Lessons of Liberty

The “Lessons of Liberty” initiative is an opportunity for American students to learn more about our country and its values, as well as the people that have been called upon to defend its freedom.

How Schools Can Participate In “Lessons of Liberty ” 

• Schools will have access to a multitude of resources for participating in the “Lessons of Liberty” initiative through the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Education.  Schools, educators, parents, and students can visit the Department of Veterans Affairs Web site at www.va.gov/vetsday to find classroom materials and curricula, ideas for activities, and resources for getting in touch with a veteran in their community. Additional ideas may be found on the Department of Education Web site at www.ed.gov.

• Leading veterans organizations — including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the Military Order of the World Wars — are supporting the Lessons of Liberty effort and can be reached through their Web sites.  A directory of veterans organizations is available at http://www.va.gov/vso.

• The “ Lessons of Liberty” initiative can be continued throughout the year through a variety of activities, including:
  • For Elementary and Middle School Students:
    • Read books about American history and government
    • Learn about outstanding leaders in America, past and present
    • Visit a historic site, such as a battleground
    • “Adopt an older American” and become a friend with a veteran
    • Participate in the “Friendship through Education” Initiative
  • For High School Students:
    • Register to vote
    • Pledge to mentor younger students on the “Lessons of Liberty”
    • Volunteer in community organizations
    • Organize student public service projects
    • Participate in the “Friendship through Education” Initiative
  • For Parents, Teachers and Administrators:
    • Prepare students for veteran visits through civics lessons
    • Encourage students to perform community service
    • Lesson plan ideas available at www.va.gov/vetsday and http://www.va.gov/kids

Voki is a free Web 2.0 tool that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages.

Voki is a combination of the Latin word “vox” meaning voice and “Loki” the mischievous god of Norse mythology. Now, there is an across the curriculum application! With Voki you create a customizable speaking avatar that accepts text, as well as recordings using your built-in computer microphone and/or audio files. Voki provides several HTML code options for your finished avatar that can be embedded into most wikis or blogs.

Here is a YouTube tutorial video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssGHaNX3O4g and a slideshow from slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/markmodra/voki-activities-presentation

 As stated in The Edublogger, “educators use them to add a human element to their sites or to engage students.” They are also great as attention getters and warm-up/bellringers.

Suggestions for use in ESL classrooms may be found at this link:
http://instructify.com/2009/09/17/voki-trailfire-mashup-special-needs-education/

 So give Voki a whirl and let me know how it goes and how you put it to use in your classroom.

He later discovered that virtually all economic activity was subject to this principle as well. For example, this principle says that 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results, 20 percent of your customers will account for 80 percent of your sales, 20 percent of your products or services will account for 80 percent of your profits, 20 percent of your tasks will account for 80 percent of the value of what you do, and so on. This means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth five or ten times or more than the other eight items put together.

I wonder…how would this apply to the classroom?

The authors of “Parental Involvement in Middle School: A Meta-Analytic Assessment of the Strategies That Promote Achievement” find that involvement described as “academic socialization” has the strongest positive correlation to achievement.

They describe this as involvement that “creates an understanding about the purposes, goals, and meaning of academic performance; communicates expectations about involvement; and provides strategies that students can effectively use.” Other types such as school visits and volunteering were positively correlated with achievement, but less so.

Interestingly, helping with homework was the only type not positively related to achievement.

Read more:

All the favorite grilling foods were there…hamburgers, hot dogs, Texas smoked sausage, snow cones, watermelon, cookies, all the fixin’s.

Well, almost all of the fixin’s.

It is interesting how people react to the work done by others. Some are grateful, peppering their speech with smiles, “Please” and “Thank you.”

Not so for others. Others complain about the heat, (to people working in that heat!). Some complain about the lines. Some complain about having a 30-minute lunch.

And some complain about pickles.

Or the lack of pickles, in this case. Despite all the free food and drinks, and condiments, and extras, one woman noticed a lack of pickles. She was not consoled by pickle relish. She wanted pickles. No free meal or festive atmosphere would deter her determined complaining.

As you prepare your classroom for the approaching school year. As you send out your welcome letters and label books, desks, and supplies, please remember that there will be pickle people.

Pickle people are bitter. They usually give birth to pickle kids. And pickle kids are rarely absent. I guess the pickle doesn’t fall far from the tree! As you encounter pickle people, remember your goal, do not allow the bitterness to infect you. Do not let other people’s caustic comments and attitudes literally put you in a pickle.

You are not bitter. You are better. And your kids and students will be better for being in your class.

 

 For generations, the academic community has relied on peer review as a way of enhancing the knowledge base and encouraging serious scholarship. Peer review can offer many of the same benefit to students… [and] computers [can] mediate the interaction among peers. Gehringer (2000)

·        Peer Review reflects constructive guidance at its collaborative best.

·        As an application to the classroom, Peer Review helps students and the teacher.

·        Anonymous Peer Review provides a framework for students to learn balanced reasoning at a time when modern discourse often descends into shouting and insults (and that is just on CNN and MSNBC!)

·        When using a thinking schema such as P*M*I, anonymous Peer Review teaches students how to offer points of help, practice proofreading, and strengthen other communication skills.

·        Peer Review introduces and encourages diversity of opinion

·        Peer Review models the importance of checking work before it is turned in. When the audience is the teacher alone, sadly, many students are apathetic. But when the audience is the students’ fellow classmates, an extra attention to detail emerges.

·        Peer Review offers students a practical application in this real-world review.

Peer Review provides a review committee for the teacher who often has, to butcher Robert Frost, “miles to grade before she sleeps.”

If you would like more information on methods for Student Use, please refer to this link:

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/peerreview/studentintro.html

For forms to use with students, see this link: http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/peerreview/forms.html  and http://www.scribd.com/doc/2205303/English-122-paper-one-peer-review

Quote Source: Gehringer, E.F., 2000. Strategies and Mechanisms for Electronic Peer Review

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“An understanding heart is everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”

—Carl Jung, 1875-1961