Saturday, May 12, 2018

Educational Links 5/13/18




How Schools Use Brain Science To Help Traumatized Kids Heal and Learn



Schools Let Students Take Laptops Home In Hopes Of Curbing 'Summer Slide'



Share Who Said That



https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/students-acknowledging-other-ideas

The Emotional, Uncomfortable Classroom


The 3 Types of ADHD


GUILT: I'm Working 60 Hours and I Feel That I'm Not Doing Enough



“I Know! I Know!” Self-Control Solutions for Kids Who Blurt Out



Children with ADHD don’t blurt out answers or talk over people to be purposely rude. Their impulse-control problems are neurological and tough for them to see. But with these tips (and lots of practice) they can learn to stop interrupting.


Helpful Hints for When Teacher Is Overwhelmed


Time Saving Tips for Teachers 

http://www.educationoasis.com/resources/
Articles/time_saving_tips.htm 




Replacing Classroom Chaos with Control 
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coach_gs_teaching_
tips/2010/10/going_from_classroom_chaos_to_control.html 

Understanding the Common Core 
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/commoncore

Understanding the Common Core
Dealing with Angry Parents 
 http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin474.shtml

The Teacher’s Guides To Technology And Learning
http://www.edudemic.com/guides/  

How to Get Along With ANY Teaching Colleague

http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2012/06/15/how-to-get-along-with-any-colleague 

Classroom Management: 10 Ways to Deal with Difficult Students 
http://www.teachhub.com/10-ways-deal-difficult-students  

Solutions for Teachers Bullied by Colleagues

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teachers-bullied-by-colleagues-2-todd-finley  

A Curriculum of Concerns

 http://www.edutopia.org/blog/a-curriculum-of-concerns-mark-phillips

Teaching Is Trying Everything To Get Through


1. Teaching and Learning

Methods and Strategies 

http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/edtech/strategy.html#Col 

2. Student-Centered Learning Strategies for Math and Other Subjects 


http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-centered-learning-activities-paul-bogdan 







Summer Bump Not Slump: Stuff To Do

A summer reading list for tweens

http://theartofsimple.net/tweenbooks/ 

BirdSleuth Action Map

http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/collection/outdoor-activities/fun-sun-activities 

Fun and Free Summer Learning Resources

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/summer-learning-resources-matt-davis?utm_content=buffer580aa&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer

25 Activities to Keep Kids' Brains Active in Summer - See more at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev073.shtml#sthash.5HROkl4R.dpuf

25 Activities to Keep Kids' Brains Active in the Summer

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev073.shtml 

summer learning

http://school.familyeducation.com/summer/family-learning/36089.html 

Keep Learning and Making: 10 Fun Indoor Summer Projects

Its a big, floppy, yellow one! In my Buttefly Garden

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/06/keep-learning-and-making-10-fun-indoor-summer-projects/ 

 Hey, what kind of butterfly is that?

North American Butterfly Association


Gardens with Wings--Identify Butteflies



Help That Is Perpetual Помощь, что вечно - вечно - многолетние - постоянные - постоянные

"Our Mother (Lady) of Perpetual Help" Unknown artist, 12th c.

Help that is everlasting - eternal - perennial - constant - permanent.
Помощь, что вечно - вечно - многолетние - постоянные - постоянные.

Moms love unconditionally, want to always be there for you. 

Mother's Day is May 13. Sunday.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Educational Links 5/12/18


How These 26 Teachers and an Author Are Redefining Today's Student-Centered Classroom


3 Knowledge Domains For The 21st Century Student


Some of the Best YouTube Channels for Social Studies Teachers


Government Urged To Improve Disability Services


Students Learn Less When They Sense Teacher Hostility


Building a Positive Staff Culture Takes Work


How To Make Better Decisions - Infographic





Teaching Is...Counseling and Supervision


What to change in a school? I have reflected upon what change would have the greatest impact based just upon my own observations.

Counseling and supervision. More and more effective supervision and counseling. Kids learn better when their minds are focused. Internal and external conditions affect their ability to be successful in school, therefore counseling and supervision.

Counseling usually indicates a counselor working in scheduling classes and sometimes personalintervention with parents and kids. Of course keep this, adding more opportunities for individual students and groups to interact with trained counselors. Have a variety of topics, a variety of groups. Maybe even a club. A qualified counselor at every school site.

Classes and class activities can  identify and/or aid in relief of tensions and stressors. Activities can give kids confidence and bolster their ability to learn.
One year when I was teaching a Special Day Class for the Severely Handicapped, a group of students from the student government class came once a week for a class period for peer interaction. My students and the gen. ed. student leaders interacted while I ran a very simple self-esteem class. The benefits? The gen ed. kids were exposed to new career choices (SPED teacher, counselor, etc.) and my students gained language and other academic skills, plus great self-confidence and new friends. It was like pouring Miracle-Gro on them.

Here are a few activities I developed to help students relieve stress:

Writing Prompts to Sooth Kids' Toxic Stress
 http://mzteachuh.blogspot.com/2012/04/writing-prompts-to-sooth-kids-toxic.html 

Books to Relieve Kids' Toxic Stress 
http://mzteachuh.blogspot.com/2012/05/mzteachuh-books-to-soothe-kids-toxic_26.html

Here are curriculum sources for self-esteem:
Discovery Education 
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/self-esteem.cfm

Writing prompts have therapeutic effects for students, too. The counseling comes in with discussion, either through teacher's written response or carefully guided group discussion. Kids are eloquent when narrating their own feelings and experiences. Teachers are professionals who interact with students at least 35 hours a week--we need to know them and how they are doing. Reading their thoughts in writing will do that. Then it is up to us to interact personally with them. Identify a student's internal stressor a student leads to getting them the help she/he needs.

Here are sources for writing prompts for self-esteem: 

Self Esteem & Confidence 52 Journal Prompts for Kids 
http://journalbuddies.com/journaling/self-esteem-confidence-journal-prompts-for-kids/ 


Reflective Journal Writing Prompts


 http://www.self-esteem-health.com/reflective-journal-writing-prompts.html


Supervision-oh my!  By my observation, only one school I taught with in the about a dozen in the past two decades actually followed the principal's directives on supervision consistently. On the playground, at the classroom doors before and after school, during assemblies. It was amazing. It was as though that principal had somehow cornered the teacher market on efficiency and cooperation. As a result, the kids were more secure, cooperative and generally happier. School rules were consistently enforced. The teachers were dependable in their appearances to supervise. At this school, the principal was also present on the campus, even making surprise visits to the classrooms, where he was welcome.



No teachers at any other school I encountered, except for the one above, even consistently enforced supervising passing time between classes. Every year the principal of these schools would announce the importance of teachers being at the door during this time, and in about a week most of the teachers stopped doing it. Why? Because people do what you inspect, not was you expect. The principals had no system to verify if teachers were doing this, except the increase of horseplay, fights  and other misbehavior in the hallways based on referrals. Parents of my students would tell me their child was afraid to go down the hall, to lunch or even to the restroom. 



Supervision, or lack thereof, enhances the student's learning environment or detracts from it. Personally, I believe the leadership in the admin. building needs to step up on this matter.


Just to put a chill down our spines.


FAILURE TO PROPERLY SUPERVISE STUDENTS


CAN LEAD TO EXPENSIVE LITIGATION 



 School Supervision Problem Areas

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/ 

 

Teaching Is Teachers Talking To Each Other


How to make friends and influence people - a teacher's guide

http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/2012/sep/04/teachers-guide-making-friends-influencing-people 


5 Tips for Bonding with New Teaching Colleagues

http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/8975-5-tips-for-bonding-with-new-teaching-colleagues 


Good teachers make colleagues better

http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/09/good-teachers-make-colleagues-better/ 



101 Ways to Cope with Teaching Stress

 Getting the Support You Need

Numbers 51 through 60.

http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/101-ways-to-cope-with-teaching-stress/ 


How Can Teachers Be Stressed?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/julian-stanley/teachers-how-can-they-be-stressed_b_1864160.html?just_reloaded=1 


It's a little stressful to take this test.

Teacher Stress Test

http://www.pedagonet.com/brain/teacherstresstest.html 

All American Cheesy Jokes and Serious Thoughts


Hurrah for the red, white and silly. And Garfield has just the light hearted touch we sometimes need.

Try not to turn each of these jokes and riddles into too much of an opportunity to teach, though with younger children, you might have some 'splaining to do, Lucy.

Teacher: Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
Student: On the bottom.



Teacher: The Declaration of Independence was written in Philadelphia. True or false?
Student: False. It was written in ink.

What did Paul Revere say at the end of his ride? I've got to get a softer saddle.

And just to be teachery, don't forget Longfellow's adventuresome poem, 'The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.' It's so cheesy, kids love it. 


Embarrassed someone saw my crack.
Keep in torch!
Did you hear the one about the Liberty Bell? Yeah, it cracked me up.

What did the visitor say as he left the Statue of Liberty? Keep in torch.

What did one flag say to another--nothing, it just waved.




'What kind of tea do Americans thirst for? Liber--ty. Ha ha.'
                                    What colonists told the most jokes? Punsylvanians.




Very good read.
Now for a serious thought. The greatest founding father, in my opinion, was John Adams. He supported all citizens, and did not believe in slavery, not a bit. He and his family had no connection with slavery at all. He argued in  the Continental Congress for the abolition of slavery, foreseeing the schism it would cause in a new America; which it surely did in the Civil War. He and his wife Abigail supported integration in their home town of Braintree, Massuchusetts, in the local school. John Adams had the education, brilliance and insight to see that the colonies needed to empower all the people no matter what; he worried that the British would treat the American colonies as they had Ireland. He was humble enough to recommend Thomas Jefferson be the compiler and writer of the Congress' thoughts, but historians know it was Adams who was the prime thinker. He was an innovative diplomat, a President who would see the big picture, and a faithful and loving husband and father. I think the latter should count for a lot. Thank you, John Adams, for taking care of baby America.




Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. John Adams 

She's Not My Real Mother, But...

Mother Teresa
she loves me just the same.
You have someone like that in your life?
Mother's Day, May13.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Is Teaching Good For Your Health? Yes and No.


Is teaching good for your health? Yes and no. Mostly no. Why? Too much to do, too little time, too little support. So, take care of yourself, Teach, and you can reap the good side of teaching.



Illness 



Your lifestyle on teaching can create illness. Stress, sedentary classrooms, few bathroom breaks, ignoring healthy eating, limited sleep--you're writing a lesson plan for illness.


Germs! Germs! Go Away!

http://www.nea.org/home/37571.htm 


Taking Care of Teacher

http://melanielinktaylor.mzteachuh.org/2015/05/taking-care-of-teacher.html?spref=bl 


Depression  

Teaching is a full-on contact sport without time-outs. A teacher must deal with her/his personal life or the pushed-down emotions and thoughts will react. Although no one talks about it, going to counseling and getting help really works. Don't be too proud to get help.


Depression in Teachers Impacts Classroom Learning

http://www.livescience.com/49771-depression-teachers-impacts-classroom-learning.html 


Workplace Stress 





What Motivates Teachers?

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/30/whamotivates-teachers/




Long Hours


 A teacher doesn't have to be a perfectionist to get sucked into a 70 hour work week. A teacher is a teacher 24-7 just by definition of working with students--maybe we should be paid a consulting fee for using our expertise on problem solving; thinking about the kids away from school.  We do that even in our sleep. Ever dream about class? Be realistic, demand a life for yourself and your family.

American Teachers Spend More Time In The Classroom Than World Peers, Says Report

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/09/oecd-teacher-salary-report_n_5791166.html 


Job Insecurity 


Without tenure, I doubt I would have managed to keep teaching long enough to retire from a public school district. Why? When teaching in a district with the most challenged demographic (high poverty, violence, ELLs and Special Education high counts) all educational stratas are stressed from security staff to superintendent meaning it takes very remarkable administrators to keep everything going peacefully--just among the staff. At times, I was privileged to work under such administrators. 
My work was appreciated, other times,  it was completed under difficult circumstances. As a Special Education teacher, we were expected to complete services for twice the legal caseload. One time, the Union rep at my school told me with great disappointment, that a Grade 5 teacher would be RIFd rather than me because I was Special Ed. 
At times, the students and I had nowhere to test, and  not much room to meet for IEPs. But I prefer to recall the outstanding professionals I learned from, when we worked together as a team, students and families were helped. Many of those team members were General Education, and many brilliant professionals from the Special Education field. That was good for me, but when there was tenuous support from admin, lack of collaboration from colleagues--only tenure kept me going, watching the calendar until I could retire and start something new.


Job Insecurity: The False Dilemma of Teacher Tenure

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-strauss/job-insecuritythe-false-d_b_5555710.html