Thank you!

As I drove to the conference last year I began to wonder why I had given up my vacation time to go to another conference. Three days later I didnot want to go home; I wanted to learn more! I have implimented many of the strategies with much success in my classroom. I use my iPod daily for "setting the mood",transitions from one task to another, and for motivation. If all of my students receive an 80% or better on a quiz or test we dance in celbration to the "Electric Slide." I teach World Geography and my students have enjoyed the tradtional cultural music from each part of the world that we have studied. I have started my personal libray of picture books to help me teach my content and I am writing a grant for the purchase of more picture books. Thank you iTune into Literacy Conference for giving me the tools to be a better teacher.

Changing the way I think ... about teaching

One of the biggest challenges as a middle school teacher is keeping around 100 students engaged in learning every day. This year, I teach two different grade levels - which adds to that challenge considerably. Before attending the Power Tools workshop, I would plan my units and hope that something in the units would reach each student. I find that now, I am much more deliberate about planning specific strategies that will be helpful to the students - and ones that the students will be most likely to carry to other classes. Two of the strategies that I have found especially helpful in Language Arts are "Marking the Text" and "SWBS."

Marking the Text is a great way to help students through difficult passages, or passages that deal with a lot of specific content, such as history or science. I made bookmarks for the students that have the different code abbreviations, as well as poster sized copies for the room.

Many of my students have trouble with comprehension, or more accurately, writing a summary that demonstrates true comprehension. Using "Somebody Wanted But So" (SWBS) is a fantastic way to teach students a lifelong skill of quickly summarizing the content or explaining someone's life work. We use this a lot!

The Power Tools book is an invaluable resource, and it sits on my desk each day. I wish every teacher in my building had the chance to attend the workshop, because although all teachers were given their own copies of the book, I know they are not seeing these strategies in the same way as those of us who were lucky enough to attend.

I look forward to incorporating these strategies into a new content next year when I change subjects - and am already looking at the new materials through a different lens.

Applying Reading Strategies in a Collaborative Classroom

Since the beginning of the year I have modeled and utilized many of the reading strategies. I collaborate with a general education teacher. We have found that modeling the actual reading straategy and talking students through the process has helped students greatly when we ask them to apply the actual strategy to a passage.

We have a section in our Interactive notebooks where we list the reading strategy and then have them to explain the strategy and how it helps them comprehend reading materials.

The handbook has been very useful!!

"Marginalia" for Writing

So far this year, I have implemented the think-aloud, read-aloud, even dozen, and marginalia strategies that were modeled at the iTune into Literacy Conference. Marginalia has been most effective for responding to text in my writing classes. I introduced this technique with a couple of model essays; students wrote comments and questions in the margins as they read and then discussed their thoughts with a partner. Recently, my students composed a compare and contrast essay. I had them peer review using Marginalia. They were required to write at least one commendation, one question, and one recommendation on their partner's paper. I plan to continue modifying this strategy to use as we approach our SOL test in March.

Literacy Tools Aid the Order of Operations

I am willing to admit that when I "volunteered" to go to the literacy sessions this summer I was wondering how it I would integrate what we learned into an already filled math curriculum. Never one to give up on a task, I immediately set out to find a way to unclude story books in the pre-algebra and algebra math classes. Our classes were very receptive to having stories read to them - we even brought in another teacher's classes to share in our story time. Then the fun really began. The story we chose to start with was "The Journey of Al and Gebra". Some students chose to illustrate the story to help them remember key points, others wrote letters to friends from the viewpoint of one of the children who had met Al and Gebra while discovering the order of operations. Several students created their own mnemonics - and decorated them - covering the walls with "PEMDAS" sayings. One group took the assignment a step further and wrote their own rap, recorded it then posted it on TeacherTube. It was quite interesting to see how one short story read to a class could be taken in so many different directions and still stay on the task of teaching a math standard. What started out as a required assignment for me spread throughout the entire eighth grade and most of the seventh grade at our school. The students were able to integrate art, math, music, and literature all in one assignment. Everyone came out a winner in this example and I know we will be doing things like this more as the year progresses.

Literacy Excel at Huntington Middle School

At Huntington, we are using the magnificent 7 strategies in a 20 minute period each morning (Literay Excel) in all core classes. The goal is to help stengthen students' reading, thinking, and comprehension skills. We want students to have a carry over into all of their core classes. In the first nine weeks the focus was on asking questions and making connections. During the second nine weeks we are now focusing on finding important information (summarizing) and inference skills. (Of course we are still making connections and asking questions also). When students took the quarterly tests in reading, there was an increase in the scores, and we believe that teaching the strategies had a lot to do with it. It is also important to note that when looking at the SMART data, there was a reduction in discipline referrals during the time period when we have Literacy Excel.

Different Strategies in the Classroom

In trying to develop different strategies to come up with for my lower academic achieving students to understand the content matter. The main problem was the various levels of levels and styles in the classroom. In one particular class, a mixture of different reading levels (pretty low) in addition to numerous accommodations involved with IEPs. Nevertheless, by incorporating several of the strategies learned in the SURN program. I've seen a dramatic difference with my special education students. I truly believe all kids have a base of understanding that can be reached if teachers uses different techniques in their methodology. Here are some of the strategies that have been affective for me this semester.
1) Reading with a Purpose: I used to give reading assignments with no clear-cut objectives. Now I've placed objectives ( what to find, read as a certain person, or summarizing)
2) GIST Statements - Each week, I have the students write a statement in 25 words or less explaining a certain position or job (president, chief justice, Senator). From this statement, I can evaluate mastering of the topic.
3) Picture Voc. - The students must produce voc. with their own definitions and a picture for each.
4) Read Aloud - Truthfully, I was against read alouds and now use them as an introduction to the unit to provide students with general background knowledge on the material. In addition to reading, I'll ask questions on important points I discussed during the reading.
5) Hands On Activities - The students have participated in several activities this year where they where the center of the activity. The responsibility aspect caused to deeply learn the content and not just memorize terms and concepts.

As I mentioned, there where many strategies that I picked up from the SURN conference and lecture. These were some of the many methods that I Incorporated in my lesson planning. Thanks for the opportunity to partake in this opportunity!

Take care!
Ryan