Stand silently in straight lines with your friends.

Why is this still taught in schools?

I honestly can’t think of a time as an adult where I’ve had to stand in line silently with my friends. Of course at church services and other religious occasions you are expected to stand quietly, but I don’t think it is my place to teach students how to behave in those environments. In my teaching setting now, I wouldn’t presume to teach my students how to behave in a religious environment. Even when I taught in a Catholic school this was hard for me (mostly because I’m not Catholic).

I instead teach my students to stand in line (when necessary) and keep a reasonable (usually whisper) level of talking. Of course they know that when an adult is speaking they are to be quiet and listen to the speaker. They are also taught that different adults and teachers have different expectations.

What do you think?

What are some other rules/behaviors we teach that are unnecessary?

Here are some interesting things to follow using Twitter. If you are not familiar with Twitter, check out this link for a good introduction. http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter.

Biology/Ecology

@WildEarth This is the Twitter stream for Wild Earth TV Wild Earth TV broadcasts from the Djuma Private Game Reserve. They have a web cam and also post live video from frequent drives through the reserve.

@UntamedScience This is the Twitter Stream from Untamed Science and the EcoGeeks Podcasts.

@EarthVitalSigns If you are looking for information about Global Climate Change from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Exploration/Adventures

@Rich_Wilson Rich Wilson is the Skipper aboard the Great American III which is participating in the Vendee Globe Solo-Non Stop around the world race. This Twitter stream includes frequent updates of his trip. Also check out sitesALIVE for teaching resources. Here are a few additional resources from Loraine a technology teacher at the Jackson School.
http://www.vendeelglobe.org/en
http://ehrweb01.aaas.org/sail/

Space Science

Space Shuttle Missions

@STS_119 STS 119 Discovery scheduled for launch on February 1, 2009.

@STS_126 This was the most recent mission from November of 2008. Check out this page for more information. http://www.space.gs/08/sts-126/

@NASA … for general information from NASA.

@Astrospace … space and astronautics news. http://www.space.gs/

Moon

@LCROSS_NASA… Lunar mission to the poles to see if there is water ice near one of the poles. See also http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

@LRO_NASA… The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter scheduled for launch in April of 2009. See also http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Mars

@MarsScienceLab Here’s information on the next science mission to Mars due to launch in 2011.

@MarsPhoenix This was the twitter stream for Mars Phoenix which stopped transmitting from Mars on November 10, 2008. It is still active with news from Mars.

@MarsRovers Spirit and Opportunity’s official Twitter Feed. Its hard to believe that they have been on Mars for five years already. For more rover information check out: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Saturn

@CassiniSaturn From the Cassini Equinox Mission to Saturn

To Boldly Go…

@PlanetQuest Looking for planets beyond our Solar System with JPL.

It might be interesting to set up a iGoogle Page or a Pageflakes page with these feeds to use as part of a classroom science page. Or if students were studying a particular topic they have some resources to follow.
Feel free to add other similar sites in the comments.

My students need help with identifying parts of speech. As part of our daily language activities we have been using the SmartBoard and playing Grammar Ninja as a class. Grammar Ninja is a cool program that allows students to learn the parts of speech. A sentence is posted on the screen with a direction to find a particular part of speech. Students select the word they think matches that part of speech. If they are right a green circle shows up, if they are wrong the word explodes and the program tells them the correct part of speech for that word. If they are not sure of what the part of speech is, there is a box that will give them a definition of the part of speech they are to find. At the end of several sentences it shows the time it took the students to answer all of them. There is a penalty for each wrong answer. Pretty simple, but the students seem to enjoy it and are eager to participate in class.

You can use the program from the website and it is available as a download. If you download it you can also use a feature that allows you to create your own sentences. This may be a good way to increase student learning. Students could create their own sentences and label the parts of speech. They could then enter them into the program for other students to try.

Initially I had the students participate randomly. Now each table has to complete a sentence on their own. While one group is working, the other groups are writing their answers down on paper to compare with the other teams.

UPDATE:
I was made aware of this program through a Tweet by Riptide_Furse. Thanks Andy, I couldn’t remember where I found out about this.
Unfortunately my SMART board is not working as the cable finally died. Our SmartBoard is about 8 years old and I feel fortunate it has lasted this long. A new cord is in the process of being ordered and I hope to be back using the SMART board soon!

Earlier this month I attended a workshop hosted by SDR (www.SDResources.org) called Making Math Work for Underachieving Students. This workshop was presented by Steve Leinwand

In this case underachieving students are the students that tend to get “left behind”. Their home life may be such that there is no one home to assist them and they haven’t grown up in a “math rich” environment. Here are ten strategies for making math work for underachieving students.

1. Embed the math in contexts and problems.
Which is more interesting to solve?
1. F=4(s-65)+10 Find F when S=81 or 2. The Speeding fine in Vermont is 4$ for every mile per hour over the 65 mph limit plus $10 handling fee. What would the fine be if I was pulled over at 81 mph? The context of the problem helps keep students interested. Another example would be: A Big Mac costs $2.23, how many Big Macs can you get if you have $10. vs divide 2.23 by 10. Both of these problems require division but there is more thought required for the first problem than the second.

2. Incorporate on-going cumulative review into instruction every day
Give a small mini quiz everyday reinforcing past concepts and number sense skills. Five to eight questions will provide enough practice to reinforce their learning.

3. Create a Language Rich Classroom
Just like we create word walls for language arts classes, we can create them for our math classes. These walls will help students increase their math vocabulary and learn to speak the language of math. Look at the standardized tests that use for vocabulary words that might cause trouble for your students and focus on those words. Include the language of math in classroom discussions throughout the day.

4. Use every number as a chance to build number sense and reasonableness.
Use numbers from the problems they are solving to build number sense. Ask them to list three things they can tell about a number. Ask them to put numbers in order from largest to smallest.

5. Draw pictures, create mental images, foster visualization so that numbers make sense.
Drawing pictures helps students to visualize the math concepts you are teaching. Encourage them to show fractions in different ways.

6. Build from graphs, charts and tables
This strategy works well with building number sense. Have students tell you five things about the graph they see. Have them try to guess where the data comes from

7. Tie the Math to How big? how much, how far?
Measurement skills are often weak skills for students of all ages as they are generally left to cover at the end of the year. By including these skills in every lesson they have a greater opportunity to improve them.

8. Adapt what we know from Reading. Incorporate literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension to develop stronger neural connections.
Ask questions to help your students make sense of the problem they are solving. Questions such as: How did you get that answer? Why? Can you explain? Convince me? Is it reasonable? all help to increase their understanding. Encourage different approaches to solving problems.

9. Omit what is no longer important.
Look through your standardized testing materials and see which benchmarks/standards count the most and focus on those concepts.

10. Make questions such as: why, how do you know, can you explain, convince me as classroom mantras.
Asking questions such as those listed above helps students to clarify their understanding of the concept being taught. Its also good to ask them to give multiple answers. Asking follow up questions such as: Can you tell me another way? How else do you know this is true? will help all students’ understanding. These questions can also be used in other subjects to extend your students thinking.

Welcome to Five for Friday for January 18, 2008

Here’s a search engine for students I like http://kids.quintura.com/ . In addition to the typical search box, it has a search cloud floating above. This cloud contains terms that are related to the topic. For example: on a search for Egypt, the following was in the cloud: kings, queens and pharaohs; hieroglyphics, maps, countries,etc… This will help students find ideas that are related to their topic.

If you are looking for a collection of educational websites check out Blue Web’n (http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/index.cfm). Brought to you by the AT& T Knowledge Network, it provides sites organized by content areas, subject areas and grade level. It doesn’t attempt to list all of the educational sites, instead it handpicks the best sites. Five to ten are added every month and you can get updates sent to your email.

Also on the AT&T Knowledge Network is Filamentality (http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/). This is an easy, structured tool to help you create online activities. There are five types of activities that you can create. Hotlists, scrapbooks, hunts, samplers and webquests are all activities you can create on Filamentality.

Math Playground (http://www.mathplayground.com/computation.html) is a place for students to practice all different types of math problems. From basic computation to word problems there are plenty of activities to choose from. These activities require the Flash player to play. This site was created by Colleen King and has received many awards.

Speaking of math, here’s a site to send kids to if they need a refresher on a math term. A Math’s Dictionary for Kids 2007 (http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/maths/dictionary.html) has an extensive dictionary of math terms. Many of the math terms have interactive activities to go with them.

Bonus: One of my readers, Travis, sent me a link to a mixbook he created about MLK. Check it out! http://www.mixbook.com/books?bid=45403. Mixbook is a site that allows you to create online photobooks.

Greetings and welcome to Five for Friday. I hope to start posting more regularly here with sites, tips or tools about technology and teaching.

Just like Free Rice (www.freerice.com), allows students to build their vocabulary skills Spelling City (www.spellingcity.com) will allow them to improve their spelling skills. Students may enter their spelling words and choose three different types of activities: Test Me, Teach Me or Play a Game. Teachers can register and post their spelling lists on the site so that students don’t have to enter their own words.

If you make small booklets with your students here is a tool for you. It is a booklet stapler and is available from Amazon for only 8$
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KICA7S/ref=nosim/kkorg-20

With conference time coming up soon check out these links for information about Student Led Conferencing.
http://del.icio.us/techicebreaker/StudentLedConf

Are you looking for an easy way to keep track of the cool web sites you find for school? Are you looking for an easy way to share them with your fellow teachers? Are you looking to expand your network? Check out del.icio.us! http://del.icio.us/ Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that allows you to bookmark sites and save them online. You can also give sites tags which are a way of labeling sites so that you can categorize them according to your needs. The links for Student Led Conferencing came from my del.icio.us account. There is also a search feature that will allow you to search for topics of interest that other users have already tagged. As you meet other educators or view their links you can also add them to your network. This gives you access to their bookmarks in their del.icio.us account.

Here is a site that is becoming one of my favorite blogs for education resources. In fact it is where I heard of Spelling City.com
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/ This site provides many resources for all sorts of school subjects specializing in ELL or ESL students.

I have been working this week on learning a new life skill that may be easy to many people. I am learning to wear contact lenses. The biggest difficulty I have found has been putting them in. My eyes are pretty sensitive and my eyelids close at what may be super hero speed. I am used to getting up, putting on my glasses and starting my day. Now I have to allow for some extra time to put my contacts in.

I really enjoy being able to see without glasses. The world seems different when I have my contacts in. Its a brighter place and my vision is no longer restrained by the frames my glasses provided. However the glare during a bright day requires sunglasses to help me see clearer.

How is this related to technology and Web 2.0?

Many teachers are still wearing glasses when it comes to teaching. They are used to doing things without using technology. Their vision of education is restrained by the frames of traditional instruction and tools. Just as using contacts requires me to make a choice and work at using contacts, using technology in the classroom (and in schools in general) does as well. With contacts the initial work is hard and at times may not seem worth it, but I’ve been told that eventually it becomes much easier. Setting up and using technology in the classroom also require work that becomes easier with practice.

It can be easy to be “blinded” by all of the new technology and Web 2.0 tools. Our sunglasses for technology come from those who have more experience in using technology in the classroom. Find, and talk to those who have been successful in using technology.

It may seem that contacts are a rather old fashioned technology to use as an analogy for using technology in education. Perhaps laser surgery would make a better choice. I think that contacts fit better as the user has to make the choice to use them every day, whereas once laser surgery is done the user doesn’t have the choice.