We did it!!!

                                       Farewell Reflection

Well my fellow cohort classmates, 

we made it!!! 

All our boxes are checked and

 all our assignments are up loaded 

This fall intersession definitely took a toll on me. It felt like being in a boot camp, staying up passed midnight and waking up early in the morning to work on assignments and posts.  It was definitely a fast paced course, especially as it was also during a busy time of the year for us all too.    

I truly thought about withdrawing when I could not fathom out what to do for the CMS online and thank you Dr. Rivera for the sample you posted. 

I want thank Chirika, in the beginning of the course I would wait for your forums to be posted to see what you had replied, it helped me to figure out what was assigned.  Overall, this has been a great experience taking me out of my comfort zone and teaching me new ways to keep-up with the times and  also, to think out of the box on how to create new ways of keeping teaching more interesting for students.

                Dr. Rivera, I want to personally thank you for being such a kind and patient professor.  When I first saw your syllabus and heard the rumors that you were so hardcore, I totally started to have anxiety issues about do things correctly.  

But that was not the case, I thank you for being there for supporting us when we were confused, you replied right away, which was a true blessing. 

You always offered us encouragement when we were about to give up, and was very understanding when personal issues arouse.  It has truly been a wonderful experience being in your ED638 course. 

                                Thank you!!!

ED638 Fall Intercession 2018

Dr. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website # 7

            PBS Kids (https://pbskids.org/) is a simple, safe online experience for preschoolers who are learning basic skills, and who already know many of the characters featured on the website such as Sesame Street and Curious George.  They will enjoy playing games with their favorite character for free.  PBS Kids is designed for children 4 and up.  The site features games, videos and other activities that center on popular PBS live- action and animated show characters.  On PBS Kids face page, there is a rotating wheel with all the different characters to choose from.  When you select a character it will take you directly to their page to play educational and fun games.

            This educational site provides basic lessons involving favorite PBS TV characters in an easy-to-use format with voice over instructions.  There is so much to do on this site including watching TV, playing games and activities that can be printed out to do offline. Some of the activities included on the site are letters, numbers and shapes for primary and for the older students they have skilled subjects such as language and reading, following directions, letters, word recognition, reading and vocabulary.

            What is also cool about this website is they have a free app that allows adults to monitor their child’s activity online.  The app will periodically send parents an update with the sites corresponding app, reporting all their child’s activity online

            Overall, PBSKids seems to be an appropriate site for children and students with many fun activities, games and TV shows to keep children entertained.  I would recommend this more to parents than to teachers, and I would also recommend to the parents the monitoring app to make sure children are no going into forbidden sites or getting too much computer time.

Farewell Post

 Hi, Friends!        

       This Fall Intercession 2018 was my first experience of an Intercession class, two when you count our ED 484G course.  It was a challenge, and my perseverance was definitely tested, especially when we were on Christmas Break.  I am so thankful that I am a part of this cohort.  Had I been on my own, taking two classes, completing daily assignments at 3:00am or waking up two hours before my toddler woke up, I don’t know if I would have been this successful. 

            Although we have met only twice, I am so grateful to be part of this group of strong, determined, and compassionate individuals.  Even if it’s through our own little Whatsapp group, the short messages help, even if I’m not able to catch it on time.  I hope we can all meet again, even through our busy, chaotic lives.  Most of us are teachers, so we understand what it’s like to have to choral the group of kids we are responsible for at school, and THEN go home, cook dinner, grade papers (yeah, right), choral the kids we birthed, and then do our homework. 

            I am also so thankful to you, Dr. Rivera, for always providing immediate feedback.   When I have checked my assignments on Moodle, I became more motivated when I would discover that you graded an assignment I turned in the day before.  I felt like you were really keeping track of my progress, and I made me want to do my best in all the tasks. 

            We are about halfway through our program, and I am so excited for all of us. I wish you all the best of luck this coming Spring 2019 semester.  I hope it is as fun as the past three semesters.  It will go by just as fast, and before we know it, we will all be in our black gowns with a blue stall in the Fall of 2019 (I think we get the front row).  

~Chirika

Farewell Reflection

Greetings and salutations.

In a short time, a great deal of information and knowledge has passed to us along with a fair chunk of work to hammer all that new knowledge into our bag of tricks as teachers. I am looking forward to using the tools we have reviewed and talked about. I couldn’t wait with some of them and began using them in my lessons as soon as we went back to school. I am hoping that my students will find uses for the tools that I introduce to them that I was unable to imagine myself. I am thinking of adding more to the schoology fiction unit that I created but am unsure if I would use the service as supplement, makeup-work, or as the backbone of my classes. I also like the idea of an open line of communication to parents through the service as well. It is a great tool and has a lot of potential, but I worry about the degree of accessibility my students have and do not want to create any requirements that are unfair or unrealistic. My assignments as they are now are already considered torture and inhumane according to some of the students’ comments that reach my ears.

To Dr. Rivera, thank you for your patience, support, and explanations of things that I had become confused on and stuck on. I often overthink and create unnecessary challenges for myself and sometimes forget to ask for clarification. The tools and resources that you have provided for us to review were very useful and quickly made their way to my bookmarks. My email inboxes are full of subscription and signups to all kinds of services that I have been exploring because of this class. Thank You, I honestly love having more tools than I know what to do with as can be seen in my kitchen and toolboxes.

To my classmates, good work at getting through another semester together. Our chatgroups have been full of questions and answers that we have all used to help each other to figure out what where are doing wrong or unable to do on our own. Looking through your posts and reviews afforded me many ideas for my own classroom. May we continue to support and encourage each other as we move forward through this program.

See you all in Spring

Brandon

Farewell Reflection

Greetings!

This short, but sweet fall intersession course has been a lot of fun. I'm sure we can all say that we've gained so much knowledge. I'm looking forward to having my students create blogs, although I think I will try this with my English 9 Honors students as a pilot before having my regular course students do it. I'm hoping they will have as much fun being challenged to use technology. I might also try the Course Management System with my honors students first. I need to implement them in other to see what works and what doesn't. This was my first time with CMS and I think this can increase engagement and communication most especially when students are at home. My students rarely ever email me so I think using a CMS like Schoology will be a better platform for communication.

To all my classmates: great work with the literacy websites. I was looking through some of the websites you reviewed and I definitely found useful ones that I will be sure to share with my colleagues at GWHS. I always wish to see you all in person and work together, but since this in a fully online program, we mainly communicate through whatsapp or moodle. Still, it is always great reading your input and working together.

Great job everyone!

Angela :)

Effective Literacy Website #7

Angela B. Claros

ED638-40

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Weekly Project: Effective Literacy Website #7

            Colorin Colorado (http://www.colorincolorado.org/) was created primarily for teachers and families of English Language Learners, but as with most websites of this type, content can be found useful to all learners and all grade levels when adapted to fit learner needs. The website focuses on Hispanic ELLs, but with Guam’s increasingly diverse community, many teachers can find content useful with encouraging reading and building a sense of community and partnership between schools and families. Colorin Colorado is partnered with the American Federation of Teachers so AFT teachers provide resources such as best practices, updated information regarding ELL.

            Before learning can take place, teachers must first build routines and classroom community. Colorin Colorado provides tips for doing this in their easy-to-navigate website. There is a great section on literacy instruction that includes articles, blogs, and videos about specific topics related to literacy.  Most notably, Colorin Colorado supports families by providing tips and strategies for promoting literacy in the home and considers children of all ages from infancy and above. Parents can also find a section on “Raising Bilingual Kids” that includes articles, videos, frequently asked questions, and recommended resources.

            This website promotes literacy for bilingual or multilingual students which is great for our island because of all the students who speak a language other than English. I grew up with a Japanese-speaking mother so I found some difficulty growing up as a bilingual student. This website is great for students like myself trying to find a balance. Teachers can find resources to embrace diversity and find ways for students to use their bilingual skills to support and not hinder their growth in literacy. 

Effective Literacy Website #7

Christina Kidd

ED 638-40

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #7

            

Readwritethink (www.readwritethink.org) is another free and great website for educators that are exploring the web and looking for resources geared toward writing. This site offers classroom resources you may be searching for to assist in unit creations or planning. Resources are and not limited to lesson plans, student interactives, mobile apps, calendar of activities, and printouts.

            Lesson plans that this free site offers already provides the teacher a complete overview and unit that also provides additional resources. They are available per grade level, subject, and theme. These lesson plans available for use are already aligned with the CCSS, State Standards, and NCTE/IRA standards. Resources are also available in each lesson plan. Some resources include PowerPoint activities, other media, and printable worksheets. Basic instructional plan is also provided, all one will need to do is modify to their students’ needs and interest. Additional resources you may need are also offered under the resources tab.

            There is also a wonderful menu at the top of this website page that offers professional development. What is so great about this tool is that a teacher does not need to google “how to” when trying to understand something new. The strategy guide offers lessons for educators that they can use as a guide for lesson preparation. It serves as an interactive professional development day but on your own time, and your choice of topic.

            Oher feathers offered on Readwritethink are videos of items such as clips of literacy in action. Many of us are visual learners and absorb material this way. Videos offered also include other professionals development of personal development instruction via presentations.

            Readwritethink is a website with a wealth of information, instruction, and resources any educator can apply in their classroom. Resources area all categorized by grade level, strategy, learning objective, and theme. I recommend a site visit.

Farewell Reflection

This course has changed my mindset on technology. I learned various tools, websites, and online courses that can be used in the classroom. I thought I was tech savvy but throughout this semester I learned that I am just mediocre. I enjoyed creating my personal blog. I had completely forgot that I created blogs when I was an undergrad and it was a great way to refresh my memory.  Creating an online course was a challenge for me.  It took up way too much of my time and I think I was overthinking too much.  I have learned different Internet tools that I will be incorporating into my lessons.  I enjoyed review Effective Literacy websites and I also wish to incorporate it in my teaching as well.  I am stunned at Google Earth and all its potential to integrate it in the classroom.  I just wish students could use it with the mobile carts but you need permission to download it.  But using it on my personal laptop will still be amazing to navigate the Earth with my first graders.  Overall, I have become a more tech savvy person and learned that I need to check out all that the Internet has to offer for teaching. 

Literacy Website #7

 Funbrain (https://www.funbrain.com) is free website created for kids in grades Pre-K through 8^th grade.  It provides games, books, and videos, that help kids enhances skills in literacy and math.  Each game, book, and video is tagged with key subject areas and skills, such as counting, vowels, and spelling.

            Funbrain has various games that promote literacy.  Grammar Gorillas reviews kids on parts of speech, Word Confusion allows children to choose the correct word to complete the sentence, Spellaroo makes kids identify the misspelled word in sentence, and Sign the Alphabet helps students practice signing the alphabet.  Other games include  vowels, vocabulary, word concentration, verbs, and more.

            Funbrain reading has numerous books that students can read as eBooks. The website has books such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Judy Moody books, Stink books, Tom Gates books, and more.  Funbrain videos features animated storybooks. The animated stories come from High Five magazine and features fun characters.  Each video provides a description of the story and the video has captions so kids can read along while watching.

            Overall, Funbrain is a colorful and fun website that kids will enjoy.  The games are fun and loads fast.  There are no pop up adds after playing.  There are many books that students can read and purchase.  They have numerous videos that promote storytelling and well as encourage students to read along with the story. 

Literacy Website #6

            Storyline Online (https://www.storylineonline.net) is a SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s award-winning children’s literacy website.  It streams videos featuring actors reading children’s book with elaborate illustrations.  Actors include Oprah Winfrey, Kristen Bell, Ed O’Neill, Viola Davis, Elijah Woods, and many more.  Storyline Online allows children to engage themselves in reading and storytelling.

            Storyline Online has about 50 books that teachers, students, and parents can use. Each book has a detailed description about the author, illustrator, and publisher.  It also contains the suggested grade level, the actor reading the story, and the run time of the video. At the bottom of the story description users have the options to buy the book and provide Activity Guides.

            The Activity Guides provides a detailed lesson plan for teachers.  The Activity Guide provides a synopsis of the story and theme in the story.  It provides step-by-step instruction to do before viewing, during video, and after viewing the video. Each viewing gives Common Core Standards, objectives, materials needed, and procedures.  The activity guide also contains Reading Response, Writing, and Across the Curriculum Activities.

            Overall, I think Storyline Online is an engaging website that captivates children by their creatively produced storytelling videos.  Reading aloud to children helps to improve reading, writing, and communication skills.  Storyline Online is another website that instills and inspires a love of reading in children.