Category: Middle School Chat

Teaching “the Ocky Way”

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

I saw this warning on twitter. Dru is right we need to be cautious when using pre-made lesson plans. They were not desinged for the students in our classroom. They were not designed for our teaching style. Depending who designed the lessons they might hit state standards or they might be a simple filler like the “shrink wrapped” cheese above. Educators have to be critical of pre-packaged lessons. Many questions need to be asked:

What is the desired outcome?

Does it meet the standards?

Does it fit my students prior knowledge base?

Does it address our learning needs?

Does it fit my instructional style?

How will my students consume this lesson?

Prepackaged lessons do serve a purpose in education. They give educators a starting point, helping save time. Teachers don’t need to be reinventing lessons every time they teach something new. Starting with a blank slate can be difficult when the topic has never been taught before. It is beneficial to have lessons to serve as a model to start building a quality lesson.

It makes me think of “The Ocky Way” channel found on YouTube/TikTok and Instagram. Where a small deli in Red Hook, NY makes common foods come to life prepared by owner Mohamed. Mohamed has risen to internet fame by taking standard meals, then adds his own touch to them to make them unique for the consumer. Sometimes customers bring in fast food orders from nieghboring stories to have the meal done “The Ocky Way”.

Educators need to customize for their consumers, adding flavor and uniqueness to all the educational bites so the learning won’t be stale.

What are our students doing?

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

videogaming
From: Internet Addiction Blog 

“Why didn’t you let me know you were at my house last night?” Griffin’s friend asked as we walked into the scout meeting. Griffin had stopped by the night before to get signed off on requirements for his first aid merit badge by his dad. “Where were you?” Griffin inquired. “Downstairs, asleep! My summer awake hours are 8 pm to 6 am.” As a parent listening to this conversation I was stunned that parents allowed their children to live this way. I asked a few questions. He explained that during the summer he plays Call of Duty with friend online at night. If he is up during “normal” hours he gets bored. Lucky for me Griffin thinks staying up all night to video game online is crazy.

As I reflected on this conversation, I got to wondering what my students are doing this summer. Before school got out, I surveyed my classes about what they were looking forward to during summer. Many responded with “TV, Video games or Movies.” Aren’t these things that students can do year round? Some did share about camping, sporting or trips to see family. A few responded with “Nothing”.  I guess I am lucky, I can spend most of summer at home with my kids. They read, write, and explore many things. This week they spent 3 days at Stony Creek Metropark attending a nature camp.

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Photo Credit: T Bloch

Our students need sumer activities to stimulate their minds, challenge their thinking and keep them busy. Yes, children need to have voice and choice in what they do. They need free time to explore on their own, but they also need structured time. Time to explore new things. Time to be challenged. If children only choose what they want to do, how broad will their experiences be? Some children love trying new things but others resist. Children need to be pushed into trying a variety of activities out. Often they find something new they enjoy! My son Gavin didn’t want to goto nature camp, he told me he would rather spend quality time with “Netflix” but he learned he likes making! After building a catapult he said: “Dad can I make a Robot?”

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Photo Credit: T Bloch

Society needs to make sure their are plenty of opportunities for students in the summer. Students should not be allow to just sit at home with screens as sitters. Many communities have camps at their churches or schools that offer this opportunity. Hopefully my students are taking full advantage of their summer! I will be tagging all my children’s summer learning with #summerlearningfun on Twitter and Instagram. Join me in shedding light on how our youth should use their open summer time to learn independently.

What would you do?

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

what-would-you-do

As class starts, I notice a couple of students in the back of the room focusing their attention to a yellow piece of paper. As a 4-minute video clip plays on the screen in the front of the classroom, I circle around to see what is diverting their attention. Incomplete math homework! Hmm, what should I do? I asked myself as I walked back to front of the classroom as the video wrapped up.

When I started teaching this behavior would have invoked anger in me. I would have quickly snatched up the papers and either ripped them up or passed them on to the assigning teacher to inflict a proper punishment. After 15 years in the classroom, I have realized this does not fix the issue of students focus or homework completion. What do most teachers do in this situation? I just want to make sure students didn’t miss the lesson on the periodic table. The video was an introduction to element groups. I felt it was engaging since Gallium is a pretty cool transition metal.

 

I had to make a quick decision. I asked the student to bring me their yellow papers and set them on my desk. I quietly shared my concern about missing the science lesson to finish math work. They both wanted to share excuses: “I didn’t feel well last night!” one exclaimed. I just asked them to return and focus on the task at hand. A bit later in class as students were working independently, I looked at their yellow math pages. I quickly noticed one student had no idea what they were doing and the other hadn’t shown any work. I called each of them up individually. First asking how they arrived at their answers to the first question. Neither one of the students could explain how to do the work. Both shared how they were confused with the assignment. One explained that he was ill the previous night the other confessed that sports practice obligations were taking precedence to his school work. Know that their math class was after lunch, I offered the the opportunity to complete the work during our lunch hour. Both students welcomed the invitation.

At lunch, we talked through the math equations. It seemed that students were not recognizing how to set up the ratio equations to properly solve them. After working through a few examples I made up about sports. Each of them independently worked through the 6 question assignment from the math teacher. As I checked over their work giving them high fives for success. “I though you were going to call my dad!” one exclaimed as he thanked me at the end of the lunch period and headed to math class with work completed in hand.

School needs to be a safe place! Even for those that make mistakes, forget to do their homework or are just plain lazy. Teachers need to focus on the individual students needs giving them time if needed to finish. Sure it is frustrating to have students focused on other classes in mine. I bubble of anger rises in my chest when I see students who seem to waste their time and never seem to have work completed. Does expressing this anger help these students? Not usually. Next time you encounter a similar situation, think about how you would like to be treated!

Starting Engaged 

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

Photo by T Bloch

The start of the school year is so important. Our start sets the tone for the entire school year. Many classrooms I have observed start year with an emphasis on rules and procedures. It is good to lay-out behavior expectations early on in your classroom but is the main goal for the first week of school? Shouldn’t we focus on engaging students? Don’t teachers want to give the message to students that learning in the classroom will be fun? Students should want to go to school for more than just their social contacts.

This year while I set expectations, I had the goal of starting with engagement in my classroom. No seating chart was made, I quickly called roll allowing students to sit in what ever seat they felt comfortable in. Each day of the four day first week after roll call I started class with a ten minute challenge. Students worked as team to complete challenge. I wandered the room watching students work and answered questions during the challenge. I was learning how my student interact, who took charge, who followed the lead and those that just watched others at work. Some groups found success, others experienced First Attempts In Learning (fail). Everyone was learning, especially me. My students we learning how to learn from failures and work as teams. I was learning about my students: how the interact and tackle tasks. Most of all my students were engaged.

The challenges:

Day 1 :

Materials- 1 piece of 8 x 11 paper   Ruler   Scissors   Textbook

Goal: Hold the textbook up one inch above the tables with only the paper supplies.

Day 2:

Materials: Paper, water, and google.

Goal: Make a cup that holds water out of paper:

Day 3:

Materials:  Paper bag, 4 straws, 1 paper cup, 1 piece of construction paper, 1 yard of tape, 1 yard of yarn, and a marble.

Goal: Support a marble as high off of the table as you possibly can.

Day 4 – Marshmallow Challenge


 

My students came into each day excited to tackle the next challenge. After day one when many were upset with not being able to succeed, student realized that failing was not their destination but a necessary stop for some on their learning journey. I feel I have now set an engaged tone to my classroom. Students come excited to learn. As a result of these activities many students have shared that they now love science, At open house every parent shared how their child was talking about what we were doing in the classroom. Hopefully we can maintain this excitement throughout the year,

Photo by T Bloch

Photo by T Bloch

#MSchat and @AMLE Twitter event 8-14-14 8 pm ET

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

#MSchat and AMLE are partnering up to bring another splendid Flipped Twitter event to the Twitter-verse, and I would love to have you all to join the conversation.  Much appreciation to Dru Tomlin from AMLE for providing great material for us to chat about and moderating the chat!

 

Here are the details:

  • What is it? Twitter Event at #mschat about Motivating Students in the Middle Level! 
  • What else?  Our conversation will be motivated by the “Motivating Students with Teachable Moments” article in the August edition of AMLE Magazine: http://www.amle.org/Portals/0/pdf/amle_magazine/fi/AMLEMag_Aug2014.pdf. In fact, as you can see, the entire AMLE magazine is available for AMLE Associate (FREE!) members. 
  • When?  Thursday, August 14th from 8-9pmET
  • Where? #mschat

Summer Learning AMLE Institute of Middle Level Leadership on Twitter

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

What are you doing this summer?

 

Top of my list is to take a break and get away from teaching to reflect on my year. Take time for myself and my family. After my top priority I do want to stay connected and learn a few things. There are so many wonderful Professional Development opportunities out there. For me I want something fast and personalized. Nothing too formal, possibly something I can do as a break from my relaxation. A quick mind turn on.

I would love to travel to a wonderful conference like the Association of Middle Level Educators Institute of Middle Level Leadership but it is not in my budget. The next best thing to being there is to connect with the conference online. AMLE is teaming up with #MSchat to bring to twitter connections to their leadership institute. SO take the opportunity to connect with the best and the brightest while you relax on you vacation!

     What is it? Twitter Event at #mschat about the importance of Middle Level Leadership during the AMLE Institute for Middle Level Leadership! 

·         When?  Monday, June 23rd from 8-9pmET and Monday, July 14th from 8-9pmET

·         Where? #mschat and #AMLELI14

Hope you can join us for a couple of hours of powerful inspired learning!