Aug
18
“Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.” ~Nikos Kazantzakis in this post by Mindy Keller-Kyriakides
bridge on the way to Trinity, Texas by Helen Teague
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Aug
17
Do you ever wish you could observe how other teachers teach? Now you can – with PBS Learning Media’s collection of professional development videos! This month, we invite you to sit in on teachers as they engage their students in an exploration of words and meaning. (Click here to Sign up Today!)
Pick up techniques to help your students build vocabulary and reading comprehension using these bite-sized professional development videos from PBS LearningMedia:
Thunder Cake, Grades K-2, 13+
See how this teacher introduces new vocabulary using the “Text Talk” framework during a read-aloud with her kindergarten class.
Literature Circle, Grades 3-5, 13+
Step into the center of a literature circle and observe how students engage with text and with one another.
Support for an ELL Student, Grades K-2, 13+
Observe the techniques this teacher uses to help her English Language Learner strengthen his vocabulary comprehension.
Book Reading and Learning from Context, Grades PreK-2, 13+
Notice how this teacher uses the context of a story to help her students uncover the meaning of new words.
Concept of Definition Chart, Grades PreK-5, 13+
Consider how the use of a chart informs the dialogue between teacher and student.
Direct Instruction, Grades K-5, 13+
See the “making text-to-self connections” strategy in play and consider the value to young readers.
Aug
17
Word Clouds are visual representations for text data, typically used to depict keyword metadata (tags) on websites or other digital documents. What counts with word clouds are the frequency with which a word is used. Word clouds are also known as Tag Clouds.
My new favorite way to use Word Clouds is to help graduate students in their job searches. I copy the text of a resume and paste it into a Word Cloud Generator. When I copy the text into a word cloud generator, common themes and experiences immediately appear.
Michael Gorman gives 108 additional ways to use Word Clouds in the Classroom in this post in 21st Century Tech.
Click here to read all Gorman’s suggestions
Learn More: 12 Valuable Wordle Tips You Must Read…Word Clouds in Education Series: Part 1
Aug
16
BFF is an acronym for “Best Friend Forever.” These websites and tips are so good that they will become your technology BFFs!
My online graduate students find the “close reading of text” one of the most daunting of the Common Core initiatives. I have begun a small series about Summarization and Close Reading of Text.
Achieve the Core has dynamic reading samples and exemplar texts for Grade 3 and Grades 6-12. Wonderful examples ready for your review and implementation.
Aug
16
Picture Books Across the Curriculum Including Curriculum Topic Connections
(Feel free to copy and distribute)
Geography:
Chin-Lee, Cynthia. A is for Americas. Spainsh culture,language
Louie, Ai-Ling. Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China. Chinese culture, lanugage
Pricemen, Marjorie. How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. Mapping skills
Government/Economics
Cronin, Doreen. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. Labor union, negotiation tactics
Health
Ahlberg, Janet. The Baby’s Catalogue. Family roles
Freymann,Saxton. How are you Peeling? : Foods with moods. Emotions
Home Arts
Ahlberg, Janet. The Baby’s Catalogue. Family roles
Pricemen, Marjorie. How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. Recipes, ingredients
Language Arts
Atwood, Margaret, 1939-. Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut. Alliteration
Briggs, Raymond. Snowman. Creative writing
Cronin, Doreen. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. Personification
Day, Alexandra. Good Dog, Carl. Creative writing
Howe, James. I Wish I Were a Butterfly. Theme
Innocenti, Roberto. Rose Blanche. Foreshadowing
Martin, Bill. The Ghost-eye Tree. Tone
McKissack, Patricia. Mirandy and Brother Wind. Personification, onomatopoeia
Minters, Frances. Sleepless Beauty. Fractured fairy tale
Pilkey, Dave. Kat Kong: Starring Flash, Rabies, and Dwayne and Introducing Blueberry as the Monster. Pun, onomatopoeia
Polacco, Patricia. Just Plain Fancy. Pun, foreshadowing
Nickle, John. The Ant Bully. Theme
Ringgold, Faith. The Invisible Princess. Allusion
Rosenberg, Liz. Monster Mama. Theme
Say, Allen. Grandfather’s Journey. Simile,methaphor,foreshadowing
Schroeder, Alan. Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella. Regional history
Scieszka, Jon. The Stinky Cheese Man. Fractured fairy tale
Scieszka, Jon. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Point of view
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894. A Child’s Garden of Verses. Poetry
Turkle, Brinton. Deep in the Forest. Point of View
Math
Birch, David. The King’s Chessboard. Number Patterns
Clement, Rod. Counting on Frank. Metric measurement
Friedman, Aileen. The King’s Commissioners. Place Value
Leedy, Loreen. Fraction Action. Fractions
Mahy, Margaret. 17 Kings and 42 Elephants. Division
Schwartz, David M. G is for Googol: A Math Alphabet Book. Math terms
Schwartz, David M. If You Made a Million. Finance
Tompert, Ann. Grandfather Tang’s Story. Geometry
Music
Chocolate, Debbi. The Piano Man. Vaudeville music
London, Jonathan. Hip Cat. Jazz
Moss, Lloyd. Zin!zin!zin! : A Violin. Musical instruments
Winter, Jeanette. Follow the Drinking Gourd. Underground Railroad
Psychology
Freymann,Saxton. How are you Peeling? : Foods with Moods. Emotions
Liersch, Anne. A House is not a Home. Relationships
Lionni, Leo, 1910-. Swimmy. Relationships, self-esteem
Porter-Gaylord, Laurel. I Love My Daddy Because… Family roles, relationships
Porter-Gaylord, Laurel. I Love My Mommy Because…Family roles, relationships
Ross, Tom. Eggbert, the Slightly Cracked Egg. Relationships, self-esteem
Sendak, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. Dreams
Science Earth Science
Baylor, Byrd. Everybody Needs a Rock. Geology
Kathryn Lasky. Science Fair Bunnies. Scientific method
Tresselt, Alvin R. White Snow, Bright Snow.Weatherz
Environmental Sciences
Briggs, Raymond. When the Wind Blows. Nuclear effects
Cherry, Lynne. The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest. Conservation
Life Science
Cherry, Lynne. The Armadillo from Amarillo. Plant, animal life, regional animals
Eichenberg, Fritz, 1901-. Ape in a Cape: An Alphabet of Odd Animals. Zoology,taxonomy
Kathryn Lasky. Science Fair Bunnies. Scientific method
Lionni, Leo, 1910-. Swimmy. Mimicry
Ross, Tom. Eggbert, the Slightly Cracked Egg. Camouflage
Schwartz, David M. If You Hopped Like a Frog. Animal physiology
Physical Science
Briggs, Raymond. When the Wind Blows. Nuclear effects
Kathryn Lasky. Science Fair Bunnies. Scientific method
Spanish
Chin-Lee, Cynthia. A is for Americas. Vocabulary,culture
Technology
Munsch, Robert N. Jonathan Cleaned Up His Room —Then He Heard a Noise. Computer error effects
US History
Eve Bunting. The Wall. Vietnam Memorial
Innocenti, Roberto. Rose Blanche. World War II in Germany
Mochizuki, Ken. Baseball Saved Us. Japanese internment camps
Polacco, Patricia. Just Plain Fancy. Amish culture
Polacco, Patricia. Pink and Say. Civil War
Say, Allen. Grandfather’s Journey. Immigration
Seuss, Dr. The Butter Battle Book. War
Uchida, Yoshiko. The Bracelet .Japanese internment camps
Winter, Jeanette. Follow the Drinking Gourd. Song about Underground Railroad, African-American history
Aug
16
Every year, U.S. schools hire more than 200,000 new teachers for that first day of class. By the time summer rolls around, at least 22,000 have quit. Even those who make it beyond the trying first year aren’t likely to stay long: about 30 percent of new teachers flee the profession after just three years, and more than 45 percent leave after five years.
Source: http://www.edutopia.org/schools-out
My daughter will begin her first year teaching 7th grade in just two weeks. I do not want these statistics to apply to her.
A tenth of teachers who began teaching in 2007/2008 only lasted one year before they quit, according to a new study by the National Center for Education Statistics. Teachers who worked under the supervision of a mentor or who made salaries of more than $40,000 were less likely to drop out over the same period. Source
Do you have any advice for her and all of the other new teachers beginning their first year in a matter of weeks?
Please feel free to comment here and include advice/quotes/anecdotes/links/ideas/programs…anything is helpful!
An Additional Source of information on teacher retention
Aug
15
BFF is an acronym for “Best Friend Forever.” These websites and tips are so good that they will become your technology BFFs!
Tech BFFs: Math and Science Apps for K-6
Apps+for+Education by Jacki Kratz has a comprehensive wiki list on apps and tablet uses. Jacki Kratz advises, “Remember to use the apps to help the learning, not to do the learning. The lesson should be supported with the apps like graphic organizers.”
Also, SimpleK12 and Little Einsteins have some nice webinars on ipads that you might want to check out.
Paul Ingram has been working with a teacher in Dallas on developing the Teaching Table App application. It is a set of K-6 digital manipulatives designed for the iPad. Currently in the final beta testing phase, you can sign up for the free, final beta version on their website.
Aug
14
Yesterday, I wrote about Summarization and Close Reading of Text.
If you are ready to go beyond summarization, check out this excellent post by Althea Suber on Writing Prompts that ask students to consider their reading practice.
This list is great for quick writing, writing extension, SSR and Response Journals. Click and print!
Aug
13
Key Statistic: 65% of grade school kids will work in jobs that haven’t been invented yet.
Do you know what technology you’ll be using in the classroom 5 years from now? What about 10 years from now? A new visualization may be able to help.
Thanks to the hard work by Envisioning Tech, it’s simple to see what we could expect to happen in the next few decades. From today’s iPads to holograms in the year 2040, there’s a lot coming to a classroom near you.
Better still, the visualization below is categorized into color-coded topics. This is one of the most impressive visualizations / infographics I’ve ever seen (and I get like 5-10 every day, so that’s actually saying something) and hope you enjoy it as well. ~Katie Lepi
Click here to see the graphic and read the rest of the post by Katie Lepi. Want to post this up in the teacher’s lounge or on your desk? Use this PDF for easy printing and in-person sharing.
Aug
13
Here is a Summarization Strategy for Reading and Writing called “The Incredible Shrinking Notes”
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Students read a section of text either assignned by the teacher or self-selected.
Students write a summary of the reading selection on the large index card. Depending on the age and ability of the students, teachers may need to give guidance as to number of sentences, sentence structure, whether misspellings will be noted, etc…
Students are then given the medium sized card and have to take the information from the large card and condense it onto the medium-sized card.
Finally, students are given the small card and must take the information from the medium sized card and condense it further onto the small card.
Great way for students to get to the main point/idea, engage in CCCS of “close reading of text” and summarization, a skill needed across the curriculum.
**Click the Piktochart above to enlarge. Can be saved to use in your classroom.
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