Individualism...is it bad?

As I get further along in my practicum, an issue in teaching reading comprehenstion to adolescents presents itself to me over and over in the classroom. In previous education classes we're stressed how all students are different: all students learn differently, study differently, understand things differently. We've talked about how we can try to cater to different learners - visual, audio, kinisthetic. But all of this still seems to barely have an effect on the fact that, especially in the ELL classroom I'm helping out in, every student is at a much different knowledge level then the other.

How do you cater to every student's needs in the classroom?

Even yesterday at practicum, we were doing a root word activity: the one where you write the root at the bottom of a picture of a tree and then use different suffixes and prefixes to create words for the branches. The student I was supervising, although understanding the concept of what a root word was, was unable to figure out how to construct new word, even with both the teacher and I trying to explain it to him. Even when using the dictionary for help, he still failed to spell things correctly, or know the definitions.

Scenes like this are discouraging, especially when you look around and realize that each student is having a different kind of problem with the assignment, and some have already completed it no problem. So, once again, my question for you is this: how can you help students individually in the classroom?

Too Much Technology?

The first day of praticum, I was presented with something I had never seen before: an iPod cart. Each kid got to use their own iPod Touch to go through prefix flashcards. The first thought that crossed my mind was that this was pretty slick - students get to mix education with technology that they would usually associate with fun. Of course it seemed like a good idea!

The more time that passed using the iPods, however, the more I saw flaws in this idea. There were other applications on the iPods, so we were constantly telling the students to exit out of games and go back to the flashcard application. There were way too many distractions. Also, when I returned to South two days later, I heard that one of the iPods had been stolen that day, and was still missing.

Maybe this is one of those instances where the old is more practical than the new. Regular paper flashcards do the same job as the iPod one, without the distractions, and without the temptation of being stolen.

Web English Teacher

While browsing the internet for vocabulary teaching tips, I came across a website made especially for English teachers, which is perfect for me. You can find this website at http://www.webenglishteacher.com/. The statement of the website is as follows: "Web English Teacher presents the best of K-12 English Language Arts teaching resources: lesson plans, videos, e-texts, technology integration, crtiticsm, and classroom activities."

What I liked most about this website is that it provides plenty of other links to helpful sites dealing with vocabulary (or other aspects of the English classroom that an ELA teacher might find usefull). The variety is appreciated because most articles only reviewed one or two techniques, where this website presents the reader with plenty of different options to choose from when it comes to teaching vocabulary.

Important Guidelines

After reading through multiple rules written by multiple bloggers, I've chosen a few that I feel should be followed by everyone:

1. As stated in Blog and Wiki Etiquette: "Thou shall stick to the subject at hand." I know I mentioned this in my first entry. Don't get caught up in tangents and personal subjects. Stay on task and stay focussed. This could also help to keep the entries shorter.
2. In the AHS Blogging Policy article, it states that "The use of blogs is considered an extension of your classroom." I thought this rule was good at summing up a lot of the other ones. It implies that anything NOT appropriate in a classroom is also not appropriate on your blog. Inappropriate language, topics, comments, etc. are all a no go. Also, it encourages propper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
3. This one is very important and was repeated in many blogs: don't share personal information. We all know that, even though a blog may be created for a certain audience, anyone can access it. Putting up personal details could be dangerous.

Overall, the guidelines seem pretty straightfoward and easy to follow. They will make it easy for anyone to have a successful blog.