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Paint a dragon on your interactive white board for Chinese new year.
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Chinese New Year Lesson Plans and Resources
Chinese New year ideas, crafts, and activities. If you like topical activities, this is one for you. It includes Chinese New Year Animal Masks, Paint a Dragon, and Comprehensive activities. Bring awareness to different cultures and calendars.
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Martin Luther King project - Resources - TES
This resource is getting great reviews and is one you may want to look at if you're an elementary teacher.
"designed primarily for older children with moderate learning difficulties. It could be adapted for younger children. Children can talk about some sections as well as draw their answers." -
Teaching Resources, Classroom Resources & Lesson Plans - TES Resources
Lots of resources and ideas for Martiin Luther King's birthday right around the corner. Lots of free things to download and use as you plan the lessons around this great man.
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Using body language in the classroom - Resources - TES
Tom Bennett's guide for using body language in the classroom. This is a short guide that could be used to review these concepts with teachers. It isn't whether you learned this in school it is whether you apply it in your classroom today. Sometimes we all need reminders, especially when we realize that our students are getting a bit out of hand. Usually, we've forgotten what works.
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Whole school Behaviour teaching resources – TES
Having problems with behavior in your classroom? Here are some great resources that you could use in your classroom or school? Attendance and Classroom management are some good ones to look at this time of year. Just remember that whatever you select that you should never underestimate the power of a raised eyebrow or proximity (getting closer to someone who has behavior issues.)
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Student Opinion | What Would Your Personal Mascot Be? - NYTimes.com
What would your personal mascot be? I love this post and question (and also the comments that kids are making on the New York Times query.)
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The NEA has free lesson plans for you to use. They have themed plans organized by month. I would look here for seasonal ideas no matter your type of school.
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Language arts teachers of all ages will love the free lesson plans on this website. They are standards based and organized by grade level.
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Lesson Plan | Making the Invisible Visible: Exploring and Addressing Water Pollution - NYTimes.com
"Overview | What is bioluminescence, and what function does it play in living organisms? How have researchers harnessed bioluminescence in studies of toxicity and pollution? In this lesson, students explore deep-sea bioluminescence, learn how scientists use this property to identify contaminants in water and participate in a forum on water pollution."
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Lesson Plans | preschoolpointers.com
This preschool teacher doesn't use the typical lesson plan book. I love the transparency. "Here is my system: Since I am a big fan of the Reggio Emilia Project Approach, I do not sit down before the week begins and plan what we’ll do for each day. I plan for the current day, and am willing to make changes if something wonderful has come up. (For example, we might be learning how to make paper but a child brings in an amazing collection of shells. If the children want to learn about shells that day, I am ready to switch gears. The paper can wait.) This system allows me to switch gears and not have to re-write anything.".
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Lesson Plan | Scrutinizing Stand-Ins: Working With Nouns and Pronouns - NYTimes.com
Lesson plan on pronouns using the New York Times.
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The 20% Project (like Google) In My Class | Education Is My Life
AJ Juliani's 20% project based on Google's 20% guideline for employees.
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Paula Naugle's Irregular Verb Resources
Paula has collected resources for helping students with irregular English verbs. I'm struggling with helping my fourth grader learn them and have a whole week to get ready for the test and will be using these sites, review games, and activities! Thank you Paula!
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FREE -- Teaching Resources and Lesson Plans from the Federal Government
The US Federal Government has a website that catalogs all the educational material from the US Federal Government. These free resources are in every subject and grade level. Share with curriculum directors, especially fornthosenofnyou creating your own textbooks.
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Mario and Sonic English - Resources - TES
So you need a writing prompt or ideas to get students excited about writing. Here is an idea that used Mario and Sonic to encourage writing.
This describes how a games based approach can be used for collaboratively building descriptions of characters and or settings. It can be used as the initial stimulus for imaginative writing by providing "concrete" experiences for learners. -
Series of 3 lessons on Vietnam War - Resources - TES
Lesson plans about the vietnam war. This is a UK document and may give you different perspectives in your studies. Worksheets, powerpoints, and documents to use with this 3 lesson. It includes a lesson on military tactics.
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 01/06/2012
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 12/29/2011
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Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ: The ballot or the bullet
A Martin Luther King, Jr. Lesson plan from my friend @teacherdude in Greece. This is what he does in his class. Make sure you prescreen movies and make sure that age appropriate films are selected. It is interesting how he handles the discussion in the oft tumultuous Greece.
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This is from one of my favorite teachers on Tumblr - magical teacher. Here, she shares an infographic from AOL the "11 Days that Shaped 2011" to use as a writing prompt and suggests that you have students develop their own infographic for their life in 2011. What are the 11 days that shaped your life this year?
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Kinect Lesson Plan with Body and Brains: Kicking Your Way to Mastering Math | KinectEDucation
Get this. A lesson plan using Kinect, teaching math, and aligned with common core standards. This includes handouts. For grades 3-6. If you have a kinect at your school, you'll want to follow kinecteducation.com
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This is a great post with guidance on helping people use email more efficiently. If you use Google apps for domains, the tools that let you analyze your email use will be great. If you teach digital citizenship and literacy, this is a great starting point for teaching about email. No, email is not free, it costs us time.
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The New York Times Accidentally Spams More Than 8 Million People
Oops. Spam makes the best organization look incompetent. Best option is to admit it, make sure it doesn't happen again. I find schools and organizations that don't have a clue about how to send an email (by using blind copy instead of to everyone on the planet) increasingly annoying because there is always someone on the list who doesn't respect the emails of others and starts spamming.
Use email well in your organization.If you teach digital citizenship, conversations about spam and proper email etiquette should be part of what you teach. This would be a good conversation starter. -
Teens Stand Up as Abolitionists | hollyboardman
Teacher Holly Boardman has added her voice to the blogosphere. She's doing great work online promoting the cause of abolition and I've enjoyed reading her tweets. Here is a phenomenal overview of how she has integrated this topic into her literature classroom where she uses writing, literature, and the topic of slavery to make literature of all kinds relevant to her students. How can you make literature relevant and do the world a service? Take a read of Holly's blog.
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Resources for teaching about the Titanic
January also includes the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Start on this page and on the left you can drill down by age to find the appropriate resources for the age of your students. (You may have to log in to be able to do this. You'll need a free account.)
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Resources
Several lesson plans and activities for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, coming up in January. This is one of my go to places for resources online. Contribute what you're doing so others can download them. (there is also a download contest right now so you can share a great idea and win as well.)
Lots of good ideas including assemblies from UNICEF, videos, and an analysis of his "I have a dream" speech to use in your speech class. -
Recycling Christmas cards - Resources - TES
Ideas to recycle Christmas cards. Use those lovely cards in your classroom instead of buying new paper in January and promote an awareness of taking care of the earth.
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Essay Writing Toolkit - Resources - TES
If you teach essay writing, you'll want to download this powerpoint toolkit. It is a new resource just uploaded to Tes on December 9th. If you teach writing, you'll see a lot of information here.
"A comprehensive guide to essay writing. The toolkit contains over 50 activities to help students improve their essays, as well as a wealth of other information, ideas and links. All aspects of essay writing are covered." -
Distracted Driving | One Text or Call Could Wreck it All | Distraction.gov for Teens
A website targeted to teens about distracted driving. It starts with a test to see how long you can keep your eyes and mind on the road. A great site for health classes or driversed. It is a bit tricky because it tricks you into doing something you might not should do but it does make a point. some kids will say it is lame but it is a start.
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VoiceThread iOS App for itouch/ipad + Posterous - Be the Change
So, you want to use digital storytelling in the classroom. Here Beth Sanders writes about what she is doing with the voicethread app. Some great classroom ideas here.
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STEM Research Program for Teachers Accepting Applications -- THE Journal
The Siemens' STEM program for teachers is an outstanding program for Science, Technology, and math teachers. I highly recommend this program as I've been there for a one day part of their program at Discovery Headquarters and, as always, the work Discovery did was outstanding. You can apply by February 9th.
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 12/31/2011
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QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator from classtools.net
QR Code treasure hunt generator. Classtools.net has long been my favorite place for graphic organizers, easy video game review games, and Fakebook, but now there is a QR Treature hunt generator. It does all the work for you. So cool. Take a look and do a kind of treasure hunt kids will love.
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Since August 2006 this Media Center has been blogging, sharing links and information. Such useful information here. Sometimes we show by example more than we can say by giving assignments. You can tell students blogging is important but if you don't do it. You can also see how assignment are given on this blog. For teachers and media centers to review who are considering blogging.
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ICDL - International Children's Digital Library
International Children's Library includes many ebooks that you can download onto your Kindle. The books are organized by grade level and there are over 10,000 of them. (A big hat tip to Peter Fogarty who shared this resource over at the TES forum, a place where I find a ton of great things for my classroom.)
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Challenge Toolkit - Resources - TES
A challenge toolkit. If you are a gifted and talented or teacher of children who have challenges, there are 50 activities in this powerpoint that can you can adapt to any subject.
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Active minds make learning fun - Resources - TES
Tons of resources and lesson plan ideas in this article. The best thing is that every idea is linked to free downloadable items.
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firework safety - Resources - TES
If you are a parent or homeschooler, you'll have time to use this powerpoint between now and New Year's. This is a lesson about how to design a poster for firework safety.
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This wiki used at MICDS (a great school in St. Louis where I've been before) is a Lord of the Flies survival game using a wiki. This is a great idea for a lesson plan with collaborative writing as well as understanding the book content.
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For those who have told me that there is no use for pinterest in schools, here is a common core pinterest curated by Liane Courtney. Most web 2 tools can be useful, it lies in the willingness of users to make them so.
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Tons of writing prompts for composition teachers.
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Here's Thomas Gladstone's Abolitionist hymnal
I've found something that is just beautiful here that expresses how I feel about an important cause. yes, education is my primary focus and I'll spend a lot of time helping you teach and use technology well. But a person who teaches should have a heart. My heart will be with those who cannot speak for themselves.
Chorus from "I am an abolitionist" taken from this page of hymns that make you ask why.
"I am an Abolitionist!
No threats shall awe my soul,
No perils cause me to desist,
No bribes my nets control;
In freedom will I live and die,
In sunshine and in shade,
And raise my voice for liberty,
Of nought on earth afraid."
January 2012 has been proclaimed National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month here in the US. -
I Can Stalk U - Raising awareness about inadvertent information sharing
If you're teaching students about digital citizenship, perhaps you should start at the site, icanstalku.com. It starts off by explaining meta data and the settings in your cell phone that reveal way too much about where you are located.
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 01/10/2012
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1st Annual “Art Ed Blog of the Year” Contest « The Art of Education
Another "contest" but one for art teacher bloggers. The great thing that happens is that this sort of thing helps subject area teachers find each other. If you're an art teacher, you may want to peruse this blog for links.
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Do You Make These 10 Mistakes When You Blog? | Michael Hyatt
A great post about the common mistakes of bloggers. I will use these with my students.
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Twenty Dyslexia Friendly Writing Tips - Resources - TES
20 Dyslexia friendly writing tips. (Yes, I've spent the evening browsing the ideas on the Tes website.)
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What Periodic element Are you?
This Facebook-style quiz gives students an element that is like their personality. Might be fun to finish up class one day in science.
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Explore the Seafloor Physics Teacher's Pack - Resources - TES
This study pack has videos, handouts, and lesson plans that accompany a lesson about mapping the sea floor.
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In the UK, Holocaust Memorial Day is the 27th of January. This is something that we should all discuss and cover in an age appropriate way. Actually, I have permission and show Hotel Rwanda to my class. I want the students to understand and know what happens in the world and that all it takes for bad things to happen is for good people to do nothing.
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Holocaust worksheets - Resources - TES
Dyslexic friendly resources for teaching about the Holocaust.Notes and handouts.
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KS3 History - McCarthy Trials - Resources - TES
Talk about the McCarthy trials using archived film from the 1950's.
I am teaching
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| Image via Wikipedia |
It isn't much but all I have is enough.
When I look at their bright faces,
part of me wishes I could be a personal one on one Socrates or Plato to each one...
pouring out everything I have but more importantly, helping them extract all of the greatness within.
Great teachers are always known by the great minds they inspire...
if I were only that great.
I doubt Plato had poofy hair that just wouldn't sit down and Socrates probably didn't have a hole in his sock.
The thing we have in common is that they showed up. Consistently and daily, they were there teaching.
And there is the difference.
There is a big difference between being called a teacher and teaching.
That is why some people are so mad about teachers. Some teachers aren't really teaching at all.
Teaching doesn't mean I'm in the middle of a quiet circle of cross legged agape children hanging on my every word.
Sometimes it means they are in the middle of a loud circle of conversation close to hanging on the rafters with excitement.
Many Don't Want Excitement
I don't subscribe to this new model of destroying the classroom and everything it has been because I think that great learning experiences have always been exciting. It is just that we've gotten to the point that many administrators and teachers don't want excitement. They don't want surprises. When surprises happen, they're afraid of ending up on the front page of yesterday's news.
Most educators would rather float quietly in the cess pool of monotony than surf the big waves of learning. Big learning can be scary and have a bit more excitement than you want.
We're supposed to have stoplights on our wall that show the sound level and that get to red when the kids get too loud.
The kids think it is fun to make the light move so they work together to get louder.
Instead it should be fun to learn our topic. Instead of gami-fying misbehavior and thus, making it attractive, we should be gamifying the learning process. Leveling up. Challenges that seem insurmountable. Personalizing learning in powerful ways.
Today, I will be a teacher who is teaching with all she has. I have a plan. I am ready. I am armed with arms that love and appreciate these kids.
I am teaching. Are you?
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 12/30/2011
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An Alternative to Student Gifts | Expat Educator
This teacher asks for students to donate to a charity if they really must give a gift. Great ideas.
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Seth's Blog: The reason productivity improvements don't work (as well as they could)
"You don't need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment."
Want to get more out of your classroom: make the commitment first then start making the plan. This is called "owning" your goal in Franklin Covey-speak. -
Printed books from wiki content? This website allows you to custom combined a variety of wiki articles from wikipedia or your favorite wiki. This would be an option if your students create a wiki and you'd like to convert it to a book easily. I'm also wondering if you could print it to a PDF as well. (Or you could do it yourself, but this is more of a professional book.
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Microsoft OneNote in the classroom
A Microsoft One Note teaching guide for One Note 2010. I use this to write my computer science textbook for my students.
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Nice overview of exercises and activities for prewriting.
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Free lesson plans that you can filter by age and how many class periods that you have teach as well as the topics. This is by Microsoft so it is using Microsoft projects. This is perfect for those of you who want cool lessons but are restricted from using a lot of the web 2 tools.
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A major issue with the 'publishing' option for forms and privacy - Google Docs Help
This person uses Google forms to collect sensitive student application data and didn't realize when she checked "share responses" that it would mean that the students could see what the other student's said. If you are a teacher using Google forms in the classroom, realize that you never check the box that says share answers when creating the form. What you do is share the spreadsheet behind the form to those who want to see the data.
If you're going to use Google Docs, make sure you train your staff or this could be you. Also teach your students who are using forms as well.
Some Teachers Want Better Bargaining !
In the WaPo Sunday's September 28th edition , teacher colleagues Liz Davis and Kerry Sylvia along with Mark Simon of the Mooney Institute wrote an opinion piece titled 'Bargaining For Better Teaching.' What I personally liked about the piece is that the trio suggests that the method in which Rhee and Parker have been negotiating the teachers contract is broken and needs to be fixed. The group outlines a sense of urgency about their concerns that Rhee/Parker's one-to-one contract negotiation style which by the way violates labor negotiation regulations. They put the ball back in Chancellor Rhee and WTU President Parker's court by acknowledging that teacher contract negotiations should address more than higher pay and due process.
Here's an excerpt: "The contract talks have focused on the chancellor's proposal regarding pay, teacher transfers and due process rights. While increasing salaries is important, there seems to be no administration plan for improving and supporting teacher quality. To fill this void, the WTU should have brought forward a plan for improving professional working conditions, teacher evaluations and instructional support. While some of these issues were raised by the WTU negotiating team, nothing ended up being proposed to the WTU membership, and nothing was brought to negotiations with the chancellor."
The trio suggest that contract negotiations should also focus on a collaborative effort between management and labor which defines quality teaching from a system wide perspective. They pose some critical and well thought out questions for both Chancellor Rhee and WTU President Parker to consider. Here are their critical questions :
1. What is the plan to build understanding about what defines good teaching, so it becomes the norm in every classroom?
2. What is the plan to provide new teacher induction or, better yet, a "teacher residency" program so that the next generation of teachers has the knowledge and skills to engage in quality teaching ?
3. What is the plan to create professional teaching conditions and support for good teaching at every school so that talented teachers stay?
4. What is the plan to create an expedited and a high-quality teacher evaluation process that teachers respect? Is the WTU interested in the "peer review" approach taking hold elsewhere? How will the teacher evaluation process be infused with a deep understanding of how to observe and analyze teaching in a way that respects the complexity of the craft?
5. The consensus about the need to raise teacher pay is admirable, but how will the dollars be sustained over the long haul, and what in the bargain will deliver higher-quality teaching as a quid pro quo? Will teachers be any better prepared and supported under the proposed contract than before?
I'd like to hear your comments. Two thumbs up or two thumbs down for 'Bargaining For Better Teaching? agree or disagree with your colleagues ? Why ? posted by Candi.
Link to WaPo story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/26/AR2008092603350.html
A Roundup of Reading Research
Get the facts when you're teaching a child how to read.
I have a child with dyslexia and one of my biggest ambitions is to help my children love reading. Mrs. Grace Adkins in our learning lab is an invaluable help in this way and sent me some links to current research on the topic. I may not be an official "reading" teacher but I am my child's reading teacher.
I cried this summer when my fourth grader became so fluent that he's poured through one of the Chroncile of Narnia books and is now on his second book. He reads every night with me - we take turns and he's nailing it. I really wondered if I'd ever see the day. We've done multisensory everything, spent summers, extra help, whatever it takes. Reading opens up the world and is dear to my heart. I love it and I want my children to love it too!
A book recommendation from Mrs. Adkins
Mrs. Adkins just sent me a note recommending this book: Ready to Read: A Multisensory Approach to Language-based Comprehension Instruction and also sent some other resources across my desk for looking at the research behind teaching reading.
Read up on Reading Research
You don't have to be the expert to read what the experts say and break it down into practice. As I"ve shared before, it is appalling that so few people like to read and how many never pick up another book after high school or college. (See my post Time to Get Angry About Reading.)
I've got a whole list of reading resources I've pulled from the web in a Diigo list, so please take a look, but here is a list of some great PDF's that you'll want to read.
Round Up of Reading Research
Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading International Dyslexia Association
This guide is from Dr. Louisa C. Moats and the International Dyslexia Association. It bridges research into practice to create a "research-based tool for practitioners." These are the standards used by the IDI to guide teachers of reading, spelling, and writing.the Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read
The updated 2006 copy of the National Reading Panel teacher's guide to give a framework for using the findings of the 200 national Reading Panel in the classroom. This is another guidebook for teachers and curriculum directors.
Teaching Reading: Report and Recommendations, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy
This December 2005 report talks about best practices in teaching literacy. For those of you who like to review best practices from around the world, this came in from the International Dyslexia Association in their Summer 2011 Perspectives on Language and Literacy "Global Perspectives" column.
Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading : The Department for Education
Here is another study for literacy people. This report from the UK talks about effective teacher training and good teaching methods but interestingly talks about early reading instruction and the debates surrounding whole language and constructivism.
Remember your noble calling, teacher. Take time to read and learn -- you expect your students to do it too!
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 01/12/2012
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The Lesson Cloud: FREE LESSONS
This website has a lot of free lesson plans including some for: language arts, math, science, social studies, foreign language.
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A Lesson Plan for Chinese New Year w/ Props and Stories | kidworldcitizen
Global competency is important. Here is a lesson plan used by an elementary teacher for Chinese New Year. I love it because it has simple ingredients. It is coming up in 2 weeks and is probably the most important celebration in China. Students should know what it is.
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Teaching My Calling: Tech Tuesday-Glogster
Cara Whitehad shares how she uses Glogster to teach on her "tech Tuesday" lessons. She has them post on their edmodo site. Glogster is a great tool that I've used in my classroom. The students love it.
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Spanish video – Free series with lesson plans for elementary school kids » Spanish Playground
Free spanish videos and lesson plans for elementary aged children. This website discusses ways to teach spanish and may be of interest to you Spanish language teachers.
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Using Graphic Novels and Comics in the Classroom | Edutopia
Teacher, Andrew Miller, shares how he uses graphic comics and novels to teach in his classroom.
Teachers & Parents 4 Real Education Reform: This One's For You !
I received an email from a DC teacher colleague, Liz Davis. Liz has formed an alliance with DC teacher Kerry Sylvia and DC parents Iris Toyer, and Margot Berkey and others asking for better bargaining for DC teachers. You may recall an editorial written in the Washington Post by Liz, Kerry and the Mooney Institute. They have created a position statement which deserves front and center. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts ? P.S. Teachers and parents for real education reform has a new blog- I encourage you to check them out @ http://realeducationreformdc.blogspot.com/
Position Statement from Real Education Reform DC :
Well The proposed WTU contract does not address many of the problems teachers face and will not make DCPS a better place to teach or learn. Successful reform of education in DC will require more than what we've seen, and we believe you know that too.
We who chose teaching as a profession want support for teachers to improve their craft but see nothing but disrespect and blame in the proposed contract.
The proposed raises and bonuses rely on private funding, which is not guaranteed. The green and red salary tiers will result in a teacher workforce that is a revolving door of short-timers. We think this approach disrespects the profession of teaching.
We need dramatic improvement in teacher salaries and high standards for teaching quality, but this contract is not the answer. It won't work and it may bring disrespect for teachers and teaching that cannot be reversed.
Arbitrary, unaccountable power in the hands of principals to make every teacher an at will employee does not lead to better teaching. DCPS hasn't clearly defined what good teaching is, but wants teachers to put their fate in the hands of principals, or worse, unreliable student test results as the measure of school and teacher quality.
The AFT is a national leader in fixing teacher evaluation systems, support systems for new and veteran teachers, and accountability to standards of good teaching practice. Why weren't they brought in to help develop the WTU's reform proposals? It's not too late for the AFT to work with the WTU and put forward a new plan.
How do we create a stronger contract?
Demand that the WTU leadership and negotiating team bring in the expertise of the AFT to develop and bring our proposals to the table. Don't worry! Voting against the proposed contract means that the current contract remains in force. We do not lose if we work for a better approach. Learn more and join with your colleagues who see another way to reform." Posted by The Washington Teacher.
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 12/01/2011
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Harold Reingold's students post their mind maps developed for his social media class. This is going crazy over on Facebook with all the responses from many social media leaders I respect. Take a look at these and consider the impact of mind maps versus long essays.
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Garfield students walk out to protest education cuts | Seattle Times Newspaper
Students in Seattle walk out of school to protest cuts.
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New York’s Literary Cubs - NYTimes.com
Students majoring in literary degrees cannot even get unpaid internships in New York's competitive publishing market. I wonder why they aren't blogging. there are things you can do to get attention in the publishing world. (Hey I'll give someone a job as an unpaid editor here. Goodness knows my run on sentences, comma splices and occasional spelling errors need it! I'll list your name and maybe that will help you get a job - who knows. I think the publishing industry is fundamentally changing.)
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Pictures of waterfalls — The most amazing in the world | MNN - Mother Nature Network
If you love photography, this set is worth a scroll. The 14 most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Including a redwaterfall at the pole.
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A website recognized by the Australian Education association and american Library association. As you look for activities to improve thinking - this website has puzzles, and activities that are bound to have you thinking and talking. There's also a kids corner. If you like game based learning, there are some great tools here. "A gym dedicated to the wellness of the mind."
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2011 PRECONFERENCE KEYNOTEThe Sandbox Manifesto | K12 Online Conference
Angela Maiers' preconference keynote: The Sandbox Manifesto
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Tradigital History: Bringing the Past Alive | K12 Online Conference
Dr. James Beeghley (Jim as most of us know him) has a presentation on Wednesday at K12 online about how history and social studies should be taught using technology. He talks about early photography and a lot of other very cool thoughts that will certainly challenge the thinking and teaching of history teachers.
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Computer Based Math | K12 Online Conference
Computer based math by David Wees from the K12 online conference. If you're missing the K12 online conference, you're missing something big. Here, David looks at the consequences of what would happen if Conrad Wolfram's vision of letting computers do math computations in order to free humans up to do other aspects of mathematical problem solving. Something math teachers will want to consider on this controversial topic.
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ePortfolio Workshop - Acrobat X Pro - Atomic Learning
Free atomic learning on creating eportfolios with Adobe Acrobat X from Atomic Learning.
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PDF ePortfolios, assessment, and administrative productivity . Pages . Adobe Education Exchange
One of the things I have as my "big three" this year is the concept of a paperless portfolio using adobe acrobat pro. I'm a member of Adobe ed exchange and am using it to find all kinds of great resources. This page has links to best practices for eportfolios, digital assessment, as well as streamlining admin tasks. Useful resources. The cool thing is you can annotate with video, audio, an text and pdfs move very well onto ipads and devices like that.
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I have to admit that I've become a huge Acrobat Pro fan. We use it in my classroom to print, annotate, and do all kinds of things. I look forward to learning about how to use this program to convert everything into year end portfolio dvds with movies, text, etc.
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AdobeTV | Premiere Elements 10
Adobe premier elements tutorial videos. I find the one on converting photos into entertaining movies to be interesting.
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AdobeTV | Photoshop Elements 10
One of the challenges for some teachers may be if you as the teacher use photoshop and the studetns are using elements. These videos about Photoshop Elements 10 may be helpful.
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AdobeTV | Adobe Digital School Collection
Today is the debut of the Adobe digital school collection. Adobe TV has a ton of videos and resources to help you teach the adobe programs. I am teaching photoshop this week. These are some great resources if you do anything with adobe.
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Success Starts at Home – Part 2 « The Balancing Act – Show Blog
The second part in the series for lifetime. It will be on my blog next week but if you read part one yesterday, here is part two!
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Download your free 12 Games of Christmas Teaching Pack - TES Topics
Here's the content of the 12 games of Christmas teaching pack.
NOTE: IF you download, you will probably have to manually enter your school's information, especially if you are from outside the UK as many of us are just coming into the TES platform now. -
12 Games of Christmas Teaching Pack Topic Details - TES Topics
You can get the 12 games of Christmas teaching pack for free for a single user or your whole school. Download it now and keep it to use it every year. The sample teaching pack gives you ideas for how to use the 12 games of Christmas. IF you use the games, you'll want to get this for the lesson plans.
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I'm speaking Monday at 4 pm as part of Blackboard Collaborate's distinguished lecture series. It is a free webinar and this is the link to go to to register. This is what and how I teach my students online and prepare them to present online. Every student is required to present online twice a year in my computer science class and once a year in my 9th grade computer fundamentals. IT is just as important as face to face presenting and in some ways could be more important as it could potentially have more reach for my students.
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12 Games of Christmas Free Teaching Pack - TES Topics
These amazing 12 free games would be great for interactive whiteboard or laptop. I've played a few of the. I love #3 which lets you teach coordinates. You can choose one quadrant (x,y - positive numbers only), 2 quadrants (xy - positive and negatives) or 4 (xyz positive and negatives) - great game for reinforcement.
All of the games are math / numeracy games so spread this like crazy for your math classes. TES is a great site out of the UK for free stuff and is the largest network of English speaking teachers in the world. -
Secondary: Design and technology: KS3 Graphics: Photoshop teaching resources - TES
Adobe has their new Digital School Collection which really makes some very powerful tools affordable to schools. (Goes live December 1st) - here are some great tutorials and presentations on the TES website about photoshop and graphic design. Sometimes for these tough programs it helps to use things that other teachers have already used.