Children's Happiness

Thus the season that we see commercials about giving to others.  Coca Cola's adds for generations have had Christmas commercials depicting sharing or passing on hope.  With all the ads, we still seem to have a generation of people asking "Whats in it for me?".  A student was asked by a teacher to close the door.  The student replied "Do I get extra credit if I do?"

An article on the CNN websites states the following: (http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/17/living/giving-makes-children-happy/)
"But a growing body of research paints a compelling picture that may help us rethink some of our over-the-top spending on children. These studies confirm some age-old wisdom about happiness: If the goal really is to make our children happy, perhaps what we ought to be doing is not over-indulging them, but giving them the opportunity to give."

I believe it is important to teach our children to reach out and be willing to give of themselves to others. It does not have to be monetary gift; a simple gesture to help others is giving.  Take the time to talk to our children/students about slogans/organizations such as "Pay It Forward", "Random Acts of Kindness"  and KarmaSeed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtqxXDoHNBE).  Encourage students to start their own chain to do good for others without expecting a payback.  A great prompt for writing "How can you give to others?"

Nice and Orderly

 It would be nice if our classrooms were nice and orderly like these wonderful produce bins. It looks nice and straight. Easy to determine what produce is you have on each shelf.  Yet, each area only has a single flavor, which would get very boring.  Taking items from different areas to make a salad is so much more flavor.

Same as with our students, a variety of students makes learning so much more interesting. Students learn from each others strengths and helps support their weakness.  As teachers, we need to help our students to blend with each other both socially and academically.

Using cooperative groups is not just an academic learning tool, but helps our students to work with each other socially.  We need to be aware of the "flavors" that may not work together, to find what needs to be added to help them to be able to work through their problems. Use an anchor chart to establish social expectations to group work. Review the expectations prior to starting a group project.  Make sure you move students around each time so they can learn from different students.

A little disorder can be much more productive than the straight clean lines.  It takes practice.

"Pay Attention"

Words that are often used when teaching students today especially middle school students - "Pay Attention"

Teachers have to compete with their students' outside world, lack of attention span, and the fact that the young teen's mind is "reformulating".  So how do you keep their attention.  Cruising through pins, I discovered this link.  http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2012/04/20-ways-to-keep-your-students-attention.html?m=1  

It has some great ideas.  Then check out the base page for Minds-in-bloom for more great ideas.
www.minds-in-bloom.com
  

Fighting Bullying

October is Bully Prevention Month. Today the word bully is used freely any time one student makes unkind remarks to another student.  Calling a person names or making fun of another is not appropriate, it may not be bullying. It may be just be teasing.  Teasing can become bullying.  The true definition of bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.  (www.stopbullying.gov ) It is important to teach children how to not only how to handle a bully but how to stand up for bully prevention.  If we don't continually encourage and teach our students how to stand up, we will loose students to the worst side of bullying - suicide. 

Check out sites such as www.stopbullying.gov, http://www.pacer.org/bullying/, and http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/teaching-students-to-prevent-bullying.html.  These are just a few that give tips and lessons for a teacher. Help give our students tools to prevent bullying.

"Because I Said So"

Because I Said So is one of my favorite movies but the least favorite saying when it comes to discipline.  It is very difficult to get teens to buy into expectations and rules with the attitude of "because I said so".  When students can see the big picture or be guided into understanding the reasons for your expectations, they will make the right choices easier.  Ask students why they think you have the expectations.  Open up dialogue. Ask them what expectations they believe you should have in your classroom.  Help them see how their behavior effects others in the class.  Students need to see how the expectations are life-long lessons and will benefit them as they become adults.

What Makes Them Click?

Trying to understand the teenager in your classroom is almost impossible.  The human that stands in front of you that is as tall as you are but acts like a toddler at times.  They have memory lapses and seem to be somewhere other than where their body is. There are many articles that have been written to help parents and teachers to understand this strange being. Take the time to view a few of them.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/

http://www.livescience.com/13850-10-facts-parent-teen-brain.html

For a humorous look at a teens life try this out.  You might even share it with a teen.

How to Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141249/

A teen will have you laughing in his adventures to overcome being a teen.

 

Celebrate Start of School

Twas the night before school starting, all through the house teachers, students and parents are preparing for the big day.  Backpacks are being filled with school supplies, lunches are being made and clothes are being laid out. One hundred and eighty seven days of teaching and learning. There will be fun days and hard days but always remember to celebrate not only the big success but the little success each day.  Hope this will make you smile as you get ready for the big day.
 What do you do to get ready?

Last week, I shared with you actions a teacher takes to help with classroom management. As this week begins, we are all preparing for the first day of school.  With all the information that is printed about classroom management, all agree that you must set your expectations the first day of school. Teachers are creating posters to establish those expectations or rules. As you walk through your building, each teachers posters are a little different.  When I taught, my expectations or rules were the "Four R's" - Respect, Responsibility, Reasonable and Rights. I pledged to my students that I would follow these expectations, as well. I wanted to prepare them for how to make correct choices when they were adults as well as how to make correct choices as a student. I related their classroom behavior with the behavior of an employee in a business meeting or professional development.

 So, what is the connection of the "Four R's" to normal expectations in a classroom.
     
                   Respect:  Knowing when to speak and how to speak in class shows respect to each class member as well as to the teacher.  Being on time is a sign of respect. As the teacher, I would listen when they spoke to me and respect their opinions.
                    Responsibility: Each student had the responsibility to participate 100% in class, doing their very best.  Student is to be responsible to bring supplies each day to class.  As the teacher, I would give 100% as their teacher, to make sure they had what they needed to be successful.
                    Reasonable: As a class, behavior needs to be acceptable - noise level as it should be in class. As a teacher, I should understand that the students are young teens who like to socialize.
                     Rights: Each student has the right to learn and we must respect that in whatever we do in class and students' correct behavior allows the teacher to have the Right to Teach.

These were helpful to me as a teacher.  What are your expectations/rules?  Share with others.

Classroom Management

 

 With all the planning for the new school year for use of technology, new curriculum, and new district incentives, classroom management should be one of the items up there on top.  Researching for books about classroom management showed 511 item through B & N. Pinterest even has help information about classroom management.  I recently found these tips on Pinterest for classroom management.

• Adjust your tone. Let your tone speak for what you need. Studies show that 30-40% of our communication comes from tone.  Yelling does not produce more work.
• Make your students own their behavior. Ask "What are you doing?" "Why are you doing that?" "What should you be doing?"  
• Give your student choices. "I am going to give you two choices. You may choose to stop ____ behavior, and work right now, or you can continue_____ and you will receive____as a consequence."  This puts the power of choice into the student's head, making them think they have some type of control.
• Say what you mean, and mean what you say.  Stick to your rules from day one to the last day of class.  If you say they are going to receive a consequence for their choice, stay with that consequence. 
• Practice what you preach. Practice your expectations with your class.  

http://www.educationtothecore.com/2013/11/five-ways-to-strengthen-your-classroom.html?m=1

What ideas do you have for classroom management?  Don't forget to share with your co-teachers.  Teaching should not have to be a "lone" occupation.

Next week: Ideas for classroom expectations that are simple, to the point and teaches life-long skills.

What if Bloom had never been born?

How do you get your students to think?  I am not talking about giving you back information that you have "fed" them, but to get them to think "What do I do with the information?"  Questioning technique is the "buzz" topic for the year. As you are planning for the year, grow your question base for your units.  Check out these sites:

Socratic Questioning

http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-role-of-socratic-questioning-in-thinking-teaching-learning/522

Higher Level Questioning

http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-tips-high-level-questioning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ4LFxGi0mI

What have you found that helps you build your questioning skills?

Science teachers - I had a moment yesterday at our Campus Leadership meeting as I worked with our Science dept. head.  The 8th grade Science STAAR test has 46 questions based on 6th and 7th grade TEKS and only 14 questions from 8th grade. To help students keep information to review, try student portfolios so they can review their information from years past.  Students can keep work for those TEKS they will need to review.

Technology for First Days of School

Need a new idea to use technology the first days of school? Have students use a QR app to tell about themselves.  They print out the code.  Students walk around scanning each others code to read about their classmates.

Starting School with Technology

About this time every year when I was a teacher in the classroom I began to think about what that first week was going to look like.  How was I going to grab the attention of those students?  How was I going to make sure they understood what was accepted of them as a student in my class? Through the years of teaching, I grew to understand that every set of students that came through my portal was going to be different.  I had to be changing every year.  So if I was still in the classroom today, what might I be  planning for that first week of school?  I would probably want to make "brownie points" by using technology.  Here are some ideas:

1. 1.     .   Creating an avatar through Voki.com to introduce yourself to the students or to introduce the class.
2. 2.         PowToon.com would grab their attention to present your expectations of your class.
3. 3.   .       Create a movie with Movie Maker or another movie Web 2.0 to introduce yourself, give students an introduction to your class and to explain your classroom expectations.  Upload it to YouTube.  Show at the beginning of class.  Encourage your students to share with their parents.  You can then use it to show new students that come after the first day of school.
4. 4.       Polleverywhere.com is a great tool for icebreaker questions.  Your students can text in answers to questions either about how much they know about your subject or their interest.
5. 5.      Kidblog.org to create open communication. What does the student expect to learn from your class?  What do they fear the most about being in your class?

Ideas are endless.  Remember to check out your Symbaloo account or just get out there and search for ideas for Web 2.0 for that first.  Hook them fast and keep them hooked for the school year.

Digital Leadership: Increasing Student Engagement and Enhancing Learning

Digital leadership should be a mindset to transform school culture to prepare students for the real world.  Students want to be creative, collaborate and utilize technology to learn and connect to the world around them.  Using technology will help the students to find more connection and meaning to what they are leaning. For educators, it is a movement toward Education 3.0, a heutagogical approach to teaching and learning.  This approach moves students to be highly autonomous and self-determined. The emphasis is placed on development of learner capacity and capability with the goal of producing learners who are well-prepared for the complexities of today’s workplace.  Bottom line, it creates life-long learners. 

To create life-long learners, students need to have the ability to and be allowed to use the technology tools to apply what they have learned and to construct new knowledge.  The level of use needs to build on the pedagogical framework.  The center of the framework should be the student who is active in the process instead of the teacher being the active member. 

Eric Sheninger’s book reviews a frame work for digital tools in chapter 9. In the Monological Teaching form,the teacher is the expert of the subject.  He/she distributes the information to the student at the level determined to be relevant to the student.  The student learns what the teacher feels is important.  In the Dialogical Teaching form, the teacher chooses the subject matter for the student to work through to define and solve problems.  If the student does not have enough information, the teacher acts as a supervisor to help the student gain the information he/she needs. In Polyphonic Teaching form, the teacher and student jointly selects the subject matter. The idea is that knowledge is created through exchange of ideas and perception of many individuals.  

The use of technology expands the tools available for teachers and students, being able to connect to others around the world, to share ideas and to embrace learning from more than just the teacher. Blended learning is important part to make learning relevant to the students, increasing levels of student engagement, increasing retention and prepare them for the 21^st century. Students should be able to use Skype to connect to others outside the four walls they sit in daily.  Use Twitter hash-tags to share the ideas with others.  Classrooms should mobile learning devices (BYOD) to expand on the tools available for the students. Schools need to seek to move to 1:1 for computers.  Teachers should move to create learner-led environments to seed the life-long learner.

With the on-growth of technology, districts must be pro-active in establishing policies to make the programs a success.  Schools should address digital citizenship programs to guide students through the positives and negatives of the world-wide web.  Districts need to create a strong responsible use policy and insure it is followed.

These ideas will help prepare our students for what employers are looking for as job essentials – creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, global awareness, entrepreneurism along with having technological proficiency and being aware of a positive digital footprint. It will empower the students to take more control of their learning and be responsible for their learning.

Light Bulb: Now the Room is Brighter

Ever had a "light bulb" go off with a thought, wished a person would stop so you could ask questions or wish the instructor would get the move on because you got the "point".  I am sure we have all had those moments as well as our students.  Here is an idea for your classroom:  You will need small solo cups - red, yellow, green and white, a set of each color for your students.  Number the groups of cups (classroom management inventory, helps you keep up with the cups. Assign each student a set of cups to be responsible to take care of).  Each student will have a set at their desk.  You will need to teach the students how to use the cups which could be done by playing some simple games at the beginning of the school year.  You can also put a visual up on the wall to help promote the use of the cups.  Students will start with the green cup on the top of the stack representing they are ready to learn, they understand a concept or they finished with a task.  The yellow cup represents caution - slow down - might need some assistance - going to fast.  The red cup represents "stop", help is needed. The white cup represents "light bulb" just went on - "I know something about this", "I can see clearly now."  Demonstrate the use of the cups by giving the students situations that may occur in class. Example:  When students come into the classroom, they view that you are learning about "Exponents". The student places the green cup on top if he/she feels he has the understanding of exponents, Yellow cup if he is cautious about his knowledge and red if they are totally lost with just the word exponents.  During "bell work time", as they are given a mini-kick-off assignment, the "light bulb" goes off, the cup may change to white or other colors.  Help the students to feel comfortable about using the cups.   If a student has a green cup, allow them to give help to those with red or yellow cups.  If a white cup goes up, let them share what turned the light-bulb on - perhaps their "switch" will turn on other switches.

Classroom ideas are only limited by your imagination.  Any new idea takes time to develop its use.  Once or twice failures does not constitute throwing the idea out the window.  How many times do you think the Wright Bros failed before the plane took flight? How many tries did Eli Whitney do before the cotton gin was successful?  I am sure that after a great trip to a far away place and the cool cotton shirt you have worn over the summer, you are glad they did not give up after a few tries.

That One Student!!!

Several years ago, I had a student that was the poster child for a defiant student.  The first week involved in the student knocking pictures off my wall, chasing him around the school, an one hour stand off in the auditorium and so many more incidents - that was the just the beginning of the year.  Every year there is that one student that tries our knowledge of how to handle any student.  During the time I dealt with this student, I searched trying to find the solution. Common Do's 1) Give specific instructions for what is being done in class and what is expected. 2) Provide a place for the student to remove himself/herself from the group, provide a "punching pillow" or stress ball. 3) Pick only a few items to improve on with a behavior chart, giving immediate feedback. The big "Don't" - Do not get in a power struggle with student - it only feeds the behavior.  Communication with the student's family is very important.  Work for a common goal. It is a very slow process to reach these children - each day is a new day.

So you have been off work for a few weeks.  The house is clean. You have taken the kids to the park. Daytime TV is getting boring - soap operas are all the same, basically. I personally think that soap operas kills brain cells. You need something to stimulate your brain.  Try this to find summer reading projects. http://educationcloset.com/2014/04/15/the-2014-teacher-summer-reading-list/

Happy Reading.

"School's out for the summer."  Teachers are dancing in the streets due to the much needed summer vacation. 712 Educators has some tips to help educators  rejuvenate over the summer. http://712educators.about.com/od/teacherresources/tp/summer_activities.htm
Have a great and safe summer - you deserve it.

Be a Teenager Again – Summer Reading

I like picking up books to read over the summer that I can share with parents and students to help them through the middle school years.  Middle school is such a hard time for kids.  Even though my middle school days were so many years ago, I can remember the frustration of trying to fit in with everyone.  One of the books that I have found that really speaks to the kids at this age is “Life Strategies for Teens” by Jay McGraw.  It is written on their level and hits those feelings that every young teen has during those hard times.  He gives suggestions on how to handle the hard situations of life as a teen. 

If you have a teen, work with teens or with students who will be teens someday, download it or pick it up at your local bookstore.