Saturday, February 11, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
A New Year 2012
It is another new year and I am finally going to do what I started two summers ago. I had intended to have the students do reading comprehension and standardized test practice every Thursday, since we are now on a four day school week (which I love by the way). This weekend I have finally made Google form quizzes of 25 questions each and uploaded the worksheets I created two summers ago into livebinderit.com so that students can download and take practice tests at home and online. Plus, I intend to dedicate some time every Thursday in class having them complete short answer questions. I am not sure if this will all be graded on effort or extra credit or a combination of both. Since we are all engaged in the high stakes test game, I do like my students to perform at a high level. Typically, I have had a passing rate of about 65% to 75%. I don’t think this year will do as well but I do say that every year. I know it is not about me but I do hope that they are learning since the students see me two years in a row.
On top of all this, on Saturday, I put together my introduction to chemistry unit for this year. Since I usually start with chemistry in September except for this year because we have a new textbook that is organized with physics first we are going to be doing this unit in the beginning of February instead. I am hoping to have them write a paper for research first, do some at home experiments, and make a magazine on current topics in chemistry. Semi-independent work filled with some choices for them. I like to see them be their own learners with me as facilitator, it is amazing how much they learn without realize that they are. On the other hand there are a few that sit around and do very little so I get discouraged but I keep trying this approach over and over again. Force feeding knowledge is so boring and routine that to stay inspired and to hopefully get students to engage I try this semi-differentiation about twice a year. I am still going to make them read the book and give quizzes on vocabulary and offer other short group projects to make sure we cover the core concepts. June will be here soon and my 8th graders will move on to our high school fully prepared, I hope.
Plus please continue to read my newsletter.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Education Eye
Education Eye - Mapping Innovations
An interesting way to find articles about what current education trends.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Are you a 21st Century Teacher?
Are you a 21st Century Teacher? From www.technologybitsbytesnibbles.info
1. You require your students to use a variety of sources for their research projects…and they cite blogs, podcasts, and interviews they’ve conducted via Skype.
2. Your students work on collaborative projects…with students in Australia.
3. You give weekly class updates to parents…via your blog.
4. Your students participate in class…by tweeting their questions and comments.
5. You ask your students to study and create reports on a controversial topic…and you grade their video submissions.
6. You prepare substitutes with detailed directions…via Podcasts.
7. You ask your students to do a character/historical person study…and they create mock social media profiles of their character.
8. Your students create a study guide…working together on a group wiki.
9. You share lesson plans with your teacher friends…from around the globe.
10. Your classroom budget is tight…but it doesn’t matter because there are so many free resources on the web you can use.
11. You realize the importance of professional development…and you read blogs, join online communities, and tweet for self development.
12. You take your students on a field trip to the Great Wall of China…and never leave your classroom.
13. Your students share stories of their summer vacation…through an online photo repository.
14. You visit the Louvre with your students…and don’t spend a dime.
15. You teach your students not to be bullies…or cyberbullies.
16. You make your students turn in their cell phones before class starts…because you plan on using them in class.
17. You require your students to summarize a recent chapter…and submit it to you via a text message.
18. You showcase your students’ original work…to the world.
19. You have your morning coffee…while checking your RSS feed.
20. You are reading this.
21. You tweet this page, blog about it, “like” it, or email it to someone else…
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The No Tech Meeting So YOU Will Pay Attention
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/
I absolutely agree with this column. We limit ourselves and our students if we can not access technology to help us learn. I am a professional and can multitask. Please do not tell me how best to interact with new material. Likewise, if we do not train our students to use technology to enhance their performance in all settings than we are sending very mixed messages.
Check out the following ideas from ‘The Innovative Educator’.
Here are a dozen ideas to update meetings followed by a description of each.
- Wiffiti and Twitter Enable You to Connect with Participants
- Paper.li and Twitter Allow You to Put Together A Professional Meeting Daily
- Camera Phones and Flickr Allow You to Efficiently Capture Notes and Ideas
- Google Spreadsheets Allows You to Stop Wasting Time and Paper
- Learning Networks Enable You to Efficiently Capture, Collect, Reflect, and Respond to Ideas
- Texting, BBM, Crunch, etc. Promote the Sharing and Processing of Ideas
- Back-Channeling for Instant Feedback and Meaning Making
- Twitter Allows You to Connect Globally
- Google Docs and Twitter Make for Powerful Global Collaboration
- uStream Brings Meetings to Those Who Can’t Attend Face-2-Face
- iPads and Dropbox Make for an Efficient and Paperless Environment
- Taking a Minute to Honor Technology
