tweenteacher.com

What I Love About Teaching: Part #1

Filed under: Educational Policy | 02/24/2008 (9:30 pm) |
There’s a lot I love about being a teacher. I want to break it down into a series of articles, and this first one starts with the concept of being a student as well as a teacher, continuing my own journey as a lifelong-learner. We as educators speak often about creating life-long learners, but if we aren’t buying into it ourselves, then our students have no chance.

Michelle Pfeiffer once said that being an actor allows her, with every new character, to learn about people she wouldn’t normally be exposed to. Being a teacher is that and so much more.

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Student Friendly Websites

Filed under: Teacher Resources | 02/20/2008 (9:52 pm) |

STUDENT-FRIENDLY WEBSITES

Search Engines Resources:

News, Polls, Surveys:

Science Info:

History Info:

References:

Biographies, Authors:

Internet Safety Activities:

Curriculum Coming Soon

Filed under: Curriculum | 02/18/2008 (9:48 pm) |
The following samples of original units will be coming soon to tweenteacher.com:
  • “Meanwhile…,” an integrated comparative History Unit that spans approximately 2 weeks of CORE lessons.  Meanwhile focuses on and uses strategies that employ many of Howard Gardner’s categories of multiple-intelligences, while also stressing Character Education.
  • A list of historical fiction books that correspond to the California History 6-8 standards (This volume was complied with the help of Kenna McRae, a remarkable 7th grade Language Arts teacher with a masters in Education at Stanford University and a background in Special Ed and AVID.  Kenna is a passionate advocate of classroom libraries and their importance in developing an environment of reading.)
  • Step-by-step lessons on how to develop a student-created, illuminated-letter glossary for  the classroom as a means to integrate Art into any subject or curriculum unit.
  • An integrated Response to Literature writing unit (in accordance to the 7th grade California standards)
  • An integrated Persuasive Writing unit (in accordance to the 7th grade California standards)
  • How to set up a Test Prep interactive binder in the classroom for student use throughout the year

Education X-Prize

Filed under: Ed News, Educational Policy | 02/17/2008 (9:41 pm) |
Maybe it’s time that education outsourced our brainstorming.   Maybe it’s time that we listen to people outside of education brainstorm what to do inside of education. Check out The Opinion page of USA Today for February 13.  In it, various authors debate the merit of merit pay.  Look, I ultimately believe that teachers and administrators need to be in on the decisions, but I think that new, fresh ideas might just come from the dreamers who aren’t shackled by the reality of our past practices. 

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Fundraising Stinks

Filed under: Ed News, Educational Policy | 02/07/2008 (9:45 pm) |
In response to a recent Washington Post article:
Obviously nobody has a problem with tackling the obesity problem in this country in any way we can. I remember the time when everyday for 10 months straight students would come up to me, carting a cardboard box, its cardboard handle cutting into their hands with the weight of the various evil, wicked, Wonkalicious treats inside. The student always said the same thing: “Mrs. W, would you like to buy a candy? It’s to support the .” Well, of course I want to support them, but have you ever taught hormonal middle schoolers jacked up on sugar how to write a thesis statement for a Response to Literature? It’s not easy, let me tell you. So, clearly, nobody is against the ratification of irradicating the candy on campus more than I am. But, it turns out, there was a down side to this decision. Yep, you guessed it, more work on the teachers; because now we have to fund our own programs and figure out how to do it as lucratively as we did before.

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cue conference

Filed under: Conferences | 02/04/2008 (8:31 pm) |

CUE Conference

March 6-8, 2008
Palm Springs

 

I will be presenting at CUE this year.  My seminar is called “Podcasting with 50 Middle Schoolers – Are You Crazy?!” Six years ago I went to CUE for the first time on the lower tier of the tech savvy ladder.  There, I was inspired.  
 
I took what I learned there, left with the fairy dust of “What-if?” and created Bulldog Radio, a student-created, written, performed, edited, produced, published, and publicized radio network.  I say network because the students, in fact, produce 3 different shows: The Daily Bulldog with School News, Globetrotting World News, and Teen Talk.  
 
CUE is one of those conferences that re-charges your batteries.  Come and see some of the most innovative teaching around.  Even if you are a person who can’t change a battery and still has a beeper who thinks this whole cell phone thing will all die down, even if you still love the ole’ slate and chalk system, the CUE conference surrounds you with people looking to engage students and achieve standards.  You meet teachers of every subject, from every grade level, from every school model, and all they talk about is how to make education better through communication.  
 
I mention this because getting your butt out of the classroom for conferences and other professional development is not on many teachers’ list of “Cool Things to Do.”  But some of them are really worth it.  It’s worth it to get the sub, create sub plans, go to the conference, come back to find nothing was done, and re-teach the plans.  CUE is worth it.