Alison Skertic
I teach 9th grade English and honors English in a diverse Indiana school.
A Place for Learning: The Physical Environment of Classrooms. I was supervising a teacher who was enrolled in our program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst that focused on developing student self-knowledge, ego strength, trust and community in classrooms.
We had created a manual with over 50 classroom lessons. Strategies for Helping Students Motivate Themselves. Editor's Note: This piece was adapted from Building a Community of Self-Motivated Learners: Strategies to Help Students Thrive in School and Beyond by Larry Ferlazzo, available March 21, 2015 from Routledge.
My previous post reviewed research on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and described the four qualities that have been identified as critical to helping students motivate themselves: autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance. In this post, I'll discuss practical classroom strategies to reinforce each of these four qualities. Autonomy Providing students with freedom of choice is one strategy for promoting learner autonomy. Educators commonly view this idea of choice through the lens of organizational and procedural choice. 20 video project ideas to engage students. Videos are engaging.
They can be a powerful tool to draw students in and connect them to content in innovative ways. Here are 20 ways to do it. Perennial Plant Combinations. Exit Tickets: Checking for Understanding. Malala Turns 18, And Opens A School For Syrian Refugee Girls. Malala Yousafzai celebrated her birthday and the opening of a new school with "brave and inspiring girls of Syria" in Lebanon on Sunday.
WAEL HAMZEH/EPA /LANDOV hide caption itoggle caption WAEL HAMZEH/EPA /LANDOV Malala Yousafzai celebrated her birthday and the opening of a new school with "brave and inspiring girls of Syria" in Lebanon on Sunday. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education activist and youngest-ever Nobel Peace laureate, celebrated her 18th birthday today by inaugurating a secondary school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, near Syria's border. Yousafzai survived being shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, as she returned home from school on a bus with her classmates in northern Pakistan. What Teens are Learning From ‘Serial’ and Other Podcasts. It didn’t take long for Michael Godsey, an English teacher at Morro Bay High School in California, to realize that his decision to use a public radio podcast in the classroom was a wise one.
7 Lessons for Teachers from Dumbledore. One of my favorite times of the day is when I settle in with my two young daughters for read-aloud time.
For several years, we have been working our way through the Harry Potter series. I had read them all before, but it has been a delight to read them again with my girls, using as many voices as possible, and seeing the incredible story through their eyes. It has also shared many secrets about teaching and living with me on this second reading, especially when it comes to Dumbledore. The way he interacts with Harry, fellow teachers, muggles, and various magical creatures has lessons for all of us -- especially teachers and parents. Whether you have read the Harry Potter series or not, there is wisdom from this character we can all learn from. The Writing Assignment That Changes Lives : NPR Ed. Summer Readings on Differentiation: 150+ Seedlings for Growing Stronger Learners. Sir Ken Robinson made the analogy that "Teachers are like gardeners.
" Gardeners cannot make the plants grow, but they do prepare and nurture the conditions that enable plants to thrive. Robinson explains that great teachers do the same by providing the support necessary for each student to grow in his or her learning. In Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech to Stanford graduates, he encouraged the value of exploring passions and interests, because you never know where they might lead.
From Eighth to Ninth Grade: Programs That Support a Critical Transition. The move from middle to high school is proving to be a critical transition, one in which students must deal with great changes in academics, responsibility and social structure all at the same time.
Recent research showing a strong correlation between failing classes in ninth grade and not graduating puts an even stronger emphasis on making sure the eighth-to-ninth-grade transition goes smoothly — and puts added pressure on the 14-year-olds making their way from a more nurturing environment to the “Wild, Wild West.”
Formal structures for helping students transition smoothly appear to be relatively uncommon, leaving the work to already overburdened counselors and families, or sometimes no one but the students themselves. Yet two particular standout programs — one in Boston, one in St. 5 Quick Classroom-Management Tips for Novice Teachers. I made a good number of blunders my first year teaching that still make me cringe.
I learned though. And it's fair to say, when it comes to managing a classroom, most of what we learn as new teachers is trial by fire. How Texas is whitewashing Civil War history. A woman waves a small Confederate battle flag.
(Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press) By Editorial Board July 6 at 7:54 PM THIS FALL, Texas schools will teach students that Moses played a bigger role in inspiring the Constitution than slavery did in starting the Civil War. The Lone Star State’s new social studies textbooks, deliberately written to play down slavery’s role in Southern history, do not threaten only Texans — they pose a danger to schoolchildren all over the country. The Texas board of education adopted a revised social studies curriculum in 2010 after a fierce battle. Child Labor in America 100 Years Ago. At the start of the 20th century, labor in America was in short supply, and laws concerning the employment of children were rarely enforced or nonexistent. While Americans at the time supported the role of children working on family farms, there was little awareness of the other forms of labor being undertaken by young hands.
In 1908, photographer Lewis Hine was employed by the newly-founded National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) to document child laborers and their workplaces nationwide. Teach Using the Lived Experiences of Your Students. In education, we discuss the importance of using students' prior knowledge. What is also important is learning about the "lived experiences" of the children we teach and connecting those experiences to the learning at hand. Common Lived Experiences Unearth any information that you can from your students. Take student interest inventories. Teaching strategies (inc. Behaviour management)
*welcome to my english class* 4 Free Web Tools to Boost Student Engagement. When students use tool technologies to create content, their engagement is largely based on how successfully teachers craft the learning assignments, rather than on the technology itself. This is different from what happens with other types of technologies, such as tutor technologies (e.g. software for learning). Here, student engagement depends principally on technology, taking teachers almost completely out of the equation. Having said that, there is ample evidence that when meaningful instruction designed by the teacher is combined with motivational tool technologies, students' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement can be significantly increased -- more than technology could ever achieve alone.
Motivational tool technologies, amongst others, possess the following key characteristics: myBrainshark myBrainshark is a superb tool that allows students to add a voiceover to PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, videos, and photo albums -- or to simply produce podcasts. Laughing, Learning, and Leading: Independent Reads vs. Whole Class Reads. As #slowchatela looks at teaching whole novels this week, the first question Jay Nickerson posed was "What's your current approach to teaching novels? Top 20 iPad Apps for Teachers – TeachTechTopia. One of the toughest things about teaching can be putting together lesson plans.
The good news is that there is a great deal of technology that can help you be a more effective teacher. The Internet offers resources that provide you with helpful lesson plans and good information, as well as solid teaching tips. How Student Centered Is Your Classroom? In the education world, the term student-centered classroom is one we hear a lot. And many educators would agree that when it comes to 21st-century learning, having a student-centered classroom is certainly a best practice. Fresh Starts for Hard-to-Like Students. What Project-Based Learning Is — and What It Isn’t. 21 Easy Desserts You Can Make In A Muffin Tin. 10 “Must Watch” Black History Documentaries. What Project-Based Learning Is — and What It Isn’t. Poetry Month: The Practical Applications of Self-Expression. April is National Poetry Month, which is paramount for students throughout the United States. Using Exit Tickets as an Assessment Tool.
Energy and Calm: Brain Breaks and Focused-Attention Practices. Teaching Vocabulary: Two Dozen Tips and Techniques - Joseph Pettigrew. MindShift - Photos du journal. Using Film to Teach Analysis Skills. The 40 Reflection Questions. Classic Dip Recipe: Chile Con Queso. How Improv Can Open Up the Mind to Learning in the Classroom and Beyond. Shakespeare Uncovered. Best New Orleans Restaurants - Best New Orleans Bars. Seven Super Bowl Lesson Plans and Resources for the Classroom. A Step-by-Step Guide to the Best Projects. Teaching Kids Skills For Deep Reading on Digital Devices. Making Sense of Words That Don't. 8 Pathways to Every Student's Success. Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan: What happened to the two girls in the most famous photo of the Civil Rights Era.
Take the Best Nighttime Photo of Your Life. More NOLA. New Orleans. The NOJO - Programs. The best po' boy spots in New Orleans - New Orleans neighborhood po' boys. Inspiring quote. A Look Inside the Classroom of the Future. MindShift. The 8 Minutes That Matter Most. Learning Life Skills through Literary Analysis. Students at struggling Drew Middle School learn skill through debate. Tips for Helping All Learners Succeed. Rethinking Schools - Milwaukee - Organisme pédagogique, Éditeur. Writing Prompt Pit Stop: Rocking a Playlist. New Teachers: Resource Roundup. Writing Prompt Pit Stop: A Fresh Start, A Big Challenge. 3 Ways to Take Your Students Deeper With Flipped Learning. Socrative, Quizlet, and BrainPOP Jr :Teaching with Google Play for Education. Flipping the Non-Flippable Classes.
Reflection, Conversation, and Socratic Spaces. 11 Alternatives to "Round Robin" (and "Popcorn") Reading. 10 Quotes from History to Inspire Empathy. What Famous Poem Was Written About You? Maya Angelou Wrote This Poem To Remind Everyone They're Worth So Much More. The Music Video For 'Harlem Hopscotch,' From Maya Angelou's Posthumous Hip-Hop Album, Is Here. Reflection, Conversation, and Socratic Spaces. My Favorite Mobile Apps #2: Socrative (+Lesson Ideas) Collaborative Lessons that are Common Core Ready! Shakespeare Trivia with Remind101.
Maker Movement: Let Them Build it & They’ll Learn! Transform Your Classroom into a Makerspace.