Week 4

The first lesson plan I have submitted was over Japan's Pacific Campaign.  I am a huge history buff for the World War II period and that includes Pearl Harbor.  I know it is a sad time in our history, but there are so many learning points which can be learned from it.  For this lesson, I picked showing 15 minutes of video from the movie Pearl Harbor.  I picked this as my anticipatory set because I believe this will grab all of the student's attention.  The video clip is action packed and shows what happened during the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Student engagement is key and I believe students will be engaged and have numerous questions.  I selected a reading worksheet over Japan's Pacific Campaign.  The worksheet allows students to understand the buildup of Japan's Pacific Campaign and then how the Allies countered Japan.  I used the Before-During-After Questioning for the reading worksheet.  I believe students should have at least a little knowledge about Japan's Pacific Campaign or Pearl Harbor.  This reading worksheet will provided them with more information to add to their knowledge bank.  I created a bubble map for students to complete, because there is lots of important information which can be used.  As I am creating more lesson plans based on a reading strategy and thinking map, I am finding them to go a little smoother.  I know reading is very important in education and is a vital part of one's growing.  After school, students will use reading every day and as educators, we have to ensure students have a good grasp on reading and understanding material.

Week 3

When it comes to thinking maps, I like how there is a wide variety of them to pick from.  Last semester, Ms. Steffes provided me with a good overview of thinking maps.  With this class, I get to see them again, and I like seeing things twice, because I find myself to grasp the stuff better.  When it comes to the thinking maps I like, I am a big fan of cause and effect, flow maps, and bubble maps.  I know there is a ton to pick from, but those are the three I find myself to be picking for the most part.  I like cause and effect, because students can grasp the cause of something and then understand the effect of it.  Students actually have to put in effort and pick good causes to get the effects.  I like flow maps, aka timeline, for many reasons.  Flow maps are great when it comes to history, which I am getting my degree in.  Flow maps allow students to show the important dates and things in history.  Bubble maps are also are also good for history.  You can take like a person, event, or place and then have students branch out important information about the topic in the middle.  I know there is a ton of thinking maps to pick from, and I can see myself branching out on the thinking maps I use as I further myself in my career.  However, for now, those are the three which I like the most and see a use for.

Strategies

The two strategies I liked the most from this week were Before-During-After Questioning and the Analogy Chart.  What I liked about BDA Questioning, was the fact that is breaks down the reading into three sections.  In the Before section, students explain what they already know about the reading and what are their expectations for the reading.  In the During section, students begin to think about why things are happening and get some of their Before questions answered.  In the After section, students highlight what they learned from the reading and talk about some of the key points.  I like this strategy for the fact that students have to stayed focus on the topic.  Sometime in reading, students just read the book and don't remember anything.  However, with BDA, students have to put in input and can gain an understanding of the material.

My other strategy I liked was Analogy Charts.  An Analogy Chart is like a T-Chart, which I also like, students are given two words and then add more words to the chart that are similar to their top word.  This allows students to be creative in the words they come up with that are similar to their first word. As a teacher, you can have students focus on certain types of words with this chart, or just show their knowledge and come up with what they know.

Frayer Model

Out of the three models we discussed and looked at, the Frayer Model was the model which stood out to me the most.  I like how the Frayer Model breaks the word into four different groups.  First off, the students will define the word.  This is important to grasp an understanding and knowledge of the word's meaning.  Second, is the characteristics/facts of the word.  This allows students to show the facts that highlight the word being defined.  This can allow the student to relate to the word.  Third, is examples of the word.  This is one of my favorites part as you can get a visual grasp on the word or present other words which go along with the word being defined.  Examples can help a student understand and put a picture with the word to help grasping the understanding of the word.  Some students are visual learners and a visual example can help them remember.  Fourth, is non-examples of the word.  I like this cause you can put the opposite meaning of the word and get a grasp that way. The Frayer Model is a model I can see myself using when it comes to having students defining words.  It allows students to be creative with their ability of grasping the knowledge of the word/s.