MSM-98 NMSA09 Follow up 3 Get Your Wave ON!
Jokes:
Real Teachers:
- cheer when April 1 doesn’t fall on a school day
- Clutch a pencil when thinking
- never teach the conjugations of lie and lay to 8th graders.
- can’t walk past a group of students without straightening up the line.
- have disjointed necks from constantly looking around 180 degrees
- can eat lunch in under 3 minutes
- can predict exactly which parents will show up at Conferences.
- know the shortest route to the office, bathroom (all of them) and caffeine
- know that secretaries and custodians run the school.
From the Twitterverse:
- lthumann – Wow! I’m looking at Free Technology for Teachers: 30+ Alternatives to YouTube http://bit.ly/UfEkv –> Great list! #edchat
- KevG How To Quickly Fix A Phone or MP3 Player With Water Damage http://bit.ly/6sMfzi/
- unklar Empowering Principal Leadership Behaviors – http://shar.es/aic38 I shared this w/ my principal and I hope he’s not mad.
- web20classroom RT @tomwhitby: Educator Guide for integrating Social Media http://bit.ly/5RuTwM <–Awesome stuff!
- Worldclass52 RT @dianadell: Teachers begin using cell phones for class lessons class lessons http://ow.ly/Gs1c
- netbook_news NVIDIA Tegra tablet prototype hands-on NVIDIA Tegra tablet prototype hands-on http://ow.ly/GqpJ
- kjarrett : Spent the last hour or so exploring @diannekrause’s INCREDIBLE tech integration wiki http://ow.ly/EizF & trading emails w/her. So inspiring!
- DanielPink: Why yawning “brings you into a heightened state of cognitive awareness. ” http://bit.ly/2V0zyZ
Advisory:
Pictures of our World. Have students take pictures of “their world”. Have the students narrow down their choices to 1 picture. Discuss why the picture is important.
On Our Mind:
MAMSE: Contact your local MAMSE board member and volunteer to be a Regional Coordinator!
Charter Colleges: Marvin Olasky proposes charter colleges to further democratize education.
Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott
Webspotlight:
Students live in a Digital World. Are schools ready to join them?
Seale and educators across the country are employing an array of digital tools—blogs, wikis, videos, and social media—to tap into their passion for collaborating, creating, and sharing.
“It’s about initiating higher levels of engagement,” says Seale, “and making the learning more self-directed and self-motivated.” “Let’s face it,” she adds, “being literate today means more than reading words on a printed page and writing an essay.”
“I don’t think we yet have a handle on what it really means to be literate in the 21st century,” Fisch acknowledges.
So don’t throw away your copies of To Kill a Mockingbird; even the most fervent Web evangelists believe there is still space for the Great Books. But the bottom line remains: We can’t stop there. Our students are living in a different world.
http://www.nea.org/home/35939.htm
FastPencil: Turn your blog posts into a book. http://ow.ly/E8z3
One of the laments of librarians and English teachers about blogs is the lack of permenance. Once the electrons go away, so does the content. FastPencil can turn blog posts into chapter books for paper books.
What happened to Second Life? BBC questions current model of marketing in virtual environment.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8367957.stm
ANKI:
Spaced Repetition
Anki is a spaced repetition system (SRS). It helps you remember things by intelligently scheduling flashcards, so that you can learn a lot of information with a minimum amount of effort. (Available for Mac/Linux/iPhone-iPod Touch/Windows)
http://ichi2.net/anki/index.html
NMSA09:
Strategies That Motivate Students
Mark McLeod
*Notes from Todd Williamson who took much better notes than I (any errors in transcription though are mine alone):
Session Description: Student engagement is the key to learning for middle school students. This session will explore many teaching strategies and techniques that encourage students to get excited about learning. The presenter will model various strategies that can be used immediately in the classroom. Both veteran and new teachers will leave this session with many powerful, yet practical strategies to motivate today’s middle school students.
Idea of emotional bank account Attitude is the most important thing. There are 2 feat which interfere with success:
• Fear of Embarrassment
• Fear of Failure
Personal life needs to be in order. The kids bring enough baggage. Kids need to be involved or the drop out later. What is the #1 Quality you want in your students?
• • •
Positive Attitude Treat Others with Respect Motivated to Want to Learn
Am I treating everyone in here with the attitudes I expect?
We can’t change other people, we can only change ourselves…so make sure you do that and enjoy what you do.
No one forces anyone to have a great attitude. It’s your choice.
Has everyone spend a few minute encouraging others…return to seats when we hear YMCA, and do YMCAtogether. FUNTIMES!!
Teachers have to be willing to step out and take risks. Take ideas, tweak them to work for yourself, and take the chance to use them.
Many teachers are afraid of embarassment and failure, so they never take risks.
BIGGEST MOTIVATOR: RELATIONSHIPS
Kids bring enough baggage, teacher doesn’t need to bring more into the picture. Make desposits into kids emotional bank accounts. Are we making deposits or withdrawals from our kids accounts? These are not accounts we want closed.
You can’t change what’s in the past, so don’t let it stop you. If you’ve made too many withdrawals in the past, don’t dwell on it, just start making deposits from then on.
Sometimes we have to INTENTIONALLY make deposits until it becomes habit. WE ARE SO INGRAINED AS TEACHERS TO LOOK FOR THINGS TO CORRECT, SOMETIMES WE JUST NEED TO FOCUS ON WHAT ALREADY IS GOOD.
Developing positive relationships doesn’t just happen in the classroom, we have to do it everywhere in life so it becomes habit.
It’s not the teacher that sends students to the office, it’s the environment. Free time and inappropriate conversations happen when positive relationships aren’t established.
AGREE WITH A TWEET BY @MSMATTERS…MARK MCLEOD IS GIVING GREAT ADVICE FOR LIFE AS WELL AS THE CLASSROOM
Students AND Adults both need deposits into their emotional bank accounts. What are some ways to make deposits into students emotional bank accounts?
1. ATTEND GAMES
2. GIVE JOB IN CLASSROOM
3. POSITIVE PARENT CONTACT
4. DISCUSS INTERESTS
5. PRAISE
6. RECOGNIZE BIRTHDAYS
7. STICKERS (haha)
8. REWARDS
9. FOOD
10.NOTICE THINGS FROM OTHER CLASSES SUBJECTS
Adults
1. FOOD
2. SHOW UP FOR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS (DEATHS, ILLNESS, WEDDINGS)
3. LISTEN
4. REWARDS
5. KNOWING WHO KIDS ARE
6. RECOGNITION
Practice attention getting strategies in the classroom…bells, sayings, etc…don’t just tell them, actually practice it.
Students don’t know how to make deposits…we have to help teach them. “Cha-ching” shirts…on the back “Have you made a deposit today?”
2nd Biggest Motivator: Success
Set up students for success…self-motivated students blurt out because they want the thrill of victory
Don’t worry about the blurtter-outers…they’re self-motivated and will learn anyway. Target the kids who never raise their hands and set them up for success.
#1 Questioning Technique to add Tension: Ask, Pause, Call…Tension keeps all engaged, don’t start question with “Suzy, what is…” everyone else tunes out and learning stops. Random name generators add to tension as well. This keeps kids engaged…and no one has to know for sure who’s name is pulled out if you really want to call on a particular student.
#2 Questioning Technique is “Volunteers”…This gives a bad sampling because you get the same volunteers every time. Ask Pause Call with random name generator causes more thinking, from a larger number of students, and allows you to climb up Blooms.
#3 QuestioningTechnique: Choral Response…Have a signal when you want students to respond together, otherwise they won’t know when to start or stop.
#4 Questioning Technique: Signal Response…Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down/Windshield Wiper… Whiteboards…SHOWING WHITEBOARDS WITH A HANDLE, MARKER, AND 4 DIFFERENT COLORS.
Notes: Ross Burkhardt on Writing for Real Reasons
Quote: “Our sincere interest in students’ lives and their opinions is one of the strongest motivators we have. Nothing on earth is so irresistible to a writer as the knowledge that her writing might actually influence someone else’s thoughts or feelings.”
CEU code: EQ7
Why are we using writing as punishment? (Cartoon reference)
NCTE quote: “Conventions of writing are best taught in the context of writing.”
NCTE quote: “When writers actually write, they think of things that they did not have in mind before they begin writing.”
“Writers need a classroom culture that supports writing, a culture in which everyone, including the teacher, is part of a writing community.” Vicki Spandel
“You can’t be what you can’t see.” Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Nov. 2003 in an Atlanta Speech.
The Teacher As Writer
“Almost nothing does more to sustain a culture of writing than a teacher who writes with students, thereby underscoring the importance of writing, and also allowing students to see the process.” Vicki Spandel
“Save all drafts!”
What Ross did in his classroom will not work in our classrooms.
Adapt these writing strategies to your own:
Students
style
setting
Take out a sheet of paper . . .
Activity: Letter of appreciation or acknowlegement.
On the sheet of paper, identify three people that are important to you and why.
It doesn’t matter who they put down on the paper.
Letter to Jack Berckemeyer . . .
Share/Pair instructions
Decide who goes first.
First person shares – 1 minute
Switch
Second Person shares – 1 minute (or so)
Teacher reads a letter of gratitude and then seals it in an envelope.
Real audience
Real person
Shows authenticity
Choose principal, AP, fellow teacher, etc.
Send the student to the person in the sealed envelope that they saw sealed and then point out that they came back empty handed.
Assignment
You’ve identified three people, now write a letter like this to one of those three people.
“Grade is an A. I will not read it.” “If you’d like me to read your letter to help with your grammar and punctuation, I will read it.”
“Tomorrow I will be at the door. Have your letter ready to go when you walk into class tomorrow. Your grade goes down from there if you didn’t turn it in.”
Part Two:
Make three columns on a piece of paper.
Put the number 8 at the top left column.
Put all the things you did (best stuff) in a column. Things you did in 8th grade.
Wherever you stop, draw a line. Write down the best stuff from 7th Grade.
Go around the room and mention one thing. Kids can add as each contributes.
Do the same for 6th Grade
Look over the entire list and pick the three best things you ever did in middle school.
Identify the staff member who was most responsible for making that activity happen.
It’s the last week of school kids, you have a list in front of you the best stuff in middle school and the people who made it happen. What could we do with that information?
Assignment: Write two letters of acknowlegement to staff.
If they want to write to you, they have to write a third letter.
HMP: Holiday Memory Piece
Monday before Friday before Christmas Break.
“Kids, I’m going to read you something and then I’m going to ask you some questions”
There are no questions, lol!
Christmas Eve Exchange . . .
Questions are a little bit about the story . . .
“Ok kids, we’ve got a holiday coming up . . . ” shows a list of holidays.
“On Friday of this week you’re going to share one of your holiday memories.”
Let the Jehovah’s Witness kid talk about not celebrating holidays.
Can’t fail because they can pick from any memory.
They’ve experienced it and it has already happened.
Tell them that they are going to create a public piece of writing.
GOW: Gift of Writing
identify three people who are important to you and briefly describe them.
Share a model of what this writing will look like.
“Tears on the Turnpike”
“In what way is your experience different than your experience of the story?”
She’s in it. She’s a participant.
He gave this piece of writing to his sister as a gift.
Assignment:
Your job is to create a gift of writing to give to an intended audience.
Letter to Self: LTS
The Grade is a B and I will not read it.
Minimum of two pages on the next 5 topics.
Put the heading at the top of the page and you turn in two pages in to me at the door.
Want an A? Turn in three pages.
This honors the narcissism of the adolescent.
This could address the GLCE about creating writers who “want” to write.
Belief informs Action
The 10 Assertions.
Events & Happenings:
Calendar of Events:
NMSA News:
- NMSA Annual Conference: Baltimore 2010.
Other News:
- ISTE Eduverse Talks are the recorded sessions held on ISTE Island every week. Join ISTE in their Second Life conference location for their weekly talks on education.
- The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
- The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 4-5, 2010 in Dexter, MI. MAMSE will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary!
- MAMSE Exhibitor Form
- MAMSE Registration Form
- Theater Education Opportunity: Eastern Michigan University’s Quirk-Sponberg Theater has announced their Fall 2009 Season.
“The Prince, the Wolf and the Firebird”
By Jackson Lacey
Directed by Pam Cardell
December 4, 5, 10, 11 at 7PM
December 5, 6, 12 at 3PM
School Matinees: December 9 and 10 at 10:00 am. Tickets $4.00 for students and every 15 students gets a chaparone in for free.
- Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
- Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.
- Second Life:
- No Events specified. Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
- Video: Educational Uses of Second Life