the students revising an essay, they are becoming critics and creative thinkers both at the same time. Revising it for the WWW is motivating in itself because most students would want others to see their best work. This assignment integrates literacy and technology and is a good way for students to explore writing and the web.

Chapter 11

Conley states in the very first line of this chapter, "Writing is one of the most important ways to learn and demonstrate learning in content areas. I agree with him 100%. It is sometimes so much easier for me to express what I know in writing than to try and guess upon the correct answer to feel in the blank or mark in the multiple choice section. By writing, I am able to communicate everything I know about a subject in a clear and concise manner. I can easily convey my understanding of a topic so that my instructor will know if I "get it" or need more practice.

Conley lists many strategies for teaching students how to plan their writing. I personally favor Brainstorming and Goal Setting. From my experience with this technique, I was able to get my supporting ideas and paragraphs for my main topic without any hassle, which it turn, made it less demanding to complete my assignment. I have also had experience with Quick-Writes. I think they are okay, but they can have ideas scattered all over the place. I did not have much experience with Stop & List or The Guided Writing Procedure. I am sure they provide helpful assistance as well.

Teachers need to teach students how to use the writing strategies correctly before expecting students to apply them in their writing. If they are not used correctly, they will not be very effective. When teaching students, teachers cannot just tell them how to use the strategies. They should also model them. Students need to have a mental picture of how they work and look. Teachers should also check for student understanding by allowing them to demonstrate that they know how to apply the strategies. It is through gaining an understanding and using the strategies correctly that student writing will begin to improve.

Smart/Promethean Boards

I have not had much experience with either of the two boards. I went through an online training for the Promethean board, but I still do not fully understand how it works. I need to experience some hands-on training to know how to use this technology in my classroom. I really look forward to learning how to use both of the boards because they can be very valuable to student learning.

Chapter 7

Activating prior knowledge allows students to think about or recall what they already know. An excellent strategy strategy that the book suggests for doing this is the K-W-L. With this strategy, students tell what they know about a topic, what they want to know about it, and after discussing it, what they have learned about it. Teachers have to explain to students how it works in order to activate prior knowledge. I think prior knowledge should be activated because students build on what they already know. They have to have something to relate new information to in order to retain it.

I also like the priciple Present Content in Interesting Ways as a means of increasing motivation. The author states that, "Content is interesting when it is accompanied by engaging activities." That is so true. I can remember back when I was in elementary school when we had to read all of those stories from our reading textbook. The teacher did nothing to make it engaging. I only got excited about reading the plays. She assigned roles to my classmates and me, and it seemed like everyone was eager to read. It was only when I was interacting with the text that I enjoyed reading it. The content was presented in an engaging way to me, and I appreciated reading the stories in which roles were assigned so much more than the others.

Lesson Plan

Curriculum Competency: 2. Explore the components of living systems. (L)

Big Idea: Plants make food through photosynthesis.

Objective: The students will recall the steps in the photosynthesis process.

Preparation
1. Introduce the term photosynthesis.
2. Explain to the students photosynthesis is the process by which plants make food using light.
3. Read and discuss photosynthesis through the story The Magic School Bus Gets Planted.
4. Teacher stops and asks questions throughout story to check for student comprehension.
5. Teacher explains each step of photosynthesis in detail to the students.

Guidance:
1. Students reflect on the photosynthesis process by completing a concept map.
2. Students use concept map to write a paragraph explaining photosynthesis.
3. The teacher walks around and monitor, providing help and feedback to students.

Application:
1. Students draw and label a plant and tell how each part function in the photosynthesis process.

Assessment: The students will compose a paragraph containing each step in photosynthesis.

Chapter 5

A part of this chapter that captured my attention was the the section on choosing texts. The book states that, "Before selecting texts of any kind, it is important to think about, map out, or list the knowledge students need to learn." Teachers should be familiar with the texts they choose for thier students to read. They should also know what they want to accomplish with each lesson. The text they choose should support the objectives and the assessments that will follow.

Another section that captured my attention was the section entitled UsingTexts with Students With Special Needs and English Language Learners. It says that a teacher should "Demonstrate and model for students how to meet high expectations." This should be done for all students, not just for ELL students and students with special needs. All students can get confussed. It is through modeling that many students gain a thorough understanding of a subject. I need new concepts modeled for me sometimes. Modeling is an effective concept that should be practiced in every classroom and for all students.