Water Cycle Song

If you need a song to help your students remember the water cycle, check out this video. Many I found are really bad, kind of like something that my grandparents would have listened to, but this one's pretty good.

So You Want To Teach?

This is a website I thought was kind of cool. Obviously the title is an attention grabber for we pre-service teachers. It is a giant site put together by one guy that covers most topics in teaching (i.e.Classroom management, Personal development,
The life of a band director,Inspiring educators to continue teaching and begin blogging,Teaching children, Teaching other teachers,Teaching music,Pursuing excellence in everything that you do etc.)and it has a large list of questions that we quite often have. Here are a few (out of 100) articles he includes in his site:

4 Ways To Effectively Deal With Important People
Habits of Highly Effective Teachers
Keys To Educating People
Surefire Tips For Handling Misbehavior
Ways To Win When Children Test Your Limits
Motivation Techniques
Ways Blogging Makes Me A Better Teacher
Reasons To Quit Teaching (And 10 Reasons To Stick)

It's a cool site to check out!
http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/

TeacherTube

I just found TeacherTube, a channel on YouTube, that is actually an authentic website at TeacherTube.com. I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it before, but I browsed some of the videos and found the Animaniacs cartoon. There are lots of songs (some outdated, like the Presidents song that only goes to the Clintons) that kids would like.

Some of the videos on the channel are not so amazing, but at least it's a place to start and those results will show up when you're searching for videos to use in class.

Like YouTube, you must be a member of TeacherTube to post videos, but I'm pretty sure it's free to join.

Lots of digging...

When I look through our Wiki and our blog posts, it's astonishing how much information is available on the Web. Sometimes the amount of all of it is overwhelming! Life would be much simpler if there was one Web site that compiled everything good and left out the stuff that was not so good. :)

I know most schools have their own homepages and links to their classrooms or grade levels with calendars and bios, but it would be handy if the teachers at the school had a page where they could compile the resources they use. I like Weebly's organization and simplicity... each grade level could have a tab, and within that tab, the teachers could share links to a lesson plan s/he recently used or online activities for students... does anyone know of any schools doing something similar like that?

Creativity & Technology --- Out THERE!

I recently discovered the Shortie Awards, a student news and film festival that recognizes digital media productions made by students and teachers. Some of the submissions are actual short films, others are like the vignettes we made. The Shortie Awards are part of MHz Education, and provides resources such as professional development programs for teachers. They broadcast shows on TV on the East Coast. Here's a sample of one of the winners. It makes me laugh. :)

Class Class. Yes Yes Indeed.

For all you future Power Teachers here is a quick demo on Power Teaching. Learn how to gesture, stomp, and talk over others on your way to a brighter academic future.

Education of Ms. Groves

Education of Ms. Groves is a great series on the Sundance Channel that follows a new teacher as she takes on the challenges of working in an inner city school. This show is both entertaining and informative.


Here is a link to some video clips:
http://www.sundancechannel.com/videos/230227791

Majority Rules Blog a Good Source on Local Events

Seattle school district is reportedly facing a $24 million shortfall in their budget. It seems that that school closures are inevitable. There are speculations that anywhere from three to nine schools may have to be shut down. I remember our class’ visits to Northshore’s school meetings during the closure/cutbacks debate. There is going to be a lot of tough heartbreaking decision-making in the administration, the community, and the teaching body. So far the discussions of this issue on the radio and in blogs has had a negative tone. This will definitely be an important issue to follow. Majority Rules seems like a good place to get some of your information.

VIDEO- Teachers are like Mirrors

I grew up with low self-esteem. This video touched me because I think it puts forth a great message in remembering your role as a teacher as a unique position in which you can instill positive self-esteem, body image and self worth in children. This was something I always wished I had reflected to me. I had teachers that did not practice this, and some that did and I think the message is very important. WATCH

Great quote from the video-

"Today you are YOU, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is YOUER than YOU."
-Dr. Seuss

Too Much To Handle

In my dyad experience, sometimes I feel like my teacher has too much on her plate. What I mean is, that when my cohort partner and I are in class with her, we do A LOT of work. Whether it's setting up for a lesson, making copies, passing things out, taking over the class, working individually with students, working with groups, grading, etc. etc.... It's hard for me to believe that she gets all of this done when we aren't there to help. I want to talk to her about how she manages this class and all that it entails when she is alone, but don't want to offend her in my asking. I think she realizes that she has us both do a ton of work for her and sometimes she will apologize for it, but I just want to know how it is possible to run her class with just her from what I've seen.

There are some students that require a lot of special attention in this class having a large amount of ELL students as well as a few behavioral children that don't participate in anything unless worked one on one with. They are able to benefit from classtime when my cohort member and I are there able to work with them, but my teacher does not have enough time to give them a lot of one on one when we are not. I'm wondering how to address this with my teacher without being misunderstood.

Free the Children video

Watching the video, "Free the Children" was a really eye opener to me. When we were watching the segment about the children in India and the police raided the rug factory, I was thinking that being reunited with their family is a short term solution. But having rehabilitation center is a really good but should we also look at having the family members have some seminar and help them understand what their children endured. The segment about the sex trade in the Philippines really hit me. I did not realize how much sex trade my own country is involve. I felt guilty because I feel like I need to be there to help but in reality I am here...

One Parent's Thoughts About Teachers

This is an editorial from today's P-I that talks about one parent's respect for teachers.

No Climate Change Here...

Last week in my Dyad, John and I were asked to come up with a lesson plan dealing with Earth systems or catastrophic events to present to the class before we leave. Because most of my undergrad work here at UWB was focused upon the environment and environmental issues, I thought that doing a lesson on climate change would be a great opportunity to put some of those concepts and ideas that I had learned to use and present them to the class. My dyad teacher surprised me by saying that it was the one subject that we should avoid!

Apparently he has had a problem in the past with a student who didn’t like the way that my Dyad teacher taught the lesson (in a science class) and took it upon themselves to get their parent to try and get him fired over it. It really surprised me that something that is really scientific knowledge, something Al Gore received a Nobel prize for, would be something that he would not allow to be taught in his class because of a past run in with a difficult parent.

It seems to me that as a science teacher your role is to simply present the facts, and the controversy is best left for others. I just thought that this was a strange thing that happened and that I’d share.

an eye opener

I really like this video...If you find yourself in a moment where in you feel like lost and don't know how to inspire your students to learn...this video is for you

Click 'n Read

This is a great phonics program that my dyad class uses.

New Horizons For Learning!

I found this website on line that I think would be a great tool for teachers. It is a large site that has many components such as articles, teaching and learning strategies, lifelong learning, student voices, special needs children, transforming education, as well as journals, links to handbooks (Cherry Banks handbook of research on multicultural education is here) and much more! It is a good resource from what I have explored so far and a helpful tool for new teachers!

Here's the link:          http://www.newhorizons.org/

Global economy and education

Yesterday, I was reading the newspaper and they have an article entitled,"Global trade puts kids astride 2 cultures". Talks about the pros and cons of having students migrate and adapt to a new academic envrionment. I was really intrigue how the article felt that American students are growing fast and students in foreign countries such as India do not. Is it because we keep on bombarding our young students advertisements of "stuff". I grew up in the Philippines, and whenever people ask me which place I would prefer, I still don't know. I mean I like the idea to raise my family with the Filipino values I have at the same time I want them to have the great opportunity I have here. One thing that I learn when I migrated her, and that is to be appreciative and thankful for what I have. It is really an eye opener when you see with your own eyes and expereince two different cultures. Seeing people who just accumulate "stuff" and see another group of people who do not enough really changes one's perspective in life.

Blogging in Classrooms

I love all of the reasons this video mentions for introducing blogging into the classroom! However, I wonder what the best grade(s) is for this?

The field trip that came to us!

Our second graders met the owner and operator of Bug Safari last Thursday. He brought live spiders, scorpions and beetles with him, as well as dead specimens of butterflies, mantises (or is it "manti"?) and more. The kids had a great time, it only took an hour, and each second grade class had a turn. It was great he was able to come to us, and we didn't have a long bus ride to Pike Place Market, where his zoo is located. The kids loved learning about these creatures from someone who truly respects and honors them. We have a pet turantula in the classroom, and the Bug Man was able to inform us that, despite our prediction that it was a she, the spider was a he.
Having this kind of visual is great, and it's something that the kids will remember! This is a tree turantula - when a preditor approaches, they can jump - eek! They are built to survive the fall, unlike squat, round turantulas, whose exoskeleton could shatter from a big fall.

so last week, the class went for a field trip to watch a play called Bluenose at the Seattle Children's theatre and i must say i also enjoyed it. The play talked how each of us is different from one another and that it is okay to different. I think this a good way of how we can discuss in class issues such as racism, discrimination and a good way to build communities within our classroom/

ReadWriteThink - A resource for teachers

My dyad instructor recommended ReadWriteThink.org to me. It's fairly easy to search for lesson plans based on grade level or age, as well as topic. I used it to find creative ideas for a writing lesson I taught near Halloween. The site is huge! :)

Hotchalk~Another Great Website

This is a another great resource. It has tons of different lesson plans, ideas, activities, etc. Best of all it is free! You can register as a teacher if you want to to organize what you find, but it is not nescessary.

http://www.hotchalk.com/index_new.html

Day of the dead

my field instructor observed me teaching Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the dead) in Evergreen School last week. At first I was really nervous because I did not know how the students will react as well as it was the day before Halloween and students might be not engaged in my lesson. For my attention grabber I created a Calavera mask the night before and I just hold it in front of my face and not saying anything. To my surprise, there was at leas two students who just said out loud "Day of the dead!". As I start my lesson I asked the whole class what they thought about the mask I was holding. Other students said that it was a colorful skull mask, its for halloween, or we will be learning about Day of the dead. So for my lesson I created a short powerpoint and showed a video about the Dia De Los Muertos which I found in YouTube. After I did my powerpoint, I told the class that they will be doing their own Calavera mask. Then after each student created their own mask, I told the class that I need their help in creating a Venn diagram about Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos. For this activity, I gave each student a word and ask them to think about their word and decide if it belongs to Halloween or Dia de Los Muertos or both. For class participation, I asked the students to post their word in the huge Venn diagram that Sarah and I created. I asked each student to show thier mask in class then post thier word. The students really liked to stand up on a chair (we had to use a chair since their whiteboard where I posted the Venn diagram was too high for them), show their mask and paste their word. I really enjoyed the whole lesson. I found the template of the mask online. I think being in an independent school really helped me to be really a very creative lesson. There were a few students who did not finish their mask in time. So I asked my master teacher if we could have time in the afternoon. And here is the picture of the whole class with their mask :).

Teacher Vision

I found this great website. It has lesson plans, printables (including almost 200 printable books), and many other resources. It also has seasonal lessons and current event activities. The site is organized by grade and subject and is extremely accessible. It offers a great variety of things we can use now and into our teaching careers. You can sign up for a 7 day free trial, or a year subscription for $39.95. This seems like a reasonable price for all the site has available!

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/

Tetor Totter Curriculum

Our in class discussion of the pendulum swings in education reminded me of a paper I read in a fourth year anthropology course. The paper's author is Max Gluckman a South African Anthropologist and activist. In his paper entitled "The utility of the equilibrium model in the study of social change" Gluckman explores theoretical models that deal with social change. He is particularly interested in how people describe social change and whether we can actually distinguish true change from variations in the status quo.

The paper talks about "pendulum swings" as inevitable cycles that are caused by internal structural logics of institutions and organizations. Wow, what does that even mean. The article is fascinating but dense. I think that what he means is that by imagining humanity on a grand scale one can see the cycles in attitudes and practices that are present in governments, the field of education, classrooms, and even households. In the long-view patterns of how long parties stay in office or how long particular agendas last in education emerge. I do not fully agree with this mechanistic view of how societies function but I enjoy thinking about this concept once in a while. There is comfort in knowing that somethings are are beyond our control. I tried to find excerpts from the article online but I think that it is only available through catalogs like J-Stor.

Gluckman, Max. 1970. "The utility of the equilibrium model in the study of social change." American anthropologist, 72, 21-237

Real teaching

How is everyone feeling about their lesson plans in their dyads?

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