July 2009 Blog Posts (175)

" Inclusion" :Reflections of a Classroom Teacher 12

Inclusion is just that, inclusion. We do not have the luxury of selecting those that we want to teach. We are charged with teaching ever child that comes through our doors each morning and that is the way it should be. It is not easy teaching those who refuse our help but their attitude will not allow us to relinquish our duties as teachers. If anything, we probably will double our efforts if we are truly effective.

Parents who do not accept their responsibilities and who offer only a… Continue

Added by Ronald Bovill on July 17, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

Score one for the Ol' Bugger: The Persuasive Composition Still Packs a Wallop!!

As Jim Burke has mentioned - quite brilliantly - writers today (and of the future) will require compositional skills in formats that consist of 3,000 words, 300 words, 30 words, 3 words and no words. (I am paraphrasing here; he's much more eloquent.) The point is, that literacy is increasingly more diverse than ever and the challenges we face preparing our kids to successfully tackle the demands behind placed upon them are both dynamic and shape shifting.

However,… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on July 17, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

Teach Lifes Lessons part 4-ROI

Teach Life Lessons-ROI return on Investment

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 ROI

ROI is an… Continue

Added by William Lambert on July 17, 2009 at 5:08am — No Comments

Teach Lifes Lessons part 7- Favorite Book Favorite Author

Teach Life Lessons-Favorite Book, Favorite Author

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… Continue

Added by William Lambert on July 17, 2009 at 5:07am — No Comments

Teach Lifes Lessons part 6- The Resume

Teach Life Lessons-The Resume

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 — No Comments

Teaching Technique-"Take the show on the road"

Teaching Technique-“take the show on the road”

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 — No Comments

another newie on the block

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

Added by Erica Lenore McWilliam on July 16, 2009 at 9:42pm — No Comments

Some Delicious Tools and Resources

Reposted from Meg's Notebook, and Meg's Delicious

Open Atrium

New Drupal-based… Continue

Added by Meg H on July 16, 2009 at 8:36pm — No Comments

When You Move You Lose

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 — No Comments

Survivor's Guilt and Teaching--Why Me?

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 — No Comments

My Life Lesson: Computers are not all good

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 — No Comments

"Rebels in Our Classrooms":A Reflective Classroom Teacher 11

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 — No Comments

The D'Oh of Being a Teacher

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 — No Comments

Google Lit Trip

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

Added by Dot Francis on July 15, 2009 at 11:32pm — 1 Comment

Best Sites For Apollo 11, Vocabulary, ESL Terminology & More

Here are the latest "The Best..." lists:

The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day

(http://tinyurl.com/nncwb5)

The Best Sites To Help ELL’s Learn Idioms & Slang

(http://tinyurl.com/m85t7n)

The Best Images Of Weird, Cool & Neat-Looking Buildings (& Ways To Design Your Own)

(http://tinyurl.com/lesekx)

The Best (& Most Thoughtful) Blogs On “Big Picture” Education… Continue

Added by Larry Ferlazzo on July 15, 2009 at 7:58pm — No Comments

Tips for Choosing the Right PDF to Word Converter

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 — No Comments

New Media Literacies -- What are they?

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

Added by Sheri on July 15, 2009 at 10:00am — 2 Comments

“Deal with it Bovill.” A Reflective Classroom Teacher 10

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 — No Comments

Loving the Bad Guy

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

Added by Alan Sitomer on July 15, 2009 at 6:30am — 2 Comments

Investigative Search 20/10: Online Self-Paced Training In Website Evaluation

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.

This self-paced class… Continue

Added by Dennis O'Connor on July 14, 2009 at 9:38pm — No Comments