The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has identified financial literacy as a 21st Century Content area. We as adults need to be financially savvy and we need to impart that money sense to our students and children.
Tonight one of my girlfriends, Wendy Sterndale, told me about an awesome book offer that Suze Orman, financial guru, has to offer women that I hope you’ll accept or share with the women you care about. She has written a book called Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny.
Although geared towards women, I’m sure anyone can benefit from the financial wisdom. It’s a five month program to help you create a healthy relationship to money, make more out of the money you have for yourself and your loved ones, and gain more financial freedom. If you open a SaveYourself account with TD Ameritrade, they’ll add $100 to your account. So you can start easily investing and recoup your investment in her book too!
I’m on a major campaign to learn more about finances so that I can make fabulous choices around money and teach these tools and strategies to my students. I hope you join me in making financial literacy part of your life and your teaching.
We know that kids (and adults) learn in different ways. Why not find or make some songs about your subject? Create some appropriate hand gestures that further support learning.
On Pi Day my students had to create a poem or song about Pi using at least 5 facts about the number. There were a number of exceptional poems and songs written. The top 5 songs are going to be recorded and posted on this blog as podcasts.
Here is an excellent example of using best teaching practices that addresses multiple intelligences and total physical response in Mrs. Burk’s math class. I can see this song being helpful for a wide range on students. It uses a lot of strategies to support ELD too. (The video is hosted on a new site called TeacherTube.com, an educational alternative to YouTube. It often slows down a bit to buffer the video, but once you’ve watched it, it’ll play smoothly the second time.)
Teacher Vicki Davis of coolcatblog created this excellent video about technology and the fear that people have around using it. It’s hosted on TeacherTube.com, a new educational alternative to YouTube.View this video file For more information on the reasons we need to teach technology in the schools, watch the presentation on 21st Century Skills.
Standardized tests are a part of our current educational paradigm, regardless of your opinion on their merits. So how can we continue to promote critical thinking in the context of preparing our students for district and state-mandated tests?
One idea that I’ve found really helpful is to focus on teaching test taking strategies. My favorite, which promotes the development of critical thinking, is teaching students to eliminate incorrect answers. Here are a few things that you can do with your students to teach them about eliminating wrong answers:
1. Pair work: Have them discuss which answers aren’t correct. Encourage them to be able to eliminate at least one possibility.
2. Individual work: Have them eliminate at least one possibility and have them write why they chose to eliminate that answer.
I knew it wouldn’t be too long before someone got smart and created a YouTube-like site that was geared specifically to students and teachers. Anne Bubnic of CTAP emailed me to let me know about TeacherTube.com.
TeacherTube has 11 channels for teachers to upload videos about best teaching practices, student projects and tutorials. The channels include technology, professional development and subject areas. Like YouTube videos can be rated, shared or embedded on other sites. Users can also post comments. Unlike YouTube there isn’t any offensive material…And of course, TeacherTube isn’t blocked at schools. Yippee!
There are plenty of ways that teachers check for understanding. Many of the ways that we assess students involve a limited number of students. For example, “Raise your hand if…” allows for only a few students to respond.
Here are several ways to engage more of your students while simultanteously using multiple intelligences. These strategies are also helpful for ELD. Many of these methods can also be used for standardized test practice too.
Multiple choice question using total class response.
For multiple choice questions, you can get the entire class involved by asking, “Show 1 finger if the answer is A, 2 fingers if B, ….”
Check for the level of comfort with the material.
“Show me 5 fingers if you feel like you could teach another student. 1 finger if this is still really confusing.” This gives you a quick gauge of whether or not you can move ahead. It also helps to identify which students can assist others and who will need your assistance.
Teach agreement and disagreement symbols.
I teach my students “thumbs up” is a yes and shuffling their hands in front of them is a no. This allows a student to speak without other students verbally interrupting, yet encourages active engagement. If a student gives the incorrect answer, others can give feedback without disturbing the speaker or shutting him or her down by a negative verbal feedback. I’ll do intentional “misteaks” on the board, to check if students understand the concept. Students can give me a nonverbal clue that they disagree with something I said or wrote with interrupting.
Use total physical response to engage learners.
I’m a math teacher, and I’ll often ask things like, “What operation does ‘product’ mean?” Then they make an “x” with their hands to indicate that they know.
What are the skills that a student and citizen of the Information Age needs to have?
The Partnership for the 21st Century has conducted a survey to identify the key skills needed for success in the 21st Century. Every student in your school or district should be:
1. a critical thinker
2. a problem solver
3. an innovator
4. an effective collaborator
5. a self-directed learner
6. information and media literate
7. globally aware
8. civically engaged
Ken Kay, President of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, explains in his presentation at the FETC Conference about why these skills are important. This hour presentation includes 8 strategies that your school and district will want to integrate into the curriculum to best prepare your students for the quickly changing terrain, as well as why these skills are critical to our students.
I’m going to share this presentation with my colleagues. It will provide an introduction to discussing what are the skills necessary for success in the 21st Century. I would love to get a school-wide consensus about what skills our students need to have and how to best support them in acquiring these lifelong skills. If you haven’t seen Did you know?, you will want to watch this dynamic and thought-provoking presentation by Karl Fisch. It’s only about 6 minutes long. It’ll give you the inspiration and motivation to listen to the hour-long presentation, if you need a bit of a boost.
Pi Day, March 14th, is fast approaching and kids are already asking, “Do we get to eat pie?”
Pi Day, for those of you who haven’t put it on your calendars, is a celebration of the number pi, which is approximately 3.14. Hence the reason it’s celebrated on the 3rd month on the 14th day. It’s also the birthday of Albert Einstein.
One of my favorite activities is to read one of the Sir Cumference stories. My middle school students absolutely love me to read stories. I imagine even high schoolers would enjoy these books. I think having children’s books read to them brings them back to those fun years of sitting around their elementary teacher and exploring new worlds and going on adventures. Of course, 4th and 5th graders would also greatly appreciate these stories. Here are two of my favorite in the series. Click on the link below to learn more or to order. They are under $4 each!
First we’re going to enjoy a bit of pie while doing the warm-up, which involves calculating how much materials it took to make hula hoops for my Hoop Troop Dance Club. Then I am going to read Sir Cumference. After cleaning up, myself and the other math 7 teacher are combining our classes for half the period and going outside to do some Pi Day festivities. We’ve got a menu of outdoor things we’re going to do, including:
1. create a 7-circuit labyrinth in chalk
2. play some math games
3. sing Pi songs
4. do some hooping (That’s me dancing. It was originally a birthday gift for my sister and she posted it on YouTube.)
In honor of Einstein here are some activities
1. The Great Relativity Show - interesting animation, but it’s a bit slow loading
2. Einstein Explained - games, quizzes and photos about Einstein
Did you know? The rate of change on this planet is increasing at an exponential rate. The amount of information on the planet has doubled in the past few years and continues to increase at an amazing pace. We can only begin to imagine what the world will look like in 10 years. We live in exciting and wondrous times - and perhaps, it’s a bit unnerving.
Did you know? As educators, we have an important role in preparing our students for a world that is only just starting to take form. We live in the Information Age, a time of connection and expansion.
Did you know? China will soon be the largest English speaking country on the planet.
Did you know? Karl Fisch, Director of Technology at Arapahoe High School in Colorado, has created an amazing video presentation entitled Did You Know? It takes us on a brief journey into the future world of astounding facts that will make you think about where we need to be as educators and as a society. He has some additional presentations that you will also want to see. (Note:The music in Did You Know? is a mix of three tracks from The Last of the Mohicans.)
Did you know? Scott McLeod, Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota, has has an excellent blog, Dangerously Irrelevant. If you are interested in exploring the value and direction of education, you’ll appreciate what he has to contribute. He has also has links to Karl Fisch’s presentations.
For more information about the skills our students will need, read this post about 21st Century Skills.
Be in the know… it is the Information Age after all.
Spring break isn’t quite here yet, but you don’t need to wait to take a vacation. You can start today! Take a vacation from complaining.
When people complain, they actually enforce and unfortunately attract more negative experiences. Taking the simple action of not complaining can shift the energy in your life in dramatic and joyous ways. The Secret is to focus on the things that bring you joy.
I like to do take a vacation from complaining with my students. It can really make teaching and learning a much more pleasant experience when the room isn’t filled with tattling and whining. Of course, students are still encouraged to set healthy boundaries and have them respected, but the finger pointing can be erased with a collective intention.
On Monday, I am going to invite my students to take a vacation from complaining with me. I will have them write “day 1″ in their daily planners marking the beginning of the vacation. We will also determine how long we’re going to take a vacation from complaining. We’ll write the end date in the planner as well. Each week on our warm-ups we’ll take a couple of minutes to write a reflection on how we’re enjoying the vacation.
I usually like to set the vacations for 30 days. 40 days is also a nice amount of time for a vacation, especially if the number 40 has spiritual significance for you. Lent is a great time to give up complaining. Well, by the time this vacation is over, Spring Break will have arrived and I can go on another vacation.
