Friday, June 14, 2019

Educational Links 6/15/19


Students in Tech Say Soft Skills and the Arts Set Them Up for Success

ASSESSMENT , EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY ...NEED I SAY MORE?http://www.blogtalkradio.com/edutalk/2019/06/13/assessment-equity-and-accessibility-need-i-say-more

Highly concerning': picture books bias worsens as female characters stay silent




32 Research-Based Instructional Strategies

Most Classroom Teachers Feel Unprepared to Support Students With Disabilities


Legally Speaking - Expulsion in Schools


A Day in the Life of a Child With Executive Functioning Issues


Some kids have a really tough time getting organized and starting tasks. Planning, focusing and using working memory can be big challenges too. Use this visual guide to see how executive functioning issues can affect a child’s daily life.


Thursday, June 13, 2019

Educational Links 6/14/19

15 Examples of Student-Centered Teaching

Teacher attrition demands new approaches to leadership, preparation



Concrete Ways To Help Students Self-Regulate And Prioritize Work



school discipline,

ALL MID-YEAR “BEST OF 2019” LISTS IN ONE PLACE!


Fixing School Discipline Policies Requires Listening and Looking at the Data



What happens to kids with disabilities in school lockdowns?


Too often, teachers suppress valuable language diversity


It is impossible to avoid the insidious narratives about the language deficiencies of students who have been "minoritized"—or pushed to a subordinate position by social expectations. From catchy news articles to research-rooted firmly in monolingual, middle-class practices, these narratives are hard to escape. In fact, whenever I meet someone new, and they learn that I was a teacher, two talking points never fail to come up: the tragedies of the word gap and the failure of certain students to learn academic language.

The Waiting Father

Parable of the Prodigal Son 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Prodigal_Son

Father's Day, June 16.

Luke 15:11-32 New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Lost Son

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Reverie: A State of Abstracted Musing

Starry Night by Van Gogh
I've never noticed that little church in the center of the painting before.

Reverie by Claude Debussy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFL2MWuxa4&feature=related

Summer Bump Not Slump: For Budding Environmental Scientists

 

Backyard Birding

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/ 

Nature Activities & Nature Experiments

http://www.education.com/activity/nature-activities/ 

eButterfly
http://www.e-butterfly.org/contents/?portal=ebutterfly 

Outdoor Activities:Taking Science Outside

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/outdoor-activitiestaking-science-outside 

Birding with Children

http://www.birdwatching.com/tips/kids_birding.html

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Educational Links 6/13/19

Complaining About Students Is Toxic. Here Are 4 Ways to Stop


Teaching Strategies: Use Cooperative Learning to Enhance Participation


Research shows lower test scores for fourth graders who use tablets in schools


6 Factors Of Classroom Gamification https://www.teachthought.com/learning/6-factors-of-success-in-gamification/?fbclid=IwAR148PE9w-eRkOImNH6rBefxrnmAw1jLjGndxjaUxrAx8gXBtmyxCGHzSjM

Giving students a say


WHAT I WANT TO DO BETTER NEXT SCHOOL YEAR – HOW ABOUT YOU?

A Two-Step Process for Reducing Chronic Absenteeism


Getting students back in the building is just step one—next comes fostering a positive school climate so that they want to stay.


Dad, I Want To Be Just Like You When I Grow Up

John Adams (3) and John Quincy Adams (6)

George H. W. Bush(41)and George W. Bush (43)

...even if it is President of the United States.

Father' Day June 16.

Types of Discussion Techniques


Bringing All Students Into Discussions


Less Tech, More Talk: Moving To A Discussion-Based Classroom



The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies




Gallery Walk

Basic Structure: Stations or posters are set up around the classroom, on the walls or on tables. Small groups of students travel from station to station together, performing some kind of task or responding to a prompt, either of which will result in a conversation.

Gallery Walk


Philosophical Chairs

Basic Structure: A statement that has two possible responses—agree or disagree—is read out loud. Depending on whether they agree or disagree with this statement, students move to one side of the room or the other. From that spot, students take turns defending their positions.

Series: Reading Like a Historian (also for other classes)



Pinwheel Discussion

Basic Structure: Students are divided into 4 groups. Three of these groups are assigned to represent specific points of view. Members of the fourth group are designated as “provocateurs,” tasked with making sure the discussion keeps going and stays challenging. One person from each group (the “speaker”) sits in a desk facing speakers from the other groups, so they form a square in the center of the room. Behind each speaker, the remaining group members are seated: two right behind the speaker, then three behind them, and so on, forming a kind of triangle. From above, this would look like a pinwheel. The four speakers introduce and discuss questions they prepared ahead of time (this preparation is done with their groups). After some time passes, new students rotate from the seats behind the speaker into the center seats and continue the conversation.

Socratic Seminar

Basic Structure: Students prepare by reading a text or group of texts and writing some higher-order discussion questions about the text. On seminar day, students sit in a circle and an introductory, open-ended question is posed by the teacher or student discussion leader. From there, students continue the conversation, prompting one another to support their claims with textual evidence. There is no particular order to how students speak, but they are encouraged to respectfully share the floor with others. Discussion is meant to happen naturally and students do not need to raise their hands to speak. This overview of Socratic Seminar from the website Facing History and Ourselves provides a list of appropriate questions, plus more information about how to prepare for a seminar.

Socratic Seminar


Affinity Mapping

Basic Structure: Give students a broad question or problem that is likely to result in lots of different ideas, such as “What were the impacts of the Great Depresssion?” or “What literary works should every person read?” Have students generate responses by writing ideas on post-it notes (one idea per note) and placing them in no particular arrangement on a wall, whiteboard, or chart paper. Once lots of ideas have been generated, have students begin grouping them into similar categories, then label the categories and discuss why the ideas fit within them, how the categories relate to one another, and so on.

Instructional Strategy: Affinity Diagram



Concentric Circles

Basic Structure: Students form two circles, one inside circle and one outside circle. Each student on the inside is paired with a student on the outside; they face each other. The teacher poses a question to the whole group and pairs discuss their responses with each other. Then the teacher signals students to rotate: Students on the outside circle move one space to the right so they are standing in front of a new person (or sitting, as they are in the video). Now the teacher poses a new question, and the process is repeated.

Concentric Circles


Conver-Stations

Basic Structure: Another great idea from Sarah Brown Wessling, this is a small-group discussion strategy that gives students exposure to more of their peers’ ideas and prevents the stagnation that can happen when a group doesn’t happen to have the right chemistry. Students are placed into a few groups of 4-6 students each and are given a discussion question to talk about. After sufficient time has passed for the discussion to develop, one or two students from each group rotate to a different group, while the other group members remain where they are. Once in their new group, they will discuss a different, but related question, and they may also share some of the key points from their last group’s conversation. For the next rotation, students who have not rotated before may be chosen to move, resulting in groups that are continually evolving.

Facilitating Classroom Discussion: Conver-stations


Fishbowl

Basic Structure: Two students sit facing each other in the center of the room; the remaining students sit in a circle around them. The two central students have a conversation based on a pre-determined topic and often using specific skills the class is practicing (such as asking follow-up questions, paraphrasing, or elaborating on another person’s point). Students on the outside observe, take notes, or perform some other discussion-related task assigned by the teacher.

Fishbowl

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/fishbowl

Hot Seat

Basic Structure: One student assumes the role of a book character, significant figure in history, or concept (such as a tornado, an animal, or the Titanic). Sitting in front of the rest of the class, the student responds to classmates’ questions while staying in character in that role.

The Hot Seat



Pyramid Discussion (Snowball Discussion)

Basic Structure: Students begin in pairs, responding to a discussion question only with a single partner. After each person has had a chance to share their ideas, the pair joins another pair, creating a group of four. Pairs share their ideas with the pair they just joined. Next, groups of four join together to form groups of eight, and so on, until the whole class is joined up in one large discussion.

Teaching Civility


Teaching civility: Two daring assignments

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/teaching-civility-two-daring-assignments/2014/10/30/6c71682e-4b3c-11e4-a046-120a8a855cca_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d6a94af74ce6

A Quick-Guide To Teaching Empathy In The Classroom


Teaching civility can reduce school bullying



Are Schools Responsible for Teaching Manners?


Teaching Civility in an F-Word Society


The foundational virtue of citizenship, civility is behavior that recognizes the humanity of others, allowing us to live peacefully together in neighborhoods and communities. The psychological elements of civility include awareness, self-controlempathy, and respect. If we believe that all human beings “are created equal” and have worth, then civility is an obligation to act in ways that honor that belief. It requires us to treat others with decency, regardless of our differences. It demands restraint and an ability to put the interests of the common good above self-interests.

Assessment That Makes Sense


27 Teacher Actions That Help Promote Valid Assessment Data


10 ASSESSMENT-SAVVY TEACHERS SHARE ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL TESTS

What Are Some Types of Assessment?


Resources for Comprehensive Assessment


Innovative Assessments: Widening the Horizon


15 Assessment Activities That Are Fast, Fun, and Formative


Assessment activities should be quick, enjoyable, and versatile. That’s because formative assessment is best when it’s ongoing and consistent. Teachers use it in their classrooms to provide critical feedback to students. It helps them to monitor and modify their instruction methods and lesson plans to improve learning outcomes. That’s why we must use a variety of assessment activities and change them up frequently to stimulate both students and themselves.



Next Semester...we'll celebrate diversity


Music! Dancing! And don't forget the great Mexican food!
If you teach in a school that is ethnically isolated, by geography or by choice, I suggest finding commonality in sports, for example. Especially in baseball, you can find just about all ethnicities coming together to celebrate a fun time through sports. If you have a favorite team in the MLB, NFL, or NBA--you are celebrating diversity. The same is true of most entertainment and lists of famous inventors, performers of heroics, and remarkable accomplishments.  You can also spotlight through calendar events (St. Patrick's Day, or MLK Day, for example.) Discretion is important if your community is sensitive to discussions of diversity. But it is clear that not only tolerance is mandatory but appreciation of diversity, also. We are America, afterall.



Here are links from Edutopia, TeachThought and Edudemic to get you started on your appreciation of diversity.

Diversity 

http://www.edutopia.org/blogs/tag/diversity 

http://www.edutopia.org/search-results?search=diversity 

Vibrant art! Parades! Learn to use chipsticks!

Culturally Responsive Teaching Starts With Students

http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/culturally-respo--nsive-teaching-starts-with-students/ 

15 Resources: Prepare for Cultural Diversity in Class

http://www.edudemic.com/cultural-diversity-in-the-classroom/ 

Ballpark saurkraut hotdog!

Here are links for the major self-reported ethnicities in the USA according to census reports. I'm just following the order of the self-reporting. Sounds like fun--music, dance, food, art. Serious thoughts and inspiration. Check out American Rhetoric: The Power of Oratory in the United States http://www..com/  for speeches.

German-American Corner: History and Heritage

http://www.germanheritage.com/ 

Speeches of JFK .

Irish Contributions to the American Culture

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/irish8.html 

Cesar Chaves Si Se Puede

National Hispanic Heritage Month and Cinco de Mayo Lesson Plans

http://lessonplanspage.com/hispanicheritagemonth-htm/ 

The Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock.

 

English Americans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_American 

 

Little Italy, New York City

 

Italian Americans 

http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Italian-Americans.html 

The Italian Americans PBS

http://video.pbs.org/program/italian-americans/ 

Steven Spielberg--and don't forget Jurassic World!

 

The Jewish Americans PBS

http://www.pbs.org/jewishamericans/ 

 

 

Native American Resources

500 is one of my favorite resources, I have taught the info on the Aztecs to my Mexican-American students. They are also fascinated with the Mayans.
Sequoyah--created Cherokee written language

500 NATIONS a video series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZztTMhRzqlQ&list=PLCD21D8E645A7BCE0 

We Shall Remain--PBS

http://ec2-184-73-194-121.compute-1.amazonaws.com/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/

Celebrate African-American History

 http://teacher.scholastic.com/africanamericanheritage/

 Please don't neglect the arts when enjoying these lessons. And the food, if possible. Mmm, soul food.
MLK--we never needed your influence more than now!