Life’s a Carnival - Education Buzz Edition #5

Another edition of the Education Buzz Carnival is up and running at Bellringers! Don’t miss out on all the fun! See what is going on in the Edusphere. My article on From the Salamander’s Point of View is there but there are lots of other great articles to read too! See you there and don’t eat too much cotton candy!

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: Carnival by Pat Hensley

I Want To Be Sticky

I recently read the book Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. This is not a book review but rather notes of things I don’t want to forget. There were ideas here that made an impact on me become some of the stuff I already do and I didn’t know why I do it that way or the significance of what I do. I began to wonder if I’m consistent in doing things and knowing how important it is, I hope I do it more often. If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend it and I’m glad that I took the time to read it.

The book emphasizes seven basic principles using the acronym of SUCCES: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, story. I began to think about whether I use these in my classroom. I also looked at the lessons that I know really worked well and those that didn’t. I can analyze these and see the ones that didn’t work are the ones where I skipped these principles. When I looked at the ones that were successful, I saw the seven principles could be clearly seen.

Simple is very important. I have a relative that tells these long complicated stories whenever I get in a conversation with him and before he finishes the second sentence, I have drifted elsewhere. I can see his lips moving and hear sound come out of his mouth, but I quit trying to process what he is saying. It is too much work for me to try to figure out the point of what he is saying.

As for unexpected, I think it is important to think about what the students may assume. Sometimes their preconceived ideas can affect their attitudes so if I can stay ahead of them, sometimes I can surprise them. This surprise keeps them engaged into wanting to know more.

Concrete is a definite must. Many of my students have a hard time understanding the abstract if they can’t figure out the concrete part. I think most people are that way but we take it for granted that everyone knows this. I need to look at my lessons and make sure that when I introduce them, it is something they can see and experience.

I love to tell stories and I guess it helps me from being bored when I teach a lesson. If the lesson is boring to tell it, then I’m sure it is boring to hear it. So I like to throw in a story or two to keep us all interested. I believe that in my stories, I include the credible and the emotional part altogether. Knowing that something actually happened helps make it credible and usually if I remembered it, it is because it had some emotional impact on me. This emotion is something I want to share with my students.

When we do some review before a test, sometimes my students need a prompt to come up with the answer. I usually can remind them about the story that I told. When they recall the story, they are able to come up with the correct answer.

If you get a chance to read this book, I hope you take the time. If you have already read it, do you have any suggestions or comments to add? What was your opinion of the book?

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: 'NASCAR Duct Tape, in association with 3M'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87231304@N00/1345233680 by: Sean Neakums

Blogging and Me

Bill Gaskins (author of Creating a Path for Learning in the 21^st Century) asked me to talk to his Digital Writing class about my Personal Learning Network and Blogging. I jotted some notes down in case I ran out of things to say (You can stop laughing now!)

I first got on Twitter in January 2008 and found Bill on there. I was so excited to find someone from SC. I started accumulating educator friends and then adding their educator friends. From Twitter I started finding educational blogs to read and adding them to my Google Reader. Right now I subscribe to 317 blogs.

Reading other people’s blogs made me itch to try my own hand at it. At first I thought “I know nothing about blogging! What am I thinking?” I started this blog 3 years ago in 2007 when I retired. I told myself that I would give it a try because I had nothing to lose. I decided to use blogger which is free and I already had a laptop with an internet connection so why not? As of today, I’ve had over 212, 000 page views! I’m still truly amazed that anyone would want to read something I write!

When I retired, I decided that I had all these wonderful experiences and knowledge about teaching that I wanted to share with others. Of course, my hubby says I would talk to the wall about teaching if no one else listened! I thought that others could learn from things that I learned the hard way. Maybe I could help others in ways that I wish someone had helped me. So, I started my blog. I did a lot of reading other blogs to decide how I wanted to develop my blog. I noticed the ones that I liked and why so that I could mimic the same style. I also noticed the ones I didn’t like so that I didn’t write the same way. I’m not saying those are wrong, but they just aren’t the ones that I like to read but others might like them.

I have learned so much through blogging. I learned more about myself and what I believe in. This made me climb off the fence and state my opinion. Sometimes I’ve had to defend it which is good too. I also learned by reading others and writing how it affected me.

One of the people in class asked me what I was afraid of. I was afraid that I would say something wrong or have people disagree with me. One way that really helps me that instead of telling people what they should do, I tell people what I do in my own classroom and what works for me. They might disagree with me but I can say that I know it works for me in my own situation and it might not work for them. This actually made me feel more comfortable with my writing.

If I had to give them suggestions, here are some suggestions I would give:

Know why you are blogging. What is your purpose? This may help you narrow down your writing.

Know your audience. Who are you writing for? How will you get your message to them?

Make it interesting. If you are bored writing it, more than likely, someone will be bored reading it.

Quote other blogs and write about them. Share your feelings. This opens up conversations about different topics and through the conversations, we all can learn from each other. (I also feel so honored and thrilled when someone refers to me in their blog so I bet others feel the same way.)

Let others know that you posted a new post. Self promotion is good! At first I felt uncomfortable doing this but then I realized how much I wanted to know when others posted. I needed to do the same. Now I post on Plurk, Twitter, and Facebook when I have a new post.

Have I left anything out? What other advice would you give to new bloggers? Please share.

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: 'Oh no, here come the Bloggers'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035767928@N01/68953352 by: Brett L.

Nature’s Villains and Heroes

(For pictures: click HERE. For video of Ranger Tim talking about turkey vultures: click HERE.)

Hello everyone. I’m Olivia the Owl coming to you from National Wildlife Radio. If you missed our weekly show last night, I’m posting the transcript of the interviews that took place. I had a wonderful time interviewing many villains and heroes that you might encounter in nature. I hope you enjoy them. Stay tuned next week because I will have another great show!

Transcript:

Olivia: Welcome to the National Wildlife Radio. Tonight I will be interviewing a lot of interesting guests who have an impact on the world around us. Our first villain tonight is Wilma the Wooly Adelgid. Welcome Wilma!

Wilma: Thank you Olivia for having me here tonight. You picked a great time actually because I had just finished some tasty hemlock when you called me.

Olivia: Hmmm. Yes, well, Wilma, please tell us more about the wooly adelgid and your life. Our guests are very interested in why you are destroying their forests.

Wilma: Well, I don’t really consider it destroying because I see it as my way of life. I don’t mean to be the villain because I can’t help it if I love those hemlocks! First of all, let me tell you how we arrived here. My ancestors arrived in the 1950s in the Shenandoah Valley on ornamental hemlocks from Asia. They loved it here so much that they headed north and spread out. Of course, they didn’t get really established and noticed until the 1980s when we started cleaning out all of the hemlocks in our path. We lay eggs in this wooly waxy stuff to protect them. If something tries to eat them, they will spit them out. We can lay two generations of eggs in five months around March to May. In June and July the eggs are laid but stay in hibernation. By the end of November, those developed from larva become adult and start feeding. Temperature drops, light changes, moisture changes are signals to become adults and begin feeding so more eggs can be laid in March.

Olivia: How do you move from tree to tree?

Wilma: We move on small mammals or catch a ride on the wind or raindrops. Sometimes birds will give us a lift without knowing it too. Of course we don’t let them know we are catching a ride because we are usually eating away their home.

Olivia: So, you think that you cannot be stopped. Is that true?

Wilma: Yes. Scientists are introducing some beetle from Japan that will take us out but we will find ways to outmaneuver them. Our families are banding together to find a way to wage war against them and no one will know how we will do that.

Olivia: Well, thank you Wilma for coming on our show. Hopefully one of our staff will show you out. (whispers: And hopefully that beetle from Japan is waiting for you outside that door!) Our next villain is Cindy the centipede. Welcome Cindy!

Cindy: Thanks Olivia. I’m glad to be here.

Olivia: Tell us about your day yesterday. You had some excitement?

Cindy: Oh yes. Ranger Tim brought a group of students out to find invertebrates on the forest floor. They sifted through the leaf stuff on the ground and found lots of interesting things such as ants, spiders, millipedes, snails, slugs, worms, red velvet mites, yellow jackets (and their nest), and earwigs.

Olivia: It sounds wonderful. Now, would you tell us the difference between you and a millipede? You both look so much alike to me.

Cindy: Well, centipedes are venomous and we kill our prey. Plus we have one leg per segment. Millipedes are poisonous and have 2 legs per segment.

Olivia: Well, thanks Cindy for being here today. One of the staff will show you the way out. And please don’t kill Millie the Millipede. She is quite frightened of you. Now our next guest is a good friend Teddy the Turkey Vulture. Some people think he is a villain and others think he is a hero. Hello Teddy!

Teddy: Thank you Olivia. I’m so glad to be here. Yes, some people feel that I’m a villain because I’m not as pretty as other birds and because I find eating dead stuff delightful! Hmm, is that a dead rat over there in the corner?! Oh, sorry, I get so easily distracted.

Olivia: Ummm, oh yes, well Teddy, let’s leave lunch for later, okay? Will you share with us some information about the area where you live?

Teddy: I live in the Blue Ridge Escarpment which is an abrupt change in elevation from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the piedmont. As the temperature changes, so does the flora and fauna. Moisture increases. Right now in the fall you will see a lot of blooming asters including White Snakeroot, New England Asters and Goldenrod.

Olivia: It seems like there are a lot of visitors at Caesar’s Head State Park right now. Can you tell us why they are there?

Teddy: Yes, they are there to see the Hawk Migration and many are volunteers to count how many hawks go through here.

Olivia: And how do you feel about this hawk migration?

Teddy: Well, a lot of us local birds have mixed opinions. Many feel aggravated because these hawks come in and take over the best homes and eat a lot of the food that is available. In fact, some may even bully the locals and eat them for dinner. The songbirds usually fly about early in the morning before the hawks get lively so they don’t get eaten. Others like me are just used to this happening and don’t let it bother us. Usually during this time, I find lots of extra food and even invite the relatives to visit to help eat on the buffet.

Olivia: Why do these hawks come here and how do they know where to go?

Teddy: This area is famous for the thermals that occur and make it easy for birds to get lift in order to fly longer distances. In fact, this area is well advertised in many of our aviary travel magazines! It is kind of nice to live in a tourist attraction I guess. Now, when migrating, the hawks have an internal compass, use the sun and light, as well as follow their buddies so they know which direction to go. Of course the ones that are too old, too sick, get lost, or give up and die become dinner for me! Yummy.

Olivia: Well, we appreciate the information you gave us Teddy and we hope to see you again soon (but hopefully not as dinner). Now our last guess is Penny the Praying Mantis. Hello Penny. Where did you encounter a group yesterday?

Penny: Hi Olivia. The same group that Cindy saw came over to Bald Rock Heritage Preserve to look at the area. I guess I surprised them when I hopped on Ranger Tim’s shoulder to get a better look at what he was talking about.

Olivia: Oh, and what did he share with the group?

Penny: He showed them different types of lichens (crustose, foliose, fruiticose, squamulose), citrus grass, and Appalachian Fame Flower. The group seemed very interested in the things they saw here. Of course some were fascinated by seeing me even though I’m not native to this area. Ranger Tim was glad that I wasn’t choosing him for a mate since I’d have to kill him! LOL

Olivia: Yes, I’m glad you didn’t have to kill the ranger Penny. Rangers are our friends and seem to understand our role in nature. I’m sorry to say we have run out of time for this show. I want to thank all of our villains and heroes for joining us. And until next time, have a great week!

(Having students act out different characters is a great way to learn information. Writing the character’s script would be a great way to improve reading and writing as well as integrating content. Have you ever done this with students? If so, how did it work? What advice would you give?)

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 9/24/10

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!

Profile in Courage Essay Contest – “The annual John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest invites high school students from across the nation to write an original essay about an elected official who has demonstrated political courage.”

Thought Audio – free downloads of audiobooks

Picturing America – “Picturing America, an exciting new initiative from the National Endowment for the Humanities, brings masterpieces of American art into classrooms and libraries nationwide. Through this innovative program, students and citizens will gain a deeper appreciation of our country’s history and character through the study and understanding of its art.” Lesson plans are also available.

Icould – “icould gives you the inside story of how careers work. The icould storytellers relate, in their own words, their real life career journeys. There are nearly 1000, they are easy to search, they are very varied and each is unique. From telecoms engineers to police officers, from landscape gardeners to web designers, from engine drivers to zookeepers; they talk about what they do, what it’s like, how they came to be where are and their hopes for the future.”

Story Corps – “…StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 30,000 interviews from more than 60,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to our broadcasts on public radio and the web.”

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: Tools by Pat Hensley