Saturday, March 17, 2018

Educational Links 3/18/18


Talks to watch with kids

How Can Video Best Support Learning and Instruction?


Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Basics


6 Ways School Bus WiFi Could Benefit Your District


The Importance of Staying Motivated for Kids With Learning and Attention Issues


Good Student Motivation Advice From Dan Ariely



Effective Student-Led Discussions


Student-led discussions take time and a teacher who’s willing to step back a little. The results are worth it—when my students are empowered, my classroom transforms into an intellectual playground.

Women's History Month: Jody Williams

Jody Williams, an outstanding organizer, coordinated global  groups to stop the use of landmines--to a worldwide decision, 

the Ottawa Treaty    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Treaty

Williams is quoted as saying, "The image of peace with a dove flying over a rainbow and people holding hands singing kumbaya ends up infantilizing people who believe that sustainable peace is possible. If you think that singing and looking at a rainbow will suddenly make peace appear then you’re not capable of meaningful thought, or understanding the difficulties of the world."

Nobel Peace Prize Winner--Jody Williams - Facts






Educational Links 3/17/18

Resources and Downloads to Facilitate Inquiry-Based Learning


Building a Strong Learning Community for Newcomer ELLs

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2018/03/16/strong-learning-community-ells/

How autism may stem from problems with prediction


How to Add an Image Search Box to Google Sites



Why I Always Interview as a Team



How To Find A School Your Kids Will Love (And That You Will, Too)



When looking at a school culture, there are two themes that stick out in your talks and your books. 1: Not being afraid of mistakes. 2: Experimentation to find your passion, to play around and to try new things.

Wishing Your Irish Eyes Be Smiling

The Irish eyes of my grandmother, Mary Mangan, 1919, Denver, Colorado.
Born March 8, 1900.
The Irish Tenors (John McDermott, Anthony Kearns and Ronan Tynan) - When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

There's a tear in your eye

And I'm wondering why
For it never should be there at all
With such pow'r in your smile

Sure a stone you'd beguile
So there's never a teardrop should fall

When your sweet lilting laughter's

Like some fairy song
And your eyes twinkle bright as can be
You should laugh all the while

And all other times smile
And now, smile a smile for me

When Irish eyes are smiling

Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring
In the lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing

When Irish hearts are happy
All the world seems bright and gay
And when Irish eyes are smiling
Sure, they steal your heart away

For your smile is a part

Of the love in your heart
And it makes even sunshine more bright
Like the linnet's sweet song

Crooning all the day long
Comes your laughter and light

For the springtime of life

Is the sweetest of all
There is ne'er a real care or regret
And while springtime is ours

Throughout all of youth's hours
Let us smile each chance we get

When Irish eyes are smiling

Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring
In the lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing

When Irish hearts are happy
All the world seems bright and gay
And when Irish eyes are smiling
Sure, they steal your heart away.

Friday, March 16, 2018

Women's History Month: Madam C. J. Walker

Madam C. J. Walker driving her own car.
Her passengers were members of the NAACW-National Association of Colored Women.

Madam C. J. Walker is a fascinating person, having come out of extreme circumstances to resiliently develop not only a mind-bogglingly successful business but a vibrant self-vision that provided impetus and momentum for overcoming devastating obstacles.

At first, it was a family affair of survival, then she was involved with community--church and local organizations of support. Her first husband died, but Sarah (later Madam C.J.) worked and worked and worked. She saw herself worthy of opportunities. Her daughter went to college. 

She had such a dynamic entrepreneurial identity that she and her team (including second husband C. J. Walker) built an empire.

Sarah aggressively supported groups to encourage the black community, particularly women, through magnanimous philanthropy. 

How smart and confident would you have to be to do this? 

I really love how she drives her own new, fancy car in the pic!

Here is the current link to her products and business!

Madam C. J. Walker Beauty College

Other links for info.

Madam C.J. Walker Biography

Civil Rights ActivistPhilanthropistEntrepreneur (1867–1919)
MADAME C. J. WALKER
MADAME C.J. WALKER

Madam C. J. Walker



Festival of Irish Arts and Music Day 5

I also like the one that says, 'May you be in Heaven a half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.'

Cousins?
That's some pot of gold.
Here's some fun with Irish folklore, film, mirth, music and lively dance.

'Darby O'Gill and the Little People' includes a rundown of many well-known Irish superstitions from leprechauns to banshees, as well as a very young Sean Connery.

'The Secret of Roan Inish' is another film that also reveal lovely Irish landscapes as well as the legend of the silkies.

Numerous fantasy and faerie stories. These are old timey ones by 
W.B. Yeats. Read them first yourself before reading them aloud to children; some are rather creepy. 

Oh no, not a changling!
Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/  

Here's more on the gift of gab (remember our Irish American presidents?

Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan
Reagan and Kennedy? They inherited the joke telling and the charm.)

Irish Quotations, Irish BlessingsIrish Proverbs and Irish Toasts

http://tacomaweekly.tripod.com/Irish-Quotations.html 

Here is live Irish music from a pub in County Clare--great fun even if you're just drinking O'Douhl's.

Traditional Irish Music - Brogan's Bar - Ennis, Ireland

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z_TheGgFWI&list=HL1394432606

Irish dance has worldwide participants and audiences.

Irish dance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_dance 

I don't know if this happens every day at the Dublin Airport, but how cool if it did. 

TAKE THE FLOOR Flashmob Dublin Airport 

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

Love the sentiment.

 

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Women's History Month: Antonia Coello Novello

Antonia Coello NovelloM.D., (born August 23, 1944) is a Puerto Rican physician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as fourteenth Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. Novello is the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General.

Novello was appointed Surgeon General by President George H. W. Bush, beginning her tenure on March 9, 1990, and was appointed to the temporary rank of vice admiral in the regular corps while the Surgeon General. She was the first woman and the first Hispanic to hold the position.
During her tenure as Surgeon General, Novello focused her attention on the health of women, children and minorities, as well as on underage drinking, smoking, and AIDS. She played an important role in launching the Healthy Children Ready to Learn Initiative. She was actively involved in working with other organizations to promote immunization of children and childhood injury prevention efforts. She spoke out often and forcefully about illegal underage drinking, and called upon the United States Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General to issue a series of eight reports on the subject.
Novello also worked to discourage illegal tobacco use by young people, and repeatedly criticized the tobacco industry for appealing to the youth market through the use of cartoon characters such as Joe Camel. A workshop that she convened led to the emergence of a National Hispanic/Latino Health Initiative.

Changing the Face of Medicine
 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_239.htmlhttp://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall/details/2/3-Novello

National Women's Hall of Fame
http://www.greatwomen.org/women-of-the-hall/search-the-hall/details/2/3-Novello

For Girls in Science
http://forgirlsinscience.org/women-in-stem/antonia-coello-novello-2/


Educational Links 3/16/18


6 Principles Of Genius Hour In The Classroom


Reading Digital Games as Texts


10 Tips for Teaching Emotional Regulation (& Improving Classroom Behavior at the Same Time


Why America's Teachers Haven't Been Getting Raises


What’s the Difference Between Auditory Processing Disorder and Being Hard of Hearing?


Teachers Share Their Experiences on #NationalWalkoutDay


Why Teachers Should Digitally Document Evidence Of Learning


Collecting and organizing evidence of learning with digital tools leads to multiple benefits for teachers, students and parents. Teachers are able to house a large collection of evidence in one online space, which can spur these results.

Beware the Ides of March!

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar with John Wilkes Booth (l) playing Marc Antony and brothers Edwin (c) and Junius playing Brutus. Maybe Edwin played Cassius.

March 15 used to be the day untenured teachers received noticed they were being let go. The irony was not not lost on anyone.

Here is Marcus Brutus played by Marlon Brando (1953.) There are many excellent film productions of the play; I saw it at the Old Globe in San Diego. As usual, Shakespeare is too cool. 


Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears  

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Educational Links 3/15/18


Videos & Images From The Student Walkout


Shamrock Science: 3-D Learning with Clovers

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2018/03/14/shamrock-science/


At a Glance: Classroom Accommodations for Anxiety



Classroom-Friendly Social Media Options for Teachers


March 20th Is The First Day Of Spring – Here Are Resources For Teaching About The Season



Thousands of students walk out of school in nationwide gun violence protest



“We’re tired of sitting around and listening to politicians tell us what they are going to do without ever actually doing anything. And we’re also just kind of tired of adults not making it happen — adults saying what they are going to do and then just entirely blowing us off.”

The Irish! Resources for St. Patrick's Day


Illumination from the Book of Durrow

Teachable Moment: How the Irish Saved Western Civilization 

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/03/teachable-moment-how-irish-saved.html

Cheesy Jokes and Serious Thoughts for St. Patrick's Day 

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/02/cheesy-jokes-and-serious-thoughts-for_26.html

 


Teachable Moment: Brian Boru in the Irish (Brian Bóramha i nGaeilge) 

Alan Stivel and his harp.

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/03/teachable-moment-brian-boru-in-irish.html

Festival of Irish Arts and Music Day 1 

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/03/festival-of-irish-arts-and-music-day-1.html

Festival of Irish Arts and Music Day 2 

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/03/festival-of-irish-arts-and-music-day-1.html

Celtic Circle of Joy--Living Your Dream 

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/03/celtic-circle-of-joy-living-your-dream.html?spref=bl

Festival of Irish Arts and Music Day 3 

 http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/03/festival-of-irish-arts-and-music-day-3.html?spref=bl

Festival of Irish Arts and Music Day 4 

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/03/festival-of-irish-arts-and-music-day-4.html?spref=bl

Festival of Irish Arts and Music Day 5 

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2014/03/festival-of-irish-arts-and-music-day-5.html?spref=bl

Here is an excellent resource for Irishness:

Gift of Ireland

https://www.giftofireland.com/2016/02/25/irish-wedding-blessing-customs/ 

You can follow them on Twitter, too. 

Holidays Around Ireland


@HolidaysIreland



Two Irish Mums Won the Nobel Peace Prize

The Peace People Rally, Ireland, Betty Williams and  Maireed Corrigan 

'The Troubles' in Ireland are well known, conflict between two demographics (Catholic and Protestant) that share the same religious root: Christianity. Its been going on since Cromwell. But a lesser known fact is that two Irish mums won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for beginning a Peace Movement in Northern Ireland to combat the carnage.

To quote the Nobel Committee in 1976: We admire Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan for tackling so fearlessly the perilous task of leading the way into no-man's land, in the cause of peace and reconciliation.



Mairead (Corrigan) Maguire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mairead_Maguire

'Gandhi taught that nonviolence does not mean passivity. No. It is the most daring, creative, and courageous way of living, and it is the only hope for our world. Nonviolence is an active way of life which always rejects violence and killing, and instead applies the force of love and truth as a means to transform conflict and the root causes of conflict. Nonviolence demands creativity. It pursues dialogue, seeks reconciliation, listens to the truth in our opponents, rejects militarism, and allows God's spirit to transform us socially and politically. '

 Maireed Corrigan Maquire 

Betty Williams 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Williams_%28Nobel_laureate%29 


"That first week will always be remembered of course for something else besides the birth of the Peace People. For those most closely involved, the most powerful memory of that week was the death of a young republican and the deaths of three children struck by the dead man's car. A deep sense of frustration at the mindless stupidity of the continuing violence was already evident before the tragic events of that sunny afternoon of August 10, 1976. But the deaths of those four young people in one terrible moment of violence caused that frustration to explode, and create the possibility of a real peace movement...As far as we are concerned, every single death in the last eight years, and every death in every war that was ever fought represents life needlessly wasted, a mother's labour spurned."

Betty Williams

Book Review: Song of the Swallows (March 19 when they return to Capistrano)

"Song of the Swallows," las golondrinas, is a picture book which won the Caldecott Award in 1949. Written and illustrated by Leo Politi, the story highlights Hispanic customs in San Juan Capistrano, California, that blend nature, Catholicism, and the history of California from a child's perspective.

Juan is the main character, a boy of about seven or eight years old. He attends the school by the Mission, and is a friend of the bell ringer/gardener, grandfatherly Julian. Julian is the only adult mentioned in the book, the Mission is the only setting. The story occurs in the timelessness of childhood, so we don't really know if the illustrations depict the 1940's or not. There is no clue by the clothing, activities, or countryside. The Mission and garden are not dated. There are no automobiles, but even today in coastal California, you might go miles without seeing a motorized vehicle. And there is no clue from the birds; swallows don't follow fashion dictates. One of the main attractions of "The Song of the Swallows" is this untainted marvel-of-childhood quality.

Julian tells Juan about the settling of California by Father Serra and the Franciscan friars. Every fourth grader in this state (myself included) studied this period of California history, and created model missions, maybe even visiting a Mission. There are over twenty missions up and down the California coast, with many cities named after the nearby Mission, i.e., San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and, of course, San Francisco.  I've seen a few and the facilities are well maintained and beautiful.

There is no controversy in this book about the treatment of the Indians by the Franciscans.
A 1985 stamp immortalizing Father Junipero Serra

The following link is a balanced biography of Father Serra.

Father Junipero Serra also has a statue in the United States Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C.



Politi's portrayal of Mission San Juan Capistrano.


You can purchase this model of San Juan Capistrano for a Grade Four project.




Julian, the St. Francis look-a-like.
Julian, in little Juan's eyes,  is portrayed almost St. Francis-like with the beautiful garden and hummingbirds, pigeons, sparrows and other birds being comfortable around the gentle soul.

Juan learns of the mystery of the swallows. How do they know to arrive on St. Joseph's Day? (March 19.)  It has nothing to do with Joseph, the stepfather of the Savior  (of Jesus, Mary and Joseph fame.) It just coincides with the season the swallows migrate to their familiar habitat.



Happy birdie family, happy boy.
Juan wonders about the nests
Why is there a St. Joseph's Day? In the worship schedule for Catholics, each day has one or more saints honored throughout the year at daily Mass with a feast day, or worship service. For example, many communities have the blessing of the animals on October 4, the feast of Francis of Assisi, to honor his saintly lifestyle that was so peaceful that it is said that even wild animals were gentle with him and birds would perch on him. Francis also propagated peace, forgiveness, and taking care of the poor.  Francis lived in twelfth century Italy, and wrote some lovely prayers.

Happy kids enjoying the beautiful Mission and the birds.
 As the birds get comfortable, the child personifies the male and female birds as the nest is built, the female incubates the eggs, and the male serenades her with sweet, twittering song. Then both the parents diligently feed the hatchlings, like a happy family.

 The children thoroughly enjoy the presence of the birds, the  spring season, and the safety and contentment of the belief system supplied by the Mission. It is interesting, though, in  the story that parents, priests, nuns, teachers or any other adult besides Julian, the grandfatherly gardener, do not make an appearance. Not even an older brother or sister.

In due time, the swallows migrate to a mysterious island for the winter. The human inhabitants of Capistrano will wait for their return. Juan and the other happy kids are very excited when the birds return. The birds actually fly to Goya, Argentina.

The swallows leave Capistrano on their mission to a mysterious island.

Leo Politi
 Leo Politi, although an Italian-America, wrote warmly of the Hispanic culture in Southern California. He authored several children's books. I met him when I was in college in Los Angeles. He was very encouraging to a young English student.



This year in San Juan Capistrano, the swallows are sort of hiding from the big to-do that the residents of Capistrano throw on March 19, St. Joseph's Day.  Now the occasion is kind of a mixed metaphor, with a large variety of traditions celebrated, but still a beautiful day out in a remarkably lovely part of the world.



Pat Boone - When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdGwWywBEU4 

This is a wonderful, cheesy song about the swallows returning to Capistrano by Pat Boone recorded in the 1950's, with great pictures of the little birds.
Singing with Pat.