5 Great Back-to-School Resources

Have you been in calendar denial all summer? Being prepared helps you feel better about your transition back to work.  Why not take a look at some of these great resources to give your students a jump start for a successful new year?

Greetings! 

Did you know that when teachers greeted students at the door, on task behavior in the first ten minutes of class increased from 45% to 75%? (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2007).  Sounds like a great simple tip to start the year (or class) off! Greet them with a smile!

Plan A, B or C? Do what's best for your kids

1.      Love this list of 14 Things teachers should never do on the first day, not because I agree with them, but because I like to hear other perspectives! Ask the kids for their perspective and go from there.  (Sounds like a great SCAN lesson to me!)

2.       Larry Ferlazzo has put together a whole collection of Best Resources for Planning the First Days of School which includes everything from icebreakers to developing relationships.

3.       Speaking of developing relationships – How do you get off on the right foot Developing Relationships with Difficult Students?  Check out these four simple strategies to help you forge a positive teacher student relationship.

4.       These activities will help you learn more about your students and Help your Students start off with a Positive Mindset.

5.       NEA provides some great resources from classroom setup to working with parents in their Back to School Guide

The first days of schools are an exciting transition period for all of us!  Unlike your new back-to-school outfit – it costs nothing to get a new first day of school attitude that everyone will enjoy!  

Sochi Lessons for Every Classroom

Shoveling again!  Between our record breaking cold, 7 snow days and the winter Olympics approaching, tying your lessons to snow seems like a no-brainer, no matter where you are!

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) lessons of course are an excellent fit, but why not include art (STEAM) and Reading (STREAM) and Social Studies (STREAMS)…there are lots of resources and opportunities to take advantage of this global event in your classroom.

If you have snow in your backyard, there are lots of questions you can explore:  Why does it form crystals (flakes) sometimes and other times it is just ice?  How does salt help snow to melt?  Are there environmental consequences of salting the roads?  Can you design a better snow shovel?  Why does some snow make better snow balls than others?  How do ski areas make snow?  

If you don’t have snow in your backyard (hard for me to believe!), there is plenty of snow science going on in Sochi.  I recently learned from an NBC (Orlando) reporter, Stewart Moore, on his way to cover the Olympics, that Sochi was a “tropical resort” in Russia, with weather comparable to Atlanta (except for the nearby mountains!). Snow was actually saved from last year under blankets just in case they need it!  Imagine all of the logistics involved in pulling off an event like this (science, technology, engineering, math, anyone?)!

There are lots of great resources to get students engaged in relevant learning in your content area this month!

Science:    Check out these great videos on the Science and Engineering of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games including the “Science of Ice” “Science of Snow” and “Building Faster and Better Bobsleds” complete with in-depth lesson plans!  You can find more videos on the Science of the Olympic Games 2010 related to individual sports and gear.  Just for fun, check out this fascinating sound interactive which illustrates in sound the fractions of a second separating finishers in events at the Olympics.  This was found amongst the gems offered in TeachersFirst’s Resources for the Sochi Olympics.

Technology:  Yesterday, I witnessed a great Digital Day Winter Olympic Challenge going on between students in Indiana and Lousiana.  Hosted by William Krakower in NJ, students met in a Google Hangout and answered challenge questions based on the Olympics.  The questions included “How many miles from your school to Sochi?  How many kilometers? What is the time difference between your school and Sochi?” These students were totally engaged and motivated by the hot (cold?) topic of the Winter Olympics and the social capital built in.  You can easily replicate this with your own set of questions, set up game show style within your classroom, with a class across the hall, a class across town, or a class across the globe.  Kudos to those teachers who brought this cutting-edge activity to their students despite some technical difficulties and weather cancellations.

Reading:  WhyFiles.org has some great articles that feature different perspectives, ask great questions and cover ethical issues that make for great reading and persuasive writing.  Some examples include “Sports Doctors:  Conflict of Interest?” or “Too Much Training?”  Find the articles by searching for Olympics or Science Meets Sports.  Discover more ideas for Olympic-related reading and writing activities at ReadWriteThink.

Engineering:  There are lots of opportunities for engineering research from the Olympic venue to the athlete’s gear.  Check out this simple student challenge from We are Teachers which has students build their own bobsled out of Popsicle sticks.  Or use the video on Engineering Faster and Safer Bobsleds and the accompanying guide for STEAM activities related to designing the bobsled.

Math:  Have you seen Yummy Math?  This site provides “mathematics relevant to our world today.” Their most recent post was on the lighting of the Olympic Torch and one on how Olympic ski jumping is scored, both great math lessons with authentic and timely connections.    Check out the Mathletes video and lesson for another activity on scoring in the Olympic Games.   There are some very simple ideas on what you can do with results (including fake result pages) that you can use for simple math activities involving reading and building tables. 

Social Studies:  Delve into the history of the Olympics, geography of Sochi or research an athlete to discover the culture and geography of their country.   There are lots of links for the History of the Games, Olympic Games and Politics, and Ancient Olympic Games on the TeacherVision site.

Looking for more STEM Activities?

Matt Davis provides some quality links and ideas incorporating STEM into Olympics in the student engagement blog on Edutopia.  Highlights include mapping the Olympic Torch Relay, math activities from Scholastic and great hands on activities from Science Buddies.

Looking for Debate topics?  Who should host the 2022 Winter Olympics? 

The Olympic Games are an excellent opportunity to connect the interdisciplinary dots in an engaging way!  How will you take advantage?

Simple Questions lead to Complex Learning

Watching the news this morning there was a story about a baby panda growing stronger in the zoo.  Isn't it ridiculously cute?  As usual, it got me to thinking about zoos and breeding programs and endangered species….and off I go!

With the new Common Core, teachers can turn their focus from “the test” to teaching students to think for themselves.  Sometimes it just takes a simple question.  That seems to be the basis of “Problem-Based Learning.”  Think about the question posed by the NYCDOE Nonfiction Reading and Opinion/ Argument writing task for 5^th grade:  “Should zoos exist?” or for older students, Room for Debate’s “Does Captive Breeding Distract from Conservation?”  These simple questions can be the basis for some great informational reading and research-based writing and some great critical thinking.  

Check out these resources that provide different perspectives on the debate on zoos:

The Swazi Eleven

Life span of elephants in zoos vs. the wild

10 Facts about Zoos

How do zoos help endangered species?

What zoos do

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/endangered_species/zoos/index.asp?article=whatzoosdo

Don’t zoos help to preserve endangered species?

Room for Debate:  Does Captive Breeding Distract from Conservation?

The same resources can be found here, all neatly arranged in this “live binder” – a digital binder that will allow you to share all of these resources with your students in one easy place.  Have your students do the research and use this great persuasion map from readwritethink.org to get their writing started!

Jumpstart their thinking!

Having a discussion before students start writing can help them understand new perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of the issues.    The SCAN tool  at TregoED.org has a great new scenario “Should Zoos Exist?” (always free) complete with scenario, four perspectives, resource links and a private discussion format to get them started.

Great Resources on Women's Voting Rights

We have heard a lot of talk about the power of the women’s vote in this election.  Candidates are making sure that they address issues that are important to women to earn their vote.  It is hard to believe that women were amongst the last to earn the right to vote in the US.  Looking at the suffrage movement gives students the opportunity to understand the different perspectives of the times and look at the current issues surrounding the Voting Rights ACT.

Here are some great resources, links and lesson plans that can tie past and present issues surrounding voting rights:

The Woodrow Wilson Library has lesson plans that include everything from essential questions to assessments.  Lots of links to primary documents included!

Scholastic has some great lesson plans for different age groups, grades 1-2, 4-5, 6-8 with resources and activities. 

Looking for primary documents?  Of course our National Archives has put together great lesson plans and resources in their Teaching with Documents site.

Mr. Donn’s web pages include links to lesson plans, games, and links to Powerpoints on women’s suffrage.

Tom Daccord’s site, Edtechteacher has a great collection of  Best History Sites on women’s history.

This great lesson plan from Edsitement on Pro-and Anti-Suffrage Arguments has students look at women’s suffrage issues from all different perspectives- The Founding Fathers, the family, African Americans, States Rights, husbands, etc.  Check out the other 3 great activities at this site with links to political cartoons, articles, fliers and other primary documents of the day.

Why not follow up this great lesson by letting students discuss the issues by role-playing different points of view using the online SCAN tool and having students decide what should be done.  Check out the free lesson on “Women's Voting Rights."

How is this relevant to today?

Tie these great topics in by looking at the recent discussion on the Voting Rights Act which requires states to get advance approval by the Federal Government before they can change the way they hold elections. 

Look at how women’s issues are affecting voting today.  If women were voting, what issues would become non-issues?

Connect to women’s rights headlines from around the world by looking at the recent shooting of a 14 year old Pakistani girl by the Taliban for championing the education of girls and publicizing atrocities committed by the Taliban.

Do you have any favorite resources or activities to help our students appreciate voting rights? 

10 Great Resources on the Electoral College

As we get closer to the presidential election, the candidates are spending more and more time campaigning in “key states.”  It is frustrating to think that maybe your state “doesn’t count” or maybe even your vote doesn’t count.  Much of this is a result of the Electoral College system.  How can you help your students understand how it works and why we use it?  Here are some great resources, links and lessons that can help them think critically about the issues that surround the electoral college:
This short video:  Electoral College 101 (Op-Ed page of the New York Times -thanks for bringing it to my attention Megan Veschio!) has a great simulation done with 3rd graders demonstrating the popular vote vs the electoral vote using colored pencils vs. markers.  You can see the critical thinking going on in this classroom!

270 to Win is a cool site that shows what states are undecided and what it will take for either candidate to win based on daily polls. 

The New York Times Learning Network has tons of lessons and resources for this years elections including a crossword puzzle on the Electoral College.

Real Clear Politics features maps and polls and how they change and gives students real time data to look at.  Check here for an analysis on “How Likely is an Electoral/Popular Vote Split” in this election?

Check out this free BrainPOP video lesson on Presidential Elections with information and quizzes on the Electoral College.  

Scholastic also offers articles and teacher resources on the Electoral College.

Exploring Constitutional Conflicts offers a great resource on why the framers decided to go with the Electoral College and information to get kids thinking about whether it should be abolished or modified.

Games lessons and activities on the Electoral College can be found on the Congress for Kids site. 

PBS Kids explains why “Being Popular is Not Enough” with lots of other election resources. 

The National Archives also offers lots of resources for  teaching the electoral college.

Why not have your students hold their own debate as they discuss the Electoral College from four different points of view in the in the Free updated SCAN lesson “The Electoral College:  Does Your Vote Really Count?” found at TregoEd?

Check out more ideas on Elections and polling at http://bit.ly/WBuZlP

911 Memorial Activity Reaches the Common Core

Next week, I am going to the 911 Memorial in NYC.  Learning about the vision, debate, study, engineering and design of the memorial is a great opportunity for deeper learning for our students.  Just looking at the symbolism that is incorporated into the design – waterfalls into footprints that never fill, trees from the Flight 93 site in PA and the Pentagon, the Tridents from the original building, five buildings spiraling up like the torch of Lady Liberty- and how it comes together to complete the monumental task of healing this deep wound in the earth with a balance of awareness of the tragedy and hope for the future is a great lesson.  The question of what was to be done at the site brought about great debate and was only resolved when all parties perspectives were considered.  This is an example of great problem solving at its best with science, engineering, art, language arts and social studies content all rolled into the task.   

What a great opportunity to use the problem solving strategy...SCAN.  Imagine looking at the devastated site 11 years ago and trying to determine what should be done?  Imagine the perspectives that had to be considered.  Business leaders, families who lost loved ones, city workers, artistss and entrepreneurs all had unique perspectives on the best way to honor the victims, the heroes and American resilience.  What a great way to demonstrate how a simple strategy like SCAN (See the issues, Clarify the issues, Ask what's most important, and Now, what's the plan?) can help solve complex problems.

Reaching the Common Core

Why not have your students select a perspective and "write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence." (CCSS) The 911 Memorial website has wonderful resources where your students can find information and teachers can find a great diversity of lessons plans all linked to the Common Core Standards.  Lessons range from the historical impact to the making of memorials.  You can easily move them from stating their position to collaborating on their own solutions.

There is also a series of videos by the Discovery Channel about how the master plan for building the Memorial came about.  You can watch the video through teacher’s hub video writing prompts or directly though Discovery (with commercials).  I love this video about the building that is being designed around a wedge of light that will appear on 9/11 at precisely the time the second tower fell.  Think of all the science and engineering that had to go into the planning of that!   

September 11th is a great time to have your students "think historically" to gain an understanding of how this area has risen from the rubble to include the tallest and strongest building in American history and a memorial to honor those who were killed at the site.

Looking for more?

Other teacher and student resources for studying 911 can be found at the George Bush Library or the Edsitement Launchpad of activities.  

10 Great Resources for 9/11 Activities has been updated!

You can get kids looking at security issues that arose from 911 through different perspectives using the free online discussion lesson:  Patriot Act:  Security or Freedom at TregoED.

 

Could Money be the Key to Keeping Kids Engaged?

Who doesn’t like money?  Money could be the key to keeping students engaged in learning to the bitter end.   After just filing our taxes and trying to figure out the finances for elder care, calling financial literacy fun was the furthest thing from my mind, but the need for it was clear. 

Can financial literacy be fun?
Apparently, when you are a student practicing these skills it can be fun (just like practicing being an adult is more fun than actually being one!).  I recently talked to a principal who thought money could be the answer to increasing math instruction in her school.  She was not referring to spending money however, but offering students 45 more class period of math per year through financial literacy- a “fun” way to increase math skills.  I know another who used classroom money as part of her classroom management system.  Students would receive their pay coming in the door, the amount would be decreased if they came in late(just like the real world!).  She had a great system of "paying" students for proper behaviors.  Students could purchase items that she got free from conferences with their money.  They did think it was fun!

Will this cost us money?
It turns out that there are lots of free financial literacy resources out there.  I would start with the free classroom money pack which features money patterns, transaction sheets and teaching ideas- perfect for any classroom.   Another resource, from the blog post entitled “Financial Literacy can be Fun” is the BizWiz program from the BizWorld Foundation for free if you use it this year ($189 value).

Your tax dollars at work
You can find more fun financial literacy activities from The Mint or our United States Treasury offers free (your tax dollars at work) downloadable math lessons called  Money Math: Lessons for life.

Games for Sponge or Enrichment Time
Any teacher could offer these games to do as an enrichment activity for students with “extra time”:  Rich Kid Smart Kid or Money Island .

Looking to include some critical thinking?
Try out the Cleveland Fed’s free activity book entitles “Great Minds Think:  A Kid’s Guide to Money” for middle schoolers.   and have students work their way through some personal financial decisions.
You could also have students try out the “Money to Spend” SCAN scenario at TregoED.org where they will look at money issues from the different perspectives built into the scenario.

Looking for more?
Search for financial literacy at Teachersfirst.org or check out these additional resources from Edutopia. 
Please add your resources and ideas!

Teachers Value Increases with Technology

I heard a story the other day about a man who slipped a disk when he was young and had extensive surgery resulting in a six inch scar and a six month recovery period (and a whole year out of PE!).  Ten or so years later, he slipped another disk.  This time the surgery was not as extensive, the scar not as long and the recovery period was shortened to a week or so.  Recently a friend of his had the same surgery.  This time it was out-patient, a half-inch incision and back to work two days later.  We all know that there have been great advances in medicine through the wonders of technology, but even more amazing was all three surgeries were by the same doctor.   Of course, we expect our doctors to keep up with all the latest techniques and technology – or be the target of malpractice suits.

The gentleman telling the story (and main character) was Jon Landis, a former educator and Development Executive with Apple Inc. at the recent NJAET conference.  Although I may not have gotten all the details of his story perfect, I did get the point.  His point was that technology has drastically changed the way that we all work and learn.  Teaching is no different.  Technology is not replacing us but making us more valuable.  We cannot stay in the classroom and ignore the communication revolution that is all around us.
Landis pointed out that "your value as a teacher is no longer your ability to deliver content, content is free, content is ubiquitous, content is good."  We may have been replaced as content providers,  however, our job is even more important now.  Students need to be able to digest content, not just spit it back out.  We need to help our students understand the context, take it apart, and reassemble it into relevant connections and original thought.  No easy task.

He is right, of course, content is ubiquitous.  One need only look at the various free offerings from Kahn Academy (over 3000 videos to “Watch. Practice. Learn almost anything for free.”) or through iTunes U (with a growing library of courses and the ability to create your own) to see the overwhelming amount of content our students hold in the palm of their hand.  Class time, then, needs to become the time that students “play” with the content, contextualize, collaborate, apply and synthesize.
This is where having a good grasp on strategies to get our students thinking critically and creatively comes in to play.  We need to become the problem person, not the answer person.  Our classes need to be creative, with hands-on activities and engaging discourse.  I have found that online discussion platforms strengthen engaging discourse by democratizing conversations, allowing every student an equal opportunity to contribute.  These discussions can engage students in powerful ways, providing rich introductions or extensions to course content.

There is great power in using TED talks and activities to get students thinking about further applications and connections to course content.  Integrating tools such as SCAN (with the built in critical thinking strategy and representing different perspectives) and Collaborize Classroom  (with a full library of higher level thinking activities and interactive discussions) gives our students the opportunity to take an active role in their learning and provides teachers with a simple to implement lesson upgrade.

The bottom line is that, we, as teachers need to embrace the technology (As Landis stated “the internet is not a fad”) and adjust accordingly.  Just like our students, we need the time to “play” with all of the great content we receive on good teaching, time to practice, collaborate, and upgrade our lessons.  Start with some simple tools, one lesson or unit, one homework assignment, but get started.

Current Events Prompt Critical Thinking!

I remember “doing” current events back in my day (you know – when the current event was “new vaccine for polio” or “teacher burned when stoking the coal fire”).   We tore them out of the paper, identified the who, what, where and why and if called upon read them aloud in class.  I don’t ever think that I connected the current event to my studies or to my life.  Today students are bombarded with current events in every way imaginable.  Teachers that make the connections in their classroom, reap the rewards. 

Award-winning Lesson

One such teacher is MaryAnn Molishus from Goodnoe Elementary School in Newtown, PA.  Just like many other teachers, Mrs. Molishus set up a bulletin board to welcome her students (with the help of her daughter).  The graffiti style lettering and a local news report on vandalism in her town inspired a critical thinking problem solving project for her students.  What better way to help her 5^th graders understand the essential questions “How do rules protect individual rights as well as meet the needs of society?” And “What are the responsibilities of a good citizen?” than to help her students see this popular art form from different perspectives.

Teaching Perspectives

Maryanne developed a scenario for the SCAN tool with four perspectives (art historian, property owner, graffiti artist, and police officer) and enriched the lesson with some online resources.  Using the online discussion tool, students explored the issues and suggested solutions to the problem.

Maryann was thrilled that “they not only learned about this community issue but learned to discuss a topic, consider other points of view, stay on point while chatting online and understand that there are many facets to one issue.”  To further enrich the lesson, students went on to examine new proposed legislation set to ban the sale of spray paint to minors in their home state.  They were encouraged to determine a position on the new law and write to their government officials to persuade them to vote for or against the law. Now, that’s making a lesson rigorous and relevant!

Reaping the Rewards!

Mrs. Molishus was able to integrate community issues, reading, writing, research, government, digital and community citizenship starting with a current event and the SCAN tool from TregoED.  She not only addressed the standards that students must meet in social studies, but also encouraged them to appreciate other perspectives and participate in the democratic process.  Kudos to you Mrs. Molishus for creating a lesson that gets them thinking and congratulations to your students on a job well done!

Note:  You can find Mrs. Molishus' lesson "Graffiti:  Freedom of Expression or Vandalism?" in the TregoED SCAN library

Dr. King's Dream

Remembering Dr. King’s legacy is a relevant activity in any classroom whether covering bullying, the economy, world peace, social justice or looking for relevant nonfictional reading and writing across several disciplines. Plan ahead using some of these great resources to get your students thinking.

For Students:

Read Dr. King’s "I Have a Dream..." Speech: 

Students get a small taste of what segregation feels just entering the site.  They can listen to Dr. King’s speeches or read some of his other writings at Remember Segregation.  Simply powerful.

Watch a video on Dr. King, fill out a KWL graphic organizer, take a quiz, or study relevant vocabulary at BrainPop

Read the Story of Martin Luther King and find related facts, figures and folklore. (some ads)

Play the “It’s Not Fair Game” to learn about and experience prejudice first hand!  Fun- teaches students MLK related vocabulary while skewing the score to discover how it feels when "it's not fair!"

For Teachers:

Teachersfirst (a great FREE teacher resource page) has links to many different MLK resources including video links, lesson ideas, materials, and interactive sites.

See what other teachers are doing for MLK day at Scholastic’s site.   

Watch great historical videos of the Civil Rights Movement and Rev. King

Try out this free SCAN lesson “Dr. King’s Dream.”  Register from the dashboard, set up the lesson and send kids to your private URL to discuss whether Dr. King’s dream has been reached in their school, state, country or globally. They will look at issues from each perspective and name some action steps that you might take to solve them.  New to SCAN?  Start here.

Students can make a difference:  Read the 6 Steps to Nonviolent Social Change and remind students of the small everyday things they can do such as not judging others by their appearance or actions, sticking up for others, or learning more about different religions and cultures. Have them make a list of actions that they can do to reach MLK's dream.

How will you honor his legacy and work towards his dream?