Comments for Teachers #3

Post #1- I was assigned to At the Teachers Desk blog. I commented on Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With: Part 1 by Mr. Chamberlain. In his post he writes about how he decided to experiment with his reading program. He was required to use a particular series and was expected to use the workbooks. He decided to add a twist to the reading program because he noticed that the students were bored and so was he. The students were reading a non-fiction story on ghost towns in the west. In his lesson, he added visual components, which I personally think is great. Each student was given a checklist of the assignments for that week and also listed the day that it was due. Here is a few of the assignments he added to his list to make it more interesting. His students would chose two out of six different activities for vocabulary and they would also view a map of McDonald County. The students would then label the ghost towns of Coy, Wylie, Saratoga Spring, and Erie and explain why they think they are no longer there. His students had different note taking techniques that they could use also.  I liked how he used checklists to make it easier for his students to stay organized and broke down each assignment.

My Comment: My name is Jennifer Hackney and I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I think what you are doing in your classroom is great. I like how you took the initiative to create a fun and exciting reading program for your students. The checklist that you created was a great idea because it is a great way to keep your students organized and let them know what assignments are due.  I like how you incorporated activities to go along with your reading assignments to make them more interesting and fun for your students.

Post #2-This is part two of Mr. Chamberlain's Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With a series on modifying a textbook based classroom. In this post he listed different approaches he uses for vocabulary. His students were to choose two of the approaches and here is what they could choose. The students could create graphic representations of each vocabulary word, write definitions of each vocabulary word, write definitions, create flash cards, use in graphic organizer as outlined in skills section, create a word web with synonyms of the vocabulary, or create a word web with antonyms of the vocabulary. Mr. Chamberlain says,"That only one out of four students choose to write the definitions and the ones who do are the student's who grasp vocabulary the best." Flash cards allowed his student's to have social interaction with a partner because he allowed them to practice that way. Creating a synonym or antonym word web worked best for many students. Many of his students would use visuwords to find synonyms and antonyms. Visuwords is a website that makes connections between words visual. I found this to be interesting and awesome. Before he changed to this method his average written test scores were in the mid 60's. Now, his average test score is in the high 80's. I think this is awesome!

My Comment: Hi, My name is Jennifer Hackney and I am student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I have to say I have really enjoyed your post. What you are doing in your classroom is great! You have given me many ideas on ways to incorporate vocabulary in my future classroom. I also find it awesome that your students test scores went up. That just shows that you are doing a great job in your classroom and you really care for your students. Thanks for your post. You can see a summary of your post on my personal blog at htttp://HackneyJenniferedm310.blogspot.com

/