I found the Frye, Trathen, and Wilson article to be very informative. The unit of study integrated social studies and language arts and focused on engaging students in meaningful learning. I loved how the unit began by exposing students to pirates through music and visuals, it was a way to get the wheels turning in the heads of the students. The KWL was a great scaffolding tool and I think that through the group work students were able to feed off of each other. The notebook kept by the students allowed students to paraphrase learned material in a way that was easiest for them to remember and to develop questions that they wanted to be answered. Students were actively engaged through collecting their own information about pirates, allowing them to explore different types of media. I learned the advantages of pairing fiction and nonfiction. The Twin Texts made the unit more interesting and enhanced the learning experience. Pirate Diary allowed students to follow Jake in his adventures with historically accurate details and What If You Met a Pirate? provided students with a hisory of pirates using a Q&A format, captions, illustrations, an index, and a glossary. I believe that the key is for students to learn meaningful information in a way that is intriguing to them. The activities described within the article are ones that I will use in my own classroom.
I found this article to be helpful in thinking about ideas for my own classroom. I think the topic of pirates would prove to be interesting to interesting to students. I liked the fact that the teacher used so many elements to appeal to students. For instance, she had pirate music playing whenever the kids entered the classroom, and she also had various pirate related items on display for the kids to see. I feel like this involvement is important to students' learning. In my opinion, the more senses that a teacher can cater to, then the more that his/her students will learn. I can remember in fifth grade we studied the Mayan Indians. We had different artwork, food, games, books, art, and music all relating to the Mayan culture. Likewise, we all rotated and visited other fifth grade classrooms which had other Indian groups, such as the Aztecs and the Incas. It was a great learning opportunity for me, but it was also fun for the class.
This article was very interesting and informative to me. It gave me ideas of how to get my students interested in a topic and keep them interested through out the whole unit. I loved that the teacher used various manipulatives outside of books alone to capture the student's attention. Not all children are interested in books but showing them artifacts that pirates may use or music that they may listen to could easily get them intrigued and wanting to read to learn more about pirates. KWL is a great source for teachers to use in these situations because it lets us know what they want to learn, what they already know, and what they have learned. It helps us know how we are doing as teachers. It also helps the children work together to see what they know and can teach each other about that certain topic that they are discussing. All in all, I really loved reading this article because it gave me great ideas for my future classroom and how to go about getting my students interested on a topic that everyone might not be crazy about.
I thought it was interesting that while the teacher was giving her students an interesting and interactive social studies lesson, she was also incorporating the language arts into the lesson. So often, it seems, each of the subjects are treated as separate entities with social studies just learning about history/the present and then jumping to language arts learning about grammar and practicing to write and reading on their own. While all that is good, and necessary to a point, I liked how, while she engaged them in learning about pirates, she was sort of sneaking in that English lesson by having them research and write about their findings and questions. They were not only getting to practice their writing but they were also unknowingly introduced to the differences between historical fiction and nonfiction. With that introduction also came the practice of reading and discussion with peers. This article was good in the sense that it gives you an idea of how to integrate subjects and it helped show that teaching the language arts can and should be a fun and motivating lesson for students.
In the Frye, Trathen and Wilson article, a 4th grade lesson on Piracy is integrated with both Social Studies and Language Arts. The teacher starts off the unit by setting up different areas in the classroom and putting "artifacts" of pirates around the room. This helped grab the attention of the students and helped them get interested about the topic which is something I feel is very important. The teacher uses a nonfiction and fiction book to give kids both a fun, but historically accurate, book and a more informational book on the topic. The teacher also uses "KWL" as a way to get students to express what they think they know, what they want to know and what they have learned. This helps students to understand the importance of the unit. The students created their own notebooks where they kept journals using the "KWL" format and they created their own dictionaries with pirate vocabulary. I think this is important for kids because it gives them a way to express themselves in the journals and also helps them learn the vocabulary by having them put it into their own words and illustrations. The students were also able to research pirates using different forms of media such as dvds, the internet and books. This helps the students understand that information can come from many resources but the students also need to be taught about what a credible resource is and how to tell. The lesson also gave students different opportunities to work individually and to work and discuss the information in groups or as a whole class. I feel like this is important because students need to know they can do assignments on their own but also have their findings mean something by being able to share them. The unit uses a lot of different teaching styles which I agree with. I think this article can help teachers or future teachers understand how two or more subjects can be integrated but also how the lesson can be fun and educational.
This article was very good example of integrating writing/reading with a social studies topic. I really enjoyed reading about the variety of elements that the teacher used to make the lesson with pirates interesting. The "artifacts" that were used seemed to be very interesting. Students that use these things and explore them will be able to add so much more detail into their thinking about the subject and writing in their "notebook". The article pointed out all the different aspects of language arts that were being used to learn about pirates. First off the students are experiencing the difference between fiction and non-fiction books as well as getting to write about the interesting facts about pirates in the KWL. In the article I was able to see how effective the method of using both fiction and non-fiction texts is with helping the students learn about subjects such as science and social studies. Overall, this article was a great example of integrating social studies and language arts.
This is a great article to read as a future teacher. The article gives ways to incorporate two subjects into one unit. Teaching across the curriculum is a new way to be more time efficient while still teaching them what they need to know. One excellent thing about this unit is that students were doing language arts without even realizing by researching and writing about the social studies topic. Many different materials were used to get the attention of students as they observed these materials and discussed them as a group.I like how the research was not just vague. It was guided by the teacher's research questions. The KWL's are a great way to see what the students are interested. Maybe if there is a way to incorporate their interests into the lessons that would help get their attention even more.
After reading this article, I feel like I have a better idea of different activities that I can do with my classroom to be informative but to also make it interesting for the students. I can remember so many activities that I did in elementary school that were so boring and I felt like i got nothing out of it because i was just wanting the activity to be over with. I loved how the teacher related many different aspects into her activity that she did with her students. Playing the music in the beginning and then having her student keep whats called a KWL interacts the students in many different ways. In implementing this with the students, there are different subject areas that are integrated into the classroom. Integrating lesson plans is something that I would really like to do when I am a teacher myself!
Sarah, I also remember being so bored in classes that I didn't really take anything out of it. Getting the attention of the students is an important part of their learning experience. We, as teachers, want to give the students a positive learning experience instead of the negative ones that I remember. Integrating lesson plans are also something I want to do in my classroom!
I agree that the KWL format is a great scaffolding tool. By making the kids think out each step (Knowledge, Want to know and what they learned) is a great tool to have them think about each step and realizing the importance of the lesson/unit. I also agree that students learn best when they are intrigued with the information and having interesting activities and a wide variety like the ones in the article help a lot. I also think I will use some of these activities in my future classroom.
I felt as though the article was extremely beneficial to me as a future teacher. The article gave me ideas of how I can spice up my lessons a bit. I remember being so fascinated by Pirates, especially Blackbeard when I was in 4th grade. My teacher made it interesting, but this article gives a whole new meaning to getting kids curious and excited about learning. I think that it was great that the teacher gave the students so many different resources like fiction and nonfiction "twin texts" as well as the opportunity to explore DVD's and websites to further their understanding of Pirates. I know that I will not be able to make every lesson I teach this interactive and fun for students, but this article gives me hope that I will still be able to be creative and do engaging lessons when I begin teaching, despite the crunch for time in classrooms today.
I agree that the KWL were a great resource for the teacher. I think that by learning their interests we will be able to mold lessons in a way that will be interesting to them. I think the KWL also gets the students to think about the things they already know while making them think about the vast array of questions they have that are still unanswered. By the end of the unit the students will be able to see how their questions were answered and will learn how to find answers to their questions on other subjects as well.
This article provided a wonderful example of how to integrate social studies and language arts, how to use both fiction and nonfiction texts effectively, and how to make learning fun and exciting for students. I love the way the teacher introduced the topic by having books, music and objects that caught the students' attention and made them eager to learn more. I thought that the notebook idea was brilliant because it involved the students learning by doing. The students could take notes on the subject and create a dictionary of new vocabulary words. The use of the notebook also made integrating language arts very easy because it gave the teacher an opportunity to talk about composing questions and learning new words. I like the way the teacher used books from multiple genres because the variety of texts engaged the students and expanded their knowledge on the subject. This article gave me a lot of ideas about how to successfully integrate language arts into other subjects.
I liked how this article incorporated both fiction and nonfiction into the lesson about pirates. I especially liked how the children constructed a KWL chart, because that is what I grew up doing when i learned new concepts. I am a visual learner, so I was immediately interested when the lesson began with children coming into the classroom seeing different pirate artifacts. This would definitely have grabbed my attention as a child. This article was a perfect example of how to integrate social studies into language arts in the classroom.
Christina, I also think that the idea of the notebook was successful. I think that students will definitely benefit from writing down new vocabulary words and writing down new ideas and concepts that they learn from reading and from the teacher's lesson. Being a hands on, visual learner, I would have liked this idea for myself as an elementary student.
I really enjoyed this article because it taught me how to pair fiction and nonfiction books to make subjects more interesting to students. Most of all, I really enjoyed the KWL (what I know, what I want to know, what I have learned) this is a great activity for students to use in response to books. Also, I really enjoyed how many ideas the authors gave about group work and partner activities to help better understand the books being read. Overall this was a great article to get ideas on how to make nonfiction books more interesting and easier to read for students.
I really enjoyed how this article gave many interesting ideas for teaching about pirates. It also made me realize some of the types of activities that my students could enjoy. I also enjoyed how the teacher incorporated fiction and nonfiction books. This makes the subject more interesting for students. This article did a very good job in incorporating reading into other subject areas.
Brooke, I really enjoyed reading your response to this article. I also agree that this article gave a great example of integrating writing/reading with a social studies topic. I found that this pirate article gave a lot of examples of great activities we could use in integrating these two subjects. Like I said in my response, my favorite part of the article was the KWL. Great response, I enjoyed reading it! :)
I also was fascinated by Pirates when I was younger. This article did do a great job in providing very interactive ideas for students. I agree that not every lesson will be as interactive as others but I hope to make my lessons as interactive and interesting as possible.
I thought that this was a very interesting article! It just seemed entertaining, especially for elementary aged kids. I liked how this teacher used all of the manipulatives to introduce the subject of pirates! As a student I would have liked looking at maps, pictures, books, and listening to music about any topic! A professor that I have had in college used to put on music for all of his students bright and early in the mornings. This really set a relaxing tone for the class. I liked how the teacher used the KWL activity. This way, the kids could visually see what they knew, what they wanted to know, and what they have learned. Also, I liked how the teacher interactively used the nonfiction and fiction books together to do the unit. Using nonfiction books with fiction books gives meaning behind the fiction books that you read, which in this case was pirates! I would have liked learning about pirates in general. However, I remember in elementary school reading nonfiction books but not really being interested because it didn't really have a story to it, but this way you could relate a story to whatever you were reading. I really appreciated this article and I feel like this is who I want to run my classroom. It was an entertaining read!
I thought that the article was interesting and full of great ideas. The lesson with pirates seemed to be a very cohesive idea that not only included social studies and literature but it also allowed the students to get more connected to what they were reading. When I was in elementary school it always helped comprehend the concepts we were being taught, if literature was used in conjunction with another form of study, such as reading a space book along with a lesson on the stars and going to the planetarium, I always became more interested in the act of learning and reading. The piquing curiosity section was brilliant, children always seemed to get more involved when they are able to touch and interact first hand with subject material, such as being able to listen to the pirate music. The lesson did a great job of including a variety of things so that all students could excel in one area or another. I can remember doing many KWL charts when I was in elementary school and they are a great tool if used correctly, it is important to teach the students how to use them correctly in order for them to be beneficial. Before this article I never thought about pairing fiction and nonfiction together in one lesson, I used to think that this would confuse students and end up having a negative impact on the students learning. Overall I really enjoyed this article and it introduced some ideas that I would have never thought about using in the classroom.
I also think that using a journal is beneficial because it lets the kids express their own views and how they feel about a subject, in relation to the article-pirates! I think that a lot of time teachers get caught up in explaining topics so thoroughly that they forget that their students have beliefs and opinions as well. So, I definitely agree with you when you say the notebooks can be used as a great resource for students to use. I also agree that this article can help you with future teacher plans, i'm glad we read it!
Valerie, I too thought that this article was very beneficial to me as a future teacher, because it introduced me to ideas that I had not thought of before. I also liked how the author as you said spiced up the lessons, by using a variety of techniques and materials. When I was in elementary school I was also very interested in pirates because of peter pan and captain hook and I just wanted to learn more and more about them. I thought that the author did a great job attending to 21st century learners by using the group work and DVD’s and websites.
Reading this article about how twin-text can be used in a classroom was beneficial and informative. It was a short read but clearly set up a situation in a real classroom where twin-text would be the best method to use. I support the idea fully and will implement it into my future classroom. The idea of hooking children on a unit through using text they would pick out for themselves (picture books, etc.) and then incorporating informational books to teach them is an ingenious idea. The lesson on Pirates discussed in the article seems to be the perfect example of how to real kids in through using books and other props. Additionally I really like the idea of incorporating a KWL chart. I feel as though that is the perfect way to put the books/props for the lesson to good use and insure that they are taken advantage of. One quote from the article that really stuck out to me was "Pairing fiction and nonfiction is an effective method of enhancing students' reading comprehension, boosting students' interest and engagement, and expanding their knowledge and imagination" (Frye 16). After reading this article I can see how that statement is true and am interested to see how it works when I incorporate it in my lesson plans.
This article give a very good example of integrating social studies with language arts. I especially liked the KWL(what I Know, what I Want to know and what I have Learned). Some of the ideas in the article can be used with almost any subject area. I liked how the teacher incorporated so many different hard copy sources for student to use. The students even used computers to look up more information on pirates. The idea of using both fiction and non fiction books helps students learn about book genres and can get them more interested in reading. I want my classroom to be just as fun and engaging.
Jennifer, I strongly agree with the idea that students will comprehend and retain more of the lesson when they are able to be hands on. Additionally you commented that you felt that having a unit on the solar system and combining it with reading a related book and taking a trip to a planetarium is a more beneficial plan than just teaching a lesson and not pulling in more teaching tools. I fully agree with that statement as well. In doing that a teacher is able to reach a broader spectrum of learners and appeal to all senses. The lesson we read did pull across the curriculum and I too feel that is an important quality in planning a successful lesson.
As Christina and Kelly have already said, I also agree that the notebook is an extremely good idea. It gives the children something to look back on if they would like to remember something they learned. They will also be able to take it with them when they move on to another grade. It also adds to helping the visual learner be able to see the vocab words in writing. I would most likely have my students decorate their notebook in a unique way that illustrates their personality.
I really enjoyed this article. I liked how the teacher introduced the topic of pirates using many different mediums. She had them listen to pirate music as well as read books, watch video clips and look at photographs and maps of the time period. I really liked how using those different types of media engaged the students curiosity and then the teacher was able to introduce the lesson on pirates easily. I also really liked how she partnered the students in groups. By doing this I think they are better able learn from each other and come up with questions together. Also the teacher is able to guide students in the direction she wants them to be thinking in. I found this article to be very useful and I really like how she set up the topic. However, most importantly I like how the teacher integrated language arts with social studies. She used both when covering the unit on pirates. She had the students do vocabulary by writing down the words they did not know and looking up the definitions and she also taught them the history of pirates through using non-fiction and fiction. The use of non-fiction and fiction was my favorite part of the article. I really liked how she used both genres of books to teacher her students about pirates. The teacher was able to make the events real through the historical book, yet relate it to her students through the fiction book. I think this is something really important to do as teachers.
I also agree that using the twin-texts is a great way to get students involved in what they are reading. I would also use this in my classroom as well to introduce many different topics. Also I LOVE the KWL chart. I thought this was an awesome idea to get students really thinking about the topic and what to be looking for when learning about it.
I loved this article! I know for myself finding a subject matter that can engage students and be a learning process can be kind of scary. I loved how they broke down the different activities that the teacher did and how they incorporated the KWL. I also liked how the teacher broke the students into groups or pairs to come up with interesting questions that they wanted to find out. I think this not only succeeded in group work but also I think it did not allow for all the same questions being asked. This is a concept that I want to master and do with my children in my classroom.
I thought this article was very interesting. I like the idea the teachers used when working with both fiction and nonfiction books during the activities. Students need to understand that one subject can be found in different types of books, but at the same time both can be interesting. I love the way the teacher chose different ways to engage the students because everyone does not learn by the same methods. A good result of this is that more students in the class can have a fun and interactive experience while learning new content.
I agree with you that this was a great article to read. I like your idea about incorporating the students’ interest into the lesson more. The students would end up paying more attention if they thought their question might be answered during class. Integrating subjects is a smart way to teach because some students may dread a certain subject, but they might actually find it exciting and intriguing if there is twist put on it.
I too thought that this article was very interesting. I like how you said that students need to understand that both nonfiction and fiction books can be interesting. I feel like a lot of elementary students would think that only fiction books are interesting because they havent had much experience with nonfiction texts. I also agree with you that the teachers did a good just of using a variety of ways to engage the students in learning about pirates. I feel like I would enjoy this activity even now because it was made interesting.
I found the Frye, Trathen, and Wilson article to be very informative. The unit of study integrated social studies and language arts and focused on engaging students in meaningful learning. I loved how the unit began by exposing students to pirates through music and visuals, it was a way to get the wheels turning in the heads of the students. The KWL was a great scaffolding tool and I think that through the group work students were able to feed off of each other. The notebook kept by the students allowed students to paraphrase learned material in a way that was easiest for them to remember and to develop questions that they wanted to be answered. Students were actively engaged through collecting their own information about pirates, allowing them to explore different types of media. I learned the advantages of pairing fiction and nonfiction. The Twin Texts made the unit more interesting and enhanced the learning experience. Pirate Diary allowed students to follow Jake in his adventures with historically accurate details and What If You Met a Pirate? provided students with a hisory of pirates using a Q&A format, captions, illustrations, an index, and a glossary. I believe that the key is for students to learn meaningful information in a way that is intriguing to them. The activities described within the article are ones that I will use in my own classroom.
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be helpful in thinking about ideas for my own classroom. I think the topic of pirates would prove to be interesting to interesting to students. I liked the fact that the teacher used so many elements to appeal to students. For instance, she had pirate music playing whenever the kids entered the classroom, and she also had various pirate related items on display for the kids to see. I feel like this involvement is important to students' learning. In my opinion, the more senses that a teacher can cater to, then the more that his/her students will learn. I can remember in fifth grade we studied the Mayan Indians. We had different artwork, food, games, books, art, and music all relating to the Mayan culture. Likewise, we all rotated and visited other fifth grade classrooms which had other Indian groups, such as the Aztecs and the Incas. It was a great learning opportunity for me, but it was also fun for the class.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting and informative to me. It gave me ideas of how to get my students interested in a topic and keep them interested through out the whole unit. I loved that the teacher used various manipulatives outside of books alone to capture the student's attention. Not all children are interested in books but showing them artifacts that pirates may use or music that they may listen to could easily get them intrigued and wanting to read to learn more about pirates. KWL is a great source for teachers to use in these situations because it lets us know what they want to learn, what they already know, and what they have learned. It helps us know how we are doing as teachers. It also helps the children work together to see what they know and can teach each other about that certain topic that they are discussing. All in all, I really loved reading this article because it gave me great ideas for my future classroom and how to go about getting my students interested on a topic that everyone might not be crazy about.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that while the teacher was giving her students an interesting and interactive social studies lesson, she was also incorporating the language arts into the lesson. So often, it seems, each of the subjects are treated as separate entities with social studies just learning about history/the present and then jumping to language arts learning about grammar and practicing to write and reading on their own. While all that is good, and necessary to a point, I liked how, while she engaged them in learning about pirates, she was sort of sneaking in that English lesson by having them research and write about their findings and questions. They were not only getting to practice their writing but they were also unknowingly introduced to the differences between historical fiction and nonfiction. With that introduction also came the practice of reading and discussion with peers. This article was good in the sense that it gives you an idea of how to integrate subjects and it helped show that teaching the language arts can and should be a fun and motivating lesson for students.
ReplyDeleteIn the Frye, Trathen and Wilson article, a 4th grade lesson on Piracy is integrated with both Social Studies and Language Arts. The teacher starts off the unit by setting up different areas in the classroom and putting "artifacts" of pirates around the room. This helped grab the attention of the students and helped them get interested about the topic which is something I feel is very important. The teacher uses a nonfiction and fiction book to give kids both a fun, but historically accurate, book and a more informational book on the topic. The teacher also uses "KWL" as a way to get students to express what they think they know, what they want to know and what they have learned. This helps students to understand the importance of the unit. The students created their own notebooks where they kept journals using the "KWL" format and they created their own dictionaries with pirate vocabulary. I think this is important for kids because it gives them a way to express themselves in the journals and also helps them learn the vocabulary by having them put it into their own words and illustrations. The students were also able to research pirates using different forms of media such as dvds, the internet and books. This helps the students understand that information can come from many resources but the students also need to be taught about what a credible resource is and how to tell. The lesson also gave students different opportunities to work individually and to work and discuss the information in groups or as a whole class. I feel like this is important because students need to know they can do assignments on their own but also have their findings mean something by being able to share them. The unit uses a lot of different teaching styles which I agree with. I think this article can help teachers or future teachers understand how two or more subjects can be integrated but also how the lesson can be fun and educational.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very good example of integrating writing/reading with a social studies topic. I really enjoyed reading about the variety of elements that the teacher used to make the lesson with pirates interesting. The "artifacts" that were used seemed to be very interesting. Students that use these things and explore them will be able to add so much more detail into their thinking about the subject and writing in their "notebook". The article pointed out all the different aspects of language arts that were being used to learn about pirates. First off the students are experiencing the difference between fiction and non-fiction books as well as getting to write about the interesting facts about pirates in the KWL. In the article I was able to see how effective the method of using both fiction and non-fiction texts is with helping the students learn about subjects such as science and social studies. Overall, this article was a great example of integrating social studies and language arts.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article to read as a future teacher. The article gives ways to incorporate two subjects into one unit. Teaching across the curriculum is a new way to be more time efficient while still teaching them what they need to know. One excellent thing about this unit is that students were doing language arts without even realizing by researching and writing about the social studies topic. Many different materials were used to get the attention of students as they observed these materials and discussed them as a group.I like how the research was not just vague. It was guided by the teacher's research questions. The KWL's are a great way to see what the students are interested. Maybe if there is a way to incorporate their interests into the lessons that would help get their attention even more.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I feel like I have a better idea of different activities that I can do with my classroom to be informative but to also make it interesting for the students. I can remember so many activities that I did in elementary school that were so boring and I felt like i got nothing out of it because i was just wanting the activity to be over with. I loved how the teacher related many different aspects into her activity that she did with her students. Playing the music in the beginning and then having her student keep whats called a KWL interacts the students in many different ways. In implementing this with the students, there are different subject areas that are integrated into the classroom. Integrating lesson plans is something that I would really like to do when I am a teacher myself!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I also remember being so bored in classes that I didn't really take anything out of it. Getting the attention of the students is an important part of their learning experience. We, as teachers, want to give the students a positive learning experience instead of the negative ones that I remember. Integrating lesson plans are also something I want to do in my classroom!
ReplyDeleteWhitney B.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the KWL format is a great scaffolding tool. By making the kids think out each step (Knowledge, Want to know and what they learned) is a great tool to have them think about each step and realizing the importance of the lesson/unit. I also agree that students learn best when they are intrigued with the information and having interesting activities and a wide variety like the ones in the article help a lot. I also think I will use some of these activities in my future classroom.
I felt as though the article was extremely beneficial to me as a future teacher. The article gave me ideas of how I can spice up my lessons a bit. I remember being so fascinated by Pirates, especially Blackbeard when I was in 4th grade. My teacher made it interesting, but this article gives a whole new meaning to getting kids curious and excited about learning. I think that it was great that the teacher gave the students so many different resources like fiction and nonfiction "twin texts" as well as the opportunity to explore DVD's and websites to further their understanding of Pirates. I know that I will not be able to make every lesson I teach this interactive and fun for students, but this article gives me hope that I will still be able to be creative and do engaging lessons when I begin teaching, despite the crunch for time in classrooms today.
ReplyDeleteEmily,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the KWL were a great resource for the teacher. I think that by learning their interests we will be able to mold lessons in a way that will be interesting to them. I think the KWL also gets the students to think about the things they already know while making them think about the vast array of questions they have that are still unanswered. By the end of the unit the students will be able to see how their questions were answered and will learn how to find answers to their questions on other subjects as well.
This article provided a wonderful example of how to integrate social studies and language arts, how to use both fiction and nonfiction texts effectively, and how to make learning fun and exciting for students. I love the way the teacher introduced the topic by having books, music and objects that caught the students' attention and made them eager to learn more. I thought that the notebook idea was brilliant because it involved the students learning by doing. The students could take notes on the subject and create a dictionary of new vocabulary words. The use of the notebook also made integrating language arts very easy because it gave the teacher an opportunity to talk about composing questions and learning new words. I like the way the teacher used books from multiple genres because the variety of texts engaged the students and expanded their knowledge on the subject. This article gave me a lot of ideas about how to successfully integrate language arts into other subjects.
ReplyDeleteI liked how this article incorporated both fiction and nonfiction into the lesson about pirates. I especially liked how the children constructed a KWL chart, because that is what I grew up doing when i learned new concepts. I am a visual learner, so I was immediately interested when the lesson began with children coming into the classroom seeing different pirate artifacts. This would definitely have grabbed my attention as a child. This article was a perfect example of how to integrate social studies into language arts in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteChristina, I also think that the idea of the notebook was successful. I think that students will definitely benefit from writing down new vocabulary words and writing down new ideas and concepts that they learn from reading and from the teacher's lesson. Being a hands on, visual learner, I would have liked this idea for myself as an elementary student.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this article because it taught me how to pair fiction and nonfiction books to make subjects more interesting to students. Most of all, I really enjoyed the KWL (what I know, what I want to know, what I have learned) this is a great activity for students to use in response to books. Also, I really enjoyed how many ideas the authors gave about group work and partner activities to help better understand the books being read. Overall this was a great article to get ideas on how to make nonfiction books more interesting and easier to read for students.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how this article gave many interesting ideas for teaching about pirates. It also made me realize some of the types of activities that my students could enjoy. I also enjoyed how the teacher incorporated fiction and nonfiction books. This makes the subject more interesting for students. This article did a very good job in incorporating reading into other subject areas.
ReplyDeleteBrooke,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your response to this article. I also agree that this article gave a great example of integrating writing/reading with a social studies topic. I found that this pirate article gave a lot of examples of great activities we could use in integrating these two subjects. Like I said in my response, my favorite part of the article was the KWL. Great response, I enjoyed reading it! :)
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI also was fascinated by Pirates when I was younger. This article did do a great job in providing very interactive ideas for students. I agree that not every lesson will be as interactive as others but I hope to make my lessons as interactive and interesting as possible.
I thought that this was a very interesting article! It just seemed entertaining, especially for elementary aged kids. I liked how this teacher used all of the manipulatives to introduce the subject of pirates! As a student I would have liked looking at maps, pictures, books, and listening to music about any topic! A professor that I have had in college used to put on music for all of his students bright and early in the mornings. This really set a relaxing tone for the class. I liked how the teacher used the KWL activity. This way, the kids could visually see what they knew, what they wanted to know, and what they have learned. Also, I liked how the teacher interactively used the nonfiction and fiction books together to do the unit. Using nonfiction books with fiction books gives meaning behind the fiction books that you read, which in this case was pirates! I would have liked learning about pirates in general. However, I remember in elementary school reading nonfiction books but not really being interested because it didn't really have a story to it, but this way you could relate a story to whatever you were reading. I really appreciated this article and I feel like this is who I want to run my classroom. It was an entertaining read!
ReplyDeleteI thought that the article was interesting and full of great ideas. The lesson with pirates seemed to be a very cohesive idea that not only included social studies and literature but it also allowed the students to get more connected to what they were reading. When I was in elementary school it always helped comprehend the concepts we were being taught, if literature was used in conjunction with another form of study, such as reading a space book along with a lesson on the stars and going to the planetarium, I always became more interested in the act of learning and reading. The piquing curiosity section was brilliant, children always seemed to get more involved when they are able to touch and interact first hand with subject material, such as being able to listen to the pirate music. The lesson did a great job of including a variety of things so that all students could excel in one area or another. I can remember doing many KWL charts when I was in elementary school and they are a great tool if used correctly, it is important to teach the students how to use them correctly in order for them to be beneficial. Before this article I never thought about pairing fiction and nonfiction together in one lesson, I used to think that this would confuse students and end up having a negative impact on the students learning. Overall I really enjoyed this article and it introduced some ideas that I would have never thought about using in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteWhitney C.
ReplyDeleteI also think that using a journal is beneficial because it lets the kids express their own views and how they feel about a subject, in relation to the article-pirates! I think that a lot of time teachers get caught up in explaining topics so thoroughly that they forget that their students have beliefs and opinions as well. So, I definitely agree with you when you say the notebooks can be used as a great resource for students to use. I also agree that this article can help you with future teacher plans, i'm glad we read it!
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI too thought that this article was very beneficial to me as a future teacher, because it introduced me to ideas that I had not thought of before. I also liked how the author as you said spiced up the lessons, by using a variety of techniques and materials. When I was in elementary school I was also very interested in pirates because of peter pan and captain hook and I just wanted to learn more and more about them. I thought that the author did a great job attending to 21st century learners by using the group work and DVD’s and websites.
Reading this article about how twin-text can be used in a classroom was beneficial and informative. It was a short read but clearly set up a situation in a real classroom where twin-text would be the best method to use. I support the idea fully and will implement it into my future classroom. The idea of hooking children on a unit through using text they would pick out for themselves (picture books, etc.) and then incorporating informational books to teach them is an ingenious idea. The lesson on Pirates discussed in the article seems to be the perfect example of how to real kids in through using books and other props. Additionally I really like the idea of incorporating a KWL chart. I feel as though that is the perfect way to put the books/props for the lesson to good use and insure that they are taken advantage of. One quote from the article that really stuck out to me was "Pairing fiction and nonfiction is an effective method of enhancing students' reading comprehension, boosting students' interest and engagement, and expanding their knowledge and imagination" (Frye 16). After reading this article I can see how that statement is true and am interested to see how it works when I incorporate it in my lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteThis article give a very good example of integrating social studies with language arts. I especially liked the KWL(what I Know, what I Want to know and what I have Learned). Some of the ideas in the article can be used with almost any subject area. I liked how the teacher incorporated so many different hard copy sources for student to use. The students even used computers to look up more information on pirates. The idea of using both fiction and non fiction books helps students learn about book genres and can get them more interested in reading. I want my classroom to be just as fun and engaging.
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with the idea that students will comprehend and retain more of the lesson when they are able to be hands on. Additionally you commented that you felt that having a unit on the solar system and combining it with reading a related book and taking a trip to a planetarium is a more beneficial plan than just teaching a lesson and not pulling in more teaching tools. I fully agree with that statement as well. In doing that a teacher is able to reach a broader spectrum of learners and appeal to all senses. The lesson we read did pull across the curriculum and I too feel that is an important quality in planning a successful lesson.
As Christina and Kelly have already said, I also agree that the notebook is an extremely good idea. It gives the children something to look back on if they would like to remember something they learned. They will also be able to take it with them when they move on to another grade. It also adds to helping the visual learner be able to see the vocab words in writing. I would most likely have my students decorate their notebook in a unique way that illustrates their personality.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this article. I liked how the teacher introduced the topic of pirates using many different mediums. She had them listen to pirate music as well as read books, watch video clips and look at photographs and maps of the time period. I really liked how using those different types of media engaged the students curiosity and then the teacher was able to introduce the lesson on pirates easily.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked how she partnered the students in groups. By doing this I think they are better able learn from each other and come up with questions together. Also the teacher is able to guide students in the direction she wants them to be thinking in.
I found this article to be very useful and I really like how she set up the topic. However, most importantly I like how the teacher integrated language arts with social studies. She used both when covering the unit on pirates. She had the students do vocabulary by writing down the words they did not know and looking up the definitions and she also taught them the history of pirates through using non-fiction and fiction.
The use of non-fiction and fiction was my favorite part of the article. I really liked how she used both genres of books to teacher her students about pirates. The teacher was able to make the events real through the historical book, yet relate it to her students through the fiction book. I think this is something really important to do as teachers.
Diana,
ReplyDeleteI also agree that using the twin-texts is a great way to get students involved in what they are reading. I would also use this in my classroom as well to introduce many different topics. Also I LOVE the KWL chart. I thought this was an awesome idea to get students really thinking about the topic and what to be looking for when learning about it.
I loved this article! I know for myself finding a subject matter that can engage students and be a learning process can be kind of scary. I loved how they broke down the different activities that the teacher did and how they incorporated the KWL. I also liked how the teacher broke the students into groups or pairs to come up with interesting questions that they wanted to find out. I think this not only succeeded in group work but also I think it did not allow for all the same questions being asked. This is a concept that I want to master and do with my children in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was very interesting. I like the idea the teachers used when working with both fiction and nonfiction books during the activities. Students need to understand that one subject can be found in different types of books, but at the same time both can be interesting. I love the way the teacher chose different ways to engage the students because everyone does not learn by the same methods. A good result of this is that more students in the class can have a fun and interactive experience while learning new content.
ReplyDeleteEmily,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this was a great article to read. I like your idea about incorporating the students’ interest into the lesson more. The students would end up paying more attention if they thought their question might be answered during class. Integrating subjects is a smart way to teach because some students may dread a certain subject, but they might actually find it exciting and intriguing if there is twist put on it.
Amber,
ReplyDeleteI too thought that this article was very interesting. I like how you said that students need to understand that both nonfiction and fiction books can be interesting. I feel like a lot of elementary students would think that only fiction books are interesting because they havent had much experience with nonfiction texts. I also agree with you that the teachers did a good just of using a variety of ways to engage the students in learning about pirates. I feel like I would enjoy this activity even now because it was made interesting.