SIOP: TESOL ~ ELL ~ Teaching Methods ~ Component 1: Lesson Preparation

I went to the SIOP training today and it was amazing.  People that I talked to had said that it was mostly just "good teaching" and they were right.  I wish I would have had this training in my undergraduate work. 

We had a very knowledgeable speaker from Arizona and the training was provided by Pearson.  The format was interactive and she used a lot of the methods with us that will also help our ELL's or any learner, for that matter.

Here is the first component to the training:  Lesson Preparation.  I will be posting on the other methods as well within the next week or two.

Have you had SIOP training?  Here's what the letters stand for:  Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol.

I hope you find this first clip useful.  Are you assessing and re-teaching when students don't meet the standard or objective?  If not, why not?  We teachers could use a little more PD like this!!  (IMHO)

Teacher Appreciation Sale

 

 



Filmstrip Frames!!

I am so excited about my newest item ~ filmstrip frames.  They have transparent squares on the top and bottom for layering...............these are so fun!! 

 

 





Starting tomorrow and running through Saturday night, I am having a 20 percent OFF sale at my Etsy store.  Most items in my Etsy store are NOT available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

It's really just so much easier on Etsy because I can upload thumbnails that are PNG's and I can have up to five, if I choose.  I always had problems with blurry images or thumbnails too large on graphic items such as backgrounds on TPT.

Quite a few of my backgrounds on Etsy are singles.  The files are quite large digitally so they wouldn't fit well in a package.  They have textures, layers, and  some have a fabric look.

One of the backgrounds(Sea Foam Green Circles) used in this blog design (by Ruby Slippers) is available at Little Shop of Color.  They make beautiful images for blogs and other web/based products and graphics.

Thank you for shopping at my store/stores.  I do value you as a customer, and most especially, a teacher, if you happen to be one!!

Please don't be afraid to contact me with questions, concerns, or custom orders.

aperfectlypoeticpage@gmail.com

Google Drive FREEBIE

I am going to start posting my freebies to Google Drive because Blogger keeps changing my crisp, PNG images into blurry JPEGS.

Here is what the free background looks like:
(To get the crisp version, please go to my freebies page.  The link is in the comment below the swirl background.  Copy the link and paste into your web browser.  This will take you to the download.  Be sure to check the freebies section periodically because I will not always announce when I have posted a freebie!!  .)



Class Books

Class books are a wonderful idea, especially at this time of year when interest in school starts to wane considerably.  Keeping children engaged can be quite a challenge.  With class books, each student creates a page and the children are the authors of the book!!

A fellow blogger and TPTer, Susanna Westby from Whimsy Workshop, created a class book with her students.  The book was about bullying and how to respond to it.  It's one of the most interesting things I've seen lately.

Here is a link to her blog post about this.  She also has included in that post a link to the unit in her TPT store.

Our Class Book

 

 



I think you'll agree that the book is amazing!!  Now, if you're not feeling quite that creative, then I also have a few class book ideas in my store.  These will allow you to create a class book but on a much smaller/simpler scale.

 

With each book, simply print out the pages.  Both color and black/white versions are included.  Then each student does a page or two.

 

**I would have students do a practice page first so you can  correct spelling and make sure everything looks right.  Then transfer to the clean copy.**

 

Put each page in a plastic sleeve and place everything in a three ring binder.

 

If you get a three ring binder with a see through cover on the front, then you can just copy the title page twice and use one for the outside and one for the inside-like a real book.

 

Also,  don't forget to make at least 3 copies of the kind compliments page.  Students will love to see what others think about their work.

 

The book can be a traveling book to be taken home. (might not work at my school)Or you can make it a traveling book in that other classrooms can read it!!

 

ABC Insect Book

 

ABC Anything Book

 

Happy writing.

 



Stitched Backgrounds

As I work with Artstudio more and more, I am starting to learn more techniques and here's one I stumbled upon by chance:  stitched lines!!  So, I made a quick package of these backgrounds in rainbow colors.  Here's a free sample.

Right click to copy or save.  Left click to see in my store.  (Those store thumbnails never look good for me.  They always come out blurry.  All images will be as crisp as the sample.)

Enjoy and happy Saturday!

**(For some reason, Blogger converts my PNG files to JPEG when I post them here.  I tried to fix it, thinking that I'd made a mistake, but it did the same thing.  If anybody knows what to do to keep the integrity of the file, please let me know.  This file seems blurry as a JPEG.)**



Retention Rears It's Ugly Head . . . .

It's almost May and hard decisions need to be made about retaining students with skills below grade level or students that we "know" will struggle in the next grade.

People have strong opinions on this issue and really, opinions need to be thrown out the window.  We are educators and we are required to use research-based everything.

So, what DOES the research say about retention?  Find links to some resources and my opinions below.

RAND STUDY

 

If I'm understanding correctly, this study was more of a meta-analysis of 91 studies on retention and it's effects on a variety of outcomes including academic performance, drop out rates, social/behavioral effects, etc.

 

*While retention sometimes resulted in short term gains, those results often leveled off.*

 

BROOKINGS ARTICLE

 

Is Retaining Students in the Early Grades Self-Defeating?  By Martin R. West

 

This paper discusses Florida's Third Grade Reading Guarantee and retention rates and statistics.  The findings are interesting, to say the least.

 

*If a child is going to be retained, it's best to do it in the lower grades K - 3.  Retaining a student in a higher grade such as seventh or eighth does have negative outcomes.  Whereas, retaining a student at a lower grade may prevent him/her from being retained later due to performance/skills.*

 

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I do think that school districts need to discuss these issues and develop a cohesive policy for retentions or promotions.  It's a discussion worth having, and in my mind, it's of paramount importance, especially with the new third grade reading guarantee here in the state of Ohio.