May 26

May 26

Surveys
Deford Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile: http://www.suu.edu/faculty/lundd/3520web/torp.htm
To explore further your own views of reading and reading instruction, print the profile and complete it. Be prepared to discuss it in class. You might also use it during the interviews you conduct for this class.

Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
Structural brain “mapping” as well as functional MRIs, reveal that our brains differ markedly, both physically and in the way they work. If our faces were as different on the outside, as our brains are inside, some of us would have noses as long as an elephant’s trunk.As a result, some of us are visual learners, others learn auditorially, still others must sense the learning in our bodies.
Understanding this, we can approach any subject in our preferred style. Teachers should strive to make everyone in the class comfortable by teaching around the brain incorporating appeals to each of the different styles in the course of every class session.
Take this test, print the results and be prepared to discuss them in class.

Helpful sites for this course
Furl: http://www.furl.net/index.jsp
This site that manages your favorite Web sites. With Furl, your Favorites (or in Firefox, Bookmarks) are accessible from any computer. You add them with the click of a button. Then share them with friends and get recommendations from Furlmates. What’s a Furlmate? It's someone who likes similar Web sites. You can start by adding my site! You can access Furl from any browser. But you’ll need to download an add-in for one-click Favorites and Bookmarks.

Webnote: http://www.aypwip.org/webnote/
Webnote is a simple, easy-to-use tool that enables you to take notes via a Web browser and then access and share those notes from any computer. You create and name a workspace—the name is then integrated into the URL for your notes. Your workspace isn’t password protected, so anyone who knows the name of it can get into it—which is an advantage if your goal is collaboration or sharing and a disadvantage if you’re looking for a place to keep sensitive info (this probably isn’t it). The tool’s main features are basic: Once in your workspace, you create sticky-notes on a screen and then can fill them with text or html links. You can change the size, shape, and color of your notes with just a few clicks.

In the News

Keeping It Real - Technology has blurred the distinction between plagiarism and research, but some teachers are determined to redraw the line: http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2005/05/01/06real.h16.html

National Aphasia Association: http://www.aphasia.org/

National Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse: http://www.recruitingteachers.org/channels/clearinghouse/
Prospectivde teachers, teachers looking for work and professonals in other fields can find valuable job information about the schools and communities whre teachers are needed most.

Odds Stacked Against Pleasure Reading:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301317.html
Many students, especially those in high school preparing for standardized tests, simply have no time to read what they want.

Reading, writing coaches proposed: http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/426255.html
Gov. Mike Easley says literacy coaches would help teachers improve middle-schoolers' skills

Schools ordered to observe ‘Constitution Day’: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7960256/
The Constitution long has ensured that Congress can't tell schools what to teach. But that's no longer the case for at least one topic--the Constitution itself. The Education Department has outlined how it plans to enforce a little-known provision that Congress passed in 2004: Every school and college that receives federal money must teach about the Constitution on September 17, the day the document was adopted in 1787.

Spelling makes a comeback: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0517/p12s02-legn.html?s=hns
After decades of neglect, the teaching of spelling is receiving new emphasis and scrutiny.

Successful Strategies for Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners: http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A5356.cfm
"One of the greatest challenges teachers face is effectively reaching a roomful of students with varying abilities and learning styles on a daily basis. When I completed my special education certification 27 years ago, I knew I’d be constantly working to develop a curriculum rich enough for all students. Fortunately, I’ve found that technology is the perfect tool for providing learners of all abilities the opportunity to achieve.
In my third-grade class of 25 students, I have seven students with special needs, two identified as gifted and 16 considered typical. The technology I use for planning, instruction and assessment ensures that they are all engaged learners."

Summer Reading: http://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/summer

What Do You Do on the Last Days of School?: http://www.middleweb.com/MWLISTCONT/MSLlastdays.html
What do you do the last days of school to keep students engaged and learning? In this archived conversation, members of the MiddleWeb listserv discussion group share some of their best ideas. And there's a bonus: Middle grades author Rick Wormeli contributed a lengthy list of ideas from his classroom, along with some thoughtful discussion.

This site began in March 1998 and was created by Janet Luch. It was last updated on June 16, 2006 .
Email to studyplans@yahoo.com.