EDRD 7718 Module 4 Learning Summary

Literacy Across the Curriculum
I found this idea to be absolutely adorable! I really liked learning and seeing how the teacher taught an entire unit on pirates across the curriculum.  When I observed in college in a Title I school they did a lot of themes, not just for a unit, but for the whole year.  I think that themes are a great and engaging way for students to become "experts" on a topic.  I wonder how a teacher creates these units and how long the planning takes?

RTI
Schools are only as strong as their weakest students.  And although this idea seems odd or unfair, let me explain.  I do not mean test grades, but the help this student is being given.  School must work as a community to collectively get to those students who are struggling.  My school has something similar to RTI in which the learning specialists are made aware of what students are struggling or little things that classroom teachers are beginning to notice. This allows the learning specialists to become aware and be able to observe or put in place a plan for this student.  Like RTI the overall goal is to target students early and put interventions in place to help students as early as possible.

Creating Sentences Video
I loved this video of the first graders creating sentences together.  Using sentence strips is a way in which the students can remain engaged and feel like they are part of the lesson.  I think that using the students to place things is a great way for students to explore and for inquiry to happen in a natural way in the classroom.

Strategic Reading Instruction PowerPoint
I liked this PowerPoint because it explained about reading centers.  I work in a primarily workshop teaching school so centers are not very common. I love the ways in which teachers can incorporate so many lessons or ideas into different centers that help students become stronger readers.

WebQuest Guidelines
I found this information on WebQuests to be a wonderful tool! I have created a WebQuest in the past in which students did an inquiry on the Chattahoochee River.  The students are so familiar with technology and they were able to grab the computers and get straight to work. I think that WebQuests need to be incorporated across the curriculum as technology is becoming more and more present in our classrooms.