Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Close Reading - Professional Development

Please share articles, books, and other professional resources in the comments for this post. 


Engage NY - Preparing for a Close Reading With Students



Close Reading @ Web English Teacher - Strategies, Activities, & Lesson Plans

Strategies for Critical Reading of Technical Writing

ASCD: Reading in the Mathematics Classroom

Gale
There are several articles in the Gale database. For example:

Cold versus warm close reading: building student's stamina for struggling with text
by Catherine E. Snow (Gale)



Close Reading
Lesson plans, strategies, and activities - See more at: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/close-reading-lesson-plans.html#sthash.eVuqcqge.dpuf
Close Reading
Lesson plans, strategies, and activities - See more at: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/close-reading-lesson-plans.html#sthash.eVuqcqge.dpuf
Close Reading
Lesson plans, strategies, and activities - See more at: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/close-reading-lesson-plans.html#sthash.eVuqcqge.dpuf
Close Reading
Lesson plans, strategies, and activities - See more at: http://www.webenglishteacher.com/close-reading-lesson-plans.html#sthash.eVuqcqge.dpuf

Monday, September 9, 2013

Integrating Technology - The Remote Classroom

Many of us have heard of the the flipped classroom pedagogy that has been making headlines for the past few years.  This method of teaching is a reversed teaching method which allows instruction to be delivered at home, and "homework" to be done in the classroom.  This allows for more one on one time with students as they practice and engage in the new skill or material during classroom time.  Concern remains, however, that this is just a new way to deliver an old-fashioned lecture.

Ideally, in the flipped classroom, instruction is videotaped by the teacher and delivered via the Internet.  Students are required to watch the lesson at home (or during a study hall).  Lectures are given virtually outside of the classroom.  Classroom time is then spent exploring the goals of the lesson, giving students time to ask questions, and teachers time to assess and work with students more collaboratively.

This model is most effective when teachers provide the actual instruction themselves, pre-taping lessons.  However, traditional lectures can be seen as 'boring' and still as unmotivating - whether given virtually or in the classroom.  A more engaging way to implement the flipped classroom would be to provide students with more inquiry based tasks with a variety of electronic resources to choose from.  Teacher provided video tutorials could provide guidance, and tasks could be completed both inside and outside the classroom.  A variety of tools exist that could be used for classroom delivery, including blogs, websites, and videos. 

If you are interested in recording your lessons and uploading them to the Internet, the library can provide equipment and instruction on how to do this.  Please see the articles below for more information.  They are available in Gale (see library website, click on Gale.  See library staff for password).