Educational Links 4/1/18

The Academy of American Poets Announces National Poetry Month Partnership with News-2-You

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/stanza/academy-american-poets-announces-national-poetry-month-partnership-news-2-you

CHOOSING A CAREER IN SPECIAL EDUCATION

https://www.thinkinclusive.us/choosing-a-career-in-special-education/

uPCOMING WEBCASTS » INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

http://webcasts.td.org/events/Instructional+Design?_ga=2.190499119.582994713.1520856557-1716955462.1517250174&cm_mmc=facebook-_-paid-_-undefined-_-Cop-PaidSocialMarketing-Paid-Facebook-PromotionForTopicAndWebcastsRegistrationNewAudienceA-7977&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=Cop-PaidSocialMarketing-Paid-Facebook-PromotionForTopicAndWebcastsRegistrationNewAudienceA-7977

Team Up With Your Teacher BFF to Tackle Coding in Your Classroom

https://www.weareteachers.com/teaching-coding-with-coteacher/?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=WonderWorkshop_1712_ART%201

Response: Educators Share who Influenced Their Teaching

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2018/03/response_educators_share_who_influenced_their_teaching.html

A Classroom Of Proficiency: 6 Factors Of Academic Performance

https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/factors-of-academic-performance/

How We Can Differentiate Amid Academic Diversity

https://www.middleweb.com/37346/how-we-can-differentiate-amid-academic-diversity/

Some of our students require reading support, while others are reading well beyond grade level expectations. Some are more comfortable expressing themselves in writing, while others prefer to articulate their ideas through discussion, and still others are most comfortable sketching.

National Poetry Month: Poem #1

The Curious Blackbird by Maureen Ida Farley

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Wallace Stevens

---

I
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.
II
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.
III
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.
IV
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.
V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
VI
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.
VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?
VIII
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.
IX
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.
X
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.
XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.
XII
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.
XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.

The Beatles - Blackbird 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiL5JpUtjqY

Happy Easter! God's Grandeur

God's Grandeur

By Gerard Manley Hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Monet and Vivaldi: Tulips, Music and Spring

Claude Monet Tulip Field with the Rijnsburg Windmill

Here is the first cousin of Monet's tulips in my garden.

I was hoping to give you just a little blast of Spring--the brilliant blue sky after a spring shower, the shocking, vibrant red, yellow, purple of bulb flowers blaring through the winter's end grey, the enthusiastic chirp and twitter of the birds now activated for the season like an army just getting out of boot camp. I can just about do it with Monet and Vivaldi--but I can't send you the still-chilly-but-not-freezing breeze on a finally sunny day or the scent of earth unfreezing. You'll have to go outside for that.

Wish you could smell these narcissus!

 

 

Oh those spring showers!

Vivaldi Spring 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqojc0UrhOU

 

 

 

Educational Links 3/31/18

Every single teacher on a crowd-funding site just got their wishes fulfilled

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/health/donors-choose-ripple-donation-stephen-colbert-trnd/index.html?utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=facebook

You Can’t Learn If You’re Anxious, Stressed, or Scared

https://www.additudemag.com/slideshows/school-anxiety-in-children-with-adhd/

Professional Conversations Around a Tch Video

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2018/03/27/prof-conversations-tch-video/

What's Your Passion? High School Enlists Businesses to Help Students Decide

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/03/28/whats-your-passion-high-school-enlists-businesses.html?cmp=SOC-EDIT-FB

5 Good Story Starters for Students

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2018/03/5-good-story-starters-for-students.html#.Wr7u3OjwbGJ

“Best” Lists Of The Week: Resources On The Environment

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2018/03/30/best-lists-of-the-week-resources-on-the-environment/

More Progressive Ways to Measure Deeper Levels of Learning

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/34821/more-progressive-ways-to-measure-deeper-level-of-learning

How do we measure learning beyond knowledge of content? Finding that winning combination of criteria can prove to be a complicated and sometimes difficult process. Schools that are pushing boundaries are learning that it takes time, a lot of conversation, and a willingness to let students participate in that evaluation.

Teaching Is Learning Ed Tech

How Technology Helps Teachers to Manage Their Classroom

http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/472-technology-helps-teachers-manage-classrooms 

Free Technology For Teachers

 http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Tech Savvy Teachers Talk Less about Technology and More about Teaching

http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/1309-tech-savvy-teachers-talk-less-about-technology-and-more-about-teaching

Survey highlights changing teacher opinions on ed tech

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/05/10/survey-highlights-changing-teacher-opinions-on-ed-tech/ 

Ten Ideas for Teaching Teachers Technology

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-teachers-technology-monique-flickinger 

EdTechTeacher
http://edtechteacher.org/philosophy/

How to Help Teachers Integrate Assistive Technology in the Classroom

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/04/how-help-teachers-integrate-assistive-technology-classroom 

50 Education Technology Tools Every Teacher Should Know About

https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/50-education-technology-tools-every-teacher-should-know-about/ 

The Teacher’s Guides To Technology And Learning

http://www.edudemic.com/guides/ 

 

Are You Managing Your Classroom, Or Is It Managing You?

 

Five Persistent Behavior Problems and How to Handle Them (Grades 6-8)

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/five-persistent-behavior-problems-and-how-handle-them-grades-6%C2%968 

If student behavior problems have you frustrated, rest assured that you are not the only new teacher who feels this way. It comes with the job description . . . even seasoned professionals sometimes have trouble quieting talkative types, avoiding power struggles, and redirecting overly demanding students.

Redirection

http://www.pbisworld.com/tier-1/redirection/ \

Simple redirection is very effective with most students and gets them back on track ... Improves students' attention and focus.

Teachers' redirection needs to be consistent and reasonable--but with consequences if you don't have the needed student response.

Strategies for Students Who Refuse to Work

http://behavioradvisor.com/MotivationStrategies.html 

Make all students feel welcomed, even if you are feeling frustration with certain behaviors.  Let all children know that you believe that they can succeed and that you will support them in the process. 

 Look for ways to lessen distractions.  Do not place  students who are having trouble doing class work in an area where they will be distracted, (e.g. facing a window or door, next to an equipment shelf). 

It is extremely important to avoid negatively labeling a child.  Remember to dislike the behavior, not the student.  As was pointed out in the section on classroom atmosphere, pupils need to know that you believe in their ability to be successful.  They need to feel that you are “on their side” if you are to be able to develop a relationship that is conducive to learning and encourages a students to put forth their best efforts. 

There are lots of reasons a student isn't working--this article thoroughly outlines the possible reasons and some many excellent responses. 

Why You Should Never Argue With Students; And How To Avoid It

http://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2010/01/23/why-you-should-never-argue-with-students-and-how-to-avoid-it/ 

But with the right strategy, avoiding arguments with students isn’t difficult. It can even be a means of strengthening your classroom management effectiveness.

Be consistent--the class will stay on task--with redirects, then the classroom management systemof consequents kicks in. All students have a right to an effective learning environment, and teacher is the boss of that! 

Creative Teaching Ideas to Fix Student Whining

http://classroomcaboodle.com/teacher-resources/creative-teaching-ideas-fix-student-whining/ 

Student whining in school can challenge any teacher’s ability to engage her class with creative teaching ideas.

Working With Defiant Kids: Communication Tools for Teachers

http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioral-interventions/challenging-students/working-defiant-kids-communication-tools-teachers

Conflicts are social power struggles and must always involve at least two parties. As conflicts between students and teachers appear to be so widespread, it might help to examine what factors tend to push each party into these power struggles.

Don't be tempted to debate--get to know the parents right away, go over classroom rules frequently, and be consistent and fair. Those are the qualities students crave for and respond to. Everyone is judged by the same measure of discipline. How to keep a class learning? Be consistent and fair in your administration of the classroom rules. You'll save time, enrgy, and emotion. The students will be grateful. 

  New Classroom Questioning Techniques for the Best Year Ever

Teachers ask 400 questions a day -- 70,000 a year, according to The Guardian. While preparing so many questions is a lot of work, you can save time by using some of the questioning techniques (QTs) described below.

Know your class.use techniques to allow student to take turns answering, even using methods to require every student to answer a question or respond to the instruction at least once in a specific length of time for grading points. Create a learning environment where students are empowered to speak to a group.  

These are the rules for teachers who always wanted classroom conflict, parental disagreements, and not-so-hot teacher assessments. 

This is irony--post this only if you want chaos in class.

 

Educational Links 3/30/18

Video: Why Executive Function Is So Important for Your Child

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/video-why-executive-function-is-so-important-for-your-child?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=understoodorg

5 Tools For Incorporating Technology In Social Emotional Learning

https://www.stanfield.com/blog/2018/03/5-sel-technology-tools/

Agents of Their Own Success: Self-Advocacy Skills and Self-Determination for Students with Disabilities in the Era of Personalized Learning

https://www.ncld.org/archives/reports-and-studies/self-advocacy-skills-and-self-determination-for-students-with-disabilities-in-the-era-of-personalized-learning

Why it’s Not Just the Teachers Who Hold the Onus of Education Reform?

http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/3129-not-just-the-teachers-hold-the-onus-of-education-reform#.WrzaOOisQ9s.twitter

How Read-Aloud Can Improve Behavior And Instill A Lifelong Love Of Reading

https://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2018/03/24/read-aloud-behavior/

Minds matter: Psychology of language learning

https://oupeltglobalblog.com/2018/03/27/psychology-language-learning/

The Difference Between Projects And Project-Based Learning

https://www.teachthought.com/project-based-learning/difference-between-projects-and-project-based-learning/

“Projects” can represent a range of tasks that can be done at home or in the classroom, by parents or groups of students, quickly or over time. While project-based learning (PBL) also features projects, in PBL the focus is more on the process of learning and learner-peer-content interaction that the end-product itself.

Educational Links 3/29/18

Why It's Time to Rethink School Science Fairs

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50849/why-its-time-to-rethink-school-science-fairs?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

App of the Week: Writable

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2018/03/26/app-week-writable/?ps=mzteachuh@yahoo.com-001a000001Q42fK-003a000001tKWH8

7 grants for STEM and technology

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2018/03/28/7-grants-stem-technology/2/

Laptops, Chromebooks or tablets? Deciding what’s best for the nation’s schools

http://hechingerreport.org/laptops-chromebooks-or-tablets-deciding-whats-best-for-the-nations-schools/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HechingerReport+%28Hechinger+Report%29

Download: Endrew F. Advocacy Toolkit

https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/download-endrew-f-advocacy-toolkit?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=understoodorg

How Ed-Tech Is Necessary for Teachers to Educate Students in 21st-Century Skills

http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/3132-how-ed-tech-is-necessary-for-teachers-to-educate-students-in-21st-century-skills

How to Differentiate Through Rubrics and Learning Goals

http://blog.mimio.com/how-to-differentiate-through-rubrics-and-learning-goals

PASS OR FAIL: EARLY INTERVENTION AND SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS

http://www.theedadvocate.org/pass-fail-early-intervention-school-partnerships/

In order for early intervention to serve students better, an appropriate relationship between early intervention organizations and schools is absolutely necessary. The transition procedure from early intervention to school should be streamlined. There is also a need for far greater consistency between early-intervention programs and school-age programs, as well as between programs in different regions, including across school districts and states.

Teaching Is Having A Sense of Humor

1. What's So Funny About Teaching

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/educator-sense-of-humor-mark-phillips 

2. Why a sense of humor is key to surviving as a teacher

http://www.helium.com/items/700442-why-a-sense-of-humor-is-key-to-surviving-as-a-teacher 

Just keepin' it real.

3. A Teacher's Sense of Humor

http://brainconnection.positscience.com/content/11_1 

4. Why is having a sense of humor important when it comes to teaching?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120213035501AALZ6B2 

 5. Sense of humour 

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/sense-humour 

6. Why Use Humor in the Classroom?

http://www.celt.iastate.edu/newsletter/v11n2/humor.html 

7. Using Humor in the Classroom

http://www.nea.org/tools/52165.htm 

 

 

 

Writing Prompts to Sooth Kids' Toxic Stress

Tell it like it feels.

We've heard of talk-therapy. In a class, writing can serve as an emotional release for students. Having a voice, using it in a confidential framework--a personal release of events and circumstances that a kid may really need. That is a gift from a teacher.

Research indicates children need practice expressing their feelings, identifying what is an appropriate response, and who is their support system. Writing assignments can really help.

 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/08/22/should-social-emotional-learning-be-part-of-academic-curriculum/

Writing is a powerful outlet.

As a middle school teacher, I would ask the students to follow the pattern of a five paragraph essay (with appropriate preparation and explanation.) Each of these prompts includes a 'three' for the internal paragraphs. Yes, I'm practical enough to want to prepare them for the California State Writing Examination for Grade 7 in March.

Writing, however, can function as an outlet for a student's deep feelings.

 Here is my Number One All Time Favorite Writing Prompt; it works especially well at the beginning of school. The students are given a promise of confidentiality.

"Three Things I Want You To Know About Me."

Students can describe sports' preferences, music, family life. With seventh graders, I found they would frequently write about very serious things, too, that their dad was in prison, or how their mom had been diagnosed with cancer but is okay now. Kids can be eloquent, if someone just asks them something important. As a teacher I got to know the students very quickly, and I don't just mean that they couldn't spell or punctuate. It felt good for them to write about something important, something they chose to tell Teacher about.

Kids can be eloquent if allowed.

Although it is not just kids suffering in poverty that need a release through writing, here is more research on the importance of giving students access to expressing their personal thoughts as a release to toxic stress, and the tools to deal with emotions.

 http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2012/01/04/student-achievement-poverty-and-toxic-stress/

 http://educationnext.org/what-do-education-policymakers-do-about-toxic-stress/

Angels' fan in the midst of Dodgers' fans.

Let's not be always so serious all the time. Life for kids now is pretty stressful in general. So here is a topic that can generate fun, friendship and comradery. If you wish, the students can create powerpoints. One year I did a powerpoint of my own, the students thought it was pretty funny.
  




"Three Of The Coolest Things I've Ever Seen."

The Chivas forever.

Its amazing. Some of my students have seen the pyramids in Mexico City. They can describe, in detail to make Howard Cosell jealous, a header in a soccer game that scored the winning goal. A homerun completely unexpected. A teacher can also learn a lot about music from essays like this. The students want to share these essays, so I set up groups for them to discuss; we have a good time, showing respect for other's opinions is our number one goal. (Always Dodgers and Angels fans describing a homerun or great catch. Lots of debates between these two groups as to who is best.)

Here's a link with so many other ideas for fun in class.

http://www.info.com/classroom%20fun?cb=27&cmp=4315&gclid=CN3gq6-nva8CFSkaQgodrworvw

 Middle school kids have a very basic sense of humor, so teachers had better be ready for this one. Actually, age doesn't really mature a sense of humor in most people. So I just tell the kids to keep it 'G' rated, and try to minimize the bathroom humor with this topic.

"The Three Times I Laughed The Hardest"

I laughed so hard...

There's  lots of falling, farting, and SNL skits with these essays, but sometimes a kid's just got to be silly, and laugh awhile. Everybody does. That will sooth toxic stress for a bit.





Here's a link for help with explaining the technicalities of writing.
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/writebetter.html

 The anecdotes the kids can come up with.

Can't Touch That

Joe

Oh, the Three Coolest Things I've seen?


Close runner up--Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation."              

So cool.

Educational Links 3/28/19

When Pushing Boundaries in Math Education, Where Can Teachers Turn For Help and Camaraderie?

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50540/when-pushing-boundaries-in-math-education-where-can-teachers-turn-for-help-and-camaraderie?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

Try Coding in Your Classroom: Dash & Dot Club Pack Giveaway

https://www.weareteachers.com/contest/try-coding-in-your-classroom-dash-dot-club-pack-giveaway/?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=WonderWorkshop_1712_GIVE%201

School librarians fear a 'quiet crisis' is endangering their place in the education world

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/school-librarians-fear-a-quiet-crisis-is-endangering-their-place-in-the-education-world

HOW KIDS CAN USE 'SCREEN TIME' TO THEIR ADVANTAGE https://www.wired.com/story/kids-screen-time-allison-gopnik/

Teachers Must Encourage Students to 'Make Meaning Together'

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2018/03/response_teachers_must_encourage_students_to_make_meaning_together.html

How vulnerable are you to a data breach?

https://www.educationdive.com/news/how-vulnerable-are-you-to-a-data-breach/519423/

growth mindset

Download: Growth Mindset Activities for Kids

https://www.understood.org/en/friends-feelings/empowering-your-child/building-on-strengths/download-growth-mindset-activities-for-kids

Is your child willing to take on challenges and keep working on them despite setbacks? That’s a sign of a growth mindset—believing that abilities can improve over time. But some struggling learners have a fixed mindset. They think that their abilities are set and won’t ever improve, even with effort.

Teaching Is Using Proximity

 

How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom

Read more: How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7867331_use-proximity-manage-classroom.html#ixzz2DTGK9Yaw

How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom

Read more: How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7867331_use-proximity-manage-classroom.html#ixzz2DTGK9Yaw

1. Effective Room Arrangement

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/jones/jones001.shtml 

2. The Effectiveness of Teacher Proximity as an Initial Technique of Helping Pupils Control Their Behavior.

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ313879&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ313879 

3. Quick & Effective Teaching Strategies: Proximity Control

http://effectiveteachingstrategies.com/quick-effective-teaching-strategies-proximity-control/ 

How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom

Read more: How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7867331_use-proximity-manage-classroom.html#ixzz2DTGK9Yaw

4. Proximity & Modality

http://edu518top10.weebly.com/proximity-amp-modality.html 

5. Suggested Classroom Interventions For Children With ADD & Learning Disabilities

http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/teacher.shtml 

6.  How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom

http://www.ehow.com/how_7867331_use-proximity-manage-classroom.html 

7.  Proximity and Mobility

http://pattersonandmcmillan.weebly.com/proximity-and-mobility.html 

Read more: How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7867331_use-proximity-manage-classroom.html#ixzz2DTGK9Yaw

How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom

Read more: How to Use Proximity to Manage the Classroom | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_7867331_use-proximity-manage-classroom.html#ixzz2DTGK9Yaw

Proximity to help during guided practice!

 

Educational Links 3/26/18

One Future of K-12 Education: From the Factory to a Personalized Model

https://theeducatorsroom.com/one-future-of-k-12-education-from-the-factory-to-a-personalized-model/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theeducatorsroom%2FvPKE+%28EducatorsRoom%29

PASS OR FAIL: TRAINING TEACHERS IN AREAS OF DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY AND INCLUSION

http://www.theedadvocate.org/pass-fail-training-teachers-areas-developmental-delay-inclusion/

Debunking Myths About Resilience

https://www.edutopia.org/article/debunking-myths-about-resilience?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

How Reading Novels in Math Class Can Strengthen Student Engagement

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50640/how-reading-novels-in-math-class-can-strengthen-student-engagement?linkId=100000002110415

March’s Most Popular Posts

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2018/03/25/marchs-most-popular-posts-2/

Promoting Self-Regulation in the First Five Years: A Practice Brief

http://www.specialneedsdigest.com/2018/03/promoting-self-regulation-in-first-five.html

How Google Classroom Prepares Students for the Future of Work

https://hackernoon.com/how-google-classroom-prepares-students-for-the-future-of-work-4da6135e23c5

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about a skills gap in the workforce. Every time there is a major shift in the economy there are always people who are left behind. During the last industrial revolution those whose livelihoods depended on the ability to get a job performing menial labor were left behind as automation took over. Now we’re facing the fourth industrial revolution in which artificial intelligence will be replacing a lot of the menial digital labor, and the workforce is again unprepared for this shift. Combating the skills gap in the workforce needs to start with education, and unfortunately there are many classrooms that haven’t yet caught up.