Saturday, May 21, 2016

How Teachers Are Using ‘Hamilton’ the Musical in the Classroom

https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/03/14/how-teachers-are-using-hamilton-the-musical-in-the-classroom/

45 Websites For Students To Create Original Artwork Online

http://mrssmoke.onsugar.com/45-Websites-Students-Create-Original-Artwork-Online-3442983

Need Simple Tips On Getting Your Kid To Read? Ask ‘Reading Rainbow’s’ LeVar Burton

https://www.fatherly.com/kids-health-and-development/levar-burtons-advice-for-parents-to-get-kids-to-read/

Achievement Gaps and Racial Segregation: Research Finds an Insidious Cycle

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2016/04/achievement_gaps_school_segregation_reardon.html

How to Give Praise That Builds Your Child’s Self-Esteem

https://www.understood.org/en/friends-feelings/empowering-your-child/celebrating-successes/how-to-give-praise-that-builds-your-childs-self-esteem?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=understoodorg

Seven Ways Schools Can Foster Original Thinking in Students

http://www.spencerauthor.com/2016/05/seven-ways-schools-can-foster-original-thinking-in-students.html/

These ideas run against the current climate of education. However, in a world of no-nonsense “high standards” and an incessant focus on “grit,” we can provide an alternative approach. We can give slack. We can be open. We can let students play around with ideas. We can experiment. We can be original.

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Preparing Teachers for 21st-Century Learning

http://gettingsmart.com/2016/05/preparing-teachers-for-21st-century-learning/

8 Ways to Inspire Student Learning All Summer Long

http://blog.mimio.com/8-ways-to-inspire-student-learning-all-summer-long

Rethinking Summer Vacation Homework

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/05/rethinking-summer-vacation-homework

13 Ideas for How Parents Can Encourage Summer Reading

http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/2013/05/13-parent-ideas/

Teachers Like Technology in the Classroom, But Few Think It's Well Integrated

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2016/05/technology_impacts_classroom_instruction.html

Reading to Feel Better In Body and Mind

https://www.readingrainbow.com/site/blog/2014/01/08/reading-feel-better-illness-strikes/

The New Thinking About ADHD and Executive Functioning

https://www.understood.org/en/community-events/blogs/expert-corner/2016/05/11/the-new-thinking-about-adhd-and-executive-functioning?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=understoodorg

For most people with ADHD, the primary problem is with attention. Our understanding of what that means has also evolved. Attention doesn’t just refer to listening when someone is talking to you. It’s a much broader idea that refers to the management system of the brain—its “executive functions.”

Yes, Claude, A Trip To The Beach Would Be Nice

MzTeachuh: Yes, Claude, A Trip To The Beach Would Be Nice: The Path at La Cavee, Pourville Monet Here's some Impressionist music to go with-- Claude Debussy - La Mer https://www.youtube....

Teaching Is Finishing Strong

MzTeachuh: Teaching Is Finishing Strong: Finishing the School Year Strong http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/05/05/tln_ferlazzo_3.html End of Year Activities http://w...

Summer Activity: Let's Have a Cookout!

MzTeachuh: Summer Activity: Let's Have a Cookout!: Love the grilling goggles. So, kids, you call it barbeque or cookout? We've always called it barbeque. Maybe it's a western thin...

Thursday, May 19, 2016

The invisible tax on teachers of color

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-invisible-tax-on-black-teachers/2016/05/15/6b7bea06-16f7-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html

How to Raise Concerns about a Child’s Speech and Language Development: Do’s and Don’ts

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/Pages/How-to-Raise-Concerns-about-Childs-Speech-Language-Development.aspx

8 Parent-Teacher Communication Guidelines To Try Now

http://www.education.com/blog/teachers/parent-teacher-communication-guidelines/

Share of High-Poverty, Racially Isolated Schools Rising, GAO Report Says

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/05/high_poverty_racially_isolated_schools_GAO.html?cmp=SOC-EDIT-FB

Read It Again, Please! The Benefits of Repeated Read Alouds.

http://www.cli.org/blog/benefits-of-repeated-read-alouds/

Portfolios hold new promise for schools

http://www.districtadministration.com/article/portfolio-promise

5 Ways To Use Social Media in the Classroom

http://gettingsmart.com/2016/05/5-ways-social-media-classroom/

One of the most important parts of an educator’s job is to prepare students for the real world. So while you obviously can’t take them on field trips every day, you can still provide them with similar access through a virtual medium.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

A song written by Claude Debussy, inspired by the poetic lyrics of Paul Bourget.

Beau Soir

Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses
Et qu'un tiède frisson court sur les champs de blé,
Un conseil d'être heureux semble sortir des choses
Et monter vers le coeur troublé.
Un conseil de goûter le charme d'être au monde
Cependant qu'on est jeune et que le soir est beau,
Car nous nous en allons, comme s'en va cette onde:
Elle à la mer, nous au tombeau.

When the rivulets are rosy in the setting sun,
And a mild tremor runs over the wheat fields,
An exhortation to be happy seems to emanate from things
And rises towards the troubled heart.
An exhortation to enjoy the charm of being alive
While one is young and the evening is beautiful,
For we are going on, as this stream goes on:
The stream to the sea, we to the grave.

Barbra Streisand - "Beau Soir" (Beautiful Evening)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH02dKeKNvc

Educational Links 5/19/16

6 Design Principles Of Connected Learning http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/6-design-principles-connected-learning/?utm_content=buffere378f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

A whole new world of whole learning

http://smartblogs.com/education/2016/05/18/a-whole-new-world-of-whole-learning/?utm_source=brief

Education, Creativity, EdTech and How to Make it all

http://holtthink.tumblr.com/post/144529081385/integrated-perspectives-the-steam-journal

Diversity in children's books goes deeper than race

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/05/17/books-last-stop-on-market-street

New Resources On Race & Racism

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2016/05/17/new-resources-on-race-racism-29/

At a Glance: Signs of Depression in Your High-Schooler

https://www.understood.org/en/friends-feelings/managing-feelings/depression/at-a-glance-signs-of-depression-in-your-high-schooler?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=understoodorg

DC Report: The Educational Benefits of Diversity In Schools

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2016/05/13/educational-benefits-of-diversity/

Reboot: 5 Resources for Teacher Inspiration

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reboot-resources-for-teacher-inspiration-monica-burns?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Is the school year winding down? Do you need a reboot to help get through a challenging month? Inspiration can come from many places. From the smile on a student's face, to a great conversation with parents, to an episode of a favorite television show that provides an idea for the next day's lesson, small moments can be game changers when we need to reboot and recharge.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Principal's Suggestion Box Letter # 3

MzTeachuh: Principal's Suggestion Box Letter # 3: These letters are absolutely fictional (to protect the innocent and not-so-innocent.) But, with the hint of truth, maybe we can make s...

Take a Walk With Ludwig

MzTeachuh: Take a Walk With Ludwig: Vienna Woods, lessing-photo,com A picnic would be lovely. This is my favorite...

Educational Links 5/18/16

The Clash of Brain Development and Classroom Technology

http://www.learningandthebrain.com/blog/brain-development-and-classroom-technology/

4 Tips for Creating Seating Charts That Work

http://www.education.com/blog/teachers/tips-create-seating-chart/

Dyslexia and the Power of Teacher Expectations

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/reaching-all-students/2016/05/_last_week_the_senate.html

Teacher Helpline: How to Inspire Student Writers in Class

http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2014/08/11/teacher-helpline-what-are-some-fun-ways-to-inspire-student-writers-

Just Updated & Revised “Best Online Resources About President John F. Kennedy”

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2016/05/17/just-updated-revised-best-online-resources-about-president-john-f-kennedy/

Daily Exercise Ideas for Kids with ADHD

http://www.additudemag.com/slideshow/129/slide-1.html

It’s the Environment, Stupid

http://anniemurphypaul.com/2016/05/its-the-environment-stupid/

“When we hear the word environment, we often think first of a child’s physical environment. And adverse physical surroundings do play a role in children’s development, especially when they are literally toxic, as when children are exposed to lead in their drinking water or carbon monoxide in the air they breathe. But one of the most important findings of [researchers] is that for most children, the environmental factors that matter most have less to do with the buildings they live in than with the relationships they experience—the way the adults in their lives interact with them, especially in times of stress.

Monday, May 16, 2016

Educational Links 5/17/16

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

http://ldaamerica.org/elementary-and-secondary-education-act-esea/

Stop, Drop, and Roll With It: Teacher Burnout Prevention

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/roll-with-it-burnout-prevention-nicholas-provenzano?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20EdutopiaNewContent%20%28Edutopia%29

What Is a 'Slow Processing Speed?'

http://www.additudemag.com/q&a/ask_the_learning_expert/1553.html

Teacher Collaboration... While Teaching

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/mid-lesson-teacher-collaboration-nsf

Low-Stakes Writing: Writing to Learn, Not Learning to Write

http://www.edutopia.org/practice/low-stakes-writing-writing-learn-not-learning-write?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Better Together: Pairing Fiction and Nonfiction in the High School Classroom

http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2015/10/16/better-together-pairing-fiction-and-nonfiction-in-the-high-school-classroom

How Educating Students About Dishonesty Can Help Curb Cheating

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/05/16/how-educating-students-about-dishonesty-can-help-curb-cheating/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

The upshot for schools is clear: honor codes work, Ariely said, provided that students write them out and talk about them. Codes signed at the start of the year and tucked away in an administrator’s office will flop, however; the same holds true for one-off lectures on moral behavior. To reduce cheating, the honor codes need to be woven into the school’s culture, a recurrent nudge that honesty matters.

One Memorial Today

Orvis Henry Sweet, Union Army, Vermont

Orvis, age 21, will be shot in the lung one week after this picture was taken by Matthew Brady in Washington, DC. His younger siblings on the family farm in upstate New York (he volunteered from St. Alban's, Fifth Vermont) grew up and after the Civil War moved West to Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and California to become lawyers, Congressmen, ambassadors, journalists and teachers. His father, Haviland Livingston Sweet, died earlier in the War. Their sacrifice was not in vain.

He volunteered while working at a Print Shop in Vermont, where his family had lived on Grand Isle for generations since the Revolutionary War. His ancestors were Pilgrims and Wampanoags.

He was a regular kid who lived and died for great things.

He fought with his unit through all the major battles of the Civil War, being mortally wounded in the Second Battle of the Wilderness. If you ever watched Ken Burns' documentary on the Civil War, you know how that one was particularly hellish.

http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/

One of Orvis' younger sisters was Alice Eliza Sweet Link, my great grandmother; she went West after the Civil War and became a teacher.

Trip to the Wilderness Battlefields

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ege_iMAo5w

With that haunting music that always brings tears to my eyes, Ashokan Farewell.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Educational Links 5/16/16

Continuum of Motivation: Moving from Extrinsic to Intrinsic - See more at: http://www.personalizelearning.com/2016/03/continuum-of-motivation-moving-from.html#sthash.6AS4Z3SS.dpuf

Personalize Learning

http://www.personalizelearning.com/2016/03/continuum-of-motivation-moving-from.html

How to Become a School Leader: Proven Tips from Successful School Leaders

http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2013/09/04/so-you-want-to-be-a-school-leader

Video: “Multitasking Is a Myth, and to Attempt It Comes at a Neurobiological Cost”

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2016/05/15/video-multitasking-is-a-myth-and-to-attempt-it-comes-at-a-neurobiological-cost/

Ed Tech Digest

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2016/05/15/ed-tech-digest-20/

Teaching Methods: Nature Pedagogy with Claire Warden

https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/article/teaching-methods-nature-pedagogy-with-claire-warden

What Does That Say? My Life with Dysgraphia

http://www.additudemag.com/adhdblogs/8/11220.html

With Educational Technology, We Don’t Know What We’re Doing

http://anniemurphypaul.com/2016/05/with-educational-technology-we-dont-know-what-were-doing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=with-educational-technology-we-dont-know-what-were-doing

The gold standard of educational innovation for any kind of new educational technique should be a strong research base showing that the new method produces positive results relative to standard practice. We do not doubt that someday computer-based education will meet this criterion, but we do not seem to be there yet.

MzTeachuh's Meditations: Reap In Due Season

Galatians 6:9
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Of course, I don't just mean veggies (but that's good.) I also mean a harvest of blessings for ourselves and loved ones--like the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23King James Version (KJV)

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Some days the growing conditions are seriously awful: flood, heat, drought or tornado. Metaphoric or literal. Persist. We can last, rebuild or renew. With God's help.

This video is just for fun. Though sometimes, squash grow so fast, you almost see them move!

Giant Pumpkin Time Lapse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsJOJq2TDKo

Teachable Moment: Memorial Day and Regular Kids Who Were Heroes

This crew was delivering supplies to French civilians during the D Day invasion and was shot down. My dad's cousin, Blake Treece, T/Sgt. Radioman, is in the second row, fifth (l to r.)

My dad was from Marshall, Arkansas. He was 21 years old when Pearl Harbor happened. His older brother, Robert, had already volunteered to fly with the English in the Battle of Britain. As boys, they had built an airplane in the backyard, and dad had participated in a local aeronautical club as an

Robert, Grandma, Alphia, Larry, Maxine. Just after Pearl Harbor Day.

instructor. Both brothers were going to a teacher's college (Arkansas State Teacher's College), until Robert volunteered to fly with the British.
After Pearl Harbor Day, my dad (Larry) joined the Navy, and my aunt Maxine joined the Army. Both my dad and Uncle Robert flew in the Pacific. My dad was a quick study, after flying Corsairs, became an instructor pilot. Robert became one of the first pilots to fly a B29 as part of the Billy Mitchell Group, sort of a test pilot while fighting the war.

The Lady Hamilton, B 29, Billy Mitchell Group.

Robert was captain of Lady Hamilton B 29, on a bombing mission that flew from India, over the Himalayas (called 'Flying the Hump') and China to Japan when the plane developed engine trouble, and the second target was chosen. Japanese Zeroes pursued. Robert, as captain, ordered most of the crew to parachute out (they were aided by Chinese and survived.) He and two other crew completed the mission but were shot down by the Zeroes, losing their lives in 1944.

College Memorial (OCA) with the names Robert Mills and Blake Treece.

My grandma's nephew and my dad's first cousin, Blake Treece, was a radio operator for a B-17 in the European theatre. Blake left the same college as his cousins to enlist. His plane was shot down in 1944 over France. The remains of the crew were buried by a French farmer, and recovered in 2006 due to historical excavations of the Caen area. Blake and his crew members were then buried in 2006 in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Another of my grandmother's nephews and my dad's first cousin from Searcy, Arkansas, Claude A. McBride, served in the Army in the Philippines, being killed in action.

Regular kids from a most regular, simple town in America, Marshall, Arkansas. Where does the courage and brilliance come from? On this Memorial Day, by my observation as a teacher, the USA is filled with such courage and brilliance in all our boys and girls. Devotion, teamwork, collaboration that leads to heroic deeds develops in the minds, spirits, and souls of kids allowed to believe in their own capacity for excellence and their intrinsic value as citizens. Kids from all demographics and ethnicities, which is, of course, what America is made of.

I feel compassion for my little grandma in the photo, knowing she would lose her Robert. And her brother and sister would lose their Claude and not know ever what happened to Blake. (They passed away before his remains were found.)

We can value their choice to serve our country and expect the same excellence and commitment to all varieties of service to continue because all regular kids can be heroes. And they're sitting in your classrooms.

Blake's sister communicated with me after the original post in 2015, and told me about my dad's family in Arkansas. I'm very amazed and validated to have access to such information. Amazing world nowadays.