Blog Number Three

• Which chat did you participate in?
• I participated in the new teacher chat (#ntchat) at 8pm on Wednesday.
• Was there a theme to the chat?
• The theme of the chat was focused around differentiated instruction; teachers having the ability to reach each student in their classroom.
• Did anyone post links that you found helpful? List one or two and explain why you found them useful. Use bitly to shorten and share.
• There were a few really helpful articles that were posted throughout the duration that I observed the chat - two of which I re-tweeted. The articles were posted by @weareteachers (an online community of teachers), and @cybraryman. The article posted by @weareteachers focused around how to reach every student and provided seven helpful facts about differentiated instruction that new teachers might not have thought about. The link posted by @cybraryman was one that was full of information, including definitions and the best ways to help differentiate. The links are included below:
• http://www.weareteachers.com/community/weareteachers-blog/blog-wat/2012/09/25/7-facts-about-differentiated-instruction
• http://cybraryman.com/differentiated.html
• What did you learn? Give specifics and cite examples.
• A professional tweeted "I like to open with something that can easily be related to life/present day" (@williamjgabriel). I really found this tweet interesting because he notes how important it is to really hook your students each lesson, and in order to do so, it is crucial that you know your students.
• The notion of knowing your students was something that was continually repeated, particularly with differentiated instruction because as the teacher you need to know your students strengths and weakness and address each to ensure they are successful.
• It was also discussed that delivery methods can and should be altered with each lesson so that the students are benefiting most from the instruction being given. As teachers, we have a preconceived notion of how we view an outcome in a lesson; however, if the students are not understanding, than adjustments must be made.
• When using differentiated instruction, teachers can refer to Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, which allows students to engage in visual, tactile, and kinaesthetic activities.
• Choose at least 3 people from he chat and start following them. Tell me about these new people who are now in your PLN.
• The individuals that I chose to follow this week were individuals that posted valuable articles or tweeted valid information. I am now following @ScottBGoldscher (Education Consultant and Teacher), @Weareteachers (Online community of teachers), and @teachingwithsoul (Lisa Dabbs - the founderof #ntchat).