Group items tagged

"Performance Enhancing Drugs in Schools: How Big is the Threat to Kids? By Jeff Roberts on August 9, 2013 2 Comments Lance Armstrong. Ryan Braun. A-Rod. Marion Jones. Tim Montgomery. Tyson Gay. Bill Romanowski. Rafael Palmeiro. And so on … and so on. We've all heard the names. We're all familiar with the historic heights each of them achieved in their respective sports. And we have all witnessed their tragic, self-induced falls from grace.  Their respective careers are ruined. Their legacies disgraced. And, perhaps most tragically, all of the youngsters they once inspired are left confused and heartbroken. The worst part? The high-profile names mentioned here are a tiny fraction of the incredibly long list of professional and amateur athletes who have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Over the past decade, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has sanctioned cyclists and soccer players, water poloists and weightlifters, rowers, wrestlers, boxers and archers. And that's just a small sample of the offenders.   But when officials in Texas revealed last July that nine high school athletes tested positive for steroid use - and that just recently, scandal-ridden Biogenesis of America provided PEDs to high school athletes in Miami - the conversation became slightly more sickening. We were immediately filled with questions: What is the prevalence of PEDs in high schools? What types of PEDs are being used among high school athletes? What can be done to combat this trend? Let's answer these questions one by one. The prevalence of PEDs in high schools Roughly 3.2 percent of American high school kids - boys and girls - took steroid pills or shots without a doctor's permission at least once in their lives, according to the U.S. Department of Health's Youth Risk Behavior Survey published in June 2012. Bear in mind that the data collected reflects the 2011 school year and four U.S. states did not share data. Still, powerful co

"A Word About Reading Workshop Reading workshop gives students the opportunity to read a wider range of material than might be found in a basal reading series and to respond to the material in a many ways (Atwell, 1989). Teachers have used this rather broadly defined model to create various experiences for their students. Generally, a considerable block of time is set aside each day for reading workshop. During that time students typically engage in the following activities: * reading and responding to literature * having group minilessons on skills and strategies * participating in individual conferences with the teacher to review progress, receive individual instruction, and make plans for future activities * sharing reading responses with the group "

These sites have tips and examples for writing strong leads for paragraphs and structuring personal narrative writing. Students can learn how to capture and hold their readers' attention. There are classroom activities, online quizzes and exercises, and ideas to help writers develop their skills. Includes links to eThemes on grammar and interactive writing activities.

"Plot Structure Scenarios"

"The Story Map interactive includes a set of graphic organizers designed to assist teachers and students in prewriting and postreading activities. The organizers are intended to focus on the key elements of character, setting, conflict, and resolution development. Students can develop multiple characters, for example, in preparation for writing their own fiction, or they may reflect on and further develop characters from stories they have read. After completing individual sections or the entire organizer, students have the ability to print out their final versions for feedback and assessment. The versatility of this tool allows it to be used in multiple contexts."

Poetry Unit: cool unit with a lot of great ideas for performance assessments and learning activities

Unit 1: Poetry

Personification Lesson

Exploring poetry through film This activity is designed to enable students who have some understanding of film-technique to use this to develop and share interpretations of poetry.

Through the use of dramatic reading and the exploration of Internet resources, sixth- through eighth-grade students build a greater understanding of poetry and the poet's voice. Further, the experience requires students to analyze and develop their own interpretation of a poem's meaning and representation through performance. Extension activities involve students giving an oral poetry performance of their own poetry writing.

Figurative language is a tool that an author employs (or uses) to help the reader visualize (or see) what is happening in a story or poem. Some common types of figurative language are: simile, metaphor, alliteration, onomatopoeia, idiom, puns, and sensory language. Below are some ways to introduce these concepts to your class and some activities. There are also links to other sites for more help.

As a result of this activity, students will be able to recognize and use persuasive techniques.

Interactive Activity

Bring poetry to life in your school! These pages are specially designed to help you and your students to get the most out of the Poetry Archive. There are lesson plans and activities for all key stages and for the inclusive classroom. Poetry can enrich other areas of the curriculum too; there are ideas here for History teachers, and we will be adding material for other subject areas in the coming months. This is a growing, developing resource, so come back and visit regularly to see what's new. Our plans include a forum for teachers to discuss their experiences, as well as a space where you will be able to create your own teaching materials and share them with colleagues.

In this activity, students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details from the novel.

The Video Guide is a resource for both students and teachers to use as they explore the world of video. We hope you'll find these advice sheets, activities, glossaries, and more, useful whether you're just getting started or have already been using a video camera for a while.

This lesson encourages students to use skills and knowledge they may not realize they already have. A classroom game introduces students to the basic concepts of lobbying for something that is important to them (or that they want) and making persuasive arguments. Students then choose their own persuasive piece to analyze and learn some of the definitions associated with persuasive writing. Once students become aware of the techniques used in oral arguments, they then apply them to independent persuasive writing activities.

This is a collection of reviews of great books for kids, ideas of ways to use them in the classroom and collections of books and activities about particular subjects, curriculum areas, themes and professional topics.

"Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for K-4 students and teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Try the online interactive activities, or click below to find out how to get our engaging 15-minute video programs."

This would be great for grades 6 and 7

"These strategies are designed to help students and teachers engage in dialogue concerning pieces of literature. They are not designed as assessment devices, nor as products to turn in for a grade. They are designed to be done by students and then used to reflect on the reading experience and share ideas within a community of readers. It's not necessarily the activity itself, it's how it is carried out and used to promote invested discussions."