March 13, 2007 Field Advisory
At the Field Advisory on March 13 everyone seemed interested in making connections: between words when building vocabulary as well as between educators when co-teaching.
CPS teacher Rosie Avila talked about building vocabulary by connecting target words to their synonyms and through real-world logos. Using logos not only helps students to recognize words they see everyday but the advertisement itself acts as context for comprehending the meaning of words. Fellow educator Jennifer Clayton discussed social scripting by showing photographs of social interactions and having students explain the image, including a detailed description of what is most likely being said by the people in the photos.
 Jennifer teaches students to engage in conversations around photographs such as this one. |
 Amberlee shared a Big Mack button which she has customized to teach vocabulary to students with lower-incidence disabilities. |
Dave Rench, on the other hand, wanted to encourage pre-service and new teachers to remember to be versatile in their methods. He asked the group to think of four activities they could use to teach sight words and after hearing all the suggestions concluded that they were all good ideas that could and should be used repeatedly. His point was that a teacher must find different ways to present material using different modalities (flashcards, spelling words with play-doh, scavenger hunts for words in the community, etc) all the time rather than relying on one consistently.
Dave develops multiple approaches to teaching the same content in order to best reach a variety of different kinds of learners.
UIC student issues were diverse, and the liveliest discussion focused on how a special education teacher can find his/her place while co-teaching in an inclusive classroom. UIC students felt concerned that they had no sense of their role in the classroom; they complained that pupils often favor one teacher over the other and that they often hear “Well the other teacher said yes”—all these situations are part of negotiating clear roles within the classroom. CPS partners empathized and responded by talking about the importance of open and regular communication with one’s co-teacher before, during, and after the school day. They emphasized talking through the roles each person will play in class, how they will coordinate handling student questions and conflicts, and how they will respond if students question their mutual authority.
Diane speaks with CPS Partner teachers about selecting
artifacts for April's field advisory.
