Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 5/29/15

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels:  E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Financial Football – “Give your financial knowledge a workout with the the latest version of Financial Football, a fast-paced, NFL-themed video game developed by Visa. Test your money management skills by answering financial questions that allow you to move down the field and score touchdowns.” (L:M,H; SA:SS, C)

Music Theory Lessons – “Theory Lessons is an enhanced version of the lessons for your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.”  (L:G; SA:FA)

Molecular Workbench – interactive science lessons, “it puts a simulation in a learning context. It supports the rendering and authoring of learning activities, which are typically sequences of scaffolded learning steps that employ models and simulations to teach. A learning activity can be as simple as a demonstration that shows a single concept, or as full-fledged as a digital textbook that provides the entire learning media for a topic, or something in between.” (L:G; SA:S)

CommonLit – “CommonLit is building a reading resource by teachers, for teachers, from the ground up. Sign up to learn about our featured texts, new content, and how to use CommonLit in your classroom.” (L:T; SA:LA)

Twine - “Twine is an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories.” (L:G; SA:LA)

Original photo by Pat Hensley

End the Age of Entitlement

To me, entitlement means that people are getting something for free without having invested any time, energy, or money into it.

It is sad when people talk about my social security and retirement income as entitlements. I’m not being given something for nothing because I paid into the system on the promise that I will be taken care of in my old age. I put in over thirty years of teaching and invested into this system so when people talk about my social security and retirement as entitlements, it makes me mad!

Recently my husband and I were traveling and seeing so many people who act as if they are entitled to something. They think they have a good enough reason to get something for nothing because of some excuse. This excuse can be race or socioeconomic level or because they are a victim of violence, bullying, etc.  Those that are poor feel they are entitled to have what the rich have because the poor don’t have it. The rich feel that they are entitled to it because they are rich and they have it. Many races feel like they have been abused by society and are entitled to recompense because of the way they were/are treated. It saddens me because I think everyone at some point in their life or in their heritage has a reason they can use to say they are entitled to something.

I am not saying that people don’t deserve it for some reason or another but it is time to move on. We need to stop training our children and future generations to constantly believe that they are entitled to something for nothing. We can’t keep using our savings for the future to pay for wrongs of the past. There has to come a point in time where we say enough is enough.

It is time to get past this attitude.

I believe that is why many young people don’t have a work ethic. They don’t believe that they should have to work hard to get something. I grew up with an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. It didn’t matter whether I was entitled to something or not and I had to earn it. If I didn’t earn it, I didn’t deserve it. No one asked me if I was entitled to it or not.

Some don’t have any respect for differences because they feel that they are entitled to be above others who may be different. They may be different because they have different ideas, values, looks, or beliefs.

Maybe I’m feeling cynical or disconnected or whatever you want to call it. But I feel that unless we, as a society, change our attitude and start teaching our children a different way of life, the world as I know it is only going to get scarier.

Maybe if we start by teaching our own children or grandchildren or relatives, this little change may have a ripple affect and eventually change others.  I hope people will start giving it a try.

What do you think about entitlements? How do we change the way people think? Please share.

Fish In A Tree – Book Review

I recently read the book Fish In A Tree by Linda Mullaly Hunt. This is the review of this book (I am not being paid to give this review).

I thought this was an awesome book that every teacher should read!

This book was about a little girl who had trouble learning which also caused problems with fitting in. Things happened in the classroom due to her difficulties that made her seem like a trouble maker. The administration and teachers around her didn’t understand the problem and seemed to make it worse. It wasn’t until she got a new teacher that new understanding seemed to changer her life.

This would be a great book for an elementary or middle school classroom and library. I think that children with learning difficulties would enjoy this book and hopefully feel like they weren’t all alone. I also think teachers should read this so that they could see learning from the perspective of a student who just doesn’t seem to get it.

The Day After Memorial Day

I know everyone yesterday was talking about Memorial Day so I thought I would wait until the day after.

Memorial Day in the USA is a day on which those who died in active military service are remembered.

Throughout our country, there were parades and special events of remembrance.

I saw a friend of mine on Facebook how he has already started telling his infant daughter about Memorial Day and what it means.

I also notice that many people take this time to thank those who are veterans for their sacrifices and service to our country.

It fills my heart with pride when I see and hear these things. I also see this a lot on Veteran’s Day in November.

I need to make it a point to thank those veterans still alive and remember those who died on other days too, and not just these two important days. Many suffered during their days of service and still suffer after they return home. Many families still suffer from loss.

So, on the day after Memorial Day, I want to thank those who served our country and I want to thank those who are still on active duty. You all are in my thoughts and prayers, not just yesterday and not just today but also every day!

Smokemont Camping Trip

Last week we camped at Smokemont in the Great SmokyMountains National Park. We had a lovely time and you can see the pictures I took here. Here is a detailed description about our trip.

5/20/15:

We left home around 7:30 and stopped for breakfast at the Landmark Diner. We arrived in Cherokee around 11:00 and had lunch at McDonalds before heading to Smokemont Campground. Our campsite was D38 and we really liked this site ($10/night with senior pass). It was a drive-thru site between 2 bathrooms. After setting up camp, we walked around the campground and then hiked up the Bradley Fork Trail until dinner. For dinner we had hamburger steaks and cantaloupe. After dinner we walked around the campground again. We went to bed around 10pm.

5/21/15

It rained all night and I had to close the windows when the rain came in the camper. I got up around 5:30am and plugged my iPad and phone in the bathroom outlets. I tried to sit outside but it kept raining on me so I ended up staying in the car and reading and knitting. Every hour I checked the status of my electronics and finally unplugged them around 7:30. It was too wet to cook breakfast so we went to McDonalds in Cherokee. Then we drove to newfound Gap and Clingman’s Dome so I could take photos. We got back to the campground to cook lunch (red hot sausages and cantaloupe). Then we hiked about 3 miles on the Bradley Fork Trail. Before dinner we relaxed at the campsite and for dinner we had more red hot sausages and macaroni and cheese. A couple stopped by to look at our Casita. Before bedtime we watched a DVD on my laptop.

5/22/15:

I got up around 5am and it was 50F in the camper. I was able to sit outside but I got cold. I did some reading and knitting in between checking on my stuff recharging in the bathroom again.  I had fun watching other campers break camp and leave. One camper hit 3 trees as he tried to leave and finally got on the road. We ended up at McDonalds again for breakfast and I checked my voicemail messages and email. After breakfast we hiked about 4 miles along the Oconoluftee River. For lunch Don cooked bacon and eggs. After lunch we hiked on the nature trail and the Smokemont Loop Trail.

5/23/15:

We got up around 6:15am and left by 7am. We stopped at McDonalds for breakfast and was home by 10:30am.

Things I Learned:

• Smokemont has a dump station and water supply so we don’t need to bring water from home.
• We need to bring about 1 gallon of good water to cook with per day.
• I need to bring a collapsible clothes dryer that can be moved where the sun is instead of stationary clothesline.
• It is fun watching people take equipment out of boxes and use them for the first time. But you should really try your equipment at home before going camping.
• Cantaloupe should be eaten the first day because it smells up the place it is stored.
• I need two saucepans and not just one. 

Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 5/22/15

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels:  E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

My Study Life – “It's time to say goodbye to your paper planner. My Study Life is everything your paper planner is and more. Rotation schedules, assignments, revision, exams? My Study Life has it covered on all of your devices. Oh, and did we mention it's free?” (L:G; SA: A)

SeeSaw – free iPad app; “Seesaw is a student-driven digital portfolio that empowers students (as young as 5!) to independently create, capture, and store artifacts of learning.” (L:G; SA: A)

100 Word Challenge – “It is a weekly creative writing challenge for children under 16 years of age. Each week a prompt is given, which can be a picture or a series of individual words and the children can use up to 100 words to write a creative piece. This should be posted on a class blog and then linked to the 100 Word Challenge blog. The link is usually open from midday on Sundays until midnight the following Saturday.” (L:G; SA: LA)

NASA Soundcloud - Here's a collection of NASA sounds from historic spaceflights and current missions. You can hear the roar of a space shuttle launch or Neil Armstrong's "One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" every time you get a phone call if you make our sounds your ringtone. Or, you can hear the memorable words "Houston, we've had a problem," every time you make an error on your computer. (L:G; SA: A)

eSkeletons – “eSkeletons provides an interactive environment in which to examine and learn about skeletal anatomy through our osteology database.”  (L:G; SA: S)

Original photo by Pat Hensley