Elementary Education Capstone

Robyn Johnston, 2015

Nice to meet you, I’m Robyn!Here’s a picture of me in my “mobile office”.

I spend a lot of time traveling, exploring, learning

and being on adventures. I live in a small town,

35 miles south of North Platte, NE.

I have three fantastic kiddos and an excellent dog!

I love to write, journal, walk and read.

Maywood Public SchoolP-12 School

*Library media specialist/technology coordinator

*Currently teaching Reading Mastery, 6th grade Reading, 7th-8th Library Skills

*Mission Statement:

Striving for Excellence, Achieving Success

Introducing the 6th grade Students

My Creative Collaborators

Reading & Critical Thinking

“He that loves reading has everything within his reach.” ~William Godwin

Lesson Objectives:

*Identify the author’s purpose for March of The Penguins essay.

*Identify key points to write a summary of the essay.

*Analyze and evaluate the roles of the penguin parents.

Reading & Critical Thinking

This lesson featured learning opportunities for students to annotate text, determine main idea and supporting details and answer the critical thinking question:

After reading the essay, students will evaluate the question, “Which penguin parent has the toughest job?”

The answer: Students decided neither parent hasit very easy! They came to the conclusion that dad penguins work harder than other male species and they should have a special award for sitting on the eggs in such cold weather!

Writing/Communication & Collaboration“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” ~E.L. Doctorow

Lesson objectives:

*Identify what a blog is.

*Compare and contrast different blog examples.

* Identify that blog writing is based on a theme, main idea, supporting detail and visual element.

*Practice writing a blog post.

Writing/Communication &Collaboration

Objectives Continued:

*Edit/revise a blog post.

*Submit a theme-based blog post.

*Publish a blog post on Padlet.

Why Blogging? Teaches:

○ Organization○ Must stick to a theme○ Has to identify main idea and details○ Writing for a purpose○ Puts research and facts into practice○ Allows expanded creativity○ Helps students locate, strengthen and exercise their voices○ Creates platform for communication and collaboration○ Strengthens writing skills ○ Incorporates Digital Literacy/Technology○ Highlights students interest and allows them to share○ It is FUN!

Great minds….collaborate!……...working together in small groups to identify the author’s purpose.

Creativity Counts

“As human beings, we are the only organisms that create for the sheer stupid pleasure of doing so. Whether it's laying out a garden, composing a new tune on the piano, writing a bit of poetry, manipulating a digital photo, redecorating a room, or inventing a new chili recipe - we are happiest when we are creating.” ~Gary Hamel

Digital Literacy & Creativity Objectives:*Write themselves into the story, by designing a character.

*Use Digital Tools such as Google Docs, Padlet and Trading Card Creator to showcase writing samples and visuals.

*Design/Construct/Build three dimensional character models.

Meet the Characters *Students wrote extended chapters, based on the novels they are reading.

*Each student created a three-dimensional characters to extend the story.

***Students that typically turned in homework late were actually working on this project at home and at school, they were genuinely excited!

Characters + Writing Samples

*Characters had to be

“made from scratch”

Novel Additions:

http://padlet.com/robyn_johnston2/dmymw5l84a8u

“Building Characters”

Digital Tools & Applications Google Docs

Trading Card Creator

Padlet

Big Ah-ha Moments!

*See the strengths, gifts, traits, talents and abilities that are already within your students.

*Find their “light” and connect to it.

*Let some activities be for the creative experience, leave spelling, grammar, punctuation slide (for just a bit) and watch as students begin to trust themselves and you.

Reflection of Professional Journey● Helped expand my awareness of professional information, resources, ideas

and strategies. ● Brought focus to target student and struggling students.● Increased the need to focus on/utilize student strengths.● Created an environment of safety and trust.● Strengthened the importance of continual inclusion of inquiry questions.● Opportunities to strengthen my teaching skills and professional practice.● Fostered appreciation for students, met them where they were and allowed

opportunities to showcase and share creative expressions.

Points of Learning

*Focus on student ability and take small, targeted steps to continually build these.

*Utilize technology and applications to increase class participation.

*Include collaboration to decrease anxiety “of having to do it all”.

*Continually review to strengthen new skills (especially in writing).

*Incorporate creativity to expand student interest and personal skills.

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where we’re headed next