Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom

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!

Project Spectrum Manual of Ideas for Teachers and Parents – Project spectrum was created to give people with autism the opportunity to express their creativity and develop a life skill using Google SketchUp 3D modeling software.

Math Arcade – fun math games for grades 1-8

Curriki – “an online environment created to support the development and free distribution of world-class educational materials to anyone who needs them. Our name is a play on the combination of 'curriculum' and 'wiki' which is the technology we're using to make education universally accessible.”

Funnel Brain – “is an academic question and answer site that provides an environment for collaborative online learning. Students work in teams to create review questions and answers, paired with video explanations, for academic subjects. Users have access to wiki-style content creation tools, as well as a learning management application known as the "Funnel" that tracks and monitors learning progress and focuses the student's attention on a particular question at a particular time with a spaced repetition algorithm.”

Novel Games – games for the whole family

Original image: 'untitled' http://www.flickr.com/photos/11568872@N00/1426969126 by: Greg Kunit

Carnival of Education 6/4/09

The Carnival of Education (Summer Blockbusters) is up on the midway at Learn Me Good. Don’t miss out on all the fun! See what is going on in the Edusphere. My article Why Bother Trying? on is there but there are lots of other great articles to read too! See you there and don’t eat too much cotton candy!

Professional Development Meme 2009

I saw this post on Clif Mim’s blog Clif Notes on Education and Technology labeled: Professional Development Meme 2009 and thought it would be great to put my plans in writing, which might help me actually achieve what I hope to do.

Directions

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2009 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

The Rules

Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/07/09).
Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.
Title your post Professional Development Meme 2009 and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2447.
Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme09.
Tag 5-8 others to participate in the meme.
Achieve your goals and "develop professionally."
Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

My Goals

1. Record and publish at least 3 podcasts.
2. Update my wiki with new resources (to be used in the 2 grad classes that I'm teaching this summer)
3. Present at the Upstate Technology Conference in Greenville, SC

I Tag…

Anyone who is interesting in putting down in writing what they hope to accomplish this summer.

Original image: 'Close up of The Thinker' http://www.flickr.com/photos/29241010@N00/32010732 by: Todd Martin

I Can’t Hear You!

In Pump up the Volume from Learn Me Good by Mister Teacher, he states,

“I have a strict rule in my class that when someone works a problem in front of the class, they are not allowed to just write and DO the problem. They have to explain the steps verbally as they go. In some cases, I have to stop a kid midway through their first step and say, "We can't hear you." Usually, they pause for a heartbeat, then start over AT EXACTLY THE SAME VOLUME LEVEL. So I repeat, "We can't hear you. Please speak louder."”

When I was in school, I was very shy and unsure of myself. Classes where a teacher insisted that I speak in front of the class would make me break out in hives. In fact, it was probably the class that I hated the most. My fear of talking in class actually made focusing on the content almost impossible. I was probably the least popular student in the whole class and even experienced some bullying (because they usually attack the weakest student). I still can feel that same feelings just thinking about those situations. I knew that when I became a teacher, this was one of the things that I would not inflict on my students.

Maybe the student doesn’t talk loudly because of fear. They are afraid they might have the answer wrong and previously, they were ridiculed by the teacher for doing it wrong. Maybe they have been laughed at by classmates when they have gotten the wrong answer. Maybe they really don’t understand this concept and by making them talk about it in front of everyone just makes them feel bad. Sometimes this fear is so real and so big, that they would rather fail then to get up in class to do this. Unless a student trusts the teacher and the classroom, this fear is really hard to overcome.

I would allow students who want to work out a problem in front of the class to come up and do this. There are always some students who really like the attention and don’t mind doing this. This helps the others see a peer working out the problem and going through the thought processes out loud. I could still correct any mistakes as they happen and those students who make the same mistakes can see it from their seats.

If I call on students who don’t feel comfortable working it out in front of the class, I would give them the option of explaining to me at their seats how they worked it out. This could be done at a later time or I could ask the students to watch and help the student at the front of the class while I go around and ask individuals to tell me their process. Having a choice really alleviates their fear and lets them concentrate on the concepts.

My main reason for wanting them to explain the steps would be to check for understanding. Maybe if I was teaching a speech or drama class, talking in front of the group would be important but I need to look at the reasoning behind my activities. I’m afraid that by insisting a student speak louder only makes their brains shut down rather than encouraging them to try harder. Eventually by encouraging the students and building trust, they may eventually volunteer to work out a problem in front of the class. I would continue to ask them to come to the front of the class but if they turn me down, I would offer them other options to let them show me they understand. Maybe one day they will surprise me and say yes the next time I ask them.

I think eventually these students will feel successful when they can solve a problem on their own. Whether they show this by explaining it to the whole class or just to me, doesn’t really matter. Their success is what is important to me.

Original image: 'What did you say???' http://www.flickr.com/photos/66164549@N00/1905410893 by: Keven Law

Stealing Lincoln’s Body

I just watched an awesome video from the History Channel called Stealing Lincoln’s Body. (I am not being paid to write this review.) I think it would be great to use in the middle school and high school classroom because it would really hold the attention of the students. It told a story that most people don't know about or talk about and you definitely don't find this information in the textbooks that I have used. The information was well presented and broken up into segments. The video lasts for 94 minutes so it should be broken up into two parts. I would break it up to having the first part include the assassination, the embalming and the funeral. The second part would include the attempts to steal the body and all the times the body was moved.
I actually learned so much from watching this because I had not been aware of a lot of the information given in the video. My husband and I recently visited Lincoln’s Presidential Library and Museum where I first found out that there was an attempt to steal his body. I was so glad to see this video after that because I had so many questions that this answered.

This video is on sale now for $15.98 and you can see the details here. I would highly recommend that you buy this for your classroom or school library.