Saturday, January 17, 2009
Are You OK?
Friday, January 16, 2009
The Power of Blogs
Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer listed the top 50 educational blogs worldwide based on user engagement. He researched using input from several sources including Google searches, Alltop, and Technorati and then used Postrank to rank them. He did this project for a client, and approached it objectively, without any preconceived notions about who or which blogs would be on his list.
This ranking is also a significant success for the Reading Workshop students. It shows that this blog provides them with a worldwide audience. Their thoughts expressed as comments proved valuable to readers. Their experiences in Reading Workshop served as models for teachers and students.
Being number 1 is great, but sometimes being number 27 is okay too.
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Thursday, January 15, 2009
Who Needs Recess
2. Movement Melts Away Stress
3. Exercise Gives You Energy
5. Exercise Helps Ward Off Disease
6. Fitness Pumps Up Your Heart
7. Exercise Lets You Eat More
8. Exercise Boosts Performance
This sixth grade class is going to see the benefits of exercise, if they keep up the pace each day during recess.
Great job to the McGuire's Milers!
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Why Skimming Matters Most
On top of these tasks, the ever-present web filter blocked many search results, and students only had 30 minutes of class time. Even faced with all of these obstacles, many students found research results with statistics and facts to begin to build a convincing persuasive essay.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Twilight, For Only the Right Audience
Friday, January 9, 2009
Unbelievable Readers
Students from some of the other classes racked up the minutes:
Jessica 455 minutes
Emma 450 minutes
Kara 544 minutes
Makayla 520 minutes
Corbit 403 minutes
Ryan 511 minutes
Lily 685 minutes
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Thursday, January 8, 2009
Freak the Mighty - the Mightiest Read Aloud
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Getting in the Groove
Monday, December 29, 2008
What Makes a Good Teacher
with thanks to Doug Johnson for sharing his idea
1. Interpersonal skills trump professional skills.
Students like the teacher, like the class, and like school. This happens because they know the teacher values them and what matters to them. They can tell this because they are treated with kindness and respect.
2. Give students a job and let them do it.The teacher has faith in his students, respects their expertise, and lets them do their assignments without interference. Although he is there to help when they need it, students have the room to try new things, and can fail without being a failure. This makes the success students' success.
3. Be open and collaborative, but step in when needed.The teacher values opinions and ideas expressed by students. Discussion and disagreement are valued and used in the process of learning. However, a level of control is expected and maintained.
4. Be visible.The teacher talks to students, in the cafeteria, the hallway, on the way to the bus, between classes, and all of the non-class times.
5. Keep a sense of perspective.The teacher realizes school is about the students. Academics are important, but not the most important thing. The "test" is important, but not the most important thing.
6. Finally, be a decent human being.A single word to describe the teacher is "decent." The teacher doesn't lose his temper, put down a student, or treat anyone disrespectfully. His sense of humor is never far from the surface. He rarely accepts credit, but credits others for the school's wins. He is honestly humble and self-deprecating.
With this in mind, I thought about how this related to being a good classroom teacher. Now, I am not claiming to do these things--I am just thinking about goals for the new year (You don't suppose students will have to set goals, do you?) Wish me luck as I formulate my goals based on this list.
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Friday, December 26, 2008
Top 10 for 2008
Everyone loves the beach, and the favorite post of 2008 had to do with bikinis and highlighting.
Questioning courage was popular as discussed in the post, Courage, Do You Have It?
Two posts discussing the trends in reading and writing by teens were popular in Teen Writing, ru lol? and Is Surfing the Net Reading?
Everyone seemed to wonder, Do We Really Need Books?
Knowing What Doesn't Matter when you are reading was important to many readers.
Lots of people seemed to want to be Smarter Than a Seventh Grader, and read about how this helped students prepare for the Ohio Achievement Test.
Many students seemed to want to Be on the Road to Smarter.
The Where Am I's? were a favorite of last year's class with Where Am I #5 having 107 comments until Josh and Caleb nailed it down.
I Hate Reading and I Don't Hate Reading, two posts that discussed a student's struggle with how he feels about reading gathered a lot of interest.
Thanks to Alltop, which lists top educational news and blogs for placing The Reading Workshop on their site in October of 2008. Joanne Jacobs also shared posts from the blog. Hopefully everyone found at least one post that made it worth the time visiting . Thank you for reading!
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Sunday, December 21, 2008
Why No Rules is the Best Rule
I started thinking about how this relates to the classroom. A strict, law and order based classroom might work for some teachers and students, but for the majority it fits like a shirt collar that is too tight. It starts out causing a little irritation. As the day goes on, it begins to chafe more and more. By the end of the day, little else matters but to get free of the irritation and get on something more comfortable. Or, in the case of the classroom, get to some place more comfortable.
If you were to ask, I am sure all students would say they want to be treated fairly. But, this brings up the often argued point that being treated fair is not the same as being treated equal. No one could ever argue for treating students unfairly, but there are a lot of reasons for not treating all students the same. This would only work if all students were the same.
In Reading Workshop, there are only two rules:
If students follow these two rules, they will be successful. Every student I know of that followed these rules was successful. I think Red had it right--treat every
Thursday, December 18, 2008
What a 6th Grader Reads During Break
I have been reading Gordan Korman's Chasing the Falconers from the On the Run series aloud to his class. I am almost finished with the first book. I started grabbing books off of the shelf. He left the room carrying all six books in the series.
I looked up and Christian was watching us. He came up and said, "Mr. McGuire, can you recommend a book for the break?" In just a second, Christian headed back to his seat with the On the Run series in tow. He already had a Tucket book by Paulsen, but he is almost finished with that series.
While all this was going on, Rachael headed out to the book room. As she packed up to leave class, I checked out the stack of books she had picked up. She was all set with books from Joan Lowery Nixon.
Kyndrah, Bree, Peyton, Kara, and a couple of others are into the latest vampire craze and are reading the Twilight series.
Kayla and Jolene are the latest checking out the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I have Book 3, The Last Straw ordered and will get it when it is released on January 13.
All of these are great choices! BUT, the most important thing--just read! What are you going to read over the holiday break?
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Special thanks to Mrs. Bower for the reminder to load up on books before break!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Paulsen--Read Aloud, Reminiscing, and Rethinking
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The More You Do, the Better the Grade
B = 120 - 179 Minutes
C = 60 - 119 Minutes
F = 0-59 Minutes
Students online journal is scored using a rubric, but by writing more, they can drastically improve their score. The more detail in each entry, the more likely journals are to earn an A. Time in the classroom to write in journals is limited to about ten minutes. Students that are willing to spend additional time can obviously have more detailed entries. By having the journals online, students can work on journals anywhere they have Internet access, including during library and study hall classes.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Failure, and the Right to Succeed
So what is reasonable to expect from a student when they walk into Reading Workshop? Should I expect failure? Or better yet, demand it? Shouldn't students have the right to fail? Shouldn't students have the opportunity to fail? If I rush in as soon as a student struggles, it seems like there is no chance of failure. This means a there is a limited chance to succeed.
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Friday, December 12, 2008
Benefits of Blogging
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Thursday, December 11, 2008
Parent & Child Online Assignment
Please look over your child's online journal, answer questions on the sheet, and score the journal using the Online Journal Rubric.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Do We Really Need Books?
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The Age of Screenagers
Many educators are concerned about the adverse affects on students' writing. They feel that the slang, or casual language used extensively in texting and IM'ing will have long term detrimental affects on students' writing. Most seem to ignore the fact that kids today are writing constantly. In fact, putting thoughts into written words is part of the natural lives of kids today. Anyone who cannot share their thoughts through texting is at risk of becoming a social outcast.
Another concern is the constant focus on a screen. Although this has shown to have some merit, this has basically replaced other forms of entertainment such as hours spent watching TV. At least many of the hours spent today are somewhat interactive.
Another worry, especially at the secondary and collegiate level is how students spend class time texting instead of focusing on the lesson being taught. However, forward thinking instructors have begun to use this to their advantage by engaging students in real-time dialogue and assessment.
In many classes today, students are participating in online learning, web-based collaborative projects, and various other computer uses throughout their school day. Often students are much more motivated in class by the use of video and interactive Smart Boards.
Obviously, the screenagers of today have lifestyles, both in and out of the class that are much different than the traditional classes. Many educators are concerned about the long-term affects of these changes. Some of us though, are celebrating the advancement of education. Our goal is to open doors and encourage students to push forward using every tool available for a more interesting and challenging learning environment.
If you qualify age-wise, go for it. Become a Screenager!
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Monday, December 8, 2008
Students' Speak, Computers in the Classroom
Stay tuned, videos are on the way!
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