Resource Blog #5

https://www.metmuseum.org/

                I decided to go for a field trip style of resource, or just to look over the website and look at the featured art that is on the website. This is tying in historical art with your classroom. You could have assignments on finding the history of art pieces and the background of the artist themselves. The ideal use of this would be to have a similar assignment but you get your info from going, which can be expensive to get the students there and pay for students’ entrance.

                This is giving you another opportunity to get your students out of the classroom and getting to delve into a different type of history that might interest some students and provide an opportunity to increase the stamina of your students as they will be researching these art pieces based on the plaques and information provided at the art museum. I know personally that as rare as they were, I can remember field trips and things I learned on them more than I can remember anything I did in a classroom and believe that field trips are becoming undervalued. Its one thing to see something on a screen and then to see it in person.

Word Count 206

Synthesis Blog #5

In preparation to be apart of a book club/Journal club reading process, I felt this chapter not only prepared me to participate in one but also to facilitate one in the future. In summary, the beginning focused on the history and the start of book clubs and what can be considered in the realm of a book club, all I found useful. I never realized there was so many iterations out there, and how many I have been involved in and did not realize it.


What I found the most helpful was the strategies that it entails on how to form one with your students, to how to get them into groups, how to test and get them prepared for discussion with each other, to even how to grade them effectively. Not necessarily just giving them an obnoxious quiz or test, but rather grading them on this pass/fail mentality on how well prepared they are for discussion.


One thing that rubbed me wrong was forcing them to do all the reading for homework and that giving them a fail if they do not talk in ten mins while I or the teacher would be standing there. We do not know what goes on in the child’s house, the fact is, it could not be a place that allows them time or concentration enough to get through a chapter book. Then as far as the discussion while a teacher is hovering over, a student may be intimidated by the teacher a clam up. They may still be prepared, and they may even still discuss while you aren’t hovering over.

Word Count: 268

Resource Blog #4

https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/explore/exhibitions/cyclorama-the-big-picture#

                I tried to go for a different type of resource this time, finding websites began to get boring so I landed upon finding a field trip opportunity for my students. Acquiring information from an event or place, enticing the interest of my students, and a chance to see some wonderful bits of history. The Cyclorama of Civil War battles, coined the Big Picture, is a place you can schedule your students to come and watch a show and learn tons about the civil war and the history of the painting itself. The 10,000-pound painting that encompasses an entire room, was like going to the movie theaters for the 1800s, is now a way for us to learn and experience history. This resource is primarily a social studies resource, heavily focused on the history of civil war with no scientific or mathematical opportunities for learning unless you wanted the students to calculate an estimate of the mass of the painting. This could however be an opportunity for literacy students to come as well, especially if your students are learning about the varying forms of text. This being a painting, which can be classified as text, would be an excellent opportunity to show your students how a painting can hold just as much information as a book.
Word Count: 216

Synthesis Blog #4 Journal Club Reading

Summarize:
This article at its core, was and is a resource on how you can bring together science and literary sources and for novels to increase interest in both science and reading. It gives examples of good and not so good literary works to be used or not used in the classroom for varies reasons.

Connections:

• Connects to the history article I read in the sense that they had similar reasonings of why certain material works and others don't.
• Reminds me of other works I have read in the past. Ex: Dark Life
• This article not only references how science and lit relates, but also references how in these science novels, it is not uncommon for politics, economics, and other social studies elements within the texts.

Critiques:

• Gave ample amount of examples of text that relates to science and literature relations.
• They effectively tie those examples back into the big picture.
• I do wish the article provided science teachers more strategies and options on how to incorporate literacy elements in science instead of focusing on bring science into lit classes at the conclusion. 

Explanations:

I think the most important thing to draw from this article is the potential to incorporate reading into our separate subjects, in this case the science field. There are a multitude of options that we as teachers can use to provide our students further understanding on our subjects and to be working on our students reading strategies, which will help them understand and analyze all texts. I see this as a great way to provide students with supplemental text to aid in their understand of topics we are learning in class. I could also see this as a way for some formative assessments, allowing my students to pull out information and quotes that relate to our subject and topic.

Word Count: 303