1/24/11 Tips: Stories, Landforms of Play Doh, Break Barriers

1. Kids-Space.org is a fun site that allows students to select or submit a drawing, and then use it as a springboard for a story.  Check out all of the wonderful stories young writers have created for the site and encourage your students to participate.
2. If you're looking for a hands-on geography lesson, turn to Mr. C's Class Blog for inspiration!  His eighth grade class used colorful dough to make landforms.  It's a great way to assess their knowledge of landforms while letting them get creative.
3. Integrate history and writing in this cool essay contest from Scholastic!  The 2011 Breaking Barriers Essay Contest challenges students to "show how they use Jackie Robinson's values to face their own barriers."  Exciting prizes include a trip to see the MLB All-Star Game and free laptops!  The contest ends March 4, so see the contest guidelines for further information.

                                                                                                scholastic

Happy Monday, everyone!

-Veronica

Substitutes, FTW's Popular Links

I have tons of links on the blog that I think would be helpful to educators.  Here's a list of popular links I've posted within the last semester:

• Of all the games I've posted so far, Maths Nightmare is the most popular.  I see why!  To play the game, students have to quickly find answers to their math problems before a startling alarm clock ruins Imiya's sleep.  It's quite fun, and the game has problems ranging from easy addition to much harder multiplication and division.
• Mrs. Blow teaches her middle-schoolers how to organize their notebooks in this useful flipbook.  The beginning of a new semester is a good time to have students get everything in order.
• PBS has videos for "SciGirls," a wonderful science program for the middle grades.  All episodes are online and feature girls working together to conduct science experiments.

More great links coming soon!

-Veronica

1/17/11 Tips: Substitutes, FTW's Popular Posts

• How to Make Substitute Lesson Plans: a Checklist is a very popular post on the site.  I've had people tell me how helpful it was to them when it came time for preparing their sub plans.  It's long and thorough and, though it doesn't cover specifics, it gives you some good guidelines to follow.
• Class Build-A-Story is an activity I borrowed from a gifted class that turns out to be a great, flexible thing for subs to use when they need time to fill in a classroom.  I'm kind of bummed I haven't had an opportunity to even do it this year, but I'm sure it will happen soon!
• Teach Like a Champion techniques (video) for grabbing and maintaining your class' attention.  I've actually attempted a few of these recently.  With a little practice, I think I could use them really effectively.
• Browse through the blog's teaching tips of the week, which explore all grade levels and subjects.  More weekly tips will be posted next Monday.

Enjoy your MLK day, everyone.  I've got some posts coming this week to show you how crazy the last couple of days have been.


image: microsoft

1/3/11 Tips: More Love of Learning, a Science Contest, Vocab Practice

1.   Begin the semester with a renewed focus on fostering a love of learning within your students.  What Ed Said has a list of 10 ways to do just that with great additional tips in the comment section.
2.   Have your students enter the 2011 DuPont Challenge by writing a science essay.  Check out the contest rules and have essays submitted by January 31, 2011 for a chance to win great prizes!
3.  VocabAhead is a great website for students to practice their vocabulary skills, particularly as preparation for the SAT and ACT.  They have a video section that gives context for words through cartoons.

See You in 2011!

No updates today, or for the rest of the year.  I'll be busy with work next week, and I also have some other stuff I'm working on that I thought it best to save.

But, if the Lord wills, I'll be back at the beginning of January with some new stuff for the blog!

So far, I have in mind more teaching tips, a spotlight on Web 2.0 tools that I find intriguing, ideas for centers and workstations, plus much more.  I soon want to begin adding downloadable activities for classrooms on the site as well.

What's more, it's almost time for the job fairs, certification tests, interviews and all that stuff that I really hate doing even though I must persevere.  I really want next semester to be my first as a full-time teacher, so I'm focused on getting that done.

I hope you all have a great Christmas break and vacation!  See you soon!

Teaching Tips of the Week (Dec. 6-12): Make it a Jan Brett Christmas, Dreidel Game

janbrett.com

1. With the holiday season upon us already, it's a good idea to have some nice picture books to usher in the celebrations.  Jan Brett, the popular children's book author and illustrator, has several books that will have elementary students feeling festive.  Chances are high that your school library has a ton of her books.  Scholastic has a list of helpful ideas for a Jan Brett author study, which includes several of her Christmas and winter books.  Also, check out Jan Brett's website for coloring pages, videos and more!
2. Laura Candler has created a Dreidel Game that is free to download from her website.  The game includes a print out of a dreidel to cut out and use in a small group game.  Talk to your class about Hanukkah, and then invite them to play this game while learning Hebrew symbols.  Instructions for the game are included in the link.
3. Laura has also made a nice Christmas word game as a treat for your students.  Log in to TeachersPayTeachers and download the free activity and challenge them to solve all the clues, and then make their own to share with other students

Classroom Management Videos: Teach Like a Champion

A few weeks ago, I was browsing TheCornerstoneForTeacher's website and found this classroom management video.  The video notes some techniques about acquiring and maintaining the class' attention, mostly through the use of nonverbal cues.




The techniques are from a book called Teach Like a Champion. I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking at reviews now and I'm curious about it. There are a few things in the video that I want to borrow. Most of them are things we're told repeatedly to do with students (such as correcting behavior and immediately shifting the focus elsewhere), but I like how they are achieved in this video.


"I don't have Marissa, but I do have Jasmine." It corrects the behavior, and also brings to attention someone doing something positive.


What's really cool are the nonverbal cues. Without saying a word, the first teacher in the video is able to tell students to put their hands down, keep their eyes on her, listen carefully, pay attention to what's on the board, sit up properly, and probably several other things! I like that, because it means she's trained them to recognize and respond to her cues, and it maintains a lot of order and prevents interruptions.


With subbing, of course it's a little harder to teach students some cues when you're only with them one day, but I still think there are some things in the video I'd like to try myself and keep in store for when I am a regular teacher.


-Veronica