Thursday, February 26, 2015

Sketch to Stretch


Text Link
Rationale For Choosing
Text Frame(s)
Strategy Used and Resource
Extended Thinking
This article was chosen because it involves explosion and that always gets a student’s attention. It explains the chemistry behind metal reactions.
Problem/Solution

Proposition/Support
Sketch to Stretch (McLaughlin)



The article is about the reaction that occurs when alkali metals come into contact with water. Chemists were able to record the reaction and play it back in slow motion to see the metal form spikes before it explodes in the water. This reaction demonstrates how electrons are released when the metal and water connect. Spikes upon spikes form until there enough heat to cause the explosion. This technology allows for further understanding of the reaction.


Sketch to Stretch for “Why Metals Have a Blast in Water”

This strategy involves reading a narrative or informative text and then having the students make a sketch of their representation of the text. Once they are completed they can share with the other students and explain their interpretations. Looking forward, students can be asked how sketching helped them to further understand the text.

Here’s my sketch for the text:




Clearly I am not an artist!  Hopefully you can see that I am demonstrating metal droplets coming into contact with a beaker of water. The spikes form on top of each other and then the explosion or “boom” occurs. This strategy is helpful in that every student is going to have a different sketch and/or interpretation. I think the most valuable part of this strategy is the discussion the students have together afterwards about their drawings. They get to see different points of views and learn from each other to help tie the lesson together. 

References:

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Using Comprehension Strategies to Extend Thinking. In Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness (2nd ed., pp. 93-94). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink


Text Link
Rationale for Choosing
Text Frame(s)
Strategies Used and Resources
Guiding Example
This article tackles the ever growing problem of wasting paper. It offers an alternative paper that uses chemicals as the ink that disappears after the chemical reaction is complete.
Concept/definition

Problem/solution

  
Bookmark Technique (McLaughlin Book)

            The strategy I used to show guiding comprehension is the Bookmark Technique. This strategy allows students to track their comprehension while reading and make evaluations about the text. It’s primarily used with narrative and expository text (McLaughlin, 2015).
            
            Students can be assigned to read the article in class or for a homework assignment. After the students have done the reading four bookmarks cut out from paper are given to each student to fill out appropriately as follows:
            
            Bookmark 1: What was the most important part? Why?
           
            Bookmark 2: Which vocabulary word do you think the class should discuss? Why? And what did you initially think that word meant?
           
            Bookmark 3: What was confusing in the reading? Why?
            
            Bookmark 4: Which chart, map, graph or illustration helped you to understand what you read? Why? And if none of these were provided, which do you think the author should have included and why?

On the bookmarks the students will indicate that paragraph or page number the part of the text they are referencing. Students can work on these together and as a whole class. This technique allows students to come up with at least four points to contribute to the discussion.




Here are my bookmarks for the reading:
Bookmark 1
Bookmark 2
Bookmark 3
Bookmark 4

The most important part was that this technology is allowing a piece of paper to be used and reused up to 20 times. Also it doesn’t require ink so money would be saved on both paper and ink.

Paragraphs 1 and 2

A vocabulary word the class should discuss together is redox reactions. I think redox reactions are chemical reactions that involve either losing or gaining electrons. Learning more about this reaction will help us to better understand how the rewritable paper works.

Paragraphs 2,3, and 4

The part that confused me was the process of how to print on the paper. It’s unclear to me which part is colored and which disappears, the text or the background, when the UV light is used on the paper.

Part 2 “How it works”

This text did not have any charts or images. I think a before and after picture would have helped me to better understand the process. A chart showing how many trees could be saved by reducing paper was would have been beneficial too.


        I think this technique is valuable to those students that have a hard time coming up with something to contribute to the classroom discussions. Sometimes students need some time to gather their thoughts and this activity gives them that opportunity. It also helps students to comprehend the material and discuss with other classmates what one or the other might not understand.

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Chapter Five: Using Comprehension Strategies to Guide Thinking.              In Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career                                 Readiness (pp. 75-77).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (4th ed.). Newark, DE:               International Reading Association.

Kowalski, K. (2015, January 15). Rewritable paper: Prints with light, not ink. Retrieved 
       from https://student.societyforscience.org/article/rewritable-paper-prints-light-not-              ink?mode=topic&context=104

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Power Notes


Text Link
Rationale for Choosing
Text Frame(s)
Strategy Used and Resource
Engagement Example
This article is relevant and informative to students and their diets. It gives just enough scientific evidence in simple text so that students can still comprehend the focus.
Concept/Definition
Power Notes (Buehl Book)

     Power Notes is a simplified version of outlining. Typical outlines can become very detail oriented while Power Notes focuses on main ideas. It gives students a way to differentiate between examples and details from main ideas. This strategy assists students in organizing texts to allow for easier reading, writing, and studying.
           
     In Power Notes main ideas are given a power 1 rating. Details or examples that follow are given power ratings of 2, 3, or 4. To demonstrate this to students I would use a simple topic first as an example. Using vegetables as the main idea or power 1 then providing power 2 ratings to carrots, corn, green beans. Power 3 ratings could be details describing the various vegetables; their color, shape, or texture. Once they have grasped the basic concept a lesson could be used to show further demonstration. Vocabulary words in a lesson could be used and students would need to determine whether they would be a power 1, 2, or 3.
            
     For me this strategy hits home in my studying strategies. I have always been a visual learner and by this I mean I need to take notes or make outlines. Seeing how things fall into place helps me to better understand concepts and lessons. I have a hard time gathering my thoughts but writing them down in an outline helps substantially.
           
     With this lesson I would have students read the article in class and then together we would determine what main ideas would get a power 1 rating and then what would go under as the power 2’s and 3’s. I would want the class to do it together so that the students would get a better idea of how to plan it out for their future lessons to assist in their studying.
            
     Advantages of this reading strategy are that it allows the student to learn how to prioritize and actively read texts. One disadvantage that teachers should be aware of is if the student is including too many details on the Power Notes. It is meant to be a guideline, a way to gather the main ideas. If they are including too much they will have a hard distinguishing between the main ideas and the details. Overall the strategy should help students to better organize their lessons and thus improve both their reading and writing.

Below is my Power Notes for the article


  1. Sugars
2. Carbohydrate
3. made from carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen
2. Energy source
3. important for function
2. Cheap
3. easy to obtain
3. food manufacturers more likely to use

  1. Artificial Sweeteners
2. Saccharin
3. chemist Constanin Fahlberg
3. coal tar
3. Sweet-n-Low
3. causes bladder cancer in rats
2. Cyclamate
3. banned in US
2. Aspartame
3. Nutrasweet
3. Equal
3. chemist licked fingers in lab to discover
3. weakly linked to brain tumors
2. Sucralose
3. Splenda
3. grad student tasted chemical by mistake

References:

Marr, I. (2012, February 1). Artificial Sweeteners: Friends or Foes? Retrieved from                            https://learn.thinkcerca.com/student_assignments/1715015/lesson_steps/1            

Buehl, D. (2014). Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (4th ed., pp. 155-157).                    Newark, DE: International Reading Association.