Internet Workshop and Blog Publishing: Meeting Student (and Teacher) Learning Needs to Achieve Best Practice in 21st Century Social Studies Classroom February 9, 2010

This article does a good job of summing up blogs and all the wonderful ways they can be incorporated into your classroom.  Blogs are a simple way to get your students involved in using technology as a way of expressing themselves and sharing their own thoughts and ideas with others.  Blogs can also be used in a variety of ways, teachers can use them to showcase their students work, students can use them to comment and provide feedback on each other’s work (teachers and parents can comment as well) and it can be used as a tool for keeping parents informed of what is happening in their child’s classroom.  Students also get the chance to work on their writing skills and become more aware of what they are writing with the use of blogs because they know that they are published works that can be viewed by others.  I feel as though blogs make learning more fun and exciting for the students because it’s a different way of doing things.  Blogs are also a great way for students to show their creativity and express themselves. 

Swashbuckling Adventures on the High Seas: Classroom Activities for a Unit on Pirates February 9, 2010

This article introduces effective ways in which students can organize their thoughts, ideas and understandings about what they are reading.  The double-entry diary helps students keep track of important information found in the text and their understanding of the text.  I think this is a great way to help students make connections with the text and truly understand what they are reading.  Students are also required to individually do further research on a specific pirate and record their findings on a DRC (data retrieval chart).  Student use a DRC to help organize information obtained from the various texts they read, this helps with students reading comprehension as well.

Pirates in Historical Fiction and Nonfiction: A Twin-Text Unit of Study February 9, 2010

The idea of combining both historical fiction and non-fiction books, I feel is a wonderful way to allow students to experience different types of literature as well as have sources to help them decide what is true and what is false about a particular subject.  Having a variety of texts, which include both fiction and non-fiction, will also help in providing reading material for students at various reading levels.

This article is also full of great ideas, I especially like the suggestions for beginning the lesson with pirate music and an array of pirate centered materials.  The idea of allowing students to first browse through the various materials and take note of what they see is a wonderful way to engage the students.  In the article the use of a KWL chart is also presented, students keep track of their thoughts about what they know, want to know, and have learned in their own “Pirate Diary”.  Finally it is extremely important for teachers to select books that capture their student’s attention and use a variety of activities to keep them engaged.

Integrating Instructional-Level Social Studies Trade Books for Struggling Readers in Upper Elementary Grades February 3, 2010

This article provides a great deal of valuable information that would be useful to all teachers, especially those who have children who are struggling in reading.  Children need to be provided with material that makes reading fun and intriguing and is presented at a level in which the student can read fluently.  However it is also important to remember not to “water” the reading material down too much.  Reading should be somewhat of a challenge for the child but not so much so that they become frustrated or embarrassed in front of their fellow classmates, as stated in the article.  I like the idea of selecting a common theme or genre as a way of encouraging all your students to respond to literature.  By selecting a main theme and giving a book to each group based on the students reading level in each group and then allowing them to hold group discussions about what they have read allows them to feel important and become more successful readers.  I also like the book list provided in this article, I feel it is a useful tool that all teachers should use to develop successful, eager readers.  I also read in this article the importance of realizing that all children are different, they all learn different and they require different types of instruction.  I totally agree with that, I feel it is impossible to expect that each and every child will learn everything the exact same way.  Each child is unique and instruction and material should be provided to help those who struggle and fall behind so that they too are successful learners.