Week 2 I focused on finishing up my assessments with my student and I also started a ongoing poem as well.
Our room played a Never Have I Ever out in the hall which I felt went really well. It's a good get to know you game and I feel like the kids want to have more interaction with one another.
As I was reading a book with my student, I realized that she struggles with developing confidence with both reading and writing. She wants to prove to me that she can do it, so will end up reading too fast and not comprehend any of the text she has read. Same with writing. When she takes her time, she can construct sentences are fluent. When she tries to go fast she ends up making a bunch of fragments.
When I got her to slow down and feel more comfortable she was focusing on being accurate and taking her time.
I already see her areas of needs. Spelling and comprehension being at the forefront. I am hoping to increase her vocabulary and encourage her to write more. She has wonderful thoughts and ideas and I want her to experiment with writing.
Hi Katie, My students loved the 'Never Have I Ever..." activity! The students really got to know each other, and we also learned a lot about them as well! Who knew that some of them knew each other already, and my gosh, what experiences some of these kids have had and where they have been (other countries)... Thanks for the idea, loved it!
So now you are going from a small group to one-on-one tutoring. I hear how you interact, and you have a great way of interacting and making you student feel comfortable. You realy take the time to get to know her interests. Great job!
I am always looking for ideas and feedback, so anybody jump in. I work with high school transition students (19-21-year-olds) and I don't feel like I have very much experiences with elementary school students, even though I have cert. in CHED/SPED.
First of all, I would like to thank my group for your help in getting my assessments completed. Unfortunately, I am not quite done, but it is achievable. When assessing my students’ spelling abilities, they all did pretty well. I found it necessary to go on the Upper-Level Inventory. Two of the three students completed the sight word inventory. Also, two of the three completed writing samples.
I have been looking for chapter books to use in guided reading. I am gearing toward a historical fiction book related to Black History Month. I was thinking about Freedom’s Wings: Corey’s Diary, but am not sure about reading levels. It is level P, grades 3-5, and my students range from grades 4-5 and F&P levels O-T. Since comprehension is the focus for all students, I feel like this level would be just right. What do you all think?
Another question…one of the students made it through the sixth 100 word list with only one error. Should I continue with the Fry word lists? I feel like she is excellent at decoding and reading unknown words. She can read anything! I feel like I should focus on her reading and writing areas of need. Any suggestions?
Lastly, I was hoping that our grade level group could meet for a few minutes on Tuesday to discuss how/when we want to present mini lessons on poetry. Should we start each session with whole group, since formal observations will begin next week?
What grade level is your student who got through the sixth level? If she's a 3rd of 4th grader, I think 6 is a good place to stop because she's clearly above her level. If she's a fifth grader, maybe go up to 7 or even 8. What ARE her reading needs? Comprehension? You can always focus on words (vocab) and how that builds comprehension. I don't know much about your kids, so I can't get too detailed in ideas.
I agree that we should have a grade level meeting nect week to get some ideas together for poetry lessons. After browdsing a few ideas, I think the students will have a lot of fun working as a whole group.
First off, the feast was great. Best part of the night.
I for one am really enjoying this semester. Even if it takes more time to do stuff and it's hard to get enough information for my casestudy, I like my kids. It's nice not to feel dread and anxiety going into each week. I told them a bit about what my casestudy is one and my girl is reluctant and one of the boys has already read the book I am going to use. Gotta make it work.
I have some ideas of my kids' strengths and weaknesses, but not too many. I don't know if maybe because they are advanced, they won't have so much to write about (like spelling and reading problems, as they're all fairly fluent). I am also struggling to balance practicum's needs with capstone needs, mostly when thinking of the project I want my kids to use. I'm not sure how I'll integrate poetry into it; I guess I'll have to see what the final project for the kids is and plan from there.
Next week we start Robot Dreams and visualization. Rachel, Jess, wanna join? Warning though: Lauren will be observing me.
I would def. like to join you guys at some point but we are just starting the hunger games and I want to do something fun around that in the beginning. Thanks for the invite though!!! Maybe some other time??
FYI Kit - both of your boys need spelling (especially D'Ondre) and writing work from what I've seen the past two semesters. Writing is difficult for both of them unless they've really improved since fall.
Why is T'Kara reluctant? Is it the book itself?
Maybe they can write a graphic novel with poetry as the text...or add some poetic text to the book you have since it's wordless...
Kit, what time are you going to start working on visualization? I think this would be a great confidence builder for my students and something that we could use as an example of how to work with other students. (One of my students is experiencing bullying at school and is very cautious around other students. I think your class would draw her out a little and provide positive interactions.)I really like Lauren's suggestion to add poetry to the text or correspondence with poetry with the text. Maybe I could work on that part of the lesson? Also, I am focusing on word study with my students. Where are your students in terms of their spelling levels? Maybe we could do a whole group word study?
I'll be honest, right now this lesson I'm strictly focusing on the reading and writing because I went through hell this weekend just figuring out what I'm going to do with them. Adem is a good speller...then again he's been here awhile, so he may just know the spelling words. D'Ondre is low on spelling, as is Ta'kara. Word study for us will look at affixes and vowels primarily. If I can get to it ever.
We're actually starting visualizing tomorrow. We're probably going to use Robot Dream fro the entire session, just to pound home the visualization of literary terms. We can talk before class and you can see if you want to join.
I like many of you have been feeling much more relaxed, and feel like this will be a very enjoyable experience!! This past Tuesday I finished up my assessments with my student. The school reported that she read at a 12th grade level, but that doesn't seem to be the case with my assessment results. She is definitely not too far behind fluency wise, but she struggles with comprehension. I just started the Hunger Games with her and we practiced annotating. That was pretty fun. I am finding I have much more time with only one child than I did when I had a small group. I am looking forward to getting into the Hunger Games and developing some activities that go around the book. Does anyone have any ideas for keeping things fun and interesting during the hour and a half?
My second week was a bit more hectic than the first(weird, I know!). I was trying to catch one of my students up in addition to completing the reaminder of assessments for my other students. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete all the assessments for one of the students. However, it will not take long for me to complete them this upcoming week.
Just in the last two short sessions I have been working with my students, I know that I want to focus on fluency and comprehension. I have been researching articles by Timothy Rasinski for various fluency activities. He has a ton of fluency games that I have printed off/made so if anyone else is interested in using them I'd be more than happy to share!!
Thank you again for the food-it was delicious! You are setting the bar high for the rest of us!!
Meg, I would really like to hear some of the fluency activities! It is always great to hear new ideas! (Also ones that are based on proven research/data.)
Week two went well for me. My third student did not show up for the second time so it was just my other two students. I finished up my assessments with them and when analyzing the assessments I noticed that they have similar strengths and needs (which will be very helpful). Comprehension is something that I am going to work with them on. Another thing is writing. Does anyone have any great writing activities for third graders? Some areas of writing they need more instruction on are their organization, word choice and conventions. I am also thinking of having my students read a chapter book, their instructional reading levels are Q and T. Thoughts?
Did you ever get an answer or try to call again since Tuesday? If not, try tomorrow throughout the day and see what happens.
Don't forget about non-fiction rather than fiction for texts. You all need to become familiar with using it just as much as fiction. Maybe even a fiction/non-fiction on the same topic.
This post is from Mary - she's having trouble getting it to post.
This week I was hoping to finish up my assessments but it looks like I will have some to finish this week. By the end, I was able to finish 90% of the assessments but I had processed nothing. There was so much to get done I was moving from one to another. At the end of the class I had to look back at all my notes to find out what additional assessments I needed to do and what level my students were at. Currently my students are reading at level C, D, and G. They may be working at different levels, but they all struggle with comprehension. Also, I have found that all their writing is an area of need. For one student, I could read his writing but his sentences had no organization or connection. For another student, I could not read what he wrote or understand what he was trying to read. I think one thing I wish I thought more about was activities for the other two students while I was working with one. They did a lot of writing last week and, even though they made good choices and were well behaved, I could tell they were getting antsy and needed change. Any suggestions for what I could while working with one student, other than writing?
Mary, What about Word Study? You probably haven't implemented it yet because you're still working on assessments- If your still working on assessments-give them access to a lap top to work on a word study activity. (There are a lot of games and activities out there that focus on building words.) This will keep their attention and focus on a needed area! If you have finished assessing, I would suggest having a whole group word study lesson and then when you are working one on one with a student have the others participate in word work activity related to your lesson.
Dinner was wonderful last session! The pressure is on tomorrow... I hope 7-Layer salad is exciting! (Adria doesn't seem to think so.) I am feeling much better this semester and very excited with the opportunity to work with 2 7th grade girls! (Such a change from 3, 2nd grade boys!)I really enjoy working with students of all ages and needs! I am happy for the experience of working with a variety of students. Due to illness of one of my students- I wasn't able to finish all of my assessments to locate reading levels, but I have a good idea. At this time my students are at an L/M and an O. Despite a difference in reading levels, both students would like to work on word study and writing to improve their spelling and writing skills. Although both students attend the same school and are in the same grade, they have a very different experience in school. One student is bullied and has been physically threatened from a group of girls and has very few friends. The other student finds school a very safe and welcoming space, has many friends, and confident about her abilities even though she doesn't view herself as a very strong reader. I have spoke to Lauren, Allison, and the students' parents about various strategies that could be used as an opportunity to provide a "safe" place for learning, foster positive peer relationships, and focus on core needs of the students. It was suggested that this could be accomplished through a read aloud text, Misfits, to help discuss bullying. Last week, I had planned on introducing "Misfits" as a read aloud text and a writing activity around it. When I received the call from the parent of the student that is bullied saying the student was ill and would not be coming- I was so disappointed and unsure of what to do. (I had also finished evaluating the student that was attending.) I talked with Lauren and she suggested reading an article on bullying. One on One- with the use of my Kindle we read the article. The student and I took turns alternating reading paragraphs. When the student reached a word that she didn't know- we highlighted it, broke apart the word, found the known parts, said the word, and then located the meaning within the text. At the end of the session, the student stated that she had done all of these things before but never concentrated on finding the known parts of the word! It made a lot more sense now! We had a very good discussion throughout the reading using Schema (What you know) and Evidence (What you Have) to develop an Inference for increased reading comprehension. I had the student record schema (background knowledge that she had about bullying) and evidence gathered from the article on the whiteboard while reading. I had the student stop before the last paragraph and form an inference about the suggestions/resolutions for change that the author would give towards bullying using her schema and the evidence that she gathered! She found that her inference matched the suggestions of the author. One of the suggestions was befriending someone (being a constant friend), not just supporting the person that was being bullied when they were being bullied. This was a great springboard with to tomorrow's session when the other student will be joining us! I am very excited about beginning this journey with my students and the chance of a positive change that one student may have on another!
To add to the dinner comments, it was amazing and definitely beats cooking dinner at 9pm!! Thanks again everything was delicious!!! :) This week completed a bio poem with my student but I think next week I will end up doing another writing sample with a narrative to see her range of writing abilities. It was difficult to base her writing abilities on the short poem that has a constructed format to follow. I really am enjoying the one-to-one that really allows me to connect and support Hannah. I am going to continue to work on comprehension strategies to help expand her understanding of and beyond the text. I am also looking for ways to keep things fun and interesting for Hannah since she has expressed not much interest in reading. I believe I have found an interesting text, just ways to make comprehension activities more interesting or fun for Hannah!
so, I've finally figured out how to use the blog (hence my late comment to this post)! I guess I've learned what I need to work on...my lack of knowledge when it comes to technology!!
Anyway, week two went well for me. I'm really enjoying having one student, and being able to adjust lessons as I go to meet her needs. I plan out the lessons ahead of time, but like the flexibility of having her choose which activities she'd like to do first, etc. She enjoys this sense of ownership, and it seems to help her on days when she is a bit nervous to work.
I was wondering...has anyone done Brain Gym with their practicum students? My student does Brain Gym every day, and it is something I intend on incorporating into my daily lessons with her. She was excited that it was something she knew more about than I do, and I made it an opportunity for her to teach me! I've read the research, as well as tried out Brain Gym with other students I've taught in the past. It is interesting to see how some simple stretches and warm up activities have proven benefits when it comes to learning and educational settings!
Week 2 I focused on finishing up my assessments with my student and I also started a ongoing poem as well.
ReplyDeleteOur room played a Never Have I Ever out in the hall which I felt went really well. It's a good get to know you game and I feel like the kids want to have more interaction with one another.
As I was reading a book with my student, I realized that she struggles with developing confidence with both reading and writing. She wants to prove to me that she can do it, so will end up reading too fast and not comprehend any of the text she has read. Same with writing. When she takes her time, she can construct sentences are fluent. When she tries to go fast she ends up making a bunch of fragments.
When I got her to slow down and feel more comfortable she was focusing on being accurate and taking her time.
I already see her areas of needs. Spelling and comprehension being at the forefront. I am hoping to increase her vocabulary and encourage her to write more. She has wonderful thoughts and ideas and I want her to experiment with writing.
Hi Katie,
DeleteMy students loved the 'Never Have I Ever..." activity! The students really got to know each other, and we also learned a lot about them as well! Who knew that some of them knew each other already, and my gosh, what experiences some of these kids have had and where they have been (other countries)... Thanks for the idea, loved it!
So now you are going from a small group to one-on-one tutoring. I hear how you interact, and you have a great way of interacting and making you student feel comfortable. You realy take the time to get to know her interests. Great job!
I am always looking for ideas and feedback, so anybody jump in. I work with high school transition students (19-21-year-olds) and I don't feel like I have very much experiences with elementary school students, even though I have cert. in CHED/SPED.
Katie, it certainly sounds as if your student needs some confidence building. I'm interested to see what you're going to do with her.
DeleteFirst of all, I would like to thank my group for your help in getting my assessments completed. Unfortunately, I am not quite done, but it is achievable. When assessing my students’ spelling abilities, they all did pretty well. I found it necessary to go on the Upper-Level Inventory. Two of the three students completed the sight word inventory. Also, two of the three completed writing samples.
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for chapter books to use in guided reading. I am gearing toward a historical fiction book related to Black History Month. I was thinking about Freedom’s Wings: Corey’s Diary, but am not sure about reading levels. It is level P, grades 3-5, and my students range from grades 4-5 and F&P levels O-T. Since comprehension is the focus for all students, I feel like this level would be just right. What do you all think?
Another question…one of the students made it through the sixth 100 word list with only one error. Should I continue with the Fry word lists? I feel like she is excellent at decoding and reading unknown words. She can read anything! I feel like I should focus on her reading and writing areas of need. Any suggestions?
Lastly, I was hoping that our grade level group could meet for a few minutes on Tuesday to discuss how/when we want to present mini lessons on poetry. Should we start each session with whole group, since formal observations will begin next week?
What grade level is your student who got through the sixth level? If she's a 3rd of 4th grader, I think 6 is a good place to stop because she's clearly above her level. If she's a fifth grader, maybe go up to 7 or even 8. What ARE her reading needs? Comprehension? You can always focus on words (vocab) and how that builds comprehension. I don't know much about your kids, so I can't get too detailed in ideas.
DeleteLeslie- I agree with Kit. Depending on the grade level of your student, I don't think you need to keep going if they are already above grade level.
DeleteHi Leslie,
DeleteI agree that we should have a grade level meeting nect week to get some ideas together for poetry lessons. After browdsing a few ideas, I think the students will have a lot of fun working as a whole group.
Leslie, don't worry about sight words past the 6th grade level. As you said, they have comprehension needs, so work on that.
DeleteHave you decided on the book you're going to use?
First off, the feast was great. Best part of the night.
ReplyDeleteI for one am really enjoying this semester. Even if it takes more time to do stuff and it's hard to get enough information for my casestudy, I like my kids. It's nice not to feel dread and anxiety going into each week. I told them a bit about what my casestudy is one and my girl is reluctant and one of the boys has already read the book I am going to use. Gotta make it work.
I have some ideas of my kids' strengths and weaknesses, but not too many. I don't know if maybe because they are advanced, they won't have so much to write about (like spelling and reading problems, as they're all fairly fluent). I am also struggling to balance practicum's needs with capstone needs, mostly when thinking of the project I want my kids to use. I'm not sure how I'll integrate poetry into it; I guess I'll have to see what the final project for the kids is and plan from there.
Next week we start Robot Dreams and visualization. Rachel, Jess, wanna join? Warning though: Lauren will be observing me.
I would def. like to join you guys at some point but we are just starting the hunger games and I want to do something fun around that in the beginning. Thanks for the invite though!!! Maybe some other time??
DeleteFYI Kit - both of your boys need spelling (especially D'Ondre) and writing work from what I've seen the past two semesters. Writing is difficult for both of them unless they've really improved since fall.
DeleteWhy is T'Kara reluctant? Is it the book itself?
Maybe they can write a graphic novel with poetry as the text...or add some poetic text to the book you have since it's wordless...
Kit, what time are you going to start working on visualization? I think this would be a great confidence builder for my students and something that we could use as an example of how to work with other students. (One of my students is experiencing bullying at school and is very cautious around other students. I think your class would draw her out a little and provide positive interactions.)I really like Lauren's suggestion to add poetry to the text or correspondence with poetry with the text. Maybe I could work on that part of the lesson?
DeleteAlso, I am focusing on word study with my students. Where are your students in terms of their spelling levels? Maybe we could do a whole group word study?
I'll be honest, right now this lesson I'm strictly focusing on the reading and writing because I went through hell this weekend just figuring out what I'm going to do with them. Adem is a good speller...then again he's been here awhile, so he may just know the spelling words. D'Ondre is low on spelling, as is Ta'kara. Word study for us will look at affixes and vowels primarily. If I can get to it ever.
DeleteWe're actually starting visualizing tomorrow. We're probably going to use Robot Dream fro the entire session, just to pound home the visualization of literary terms. We can talk before class and you can see if you want to join.
I like many of you have been feeling much more relaxed, and feel like this will be a very enjoyable experience!!
ReplyDeleteThis past Tuesday I finished up my assessments with my student. The school reported that she read at a 12th grade level, but that doesn't seem to be the case with my assessment results. She is definitely not too far behind fluency wise, but she struggles with comprehension.
I just started the Hunger Games with her and we practiced annotating. That was pretty fun. I am finding I have much more time with only one child than I did when I had a small group. I am looking forward to getting into the Hunger Games and developing some activities that go around the book.
Does anyone have any ideas for keeping things fun and interesting during the hour and a half?
I have to say that it's great to see all of you much more relaxed. It helps to know what's coming and that you CAN handle it.
DeleteAre there any comprehension activities - not just with Hunger Games - on line that you could use?
My second week was a bit more hectic than the first(weird, I know!). I was trying to catch one of my students up in addition to completing the reaminder of assessments for my other students. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete all the assessments for one of the students. However, it will not take long for me to complete them this upcoming week.
ReplyDeleteJust in the last two short sessions I have been working with my students, I know that I want to focus on fluency and comprehension. I have been researching articles by Timothy Rasinski for various fluency activities. He has a ton of fluency games that I have printed off/made so if anyone else is interested in using them I'd be more than happy to share!!
Thank you again for the food-it was delicious! You are setting the bar high for the rest of us!!
Sounds good, Meg. I'll be interested to see what you come up with.
DeleteYou are so right about the food!
Meg,
DeleteI would really like to hear some of the fluency activities! It is always great to hear new ideas! (Also ones that are based on proven research/data.)
Week two went well for me. My third student did not show up for the second time so it was just my other two students. I finished up my assessments with them and when analyzing the assessments I noticed that they have similar strengths and needs (which will be very helpful). Comprehension is something that I am going to work with them on. Another thing is writing. Does anyone have any great writing activities for third graders? Some areas of writing they need more instruction on are their organization, word choice and conventions. I am also thinking of having my students read a chapter book, their instructional reading levels are Q and T. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteDid you ever get an answer or try to call again since Tuesday? If not, try tomorrow throughout the day and see what happens.
DeleteDon't forget about non-fiction rather than fiction for texts. You all need to become familiar with using it just as much as fiction. Maybe even a fiction/non-fiction on the same topic.
Does anyone have any extra copies of Skeleton Creek they would be willing to let me borrow?! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI have one!
DeleteHi Katie,
DeleteWould you mind bringing it tomorrow? Thank you so much!
I have one too. I will bring it tomorrow.
DeleteThis post is from Mary - she's having trouble getting it to post.
ReplyDeleteThis week I was hoping to finish up my assessments but it looks like I will have some to finish this week. By the end, I was able to finish 90% of the assessments but I had processed nothing. There was so much to get done I was moving from one to another. At the end of the class I had to look back at all my notes to find out what additional assessments I needed to do and what level my students were at. Currently my students are reading at level C, D, and G. They may be working at different levels, but they all struggle with comprehension. Also, I have found that all their writing is an area of need. For one student, I could read his writing but his sentences had no organization or connection. For another student, I could not read what he wrote or understand what he was trying to read. I think one thing I wish I thought more about was activities for the other two students while I was working with one. They did a lot of writing last week and, even though they made good choices and were well behaved, I could tell they were getting antsy and needed change. Any suggestions for what I could while working with one student, other than writing?
Mary,
ReplyDeleteWhat about Word Study? You probably haven't implemented it yet because you're still working on assessments- If your still working on assessments-give them access to a lap top to work on a word study activity. (There are a lot of games and activities out there that focus on building words.) This will keep their attention and focus on a needed area! If you have finished assessing, I would suggest having a whole group word study lesson and then when you are working one on one with a student have the others participate in word work activity related to your lesson.
Dinner was wonderful last session! The pressure is on tomorrow... I hope 7-Layer salad is exciting! (Adria doesn't seem to think so.)
ReplyDeleteI am feeling much better this semester and very excited with the opportunity to work with 2 7th grade girls! (Such a change from 3, 2nd grade boys!)I really enjoy working with students of all ages and needs! I am happy for the experience of working with a variety of students.
Due to illness of one of my students- I wasn't able to finish all of my assessments to locate reading levels, but I have a good idea. At this time my students are at an L/M and an O. Despite a difference in reading levels, both students would like to work on word study and writing to improve their spelling and writing skills. Although both students attend the same school and are in the same grade, they have a very different experience in school. One student is bullied and has been physically threatened from a group of girls and has very few friends. The other student finds school a very safe and welcoming space, has many friends, and confident about her abilities even though she doesn't view herself as a very strong reader.
I have spoke to Lauren, Allison, and the students' parents about various strategies that could be used as an opportunity to provide a "safe" place for learning, foster positive peer relationships, and focus on core needs of the students. It was suggested that this could be accomplished through a read aloud text, Misfits, to help discuss bullying. Last week, I had planned on introducing "Misfits" as a read aloud text and a writing activity around it. When I received the call from the parent of the student that is bullied saying the student was ill and would not be coming- I was so disappointed and unsure of what to do. (I had also finished evaluating the student that was attending.) I talked with Lauren and she suggested reading an article on bullying. One on One- with the use of my Kindle we read the article. The student and I took turns alternating reading paragraphs. When the student reached a word that she didn't know- we highlighted it, broke apart the word, found the known parts, said the word, and then located the meaning within the text. At the end of the session, the student stated that she had done all of these things before but never concentrated on finding the known parts of the word! It made a lot more sense now!
We had a very good discussion throughout the reading using Schema (What you know) and Evidence (What you Have) to develop an Inference for increased reading comprehension. I had the student record schema (background knowledge that she had about bullying) and evidence gathered from the article on the whiteboard while reading. I had the student stop before the last paragraph and form an inference about the suggestions/resolutions for change that the author would give towards bullying using her schema and the evidence that she gathered! She found that her inference matched the suggestions of the author. One of the suggestions was befriending someone (being a constant friend), not just supporting the person that was being bullied when they were being bullied. This was a great springboard with to tomorrow's session when the other student will be joining us!
I am very excited about beginning this journey with my students and the chance of a positive change that one student may have on another!
Oh my! Sorry about the book!
ReplyDeleteTo add to the dinner comments, it was amazing and definitely beats cooking dinner at 9pm!! Thanks again everything was delicious!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThis week completed a bio poem with my student but I think next week I will end up doing another writing sample with a narrative to see her range of writing abilities. It was difficult to base her writing abilities on the short poem that has a constructed format to follow. I really am enjoying the one-to-one that really allows me to connect and support Hannah.
I am going to continue to work on comprehension strategies to help expand her understanding of and beyond the text. I am also looking for ways to keep things fun and interesting for Hannah since she has expressed not much interest in reading. I believe I have found an interesting text, just ways to make comprehension activities more interesting or fun for Hannah!
so, I've finally figured out how to use the blog (hence my late comment to this post)! I guess I've learned what I need to work on...my lack of knowledge when it comes to technology!!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, week two went well for me. I'm really enjoying having one student, and being able to adjust lessons as I go to meet her needs. I plan out the lessons ahead of time, but like the flexibility of having her choose which activities she'd like to do first, etc. She enjoys this sense of ownership, and it seems to help her on days when she is a bit nervous to work.
I was wondering...has anyone done Brain Gym with their practicum students? My student does Brain Gym every day, and it is something I intend on incorporating into my daily lessons with her. She was excited that it was something she knew more about than I do, and I made it an opportunity for her to teach me! I've read the research, as well as tried out Brain Gym with other students I've taught in the past. It is interesting to see how some simple stretches and warm up activities have proven benefits when it comes to learning and educational settings!
Laura, maybe you could share some of this with the group. If anyone hasn't heard about Brain Gym, it would probably be interesting.
ReplyDelete