Aug
23
Blog-podge of Ideas 1
August 23, 2008 | Tagged communication, first day of school, inspirational, life lessons, organization | Leave a Comment
I want to become the best teacher I can possibly be, so I’m looking for a lot of different ideas. I really liked the following four blogs (History is Elementary; The Early Years; Open Wide, Look Inside; and Teaching With Technology), so I think what I’m going to do is not only include ideas and thoughts from books or magazine articles I’ve read, and classes I’ve taken; I’m also going to link and cut and paste articles from these blogs (time is of the essence, so rather than summarize them, I’m just taking excerpts and linking to the actual articles!) Here’s my first (self-coined!) Blog-podge:
From History is Elementary: For parents who have children with grades below 70 this midterm note from me is not the first time they have ever heard from me. I would have already contacted them during the second or third week of school to voice my concern.
It is ludicrous to believe that you can garner a parent’s support and partnership by remaining silent for four weeks, and then allow a midterm report to express that a student is having problems.
From The Early Years: So many times I wish I had everything I need to do an activity with my five classes of two to five-year-olds—all in a kit. Managing materials in a way that doesn’t distract from the concept being explored, but keeps it foremost in the children’s attention, can be tricky. Because young children won’t wait for the teacher to find the bag of cotton balls or some other piece of equipment, I try to have everything in a box or on the table. (I think this can be applied for 1st or even 2nd graders too!)
From Open Wide, Look Inside: To get ready for school we’ve been reading a bit about what school is like for kids in other countries. It’s Back to School We Go!: First Day Stories From Around the World, written by Ellen Jackson and illustrated by Jan Davey Ellis, provides a wonderful introduction to schooling around the world.The book opens with a world map that highlights the countries that are featured. On each double-page spread that follows, a child is introduced through a first-person narrative of their school day on the left page, while interesting facts about children in that country are presented.
From Teaching With Technology: A inspirational and all-around fantastic Youtube video about risks, failure, and learning.
