So What?

Lee, J., & Zentall, S. S. (2012). Reading motivational differences among groups: Reading disability (RD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), RD+ADHD, and typical    comparison. Learning & Individual Differences, 22(6), 778-785.

Purpose of the article: The purpose of Lee and Zentall’s article was to assess the reading motivation among students with reading disabilities, without disabilities, and with/without ADHD.

What was studied/discussed: This study analyzed the motivation of 133 students between 2^nd and 5^th grade levels. Lee and Zentall analyzed a correlation between motivation and students with reading disabilities and those without reading disabilities.

Important Terms: Reading disabilities, ADHD, Reading motivation

Results: Lee and Zentall’s results were that students with combined reading disabilities and ADHD had lower verbal and full cognitive ability scores than the ADHD and non disability groups. Students with reading disabilities also had lower scores than the non disability group. Lee and Zentall found that all the students in their study had low self-efficacy and low motivation. “For students with reading disabilities, group effects of lower intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and greater work avoidance than students without disabilities was documented across grade levels (pg 783.)”

 

So What? Every teacher will teach a student with ADHD or a student with reading disabilities during their career. Learning about students’ motivations can help a teacher connect with students to potentially ensure learning is taking place. This article provides insight into reading motivations to a specific group of students with disabilities and can be helpful to teachers. I have found myself trying to motivate my students to study more and be more active in their learning and have often found little change in them. I found it really interesting and I thought about how I could use knowledge from this article to scaffold reading assignments to my students with ADHD.  How can I as a teacher motivate students who lack the motivation for the readings? I love the use of inquiry in my classroom. It is a vital, driving factor in science as a subject and when a student gets on a topic they are interested in I try and answer questions they have or nudge them towards doing research on their own to expand their knowledge, even if it has little to do with the lesson for the day. Like this assignment if I could assign more inquiry based assignments where students read and research concepts that interest them in science they may be more motivated to read. If they have that connection with a concept wouldn’t they be more interested in learning about it more in depth? I would hope that this would solve issues I have with motivation in my class, but even when we are covering concepts they all find interesting there was still little motivation to do readings or study. Would group readings make the assignments more accessible to students with ADHD? I believe it might. The few group readings I have used in class have had surprising success. Stronger readers were paired with weaker readers and I saw both students reading and actively working instead of the weaker reader relying on the stronger reader to complete the assignment.

Skeletal System Text Set Collection

Websites

Biodigitalhuman

Grades 7-12+

Biodigitalhuman.com has a full 3D human body where you can dissect the body and create cross sections, create labels for quizzes, zoom in and rotate body parts to see things easier. This site even has a quiz engine where students can test their knowledge of the human body. This is a free site, but it does require that you sign up for the service. This is a wonderful site that could be used by grades past 7^th grade. You may be able to use it for earlier grades in demos, but in order for students to use this site by themselves I would not go younger than that. I would use when teaching students about the human body and show them how the skeletal system works in combination with other organ systems.

https://www.biodigitalhuman.com/home/

Hillendale Health

Grades 5-12+

This site is great for student’s young as fifth grade. It has a lot of great information on how many bones are in the human body, how each bone was named, what the bones are made, etc. It has a lot of great diagrams of various bone structures and cross sections. This site also has a basic quiz for students to practice and assess their knowledge. I would use this site in addition to other materials I give them.

http://hes.ucfsd.org/gclaypo/skelweb/skel01.html

Inner Body

Grades 8-12+

This site is really good for older students. I like that this site allows you to choose which organ system you want to focus on and then has anatomy terms for students to highlight and read more information on. It also has a diagram of the organ system with various green focal points. When the cursor highlights the green point it gives the student the full name of the bone and which bones it connects to. I would use this as a supplemental material for students to use on their own or in a project.

http://www.innerbody.com/image/skelfov.html

Skeletal System

Grades 8-12+

This is a wonderful website that has a lot of wonderful pictures. This website would be useful for additional pictures of various bones and ways to see the skeletal system. It has the bones separated between upper and lower limbs as well as the vertebral and thoracic bones. I would use this with older students as younger ones would just look at the pictures.

https://homes.bio.psu.edu/faculty/strauss/anatomy/skel/skeletal.htm

NeoK12

Grades 7-12+

This website does not have a lot of new information. However, it does have a lot of videos, quizzes, pictures, and even games for students to see and play. This could work with younger students if structured properly.

http://www.neok12.com/Skeletal-System.htm

Games

Learn the skeletal system/ label the bones

Grades 5-12+

This is a fun online game where students can create a skeletal system or label the bones. I found the games to be pretty fun. Older students would see it as a review type activity, while younger students would see it as a game. The controls are simple and the results seem to be great for the ages.

http://www.abcya.com/skeletal_system.htm

Skeletal System Game

Grades 5-12+

This is a simple game where students click and drag bone structure names to their corresponding pictures on a skeleton. It would be useful when used as a review for older students and as an activity for younger students. When you get an answer right it makes a jingle and a little fairy flies in with a sign saying you were right. It also makes a negative buzz when you get an answer incorrect.

http://www.softschools.com/science/human_body/skeletal_system/

Skeletal System

Grades 8-12+

This game is amazing. You press start and a timer starts. Then the game tells you which bones on a skeletal system diagram you are supposed to identify. It will give you hints if you get the answers wrong. The game keeps track of you correct percentage and your time. At the end of the game, when you correctly identify all the skeletal parts the timer stops and it ranks your skills with others around the world. Overall, I found this game extremely fun and I wanted to keep playing to increase my time and score.

http://www.purposegames.com/game/1009

Whack-A-Bone

Grades 7-12+

This is a fun game that has students build various bone collections. I built an arm using the various bones in the arms. It is timed and also keeps track of your score. Once you reach 80% score on one part of the game you unlock other areas and you can keep playing. I found this game to be a lot of fun. I would use this with students who know what the bones are and their relative position in the human body.

http://anatomyarcade.com/games/WAB/WAB.html

Skeletal System Jigsaw puzzle

Grades3-12+

This is a fun game for visual learners who love puzzles. You rearrange puzzle pieces until you complete the puzzle. The pieces are jumbled up very nicely in a way that requires the person to think and even rotate pieces on occasion. The skeletal system diagram also has the names of the bones so students can use that to determine where pieces should go.

http://anatomyarcade.com/games/jigsaws/SkeletalJigsaw/skeletalJigsaw.html

Books

Bones: our skeletal system

Grades 5-12

This is a wonderful book for younger students and ELL students. There are a lot of wonderful pictures and some good information. I would use this with lower grades and ELL students. I really like this book and it serves as an excellent introduction to the skeletal system to younger students.

Simon, S. (2000). Bones: Our skeletal system. New York: Morrow Junior Books.

The muscular system manual, the skeletal muscles of the human body

Grades 7-12+

I really like this book. It can be good for younger students, but it should probably accompany an activity. Older students would benefit the most from this book as it has a lot of information, but also has a lot of pictures regarding various skeletal structures and functions.

Muscolino, J. E. (2010). The muscular system manual, the skeletal muscles of the human body. Mosby.

Video

The Skeletal System: Skeletal Joints

Grades 8-12+

This is a great video for older students. It is a vodcast on the skeletal system and focuses on joints. There is a lot of information in the video, but it would be very effective with guided notes to go along with the video. It has video for visual learners and audio for auditory learners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWRV4WZrzDs&feature=endscreen&NR=1

The Skeletal System

Grades 9-12+

This video would be best used with high school students. The content is wonderful, but may be too advanced for middle school students. The author also has a vast number of videos on various other scientific concepts such as photosynthesis and Hardy Weinberg problems. This is a good video that would be great with guided notes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPrxQkjjExI

Bill Nye the Science Guy – “Bones In My Body”

Grades 3-12+

This is a fun video/song that is catchy and includes a lot of information that can be good for all student levels. High school students may find it cheesy but will enjoy it as much as younger students. This was a lot of fun and catchy! Did I mention I found it fun and catchy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1abT50xXyk

Reflection 11: Assessments

In today’s education more and more focus and effort is put into student assessments. Therefore, teachers need to be mindful about the various state assessments given to their students and develop strategies to prepare students for those assessments. I found Bean, Baldwin, and Readence’s chapter on test preparation strategies to be very useful. The Mirror Assessment strategy, that utilizes practicing examinations in a format that is similar or reflects what students will encounter on the state assessment, I feel that this is a very utilized strategy. I remember teachers using a similar strategy when I was a student in middle school and high school. I did find the term “testwiseness” to be a little concerning. It’s not that I disagree with the definitions and skills Bean, Baldwin, and Readence associate with the word. It is that I do not believe that some of my students have those abilities. Then I thought of how I could strengthen or teach students those skills such as “apply logic, common sense, and good organization in test taking situations (PG 71.)”

A think aloud may be a fun activity to try and teach these skills to my students. In a think aloud I would model my thinking as I go through various test scenarios I believe my students could benefit from seeing how various people with more test taking experience tackle various questions that they would see. This does not have to be limited to a reading assessment, but could be applied to all core subjects and even more elective subjects. I was not a strong test taker when I was younger, it was not until I was older that I began to succeed in assessments. When I was a student, I would have loved the chance to hear how a teacher thinks through a question and how they come to a solution to the problem. Teachers need to prepare their students in order for them to succeed, not only in their class and in whatever important state assessment they may be taking, but also in life.

Reflection 10

Vocabulary is essential to every subject in education. It is essential that students learn vocabulary in order to make connections and learn about more complicated concepts. Vocabulary is the crucial first step required for learning and deep understanding. If students do not understand the vocabulary they can often make misconceptions about whole concepts. The list group label vocabulary strategy seems like it would be useful to introduce a concept or new vocabulary to a students. Someone lists all the words they can think are related to the concept, and then group the words into groups that have something in common. At the end of the activity, students come up with a label for each group. I like how students categorize words into groups so they can make associations between vocabulary words they believe have commonalities. However, I foresee some problems some of my students might make during this activity. Therefore, the teacher needs to go over the vocabulary words so students do not develop misconceptions amongst the vocabulary words.

Overall, I found Allen’s chapter 3 quite enjoyable. I loved all of the concept maps they used and I found myself thinking on which ones I could use effectively in the unit I am currently teaching in Biology. There are a lot of wonderful concept maps/ graphic organizers and Allen provides enough on each one for readers to figure out by themselves how it is used and when it should be used in a classroom, without specifically telling when to do so. However, I would have liked to hear more on each one. While there is just enough information to provide the reader a basic understanding of the concept maps and the activities around them I would have liked more information as most of the specific strategies outlined in the chapter are discussed in a small paragraph.

Reflection 9 Tierney and Readance

I found Tierney and Readance’s chapter to be extremely helpful.  I found the seven vocabulary strategies they outlined to be very promising. They mention how to utilize each strategy and when it should be implemented which is greatly appreciated and makes it easier to use. However, I especially liked that they had comments and cautions about each strategy. That way a teacher would know what they need to lookout for during the activity and how they should structure the strategies to ensure student learning and efficiency.

I really liked the Contextual redefinition vocabulary strategy. Teachers read the text and select unfamiliar words, the teacher writes a sentence “so that the students have appropriate clues to each word’s meaning (pg 312.) This way students can try and determine the vocabulary definition by themselves which would promote a deeper connection to the definition than if a teacher just gave them the information.  Students need to provide definitions to the words and then try to come to a consensus with their peers on what they believe the definition is. The teacher then provides the word in the appropriate context so that students can see how the word is used. This allows students to mentally change their definition of the vocabulary word. The last stage of the contextual redefinition vocabulary strategy is for a student, or students, to verify their hypothesized definitions.

Overall, I thought this chapter had a lot of good strategies for teachers to use. I could use any of these in my science classes. Vocabulary is something that is important to all subjects in education and students need the skills to determine what words mean. In my experience by the time students reach 9^th grade often students still lack the skills to deduce the definitions of words. We have a word wall that is split into academic vocabulary words and subject vocabulary words. Often we give them the definitions or ask questions to try and get them to figure out the definitions. I think I may try some of the strategies listed in this chapter to use on the word wall for words students do not know.

Web Resource Review #2

 

Ecology.com is a wonderful website that has a lot of information and is easy for students to use. I would recommend using this site with students in middle schools and high schools. It has sections that would be more acceptable for elementary school students; however I have not observed much success with that age range and having the necessary computer skills to perform some of the actions. Those skills can be taught but would take time away from teaching. This website has numerous sections devoted to a wide variety of topics seen in ecology such as earth, air, and water ecology as well as sections devoted to green energy, human impact, and species. Each section has wonderful articles to provide students with general content knowledge but also allow them to see how scientists are researching these topics in real world scenarios. This website also has wonderful videos in a section called Ecology TV. I would use this website as an additional source of information for my students. Many have expressed interests in many of these topics, and while I would love to cover them we just do not have the time right now, and this would be a wonderful site for them to conduct research on their own time. Perhaps this could be used for the class required enrichment assignments.

One negative I saw on the website is that it includes a forum page. Typically I do not mind websites with forum pages, but for an educational website it may lead to some misunderstandings if students read those posts as opposed to reading the content on the pages and in the articles. This website is also free! However, it also has a site store in which they sell various products that promote living an ecologically friendly lifestyle as well as some random gadgets. Overall, this is a wonderful website that can really expose students to wonderful articles about real life science research in ecology.

 

Ecology.com

Reflection 8

I found Mark Bauerlein and Neil Howe’s discussion on the millennial to be extremely interesting yet also disconcerning. I found this discussion interesting because it offers some insight into how the current teenagers think. But should we as a society compare the teenagers of today to the teenagers of previous generations? I say no. How could we effectively compare various generations of teens when their lives and experiences are so vastly different. Comparing various generations educational prowess is utterly ridiculous. Mark Bauerlain states that the students today, with so many advantages (such as the internet), result in lower academic achievement than those students from earlier generations (Bauerlein & Howe, 2008.) So many changes have occurred in the content covered in schools and the educational theories regarding education that it would be impractical to even attempt such ridiculous comparisons. The negatives Bauerlein uses as his argument can be from a number of different reasons. Education has changed a lot since many generations were in a classroom. Now many teachers have staggering amounts of standards they need to address in such a small time frame that they can do little more than focus solely on those standards and essentially teach to the test. If it is not on the state mandated exam often it is not taught. I, for instance, have 47 different standards I have to teach in biology, and with the state EOC being so important to each student’s grade I focus a lot of my effort on getting through those standards so they can be prepared. I want to teach my students content that they may not normally see in state standards but I have so much I need to cover that I have to wait to teach that content until after the EOC. Neil Howe on the other side of the issue argues that the Millennials will be the next great generation. I believe that this generation has the ability to become great. Just like every generation before there is the potential to be greater than the last generation, but it’s what students do with that potential is up to them.

Bauerlein, M. & Howe, N. (2008). The Millennials: The Dumbest Generation or the Next Great Generation? Retrieved October 24, 2012

 

 

Sinatra Reflection

I enjoyed Sinatra’s article and I thought it had some interesting ideas. I liked that Sinatra outlined how a teacher can provide scaffolding through modeling and teach students how to use map plans (Sinatra, pg 273) which can improve their thought processes from their readings. Concept mapping is a very important instructional strategy used in teaching as it “allows thinkers, readers, and writers to translate ideas and concepts into a visual, graphic display that they can use for reading or writing assignments (Sinatra, 2000, pg 266.)” Concept maps are very important in science as many of the key ideas or concepts are abstract or are way too large for students to observe in their everyday lives. I liked how Sinatra’s article included various graphic organizers for concept mapping. I also liked how Sinatra emphasized the use of modeling. Modeling is extremely important in science as concepts can be abstract and modeling will help students understand and learn the material. The rest of the method outlined by Sinatra is aligned more with the “I do, we do, you do” lesson plan that has been shown to us before. I am not looking down on the “I do, we do, you do” lesson. Rather it is the opposite; I enjoy and often implement that lesson guide in my class. However, Sinatra’s instructional strategy did not prove enlightening although it did provide me with a few new ideas on how I can increase student comprehension through reading activities.

Sinatra, R. C. (2000). Teaching learners to think, read, and write more effectively in content         subjects. Clearing House, 73(5), 266-273.

 

Cellular Text Set Collection

Biology4kids.com

            This is a great site for middle schools and even high school students who are lower skilled readers. The site has great information on all the organelles we will go over in class. This site even has quizzes for students to assess their retention from their readings.

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/cell_main.html

The Cell

            This site is more advanced than the other websites. Thus, I would not recommend using this site with students younger than those in high school. However, this site does have great definitions and explanations for some of the processes that take place in the cell. It also has wonderful illustrations and pictures of various cell types.

http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/13-cells.htm

Learn. Genetics

            This is a wonderful site that can accommodate lower skilled readers up to higher skilled readers. However, this site would probably be too advanced for most middle school students. It has short passages, but the content is excellent. This site also has wonderful animations that accompany the text. The site also has audio versions of most of the texts that I found for ESL students.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/

The Biology Project

This is an easier to read website/ program. Each topic covered in the site takes students to problems that students need to answer and when they do they read more about the topic. I found this site to be good for students to review. The activity and level of the content is aligned with high school students, but honors classes in middle schools could benefit from the use of this site. However, this site would benefit moderate to advanced readers more than lower skilled reading students. This site also has an easy link that takes students to a version that is in Spanish for Spanish speaking ESL students.

http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/cell_bio.html

Johnkyrk.com

This online programwas created by biologist and educator John Kyrk and is wonderful for all reading levels. Advanced readers may find it too easy, but the program serves as a great tool. Students highlight over parts of the cell and the program tells the student what it is and what the organelle is responsible for in the cell. This program supports ESL students through seven different language translations.

http://www.johnkyrk.com/

Cells Cells- Parts of the Cell Rap

            This is a fun video created by 6^th grade teachers for their students. The song is catchy and informational. They also included the lyrics so students can read along with the rap and its visuals. It is good for lower skilled readers in middle school. High school students may enjoy it, but may also find it juvenile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zafJKbMPA8

 

Enjoy Your Cells

            This picture book is great for beginning readers. Most high school and middle school students will be beyond its limited concepts. However, younger readers, lower skilled readers, and ESL students may find this book useful.

Balkwill, F. R., & Rolph, M. (2001). Enjoy your cells. (Vol. 1). Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Cells

            This book is wonderful for young readers in elementary school to early middle school. The book is also useful for ESL students and those with low reading skills. The book also has wonderful pictures and diagrams as it outlines the history of the discovery of cells. In this book, students will also find the vocabulary section of the book to be useful as it has definitions for them to easily see.

Silverstein, A., Silverstein, V. B., Nunn, L. S., (2009). Cells (Science Concepts, Second Series). Twenty First Century Books.

Cell Wars

            This book is wonderful for low skilled readers and ESL Students in higher grades, but it is also good for early readers. This book describes the processes that cells take to fight off diseases. This is also a good book for students who just want a basic knowledge of the immune system’s processes.

Balkwill, F. R., & Rolph, M. (1994). Cell Wars. First Avenue Editions.

Mighty Animal Cells

            This is a wonderful picture book for younger readers. It details how new cells are created, what cells do and what their organelles do. I would not use this book for middle school or high school students unless they were low skilled readers or ESL students.

Johnson, R. L., & Desrocher, J., (2007). Mighty Animal Cells (Microquests). Lerner Classroom.

Cell Craft

            Cell Craft is a game where students build a cell and learn about the organelles and processes required to make it work. The game even includes high level content such as nucleic acids and chemical bonding. This would be a good game for middle school students and high school students but the content, computer skills, and reading level required to move forward in the game are not appropriate for elementary school students.

http://www.biomanbio.com/GamesandLabs/Cellgames/cellcraft.html

Cell Defense: The Plasma Membrane

            This online game allows students to create plasma membranes to defense their cell against the onslaught of the outside world. Students will learn how the membrane works and its parts as well as some of the transport processes of the cell. This game is too advanced for elementary schools, but it would be appropriate for middle school and high school students. If students get something wrong they can correct it but the game points out why they should have done something in cellular terms and why that way is correct.

http://www.biomanbio.com/GamesandLabs/Cellgames/celldefense.html

Cell Explorer: The Animal Cell

            This game is fun and teaches the student about cell organelle structures and their functions while they battle to stop cell destroyers. Once again this game is good for middle school and high school students, but may be too advanced for elementary school students. This game would be helpful to all reading skills as it provides assistance to low readers while high skilled readers can easily just relax and have fun while learning.

http://www.biomanbio.com/GamesandLabs/Cellgames/CellExplorerAnimalCell.html

Basic Cell Biology Game

This is a good review/ trivia game. Students can practice and assess their knowledge of the cell. I believe that this would be good for middle school students. But it lacks the depth of content to make it useful in high school classrooms for use other than quick reviews. This is good for low readers and moderate skilled readers.

http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz93971ac45f0.html

Cellular who wants to be a Millionaire

This is a fun game that could be used as a competition style activity in a classroom. Students can compete to see who can become the millionaire first. Some of the concepts are more complex than those found in standard elementary or middle school curriculums and text books. I would suggest that this game be used in high schools and it can be used with low skilled readers and high skilled readers.

http://www.quia.com/rr/86966.html

 

 

Daniels and Zemelman Chapter 11

Being a reading teacher can be difficult, especially when teachers contemplate how to help struggling student readers. Even in high school, students are seriously lacking reading skills. Students who should not be placed in CP level classes are because there are not enough teachers who can handle or teach basic/regular level classes. We as teachers must find a way to help our students strengthen their reading skills especially finding a way to help students who are struggling. Daniel and Zemelman’s book outlines a number of ways to provide assistance to struggling readers. Building a relationship wit h students is important. If students do not trust the teacher then students may not take the necessary risks associated with learning. Building a supportive relationship can be hard for teachers. I only see my students every other day and I often find myself mixing up who likes what or who like sto sit wherever.

Another great way to support struggling readers is to model the actions for them. This can work well in lower grades, but as the student gets older it may be more difficult. Freshman in high school are at an age where they view themselves as adults but lack the ability to conduct themselves in such a way. I do not think that reading to my class would be as well thought of by my students as it would be if I were a middle school or elementary school teacher. However, I do believe that reading to high school students can be very beneficial to students in lower level classes.  I also like the idea of providing books or articles on tape. If I know some of my students are struggling readers I can record myself reading articles I provide my students. I have found that most “newer” textbooks offer online guidance that can involve audio as well as text support for the textbook. This would be great for students who need help while at home and then I can help them once they come back to school. No matter how teachers choose to provide assistance to struggling readers the most important thing is that we need the ability to recognize that students are struggling so we can help them.

Bean, Baldwin, and Readence Chapter 6 Reflection

I really enjoyed Bean, Baldwin, and Readance’s chapter on improving comprehension. This chapter made me reflect about my education and how I progressed in reading comprehension skill and then I reflected about my expectations for my students when they read  passages I tell them to read. As teachers are already so stressed for time as it is, many teachers simply state to their students read pages… Scaffolding pre reading activities, during reading activities, and post activities requires time and effort from teacher and student. While the time required for comprehension strategies may be a major negative to many teachers, but I feel the benefits far outweigh the cons.  Not only does it give excellent activities to increase student comprehension, it gives teachers activities that can be useful in nearly all classes and a variety of situations.

Most of my students have used KWL’s before and have been met with groans of discord. However, the other comprehension strategies may be newer to them and would therefore be deemed more acceptable. I would like to use the quick write or mini study guide strategies in accompany to an article we would read. The quick write strategy seems to be a great way to introduce a unit. Students could write down everything they know about the topic and then read an article. The mini study guide allows students to focus on key aspects of readings and could easily be attached to articles or text passages on whatever unit we happen to be on at the time. Overall, this chapter provided a great array of strategies for teachers to increase student reading comprehension.

Daniels and Zemelman Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter 3 of Daniels and Zemelman is a continuation of the chapters we read previously. “The textbook used in your classes maybe less of a choice and more of an imposition (Daniels & Zemelman, 2004, pg 36.)” Sometimes teachers are forced to use the textbook by higher authorities. The reasons for not using a textbook can be quite numerous, for instance many students lack the skills to efficiently read textbooks, however it is often easier to simply use the textbook, but doing so can be detrimental to our students’ education. “Perhaps the book has flaws, gaps, and problems that drive you nuts (Daniels & Zemelman, 2004, pg 36.)” In my case the textbooks we do not have enough textbooks for the entire class and therefore are only able to have a class set in the classroom. This can be an obstacle if I want students to read a section and be exposed to some content so we can do an activity the next day. This is not the only problem, recent discoveries have made some of the content in the very old textbooks incorrect and I would rather teach my students about it with new journals than with old incorrect information. I understand that textbooks may not be the best source of information for our students, as they are often outdated and schools simply do not have the money to replace them, but they can be helpful as an additional source of information. I would never use the textbook as the sole source of information to my students but it can act as a side source of information. However, I do need to teach my students the necessary skills to properly read a science textbook in order to make their learning a little more efficient than it may be currently.

Daniels,H., & Zemelman, S. (2004). Subjects Matter: Every Teacher’s Guide to Content-Area Reading. Portsmouth, NHL Heinemann.

Daniels and Zemelman Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter five consists of tools teachers can use in their classrooms. These reading strategy activities are impressive. There were a few that were very familiar from my education classes but there were so many that were new and contained activities I never would have thought to do. The authors even included when these activities and strategies would be most useful whether it is before, during, or after reading. I enjoyed the post it response notes activity and I may be able to use that in my classroom. If I can find an article or a passage from an article that is at the right reading level for my class this would be perfect for them. I also liked the “Sketching my way through the text” activity. Many important ideas in biology can be better understood by drawing the concept out. I think a lot of my students would like this opportunity more than simply taking notes. All of the activities seemed like they could be helpful to a wide variety of classes.

Chapter six focuses on ways to make textbooks friendlier to our students.  I have learned from my experience in my school that I can assume my students know nothing. Often I am astonished at how little they know. This does not mean knowledge in my content, but general education skills such as note taking skills. I have to tailor my teaching to include these skills as well so naturally I would have to assume that some students may not know how to effectively read a textbook. Similar to chapter five I found the activities and strategies to interesting, some of them have real merit and could be used in my classroom. The vocabulary word sorts would be useful in my classroom. There is a lot of vocabulary in biology and it really drives the content in a lot of occasions. By getting students to confirm what they believe some vocabulary to mean and guessing at other words they can test their hypothesis later when they learn what the vocabulary actually means, which is a SPI the state likes to emphasize. I do not believe my CP high school students will be as enthusiastic about reading the chapter as Kathleen’s students were, but it could still be effective. Overall, both chapters five and six were good. I found the reading strategies/tools to be valuable and many have possibilities of being incorporated into my classroom.

Tovani Chapter 3 Reflection

Science literacy can be difficult for students. Often it is drastically different from articles or journals read in other subjects. I like the idea of modeling how to read science literature. It is true that depending on the content you may read an article or paper differently by focusing on different things. A great way to teach students how to read through various subject’s eyes can be done in a variety of ways. I like the idea of modeling how to read a scientific article. Tovani says that teachers “can show students through modeling their own reading process how proficient readers attack different kinds of texts (Tovani ,2004, pg 26.)” Science articles can be difficult to read, even for experienced readers. Science articles are often filled with data tables, graphs, and scientific jargon that many students can be confused by. By modeling how I read this type of literature I can teach how to effectively read science literature. I can find several articles rooted in real-life scenarios, so students are immediately interested, and interweave them with the curriculum. This way students start to use the content I teach as background knowledge that will reinforce what they know while learning new information. I could even structure the lesson so students only read part of the article and then meet with other students to share a summary of their part. This would allow them to collaborate with peers and simultaneously work on their reading skills.

Web Resource Review 1

 

Learn. Genetics is a site created by the University of Utah that truly lives up to its name. The pros to this site are numerous. It contains all of the topics contained in the genetics unit of the Biology I curriculum as well as a majority of the cell unit and even some material on variation. While the amount of content is commendable the applications regarding the content is where this website seems to shine. Not only does it contain the material in text form, but it also contains videos or animations on many of the pages to allow students to visually see the content. The animations are extremely well done and all the animations I opened featured full audio descriptions of the animations. This site also includes virtual labs on various topics included in the curriculum. Some biology classes, like mine, cannot perform many experiments as they lack space or may become too much of a hassle to be used effectively. In these cases virtual labs could be a tremendous asset in science classrooms to provide another resource for science teachers. The website is good, but not great and there is one con that keeps making an appearance as I continue to explore the website. While the animations and the amount of information are very good, the site is not very interactive beyond the virtual labs. I would like some inclusion of quizes so students can test themselves or some puzzles for extra practice. Despite the lack of interactivity this is a worthwhile website for science teachers and students. While a university created this website the grade level does not indicate that it is meant solely for college students. Students in high school can use this website as a resource when at home. This website could be used for my lower reading skilled students as well as be useful to my students who could be in honors or even AP leveled classes. My favorite part of this website is that it is free. Often science websites that contain wonderful animations and this much content require either the user sign up or payment.

Learn.Genetics

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/

 

Chapter 7 Building a Community of Learners

In chapter seven Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman discuss creating a community in the classroom. In a community students can feel more accepted and therefore be more receptive to learning and be more willing to be active participants in their education. I know I feel this way when I am in a classroom, or atmosphere, where I feel safe. I agree that creating community is important to a classroom and is something I really want to establish in my classroom. In reality it is more difficult than it appears. I only see my class every other day and while they may see each other more often than I do I have found it hard to establish a community like atmosphere in my class. “So unless the classroom is a place where kids see learning as useful and meaningful to them-connected to their individual interests- teaching content reading “Skills” or comprehension strategies or anything else simply doesn’t stick for a great many of our students (Daniels & Zemelman, 2004, pg 169.)” I agree and that is why I try to bring real world scenarios and examples of biology into the classroom. Many students have wonderful questions regarding the content and these questions only fuel their peers to have more questions. Their inquiries often lead to students’ making discoveries about topics they find interesting and I was amazed at the level of research some students had done to satisfy their personal inquiry. Creating a community is a main goal to me and my classroom and it works well in science classes, especially in lab practices and class discussions.

Daniels,H., & Zemelman, S. (2004). Subjects Matter:Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.