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IDEAS 'GUARANTEED' TO RAISE ACHIEVEMENT
California middle grades teacher-coach Elena Aguilar is beginning a series of posts at Edutopia's Spiral Notebook blog that are "guaranteed to raise student achievement." That's an offer difficult to resist, don't you think? Aguilar's first entry is titled "How to Focus Lessons and Learning Goals." AND while you're visiting Edutopia, you might want to check out another practice-oriented post, "When Teaching the Right Answers Is the Wrong Direction," for some good tips on inquiry learning: http://sn.im/edutopia-inquiry
TOP RESOURCES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Where would you turn for a list of the top websites for English Language Learners and their teachers? Teacher Magazine went straight to Larry Ferlazzo, a California teacher whose popular ELL-oriented blog provides a constant stream of resource links. In "ELL 2.0: How to Make the Most of the Web," Ferlazzo highlights his 13 favorite sites, including several where "ELL students (can) take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them without fear of public embarrassment."
BIOLOGY RESOURCE LINKS
They spell things funny down there, but the science is the same at this New Zealand-based site with massive resources for the biology teacher. The BioLinks Database includes, among many other topics, anatomy and physiology, animal behavior, genetics, earth science, human impact, space biology, student projects and glossaries. The few broken links are far outweighed by the good ones.
NEW TEACHER'S GUIDE TO BETTER ASSESSMENT
What factors hamper the "deft use" of assessments by new and long-time teachers? This publicly available article from the November issue of Educational Leadership explores this question and begins in an interesting way -- by asking readers to rate the value of three pieces of Steuben glass. Written "at" principals, the article may also be of interest to teachers and coaches who are looking for ways to fine-tune classroom assessment.
NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE
The Awesome Stories website, with its emphasis on engaging stories and primary sources from history, is a great place to find resources about our nation's Native American heritage, this month or any month. Click on any of the two dozen content links on this page and sample the rich offerings.
IMPROVE 21st CENTURY SEARCH SKILLS
One of the many skills identified in all the talk about "21st century learning" is the ability to locate pertinent and credible information and resources on the Web. A key prerequisite to developing that skill is the expert use of Web search engines like Google. Most of our students (and many of us) have probably mastered the basics, but in a busy world where few have time to peruse more than 2-3 pages of search results, we need to become more strategic inquisitors. The link above leads to an About.com page of useful tips for Google "power searchers." Or you may prefer the Top 10 approach found here.
MATH: BOOK OF ODDS
What are the four deadliest communicable diseases in the USA and the odds of catching each of them? Here's a website that contains "hundreds of thousands of carefully researched Odds Statements." The goal: "Despite common wisdom, we believe that people can learn to understand probability intuitively if given a consistent reference full of vivid examples to work with." The rich selection of categories can be narrowed down using a variety of indicators. You'll see obvious classroom applications in the areas of probability, numeracy, science and social science topics, not to mention guidance. Plus, this site is a lot of fun to browse! (Odds a Top 100 country song will refer to "mama"? 1 in 7.14). No-cost registration adds depth to your visits.
ENGLISH TEACHER'S DREAM COMMUNITY
We seldom repeat a resource twice in six months, but in case you were at the beach back in July: the NING-based online professional community The English Companion is absolutely fabulous. Its membership is nearing 10,000, but TEC has many small special interest groups that create a homey feeling. If you long for professional community, this is the place "where English teachers meet to help each other." Five stars.
Recent Weeks
EDUTOPIA'S NEW MIDDLE GRADES CHAT GROUP
The Edutopia website (supported by the George Lucas Foundation) is well-known for its rich collection of teaching articles and videos. Last month the site added discussion communities to the mix, including a group just for middle grades teachers. Here's the teaser: "Teaching middle school is not for the faint of heart. But if you're called to do it, you know there's nothing else quite like it. Join us in discussing what works – and what doesn't." Best of all, the MS group is moderated by classroom teacher and popular TweenTeacher blogger Heather Wolpert-Gawron, whose witty, engaging style adds some spice to the discussions. The group is brand-new and there's potential to develop a thriving virtual community. Hope you'll help Heather launch this effort successfully by dropping by often with comments.
NEW TEACHERS: INSTRUCTION THAT SIZZLES
Elizabeth Stein, a middle grades teacher and mentor, draws on her long classroom experience to offer seven strategies that help teachers stayed tuned into what she calls the "student perspective factor." When attention wanes, these strategies can restore the rhythm of learning and "deliver instruction that sizzles." (At Teacher Magazine, where all TM content can be accessed after one-time no-cost registration.)
UNDERACHIEVERS BENEFIT FROM MATH FRUSTRATION
Or so says researchers at Rutgers University, after seven years of observing New Jersey math teachers who work with minority and low-income students at low-performing schools. Allowing students to struggle with challenging math problems, they say, can lead to dramatically improved achievement and test scores. Though conventional wisdom says certain abilities are innate, Rutgers professor Roberta Schorr told Edutopia magazine, "a lot of kids' talents and capabilities go unnoticed unless they are effectively challenged; the key is to do it in a nurturing environment."
SCIENCE: TEACHING WITH JIGSAWS
Here's a nice step-by-step introduction to the jigsaw teaching strategy, originally developed for college science faculty, but easily adapted for use in middle grades science (and other subjects for that matter). From the intro: "In a jigsaw, the class is divided into several teams, with each team preparing separate but related assignments. When all team members are prepared, the class is re-divided into mixed groups, with one member from each team in each group. Each person in the group teaches the rest of the group what he/she knows, and the group then tackles an assignment together that pulls all of the pieces together to form the full picture." Succinctly put!
EDUCATORS MUSTN'T "LAMINATE" THE CURRICULUM
Here's a short but very interesting story "live" from the ASCD fall conference in Washington DC. Author-researcher Heidi Hayes Jacobs spoke about upgrading curriculum for 21st century learners — challenging the educators present to consider whether they have "laminated" their curriculum or are willing to "look at what needs to be cut, kept, and created so that students are learning today for the future." While many educators think of curriculum "alignment" in a single dimension — aligned to standards and benchmarks - Jacobs described five kinds of alignment that are critical in developing what she framed as "Curriculum 21."
DEPARTMENTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
The Harvard Education Letter considers the pros and cons of an emerging trend — "platooning" or departmentalizing in the elementary grades. Why include this in a newsletter for the middle grades? Some of the arguments for and against departments are still being heard in middle school, where the focus on teacher-student relationships is still be considered a high priority by many middle grades educators. Can middle schools where departments are still not dominate long survive pressure from below?
HIGH PRAISE FOR ART EDUCATION BLOG
It's a fair criticism to say we rarely feature resources outside the core subjects, and it's especially true in the arts. We'd love to share more, if non-core teachers will send us good ideas. (See our contact information at the end of this newsletter.) Meanwhile, if you're an art teacher, here's how the ASCD Inservice blog describes The Carrot Revolution: "art educator David Gran pulls together resources for teachers, students, and artists with an eye toward bucking the status quo. The blog is filled with eye-catching pictures and video and includes posts on everything from animation to art history." While we're thinking Art, also check out the NASSP article "What makes a visual arts program crucial to middle level education?"
GOOD SOURCE FOR EDUCATION BLOGS
Here's an index to education blogs, categorized by subjects and disciplines, from ag education to world languages, with all the core and non-core subjects in between. This webpage created by Moving Forward (and spotlighted by ASCD recently) is a wiki, so you can add your own favorites. If you're looking for blogs in other categories (grade level, student/teacher, principal, school), check out Moving Forward's expanding general list at this wiki.
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