2010: Teaching Link of the Day

Showing posts with label Teaching Link of the Day. Show all posts

June 7 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:

Biology Day

Adventure of the Day:

First day of Summer School with my One-Room Schoolhouse:

1 kindergarten girl, 2 boys, 2 3rd grade girls, 2 4th grade boys, 1 5th grade boy, 1 6th grade girl, 1 8th grade girl.

Thoughts of the Day:

Some supplies are better off distributed at the time of the activity and not in individual's boxes.

Boxes should be better labeled with names and such.

I burned my hand on a pan on the stove cooking the agar for the bacteria cultures. Review kitchen safety with students doing kitchen projects.

4 cups of water to 4 tbs agar is WAY too much for 14 petri dishes. I recommend 1/2 cup to 1/2 tbs per 10 dishes. I put cherries and apples from lunch into the remaining gelling agar and it's kind of bland--much better with lime juice or something under it. Texture is better than Jello.

Room fans and paper do not mix.

Long rolls of paper across the table are awesome for students to do group projects.

Cheek cultures are best taken when kids are in a line and things are prelabeled.

Prelabel stuff. It may get the younger kids to learn how to spell their name, but reduce their workload on the other end, then.

Have lots and lots of water available. Juice is nice but not as effective as water. Set your own cup somewhere where you will remember its location, and somewhere between workplaces so you can grab a drink as you go by.

Letting the older kids debate something as simple as "What makes it alive?" is good enough to keep them busy while you work with the littlest ones on name writing, and giving the littlest ones some rulers and having them trace the rulers and "measure" things is enough to keep them busy while you join the discussion.

If you have a one-room schoolhouse planned for any reason, do not expect to stop moving for the duration.

Remember to ask the quieter kids to answer specific questions sometimes instead of just throw questions out there.

I do not want to run a classroom for a living.

I had fun. I can't wait until next week.

June 1 2010

Teaching Link of the Day: National Summer Learning Association (formerly, National Center for Summer Learning, of John Hopkins University)

From the site:

A recent Johns Hopkins study found that 65 percent of the achievement gap in reading between poor and more advantaged ninth-graders is due to unequal summer learning experiences during elementary school years. That gap makes a difference in whether students decide to drop out or go on to college.

Adventure of the Season:
Summer has arrived!

Time for new students, a new schedule, and faster progress.

I am hosting a Summer School for 10 family and friends. It is a one-room schoolhouse, K-8th grade, cross-curriculum, immersive design. It is 3 hours one day a week. Each week's day has a theme, with each day contributing to the development of the others as well as proving independent development. (It's also free!)

The 10 week curriculum looks something like this:
Biology Day
Hammer Day
Park Physics Day
Magnetism and Electricity
Water Day
Fire Day
Rock Day
Lego Day
Paper Day
Uncle Remus Day

For details on the curriculum for each day, tune in every Monday starting June 7 through August 16. I'm not sure if I'll post on the day of school, the day before, or the day after, but I'll include assessments of the activities and the experience of the schoolhouse design, which I've never done before.

In addition, I have six signed contracts, three pending contracts, two potential contracts, and three potential call-backs. That makes 14 potential students by the end of the summer. I expect to be quite busy!

Plus:
10-15 hours/ week on medical advertising copy writing/editing
Homeschooling my own children, the kindergartner learning to read, write, and perform sums and the elder learning American History and multiple-digit sums and preparing her end-of-year train project.

Random Fact of the Day:
National Summer Learning Day is Monday, June 21. This is Park Physics Day. I'll be registering this event, and any additional attendees are welcome. Contact me for details.

April 16 2010

Teaching Link of the Day: Crossword Puzzle Generator

March 1 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
Sketching Lego Creations

I wrote about a Lego(R) and sketching exercise that we did last year, and this year the lego construction projects have become exponentially more complex. I've been encouraging one model a day become sketched, which increases difficulty to 3D, 2D, rounded bricks and bricks of odd shapes, internal perspectives for things like houses and drawing without grids. It's like jumping jacks for the brain.

Development of the Day:
I spent my afternoon filtering through all my pictures, downloading the newest version of Picasa, running AdAware because Picasa kept crashing, just to get an online album created with photos of the kids for the grandparents.

It took forever ...forever ...forever ...forever

But I don't have to do it again. Re: just upload them to the album when I upload them to my computer.

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

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

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.

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."

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

February 13 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:

Writing Transcriber

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.

February 12 2010

Teaching Links of the Day:

Mesa County Safety Council Children's Safety Fair

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.

Album of the Day:

February 8 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:

OpenOffice Impress

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.

February 7 2010

Reading of the Day:
Taste of Home Cookbook
As a prize for selling magazines last fall for a Girl Scout fundraiser, my daughter chose among four choices of books as a reward. She--a seven year old--chose the cookbook. I was shocked to discover it was not a small, thirty- or fifty-page book of selected recipies, but instead, a full-blown assemblage of culinary variety in a five-ring notebook. It came with a Celebrations CD-rom, with party ideas from appetizers to table decorations. She spent the afternoon discovering teas and Valentine's appetizers.

Teaching Link of the Day:
The Next Great Young Chef Contest
Maybe she can cook her way to college.

February 4 2010

Teaching Link of the Day:
Body Letters
I found an ad in an old Reader's Digest and instantly tore it out as an assignment for my children to do together in some of their self-guided school time. Their instructions were A-Z, a-z, 1-9 "exercises". They not only wore themselves out giggling, occupied an hour of their time, and used their creativity and teamwork, they stretched their muscles, fought gravity, and showed off their youthful limberness.

Granny Square of the Day:

OK! So here's the stripe experiment. It looks kind of sloppy. I have some ideas to make it better. The one on the left is the "right" side and the one on the right is the "wrong" side. I crochetted the wrong side like I knit stockinette, so that both strings were on my side of the piece when I was working on the "wrong" side rounds, and were on the other side of the piece when I was working on the "right" side rounds.

Things to note:
A--these clusters are the first clusters of each round and have no center stripe because I evaluated the distance the blue string would have to travel to get there and double back. It should be just fine to do, I just didn't do it.
B--these loops occurred every round, but the successive round engulfed them.
C--Corners are tricky. I was constantly adjusting the tension as I switched between yarns and ended up pulling the blue too tightly in these spots. It's easy to forget to wrap around it if it's not right there, and wrapping around it while it's tight pulls so that the corners are uneven.

So as for making it better, I think I can go ahead and crochet like knitting garter stitch so that every round has the yarn in back. Instead of the second stitch of the first two double stitches for each cluster being the same color as the first stitch, it will be the same color as the next stitch, so the first stripe of the cluster is pink, so the yarn on the hook is pink, the loop is pink, the catch is pink, the first stitch is pink, but the second stitch is blue. Then the second stripe is blue, so the yarn on the hook is blue (the result of the second stitch of the previous double stitch) the wrap is blue, the catch is blue, the first stitch is blue, the second is pink. Because the third stripe is the same color as the chain between clusters and the first stripe of the next cluster, all the stitches of the third stripe will be pink. I think this will straighten the colors out in each cluster so the stripe effect is less muddled.

Readings of the Day:

Below are some alliterate poems for reluctant readers. It's like the condensed Fox in Sox.

Song of the Pop-Bottlers
by Morris Bishop

Rhinoceros Stew
Mildred Luton

Potato Chips
Anthony E. Gallagher

The Man in the Onion Bed
John Ciardi

Waiters
Mary Ann Hoberman

February 3 2010

Teaching Link of the Day: Brian P. Cleary
Staggering success in the world of a LD reader with How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear? led to an extensive exploration into the fun world of linguistics for children. Ys,
Reading of the Day:
Parent and Child Rights in Special Education
Appropriately light reading for during lunch between students, right?

Food of the Day:
Baked the Friendship Bread. 6 loaves. Kept one starter unbaked. More bread in 10 days.

Show of the Day:
Even Beer is Art, says I. Drink up.
"American beer and canoes" -Oscar Wilde

February 2 2010

This day in History:
First Groundhog Day 1887
Though this link cites an earlier date, This Day in History is still the First Groundhog Day. That's just how it works.

Teaching Link of the Day:
Current Events
Where a million things can happen around the world but the way they affect us is through filtered-down effects of effects of effects eventually attributable to a cause, which is an effect of something else, ultimately.
Current Events, where you take a peek at one tiny moment of a timeline.

Granny Square of the Day:
Oooh pretty I changed colors in a round...I think I'll try tomorrow's completely striped thus.

Random Fact of the Day:
All founding members of the band Chicago were Sinfonians from DePaul University.

Lee D. Loughnane, Kappa Phi (DePaul) ’65
James C. Pankow, Kappa Phi (DePaul) ’66
Walter J. Parazaider, Kappa Phi (DePaul) ’64
As founding members of the rock-jazz fusion band Chicago, Lee Loughnane (trumpet), James Pankow (trombone) and Walt Parazaider (woodwinds) have been a part of the horn section of the band since its inception. Each have been writing, arranging, recording, and touring for over 40 years. Their influence has led the band to sell over 120 million albums worldwide, with 22 Gold, 18 Platinum, and 8 Multi-Platinum albums. Over the course of their career, they have charted five No. 1 albums, and have had twenty-one top ten hits.

2010

June 7 2010

June 1 2010

April 16 2010

March 1 2010

February 28 2010

February 26 2010

February 25 2010

February 24 2010

February 22 2010

February 19 2010

February 18 2010

February 17 2010

February 15 2010

February 13 2010

February 12 2010

February 8 2010

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February 4 2010

February 3 2010

February 2 2010

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