This, that and the other

mercycorps: From Feature Shoot: Shot over a period of 18...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:01:12 +1300

From Feature Shoot:

Shot over a period of 18 months, Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s project Toy Stories compiles photos of children from around the world with their prized possesions—their toys. Galimberti explores the universality of being a kid amidst the diversity of the countless corners of the world; saying, “at their age, they are pretty all much the same; they just want to play.”

See more photos.

soldiersjourney: My friend is a middle school English teacher....

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:00:24 +1300

soldiersjourney:

My friend is a middle school English teacher. This is by de the most awesome lesson she’s taught.

Love

companionlogic: This was in my hallway at school a few weeks...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:01:16 +1300

companionlogic:

This was in my hallway at school a few weeks back. Bah ha ha haaaa.

LOVE IT!!!

Love it! I teach this to my kids at the start of the year in...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:00:34 +1300

Love it! I teach this to my kids at the start of the year in the hope they’ll keep doing it throughout the year.

Classroom Chaos: Adventures in Substitute Teaching: The Weed edition

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:50:51 +1300

Classroom Chaos: Adventures in Substitute Teaching: The Weed edition:

classroomchaos:

Earlier this week it was my birthday. Whenever my birthday lands on a school day I treat my students to a treat, whether it was a classroom I was in for a day, week, month, or year. I genuinely enjoy celebrating my birthday with my students.

This year, I celebrated my birthday by serving my…

I think you’re looking at this story backwards. You should not be ashamed that the kid lit up in your class, teenage kids are unpredictable and weird, especially boys! Don’t take it personally.

You should be proud that a) you picked up on it b) you followed up on it and c) they didn’t get away with it.

That is the sign of a caring and efficient teacher.

Untitled: Hard time with classroom management

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:46:36 +1300

Untitled: Hard time with classroom management:

mysteria1243:

So…my co-op screams at the kids. They’re afraid of her. That’s how she controls the class. That’s what she is encouraging me to do: be mean and intimidating, because they won’t respond to anything else. And they don’t respond to my management techniques. I’ve tried to be nice. I need to be a…

So I wrote an answer then realised I can’t explain myself in 140 characters. When I was training, the emphasis was on balance. Balance between being positive, neutral and negative.

To start with, when calling “full attention”, make it clear that this is what’s happening. I teach teenage boys so I use “your attention thank you” or “voices off, eyes this way” or “pens down, eyes this way” or “looking and listening thank you” (on a side note, never say please, it gives them an option not to do it, say thank you because you expect them to do it). If the room is really noisy, I clap once too add extra emphasis. If you’re teaching younger kids you can do clapping rhythms or songs.

Hopefully at least one person has noticed and are looking at me, so I say “thank you ….”. Start by praising those who are doing the right thing. I tend to limit this to five people. You can praise with body language as well (thumbs up etc). Make this a quick process.

Then move to neutral techniques such as calmly saying “Johnny, you’re still talking” or “listening thank you Tom” (use names!). If the class is nearly quiet, WAIT. Just wait in silence (maybe with your finger on your lips depending on the age) count to 20. For the final few to do the right thing. If the class is quiet enough when you start waiting, you shouldn’t need to do any more than this.

If it is taking longer than 2 minutes to get full attention, start using some negative techniques but continue using positive. Use an edgy tone “Thomas you are STILL talking” then switch to positive “thank you Lucy and Sarah for sitting quietly”. Have a consequence for continued talking e.g. a timeout zone.

It takes practice, lots of practice. Remember to start clearly, begin positive and smile! Be firm, expect silence, wait for silence and do not allow anything else. Stick to your guns.

When they start working, tell them what noise level you expect (if they are a “problem” class, do not expect silence until you’ve worked with them for a while). Use terms like “quiet” or “partner voices”. As soon as one person is not doing this, point it out, don’t let the class get out of hand. If it does, stop the lot of them, restate your expectations and start again.

Be aware that noisiness when work is expected is generally from one of three things:

a) the work is too easy and they’ve finished

b) the work is too hard/the instructions aren’t clear

c) you haven’t hooked them in yet and they don’t see the point of the task/learning

Make sure you’ve covered these bases.

You can and should teach without screaming, it’s not healthy for the students and it’s not healthy for you. I have never met a class which only responds to being screamed at.

I know it’s hard: on my first placement, one of my supervising teacher’s management style was to shout, remind them that he was a dean and, on two occasions, threaten individual students. He told me I should only work at “high decile” (students with wealthy families” or private schools because, being a young female, I wouldn’t be able to cope with the behaviour of anyone else. Since then I’ve worked at a decile 2 (1 is lowest), at a decile 8 (10 is highest) with students of low motivation and now at a decile 5 boys school. It has absolutely nothing to do with students background or behaviour; develop relationships, use the techniques and be interesting.

teachersworldwide: [US] South Dakota to allow armed teachers in...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 08:00:48 +1300

teachersworldwide:

[US] South Dakota to allow armed teachers in schools

The US state of South Dakota has enacted a law allowing school districts to arm teachers and other school staff.

The law’s backers say it will prevent mass school shootings like a December massacre in Connecticut that killed 26.

Amid a push by the White House to strengthen gun laws, the bill reflects a growing divide in the US over whether more or fewer guns keep people safe.

The measure does not force school districts to arm teachers and will not require teachers to carry guns.

(via BBC News - South Dakota to allow armed teachers in schools)

I have nothing nice to say about this so I won’t say anything at all

The Pew Forum has put out an interesting article on the Global...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:00:34 +1300

The Pew Forum has put out an interesting article on the Global Religious landscape which, as a Geography teacher at a Catholic school, I find extremely useful. There are some useful visuals in the form of maps and graphs and, on the whole, it’s interesting reading.

Last year the BBC published an article of 5 of History’s...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 08:00:49 +1300

Last year the BBC published an article of 5 of History’s most important places as chosen by History of the World presenter Andrew Marr.

These places fall into three categories: origins of civilization, an important battle site, the location of scientific breakthrough.

I think this is a fantastic Social Studies lesson starter as it will highlight the different values and perspectives around the classroom as well as requiring students to delve into their Geographical and Historical knowledge.

world-shaker: 5 Reasons To Use Digital Portfolios In Your...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:00:22 +1300

world-shaker:

5 Reasons To Use Digital Portfolios In Your Classroom

A fast read. Here are two:

Digital portfolios expand on the repertoire of techniques available to students and educators to demonstrate learning. Pictures, videos and audio recordings are added to the typical paper and pencil tasks students complete.

Struggling students (i.e. writing, reading) are given alternative modes of expression and means to demonstrate learning. This can lead to increases in self-confidence and achievement.

I’m so glad my school has a new IT technician who can move the school forward to BYOD

The Big Picture Every couple of days, the Boston.com prints an...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:00:33 +1300

The Big Picture

Every couple of days, the Boston.com prints an interesting and eye catching picture, coupled with a relevant news item. It’s a good hook for a lesson and a good way to get students interested in world news.

Scribble Maps has a lot of potential. As the description says,...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:00:46 +1300

Scribble Maps has a lot of potential. As the description says, it lets you easily draw on maps (google maps) and share them for free. Personally, I find the tools to draw on Google Maps clumsy and frustrating so hopefully this is going to be a good fix.

An Amnesty International campaign against the death penalty. ...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:53:57 +1300

An Amnesty International campaign against the death penalty. Simple but effective and a great talking point for the classroom.

The Cannes Lion Award-Winning Three Little Pigs advert from The...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:51:00 +1300

The Cannes Lion Award-Winning Three Little Pigs advert from The Guardian newspaper. It has so many potential uses in the classroom. Personally, I’ll use it for looking at perspectives and social issues in Social Studies. I know one of my friends will use it as a writing starter in English. How would you use it?

The world in 360. It’s awesome, a fantastic teaching tool...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:46:57 +1300

The world in 360. It’s awesome, a fantastic teaching tool or just inspiring for travel. 360cities is a website where people have taken and uploaded 360 degree panoramic photos. Some are of city streets, some are of landscapes, some are of places for example, the Sistine chapel, the Colosseum and parts of the great wall of China.

classroomchaos: Earlier in the school-year I bought a box of...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:36:58 +1300

classroomchaos:

Earlier in the school-year I bought a box of pencils and told students they may borrow one, just return it at the end of class.

Yeah, THAT plan failed.

This time, using packaging tape, I taped on a label reminding the student to return the pencil back to me.

In the morning I put 6 labeled pencils in the can and by the end of the day 6 labeled pencils were returned to me. Excellent. I understand a student can easily remove the label from the pencil, but I also hope that my a student would prefer to return it than put the effort into removing the label.

Because I have a limited number of pencils, I only made six available at a time. If I put out 10 or more pencils, this would look like a free-for-all (which is was not) and, for me, counting six pencils to be returned back to me seemed like a reasonable and quick number.

Now I have to find decent clicker pens so I can do the same with those.

I get students to swap something if they are borrowing a pen. It could be a water bottle, earphones (I teach 14-18 year olds), their diary, body spray or, if all else fails, a shoe (they think this is especially silly) or their ID card. After a few confused looks at the start, it is generally accepted and I never lose pens.

Lucid Chart is an awesome flowchart maker for activities. Very...

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 17:10:40 +1300

Lucid Chart is an awesome flowchart maker for activities. Very easy to use. Good for all sorts of types of diagrams and free (to a data storage limit). Flowcharts are downloadable to pdf.

I’ve been using Inspirably to create interesting looking...

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:00:43 +1300

I’ve been using Inspirably to create interesting looking “deep” questions in order to hook my class into their “Earth Under Pressure” unit. This is still in beta phase and sometimes needs to be refreshed to get what you want but it creates interesting looking quotes and questions very easily. Definitely worth checking out!

This is a great website to make totally customisable facebook...

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:11:30 +1300

This is a great website to make totally customisable facebook walls. You can add in who you like, what they say, events they attend. You can search what other people have made or make your own. It is saveable through your own facebook account and provides a link for others to view. I am going to use it to show the different opinions towards the Treaty of Versailles for my low literacy y10s. How will you use it?

Reblog if you're from New Zealand

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:30:09 +1300

pyro42:

New Zealanders spend so much time on tumblr trying to find other New Zealanders, I hardly see any other ‘reblog if you’re from ‘x” posts at the same frequency.