Author: Sweat to Inspire

Educator and Parent

#MLEM13 AMLE Twitter event 3-7-13

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

Tonight I had the honor of being on the panel for an AMLE twitter celebration for Middle Level Education Month. The topic was two-fold: First about celebrating middle level education and Second about collaboration. This was a very well attended and lively chat.

http://storify.com/ToddBloch/mled13-amle-twitter-event-3-7-13

The Panel was:

Todd Bloch @blocht574 : great middle level thinker and supporter who hosts a weekly twitter chat on Thursday nights at 8p.  Hashtag #mschat

·         Summer Howarth @EduSum : a wonderful middle years teacher from Australia who has travelled to the US for professional development and a serious tweeter. http://edusum.edublogs.org/

·         Julie Ramsay  @JulieDRamsay : a prolific tweeter, fifth grade teacher, and Stenhouse author who is really in tune to middle grades   http://juliedramsay.blogspot.com/

·         Todd Williamson @twilliamson15 : tech-savvy director of technology at a school district in North Carolina who has been interviewed about technology integration on Middle Matters for their podcast

·         Rick Wormeli @RickWormeli : nationally and internationally recognized educator and speaker on all matters related to the middle level

and the questions were:

a.       Why should we celebrate the middle level?

b.       How should we (teachers, schools, parents) celebrate the middle level?

c.       How can we involve students in that celebration?

d.       What are some challenges we will face in the middle level?

e.       How can we prepare ourselves and deal with those challenges?

f.        Why is collaboration such an important element in the middle level?

g.       How can we collaborate more effectively –time, technology, etc.?

True Kindness

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

Yesterday I was amazed by a young girl. I don’t even know her name. 

I met my family at the Green Lantern Tavern to have a nice dinner out to celebrate my birthday. My children were excited to see me as I entered after a long day at work. I have been working longer hours and my three children have been missing me. Grace, 4, greeted me with a smile happy to see me wishing me a Happy Birthday. As we were waiting for the order Grace wanted to go to the entrance area where the arcade is located. We distracted her till the food arrived. We ate, enjoying the meal as a family. Where everyone was done I promised to take the kids to the arcade. We walked over, I gave each child quarters to play one game. The boys went right over to Galaga, something about shooting things and boys, Grace, well she wanted a stuffed animal out of the Claw machine. I hate the claw, money stealing machines, but Grace wanted to give it a try. She dropped in the quarters, move the claw over a blue Penguin. The claw closed. The penguin rose with the claw. Grace was excited, she started to shot out. Then just as fast as the claw picked it up, it fell back to the pile of stuffed animals. Grace was devastated, she started to cry. I being a cold hearted dad , told her it was tough luck. She asked for more money but I refused. A girl, no older than 9, was waiting to use the Claw game. She silently dropped in her coins. She quickly picked up the penguin with the claw and plopped it into the opening. She quickly retrieved it from the receptacle. Turned and handed it to Grace. I was shocked. The young girl started to walk away. Impressed by her actions, I reached into my pocket and give her a couple more quarters. After a quite thanks, she successfully maneuvered the claw to win another prize and walked away,

This wonderful little girl lifted my spirits. Her kindness was true and pure. She did not know Grace and they may never meet again. Thank you “CLAW” girl for reassuring me that the world is full of kindness,

Teach to produce learning! (No teaching style is wrong!)

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

As I participate in Twitter chats, read blogs, listen to Podcast and talk to teachers I am continually hearing about different teaching methods. Flipped classroom, blended learning, reader’s workshop, writer’s workshop etc. are all “hot” methods for teaching in 2013. Should teachers drop what they have been doing and make a change?

The quick answers is “It depends”. Should you make a change if you are being successful? How are you measuring the success? Change should not happen for changes sake. Changes in education should be made for two reasons:

  • First: Teacher is not being successful with current students. Change need to takes place. Learning needs to occur. Students need to be successful.
  • Second: New technologies exist that the students NEED to use for future success. When districts add 1 to 1 or other new technology programs.

When educators see new ideas they should take a closer look. Examine them for their merits. Try them out in their classrooms. When merits for new methods are seen then slowly incorporate them into their teaching. All teachers need to check out new ideas remembering that new ideas might not work for all students. The teachers that are using them are sharing because they have found successes, often more successes than with other methods. This might not work for other teachers. WHY? teacher and class is different. I don’t teach any two classes alike. Sure I cover the same material but I use different teaching techniques based upon the students in the class. In one hour I might need a hands-on activity in another the class might respond better to a video. Teachers have to remember that the students dictate the how the learning should go in the classroom not the teacher. Teachers have already learned the content. Students are the ones that need to explore how to learn it now.

Teachers need to realize that no teaching style is wrong IF the students in the class are learning. We need to use formative assessments to show that our teaching is being effective. Constantly monitoring and changing how we teach based upon the students progress in leaning. There is not a teaching style out there that is one size fits all or the “best”. All styles work depending on the teacher and the students. Whether you flip or give lectures, have a no homework policy or give it daily; examine your students learning to see if it is working. Share with other teachers when it is, but hold off judgement of your fellow teachers when they don’t change. They just might not see the same results.