Weekly Math Report & Reflection Week #12

     This is my final blog post for math.  Again, the experience is bittersweet.  As I reflect about my experiences in class, I have to say that I cannot believe that the semester is almost over.  At the beginning, I was a little nervous about blogging and the Math Refresher Course.  Guess what?  I survived both.

     Weekly blogging about math was very beneficial.  Not only did I document new tips, short cut tricks, strategies, resources, and suggestions to make math meaningful, I expressed my ideas that helped me gain confidence and learn about myself as a mathematics learner.

     As a pre-service teacher, I learned how to develop a working knowledge and understanding of school mathematics to pass onto my students.  I accessed the Ontario Curriculum for Mathematics and became familiar with the overall and specific expectations for different grade levels in the five strands.  Along with this understanding came the mathematical processes that support effective learning.

Taken December 1st, 2016


     Since there is a stigma that mathematics is complicated and many people have a fixed mindset that they are bad at math, I liked how Miss Bunz offered interactive, fun math activities weekly to offset the negativity.  It gave me hope that I could do the same with my students.  I learned that it is important to connect math problems to daily applications and meaningful life experiences.  This tricks students to solve mathematical problems without realizing that they did math.

     English Language Learners (ELLs) are a growing population in Canada.  I appreciated the considerations that are needed to support such students.  Not only did the textbook provide some great strategies, but so did my Week 9 class notes.

     The key is that traditional teaching of math can shut down a lot of students. This happens often when teaching algebra. Miss Bunz advised us about providing activities without using the word “algebra.” The student will not consciously think that they are bad at algebra and cannot do it. It helps students understand the big ideas of this strand.

     I have tucked away all the advice and great ideas from my peers’ presentations.   Everyone seemed super supportive in this part of my weekly class.  Now, it is time for me to put everything together for my students to understand the “Big Ideas”.  I am confident that I have achieved all the learning objectives for 8P24 that included my first geometric lesson plan for a Grade 4 class.  I have to admit that it was frustrating at times and a lot to consider, but this is the beginning of many mathematical lesson plans.  I only hope to get better to satisfy the needs of every one of my students.

Check out this website for the top 10 best free math resources

Thanks Miss Bunz!

Weekly Math Report & Reflection Week #11

     The semester and math classes are winding down. This week’s class focused on assessment for the 21st century and two math activities; Mental Math Relay and Egg Hunt.  As a pre-service teacher, I am aware now that assessment’s main purpose is to improve student learning and must benefit all.  I feel that I had an “aha moment” of the three approaches; assessment for, of and as learning when my partner and I prepared a geometry lesson plan for Grade 4 students.  This is what I know:


Assessment serves different purposes at different times.

Photo take Friday November 25.




Assessment FOR learning (formative & diagnostic assessments)

• used to determine student progress
• teachers can adjust learning to meet the needs of the student and provide descriptive feedback
• includes anecdotal notes, practice assignments
• ongoing and tied to learning outcomes

Assessment OF learning (summative)

• is the use of a task or an activity to measure, the teacher records and reports on a student's level of achievement
• occurs at the end of a unit or the year
• quizzes, end of unit tests, and portfolios are a few examples.

Assessment AS learning (self-assessment)

• allows students to use assessment to further their own learning
• students can reflect on their own learning and set personal goals
• can include journals, self-assessment checklists and rubrics
• ongoing and tied to learning outcomes

Photo take Friday November 25.



      Miss Bunz provided a variety of rubrics and shared some great tips for creating these guidelines. The main idea is to use qualifiers to help determine the level of work and divide the work into the categories; knowledge, thinking, communication, and application.  When creating a rubric, the teacher just alters the achievement chart.  An example of a rubric for a Grade 8 Geometry and Spatial Sense lesson was provided as a resource.  In addition to this resource, we explored others to further develop our understanding of assessment.  Have a look here.

     We started the class activities with a Mental Math Relay game.  I found it engaging, fun and it involves team work and speed.  These types of activities are a great way for students to practice mental math and math facts.  Again, the theme is how to make math meaningful and this strategy would work in the classroom.  Solving questions mentally helps to force a student to focus on the relationships between numbers and the effect of number operations. Mental math strategies are useful in everyday life too. (Small, 2013 p. 31).

     The Egg Hunt activity is a good way for students to problem solve, add, collaborate and communicate with a partner.  It is introduced at Easter time and I think that students love themed games and activities.  For mathematical Easter Egg Hunt, my partner and I had to figure out the best route from St. Catharines to collect the most eggs while we travelled throughout Ontario towns.   Each city has a different number of eggs hidden.  Our trip could only be a total distance of 4000 km or less and we had to end our hunt in St. Catharines. That was the challenging part.  We were given a map and a list of the cities with their corresponding number of eggs as a visual and a route planner sheet for our calculations.  We found 52 eggs, but it took us many times to reach this.  The highest score was 58 eggs out of 75.  Although this game is competitive, it is interactive enough to use in my classroom.  The Egg Hunt activity can be extended in a few ways to promote critical thinking.  I like that it provides opportunities for students to practice math without realizing that is the underlying goal.

     This week’s class about assessment and its activities are important for me.  It is evident that I must ensure that assessment benefits all students and my assessment practices should be efficient and effective.  As a pre-service teacher, this is a tall order, but I will try.  Entertaining, stimulating activities deepen student engagement and this represents another goal of mine.

Thanks for reading!


References:

Small, M. (2013). Third Edition Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students, K-8. United States:      Nelson Education

Literacy Blog #4 - Oral Communication Strand

     As I write my final blog for this class and as the semester winds down, I have heard from other teacher candidates that they cannot believe all the resources available for teaching in today’s world. Consider this course as an example.   We have access to traditional print, the Language curriculum, online repositories of websites, educational blogs, databases and media forms such as webcasts, videos, podcasts, and digital apps.  All of these resources are at our fingertips to inform our literacy teaching and benefit our future students.  For the strand of oral communication, we explored audio resources for teaching and critically analyzed an article about the concept of debating in the middle curriculum.

JasonSWrench. (December 25, 2009). Transactional model of communication [Online image]

     Retrieved 

     from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication#/media/File:Transactional_comm_model.jpg

     The objective is for us to explore the resources and find ways to teach so that education is more engaging for the students.  Literacy, language and the language curriculum is very important.  In the curriculum introduction, it states that literacy is more than reading or writing- it is about how to communicate in society.  It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language and culture (Ontario Curriculum, 2006).  Understandably, my purpose is to provide various opportunities for students to listen and talk and engage in various oral activities to satisfy the three overall expectations in this strand; Students will:

1. listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes;

2. use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes;

3. reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations.

     Before I suggest a resource for oral communication I want to say that I never considered listening as an important skill.  I was wrong!   In fact, it is a skill that we use more than reading, writing or speaking.  Listening is social, metacognitive, it makes everyone better thinkers, speakers and writers. Students listen when they are interested and there are many activities to encourage listening comprehension and creating a supportive listening classroom.

     One resource that I think would be educational for students in Grade 5 and up is Edutopia.  This comprehensive website is part of a movement to transform education and a division of the George Lucas Educational foundation.  Yes, George Lucas, the filmmaker of Star Wars.  The story is that Lucas was curious and creative, but at school he was bored.  When he became a father, he felt that schools did not engage students or inspire them to become active, critical thinking, or lifelong learners.  So, he invested and created the Foundation to identify and spread innovative approaches to helping K-12 students learn more effectively.

Joi Ito. (May 31, 2007). George Lucas [Online image] Retrieved from

     https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Lucas.jpg 

     Edutopia emphasizes seven strategies; project-based learning, comprehensive assessment, integrated studies, social and emotional learning, educational leadership, teacher development and technology integration.  People share tips, strategies, ideas and collaborate with others who are passionate about improving schools.  The website offers assorted resources; videos, articles, blogs, and teaching tips for topics A-Z.   Edutopia has a strong following on Twitter, Facebook and has its own YouTube channel.

     I came across a blog on the website by Rebecca Alber an Edutopia Consulting Online Editor.  This resource is useful for teachers.  The title caught my eye: Say What? 5 Ways to Get Students to Listen. In earlier years, Alber was a high school English teacher and she confesses to practicing other literacy skills; reading, writing, and speaking.  She neglected listening. In her opinion, in order to be prepared for post -secondary education and the outside world, listening is the literacy skill that needs to be perfected.   Especially since listening plays a huge role in collaboration and communication, two of the four C’s of 21st century learning.

     Alber offers five strategies to help students become better listeners.  Her tactics encourage a deeper level of listening and include student accountability.



Strategy #1: Say it Once:

Repeating ourselves in the classroom will produce lazy listening in students.  If students are accustomed to hearing instructions twice, three times, and even four times, listening the first time around becomes unnecessary.  Establish that you are a teacher who rarely repeats instructions and this will perk up ears. For those who forgot to listen, advise them to, "ask three, then ask."


Strategy #2: Turn and Talk:

To inspire active listening in students, give them a listening task, "I'm going to describe the process of _________.   Pause and ask students to turn to a partner and explain to them what you heard."   Ask students to take turns talking each time.  Pause and walk around observing their conversations.  Check for understanding.



Strategy #3: Student Hand Signals:

Use a non-verbal signal, a fantastic tool for sharpening listening skills. Say, "I'm going to read a former president's statement about why he believes war is sometimes necessary.  When I'm finished, share your opinion by holding up one finger if you agree, two fingers if you disagree, and three fingers if you are undecided or if you have a question."   This strategy allows whole-class participation and response.  For those who are shy, this tactic gives them a "voice."

Watch how hand signals encourage active listening in a fifth-grade classroom.



Strategy #4: Pay Attention, Pause, Paraphrase

Children need structured opportunities to restrain themselves from speaking in order to keep their attention on listening, especially when working in groups. Try this:

1.  When students talk in small groups, assign one speaker at a time.

2.  Ask all others to listen fully to whoever is speaking and to avoid voicing a response while the other person talks. Tell them to listen.

3.  When the person stops talking, the other takes a breath before he/she speaks and then paraphrases something the partner just said: "You believe that...." "You aren't sure if...."

4.  After paraphrasing the partner, he/she can then follow that with an "I" statement: "I see what you mean..., I'm not sure I agree...”

Ask a couple of students to model this strategy so students can see this in action.


Strategy #5: Creating Questions

If students are listening to a debate, watching a documentary, or hearing a story read aloud, break it up by stopping a few times and having students write a question or two about what they just heard. This way, students actively listen for any confusion or inattentiveness they may have -- this takes concentration.

Alber suggests that good listeners make eye contact, show interest and restrain from cutting others off in a conversation.   Lastly, she offers some motivating words; “If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.”

Look at the Language Curriculum documents (2006) here

I think that Edutopia provides many solid resources that are appropriate for oral communication instruction for students in Grade 5 that would fulfill the required specific expectations.  For example, the blog’s strategies could help students listen to understand and satisfy its nine components.

There are many cool ways to encourage listening comprehension in students.   I would like to incorporate some of these tasks and activities in my classroom.  More importantly, I will model good listening behaviour.

Ilmicrofono Oggiono. (Janurary 29, 2014). Students-in-class-with-teacher-reading [Online 

     image] Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/115089924@N02/12212474014


References:

Alber, R. (2016). Say What? 5 Ways to Get Students to Listen. Retrieved from 
     https://edutopia.org/blog/five-listening-strategies-rebecca-alber

Ministry of Education. (2006). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8 language. Retrieved from 
     http://www.edu.gov.on.ca

Weekly Report and Reflection #10

     Week ten's class activities, readings and presentations discussed data management and probability, a very important strand in elementary mathematics.  In my opinion, data collection, organization and analysis prepares students for living and working in our world that is filled with information.  It is everywhere; graphs, statistics, trends, estimates, opinion polls, and results in research just to name a few.  My blog will mostly concentrate on the presentations because they really stood out for me and were organized around two of the big ideas in mathematics for this strand; collection and organization of data and probability.

Smallman12q. (June 28, 2012). Truncated Bar Graph [Online image] Retrieved from 

     https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Truncated_Bar_Graph.svg

     First, I want to say that I liked how Miss Bunz provided us with the curriculum breakdowns for Grades 4-6 to include; collection and data organization, data relationships and probability.  I will refer to this resource before my practicum and make notes of the valuable teaching tips.  Consider this suggestion, students mix up variations of bar graphs.  It is beneficial to help students understand that there is a difference in the way that bar graphs and histograms are drawn.  The bars in bar graphs are usually spaced apart and have more width compared to histograms.  Another difference that I read about: bar graphs display “categorical data” and histograms present “continuous data”.  This new knowledge will help me explain mathematical concepts better so that my students gain a deeper understanding of managing data.

     The two presenters did a great job of teaching graphing of data and probability in Friday's class.  Right off the bat, Raychel encouraged us to complete jumping jacks for graphing purposes.  We collected our primary data which included the number of jumping jacks that we could perform in 20 seconds.  The class particpants' results were tallied and recorded on the board.  A chart provided the number of intervals that ranged from 0-15, 15-30, 30-45, and 45+ jumping jacks and number of people.  Considering this information, we plotted our data on bar graphs.  This was a good way to get a visual of everyone's  performance.  Visualization of concrete graph materials helps make this strand's concepts meaningful for students.  Most class members completed 15-30 jumping jacks in 20 seconds.  I liked how Raychel explained that if we had more time, an extension to this activity would be to use a leaf graph to display data.  Looking at the overall and specific expectations for Grade 4 students, it made sense that this was the target group for this activity.  I am a Physical Education graduate and I appreciated the fact that Raychel tried to get everyone to participate in physical activity and incorporated exercise into the lesson.  The textbook states that in all grades, but especially in the early years, it is important that students choose the topics about which they collect and display data (Small, 2006).  Most students love jumping jacks and this creative activity would make math learning more enjoyable.

     The reality is that we are bombarded with data daily.  However, it is important and managing it allows us to;  organize information, understand better, validate the results of surveys, research,  draw conclusion, see it all in a glance and make decisions.  When data is displayed for students visually or in a table or chart, they can analyze it to look for patterns, make predictions, make comparisons,  and draw inferences ( Small, 2013).

      Michael's presentation's lesson featured probability and was set up for a Grade 4 class also.   He reviewed the importance of connecting probability and data management to real life problems which make, it more relevant to students, and I could not agree more.  In his powerpoint, Michael was clear about the definition of probability and his lesson hand-out was significant.  For the experiment, groups were assigned different hands-on experiences (using a deck of cards, bouncing a ball into a cup, or flipping a coin) and provided with a probability line, a pictorial model.  This tool helps students describe and compare the likelihood  of events.  Our group conducted an experiment by forming a question, making a prediction, and bouncing a ball into the cup.  For some individuals this task was easier to do, while for others it was a little harder.  What did we learn?  Experimental probability is calculated using experiments and asks a clear question.   Using this data, students can make reasonable conclusions about the probability of various outcomes.  The number of trials affects the accuracy of the results of a probability experiment; a large representative sample provides more consistent results.  

Greene, Steaphan. (December 20, 2008). Dice-Icon [Online image' Retrieved from 

     https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2-Dice-Icon.svg

     Michael emphasized a fact and I filed it away as a consideration for teaching in my Grade 4 practicum when the students are learning this strand.  When Grade 4 students try and find the probabilities associated with tossing a coin, they do not understand that there is an equal chance (50/50) of getting heads or tails.  In the Guide to Effective Instruction in Mathematics Data Management and Probability Grades 4-6,  it states that to focus on this fact, it is important to guide discussion so that students in this grade know that for a single coin; there are 2 possible outcomes of a toss: H or T and each outcome is equally likely (pg 59).

        Finally, I would like everyone reading my blog to consider taking a look at the common errors and misconceptions of data on pages 608-612 and those for probability on pages 639-640 in our textbook.  As I have said in my other blog, this knowledge and the suggested strategies will positively help us and our students.   It may be difficult to find the time and explain sources of errors especially when other students need our attention, but good teaching practices expose them and corrects them. 

Joe The Goat Farmer. (November 10, 2015). Beware of These 4 Common Content Marketing 

     Misconceptions [Online image] Retrieved 

     from https://www.flickr.com/photos/132604339@N03/22907148142

References:

Guide to Effective Instruction in Mathematics Data Management and Probability Grades 4-6. (2008).
     Retrieved from
     http://eworkshop.on.ca/edu/resources/guides/Guide_Data_Management_Probability_456.pdf

   
Ministry of Education. (2005). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8 mathematics.  

     Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math18curr.pdf

Small, M. (2013). Third Edition Making Math Meaningful to Canadian students, K-8. United States:
     Nelson Education

Weekly Report and Reflection #9

     This week’s online class, video presentations, and readings discussed the nature of measurement with a focus on length and area.  I really enjoyed the videos by Kursten and Casey.  Their activities had peers estimate and compare measurements of magazine pictures (largest area to smallest area) and handprint tracings on grid paper with 1/2 centimeter proportions.  I thought that their target grade levels were appropriate for the creative activities and addressed all learners (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic).  The lessons were inclusive and engaging within a classroom.  Kids love hands-on activities because it makes learning math fun and kids are naturally curious about measurement. I think that there could be a lot of questions to explore with students when measuring area.

Simon A. Eugster. (September 25, 2009). A tape measure [Online image] Retrieved   

     from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tape_measure_colored.jpeg

     In particular, I liked how Kursten used magazine pictures to emphasize the definition/comparison stage of area, an important stage of introducing area concepts.  This is a great idea because students are familiar with magazines and it helps with spatial reasoning.  Within the reading, other everyday activities are highlighted to do this; trace shoeprints and compare to other students, use a computer drawing programs to create two different rectangles that look similar and then print the rectangles and compare to see which one is larger.

     A tip for teaching measurement within the textbook is to begin with a definition/comparison stage followed by a stage involving nonstandard units, then standard units.  Problem solving should be a part of all the stages.  Miss Bunz’s first slide validates this tip of the three stages. 

     This week’s online class provided us with measurement concepts for Grades 3-8.  I am sure that this information will be useful as a resource in our practicums and lesson planning.  Since my placement is Grade 4, I was very interested in this slide.  My Associate Teacher has presented her students with problem solving questions involving money and time intervals.  She has stressed to me that reading an analogue clock and figuring out money lessons come up more quickly in the math program compared to measuring area, length, perimeter, and probability.  Most students have manipulated money since Grade 1 because they are used to it in their worlds.  Looking at the concepts, students in this grade should be able to read time. In fact, I have been told that students in this grade can relate units of time and should be able to tell time to the nearest five minutes.  I know that in this blog, I am getting away from measurement of area and perimeter, but my point is that there is a method to the madness of teaching.  Any strategies help.

Pearce, Kyle. (February 22, 2015). Measurement - Area & Perimeter of a Rectangle Using Jars of 

     Hot Peppers [Online image] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8uXUIOKGYA

     It was very helpful to read and listen to Miss Bunz’s study of Evaluating and Integrating Digital Tools into the 21st Century Elementary Mathematics classroom. My sister received her Masters in Community Health and practiced presenting her study on childhood obesity a thousand times to us.  I understand the time and commitment that goes into developing a thesis.  I mean nine pages of just references.  That is a lot of research.  So far, a big emphasis in our program is using technology in the classroom to positively impact student achievement and engagement.  I was curious to see the study’s information and was not disappointed.  I liked how Stage 6 emphasized that technology should not take away from the pedagogical decisions that we make.  Great job, Miss Bunz!  

Harvard Law Record. (September 18, 2009). Scavenger Hunt [Online image] Retrieved from

     https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1L-LLM_Scavenger_Hunt_(3952858025).jpg

     A favourite part of mine in the readings are the common errors and misconceptions with suggested strategies.  This chapter did not disappoint.  I was not surprised with some of the ones mentioned for calculating perimeter and area; ruler placement, comparing lengths that do not align, confusing length with area, multiplying length X width for a non-rectangle.  As future teachers, this knowledge is important for us to note the errors and effectively address them to correct faulty thinking of math.  We have to review student understanding and provide learning opportunities for students to show and support their reasoning.  

     Week nine did not disappoint me.  Instruction of measurement requires careful planning, hands-on activities to use it, and no assumptions.  

Good Night!  

P.S. I can be very competitive and like Scavenger Hunts.  This is a wide-open strategy to excite students to practice math without realizing it.

Literacy Blog #3- Writing Strand

     As I progress through this Language Arts class, I have learned that writing is a form of communication that provides students with powerful opportunities to learn about themselves and their connections to the world.  It is a way that students organize their thoughts, remember information, solve problems, reflect on perspectives, and learn how to communicate effectively (Ontario Curriculum, 2006).  I have explored ways to teach writing effectively so that students find it engaging and meaningful.  Some of the resources include; Twitter, Pinterest, websites, blogs, literacy apps, the Language curriculum document, and an article about ways to gradually release responsibility to students writing any genre.  Obviously, it is my goal to make use of the suggestions and provide opportunities to help strengthen students’ confidence, comprehension, and competence in their writing.

North.jvta. (February 13, 2014). Find your voice. express yourself. creative writing [Online image]
Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Find_your_voice._express_yourself._creative_writing..jpg

      The Ontario Curriculum (2006) suggests writing is a complex process that involves a range of skills and tasks.  Students need to become disciplined thinkers in order to communicate their ideas clearly.  This really leaves an impression with me.  I realize that the writing process has many steps to it and is directly related to reading in many ways.  It is important that I provide meaningful writing opportunities for students to express their ideas and feelings in varied forms individually and with others.

     There are many resources out there to benefit students, teachers, and parents to help children build strong writing skills.  One resource that I think has educational value and could be engaging for learners in Grades 4 and up would be SweetSearch, a powerful search engine created for students.  The data base has over 35,000 reliable pre-screened websites that have been evaluated and approved.  SweetSearch is owned by Dulcinea Media, a company that is committed to supplying students with safe and accurate websites that educators have approved.  The site can be used as a resource in any subject and Its collection of primary sources is easy to locate.  SweetSearch is free and powered by Google.

    SweetSearch has many ideas for teaching writing.  This includes strategies to fire up hesitant writers and guide the writing process.  It also shows us how blogging can improve writing, provides apps, fun activities, and letter examples.  A video of using sensory details to improve narrative writing and establishing an email dialogue between students from different schools are suggested.  Finally, strategies like writing workshops to help students ask questions about their writing. 

Szlosek, Erica. (February 26, 2013). Afro American children sweet girl [Online image] Retrieved   

     from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afro_American_children_sweet_girl.jpg

     I like this resource because of its collection of web-links referred to Sweetsites.  This includes a selection of useful web resources for classrooms that are accessible.  There is a section of teacher resources to improve writing instruction.  I scanned some of the writing lessons.  Printing Press helps students create newspapers, brochures, and flyers.  Story Map is an interactive lesson that includes a set of graphic organizers designed to help students in pre-writing activities and post reading activities.  Upon finishing, the students can print their final versions for feedback and assessment.

timlewisnm. (November 30, 2009). Writing santa [Online image] Retrieved from 

     https://www.flickr.com/photos/gozalewis/4151707061

    There is a similar section for students.  Fact Monster provides grammar and spelling guides for nouns, adverbs, capitalization, punctuation, and sentences just to name a few.  WritingFix has 14 word games that work to inspire writing.  There are interactive writing prompts for different grades.  Within this site are suggestions for narrative, persuasive, and creative writing, pen pal letters, and poetry.  This website engages students with resources that facilitate 21^st century learning.

For Grades 4-6, within the writing strand, there are four expectations that include: Students will:

1.     generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience;

2.     draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience;

3.     use editing, proofreading, and publishing skills and strategies, and knowledge of language conventions, to correct errors, refine expression, and present their work effectively;

4.     reflect on and identify their strengths as writers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful at different stages in the writing process.

More information within the language curriculum can be found here:

     Looking at the Language Curriculum documents (2006), I think that the SweetSearch website is a great source for learning in the writing strand and helping students in Grades 4 and up to satisfy the expectations.  The site offers a variety of elements of effective writing (ideas, word choices, language conventions) and stages of the recursive writing process (planning for writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing) that would satisfy the overall expectations. 

     The website provides many writing forms that are appropriate for instruction in Grades 4 and up that would fulfill the specific expectations for students.  For example, students can consider what type of writing (poetry, narrative, descriptive) is assigned and then explore what will make it effective.

Willitts, Philippa. (May 5, 2008). Dear diary [Online image] Retrieved from
     https://www.flickr.com/photos/hippie/2475835909

     More importantly, I see a link to Reading Rockets (2015) of recommendations to teach elementary school students to be effective writers that I will consider in my Grade 4 practicum:

• provide daily time for students to write and receive feedback
•  teach students the writing process
•  teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes
• gradually release the writing responsibility from a teacher to the student
• guide students to select and use appropriate writing strategies
• teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, and sentence construction
•  create an engaged community of writers
•  Help students find an audience for the writing task

Scott, Julie. (June 21, 2014). Let Your Words Flow Button [Online image] Retrieved from

     https://www.flickr.com/photos/juliejordanscott/14475654555

     Although there are many effective tools to build writing skills, I will encourage my students in Grade four to use SweetSearch. This search engine will help them be better prepared as writers for the world outside of school. I would like to make writing enjoyable. Since it is important to me to make writing more fun and exciting, I will make use of this resource that is relevant for the 21st Century classroom. Some of the writing tasks that I could offer students to express themselves; pen pal letters, prepare formal reports/ book reports, blogging, communicate via email, and correspond with various audiences. Finally, a teaching tip from this strand: Students are more likely to enjoy writing when they understand the value of communication and can share ideas they care about (Portico Books, 2010).

References:

Grammar and More. (2010). Top 10 tips for teaching writing. Retrieved from   
     www.grammarandmore.com/about/portico.htm

Ministry of Education. (2006). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8 language. Retrieved from 
     http://www.edu.gov.on.ca 

Reading Rockets, (2015). Teaching elementary school students to be effective writers.  Retrieved 
     from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-elementary-school-students-be-effective-
     writers

SweetSearch, (2010) SweetSearch: More than a free search engine for k12 education! Retrieved from
     https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/sweetsearch-more-than-a-free-sech-engine-
     fork12-education/