If your classes are 55 minutes as were mine when I taught, I suggest you use the last 5 minutes to teach Life Lessons. I know you are evaluated on state or national test score results, but our kids need more. (I often wonder what was Bernard Madoff's (he stole millions from his friends) test score or Marshall Applewhite’s ( Heaven’s Gate Suicide cult leader) test score.
I would like to suggest that you teach “the… Continue
Added by William Lambert on July 17, 2009 at 5:06am —
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This technique will work regardless of the subject matter you are teaching. This concept is valid for any grade level. It has worked for me at grade levels 8 through college.
My explanation to my students was this. We are going to proudly show others what we do, how we do it, how well we do it and particularly how much we enjoy doing it.
Here are some ideas where you can tale your students to do a… Continue
Added by William Lambert on July 17, 2009 at 5:05am —
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Hi Jane - I am also new - an Australian educator working in Singapore. I'd like some help with editing my page, now that I have it in embryo - also anything else that woudl help me to add and get value in the network. Thanks so much, Erica
Why is that educators are of a few select groups that lose their retirement when they move? If you work for a corporation out in California and take a promotion in Texas, you don’t lose that 10 years of retirement out in California. If you live in Connecticut and get a great job opportunity with a company in New York City, you simply commute to the city without thinking about losing retirement from all those years of work in Connecticut.
So why isn’t this the case for educators? If a… Continue
Added by Gayla Thompson on July 16, 2009 at 5:49pm —
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Being laid off is one of the top five stressors, along with:
* Death of a family member or friend
* Economic hardship
* Marrying or divorcing
* Having a child
The American Psychologic Association says this about stress:
* 62% of Americans say work has a significant impact on stress levels. (APA Survey 2004)
* 52% of workers are more stressed because of work than home. (APA Survey 2004)
* 54% of… Continue
Added by Jacqui Murray on July 16, 2009 at 4:46pm —
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Or the use of them. I fear that they contribute to the obesity problem in America. I know from personal experience that my laptop consumes my time. The damn thing has already cost me one angioplasty (heart surgery) and I'm pretty sure I will need weight loss surgery of some… Continue
Added by Lincoln Builds on July 16, 2009 at 8:45am —
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There are going to be rebels in our classrooms. Not many, but a few. They don't always know what they are against but are a negative force to be dealt with. These students truly believe that they are never understood. Each day brings a new and unique tragedy into their lives. They need to spend a considerable part of each day in a counselor's office complaining about teachers, parents, friends, siblings, community, rumors, boy friends and girl friends, cars and warm soda. Through their dress or… Continue
Added by Ronald Bovill on July 16, 2009 at 8:30am —
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I've read scores and scores of books on the art and science of teaching. Many of the big names, lots of small ones, folks who have had some genuinely brilliant stuff to say and others who struck me as flat out nincompoops. But I think that one of the most important things I have taken away from all my "studies" is something about which everyone in our profession needs to be frequently reminded.
We flub. We mess up. We make mistakes... on almost a daily… Continue
Added by Alan Sitomer on July 16, 2009 at 6:30am —
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I just explored Google Lit Trip and found it a pretty exciting new avenue to take literature. It works in hand with Google Earth which must be downloaded and you can do that at the lit trip site. Through this media teachers can actually bring students into the story....not just to the story. Mapping the story through Google Earth enables students to see what the land was like at that time and now through a map, view a podcast, view art from that time period, etc. As mentioned on… Continue
There must be someone who is typing a file from PDF to Word, or copying paragraphs one by one in this moment. If you are really doing so, please hold on a second and read this article, after that you can spare your ten fingers, have a cup of coffee instead of sitting in front of the computer doing the endless typing job. Let technology do that for you.
According to Adobe, there are more than 250 million PDF documents on the web today. PDF is really a good thing for reading and… Continue
Added by Melvin James on July 15, 2009 at 7:35pm —
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I found a blog post by Susan Carter Morgan which included MIT's Henry Jenkins's video about New Media Literacies. See the blog here.
Love this:
New Media Literacies: "Becoming part of the participatory culture….Skills that connect people together with something larger than the individual levels…."
The logo for Project New Media Skills is "create,… Continue
The next couple of blogs are not intended to reflect negativism about the teaching profession. I loved teaching and I loved the students I taught, but there are some difficult aspects of the profession that cannot be ignored. As one of my principals said to me in my early years of teaching, “deal with it Bovill.” I did, and so have many of you.
Is it possible, that some parents simply do not know how, or are unwilling to parent correctly? Is it possible that some parents bring children… Continue
Added by Ronald Bovill on July 15, 2009 at 7:30am —
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Had an exceptionally interesting conversation today with my literary agent about the need for an interesting villain in fiction. He spoke quite eloquently about the idea that the strength of a hero is really predicated on the force of opposition that your hero must face. After all, a weak villain doesn't require any great, spectacular heroism to conquer -- and this a problem with a large majority of the slush pile… Continue
The 21st Century Information Fluency Project is offering a new self-paced online class devoted to Website Evaluation using investigative search methods.
This is the first time we've offered a self-paced course designed to meet your on demand learning needs. In this course you work at your own pace in a media rich interactive environment hosted at our Moodle based online learning site.
Linux Magazine has just published a surprisingly balanced article comparing the latest versions of Ubuntu Linux and Mac OS X. Most of you are probably already familiar with Apple's Mac OS X, but Ubuntu Linux is still relatively unknown, despite being a solid, and free offering. The article celebrates some areas where Ubuntu excels while keeping a critical eye on its… Continue
Added by Chris Fritz on July 14, 2009 at 8:20pm —
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It seems like many people have the perception that technical careers do not require academic skills. In collision repair, not only do students need to learn and stay updated with today's sophisticated vehicles, they also need to have basic academic skills.
While four-year college degrees are not designed for every student this does not lessen the significance of academic skills. Even though technical education provides a career path for students that may not be seeking a four year… Continue
Added by Donnie Smith on July 14, 2009 at 6:39am —
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I am immensely proud of this picture. The people you see include 1) Jacqueline Woodson, an author who has won the Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Newberry Honor Medal, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement as given by the American Library Association 2) Ann Martin, President of the American Association of School Librarians 3)… Continue
Added by Alan Sitomer on July 14, 2009 at 6:30am —
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