EDSS 555: SDAIE Strategy

SDAIE Strategy
This a a blog about a Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) that I observed while at my school site. Although it is not within an English classroom it proves to be beneficial in a Math class with students who need more direction.

Graphic Organizer

In an Applied Geometry class I the students were learning about lines. Ms. Bailey started this particular lesson by explaining to them that she realizes some of the definitions are a challenge to remember. She went on to say that there is a graphic organizer that can help them remember those definitions. She asked them to choose two of the following words: collinear, skew lines, coplanar and opposite ray. She used the word “intersecting lines” as an example, to show students how to complete the graphic organizer, which resembles the Frayer Model. There are four boxes surrounding an oval, at the center where the word that is being defined should go. The top left box is the definition in your own words, the top right box where a label or diagram should go, the bottom right box defines the word using symbols, and the bottom left box is where a drawing or a real world picture would go. She provided the students sheets of paper with the graphic organizer in place. She walked around the room to make sure everyone was on task and understood the directions.

EDSS 555: Social Injustice

Injustice
Today's blog is about an injustice that I have seen. 

A History of Western Society - AP Euro Textbook 

I found it in injustice that AP Euro students are not able to check out their textbook because there are not enough books for all the students in the program. The textbooks are 7th edition and were last printed in 2003, soon to be a decade out of print, so it has become a challenge to find these books. Recently they found some textbooks, somewhere in the Mid-West. It cost about $15 to rebind these books. Currently the district does not allocate monies for AP/IB programs, the school site must pay for it through their funds. I didn't know about this, I really hope there is a way to fix this. I hope they can implement a plan to put a little bit of money aside for future textbooks for these programs. 

EDSS 521: Literacy Survey

Student Questionnaire
Today's entry is about a questionnaire I conducted in class to find out more about the students literacy.

I conducted a student questionnaire in my Spanish I class of 39 students. I wanted to get feedback from how I was teaching, getting to know their likes, what activities they are involved in as well as if they liked to read. I did open ended questions in the hope they would write sentences. The students were are asked about their least favorite subject; 5-English, 11-History, 18-Math, 3-PE, 1-Lab Bio, 1-AP Chem. Some of their answers had spelling mistakes, some responses were in complete sentences while others with one or two words. Some expressed that they didn't like English because they struggled with reading. I noticed that the first four questions dealing with school were mostly short answers. With the rest of the questions most students wrote more. The last question I asked, "Anything else you would like to share?", I received varied responses. Many were left blank or had 'no', although a handful  wrote about their favorite color, other likes and about their families.

I didn't expect to have full length answers to some questions. I primarily wrote the questionnaire to see how well there English writing skills were and how comfortable they felt expressing themselves on paper. I wanted to know this because learning a new language is very difficult and I wanted to see at what level the students were performing. Some students really opened up about the things they wanted to share with us teachers. I came away knowing more about the students. Many students are very involved in school or community activities. I also asked what TV shows they liked because I am hoping to find some clips of them in Spanish so they see some differences. I am very glad I did this questionnaire. I hope to do another one halfway through the semester with questions about Spanish language and their literacy habits; to see if they have changed. 

Blank Sample of Student Questionnaire That Was Given To Students