Handwriting Without Tears

I just saw this on NWCN (channel 2 news) about a program being used at some Seattle schools to improve the handwriting of students. It seems a little less "stringent" than the program that we saw at the other kindergarten class we were in.

Handwriting Without Tears feature

This is the actual site for the curriculum itself:

Handwriting Without Tears

Check out this blog...

Creating Lifelong Learners

This fits in perfectly with some of our literacy classes....how to get children to write well and enjoy it. I think a lot of these ideas may work in our main placements.

Thinking Tech

Technology is everywhere we look. I think back on my first years of college and how every assignment was on paper. Now, only 6 years later, the majority of our assignment can be turned in electronically, are more technological in content and require us to have a comfortability with the use of technology. It is truly amazing how technology has grown in such a short time span and how it continues to grow every second.

This picture made me think about some past teachers I have had. Their reluctance to give technology a try was very clear. They didn't know how to use it, didn't want to learn and didn't care what others thought about their stance. I believe this stubborness to technology is due to fear. Using this stuff can sometimes be like swimming through quicksand. It can be scary, but I don't think that this is a reason to shy away from it. In fact, I don't know that teachers now really have an option to say no to technology. Our students are so in tuned with this resource and we must use this engagement to benefit their learning. Technology can be frightening, but it doesn't have to be impossible. It is all based on the perspective we as teachers choose to take.

Rap To Teach Math

This is a cool math video of a middle school math teacher rapping to teach his students how to change fractions to percents. It also teaches improper fractions.

The Need for Tech in our CLassrooms

Do you ever feel like you've been gagged?

The one thing that I took away from last week's "Communities" class is how many thing we can't talk about. It seemed like, no matter what it was, someone was going to be offended. A part of me screams out that this is a democratic society where the majority rules....why should 1 or 2 families be allowed to curtail the activities of the other 25+ children in a classroom? I was a bit shocked about the story Mary told us concerning the father who didn't want his son to have to give valentines to children who weren't his friends. On the other hand, I don't want to see a child sitting off by themselves because they can't/won't/aren't allowed to join in. Children can be mean and I can see that putting a huge target on that child.

Probably the biggest issue for me to understand is that our religious holidays (Christmas, All Souls (All Hallows), Easter, Valentines) have become so secularized that we don't see them as purely religious celebrations. We forget that others do still focus on the religious aspects or how these celebrations may not fit in with their religious/cultural beliefs.

I sometimes fell that the classroom is nothing more than a cultural minefield; one false move and KABOOM!!! and we won't even see it coming.

Religion

Religion is a touchy subject, just like politics. I personally am torn on whether or not these subjects should be breached in the classroom.
On one hand, the topic of religion does make me uncomfortable. Yes, I have my own personal beliefs, but I don't know a ton about other beliefs and wouldn't want to somehow come across as biased. Teaching these topics would require all teachers to step back and present the information objectively. It would also require many conversations about respecting differing beliefs of fellow students so that each student felt safe.
On the other hand, religion is so deeply intertwined in culture and history, which is something that I want students to explore. We live in a diverse world, with a wide variety of cultures and religions. I want students to grow to appreciate and respect other cultures, various religions and different ways of living. Without a doubt, we will have diversity even within the walls of our classroom. As such, I feel it is important to acknowledge, welcome and learn about the different cultures represented in our room, school and community. So, how do we find a balance? Do we get parents and community leaders involved? Do we do research on our own and teach objectively about the cultures and religions represented in the room? Or do we just stay away from religion alltogether? It definitely is something to be thinking about!

Religion

I guess my thoughts about teaching religion in a classroom vary. I do believe students need to know how religion has affected the world. In teaching history, I don't think we can really get around it especially with the war in Iraq and all that history of violence, But I'm with you Kate, I would wouldn't feel comfortable teaching about a religion I don't know much about. I have studied many religions, but I still think it would be best to bring in a guest speaker who really knows what they are talking about. I also think you would have to have a serious talk to your students about being respectful of others beliefs and that we are here to learn and not argue about who is right or who's wrong when it comes to religions matter.

Relgion in Schools

Today's lesson on religion in public schools made me think about our recent religion and politics postings. I personally really don't want to teach religion unless it is directly tied to a unit, for example Ancient Egypt. I don't know a lot about every religion and would not feel comfortable teaching a class of students about religion unless I learned more on the topic. I feel pretty comfortable after the class discussion today that this is what we will be expected to do.

sensitive subjects

I agree with Kate. Religion and politics should stay out the classroom. Both can bring up emotions that are hard to control, and many times, when people are arguing against what you believe, it feels like a personal attach, and most students don't know how to deal with that. I don't think most adults know how to deal with those emotions. Plus then once those differences are discovered, people might blame other problems on those differences. It reminds me of a class I took, Sociology of Religion, half way through the class, we found out that our teacher was Mormon. Of course, now we believed everything he said was tainted in someway because of his religious association. I believe that same thing can happen with politics. It's all too messy. It's one thing to learn about the process, the history, and what's going on. It's another to make some students feel like they are losers or wrong. We are supposed to make everyone feel successful and proud in a safe environment, and I don't think politics and religion helps promote that safe environment.

Current Polictics Should Not Be Discussed at School

I love the example of using "Activotes" in the 2nd grade classroom.  What a great way to teach the young students about the election without actually using the current election!

I am at a middle school where all but one student are Democrats. The one student who is Republican has been bullied and feels left out.  The students have been studying politics and the voting process for a few weeks now, but there has been NO talk of the current election.  The current election is too sensitive and emotional of an issue to bring up for the students. I feel that politics and religion should be kept out of the classroom, unless you are discussing the process or the history.  There is a lot to be learned of the past.

Activotes!!!

I was wondering if any of you saw anything cool in your dyads to help our students understand how voting works?

In a class I observed in, the teacher had activotes on each desk. They used these all week to make decisions in the class and talk about how the election works. I thought that this was a great tool to help 2nd graders understand what a poll is, how they contribute to their classroom by voting on different class topics. What a great use of TECHNOLOGY!

Tech necessity

In looking up different technology teacher sources, I am realizing that we have an ocean at our fingertips. There are so many sources out there with explanations and ideas of different for teachers to adapt and utilize in their classrooms. I have been thinking a lot about how I will ever gain so much knowledge about technology that I feel confident in presenting it to students. I am coming to accept the fact that I will not always have the answers and that it is a smart move to learn with (and sometimes from) my students.

As teachers we need to utilize all of our sources and go out on a limb to incorporate technology in our classrooms. I believe this because technology is a relevant part of our youths' lives. Cell phones, texting, computer networking, video and the music technology are all valuable to our youth. Whether students have access to technology or not, most students do have an interest in what technology is and what it can offer them. In many of our classes we have discussed the need to connect our instruction to our students; technology is one way to incorporate their interests. Furthermore, I think it is vitally important to teach students to navigate technology responsibly and safely. School, in theory is a safe environment. If we can education students to use technology properly we are preparing them for the future.

Technology can be extremely daunting and yet we live in a world that is increasingly proficient in it. As such, I believe it is important to find a way to incorporate technology with the purpose of teach students how to be comfortable with and use technology properly.

Don't Forget To Tag

I noticed that not all the posts are tagged... part of our assignment.  If you want to fix them you can edit an old post and add a label(s).

Really Cool Political Website!!

Check out this political website: 270 To Win 

We used this website at Room 9 to learn about the US voting system, electoral votes vs. popular votes, and the history of major events as they relate to voting.

You can go through the history of voting and every 4 years a map of the US pops up and shows the layout of the US in red and blue states.

You can change the states (undecided, republican, democrat) and see how many states it takes to win an election with electoral votes.

The kids (and myself) learned that it only takes 11 states for a President to win!

Helpful Technology

After Chelsea's and Leah's Blogs on being unsure about using technology in the classroom, I think of my (mostly) positive experiences with technology right now at Room 9.  I agree with a lot of points made in the earlier posts, like that tech is always changing and that it is hard to keep up with, that older teachers seem weary about trying it, and that sometimes it does not work.

I have seen that technology can be a wonderful asset in the classroom... when used properly!  All the 6th-8th graders have their own laptops, except 2 because their parents:

A: won't sign the permission form or

 

B: don't have the the $ to pay for a case and the $50 deposit & they won't fill out the scholarship

form. 

These two students have a hard time keeping up with the other students because, although they have a laptop at school to use, they don't have one at home to do their homework on.  The other issue is that the laptops do not always come to school charged and students often forget their chargers at home.  These two problems are really the only issues I have with using laptops in middle school.  How can we ensure that all students have access to laptops and that they come to school fully charged?

Beyond those minimal setbacks I have seen wonderful use of laptops in school.  The students use laptops in every subject: science (national geographic online), art (research), literature (TeenBiz), and  math (online math games).  I feel that the use of laptops enhances the learning and the students love to use them!

My master teacher told me that he spends A LOT of time in the beginning of the year investing on teaching the students to use computer programs, but that it pays off later when he can do really cool projects.  He also uses the the digital projector for more than just projecting.  He takes pictures of the students and saves his work to make changes on.