tweenteacher.com » 2008

Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching

heather — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Occasionally, I repost this article so that new readers can find it more easily. Based on some very enthusiastic feedback, it has since morphed into a book proposal called The Top Secret New Teachers Handbook. I’ll share more as it evolves…

I’ve been developing this Top 10 list of ways to take control of your teaching even in the face of, well, teaching. It’s an advice list on how to encourage respect, and, if necessary, how to demand it as a means to make sure you aren’t being taken for granted.

Let’s face it, if you are feeling appreciated, you will be happier in this difficult job. Consequently, your students will be happier, and quite frankly, if they are happier, they will be more successful. After all, an unhappy teacher’s room has the smog of misery in it, and for a student, it hovers like a stench that affects their own victories. And while it benefits a school to keep its teachers happy, it is a teacher’s responsibility to demand those things that make this challenging job better than tolerable.

I think that finding those tricks or strategies to keep in your pocket is important in any career; but in education you need them even more so. Otherwise, the day-to-day duties of the job will eventually grind your enthusiasm to a halt and it won’t just be you who is affected, your students will be affected as well.

I will be expanding on each of these over time, but in a nutshell, here’s my TOP 10:

(...)
Read the rest of Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Teaching (1,396 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, America's Choice, Art, assessments, blog, budget, Careers, carnival of education, Character Education, collaboration, competition, CORE, CST, CUE, curriculum design, curriculum development, data, differentiation, Ed Tech, ELA, failing, induction, integration, iPods, k-12, k12, LA Times, Language Arts, merchandizing in schools, merit pay, middle school, MP3, NCLB, new teachers, New York Times, ny times, online, performance pay, PI, podcasting, powerpoint, Proficiency, reform, school accountability, school funding, teaching, technology, Technology Entertainment and Designers, TED, Title I, TLN, top 10

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Starting from scratch in teacher training

heather — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:49:36 +0000

I recently heard Judy Willis (of “syn-naps” fame) speak at a conference. In her pre-teaching life, she was a neurologist and she brings her knowledge to the classroom and to her lectures. (See my recently published article in Teacher Magazine, “My Brilliant Second-Career”). Willis mentioned that she had just gotten back from Dubai where her charge was to teach new teaching program students about brain development and how it relates to education.

Questions she tackled with these candidates were:

How do children and adolescents learn?

What actually happens in the brain in order to hear and retain information?

What are proven strategies that help information to become embedded into long-term memory?

(...)
Read the rest of Starting from scratch in teacher training (169 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, ascd community, blog, collaboration, credential, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, integration, metacognition, Title I, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Test Prep-Bubbling Power

heather — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:23:06 +0000

So I looked at my 8th grade students’ scores after they took the MMA and sighed. Their scores sucked. (...)
Read the rest of Test Prep-Bubbling Power (506 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, assessments, education, k-12, k12, middle school, teaching, test prep, Think Aloud, Title I, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Recalling your own Metacognition

heather — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:27:06 +0000

I’ve been working on metacognitive lessons with my middle schoolers in an attempt to teach reflection and the act of thinking about thinking. Anyway, one of the most important elements in teaching about thinking is in your own remembering of certain “Eureka!” moments.(...)
Read the rest of Recalling your own Metacognition (502 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, blog, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, Ed Tech, education, How To, k-12, k12, Language Arts, metacognition, middle school, teaching, Title I, TLN, UCI, Writers Project, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

NewsHour with Jim Leher: Michelle Rhee

heather — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:31:56 +0000

I recently watched John Merrow’s interview with Michelle Rhee on the NewsHour. Michelle seems like a real mixed blessing for education. On one hand, she’s willing to clean house, and education does seriously need it. On the other hand, however, and much like the sweeping policies of NCLB, she’s a bit of an all-or-nothing authority. (She’s also known as a Chancellor, which gives me a mental picture of a Lilliputian bearing a sash and gold medal, so sometimes it’s hard to shake the image even while listening to her policies.) (...)
Read the rest of NewsHour with Jim Leher: Michelle Rhee (601 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, k-12, k12, Language Arts, middle school, NCLB, newshour, obama, rhee, school accountability, school funding, standardized testing, teaching, Title I, TLN, tween, Writers Project, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Sesame Street: Word on the Street

heather — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:37:52 +0000

OK, so as I write this I’m watching Sesame Street with my 2 year old. This big-feathered muppet just announced that the Word on the Street is, get this…Struggle. I kid you not. I guess times are tough even on Sesame Street. (...)
Read the rest of Sesame Street: Word on the Street (214 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, blog, character, Character Education, Childrens Television, education, education policy, ELA, k-12, k12, madoff, middle school, school accountability, school funding, sesame street, teaching, TLN, tween, UCI, Writers Project

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

But what if the child does everything in their power to be “left behind?”

heather — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:43:20 +0000

The Boston Globe is reporting that some students deliberately “shoot themselves in their own foot.” Some of the reason is that trying hard is frightening. Now, don’t get all uppity. Let’s face it; even the most mature of adults may have postponed reaching for their dream out of the effort it might take to reach it or for fear of failure. (...)
Read the rest of But what if the child does everything in their power to be “left behind?” (400 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, ASCD Brief, ascd community, k-12, k12, metacognition, middle school, MMA, obama, Title I, TLN, Writers Project, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Obama and World of Warcraft

heather — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:49:01 +0000

Where were you when? It’s a question I asked my readers and my classes the day after the election, and you know what answer I heard the most often? Ironforge.(...)
Read the rest of Obama and World of Warcraft (312 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, blog, digital immigrants, digital natives, Ed Tech, ELA, k-12, k12, middle school, technology, tween, world of warcraft, wow

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

When it works, it’s amazing!

heather — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:07:04 +0000

I’m referring, of course, to my new Interactive Whiteboard. I think I’m going to name my second child Promethean. (...)
Read the rest of When it works, it’s amazing! (158 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, blog, Ed Tech, education, ELA, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, new teachers, powerpoint, professional development, technology, Title I

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The Excitement Graph: Plot and Word Choice

heather — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:04:08 +0000

Every year, I do this activity when teaching Narrative Plot. I’ve used it from 3rd grade to 12th grade. I learned a version of it first in 1993 at a UCLA Extension class on “Teaching Reading to Secondary Students” and I’ve adapted it from there. It’s called:

THE EXCITEMENT GRAPH(...)
Read the rest of The Excitement Graph: Plot and Word Choice (443 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, book review, classroom library, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, description, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, ELA, essay, fundraising, integration, k-12, k12, Language Arts, middle school, new teachers, peer teaching, professional development, tween, Writers Project

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The snail wins the race…with RSP

heather — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:11:59 +0000

Just a brief post of victory to share:

At the beginning of Sept 2007, I gave a pre-assessment to my class in order to learn their levels and begin the process of differentiation. I looked through the results and my gaze halted on one essay in particular. Thus began my fight to get help for a nice young man who was placed in my mainstream 7th Grade Language Arts class. This kid was sweet, respectful, earnest, and tried so hard with everything…until everything had its way with him. (...)
Read the rest of The snail wins the race…with RSP (376 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, blog, btsa, Character Education, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, k-12, k12, middle school, new teachers, rsp, special ed, tween, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Should a free education be unconditional?

heather — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:25:19 +0000

So you know when you get your group of kids on the first day, there are those who immediately set off your alarms? Well, that definitely happened to me on my first day.

I have a student who clearly needs help. His peers are weary of him already and his confrontational style seems not as intentional as inherent. The startling comments and “seething anger”, as his last year’s teacher put it only three weeks into the school year, seem uncontrollable. This same teacher recorded that he asked if her windows were bullet proof. I wasn’t, of course, given this information up front. I had to seek it out.

His first quickwrite of this year centered on cussing out his last teachers and cranking them nightly on the phone. His pride in his violent video games is apparent.

Like children with Asperger’s (of which he has not been tested to date), he seems unaware of cues or the goings on around him: calling out with inappropriate comments, walking in front of me while I talk to the class, handing me items while I’m in the middle of instruction. Annoying, yes, but harmless.

He also will not make eye contact (could be cultural, but this seems different than others of his ethnicity and nationality) and walks robotically, stiffly, without movement in his shoulders. Strangely enough, and I’m clearly not a diagnostician (though I play one on TV), the few students in my career who have had symptoms like this seem to also come with apparent sinus problems. His eyes are puffy with nasal issues, he is sniffy, and I can’t help but wonder if there is a connection.

So I approached the counselors who know me as a real student advocate and as a teacher with a somewhat effective antenna. I don’t send kids to the office. I handle my own discipline issues, which are few. So when I come in, they listen. The afternoon after the first day of school I walked in and said, “So, what’s up with X?” They pretty much flopped the file onto the desk, a file the size of our Language of Literature book.(...)
Read the rest of Should a free education be unconditional? (363 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, aspergers, blog, collaboration, Curriculum, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, employment, free, fundraising, Joanne Jacobs, k-12, k12, learning, metacognition, performance pay, special ed, teaching, technology, test, Title I

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Find the Fib…First Day Activity (UPDATED)

heather — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:41:24 +0000

I learned a version of this activity from Erick Gordon this summer at the UCI institute. Basically, it’s a get-to-know activity where the students get to learn a little about me and then learn a little about each other. It also becomes a very easy springboard for teaching Narrative and Memoir.

First I shared a list of 11 statements about myself. Embedded in the list is one fib. The kids read the statements out loud and then I have kids volunteer guesses as to which is the fib. They also have to justify why they feel it’s the fib.

With each one they chose that is an actual fact, I do a quick one-minute oral narrative about that fact that makes them wanting more. When they hit the fib, well, then I do a little soapbox number.

Here was my list:

1. My father is the 1969 World Champion Jeopardy player.

2. I was kicked out of Brownies in 4^th grade.

3. When I was a child, I was a model on The Price is Right.

4. When I was 14 I went to Greece and dropped my coolest pair of sunglasses into a well of frogs.

5. My dad created Capt. Jack Sparrow.

6. When I studied at Oxford University in England, I ended up having an emergency appendectomy.

7. My husband and I met in 2^nd grade.

8. I am a certified OpenWater II scuba diver who goes diving with her mom.

9. When I was in school, I was a straight A student.

10. I once worked at a guest ranch, working in the stables, leading the kiddie rides across the Arizona desert.

11. One weekend, I was so bored that I went skydiving just to do something new.

Can you guess the fib? Answer: # 9. Yes, it’s true. I was NOT a straight A student. In fact, I didn’t find a joy in learning or in school until the occasional high school class or college class when I could actual point to classes I was actually interested in.

In other words, I not only didn’t have a passion in or for school, but I also remember what I didn’t like or understand. As a teacher, my recollections add to my ability to reach out to a diversity of learners. As a teacher, my willingness to share myself, my strengths, and my foibles adds to my ability to reach them as well.

Then I had the kids develop 4 truths and a fib. They partnered up and tried to guess each other’s fibs, giving little verbal narratives about each truth. Afterwards, their partners had to circle the story they would like to hear more about. We did a real quick review of sensory details and I modeled creating a bulleted list of details from one of the truths. The one I modeled was # 11. So here’s what I wrote:

*a free-fall out of a plane feels like you’re lying on a table. That’s how much pressure there is on your body.

*the plan ride up was so loud, we couldn’t hear each other yell our words across the aisle.

*When you jump, the only real idea of speed you have is the fact that the plane is getting smaller so quickly. When you level out, your hands flap, but the horizon stays the same for a long time. Otherwise, it’s almost like a loud hovering.

*when you pull the cord to let out the parachute, you get an intense wedgie.

*my feet fell asleep which drifting down to the ground

*my mouth was open during free-fall so when I landed, my teeth felt like they were wearing socks. They were that grimy.

Then the kids created their own bulleted list of sensory details. It began a potential narrative, should they chose to return to this concrete description brainstorm.

Share yourself, your experiences, and the themes of your life. You are the supplemental material. Share yourself and your students will learn more.

Hope your first day went as well as my own.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, blog, computers, Curriculum, curriculum design, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, Golden Lines, integration, interviewing, k-12, k12, learning, life long learners, middle school, new teachers, technology, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon is a’comin…

heather — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:12:38 +0000

So, in a move reminiscent of a 12-year old girl caught up in the riot mentality of rumors, I believed the whisper I heard about not getting my Whiteboard for 2 months. But I tell you now: it was false, dear readers! Yes, not only have I heard that the boards have shipped, but the company even came after hours this week and brought me a borrowed board to use in the meantime. Props for service and courtesy.

So I write to you today as a contrite tweenteacher. Lesson learned. Don’t listen to the gossip in the teacher’s lounge.

So, in an attempt to bring this post around to some actual advice for all you educators out there, I want to reiterate that point: do not waste one minute of your time this year in a toxic teacher environment. This is different than a Toxic Teaching Environment which can be defined as anything that gets in the way of you doing your job: under-funding, lack of school wide discipline, fractured classrooms, etc…

No, I’m talking about a specific breed of pollution that is meant to choke the enthusiasm out of you: the Toxic Teacher Environment. (...)
Read the rest of Oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon is a’comin… (419 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, blog, carnival of education, Character Education, collaboration, computers, credential, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, digital immigrants, Ed Tech, ELA, employment, equity, game shows, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, k-12, k12, middle school, new teachers, professional development, teaching, tenure, Title I, UCI, websites

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Hurry up & Wait – My New Interactive Whiteboard: Part II

heather — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:30:20 +0000

So, I had my online training. I met the Whiteboard sales guy in my classroom to discuss where the board is to be mounted. I talked with my principal to develop an interactive whiteboard presentation during our first staff development in an attempt to drum up excitement amongst the somewhat less-than-tech-enthused staff. I spent time over my summer developing my own curriculum for the first quarter: pulling out my books, pacing my units, and choosing those individual static lessons that I will expand into Interactive board lessons.

It wasn’t long, however, that I began to suspect I had wasted my time. The odor of bullshit was in the air…

(...)
Read the rest of Hurry up & Wait – My New Interactive Whiteboard: Part II (737 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, blog, carnival of education, computers, critical thinking, CUE, curriculum design, curriculum development, digital immigrants, integration, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, teaching, technology, Title I, UCI, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The Carnival is in!

heather — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:17:29 +0000

Welcome to another Carnival of Education hosted this week by Joanne Jacobs. After taking a writing break for a few weeks, I am back in the party. Something I love about Le Carnival is that is represents both sides of the fence. You can see opinions about effective teaching from all over the spectrum and pick and choose your own education.

Enjoy!

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, carnival of education, ELA, k-12, k12, Language Arts, NCLB, new teachers, Title I, UCI, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

My new Interactive Whiteboard: Part I

heather — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:55:36 +0000

Is the tale of the recent surge of Interactive Whiteboards a grade-B horror flick or a Cinderella story? Are they the villain or the belle of the ball? They’ve begun creeping into trendsetting classrooms, taking over precious wall space and sending those unfortunate overhead projectors of said classrooms to basement warehouses to gather dust alongside carousel slide projectors and the purpled-mimeograph machines of yesteryear. Are they an inevitable given in tomorrow’s classroom or an expensive fad?

These questions and many more are explored in today’s The Opening Bell.(...)
Read the rest of My new Interactive Whiteboard: Part I (807 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, blog, carnival of education, critical thinking, CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, digital immigrants, digital natives, Ed Tech, ELA, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, middle school, Title I, UCI, writing

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Sheridan Blau at the UCIWP

heather — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:22:35 +0000

OK, normally, I would reflect on one of the presenters at the UCIWP with my own spin-off thoughts and musings. Not so today. Here are some Golden Lines from today’s presentation with Sheridan Blau, award-winning educator, past president of NCTE, professor at Teachers College in New York and author of The Literature Workshop: Teaching Texts and their Readers. Whether you are hit in the head with only one concept or feel slapped around by the awesomeness that is all of them, feel free to pass them on. I certainly can’t say it better then he can.

…On the Importance of Questioning

“Honor confusion.”

“Confusion represents an advanced stage of understanding.”

“Teachers shouldn’t avoid confusion, but produce it.”

“Quality of reading is evident in the questions.”

“Questions are the key to drive learning.”

…On the Reading Process

“There is a messiness in reading…You revise your reading as you read.”

“Reading is a process of text constructions, just like writing.”

“Reading is a social activity that needs to happen in conversation.”

…On Difficulty in Reading

“The world is a difficult text and all of the strategies we bring to literary texts can be applied to the lives and the world in which they [students] live.”

“We often need to be completely lost before we can find our way.”

“Art defamiliarizes [makes the familiar strange and the strange familiar] so that we pay attention…it needs to be difficult to make us stop and pay attention.”

“It’s the lines in the poem that make the least sense that give us the greatest understanding.”

Hope you got something out of it. Enjoy.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, collaboration, critical thinking, dialogue, ELA, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, metacognition, middle school, teaching, UCI, Writers Project

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Kelly Gallagher’s Golden Line

heather — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:42:03 +0000

Kelly Gallagher, educator and author of Teaching Adolescent Writers, came and spoke to the UCI Writing Project on Friday and his focus of the presentation was a Golden Line: The Goal in Education is “Everybody Improves.”

Duh, you say, isn’t improvement always the goal of education? Actually, no. When you consider AYP scores, for instance, the goal is to hit a benchmark, not the level of improvement you made to hit it. (...)
Read the rest of Kelly Gallagher’s Golden Line (723 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, critical thinking, Curriculum, differentiation, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, electives, equity, failing, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, middle school, PI, research, school accountability, school funding, Title I, Writers Project

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The De-Evolution of “To Say” – by Tweenteacher

heather — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:11:56 +0000

Is this happening in a school near you?

He said, “Let’s go see a movie.”

***

He went, “Let’s go see a movie.”

***

He was all, “Let’s go see a movie.”

***

He’s like, “Let’s go see a movie.”

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, Ed Tech, education, k-12, k12, teaching

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh