Vocabulary Website

After our interesting discussion on vocabulary development, I thought I would share this link:

http://www.vocabulary.com/

This site contains root lessons as well as online games and puzzles to increase vocabulary skills and knowledge.

Enjoy!

Welcome Back!!

Welcome back to the blog...and school, too.

Hope you all had a wonderful Spring break and are rested.

I know some of you were doing your field experiences during the week. Anything you would like to share with the class?

Blogging on Break... Yes or No?

To blog or not to blog...that is the question...

Here is my answer:

If you have followed the criteria (2 blogs a week and at least one response a week), please feel free to take the week "off" from blogging. If you have a couple to catch up on, make sure you add a couple blogs.

If you have any concerns, please ask me.

Have a nice break!

New Jersey Association of Educational Technology

Take a look at this site and blog.

• NJAET Website
• NJAET Blog

Visit the website to sign up for this organization. It is free to join!

The Blog includes monthly topic discussions with experts from all around New Jersey and places for NJAET members to share ideas and resources.

What Are You Doing In That Computer Lab?

After our day in the lab, I thought this would be a nice connective piece for you to read:

Read What Are You Doing In That Computer Lab?

How will you use a computer lab in your school?

NCLB thoughts

Here is an article about the infamous NCLB:

“No Child Left Behind” Should Be Left Behind

And, being fair...here is another side to the story:

NCLB: Fix it, Don't Nix it

Any thoughts?

High School Proficiency Assessment

Here is the link to the NJ HSPA guidelines on the NJ Department of Education (DOE) website:

New Jersey HSPA

Any thoughts?

Teacher's Job

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job.
~Donald D. Quinn

Puzzled?

Puzzlemaker is a free, online puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more using your own word lists.

Take a look at this one (took me less than a minute to create):

C E N L M N L S Y N L K F A F
Q R B X Y L A R Q J E A Z K G
N D T Q I S E S Z F E C P P O
J R M W I H S Y U C A U N M S
A I I M T V X I A S F W J F U
C E W A R R H T R L E O L H C
K D E Q Q I A C G H I V X D B
I H K T E R E N C E C S B N N
E R I F I D M L E T O X H C J
W R M N Y Q W M H M D P G A I
Y R A G W R B P M C I S Q S E
Q B Y O R U O N T X L O A A J
D P A R L Y I W V D X A V C A
D A M M A H O M H T C I U Z B
R E W T T S J O E F X X P R K

ALISHA
CATARINA
CHLOE
CHRISSY
DEIRDRE
HEATHER
ISAAC
JACKIE
JOE
MIKE
MOHAMMAD
SUSAN
TERENCE
WILL

Can you think of some good uses for this tool?

Last Lecture on Tuesday

Class,

I promise to show the Last Lecture video on Tuesday.

This is a living example of how there is always so much to teach and never enough time!

Like I have said in class, you will have lesson plans and time allotments. Will you always meet them? I hate to say it, but no. Realistically, side discussions and insights usually lead you off-track and this is acceptable. Side discussions are usually what make for great learning opportunities.

On that note, though, I promise to show that video on Tuesday!

**P. S. Thanks again to Susan for finding it and posting it on her blog.

Online Projects

Here is a link to some online projects.

http://www.mrshurleysesl.com/onlineprojects.html

Take a look. Although some may be on the elementary level, they are worth a glance.

Questions for the Interviewer

You will all be interviewing VERY soon for teaching jobs.

So, you get the interview... You answer all of the required questions. What comes next?

Most candidates will have an opportunity to ask questions. These questions should be prepared in advance.

You should have several questions in mind before you arrive for the interview.

Here are some examples:

•What are you looking for in a teacher?
•How does the teaching staff support new teachers?
•Are teachers encouraged to earn advanced degrees?
•What is the teacher/student ratio in your district?
•How supportive is the community?
•Do your schools use teacher aides or parent volunteers?
•What allowances are provided for supplies and materials?
•Does the administration encourage field trips for students?
•What textbooks does the district use in this subject area?
•How are teachers assigned to extra-curricular activities? Is compensation provided?
•What technology is available in the district?
•Do teachers participate in curriculum review and change?
•What are prospects for future growth in this community and its schools?
•What support staff members are available to help students and teachers?

Teachable Moment

Today was just that-- a teachable moment.

Last Wednesday we all experienced something that we will never forget. The memory will most likely diminish with time. The text messages will be deleted. And, eventually, the heightened feelings you have right now will fade, but the day will remain in your memory forever.

Some may say "nothing happened".

"There was no violence."

"There was no gunman."

Yet, we all know something happened. Something very important. Something that needs to be discussed.

A teachable moment is a situation that opens the door for a person to talk to a child or any other person about subjects that are difficult but necessary to discuss. These difficult conversation topics may include sexuality, alcohol and drug use, smoking, violence, eating disorders and depression.

Today the discussion was school violence and terrorism.

Hopefully you will not experience school violence when you start to teach. However, if you do, you can initiate a discussion like the one we had today to guide and teach your students. They may resist, but you need to try. Everyone has something to say; they just may be scared to say it.

I know I did not *want* to have this discussion, but it was necessary.

I would like to thank each one of you for being brave, and sharing a piece of yourself today.

Our Blog is Listed here...

....take a look under "Professor Luongo's Blog"

http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers

Vantage Learning Reach Blog

Take a look at this brand new blog. It is a blog for educators and students using MYAccess! (the K-12 writing software I told you we will preview next month):

http://reach.vantagelearning.com/

Also, take a look at the main site:

http://www.myaccess.com/myaccess/do/log

Positive Parent Communication

Just a quickie...

For every phone call you make to the parents or guardians of a struggling student, attempt to make a positive call to the parents or guardians of a successful student.

Any thought on this? Did any of you receive positive calls from teachers? Ask your parents... If not, would you have liked to hear positive feedback from a teacher? Do you think your parents would have liked those calls?

Let's think outside the box and be positive!

Online Courses

Just saw this post in an online educational journal I receive:

The Washington Post reported on an Arlington, Va., continuing education program called Arlington Mill High School, "an initiative that offers not only classroom courses to help students get their degrees but also an online component that is becoming an increasingly important tool for educators to prevent students from dropping out."

The Post noted that the high dropout rate in low-income areas is "blame[d] in part on large, impersonal, rule-bound schools that don't adjust well to individual needs and peculiarities" by experts. Online courses allow students to work at their own pace, as well as provide them with a measure of independence. Even so, "[t]eachers involved with online courses for dropouts say that [some] kind of drive is essential."

However, there are limits to online learning. Some students' lack access to the necessary technology. Also, the courses are "dependent on students' reading abilities," and therefore students who do not speak English as their first language can find the courses difficult.

Sound familiar?

Any thoughts?

Positive Reinforcement...Friend of Foe?

Friday's class got me thinking about the use of positive reinforcement in the high school and middle school. Can we be "too"positive? Can our positive nature turn students off? Jackie's comment about taking the positive comment as sarcastic got me to think about how we can be positive in a way that actually helps the students.

My search brought me to an educational blog D-Ed Reckoning, which claims, "The primary problem with K-12 education today is the problem of dead reckoning--an estimate based on little or no information. We don't know what a good K-12 education system is because we've never seen one operating. A good education system is one that is capable of educating almost every child" (Derosa, 2007).

Take a look at his blog and specifically this October 8, 2007 post. In it, he talks with a practicing urban teacher who explains, "Negative reinforcement almost never changes peoples' behavior. That's virtually an axiom. If you want to change behavior, you have to organize the environment so that you can reinforce (reward) the behavior you want. The behavior you notice, pay attention to and reward is what you will get more of; positive methods are far more powerful than negative ones" (Derosa, 2007).

Any thoughts?

Reference

Derosa, K. (2007). D-ed reckoning. Retrieved February 9, 2008 from http://d-edreckoning.blogspot.com/

Math/Spanish/History Site

Here is a link to for those math/Spanish/history teachers in our midst.

This is a great example of how we can touch multiple subjects in one lesson or unit.

Also, what a great site for some lesson plans ideas (Hint, hint ;))

Take a look and see what you think....

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chichen/HTML/TG-math.html

Widgets update

I just realized the link below weas not working. That tricky SPC website! I apologize. Here is the proper link to the Widgets:

http://blog.wikispaces.com/2008/01/wikispaces-widgets.html