D & Z Ch. 5 and 8

I regret renting this book and not purchasing it because the strategies in chapter 5 are super helpful and is the perfect go to when planning lessons and introducing a new unit that may have difficult content. The strategies are all aligned to the Common Core Standards which is also helpful. For history, I particularly liked front loading with images post-it response notes (something totally new) exit slips and admit slips and tweet the text. Front loading with images prior to reading is common in many history classes and as a visual learner it was something I always appreciated.  I think what I liked most about the strategies offered in this chapter is that they are geared towards all students.  There are strategies for all learners and they allow for differentiated instruction in the classroom.  The Tweet and talk strategy caught my eye as a millennial who is overly addicted to technology. This concept can go much further than simply summarizing a text. A class twitter account is a great way to connect with students.  However, it is something to be cautious of when creating this account.  Do students have the ability to access twitter at home? Do they have a laptop or smart phone? Will it be used strictly in school?  Anyway, I checked out the link that was provided in the text and if offers some pretty cool stuff!  For history or sociology classes there is so much you can do! I particularly like the idea of following accounts with different biases to see how the media covers current events and interprets them differently. Tracking the government by following organizations is also a good idea.  In regards to current events and the news, lets face it, it's 2015 and our students are most likely not reading the newspaper.  I get almost all of my news from twitter. It's instant and in 140 characters you get the gist of what's happening and can chose to click the article and continue reading.  Students can share their findings via twitter and create a small academic sphere outside of the classroom. Check out some other cool ideas here! http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom

Another cool strategy that incorporates social media and was not mentioned (but maybe could have been) is having students create a facebook page as a specific character or person in time.  For example, each student can assigned someone in history, let's use the Civil War.  Someone creates a page for Abraham Lincoln and after reading about him they can summarize what they learned and create a status perhaps with a picture.  Other figures of the time can comment and create a dialogue.

Moving on from that excitement, the independent reading workshop is great to get students to read for both learning and enjoyment. Giving students choices can motivate them and they man actually look forward to reading.   As a teacher you would have to pay close attention to scheduling and timing to ensure that it does not too much time away from instruction. Other than that I think the idea is great!