Ms. K
Is Public Education Failing America?
While the government believes that public education is too important to trust to the free enterprise system, government spending on education is almost twice what it was in 1980 (adjusted for inflation) as student achievement has flat lined. The governmental system wants to coddle ineffective systems such as Head Start as President Obama dumps another one billion dollars into it. What will bring a heartbeat again to American education? According to people who test students internationally, the two things that ultimately affect student achievement are parental choice in the school their children attend and schools having the right to experiment.
Read more: http://www.newsmax.com/Stossel/HeadStart-Obama-vouchers-JohnStossel/2010/02/17/id/350094
How Do You Foster a Positive Learning Environment? Part 2
Procedures are the expectations you have for the way your classroom runs. If you have vague procedures, then you will not have the results you desire. For example, if you want your students to quietly put their papers in the paper tray when they finish their work, you must first consider the other problems that may occur. Students may stand around the paper tray and talk. They may rush to shuffle their papers in the tray in differing directions, or they may elbow one another when they turn their papers in because they are in a hurry. Discuss these potential problems with your students, and ask students how this could cause problems…even model the wrong way to act. Then tell students your expectations and how you want them to act. Model how to walk to the paper tray, how to place the paper in the tray, what to do when there is more than one person at the tray, and how to leave the paper tray after the they have turned the paper in. Being specific about what you expect and reinforcing your expectations will yield a well-managed, positive, classroom environment.
Are You Teaching Coordinate Grids? Try This
Marilyn Burns’ lesson book Algebraic Thinking (3-5) offers a great deeper level thinking lesson with points on a coordinate grid. The lesson is titled “Four Points” and has students plot four horizontal, diagonal, and vertical points on a grid. This is a teacher guided discussion lesson. After the students plot each set of four points the teacher charts the points and leads a class discussion in the patterns students notice in the ordered pairs charted. For example, the x coordinate in the ordered pair repeats on a vertical line, the y coordinate repeats on a horizontal line, and the coordinates each change by one on a diagonal line. This lesson is a good choice to expose students to coordinate grid vocabulary, however if you are looking for a student centered lesson to use with cooperative groups, this is not it.
Make Capacity Estimation Easy for Kids
When teaching metric or customary capacity encourage students to bring in containers with different capacities. Have students cover up the amount that the container holds and allow their peers to guess what the container holds in both metric and customary measurements. For example, bring in a soda can, a water bottle, liquid soap bottle, etc. If students’ guesses are extremely unreasonable, allow the student holding the container to tell their peers higher or lower. After a few students bring in containers, the enthusiasm in the classroom grows and more students will contribute to the classroom capacity collection.
Increase Your Students’ Achievement By Following This Tip
Classical music influences learning, memorization and spatial reasoning according to research. The limbic system in the brain which causes long term memory is affected by music. The more emotional responses one has while learning new information, the more easily the information is retrieved from the brain. Since music causes emotional responses, begin playing music in your classroom give students a learning advantage.
A source for classroom music well worth considering has been written by music educator Maribeth Alexander. Maribeth, wrote the piano music on the album entitled Creation. She has used the music with her own students, and other teachers have used her music successfully to calm their students and increase student achievement in the classroom.
Maribeth Alexander’s Creation album may be purchased on itunes or CD baby. 02 Earth Click to hear Maribeth’s album.
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/alexandermaribeth
Will We Leave Behind “No Child Left Behind”?
According to the following statistics, globally the US is 14th in reading, 17th in science, and 25th in math. Democratic senator Michael Bennet stated that currently only 9 out of 100 children who face childhood poverty graduate college. In response to the staggering statistics concerning education, a group of senators and the Secretary of Education are proposing to fix “No Child Left Behind”. This group of senators desires to give school districts more freedom as districts make their own decisions about high stakes testing. These senators hope that both Republicans and Democrats work together to reach a new and improved “No Child Left Behind”.
Do you feel that giving districts more freedom will improve students’ achievement? Leave your comments.
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Sens-Bennet-HaganEducationReformCritical/2011/03/03/id/388157
How Do You Foster a Positive Learning Environment Part 1?
I will state the obvious. Be prepared. I will quote an intelligent administrator in my district…”If you don’t come with your plan, the students will come with theirs.” I have watched many a teacher’s backside showing to the class as they dig for the materials needed for the lesson with the next words out of their mouth to be, “why are you talking”. If students could honestly answer, they would say, ” I was talking because you didn’t give me anything to do, and you aren’t prepared.” Having all of your materials in place and in easy reach maximizes instructional time and limits disruptive behavior.
Math Website with Free Engaging Activities and Printables
Math Wire is an amazing website with lots of helpful, quality teaching tips and free printable worksheets for math instruction. All the activities are based on NCTM standards and constructivist learning. Activities include free printable worksheets such as “I Have, Who Has” cards, open ended response questions, and math game boards to name a few. I especially like the suggestion that Math Wire presents about coin antennas for students who have difficulty counting money. Take a while to browse Math Wire to gain insight on improving your instructional practices. http://mathwire.com/
How Can You Use Gallon Guy to Reach Your Kinesthetic Learners?
Instead of using Gallon Guy as a simple cut and paste activity, tape one on your body to engage students. Tape the gallon on your chest. Tape the quarts to your shoulders and hips. Tape two pints each to your arms so that you have one above your elbow and one below your elbow. Tape two pints each to your legs–one each above your knee and one below your knee. Tape four cups on the fingers of each hand and four on each foot. Have students use their bodies as they discover the amount of pints in a gallon etc. If you have enough class time, have students tape a gallon guy to their bodies also. Have students work in teams to answer conversion questions about more than one gallon, or they can count their own body more than once. If you are not familiar with the Gallon Guy Activity, I have attached a link.
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/measurement/gallonbot-assemble.pdf
Are Prang Crayons Worth the Extra Money?
There are several main brands of crayons you will find in stores–Prang, Crayola, and Rose Art. Crayon price does determine quality. Crayon companies save money by adding extra wax and less pigment to their crayons. Rose Art are typically the cheapest and deliver the weakest color. Crayola are a good standby that produces average color. Prang, however, consistently delivers vivid, vibrant color and is worth the extra cash.
