Blog Post #3

  For my final project I have chosen to discuss the book The Dot ,by Peter H. Reynolds. In this book, Reynolds tells the story of a young girl named Vashti who becomes discouraged within herself because she believes she is incapable of drawing as well as everyone else in her class. Despite her discouragement within herself, her teacher assist her to build up her confidence and Vashti is able to create something that is special and unique to her, showing her talents. We may have different talents than others but everyone’s talents should be recognized. Vashti ultimately inspires others at the end of the book and will hopefully inspire students who the book is being read aloud to. This lesson is going to be geared toward students who are in second grade. The book is not challenging and is appropriate for their age. This lesson is targeting Gardner’s visual/spatial intelligence. I think this project will be useful for elementary educators because it will encourage students to be creative and is different than a lot of other projects. It is important for educators to demonstrate the positive aspect of everyone’s differences and talents and I think this book as well as this project does that. In addition, I have also chosen to incorporate Garnder’s Interpersonal Intelligence. This intelligence relates to the book because it is the demonstration of understanding and interacting with others, as well as seeing things from different perspectives. In the book we Vashti encourage another student to embrace their own creativity and learning style just like she did. So far for the lesson plan we have a book that needs to be read aloud as well as the idea of what we want to do after. The activity is going to be focused after the book and students will draw something that makes them happy, or what comes to mind with the word happiness and share it with the class. It is important they hear each other’s ideas and respect them, learning that everyone is different but also valued. I want to create a tool that will encourage instructors to teach this text in a creative and fun way because I think that is something that has great value in a classroom of young students. As they grow it is important for all of them to know their ideas have meaning and value and I think that is what this lesson plan teaches.

Annotated Bibliography:

Reynolds, P.H., & Liatis, M. (2004). The dot. Fairfax, VA: Library Ideas, LLC.

The Dot is a children’s book written by Peter H. Reynolds and is about a girl named Vashti who discovers her artistic talent after encouragement from her teacher. He teaches an important lesson of self confidence and creativity as the reader follows a young girl named Vashti. She goes from discouragement to a sense of pride in her work which is an important lesson not just elementary students but all of us should take away from this book. In addition, this book provides unique visuals illustrated by Reynolds and reminds us of the creativity in each one of us and appreciation for others work. This book has been quite successful, beings old in Barnes and Noble and Amazon and featured on teaching websites.

Source #2)

Day, E., DayErik, E., Day, E., & Erik. (2017, December 5). 5 New Teaching Methods Improving Education. Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/10/5-new-teaching-methods-improving-education/.

This website discusses teaching methods most that have proved to be most effective on students. Some of these include, Personalized Learning, Project Based Learning, Plant Based Education and Maker Education. I found this website to be very interesting and helpful because It is hard to be sure what teaching method will be the most effective when you do not have the opportunity to teach in front of students and do a trial and error circumstance. Personalized learning was what I would like to use because it emphasizes that there is not such thing as the “average” student. Each lesson and structure of the lesson has to fit each individual students needs, which is why I think doing a creative lesson plan like we are will be effective.

Source #3

Fulton, J. (2019, August 13). 6 lesson plan examples for elementary school. Retrieved from https://www.classcraft.com/blog/features/lesson-plan-examples-for-elementary-school/.

Classcraft is a blog for elementary educators to provide examples of effective lesson plans and how to reach the basic elements needed as well as making them fun and creative. It shows step by step how to create a great lesson plan and then design it to fit the grade level you are teaching it to. In addition, it provides questions to ask yourself while creating the lesson plan to ensure that the outcome is going to be a well thought out and effective lesson plan. This helped me because if you have never created one before thinking of a lesson plan that is actually going to work and have meaning to students. At the end of the blog posts it also provides additional resources that could also be helpful.