Teachers Aren't People

Article in Wired:

Teachers Should Blog & Twitter with the Rest of Us

Also, check out the Rubber Room movie! I have mixed feelings on this topic, but it should be an interesting movie nonetheless:

Rubber Room Movie

Salsa Night!

Made mediterranean salsa tonight using the following ingredients:

• feta cheese



• roasted tomatoes



• olive oil



• parsley



• scallions



• pepper
  

So easy, so delicious. Definately recommend it. Enjoy!

In other news, I heard a couple of worthy teacher tips this week:

1) Bulletin Board Idea: Laminate the state standards and post them underneath bulletin boards or during lessons. Reusable!

2) Flexible grouping: Clock buddies! I love this idea. Give each student a paper copy of a clock. Above the number 12 give each student the name (or names) of someone that is at about the same level. This will be his or her 12 o'clock buddy. Below the number 6, give the student the name of someone that is on a different level. This will be their 6 o'clock buddy. Option: Next to the 3 or 9 they could write the name of a friend for those times the grouping isn't quite as important. So, rather than taking instructional time to get groups organized all you have to say is 12 o'clock buddies!

Here's a link for more info & a printable Clock Buddy:
http://www.readingquest.org/strat/clock_buddies.html

3) Homework: On the board post pictures of the cover of the books or notebooks students need for homework that night. This might be helpful for those students that seem to always have difficulty remembering which books to bring home.

4) Low Level Readers: For those students that are in grades 3 and up that still read on a 1st or 2nd grade level, but are embarassed to pick up picture books in front of everyone, create File Folders Books for them. Type up the first & second grade books (only takes a few minutes to do this), put them in a file folder, and they can just read from their own personal File Folder. This way they're not as embarassed and it looks much more mature.

Study Zone

I never intended for this site to be all about technology, but apparently that's where it's headed...SO recently someone in one of my graduate classes told me about this website called Study Zone which is has lots of activities and lessons for Grades K-4 in the areas of ELA, Math, and Social Studies. Most of the activities are actually pretty fun, interactive, and perfect for Smart Boards. Most importantly its activities align with NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS!!! Very exciting. Caution: The website design kinda looks like it's from 1995, which is quite off-putting, but the content is actually very good.

Common Craft

Wow! I just found this great website called Commoncraft. The website uses videos to explain different technology tools such as podcasting, wikis, blogs, social networking, etc in plain English. Actually, it kind of reminds me of how I have to teach certain concepts to my students with learning disabilities. Lots of visuals and concise, step-by-step instructions. The videos are really cute too, using cut out paper people and objects to explain concepts. It really makes technology painless. This website will definately be useful at my school.

iCarly

My school recently received funding for a technology grant and I was chosen to do the digital documentaries portion of it. I told my students about this and of course they were thrilled. What elementary student wouldn't want to be in a movie? So a student of mine who comes from a very rough home life and also has severe dyslexia came up to me and says, "Ms P does that mean we're getting a green screen too?" I was shocked! I know a lot of adults that don't know what a green screen is, let alone a student who struggles with basically every subject area. First I was actually a bit speechless and unsure how to respond. "What do you mean?" I ask. He says, "Like you stand in front of it and then the screen changes like you could be in space or under water all of a sudden." And I'm like, "How do you know this??"

"I watch iCarly"

Several of my students chirped in saying, "Oh yeah! I watch iCarly too!"

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? In case you haven't seen the show it's about a 13-year old girl who has a show on the Internet called iCarly which has made her an online celebrity. I've seen this show on just a couple of occassions and have often wondered who would watch it. Granted I was an avid viewer Full House/Saved by the Bell/TGIF (I could go on, but it'd probably be best if I didn't). Apparently my students watch it and it actually makes so much sense! It features lots of high-tech gear that kids think is cool. My student's green screen comment began to make me think about how most of my students learn more about modern technology from iCarly than they do in school...While it's great that my student's learning from this tv show, it's very disturbing that this is his only access to this type of technology.

Who watches iCarly? iShould.