Learning New Strategies

Today in class we had 3 strategy presentations and they happened to be the 3 ELA people we had in our class. Going into a presentation is always nerve racking to me because I do not like speaking in front of people (yes I know I am a teacher). It became even more stressful when a classmate comes in and informs me she is presenting on the same strategy. This ended up being a good thing and my classmate and I were able to have a good discussion about it.

We both presented a strategy on using character quotes to cover character traits, create connections and brainstorm background knowledge on a story. I geared mine for 8th grade ELA while she made hers relevant for 2nd grade Reading. I loved seeing the similarities and differences between the two. I presented my strategy in a way where I pretended to have already covered what character traits were so all I needed to do was refresh their memory. I then gave them the task and they figured out the connections within their group. The other presenter of this strategy presented as if we had touched on character traits but needed more practice. She modeled and walked us through the entire activity. I think she did a very good job applying the strategy to a second grade classroom. She scaffold our learning by providing us information about character traits and actions that we may not have known before and applied the strategy to a book that we had already read and discussed. We both thought our presentations were successful but fit the audience in which we intended to reach. I will be showing her PowerPoint to my 2nd grade teachers so they can see a new and interesting way to teach character traits. 

The third presentation of the day used Nearpod and it has got my wheels turning. I loved this interactive lesson which allowed us to break down each stanza of a poem. We were able to find the vocabulary that was unfamiliar, highlight important words, and write the stanzas in our own words. I cannot wait to take this back to my school this year where our students struggle with comprehending texts. If we can have our students break down different genres of text like we did today (on Nearpod or on paper) our students will have a much better chance of understanding what they are reading. I think this is a clear and concise way for the teachers to understand and in turn teach it to their own students. 

I had a very hard time understanding the poem presented today and if it wasn't for someone in my group who had a better grasp on it, I would have been lost. Breaking it down like she showed us was inspiring. I went from confused about what I was reading to making connections and inferences once I applied the strategies she taught us. I am excited to see if this will work for our students like it has worked for me.