I can’t fix needy schools, but I can give volunteer to be a class reader.

I can’t wish every soldier a Merry Christmas but I can send Christmas cards. *

I can’t end the war, but I can pray for the safety of all of our bravest.

*Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Height, MD   20791-5456
Deadline is December 9th, 2009

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?

 

 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

We vowed to change that dynamic this time around.

Enter    Ruby.

Ruby is a “goodle” a greyhound/poodle mix (Don’t ask me how–I defer to the biology teachers among us)

Here is how Thematic Curriculum applies to this:

Science: Newton’s 1st Law of motion states that every object (Ruby) will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force (Kozmo, the bull dog next door)
Community Friends/Music: Our neighbor Bob might have chosen to play Stravinsky’s Rites of Spring, but instead he used courtesy and polite dialogue to deposit Ruby back in our living room.
Math: Husband Jim will swing by Lowes tonight and pick up the necessary implements to dissuade Ruby’s future romantic overtures. He will use math skills of measurement, proportion to figure the amount of materials to buy and use currency skills for purchasing.
Technology/Language Arts/Photography/Speech: I learned of all this AM activity via text message, cell phone, IM, descriptions and photos.
Texas History: Texans, whether human or dog species are known for their rejection of all types of fences and confinement.
Poetry: At dinner tonight I will recite, Robert Frost’s delightful poem, “Mending Wall”

…”good fences make good neighbors”

What other curriculum connections do you see?

Well, you have seen them too—the back-to-school commercials. It is almost that time of year. 

One of the initial activities in the back-to-school task list is the Student Information Sheet.

Why not add a small section to your Student Information Sheet to reflect your students’ technology skills. If you have a hardcopy handout, add a small section at the end. Or, consider adding a section on your blog or wiki for students to fill out that asks:

Students, Do you have…

~A computer

~A webpage

~A cell phone

~Internet access

~Accounts on Music sites

~A Blog

~Favorite websites (that can be shared with you, the teacher)

~Special tech skills  (such as keyboarding, spreadsheet skills, programming skills, hardware skills, graphic design skills, etc…)

Try it and see!

{Add any other ideas here!}

or another option

Click on the Health A-Z link (link is on the Blogroll)