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Centros de aprendizaje (lectura)

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Algunas ideas para centros de aprendizaje:
(se puede añadir ideas, cambiar ideas, juntar ideas, …)

Es importante enseñar y practicar cada centro de aprendizaje antes de que los estudiantes lo hagan solitos.

Formando palabras
Usando las sílabas que han aprendido, estudiantes forman palabras juntando papelitos que tienen las sílabas escritas. Durante su tiempo en el grupo tienen que formar 10 palabras reales, escribir las en un papel o en su cuaderno y dibujar tres; pueden añadir 5 no-palabras (sílabas que han juntado que pueden decir pero que no son palabras reales: “me-pe”).

Escuchar y contar
Estudiantes escuchan/ leen un cuento. Después, tienen que contar el cuento usando las frases, “Al principio…, Después… y Al final… .” Pueden usar títeres si son disponibles.

¡PUF veloz!
Usando un cronómetro, estudiantes repasan las palabras de uso frecuente que han aprendido para ver si pueden decirlas cada vez más rápido. Uno compite contra uno mismo, no contra otros estudiantes. Pueden escribir su tiempo y/o las palabras que no sabían en una hoja o en su cuaderno.

Rimas
Estudiantes elijen una palabra de un montoncito y tiene que decir y escribir 5 palabras que riman; la meta es que 4 de los 5 sean palabras reales. Después tienen que marcar las palabra que no es una palabra real. Añade un cronómetro para otro desafío.

Leyendo con pareja
Estudiantes leen un libro juntos alternando:
Una página cada uno;
Una oración cada uno;
Una palabra cada uno.
Después cuentan el cuento o dibujan su parte favorita.

Los libros de la maestra
En este centro los estudiantes re-leen los textos que la maestra ha leído en lecciones de lectura compartida, rimas que han estudiado, canciones que han aprendido… cualquier texto que la maestra ha leído con el grupo (“Big books,” “charts,”…)

The Basics

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I have been volunteering at a wonderful school in Lima, Peru and am reminded of some universal basics in education:

  • Have an objective;
  • Teach to the objective- use a text, activity, … to teach the objective remembering that the text is not the objective;
  • Evaluate whether or not the objective was met;
  • Reteach or move forward depending on the assessment.

When teaching I need to let the students do the work- talk, write, create, use the information- so they can show what they know and are able to do.  I love the workshop model where I give some input for no more than 15 minutes and then have the students use the information.  Then, I can provide more input.  Build up scaffolding and then remove it when it is no longer necessary.

I also like to backwards plan my units where I decide what I want the students to know and be able to do by what date.  Then, I backwards plan the lessons necessary to get them there.  And of course, relationships are key.

¡Feliz día del maestro amigos peruanos!  Happy Teacher’s Day to my Peruvian friends!

New Header- ¡Biblioburro!

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The new picture above is of the Biblioburro.  Have you heard of it?  Do a Google search and you will see/ hear/ read about this amazing project in Colombia.  I believe in the power of books and literacy to change the world.  Take a look at this YouTube video to get started on your learning about Biblioburro.

How will you change the world? Y tu, ¿cómo vas a cambiar el mundo?

Life Lesson

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As literacy coach, I mostly work with teachers to improve their instruction of reading and writing.  Now, as the school year ends, I have had the opportunity to return a bit to that which motivated my interest in coaching to begin with: conferencing with students.

Today in 5th grade a student asked me to do the final edit on his memoir.  I agreed.  We sat together and discussed a few key words, some grammar points and the structure of a memoir.  When we arrived at the importance of the story, he spoke of having learned that with support he can achieve any goal.  I told him to never forget that lesson.  We spoke of his going to 6th grade, his future and his enduring learnings.

As we finished our conference he leans over, pats me on the shoulder and says, “Thank you for the life lesson, Mr. Fleming.”  I smiled, thinking he was joking.  He wasn’t.

Life lesson.  That is education and it so much more important than the key words and the grammar points.

I know him, I don’t know him

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Mr. B walked a kindergarden student to his room where I was working as the guest teacher for the day.  The 6 year old was surprised to see me and not his usual teacher.  Mr. B asked the student, “Do you know Mr. Fleming?”

“Yes, I know him.”

“Are you ready to have a good day with him, learn a lot and follow the instructions he gives?”

“Well, I’m not sure.  He’s old.  And I don’t know him.”

Kindergarten or Middle School

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This week I have been learning about a new way of teaching kindergarten that my school district is implementing.  I don’t know much about kindergarten and I know even less about kindergarteners so, there is a lot for me to learn.  About the first ten years of my teaching was in middle school and then mostly 4th and 5th since then.

I commented to a colleague about my lack of knowledge/ experience with 5 and 6 year olds.  She asked, “But you know a lot about middle schoolers, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do,” I answered.

“They are very similar: unpredictable, variable moods, they want to be grown up  and little kids at the same time, they learn fast, they say everything they think without filtering, they want life to be fair and consistent,” and on she described the wonderful, amazing middle schoolers I have worked with (with whom I have worked!).

I think I will have to spend some more time with 5 and 6 year olds and see if she is right. What do you think?  Is my colleague right?

“Too Much” Corrections

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I was co-teaching in a 5th grade writer’s workshop today; we are working on memoirs.  I overheard a student tell the teacher, “I don’t want to work with Mr. Fleming.  He corrects me too much.”

That got me wondering, am I offering too many corrections?  In my conversation with the student we reviewed the difference between a story and a memoir; she understood well the concept.  Then I asked her, “What could you add to your conclusion to…” and before I finished she answered, “I need to tell how I learned that lesson when that event happened.”

“Yes!” I replied.

“Should I mention that learning at the beginning so the reader knows where I am headed?”  Clearly she had overheard my previous conversations.

“Yes.  Go to it.”

So, I don’t think I offered too many corrections.  I believe that she evaluated her work and found a few holes in her writing on her own.  I confirmed her evaluation and sent her on her way.  The problem was that she did not want to make the additions.  But that’s OK, I have yet to meet a 5th grader who likes to make corrections (and I haven’t met too many adults who like to make corrections either).

On banned books

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Thrilled was I to read in the Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) about the failed effort to ban a book, Eleanor and Park.  Books should not be banned.  Period.

Yes, there are difficult themes in books.  But there are difficult themes in life.  Yes, there are offensive themes in books.  But there are offensive themes in life.  In the hands of a skilled educator, a reflective parent, any book can be a source of learning; it can lead to discussion and consideration of life and what kind of world we want to live in and create, just by our living.

Read.  And read lots!

Transition Words in Spanish

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When writing realistic fiction (I teaching in 4th grade) there are ways to make your paragraphs flow more smoothly from one to the next.  One way is to use transition words.  I found and added to a list of transition words (palabras de transición).

Try them out in your Spanish writing and see how your paragraphs flow

Here they are:

Para demostrar secuencia

al principio                   luego                        antes       después                         en seguida

Para demostrar contraste o cambio de idea:

por el contrario            sin embargo            al mismo tiempo         en contraste              por otro lado de otro modo                   a pesar de (que)            al contrario        de otra manera                aunque 

 Para demostrar adición o complemento de una idea:

también                          lo siguiente                  seguidamente
de igual importancia           de la misma manera          igualmente
además / por otra par   del mismo modo

 Para demostrar resultado:

en consecuencia           obviamente

de tal manera que             en cualquier caso
por esta razón                 evidentemente
por consiguiente           además
como resultado de         de hecho

Para evidenciar tiempo:

inmediatamente            después
tan pronto como           a más tardar
posteriormente             antes de
previamente