November 8

Tell the story with fewer words . . .

Infographics convey information in fewer words, pictures and other visual representations. For some students these are more easily accessible than an article. Think about using these for your next AOW or adding them to your next text set or better yet, have students design their own. Here are a few websites to get you started.

https://www.kidsdiscover.com/infographics/

https://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/language-arts

September 21

Are they really reading?

It’s time for SSR+ in your classroom. Are your students really reading or are they really faking it? Here are some tips to help make this very necessary time authentic.

https://www.booksourcebanter.com/2017/08/15/combat-fake-reading-4-simple-steps/?utm_source=Booksource+Community&utm_campaign=5ac6d54782-SEPT_INSIGHTS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0779a57f61-5ac6d54782-153185725

September 9

Make logging reading more engaging!!

What would it be like to get rid of the reading logs and make the accountability piece of SSR+ more fun? Follow the link below for some amazing ideas to “ditch” the reading logs. If we make if more fun, they are going to be more willing to engage!

https://www.middleschoolmind.com/the-teachers-blog/ten-ways-to-ditch-that-reading-log

From the author, “. . . the key in all of this is to make reading public celebration, and to vary the ways in which you think, talk about, share and respond to text. When the method that you use to keep students accountable for their reading is fun and engaging they are less likely to view reading as a chore and more likely to enjoy it. Is the goal to collect a stack of papers in which students log their minutes of reading or is it to inspire a love of reading that leads students to inspire others to pick up a book?”

PicturePicturePicturePicture

September 5

What do kids REALLY need to find success in the real world?

This is an interesting article. Things to consider . . . Are you doing enough of these things? Are they consistent?

7 skills your child needs to survive the changing world of work

A group of Catholic school girls look at their phones as they wait on the route that Pope Francis will take later in the day near St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York September 24, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson - GF10000219774

Back to school … but are your kids learning the right lessons?
Image: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Education may be the passport to the future, but for all the good teaching out there, it would seem that schools are failing to impart some of the most important life skills, according to one educational expert.

Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard’s Change Leadership Group, argues that today’s school children are facing a “global achievement gap”, which is the gap between what even the best schools are teaching and the skills young people need to learn.

This has been exacerbated by two colliding trends: firstly, the global shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, and secondly, the way in which today’s school children – brought up with the internet – are motivated to learn.

To read entire article – https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/09/skills-children-need-work-future

May 25

Creating Strong Writers

Creating strong writers doesn’t just happen, it takes practice . . . lot’s of it!! To create strong writers, we need to be sure to embed writing into our daily instruction. As Smekens indicates, there are different types of writing for different purposes. However, after asking students to write, we usually hear “Miss, how long does it have to be? How many sentences?” We must move students away from this. One way is by providing mentor texts that serve as models of good writing. Another way . . . create the model yourself by writing in front of your students! This is quite possibly the most powerful model because students get to actually see and hear the process as you think aloud; apprenticeship at its finest! Not comfortable with this practice? Reach out to your literacy coordinator who loves doing this with kids!

Check out Smeken’s ideas about writing for different purposes – https://www.smekenseducation.com/Build-Strong-Writing-Paragraph-.html

April 25

Revision vs. Editing

Writer’s Workshop is incredibly important because it helps students learn to process their thinking as they put their ideas into writing. I’ve decided to blog about this because I frequently find myself having discussions with teachers about the difference between revision and editing. They are NOT the same. Revision is the process of making the writing itself better! Editing is a completely separate process that looks at the writing conventions: spelling, capitalization and punctuation – some include grammar here. I personally have students look for grammar mistakes during revision.

Please reach out if you want to workshop writing and I can support.I have resources that I am happy to share. I’ve been pushing into classrooms frequently and working through revision with students. I love being able to dig in with students!

Want more about the difference between revision and editing? https://slc.berkeley.edu/editing-vs-revision

March 24

Great resources!

So many great resources today!

From honeybees to reparations, there’s something to fit every need.

https://newsela.com/

The honeybee has taken flight from the Cheerios box to sound a bee alert
Boxes of Cheerios pictured in a grocery store. Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr

January 25

The power books can have over us

“Back in 1930, Hesse argued that ‘We need not fear a future elimination of the book. On the contrary, the more that certain needs for entertainment and education are satisfied through other inventions, the more the book will win back in dignity and authority. For even the most childish intoxication with progress will soon be forced to recognise that writing and books have a function that is eternal.”

I was moved nearly to tears when I came across this. It is something we must share with our students. Books can overtake us, transport us to places far beyond our reach. We do not understand how lucky we are, how lucky our students are, to have a safe place to read them. I’d love to hang out with my elephant on a lazy afternoon and read a good book. These pictures are moving, the stories that can be inferred, even more so. (click the picture to follow the link to more pictures)

January 25

This resource will help you plan for the application of critical thinking skills EVERYDAY!

Critical thinking skills are something students need more than ever. Information is thrown at them and too often, they take things for face value. The “I saw it on the internet so it must be true” mentality. Here is a tool to help teachers plan embed these into daily lessons. These are great for the personal, social and knowledge building dimensions of your RA classroom! (click on the visual to go to the website to print)

 

January 16

Mobile Banking Gives a Big Boost To Kenya’s Poor

Super cool article about unintended, positive consequences. This would make a great AOW!

Mobile Banking Gives a Big Boost To Kenya’s Poor

Benefits go to women particularly; ‘financial resilience’

Globalization and unrestrained technological change have plenty of critics, as the election in November amply showed. Many of my fellow anthropologists say that the positive effects of these twin trends have greatly benefited China but have left behind most of the global poor. A study conducted in Kenya and published in the journal Science in December tells a different story.

When I first visited Kenya during my travels in Africa in 1969, extreme poverty was common. The population has quadrupled, and the contrasts…

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mobile-banking-gives-a-big-boost-to-kenyas-poor-1484324293