CSMFall2014

This article is about the gender inequality in those high school students who chose not to pursue PE classes once they are no longer compulsory. It states that a very high number of girls chose to not continue with physical education classes. This leads to less physical activity as they get older and an increased likelihood of obesity as an adult.

Interesting! Please make sure to include three questions.

This article says that to improve the culture in your classroom you should try gratitude. One of the most important lessons in life is to have a positive attitude, especially during challenging situations in your life. Positive draws positive. Negative draws negative. Let's be positive. * Do you think gratitude and positive attitudes improve the lives of students and adults? * Would you consider having your students keep a 'gratitude journal' in your class? * What are some ways you could draw positive energy into your classroom? Laurie Hoepner

love

This is an article written by the national education association. It is based on how to control a classroom with unruly students. It is written about a first year teacher and how she gained confidence within her classroom and firmly established rules and boundaries. It also talks about the importance of relationships and understadning your students. 1. What is your main tactic for establishing rules and bondaries that first year teaching? 2. Who do you know you can go to for help managing an unruly classroom? 3.What do you think is the hardest thing when it comes to classroom management as a first year teacher and as a veteran teacher?

This is so important! Great article!

This instructor "literally" hung paint cans on her wall! She broke the common core into six "buckets" or categories and put paint sticks into each bucket with activities on them. Her goal is to make the "standards come alive and empower her students to become autonomous thinkers." Its worth the 10 minutes, it gives all instructors something to think about incorporating into their classroom!

A great visual for students! Thanks for sharing!

I think that this article does a straight forward job of addressing the need to bring social studies back into the core curriculum. The article says, although some may not agree, social sciences help to teach kids about who they are, where they've come from, and how to interact in public. Social sciences also teach our students how to be good citizens and what their rights are. Taking this away or diminishing its importance leads to apathy and illiteracy in terms of social and political economics. Lastly, the article states that a lot of kids may actually like social science and that there are jobs out their in the social science and economic fields and that turning away from social science in school could strongly deter those kids from pursuing those fields.

Love this article! You know I agree! Make sure to add three questions.

This article provides a compelling infograph showing how important individualized learning can be and its impact, not only to the student but to our country, financially. Just imagine, if we raised our students' math scores to the level of Canada's students' math scores, we would increase our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $77 trillion over 80 years, which is the equivalent of raising everyone's paycheck by 20% every year. 1) How could we implement personalized learning in today's educational system? 2) Are there variations of personalized learning that we could implement today without radically overhauling our current system? 3) Does knowing how higher math scores can dramatically improve a student's wage earning ability, and dramatically improve our country financially, change your perspective on the importance of students being proficient in math?

Go Math, Go! interesting!

This article addresses the issue of teacher burnout and a solution to help treat and minimize it. The article suggests that relieving one's stress for a short period each day goes a long way in avoiding burnout. 1) Should all teachers be required to participate in a short training to teach them mindfulness and stress relieving techniques? 2) What techniques do you use to destress and how can incorporating mindfulness improve them? 3) How would taking time to destress through mindfulness effect your classroom performance?

It's that time of year. You'll always see LOTS of teacher burnout/teacher slump articles written in November :)

This article is for teachers who have led a class discussion, but lack feedback from introverted students. Introversion deals with how a person responds to outside stimulus, and is not connected to shyness or social skills. Introverts thrive when given alone time to think, so to help an introverted student brainstorm in the classroom, the author suggests including more individual thinking time. - What can we as educators do to make introverted learners feel appreciated and at ease in our classrooms? - How can quiet thinking time benefit introverts as well as extroverts? - How can teachers balance the needs of both extroverted and introverted learners in their classrooms?

Great article! This will be valuable information as you begin teaching.

This article talks about reading with the common core standards of reading more difficult and non-fiction texts in schools. In one particular classroom, the teacher asks intelligent questions about a non-fiction piece of work and the students find the answers within the text, a non-fiction piece of reading. Students read the required texts together and illustrate the research that children gain the most from reading difficult texts rather than easy ones. Instead, children read texts under their reading level for fun. The required reading is both interesting and challenging enough for the higher level students. Choosing reading below level for entertainment allows the students to get a sort of brain break, and still be able to engage with a difficult text during class with a fresh perspective. I think this article demonstrates another positive view of the common core in reading and how it can improve children's reading scores. 1. What elements of common core are Nebraska teachers not benefiting from because the state has not adopted common core? 2. How can secondary language arts teachers a common core standard of reading more non-fiction into their classrooms? 3. Who is more responsible for introducing non-fiction texts? Language Arts? History? Social Sciences? Science?

Interesting article! Great questions!

Learning that incorporates student choice provides a pathway for students to fully, genuinely invest themselves in quality work that matters. When students participate in learning design this allows students to make sense of content on their own terms. There are times when students are able to research their interests and independently projects. Student voice, student choice is very important in classrooms. 1- How hard is it to have student voice, student choice in a classroom? 2- How do you accommodate to all of the different student voices and choices? 3- How can we have student voice, student choice in classes that have to follow strict standards?

Love! My classroom philosophy is "student voice/student choice"

This article talked about the current trend of school districts cutting PE classes, recess and intramural sports to give students more time in the class to help increase test scores. The article is of the opinion that this is the complete opposite of what research has shown works. Students need quality fitness based PE classes at least three days a week, if not every day, in order to help their brains connect to their bodies and do better. 1) How can we continue to incorporate quality PE without taking from core classes? 2) Are we considering the epidemic of childhood obesity when looking at the overall school structures in states and districts? 3) Why are we going in the complete opposite direction from 35 years ago when it comes to Physical Education?

Great article choice! Great questions!

Little attention has been given to absenteeism in schools. A new report finds that many students miss up to a month of school a year and it effects their test scores tremendously. It can set students back by 1 to 2 years, even more so for special education students. 1. How do we as teachers effect student absenteeism? 2. On a bus stop I drive by everyday, it says, "The solution to truancy is A(p)parent." How can we get parents to be involved with their kids in school? 3. What classroom practices can we have in place to help students to miss class? For example, my cooperative teacher has a blog students can pull information from if they miss class and she requires them to do so.

Student absenteeism is a reality we face in schools. Great questions!

This article focuses on the importance of including literacy in all content areas. Literacy is described here as the ability to write, speak, and read. Literacy is an "every century" skill that should be being taught and practiced across all content areas. 1. What role does literacy play in your practicum classroom? 2. How could you add literacy into your content area, assuming that you are not going to teach language arts? 3. Do you agree that literacy is the responsibility of ALL teachers? Why or why not? -Shannon Walker

Thanks, Shannon for signing your article :) Great questions, good summary!

Zachary Christie, a 6-year-old first grader in Delaware brought a camping utensil along with his lunch. The tool included a folding fork. Unfortunately for Zachary, it also included a folding knife. He was sentenced to 45 days in the district's alternative school. His parents fought for this to change and it was reduced to only a 3- to 5-day suspension. The school districts policy also changed to a 3-5 day suspension for students caught with dangerous instruments, if they are in kindergarten or first grade. Parents who encounter this should not be a stranger, know the rules, prep your child(ren), speak up, and lobby against zero tolerance. 1- Why would parents allow students to bring questionable items like this to school? 2- Should schools punish students that are this young for bring something dangerous to school that parents should have stopped at home? 3- Is the new school policy fair?

So interesting! Great summary and questions.

This article is about wanting students to move in class. Energizing Brain Breaks help students to be active in class and get refocused and refreshed. This article offers 1-2 minute brain and body breaks that are simple to implement in your classroom. They are perfect for your students as a transition exercise. What positive/negative affects can brain breaks have for the classroom? What amount of time would provide the most affective brain breaks? Why do you think that? Do you think brain breaks would be easy to implement in your classroom? Why or Why not?

This is especially important for secondary students. Good article! Good questions to consider.

The views Whoppi Goldberg started a wildfire when made this statement on air, "To me, bad teachers don't do anybody any good. So the union needs to recognize that parents aren't going to stand for it anymore. And you teachers in your union, you need to say these bad teachers are making us look bad. We don't want it. You and the parents can make this change." This article discusses the backlash from teachers and it asks the question what are some of the characteristics that makes a teacher "bad" or good. They also give a list of twelve different ways you can spot a bad teacher in your school. In your own mind what constitutes a "bad" teacher? Does mentoring help new teachers? What would you do if you observed a teacher exhibiting these "bad" behaviors listed in the article?

Awesome summary-interesting article. Great questions :)

To best prepare students for an increasingly technological society, there is a push to teach computer science, including coding skills. Exposing students to HTML, CSS, and web design at an early age sets students up for success by teaching them critical thinking and problem solving skills. There are many online resources that teachers can use to introduce students to coding. - How to budget constraints affect computer science classes? - How are Omaha school systems changing their curriculum to prepare students for an increasingly technology-based workplace? - Can coding be incorporated into other classes? How can we as teachers encourage students to explore computer science careers? - Emily Davidson

Great summary and excellent questions!

You will find some great points regarding some hot trends in education in this article. Parents will be seeing their children using more technology and requiring more screen time to finish projects. Educators need to keep in mind technology adds no value to the classroom, students still need printed items to complete their learning. The new trend is the flipped classroom, where students watch lectures at home and students spend more time collaborating, discussing, and work on homework in class. 1. Do you think the flipped classroom will become a new trend in the near future? 2. How will the flipped classroom affect how you teach? How will it affect your objectives and seven structures? 3. How can you effectively incorporate technology in your classroom add value to learning?

I have seen these issues come up recently in our district. Good summary and great questions to think about!

STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education is seen by many as the answer to the shortage of candidates in high tech fields. The author argues that multiple perspectives are important, and that creative thought leads to innovation. The arts are more than just an enjoyable pastime at school. 1. How can we make sure schools see the importance of art education? 2. Can art be tied into science, math, and technology to expand all areas? 3. As an art teacher, can I make real-world connections for my students?

I agree! Great choice for your article. Good summary and great questions!

This article discusses how new trends in education have an influence on teacher dissatisfaction resulting sometimes in good teachers leaving the teaching profession. While new teaching techniques and software programs (trends in education) are listed as contributing to the problem experienced by the teacher at the focus of the article, the teacher herself could overcome these obstacles, but for her feeling unappreciated in the new teaching environment. The teacher in question has been teaching for 20+ years in an economically disadvantaged community and has recently received awards for her excellence in teaching. Discussion questions: 1. Is the desire in the educational field to embrace the latest technology and educational trends causing unnecessary stress on highly qualified and experienced teachers? 2. Is the story described in the article an anomaly or a symptom of a greater issue related to the need of administrators to meet test scores and other exterior goals for the school? 3. Given the countless lessons and student interactions represented by teachers of the length of service and caliber of the teacher in the article, should our schools make efforts to cultivate their experience into new instructional models, providing the teacher with a sense of contribution and the instructional system a grounding in historical relevance?

Perfect! Great summary and questions