Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 3/12/10

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my Personal Learning Network (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!

EyePlorer – a graphical knowledge engine that shows relationships between terms; it was a lot of fun to play with

Volcano Above the Clouds – “join a scientific expedition to the glacier-capped summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain”; great links to videos, teacher’s guide, and slideshows

Artpad – a lot of fun for drawing and making your own sketches. I enjoyed playing with it.

Amazing Space – “Reveal the beauty and wonder of the cosmos to your students with this comprehensive listing of all of our interactive activities, graphic organizers, science content reading selections, and more. A description, suggestions for using the resource in the classroom, and related materials accompany each tool.”

Zhura – free online screenwriting software

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

What I Want My Students to Know

In What you need to know when you’re done with high school from Do I Dare Disturb the Universe? by Scott, he states he was challenged,

“to identify the Top Ten Things Every Graduating High School Student Know or Understand.”

I thought this would be a great exercise in thinking about what I would want my special education students to know when they graduated. Here is my list.

1. Know where to go for information or help.

2. Know that it is okay to say “I don’t know” without feeling stupid or inadequate.

3. Find something you love to do and fit it into your career. It helps if you love what you are doing.

4. If you never try, you will never succeed at anything. You might stumble along the way but that is normal.

5. Your interests may change over the years and that is okay. You can enjoy doing different things and at times, you might like one activity more than another.

6. Develop a support system.

7. Learning is a life time activity and that when you graduate, the learning doesn’t end.

8. You will make mistakes but do not let them take over your life. Mistakes are not what make you the person you are but it is how you deal with these mistakes that make you stronger. Your actions show others what kind of person you are.

9. Be honest. Integrity is important. Once you lose it, it is almost impossible to ever get back. People trust those with integrity. Once you lose that trust, it is like a glass that is broken and never can be put back the way it was.

10. Most of all, believe in yourself

What would you want your students to know?

Original image: 'LuMaxArt Graduation Concept'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22177648@N06/2137729748 by: Scott Maxwell

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

Teachers Need to Act Like Teachers

In Middle School Drama  from Happy Chyck Wonders by HappyChyck, she stated

“One of the things I dislike about teaching middle school is that sometimes the teachers start acting like the students they teach.”

I realized how true that statement is true but not just for middle school but every school I’ve taught at. I am going to mention a few things that I noticed and keep in mind that I’m not saying ALL teachers are like this but MANY do. I don’t think they are this way to students but more towards each other.

They can be clique-y. If you have ever started at a new school, you can recognize the “packs” and that they do not include you in their little group. Some of them won’t go out of the way to help you. These are the people that I avoid.

They can be mean. They can roll their eyes at you or talk to you in a condescending way. They might blame problems on you because you are new. They laugh at your input claiming you don’t know what you are talking about. I do not let these people discourage me and will continue to give input when asked because I have as much right as they do.

They talk behind each other’s backs. I always worry when I hear someone telling me negative stuff about another teacher because it makes me wonder what they are saying about me. I try to follow the rule about “if I have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

They love to hear that another teacher got into trouble. I can usually hear people whispering in corners when another teacher gets in trouble. Even the students pick up on this and the story can grow out of proportion.

They can squabble like children. As department chair, I’ve gotten dragged into conflicts between teachers many times. Since my department was special education, there were many conflicts between the general ed teacher and the special ed teacher. My administration handled these conflicts by requiring them to talk to the department chair before approaching the administration. I hope I was good at my job because it rarely ever went further than me. Usually the conflicts developed all because of a misunderstanding.

Worst of all, a few of them act like a hormonal teenager. There are way too many stories in the news about teachers having sex with their students! What in the world were they thinking? There is absolutely no excuse for this behavior at all and I really can’t imagine how they justify their own behavior. When everyone finds out about it, it brings down the morale of the entire school. The public looks down on the school and the entire teaching profession.

This all leads me to my point of “Teachers need to act like teachers!” We need to recognize the behaviors we may be exhibiting and that our students are watching us like hawks. They watch our behavior and learn from this. We need to be modeling the right way to act instead of lowering ourselves to their level. I think if we act more like we should, our entire school environment would be more successful and the public might be more supportive of education.

I realize this isn’t the only problems in the education system but it would help steer us in the right direction. I don’t believe that just by acting the way we should will make the public love us but maybe it will help improve how they see us.

Original image: 'Impala'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15745225@N00/1926006357 by: Arno Meintjes

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

Mockingbird – A Book Review

(Disclaimer: I am reviewing this book for The Picnic Basket and I am not being paid for this review. Here is the review that I posted on The Picnic Basket.)

I just finished reading Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine coming April 15, 2010! • Penguin Books for Young Readers • Middle-grade fiction • Ages 10 and up

On a scale of 1 to 5, I definitely give this book a 5.

This book is a story told by a young girl, Caitlin, with Asperger’s syndrome. The reader gets to see the world from her point of view which is truly enlightening. She has to deal with the death of her older brother (who helped her navigate the social world) and the grief her and her father face while dealing with everyday life.

I think this is a great book for middle and high school students to read as well as teachers who don’t really understand Asperger’s syndrome. I also think it would be great for high school students who have Asperger’s syndrome to read this with their teacher and have discussions about the social skills throughout the book. Throughout the story, Caitlin’s brother shares coping strategies on social skills that would really be relevant in the classroom. I could even see a Service Learning class on the high school level reading this book and developing a project with special needs students in their own school. There are so many different activities that this book can be integrated in and explored. This book teaches tolerance and understanding of people who are special. I highly recommend it as reading for teachers!

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

Are We Listening?

I watched an old episode of West Wing today and the priest told a story to the President. It is a story I’ve heard before but I still love hearing it. Here is one version of the story.

A man hears on the radio that a huge flood is coming and everyone is warned to evacuate. He says that he believes in God and since God loves him, God will save him.

The flood waters come and flood the house so much that the man has to climb out on his roof. A boat comes by and the people try to get the man to get in the boat to be saved. But the man refuses. He says that he believes in God and since God loves him, God will save him.

As the waters continue to rise, the man climbs to the top of the chimney to keep from drowning. A helicopter arrives and the pilot tells the man that he will drop a ladder for the man to get in the helicopter but the man again refuses. He says that he believes in God and since God loves him, God will save him.

The man ends up drowning.

When the man arrives in heaven, he angrily says to God, “I believed in you so why didn’t you save me?”

God responds, “I sent you a radio message, a boat, and a helicopter. You wouldn’t listen.”

Now I’m sure you are wondering what this story has to do with education but I think it says a lot about it.

The economy stinks. Money is tight. Schools have to tighten their belts and cut out a lot of extras. Teachers are getting laid off or furloughed. Cutbacks are happening everywhere. Everyone is running around asking, “What are we going to do?”

I think districts have tons of resources all around them that is available during these difficult times. They just need to wake up and use them!

I was saddened when I saw a colleague post on Plurk that Skype is blocked in his district and he has been unable to convince them to unblock it. This is such a valuable free resource that districts need to embrace and use. It can connect them to authors, other educators, or even professionals who could offer professional development to a small or large group.

There are lots of free professional development events online that are available. Many of these opportunities can be taken advantage of while they are happening or many of them are recorded and can be viewed at a later date. If school districts can’t attend many of these professional development events, why not get groups together to view some of the sessions and discuss them? A variety of recorded sessions can be offered, and people can get in groups to view the session that is relevant to them and then have a discussion. For example, there is K12Online Conference, Educon, or Classrom2.0. I have attended sessions at all of these virtually and watched recorded sessions and feel they are very relevant to education today.

Teachers should be encouraged to connect with colleagues in their district or state or even other countries. These connections go a long way in helping teachers learn new strategies and techniques to use in the classroom. Social networking is a great way for teachers to connect. There are many ways that would be an excellent and free way for teachers to connect. Using Twitter and Plurk has been instrumental in my growth as a teacher.

Collaboration is important for teachers and students and can be done at no cost to the district. The use of Wikis is a great way to collaborate and there are different platforms for wikis depending on personal preferences. Google has all sorts of tools that can be used to connect, create, and collaborate.

With all of these free tools out there, I wonder if we need to ask ourselves if we are really listening. Are we being open enough to use the tools that are available to us or are we hiding behind fear or ignorance that keeps us from using them?

What is/are your favorite free tool(s) that you would recommend to a school district? How do you use it and how has it made a difference?

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

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