Oct

16

An easy way to help students get and stay organized

Filed Under Graphic Organizers, Learning Strategies, Organization, Special Education, Useful Handouts | 2 Comments 

uploaded by steel wool

Some students have great difficulty gettng and staying  organized while others seem to have no problem at all.  I’m always looking for ways to make organizing seem easy so my students will do it , and I think I’ve found a way.  I’ve created a chart “I Will Organize One Thing Today Chart” that I adapted from something I saw called “I will do one thing”.  I’m going to have my students who need organization coaching to give this a try. Come to think of it, maybe I’ll have all my students in my Advanced Learning  Strategies Class do this on a regular basis.  I’ll let you know what happens in a couple of weeks.  Let me know how it works if you give it a try or if you have something that you else that use that’s quick, easy and effective.

Oct

15

Blog Action Day Poverty: The lack of emotional support is a form of poverty that flies under the radar

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Special Education, The Way I See It | Leave a Comment 

This past Monday October 13, 2008 was Thanksgiving here in Canada, a time for reflection and giving thanks. I’ve got lots to be thankful for - a loving, supportive family, good friends, excellent health, a roof over my head, food on the table and a job I love. Yes, I have lots to be thankful for, but not everyone can say that.

Many people for any number of reasons find it difficult to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. The homeless shelters and food banks attest to that. But, there’s more than one kind of poverty. I’m thinking about all those kids I see whose parents work long hours, shift work or even two jobs to provide the necessities of life. These kids may have the material support they need in the form of food, clothing, shelter, and even ipods, cell phones and other digital toys. But, what some of these kids lack is emotional support from their parents. They hardly see their parents at all to talk to them about things that parents and kids need to talk about because their parents are at work or have problems themselves like alcoholism or mental health issues that make them emotionally unavailable to their kids-a sad state of affairs to say the least. I’m not blaming parents. I’m just saying the way it is.

I see kids who lack emotional support from their parents in my classroom all the time. These kids are from all socio-economical levels-rich, middle class and poor. Some of these kids act out in class, skip school, fail, or get into trouble in the community, turn to gangs or even worse.

Schools are expected to pick up the pieces because kid’s won’t succeed in school if they don’t get the emotional support they need. So there we are trying to give the kids the emotional support they need and trying to teach the curriculum at the same time. Both take time. Time which we really don’t have.

Every week the Student Success Committee at our school meets, and we as a group put our heads together to try to find ways to provide the emotional support these “at-risk” kids need. We look for ways teachers can support these kids. We look for ways the community can support kids. We look for ways we can support parents. Sometimes kids are really lucky, and we find mentors in the community that can spend time with the them and influence them positively like the boxing coach that not only spent time with the student but also checked his homework.

Yes, poverty comes in many forms. The lack of emotional support is a form of poverty that flies under the radar but has serious negative consequences. I see these consequences everyday,
and it makes me sad. What am I going to do about it? Well aside from participating in The Blog Action Day on poverty and make people aware of the problem , I am going to continue to find ways to give kids and their parents the support they need. Being a teacher is a tough job, but being a parent is an even tougher job, and we need to support one another.

Oct

8

See and hear how Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve student learning

Filed Under Computers In The Classroom, Web 2.0 tools and technologies, motivating students | 2 Comments 

Have you ever wanted to find out more about something and wanted to attend a conference that would help you do that, but it was half way across the country and there was no way you could get the time to go?

Have you ever wanted to attend a conference but found that there wasn’t any money left in the budget for this year?

If that’s you, then you’re like me. I’ve missed some great conferences for those reasons. But, fortunately this time there’s no problem attending the next conference I want to go to to learn more about something that I’m really interested in. Why? Because, it’s free and it’s on line.

I want to learn more about using the Web 2 tools and technologies to improve my students’ learning. I’m already using some Web 2 tools and technologies, but I want to hear and see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms. I want to have those conversations with people from all over the country, even better from all over the world. Now I can!

The k12 OnLine Conference 2008 lets me do that and more. What could be better! I’ve been wanting to use video in my classroom. I even bought an Ultra Flip camera because it’s an easy to use point and shoot camcorder that you just plug into the computer and there you are. Mathew is doing a session “Film School for video podcasters” that I’m especially interested in. There’s lots more going on.

Take a closer peek at the poster above and see for yourself. Just click on it , and it will take you the conference link where there’s more information.

I can hardly wait.

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