I will never pretend that technology can do what we do. Teaching is best left to teachers. But learning? That belongs to students. Study Island, although it cannot teach a student on its own, can help students learn the skills and knowledge we teach. In my conversations with teachers about online tools like Study Island, I have encountered two strategies that seem particularly effective.

The Kujawski Plan
Geometry teacher Zina Kujawski—in every way a mathematical thinker—has such an elaborate Study Island plan for her students that it deserves a name: The Kujawski Plan. Here’s what she does: Keep reading »

Check out what’s going on at Rose High. The following paragraphs are teachers’ responses to the question: what was your best teaching experience today? They were accumulated over only a few hours.

My first period class (I’m sooooooooo proud of them) have learned how to love and affirm a particular student in the class and, as a result, have developed a higher level of tolerance and understanding for one another…. (I believe, too, that it’s part of because of how I treat the particular student)… D— has become very dear to our hearts…. his theatre nickname is “D-fresh”….  and; when he comes in the room the entire class heartily greats him (he comes in a little late each day, and we’ve usually started)… they cheer, call his name and applaud…. You should SEE his face light up!!!!!  It’s awesome!!!!!   And it has really helped his self-esteem and his willingness and ability to participate!!!!!  What more can we ask for?  Everybody wins!!! Keep reading »

90%
Ninety percent is a solid B if you’re a student, but if you are a teacher in Pitt County School, 90% is A+ territory.

Last year the county began training all teachers in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. Within the SIOP initiative, they identified two particular goals: SIOP objectives (content and language objectives) in every classroom and 90% student engagement.

What it’s not
Ninety percent student engagement might be difficult to define, so let’s start with an antonym. Keep reading »

Ukraine\’s Got Talent 2009

Yesterday I watched this amazing You Tube video of the winning performance on Ukraine’s Got Talent 2009—that’s right, Ukraine—and immediately thought of art teachers Steve Donald, Mary Tucker, and Randall Leach. I wondered how our art teachers might use the video with their students; however, the video IS on You Tube and, therefore, NOT accessible at school. Of course, if you are at school and clicked the link above, you already know that. Not only could they not show the video to their students, but I couldn’t even show it to them without sending them a link to watch at home. No fun.

The same has probably happened to many of you. You find some cute, clever, inspiring video to introduce a concept or add humor to your instruction, and, what do you know, you have no ability to show it to your students. Proxy programs get blocked. You Tube has no download feature. You’ve got nothing. Keep reading »

The study referenced in this article indicates that binge drinking–and not even the scary binge drinking in which some of our students engage–hinders normal neural development in teens.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122765890

No wonder Alg. II is so hard!

My students always had to ask me when they could change seats, then wait another week before I actually changed them. I treated it as an inconvenience, a waste of class time. Plus, it messed up my system for distributing papers.

But changing students’ seats is beneficial, and there is a good time to do it. Instead of waiting for the end of a grading period, change your seating chart each time you begin a new chapter or unit. There’s actually a good reason for it Keep reading »

New Year, New Semester
The custom of every New Year is to commit ourselves to a resolution. That’s why the gym is so crowded in January. When I wrote my new year’s resolutions for 2010, I made sure I set professional goals, too. One of them was to continue writing this blog.

In the spirit of the New Year, and with the imminence of the new semester, perhaps it is time for all of us to set new goals and make new professional resolutions. Maybe your New Year’s resolution will be to try a new strategy in the classroom. Keep reading »

Speaking Silently
Watching the beginning of Mike Lupo’s American Sign Language class is a cool experience; I’ve never seen so much discussion with so little noise. I guess that’s the nature of sign language.

What was really cool was seeing students communicate in sign language for thirty minutes. Mr. Lupo signed questions about students’ Thanksgiving activities, and students responded in sign language, demonstrating knowledge of vocabulary, sentence structure, and other concepts an outsider like me wouldn’t readily perceive. The goal was basically to get the students to communicate in the specialized language of the course.

Isn’t that what so much of our content instruction is about? If our students can talk about poetry in the specialized language of the poet—or something close to it—then haven’t they developed some level of competence in that field? And if a student can talk about physics in terms of mass and force and newtons, then haven’t they become, in some slight way, junior physicists? And if they can’t communicate in this language, have they really learned what they need to know?

Mr. Lupo’s class was a clear reminder to me of just how much we broaden our students’ understanding of the world by broadening their vocabulary, whether in American Sign Language or in the specialized vocabulary of another content area. On the more practical side, students cannot succeed on end-of-course tests without competence with the language of the subject. Check out some of the phrases they might encounter on EOCs:

• “y varies directly as x”
• “initial upward velocity”
• “amino acids are synthesized into proteins”
• “evolved from a common ancestor”
• “equal access to public recreational activities”
• “special interest groups”
• “factor of production”

So what?
That’s a tough question. I think the answer is that we must think like language teachers (sounds like SIOP training, doesn’t it?). If we want to assess our students’ comprehension of our particular areas of study, then we have to assess their communication skills in that field. More specifically, we have to incorporate into our instruction writing tasks that require students to communicate in the content and the language of our fields. Answering “C” on the multiple choice test is not enough.
Next time you find yourself talking in the language of art, music, economics, grammar, ecology, or geometry, and your students are responding in the same language—or something like it—know that they are learning. That’s what foreign language teachers like Mike Lupo do every day.
If you want any ideas for teaching content vocabulary, just ask.

flinchm.rose@pitt.k12.nc.us

It’s that time of year: bake holiday cookies, shop for holiday gifts, wish for the arrival of holiday break, and frantically review for exams.
With only four days between holiday break and our first exam day, most teachers will soon be starting to review, if they haven’t started already. A lot of teachers make review a regular part of assessment. Ms. Byrne puts questions from past units on tests and quizzes. Mr. Hill has been giving mini-quizzes to help him determine what his students need to review and to hold his classes responsible for all information taught throughout the semester.
If you plan on putting together some kind of in-class review activity, let me know; I would be glad to help. I can help you create interactive lessons on the Smart Board, or get you started with CPS clickers. I can even help you figure out what to review to best prepare your students for their exams.
Please don’t hesitate to ask me to create something FOR you or teach something WITH you.

I am spending my third consecutive day in the auditorium of St. James Church learning about Thinking Maps. Actually, I am being trained to be a trainer, which means I have one more strategy I’m begging you to try.

So who’s ready?

First, let me say this: I doubt 120 high school teachers are going to jump at the chance to sit through hours of training. I know us better than that. I’ve got a different proposal—read on. Keep reading »