MzTeachuh: Teaching Current Events Tweets of the Day 6/23/12

MzTeachuh: Teaching Current Events Tweets of the Day 6/23/12: Kids have a muddled idea of what's going on in the world. Maybe grown-ups do too. Cable news ain't what it used to be. Here are some links t...

Teaching Current Events Tweets of the Day 6/23/12

Kids have a muddled idea of what's going on in the world. Maybe grown-ups do too. Cable news ain't what it used to be. Here are some links that may help:


So many interesting links!

http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/cevents.html

Twenty-Five Great Ideas for Teaching Current Events

 'Looking for ways to work news into your classroom curriculum? Check out these great ideas for connecting current events to all subjects.'

Yes, we are!

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson072.shtml

 The Weekly Reader has some serious topics, too.

Current Events Teaching Center 

 http://www.weeklyreader.com/archive/34

Wow, even the PBS NewsHour wants to give input.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/ 

I especially liked this article:

Calling All Gamers: U.S. Navy Wants You!

 The U.S. military is turning to the video-gaming public to to develop new energy use strategies for both the Navy and Marine Corps. MMOWGLI - which stands for Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame Leveraging the Internet - was launched last June to enlist help from unconventional thinkers to tackle the issue of piracy.

Geography's always interesting. Then we may figure out where things are going on. Here's another huge resource for you. Teach Geography http://geography.about.com/od/teachgeography/Teach_Geography.htm

 

 

MzTeachuh: Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged

MzTeachuh: Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged: For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father....

Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged

For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. John 5


One way to do this:

http://www.convoyofhope.org/go/who 

A driving passion to feed the world.

 

MzTeachuh: Reflets dans l'eau--Reflections in the Water

MzTeachuh: Reflets dans l'eau--Reflections in the Water: Water Lilies, Monet There's more than one kind of relfection: thoughtful reflections are dynamic, too. Debussy, Reflets dans l'eau --...

Reflets dans l'eau--Reflections in the Water

Water Lilies, Monet

There's more than one kind of reflection: thoughtful reflections are dynamic, too.

Debussy, Reflets dans l'eau -- Reflections in Water (James Boyk, solo piano) and smalin's graphics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJDlqCX8Qrk

MzTeachuh: Life and Life More Abundantly

MzTeachuh: Life and Life More Abundantly: Sunflowers, Renee Jardin Jesus said, " I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly." John 10:10   Mich...

Life and Life More Abundantly

Sunflowers, Renee Jardin

Jesus said, "I am come that they may
have life, and may have it more abundantly." John 10:10

 Michelangeli plays Debussy "Preludes" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfQ5hOOLk1o 

MzTeachuh: Garfield's Comic Boom Contest

MzTeachuh: Garfield's Comic Boom Contest: I double dog dare you to draw me a comic! Garfield.com has lots of funny stuff.  http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html Incl...

Garfield's Comic Boom Contest

I double dog dare you to draw me a comic!

Garfield.com has lots of funny stuff. 
http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html

Including a new contest. You don't have to participate in this, or purchase the software, but it might be interesting.

Drawing stories cartoon style are challenging, funny, and may lead to new characters!

Good cartoon action.

Drawing Now
How to draw Garfield 
http://www.drawingnow.com/how-to-draw-garfield.html 


How to Draw Cartoons
http://www.how-to-draw-cartoons-online.com/ 

Or you can enter this contest.
 

News on Toon Boom Animation
http://toonboomblog.com/2011/08/11/toon-boom-teams-up-with-garfield-creator-jim-davis-releases-garfield-s-comic-boom-software/

Plus, drawing is always entertaining anyway.

Lots of middle school aged kids are very good artists.

MzTeachuh: Music Moving Like a River: the Moldau

MzTeachuh: Music Moving Like a River: the Moldau: The Moldau, Czech Republic Dale Terry Dynamic, beautiful music--when you're homesick and deeply worried for your homeland. Vltava (M...

Music Moving Like a River: the Moldau

The Moldau, Czech Republic Dale Terry

Dynamic, beautiful music--when you're homesick and deeply worried for your homeland.

Vltava (Moldau) by Czech PO & Ashkenazy 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8G9qHNS68s 

MzTeachuh: You Are Acceptable in the Beloved

MzTeachuh: You Are Acceptable in the Beloved: матрёшка Russian nesting dolls Ephesians 1:6 King James Version (KJV) 6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he ha...

You Are Acceptable in the Beloved

матрёшка Russian nesting dolls

Ephesians 1:6

King James Version (KJV)

⁶ To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

MzTeachuh: What's Beyond the Garden Gate?

MzTeachuh: What's Beyond the Garden Gate?: Gardengate, Stephany Travers, http://www.imagekind.com/Gardengate_art?IMID=abacc526-05d0-4f96-ba7b-c09c451df6a8 A little peace and quie...

What's Beyond the Garden Gate?

Gardengate, Stephany Travers, http://www.imagekind.com/Gardengate_art?IMID=abacc526-05d0-4f96-ba7b-c09c451df6a8

A little peace and quiet. Maybe a water fountain. Birds love that; they'd be singing and chirping. You'd be resting your mind, resting your senses. Maybe a little meditation. Prayer about problems. Ideas, solution, conclusions wafting on the sweet scent of roses. Peace, be still.

Here's the music for that.

Claude Debussy - Reverie - version II 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhccX_LIsEo 

MzTeachuh: The Human Side of Assessing Writing Tweets of the ...

MzTeachuh: The Human Side of Assessing Writing Tweets of the ...: Commas, all I can think about is commas. The higher level thinking skills it requires to write, and assess writing, brings humans right...

The Human Side of Assessing Writing Tweets of the Day

Commas, all I can think about is commas.

The higher level thinking skills it requires to write, and assess writing, brings humans right up to the level of angels. Which is a metaphor no computer program could compute, I'm guessing. After teaching kids to write for about thirty years, I will say that allowing a mathematical computer program to attempt to inspire young writers is rather unimaginative, to say the least.

I've seen what those programs did to the Gettysburg Address. Low scores for brevity and poor sentence structure, no doubt. "I Have A Dream," I bet too much repetition and veering off the main topic. We won't consider what a computer would try to do to poetry--ha, it kind of makes me laugh--the overload e e cummings would give it (just on written conventions!)

Can we trust our kids' thought development to a computer program?

1. The Algorithm Didn’t Like My Essay

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/business/essay-grading-software-as-teachers-aide-digital-domain.html?_r=1&ref=education 

No points for free indirect discourse, Jane.

Even English teachers have different perspectives on writing. I've worked with English teachers that will say, "Oh, I don't like poetry." How can that be? How can a person with no taste for the higher developed thoughts of man train young people to be eloquent? How can a machine with no soul?

2. Computers Grade Essays Fast ... But Not Always Well

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/07/154452475/computers-grade-essays-fast-but-not-always-well 

The choice of words (and using written conventions, sentence structure, new use of vocabulary) to express thought really need an educated, well-read person to analyze it. And a person tolerant of new ideas. Are we looking for Data from Star Trek? He couldn't even use a contraction or understand an idiom.

Don't we want our kids to create new idioms?

What do they mean, "Miss Bronte, Wuthering Heights too emotional?"

 "There's a terrible tendency to confuse raising standards with standardizing." 

— Sir Ken Robinson

 

Yes, Sir Ken, standardizing the genius of the next generation will only make them really bored with education. And finding a new venue to express themselves besides traditional school. I think maybe they've already found the acceptance of new ideas online.

I scored 3 on the rubric, same as the Emancipation Proclamation?

 "On a scale of 1 to 6, one of the greatest presidents of the United States was only getting 2s and 3s. " 

 

- University of Akron's Mark Shermis, on a computer's evaluation of the Gettysburg Address

I've often thought it was a good thing Lincoln had a frontier education. More clear thinking. More clarity of action. Our kids are on the tech frontier and will reject the criticism of an algorithm that is from the past, traditional and can't think; just like they reject intolerant and backword teachers.

We won't be climbing the ladder of Bloom's Taxonomy if we remain super-glued to written on the lower rungs of convention and sentence structure without the inspiration of living language.  Woops, that was another metaphor a computer couldn't evaluate.

Man, I only got a 3 on the Writing Rubric.

 "Devise, wit; write, pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio."
Love's Labour's Lost -- Act I, Scene II

Almost funny how William's words would end in the clutches of a computer program--maybe Word's Labour's Lost

 

Have You Talked to Your Kid Today?

1. Find out how they're feeling? Bored, tummy ache, excited, melancholy. Do you know how they're feeling? Do they know you care about how they're feeling? Do they know how you're feeling?

2. What are y'all doing today? Do you know what they want to do today? Hang out with friends? Write music? Go swimming? Do they know what you're doing today? Even if its at work?

3. Do you have plans together today? Making tacos for dinner? Going food shopping? Watching a favorite television program or sport--Go Dodgers? Hang out on the patio at sunset? Call Grandma even though its only Thursday and no special reason just to say 'Hi?'

4. Anything exciting coming up? New movie coming out? Big game next week? Music coming up from Lady Gaga?

5. What are you reading? (Online counts.) Do they know what you're reading? Can you tell them what you're reading? Going to the library or bookstore soon? What's on the Kindle?

6. Do you need anything? Flip-flops, shorts, swimsuit, Otter-Pops, job-for-pay around the house, Mac and Cheese, art supplies, time alone, time to talk?

7. Do you know I will always love you more than the world? 24-7, 7 days a week, forever? You're my kid and I think you're the greatest.

8. Small talk counts. It's going to be hot again tomorrow. Did you take out the trash? How 'bout them Angels.

9. Arguments count, if you are still speaking at the end and no doors are slammed. Your brilliant child is not going to agree with you on everything. Agree to disagree on lots of things; politics, music, hair styles. You can learn from the kid. But, of course, you are still running the house, etc.

Take a minute and talk.

MzTeachuh: Time to Get Up, Breakfast Is Ready

MzTeachuh: Time to Get Up, Breakfast Is Ready: Well, kids,  get up earlier. The early bird catches the breakfast. Here's some nice sunrise music. Edvard Grieg : Peer Gynt Suite No....

Time to Get Up, Breakfast Is Ready

Well, kids,  get up earlier. The early bird catches the breakfast.

Here's some nice sunrise music.

Edvard Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1 Morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyM2AnA96yE&feature=related 

MzTeachuh: Reading, Rainbow, and William Tweets of the Day 6/...

MzTeachuh: Reading, Rainbow, and William Tweets of the Day 6/...: Some good links and interesting thoughts, not to mention several quotes from our friend William. Summer Reading Tips for Parents http://...

Reading, Rainbow, and William Tweets of the Day 6/20/12

Some good links and interesting thoughts, not to mention several quotes from our friend William.

Summer Reading Tips for Parents
http://www.ncld.org/in-the-home/supporting-learning-at-home/homework-and-study-skills/summer-reading-tips-for-parents?utm_source=newsletter_june_13_2012&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldnews
 Here is one point of nine--

As you go through the day...

Cooking, gardening, grocery shopping, playing games — utilize this time as an opportunity to engage in verbal word play, vocabulary building, recognizing new and familiar words or attaching meaning to words and sentences.

                                                                    Very good advice.

Always loved Reading Rainbow.

 Reading Rainbow is Back: Can it Do for the iPad What it Did for TV?
http://mashable.com/2012/06/20/reading-rainbow-app/?utm_source=ReadingRockets.org&utm_medium=Twitter 


 

2 B or not 2 B

Parents are the first teachers--twenty-four-seven-seven days a week forever.

MzTeachuh: Trust in the Lord...

MzTeachuh: Trust in the Lord...: Brook in Birch Forest, Shishkin With all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;     In all your ways acknowledge Him, And ...

Trust in the Lord...

Brook in Birch Forest, Shishkin

With all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;  
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Proverb 3: 5-6

MzTeachuh: Can You Handel This Music?

MzTeachuh: Can You Handel This Music?: The River Thames with St. Paul's, Canaletto Forgive the awful pun. One can imagine the music resonating over all of London to the rich a...

Can You Handel This Music?

The River Thames with St. Paul's, Canaletto

Forgive the awful pun. One can imagine the music resonating over all of London to the rich and poor alike.

Here is Handel's Water Music, which was performed on barges while sailing down the Thames.

Georg Friedrich Händel: Water Music, Suite No. 1, Part 1 

Handel -〈Water Music〉1717 / Alla Hornpipe - Suite No. 2 in D major, HWV 349 (Ton Koopman)

MzTeachuh: Does My Child Have a Learning Handicap?

MzTeachuh: Does My Child Have a Learning Handicap?: Our Mission: To ensure success for all individuals with learning disabilities in school, at work and in life. (National Center for Lear...

Does My Child Have a Learning Handicap?

Our Mission: To ensure success for all individuals with learning disabilities in school, at work and in life. (National Center for Learning Disabilities)
http://www.ncld.org/

I like that mission statement very much. As a Special Education professional for over twenty years, I witnessed wonderful success for most of our students identified with a learning disability, or specific learning handicap. But that is with identification of the problem, a current and evolving individual learning plan development, and a coordinated team effort to execute the plan every day, including the family.

Reading and writing frustration may be a first sign.

Do you wonder if your child has a learning disability? Here is some information on where to start to find answers for your questions.

Specific Learning Disabilities – Definitions
http://www.learningrx.com/specific-learning-disabilities.htm 

 

Introduction to Learning Disabilities  

A child may have normal performance except in reading.

http://www.naset.org/2522.0.html

Learning Disabilities: Signs, Symptoms and Strategies

 http://www.ldaamerica.us/aboutld/parents/ld_basics/ld.asp

Sometimes children have a different way of interpreting speech and sounds that interfere with learning.

About Auditory Processing Disorder

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/ears/central_auditory.html 

Other times children may have a different way of interpreting what they see that interferes with learning.

 Visual Processing Disorders 

http://www.ncld.org/ld-basics/related-issues/information-processing/visual-processing-disorders 

All children change every day, that's a part of growing up. Maybe there is not a disability. Check with your child's school and if you, as the parent, believe your child needs to be checked by the district educational psychologist for the possibility of a specific learning disability, by all means insist upon it. A few changes in the style of instruction can mean a huge difference in your child's academic performance. And the process of checking may indicate some valuable suggestions for helping your child learn even if there is no disability.

Teacher's smile is essential in learning. Plus, look at this interesting, cheerful classroom. I spot computers, a pocket chart just waiting for something to read. I bet that rocking chair is for storytime.


 

MzTeachuh: Every Day Literacy for Kids

MzTeachuh: Every Day Literacy for Kids: A diary in my own writing, not a font. All through a normal day we are literate--increasingly. Little people learn to recognize labels,...

Every Day Literacy for Kids

A diary in my own writing, not a font.

All through a normal day we are literate--increasingly. Little people learn to recognize labels, schedules, names, directions; little people learn to label things, express fun, express needs, communicate feelings and ideas. Little people learn to receive ideas in writing, read about feelings, and understand directions from their world in writing. Bigger kids express increasingly complex ideas and feelings.

And there are many sources to enhance the experience.

PBS Kids Literacy Games
http://pbskids.org/games/literacy.html


Reading is Fundamental
http://www.rif.org/

 

Help Your Child Learn Writing Skills

http://childparenting.about.com/od/learningenrichment/a/writingskills.htm 

 

 

 The Art of Writing: Creative Writing

Joke writing!

http://www.hlnfamily.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1166:the-art-of-writing-creative-writing&catid=38:free-unit-studies&Itemid=154  

 

Listing family chores; for the bossy kid.

 

 

 You can ask your little person to help record dates, label items, remember activities, and obtain information for the family.

You can have a joke writer in the family, an historian, a playwrite. How fun. 

This doesn't seem too teachery for parents does it?

MzTeachuh: Music for An Affectionate Hug

MzTeachuh: Music for An Affectionate Hug: Gotta love those mommy hugs. Bach, Violin Concerto in A minor, Lara St. John, 1st mvt., BWV 1041    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb...

Music for An Affectionate Hug

Gotta love those mommy hugs.

Bach, Violin Concerto in A minor, Lara St. John, 1st mvt., BWV 1041 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbWqPnRbq3M

MzTeachuh: It's Summer, There's Time To...

MzTeachuh: It's Summer, There's Time To...: OMG! its summer! ...browse National Geographic and National Geographic Kids. (online or with your fingers with a real smooth magazine w...

It's Summer, There's Time To...

OMG! its summer!

...browse National Geographic and National Geographic Kids. (online or with your fingers with a real smooth magazine with pages.)

 http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

 or

 http://www.nationalgeographic.com/coloringbook/archive/

BTW its okay to color between the lines somedays.

Sorry, must gloat.

 or


How to Go to the Zoo


 http://www.curatormagazine.com/mattkirkland/how-to-go-to-the-zoo/


 

Ah, those humans...always eating.

or

 Picnics With Kids

Picnics are easy (and free) family outings that kids love.

http://workathomemoms.about.com/od/kidsactivitiesfamilyfun/tp/picnics.htm 

COWABUNGA DUDE!

 

 or

go to the beach or river or shore; and get sand everywhere.

 Top Tips on What to Take to the Beach with kids

http://blog.trekaroo.com/2011/06/29/top-tips-on-what-to-take-to-the-beach-with-kids/ 

 

Mom, what's for breakfast?

 or

when its 101 F or 37C...

watch documentaries.

I believe you can find many, many online, through Netflix, Hulu, or other networks or channels.

Here are some suggestions.

Nature Documentaries for Kids and Families

 http://kidstvmovies.about.com/od/animalsandnature/tp/naturedocs.htm

I prefer the ones where the animals are not constantly eating eat other. I frequently match the documantaries to fiction, like White Fang and documentaries on wolves. It is so interesting for adults, too.

It's Summer, There's Time To Hang Out With Mom

          Thanks, Nat Geo, for these phenomenal pics. 

                                You are awesome.