Your top three intelligences: Intelligence Score (5.0 is highest) Description 4.14 Language: You enjoy enjoy saying, hearing, and seeing words. You like telling stories. You are motivated by books, records, dramas, opportunities for writing. Effective techniques of enhancing your learning using your language intelligence include reading aloud, especially plays and poetry. Another idea is to write down reflections on what you've read. You may also enjoy exploring and developing your love of words, i.e., meanings of words, origin of words and idioms, names. Use different kinds of dictionaries. Other ideas: Keep a journal Use a tape recorder to tape stories and write them down Read together, i.e., choral reading Read a section, then explain what you've read Read a piece with different emotional tones or viewpoints — one angry, one happy, etc. Trade tall tales, attend story-telling events and workshops Research your name 4 Social: You like to develop ideas and learn from other people. You like to talk. You have good social skills. Effective techniques of enhancing your learning using your social intelligence include taking part in group discussions or discussing a topic one-to-one with another person. Find ways to build reading and writing exercises into your group activities, such as: Reading a dialogue or a play with other people Doing team learning/investigating projects Setting up interview questions and interviewing your family, and writing down the interview Writing notes to another instead of talking. 3.71 Musical: You like the rhythm and sound of language. You like poems, songs, and jingles. You enjoy humming or singing along with music. You probably remember things well when they are associated with music or rhythm. Try to incorporate sounds into your lessons, such as using a familiar tune, song, or rap beat to teach spelling rules, or to remember words in a series for a test. Here are some other ways to use your musical intelligence: Create a poem with an emphasis on certain sounds for pronunciation. Clap out or walk out the sounds of syllables. Read together (choral reading) to work on fluency and intonation. Read a story with great emotion — sad, then happy, then angry. Talk about what changes — is it only tone? Work with words that sound like what they mean (onomatopoeia). For example: sizzle, cuckoo, smash. Read lyrics to music. Use music as background while reviewing and for helping to remember new material. Use rhymes to remember spelling rules, i.e., "I before E except after C." The scores for your other five intelligences: 3.29 3.14 3 2.86 2.29 Just because these five are not in your top three doesn’t mean you’re not strong in them. If your average score for any intelligence is above three, you’re probably using that intelligence quite often to help you learn. Take a look at the Practice section to see how to engage all your intelligences.

ASCD Express 8.07 - Strength-Based Learning Strategies for Special Needs Students

ASCD Express 8.07 - Strength-Based Learning Strategies for Special Needs Students

 As I read this summary of the article above, I am reminded of the best teaching practices I studied in my pre-service teaching as well as the professional development opportunities in my teaching career.   After 9 years in the classroom I cannot stress enough how essential it is to reach these students in the ways that help them learn the most.  It does take more time, effort, and planning on the side of the teacher, but aren't the rewards worth it?  The methods described also help motivate other students who have not been identified for special needs services, so it is more of the issue of universal design that teachers should consider when using these strategies in their classrooms. 

Actual Technology Use in the Classroom

This year I have the pleasure of teaching 26 4th graders.  We have utilized many types of technology in our learning. 

1. We have several digital cameras, flip cams, and our iPad 2 that capture our experiences that we upload to our private Facebook page and Youtube Channel.  
2. Our iPad 2 also has many apps that we use on a daily basis--CNN, BrainPop, dictionary, weather channel, iBooks, AirMicroscope, among others. 
3. Students also type their work on our classroom wiki that makes it easy to share and continue work on writing when students are not at school.  
4. Our class website keeps everyone in the loop about learning topics and upcoming events and resources that aid in extending learning beyond the classroom. 
5. We have also used Capzles timeline maker to share our reading lives and will use Blabberize to share what we've learned about  Utah state animals.
6. This term we explored audiobooks on our class set of iPods that allow students to engage with reading in a different way.

More to come in 2012!

Not nosy, curious

What? How? Where? When? Why?  These are the questions that resonate in my classroom, from both my students and me.  Exploration is encouraged and viewed with positivity so being nosy is actually a good trait!  Every day we observe, listen, watch, and think about what we are processing, which leads to asking questions.  This shows that we care and are actually listening to one another.  I expect my students to be just as nosy as I am about what they experience in our class subjects and with each other.

When I question students or make mental notes as I observe them, they know that it is so our class can be stronger.  If I know them better and understand where they are coming from, I can be a better teacher and guide on their path of academic and social growth.  Without asking questions and making sense of what I'm seeing and hearing, I am at a disadvantage of understanding my students and their families.  Cheers to those educators who proudly state they are nosy! I say, the nosier the better!

The Ultimate Booklover's Survey

When most adults find out I'm a teacher they usually share their most memorable teacher or school memory.  When I also add that I'm a librarian the reaction is different.  Either they love or hate reading and they feel compelled to tell me. Children, on the other hand, are quite different.  The most common reaction I get from children when they find out I'm a teacher-librarian is an inquisitive one:  what is your favorite  book?  I think they are just trying to stump me, which they do, but over the years I have developed my list of faves to share when asked. 

On a librarian list-serv I came across an interesting post by  Teresa Schauer.  She had gotten this book survey from one of her students and I found it just fascinating.  I am a book lover, no doubt, but this questionnaire made me reach far beyond my comfort-zone (ahem, number 29) when discussing books.

Here are the questions:  

1-Your favorite Book:

2-Least Favorite Book:

3-A Book that completely surprised you: (bad/good)

4. - A Book that made you laugh out loud:

5- A Non-fiction book that you actually enjoyed:

6- A Book that makes you cry:

7- A Book that’s hard to read:

8- A Book you want to read, but never have:

9- A Book you’ve read more than once:

10- The first novel you remember reading:

11- The Book that made you fall in love with reading:

12- A book so emotionally draining you couldn’t complete it or had to set aside for a bit:

13- Favorite childhood Book:

14- Book that should be on hs/college required reading list:

15- Favorite book dealing with foreign culture:

16- Favorite book turned movie:

17- Book turned movie and completely desecrated:

18- A Book You can’t find on shelves anymore that you love:

19- A Book that changed your mind about a particular subject:

20-A Book you would recommend to an ignorant/racist/closed minded person:

21-A guilty pleasure book:

22-Favorite Series:

23- Favorite Romance Novel:

24 - A Book you later found out the Author lied about:

25-Favorite Autobiographical/Biographical Book:

26-A Book you wish would be written:

27- A Book you would write if you had all the resources:

28- A Book you wish you never read:

29- An Author that you completely avoid/hate won’t read:

30 - An Author that you will read whatever they put out: 

I will put my answers up as soon as I have sufficiently thought about them...

If you want to read Teresa's answers they are on her blog.

Google Search Stories: Digital Storytelling

After seeing the Super Bowl ad last year, I've been wanting to explore using Google Search Stories in the classroom.  Before integrating it into the curriculum I decided to make one to see if it is as user-friendly as Google claims it is.  The verdict?  It is!  I took our recent moving adventures as the "story" in my sample:  

I think that students will enjoy using this new tool in many class topics.  The one that jumps out the most is that of writing:  organization, voice, content and reading:  making inferences, cause and effect, summarizing, main idea and details.  Students can make these for characters in books in they're reading, describing events in history, exploring science topics--the list goes on and on.  Hopefully I will link my new class webpage to this blog so that actual student examples can be viewed as well.

Glass of the future...what does it mean for libraries?