Group items tagged

Here is a rubric that can be used for students in classroom discussions

Great discussion activities

I used this site when I taught English in Ramsey to provide students with sound basis for arguments in class. At the very least it can provide you with a host of topics for students to write about and discuss.

"Now that we're aware ChaCha exists, I can assure you that we will begin discussion of a formal policy to prohibit cell phone use in classes," said Gerard O'Sullivan, vice president for academic affairs at Neumann College in Delaware County, Pa. He said most professors already prohibited cell phone use in class.

Great stat if you are looking to start a discussion on poverty in the U.S. I don't know the source behind the data yet, but I am trying.

excellent source of student-ready news to base research or discussion off of.

List of art teachers who are writing about their experiences in the classroom and sharing resources.

William Cole's rationale on why laptops are not allowed in his law classes.

This one might make for a good discussion.

Have your students create comics.

Quick definition of Fishbowl method.

What do you think of this? For the best part of the article, be sure to read the comments.

Interesting article and comments but it all just makes me mad. I work to hard everyday and spend to much time away from my baby to hear constant criticisms about teaching, especially when I go above and beyond to put everything online yet no one ever looks at it. Great now I"m annoyed Thanks Pat :) LOL not your fault.

Danielle, Sorry about that; the intent was not to upset you, but rather to let everyone see that there is a balancing act that is going on all over the country. One of the commentors stated that "this is here to stay, so everyone get used to it," and while I didn't appreciate his or her closed tone, he or she has a point: it's here. Finding a balance between what is communicated, how it is communicated, and how to best maximize the time we spend doing the communicating in addition to the lives that we lead outside of school is now a huge issue. It is now a major discussion point in many of the meetings I attend, and I think the answer will come out after we muddle through it for a little while. There are so many new changes this year regarding openness and transparency, I think we will find that balance after a bit of trial and error with it.

These could easily be adapted for Moodle discussion boards.

Take a look at the annotations I made. To do this, you must have Diigo installed via Firefox. I think that might be our new project for the year--annotating articles for discussion at meetings.

K. Fisch's response to comments from a previous post about using real student names when they publish work online. Compelling argument for full transparency.

K. Fisch's response to comments from a previous post about using real student names when they publish work online. Compelling argument for full transparency. This is a good question to discuss at our August Meeting.

What do you think of this?

Danielle, That's precisely the question I want everyone thinking about. We truly focus so much of our energies on getting the format down and getting the "i's" dotted and "t's" crossed, and for many of the students we teach, that is completely necessary; however, as we begin to look at the next phase of what we'd like to do in the district which includes more than just being "proficient" on some state test, can we blend some of the thinking in this post into what we are doing. And as for making people angry, my advice is that you don't get the results you really want without making a few people angry along the way. Not that you try to, but when you know that what you are doing will make your students better, you just go with it.

Pat - I'd love to share this post with the kids or incorporate parts of it. I have to say that the best writing that the kids have done is usually the writing they do when we're in class and they just write. One of the hardest parts of teaching English is having to read 130 well constructed essays that follow the rubric but are so dry and boring that I have to restrain myself from stabbing my eyes out with my pen. It all goes back to the fact that in our H.S. the kids can write a great 5 paragraph essay or write persuasively but they have NO VOICE and I feel that the stress on structure and grammar could be why they have no voice. Interesting - we should discuss this a bit at our next Connections meeting!

This author brings up the question that I've wrestled with before: just because we can, does it mean that we should? Or should our abilities always go to make us more human?

Did you watch the "This American Life' cartoon? That is exactly what you are describing, where even the premise of creating news shows altered how kids behaved in the face of a situation that called for social action. It raises the question for me of "should the kids know more how to operate the high tech camera, or when to step out from behind it and act?"

Yeah I watched the cartoon and saved it in hopes that I can show it to my students one day and have that discussion. I think they NEED to know how to step out and act - being a good person and citizen should always be number one and if they do that then they will use their technology for the best things! I love these diigo posts - thanks!