52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #40: Take Your Students Outside

This week's entry comes from Ms. Chen, who teaches in rural New Mexico.  Check out her blog, red pen revisions.

Here is a lesson I’ve learned this year. Take your kids outside, and whatever you do, don’t plan. You will be surprised by what you learn about your students and what they too will learn.

Our walk happens on a trail that is rocky and unpaved, lined with low, serpentine shrubbery and prickly vegetation. My students bring me treasures they discover. B. announced his discovery of a lizard by holding it up in the air by its tail. The sandy white lizard lay limp, perhaps hoping to play dead in an attempt to be left alone. No such luck; my students fingers poked and prodded with delight.

T. brought over a local variety of honeysuckle, its pink shoots interspersed with white-yellow ones. He offered me one, telling me to taste it. "It tastes of watermelon summer," he analyzes reflectively.

We have found seedpods I am unable to identify; so we strip it down to its tiny black seeded center. We have crept up quietly upon two baby bats, nesting in the eaves of the school. My students were hushed with an awe I can only aspire to inspire in the classroom. We have found a vertebrate column, the blood not yet bleached white by the southwestern sun. We speculated on the animal based on the size; we settled upon goat, or at least a very large dog.

It is on these walks my students express the imaginations that I do not often get to see in the classroom, and vocalize curiosities so rarely stimulated by our formulaic textbook curriculum. I read a short story recently about a creative little girl whose "lies" often got her in trouble with "the adults." She held tea parties where no one attended but herself, and contentedly, "she swallows cups of invisible tea. She chews mouthfuls of air."

And so every afternoon, I'm reminded of the joy that is childhood curiosity as we have our sunshine-drenched cups of invisible tea and great mouthfuls of air.

Read more about this ongoing project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com.  Week 41 is scheduled for next week.

Be a Part of Something Bigger Than Yourself

Participate in the 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons community project.

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons: Let's Complete This Project!

At the beginning of 2009, I launched a collaborative project called 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons. The idea was that every week for an entire year, different teachers from around the globe would share their advice by answering this framing question:

What is the most important advice you can give to other teachers?

Entries came in from everywhere, but unfortunately, the project stalled after 39 weeks of great ideas. I shelved it indefinitely, but I knew that one day I would finish what I had started.

Today is that day. I'm asking 13 more teachers to contribute 13 short, simple lessons so that we can complete this project in 13 consecutive weeks.  Here are the details:

Email me (teachforever AT gmail DOT com) a short, 100-300 word submission along with your name, where & what you teach, and your blog or website (not required). I will omit any information you don't want published--you can be anonymous if you'd like (but please email all the information anyway, as it is interesting to me).

There are no qualifications to write besides being a current (or retired!) teacher; you can submit no matter your subject, grade level, school type, or country. Just try to write with the largest number of teachers in mind (all of them if possible). I do reserve the right to choose what will or won't be published (just like the Carnival of Education) and will likely post things in the order they were submitted (although I am flexible).

You can find all of the original entries in one place here.  I'm hoping to kick things off with Lesson #40 next Monday, and continue every week until we're finished.  Need more reasons to contribute?  Watch this video I made just after Thanksgiving last year:



One last thing: I'm happy to give each participant a digital copy of either one of my books, Ten Cheap Lessons or Teaching is Not a Four Letter Word, your choice.  I'm looking forward to your new ideas!

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons Project

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #39: Using YouTube

This week's entry comes from Alison Robinson, a technology specialist in Houston, TX.  Check out her new blog Tech Tips, Tools and More!.

For teachers who have not yet journeyed into the vast world of YouTube, but have a Google account (Gmail) you can create a YouTube account using your Google login. (I think this is supposed to simplify the process since YouTube is owned by Google however, I think for some it just confuses the process.) Or, you can go right to YouTube and create an account.Once you have an account created you can search educational videos, add your own channel to your blog or website as well as add videos to your playlist. I recently created my own YouTube channel which includes a playlist of How-to videos.

Tip: If you are looking for a way to share a favorite video without displaying the distracting comments use Silentube it!. Silentube it! allows you to open a video within this site and play the video in peace!

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 40 is scheduled for next week, but there is no entry in the queue.  I will continue posting entries until the series is complete, but I won't be focusing on it as much as I did last year.


As promised, the download version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition will be available for free all day today!

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #38: Build a Classroom Library

This week's entry comes from M Dahms, who has taught gifted and talented students in Queensland Australia for three years.  Check out her blog, A Reader's Community, which focuses on making the most out of the Reader's Workshop model.

My advice is to build a classroom library. No matter what you teach, a classroom library can be a valuable addition to your classroom and to your teaching. When you have your own collection of books, students understand that you value books and therefore you value reading. Furthermore, you're able to keep a contained classroom, which the students can be proud of.

For any teachers who stay in the same classroom all the time, this is a lot easier. Collect some books; beg, borrow or steal some sort of book display device (book trolley, book shelves, random cupboard), arrange your books in an attractive display (I like to put them into containers so they face outwards, students are more likely to look through them then) and invite the children to use them. For teachers who move around, put together a small, quality collection and make use of trolleys to take it with you.

How can you use your classroom library? Well obviously for reading, whether you use it with the workshop method or for silent reading. For writing, you can provide reference and example books. For math, fill up with math dictionaries and reference texts, books on mathematicians and great moments in maths, for science and history books which are relevant to the topic. You can use them for research, for jigsaw activities, for debates, for fast finishers - the options are endless.

Arguably, the most important thing we can give students is the ability to read, and the knowledge that reading is important no matter what you do. A classroom library can help you give this to every student you teach!

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 39 is scheduled for next Monday, January 11th, but there is no entry in the queue.  I will continue posting entries until the series is complete, but I won't be focusing on it as much as I did last year.


As promised, the download version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition will be available for free all day today!

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #37: Bucket o' Fun

This week's entry comes from Jessica Lepore, who teaches Spanish at The Chicago High School for the Arts in Chicago, IL.

I have what is lovingly referred to as my "Bucket o Fun". This small bucket is filled with plastic baggies full of activities related to the current unit and recycles concepts from previous units occasionally. The baggies are filled with verb conjugation matches, vocabulary cards, sentence builders and activities to help improve subject verb agreement. I use these in many different ways:

1. If a student needs tutoring, I have him/her work with the cards that meet their needs
2. My teaching aide is in the classroom once a week, and she uses them to informally assess student progress one on one
3. If there is extra time at the end of a lesson, I distribute them around the room and the students work in groups on the material
   
4. I use them to quiz special education students who may struggle with more traditional pencil and paper tests

The options are limitless. This is a really inexpensive and easy way to differentiate instruction for all students. The little bucket can be picked up at the dollar store. I use simple 3x5 notecards, a Sharpie and Ziploc baggies for the individual activities. As the students learn a new concept I add a new activity to the bucket. My teaching aid also will work on keeping it up to date if I get behind - a student might even work for this and would probably enjoy it.

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 38 is scheduled for next Monday, December 28th, but there is no entry in the queue.


As promised, the download version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition will be available for free all day today!

Entries Needed for 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons

Unfortunately there's no entry for this week's 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons project yet again.  That's three straight weeks!

If you need motivation to get involved, check out the video I made called "5 + 2 Reasons to Contribute":



Read more about the project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com.

Video: 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons - 5 + 2 Reasons to Contribute

Read more about the project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com.

No 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons Entry This Week

Catch up on recent entries here, and then get writing!  There are quite a few weeks left to complete the project (even though there aren't that many weeks left in the year) so we will have to carry into 2010 a little bit.

I'm already thinking about another year-long project for next year, and while I have some ideas in mind already, I'm open to suggestions.

Email your entries and suggestions for next year to teachforever AT gmail DOT com.

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #36: It's All About Relationships

This week's entry comes from Lindsey Croston, a middle school math teacher from Florida:

It’s all about relationships.

And not the crazy scandal kind that make us cringe when we see on TV. It’s about the relationships that we build with co-workers and administration, with students as their mentors and the people shining light on their path toward knowledge. It’s about the relationships we build with parents as we band together to get the students who sometimes act like nincompoops to wake up and realize that there’s more to life than texting and Twilight.

As we build positive relationships with those around us – professionally and personally, we start to see change come about. It may be minuscule, but suddenly knowing that the student who’s constantly falling asleep in class is doing so because he was working late to help his mom pay the rent, or the co-worker who’s a bit snappy on Mondays because her weekend really sucked and she’s stressed because her kids just aren’t getting it – for the 3rd or 4th week in a row helps us to respond appropriately – to offer the words of encouragement that help make the world a better place. Then, hopefully because of the relationships we’ve built, when it’s our turn to have a crappy day, someone will notice and lift us up.

When it all comes down to it, teaching is just as much about passing knowledge as it is about changing the world one person at a time. As teachers we see so many students come through our doors, and then walk right back out. It’s impossible to think that as an individual you can reach all of them, and I’m not encouraging a martyr complex, “No man is an island,” and without relationships, we’re just rocks in the sea. It’s imperative that we connect with others – unless we connect with our students, they can’t see the passion that we have for the knowledge we’re imparting to them.

Lesson plans pile up, papers get graded or file-13’d, legislation comes and go, programs get funded and then cut. There are so many things that as teachers we can’t control. What we can control is making sure that each student knows that no matter how much he/she may get on our nerves or drive us batty, we still care about them and want them to do their best. We want them to succeed – as I tell my eighth graders, “I really like you, but I don’t want to see your face next year.”

So take the time to build a relationship with your students and your co-workers. Will you get as much done on planning? Probably not. Will you have the opportunity to smile or make someone else smile? It’s pretty likely. It might sound a bit like a Hallmark card, but really, relationships with others are what makes our profession worth all the blood, sweat, money and tears we pour into it.


Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 37 is scheduled for next Monday, November 23rd, but at press time there is no submission to fill that slot!

As promised, the download version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition will be available for free all day today!

Where is this week's 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons?

It's still somewhere in the back of your mind, just waiting for you to type out and email to teachforever AT gmail DOT com.

Unfortunately that means there's no entry this week, which makes today a great time to catch up on previous entries. It also means that my book Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition is not available for free download today (but it's still only $5 to download anyway).

Looking ahead, on Tuesday I'll be posting a review of the book Don't Swear with Your Mouth Full! When Conventional Discipline Fails Unconventional Children, followed by a two-part interview with the author on Wednesday and Thursday.  Stay tuned!

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #35: Learning to See

This week's entry comes from Ms. Alston:

As a special education teacher, my job and my students present a unique set of circumstances not fully shared or experienced, and therefore not always fully understood, by general ed teachers and personnel. I myself constantly struggle with my 'calling' as a special educator, so I constantly seek motivation in any way, shape, or form that I can get it. That inspiration came one day from Kira*.

Kira is one of my middle school students where I currently work. Since the beginning, she has truly been one of my most challenging students, academically and behaviorally. Kira was born to a drug-addicted mother and therefore she deals with the emotional, cultural, and economic challenges that unfortunately, usually comes with such inauspicious beginnings. Kira takes medication to help her focus and attend to classes, assignments, and activities during the school day. But of course, Kira frequently skips her medicine. On these days, she is unable to function for long in the regular education or resource class setting without some type of disruption.

On one of these days, she was sitting with the DES department Lead on one of her 'timeouts'. That day's issue was getting her to wear her glasses so she could see the board in class. Our department Lead encouraged her to wear them, admiring the look of them when she finally brought them out, and patiently citing all the reasons why she should wear them. But Kira was adamant: she would not wear the glasses. Her reason? " I need to learn how to see."

Learning to see. Kira's words continued to resonate with me in the days after this conversation was shared with me by my department chairperson. Although Kira's meaning of 'learning to see' was a physical thing she was attempting to overcome, the challenge I face, the one we all face as educators, is learning how to see our students. No, I don't mean seeing them standing in front of us in full, living color, but learning how to see them as who THEY are, and not as who WE are or who we want them to be. I won't lie and say that the view of our students will always be pretty or something we want to see, but it will provide us with the ability to accept them as who they are, same as we want from others for ourselves. This is not to say that acceptance of who they are should lead to complacency; we are, after all, in the business of molding and shaping lives. But if we can SEE and MEET students where they truly are, we not only have a better chance of reaching and teaching them, but we gain appreciation- appreciation from them, and a renewed appreciation for the special and delicate task we face as educators: learning to SEE the potential in ALL of our students, and then using that to show it to them and to the world as well.

*student's name has been changed to protect privacy

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 36 is scheduled for next Monday, November 9nd, but at press time there is no submission to fill that slot!

As promised, the PDF version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition will be available for free all day today!

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #34: Discovery Learning

This week's entry is from Julie of School of Blog, where it is also crossposted. It's a great example of authentic discovery learning that other teachers can learn from.

Background:

• We are in the middle of studying early American societies, and have just finished learning about Mississippian (mound builders) and Taíno societies
• This lesson introduces students to early Mesoamerican societies (Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec, Olmec, Aztec)

Instructions:

• The students will visit the website of ImageBase (http://www.famsf.org/fam/about/imagebase/index.asp)
• I have assigned several students to each Mesoamerican society (Maya, Mixtec, etc.) In the "Search" box at ImageBase, the students in the Maya group will enter "Maya," which will generate images of artifacts.
• The students will choose one artifact to analyze.
• The students will complete a worksheet that will help them analyze their artifact. The point of the analysis is for students to understand what "stuff," or material culture, can teach us about the people that used it.
• Once they finish the analysis, they will bring what they've learned and "jigsaw" it with the other students. Next steps include a more general discussion of those societies, trade networks, etc.

Discussion:
I've found that this type of activity is great for kids with language processing difficulties and English language learners. If I'm delivering content day after day through English-language documents, films, and discussions, it's nice to take a break and have students learn history by examining an artifact.

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 35 is scheduled for next Monday, November 2nd.

As promised, the PDF version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition will be available for free all day today!

Submit Your Entries for 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons

There's no 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons entry this week.

Read more about the project here, then send your entry to teachforever AT gmail DOT com.

Take a look at last week (Week 33) for additional inspiration.

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #33: Sorting and Classifying

This week's entry comes from Carol Hynes, a retired math teacher and curriculum coordinator from Leominster, MA. Her example uses math, but like most of what I post here, it's easily adaptable for any subject.

Throughout most of my career, at the start of a new unit or topic, I felt the need to review what students were supposed to remember from previous years. I never was happy with me “telling” the students what they should have learned. There had to be a better way to build on their prior knowledge…

More than 10 years ago, I made copies of an old worksheet on linear equations, and had the algebra students cut out the equations (there were 16) and work in small teams to sort the equations into groups of three or more that shared a common characteristic. It was slow going at first. When a group came up with a category, we shared it with the whole class. But, after a while, they got really excited and sorted in more ways than I would have expected them to. As an example, some groups sorted according to slope: negative, positive, zero, and no slope. Once they’d recorded their categories, they rescrambled the equations and sorted in a different way. We ended up reviewing concepts and math vocabulary. I even included a picture of a set of sorted equations on the chapter test and asked students to tell me what criteria I might have used to sort the equations. The results were great!

I encourage teachers of all content areas can think of ways to incorporate sorting and classifying into their instruction. For math teachers, you will find lots of examples of sorts on the University of Massachusetts Science Resource Center web site. Here’s a quick link to the materials: www.tinyurl.com/carolhynesmath with directions for downloading. The first folder contains the Sorts and several other strategies.

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 34 is scheduled for next Monday, October 19th. There are no entries for next week yet, which means my special offer won't be available next Monday:

As promised, the PDF version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition will be available for free all day today! Thank you to Carol for making this possible! The book is available here.

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #32: Never Miss a Teachable Moment

This week's entry comes from Jenny, a new second grade teacher. You can read her teaching and other random thoughts at her blog.

Never miss a teachable moment.

Too often we stress and labor over the all-important Lesson Plans. We insist that they go exactly as followed. You have a schedule; to stick to it, you need to stick to the Plan. I understand that, but especially in the elementary classroom, I think teachers have to be willing to stray from the schedule.

As an example, I was teaching second graders a story that took place in China. They'd done a "virtual visit" to China a couple of months ago, so I asked what they remembered about China. One student found China on the globe, but then asked how people don't "fall off" of the world in the Southern hemisphere. I could have dismissed the question. I was trying to introduce a story, for crying out loud!

Luckily for me, I looked around the room first. I had the students' rapt attention. All of them were looking at me, silent and curious. Think for a moment- how often does that happen in your classroom?

I decided that it was impromptu science time. I told the students about the power of gravity, and then someone shouted out a comment. "Right, like on the moon there's no gravity so you float!"

Suddenly my literature lesson has been sidetracked, but I can't help it. I am too much of a science nut to let that misconception fly. I politely corrected the student, explaining that there is no gravity in space, but on the moon there is actually some gravity. I rush to the computer, and find a video of the moon landing to show them. The students watch, and I point out that Neil Armstrong did keep falling back on the surface of the moon. There is gravity, even though it's not as strong as on Earth.

The students are nodding, and I can see this light in their eyes. For once, they're all listening. This is something cool, and something interesting at this very moment, and something they want to learn. And to think- all it took was 5 minutes of improvisational teaching to get there.

I'm a new teacher, but this is why I'm a teacher. I want to encourage curiosity about the world and a passion for learning something new. If you hear an off-the-wall question or comment, take advantage of the opportunity. You just might catch a second grader poring over a space book the next day!

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 33 is scheduled for next Monday, October 12th.

As promised, the PDF version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition is available for free all day today! Thank you to Jenny for making this possible! The book is available here.

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #31: Distance Yourself From Negativity

This week's entry comes from Jessica, who teaches 8th grade math in Ohio.

Distance yourself from negativity.

During the course of the year, some things are guaranteed: you'll be asked or required to complete a task you'd rather avoid, parents/guardians/advocates will contact you with concerns or complaints, and at least one colleague will say or do something irritating. These lead to frustration and other negative feelings and leave you with two options. You can deal with the feelings and move on for the sake of yourself and your students, or you can let them fester until you become one of those teachers we've all seen who is constantly complaining and angry.

To help yourself avoid this emotional burnout, surround yourself with friends and colleagues who'll lend a supportive ear and help you deal with feeling overwhelmed, and avoid the places in your building where negativity breeds. You'll feel more grounded and productive, and best of all, your upbeat personality will transfer to your classroom and students. It's truly a win-win situation.

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 32 will be posted next Monday, October 5th.

As promised, the PDF version of Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition will be available for free all day today! Thank you to Jessica for making this possible! The book is available here.

Download Ten Cheap Lessons: Second Edition for FREE Today Only!

As promised, thanks to today's 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons entry, the revised and updated version of my book is available to download for FREE today 9/28.

Download it here!

1st Commercial for 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons

Click here for everything you need to know about 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons.

52 Teachers, 52 Lessons #30: Best Practices for Teaching Vocab

This week's entry comes from Kelly Lichoff, who teaches Algebra, Geometry and Japanese (talk about well-rounded!) in Memphis, TN.

I think some of the most useful things to hear/read as a teacher are best practices that can be implemented in one's classroom immediately. Here are two ideas both my students and I love to use:

VOCABULARY (math, foreign language, science, etc.)...

1. Distribute copies of blank BINGO cards (5x5 grid printed on front and back of printer paper).
2. Have students write the 25 teacher-selected vocabulary words in the boxes in a random order on the front of their BINGO cards.
3. On the back of the BINGO card, in the same box where they wrote the word on the front, students can draw a pictorial representation, write a definition, etc. (basically whatever is it that you want them to be able to match to the word).
4. Play a few rounds of BINGO alternating between using the front and back of the BINGO cards.
5. When you're done playing BINGO, have the students cut out the individual squares and voila! instant flashcards.

SEQUENTIAL VOCABULARY (math, foreign language, English, etc.)

1. Find something that can be easily tossed around the room. (I use a large koosh ball.)
2. Tell the students what sequential vocabulary they will be using. (math- prime numbers, multiples of 3, perfect squares, etc.; foreign language- alphabet, counting, time, months, etc.; English- prepositions, linking verbs, etc.)
3. Toss the object to the first student, that student will say the first word and toss the object to another student who will say the second word in the sequence. This will continue until the sequence is complete.
4. You can time this activity to make it more competitive.

Read more about this project here, then email your entries to teachforever AT gmail DOT com. Week 31 is scheduled for next Monday, September 28th, but as of this writing that spot was still open.