February 28 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
ASVAB testing
Story problems...chess timers... finding out I score off the charts... I love my job...

Food of the Day:

Fondue, with the homemade bread from the other night.



Show of the Day:
Olympic Games Closing Ceremonies

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February 27 2010

Craft of the Day
Today I did nothing but create...a MONSTER


Also, new tag because I make lots of different kinds of things. I'm surprised it took till now to get this tag.

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February 26 2010

Teaching Link of the Day
Circle the command words when you read instructions
A bit down in the instruction is a powerpoint presentation after a discussion of CUBE the question.
Sometimes it's interesting that there are actual people actually teaching the strategies that I always thought I developed on my own on the course of my education.
I never called it CUBE, but this is exactly what I do and how I do it, and what I teach, especially to students who have a terrible time minding the instructions in the first place.



Game of the Day
Assassin's Creed II


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February 25 2010

Teaching Link of the Day
Block Letters and Shading Geometry in 3 dimensions

It all started with Star Wars...
Letters have geometry. They are square and triangular and circular, and drawing block shading makes them prisms. When you do a lesson on art and graphic design, never neglect the technical vocabulary, the science, the math. With young children, you never know if they're interested in the lesson because they will be architects or artists.

Geometric Shapes
Light and Shadow
Perspective and Depth
Angles and Parallelism



Development of the Day
New student: How to beat the ASVAB (Armed services vocational aptitude battery)

Show of the Day
Studio 60
Food of the Day
Bread--in a bread tube.

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February 24 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
Reading without spaces

Using this as an aid for a student reluctant to read out loud with confidence--or at all in some cases--allows for the curiosity of the experience to overshadow the embarrassment of mispronouncing or guessing at a word. It eliminates the student's ability to guess at a word automatically based on its features as its features have not yet been revealed--features being landmark digraphs, ending letters, vowel patterns. Logic starts to creep in to ensure that the flow of language makes sense, where when reading standard print, a student like this can ignore logic and place any word in any location based on their preconceived notion that they're wrong anyway.

So what does the ability to read text without spaces show about a reader?

With mine, it showed her reading level nearly 250% the level she has been pegged at by her intervention teachers. Yes. Two-hundred-fifty percent higher. It's all psychology.

From the link:
"The few who could read text silently without these spaces between the words, like Julius Caesar and St. Ambrose, were viewed as so extraordinary that this ability is specifically recorded in historical records."

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February 23 2010

Random Fact of the Day:

some things are just too fun not to share. (also, click the picture to go to OnlineSchools.com for more fun and interesting Fact posters)

15 Things You Should Know About Breasts
Via: Online Schools

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February 22 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
Using workbooks in a classroom.
One One One One

Pick one, any one. Using a workbook to teach and assess your students is not effective. You become distant from the actual process of teaching reading, pigeon-holed by the idea that you are a speaking version of the teacher--the workbook. You allow the workbook to guide your decisions.

And because of this, students appear to fail. Worse yet, they actually fail.



Food of the Day:
Chicken through a meat grinder makes great salad sandwich options. Mix with nigh on anything you'd put on your chicken and spread it on a sandwich.


P.S. I do not fail to see the irony of the meat grinder juxtoposed by the first few lines of this post on the front page.

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February 21 2010

Show of the Day:
I studied this screenplay in my last college class--an independent study that I wrote and implemented. These brothers are fantastic writers, and then they make movies out of what they've written. It's pretty remarkable. They can actually turn that screenplay into film. It's insane.

Wanna know something cool? The first lines of the movie are spoken by Sam Elliot. The first lines of the screenplay: "We are floating up a steep scrubby slope. We hear male voices gently singing "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and a deep, affable, Western-accented voice--Sam Elliot's, perhaps"

And the dream sequences? woah



Adventure of the Day:
The wash was filled with water from the snowmelt and new snow accumulation. The mud on the opposing side proved to be a formidable opponent. I imagine this is exactly why we have the 4x4 van we spent all last summer upgrading into an invincible beast. Plus, my husband is a pretty intelligent driver. We survived.

Reading of the Day:
My daughter just finished the second of the Santa series. At 7, I had questioned her ability to retain her reading of text this complex, but she has proved competent. She starts the third one tomorrow. Anyone know more G or PG rated books she can read? A series is best. If only I could get her to write, she might be the next Coen.

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February 20 2010

Adventure of the Day
I was here, but so was a foot of 3-month-old snow plus another fresh six-to-eight inches.

You can't hear anything when you're here in the winter:
the train goes by and with the snow the sound is muffled.
There are no planes, no cars, no birds.
Snow slides off a tree branch and it makes no noise.
It begins to frighten you, after a while, the total lack of noise.
You go back into the house where you can hear a refrigerator running, the children arguing, and maybe the television or radio.
You look out the windows and enjoy the view without the oppressive silence.

I am too civilized.




Show of the Day:


Granny Square of the Day:
Being snowed in and unable to do some of the work to the practice hall or house because of the detours to prevent the roofs from caving in, I managed to use all the little scraps of yarn into one large granny square. I can't find it though, I must have left it there. I'll get a picture and post it soon. It's about 3'x3'. Pretty cool. I'll make it bigger so it will be a lovely throw.

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February 19 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
Following Directions Dot to Dot
Well, almost. That's ALMOST it. Instead of translating 1 to the answer of the problem for 1, each problem has a true or false. Here, try this one:



Interestingly, neither 7-year-old I tested this on could complete the puzzle correctly on their own, and not due to lack of addition skills.


Show of the Day:

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February 18 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
I got a piece of plexiglass. It's dry-erasable.
Being clear, infinitely versatile. The film on the back re-adheres without sticking to the word cards I had cut to go under the glass, instead holding them steadfastly in place. Three columns of words: noun, adjective, noun. The goal was to connect each word with another in a different column, thus organically creating very interesting metaphors and similes. Plus, it's cool to write on something big and clear. And next week, I can have something different to scribble about.



Show of the Day:

Now my kids are talking about how cool it would be to take apart and "explore" the rovers.

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February 17 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
Rhyming is so not important
Truly, rhyming is an advanced skill of pattern recognition and comprehension. We've inundated ourselves in a world of rhymes to teach with--Mother Goose, Dr. Seuss--that an entire series of cognition development is being hurried, and ultimately suppressed, for some readers. Rhyming will dawn on children, but reading skills--sounding words out, comparison shopping in one's own mind for words with similar structures, roots and affixes--these must all be taught.

An astute child will more quickly notice that squid and wig share similar sounds than closet and deposit. Rhyming is a more advanced pattern. This is why we love freestyle rap, why we ponder orange and purple and silver well into adulthood, and why form poetry (sonnets, limericks, etc. ) have a special place in our hearts. (Have you noticed most limericks are raunchy?)

I repeat, rhyming just dawns on people. Like puns. It just happens. Quit forcing it on kindergartners.


Show of the Day:

I still keep saying this movie didn't make any sense. It just doesn't make any sense. It COULD make sense, but it was incredibly slow up to a point, and that point was the climax, leaving only denouement so it was over anyway, and the whole turning-point thing was vague and I didn't get what I was supposed to get at all. Just--vague.


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February 16 2010

Food of the Day:

Games of the Day



Albums of the Day:



Adventure of the Day:
I bet you can't guess what we did today.

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February 15 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
Take Apart Party, or Teaching kids to tinker

The kids had a "talking" book with pen that teaches word preliminary reading techniques like rhyming, initial sounds, etc. It got an odd short where it would randomly start and start playing the games by itself, so I rescued the book from the electronic part. The kids watched me remove screws and slice through the contact pad that connected the plastic electronics part to the book cover. I walked away to get the tape and mend the raw edge of the book and when I returned the boy had the screwdriver and was deep in reassembly. During the course of the next few days, the toy was taken apart and put together countless times. The circuit boards were removed and inspected. Capacitors were removed, buttons dissected. "Mom, can we explore this [part of a light-up bouncy ball]?" They brought out a dead calculator and a display phone. They laid on the floor with a set of small screwdrivers and removed every part from every other part.

Album of the Day:
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa covered by Peter Gabriel, recorded for though not included on his cover album, Scratch My Back.

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February 14 2010

Adventure of the Day:
Warmth! Sweatshirt and jeans, Mardi Gras is two days away, and I can finally clean my front porch and back yard. I have tomato plants untended from the early freeze/snow combination from last October. All the tumbleweeds I dreaded hacking down have dried up and been trampled by the heavy ice that the snow from January solidified into in the freeze-thaw cycle. There's still a lot frozen to the earth, but raking it should be a walk in the park compared to hacking at it all in the heat and bugginess of the fall.

Show of the Day:
Stand-up funny guys.

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February 13 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:

As a writing tool, this helps a reluctant writer to verify that their handwriting is legible. They get instant recognition results: if their lowercase "a" is built with a circle and a line to its right and the line is too far away, the result is a "oi" instead of an "a." If their cursive letters are disproportionate, they will see an instant mis-translation.



Games of the Day:
Roiworld: where fashion meets games--hers
Zuma--mine
Viva Pinata--his


Album of the Day:

Matched disks, organized, shelved, and cleaned the highly-used media area of my house and did not find my album. Grooveshark had it, though. I nearly put in Daredevil just to hear her.

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February 12 2010

Teaching Links of the Day:


From little band-aid kits and computer screen cleaners to coloring books and iron-on coloring sheets, a seat in an excavator to a seat in a cop car, a dog suit to a talking fire engine, and electrocuted hot-dogs to a tornado in a bottle, this was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon with my 5- and 7-year-olds and their 8- and 13-year old cousins. The stack of coloring books will keep them occupied for many days to come, and will also encourage continuing discussion of the safety tips and warnings we learned while we were there.

Two things topped the list of terrifying for me, the adult:
1) Stay out of large vessels of grains. You will suffocate, and struggling will only pull you in deeper, and no one is strong enough to pull you out.
2) The "don't talk to strangers" guy was horrifyingly creepy. I suspect he will crop up in my nightmares.

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February 11 2010

Show of the Day:
I love fashion design. I do. When I worked at Ead's News in Boulder, I oogled the fashion magazines as they rotated on and off the shelf. I collected them--the ones I could afford. My personal fashion is jeans and a t-shirt, ratty jeans, worn because they're too long over bare feet, torn at the knees into gaping holes. But to watch someone concoct a work of art with fabric, one that can be worn--or, maybe, to see someone display this work of art as they flounce down a runway...

Well anyway. Art is art, any way you cut it.

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February 10 2010

Granny Square of the Day:

Show of the Day:


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February 9 2010

Thought of the Day: If you work at home or teach at home it's probably because you like the freedom and flexibility. Don't forget that: if you want to play hooky, for goodness' sake, go skiing! Guilt-free! This is exactly why you have the job you have.

Sometimes, it's good to have that reminder.

Random Fact of the Day:

Dividing by zero is our ace in the hole.

Food of the Day: Girl Scout Cookies are in and I didn't have to sort them. She did a good job of that all on her own, post-its and total due and all. If you ordered cookies, expect them soon!

Show of the Day: I love the episode we watched today: there was no telling who the killer was until very close to the end of the show, no dramatic irony, just worried anticipation that the protagonist would be revealed to be correct, right?

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February 8 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:

Building a simple newspaper with this slideshow program is a good way to introduce brief article writing, working with computer programs, and sharing final products (audience). There is graphic design, ordering logic, and thematic coherency in building something that has a finite start and end and has a unifying color scheme.
Building a newspaper with a slideshow program requires some creativity on the teacher's part. The theme has to be kept narrow. Photographs and other graphics have to be collected either by taking pictures or finding them across the internet or from clip art catalogs like Print Shop. Actual newspapers have to be consulted for features, and the student's age has to be taken into account for the number and range of these features--a younger child may not notice the editorial column but may select a "Letters to the Editor."

Then the program has to be taught: how to save, how to add and manipulate slides, how to add content. The rest just happens. Save it as a slideshow (not as a full .ppt, which is much larger) and have the student discover ways to share their work. Occasional updates are encouraged, but not mandated, as students are just beginning to write multiple variations on a theme. Demanding periodic updates may lead a reluctant writer to believe they don't have any more ideas.

For more serious endeavors, word processor templates can be examined and altered to fit needs, and work better for print distribution.
Reading of the Day:
When I was in second grade, I was one of two members of an exclusive She-Ra and He-Man club where we rehearsed the same story line over and over, recess after recess. She found a new best friend in fourth grade, and we haven't spoken kindly to each other since. I swear, however, I spent years riding Battle cat, forth to fight the Horde--and whatever else we conjured up.

Now my kids get to watch the show and read the books. (Yes, I own one of each of these. That activity book is going for $10.00 on the collectible market.)



Show of the Day:
If you took Moore's films with the appropriate salty snacks in family-sized bags, and noticed all the dirty editing tricks everybody does to get their story to say what they want it to say, then this movie will make you happy you're smarter than most of the population who DIDN'T notice these things. If you watch this movie and are awestruck at how duped you'd been, I'm sorry for saying I'm smarter than you, but I do have a literature degree and I'm trained to examine all the tricks of the trade.

As for this movie, even its working title was "Michael Moore Hates America." The difference between "uncovering the truth" and "telling the story you want to tell" has to do with how open your mind is about the topic you're covering. Michael Wilson and Michael Moore are both guilty of telling their story instead of searching for the truth.



But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.


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©20092010 | by TNB