Lessons in Carols

No part of today’s Wednesday email has any educational value. It is purely for silliness and fun. Feel free to sing the songs to the original tunes in your head – or out loud. Hey. It’s almost Winter Break. You can get a little squirrelly too. The kids sure are

“O Come-On Vacation”

(to be sung to “O Come All Ye Faithful”)

O, Come-on, Vacation

Joyful and triumphant

O, come Me, o come Me

To Wi-iii-nter Break!

Come and sleep in and

Ignore all the email

O come let us adore it

O come let us adore it

O come let us adore ii-it

Wi-ii-nter Break!

Rudoloph The Tired Teacher

(To be sung to “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer”)

You know Jayden and Aiden and Kevin and Jackson,

Lilly and Abbey and Diamond and Addison

But do you recallllllll

The most tired teacher of all?

Rudolph the tired teacher

Had a very crazy class

And if you ever saw it

You would only see few pass

All of the other teachers

Seemed to give exams with ease

Kids never let poor Rudolph

Get through any review games!

Then one cool December Day

Teacher had to say

(“No! No! No!”)

“Children, I know you’re so bright!

Won’t you study just tonight?”

Then how the children loved him

And they shouted out with glee

(gucci!!!)

“Rudolph the tired teacher

You taught me some his-to-reeee!”

God Rest Ye Merry Teachers

(sung to “God Rest Ye  Mrry Gentlemen”)

God rest ye merry teachers

Let none get in the way

Remember our vacation

Starts on Saturday.....

To save us all from stress and kids

When we get to go away

O tidings of comfort and joy

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy!

Teacher Song

(sung to Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song”)

When you feel like the only adult in town

Who can’t leave work earl-yyyyy

Here’s a list of people who were teachers

Just like you and me

Alexander Graham Bell taught the sophmore-ahs

So did Sting, Robert Frost, and the late LBJ-ah

Guess who eats together in the teachers’ lunchroom?

Jon Hamm from Mad Men and Art Garfunkel

Sheryl Crow was a teacher, Gene Simmons, too

Put them together, what a musical teacher too!

You don’t need long lunches or expensive, fancy bree

Cause you can empathize with Steven King and Mr. T -- both teachers

Shut down your gradebook

Close your textbook too

Former president Barak Obama-kah

Was a professor too.

OJ Simpson?

Not a teacher (!!)

But guess who was? Harry Potter author JK Rowling!

We got Sylvester Stallone and author Dan Brown

Billy Crystal was a teacher -- told kids to calm down!

Tell your friend Veronica

It’s time for vacation-akah

I hope I get a harmonicah

Oh this lovely vacation-akah

So drink your water-tonic-akah

And rest while you yawn-akah

If you really really wannakah

Have a happy happy happy vacation-akah!

Have a wonderful, joyful, restful break!

See you in the new year!

-Tracy

 

It's the Most Craziest Time fo the Year

It’s that time of year. Midterms and holidays and review games and weird schedules.

It’s also a time for questions. Not big, existential questions. Practical, survival, get-out-from-under-the-to-do-list questions. Questions like

• How much content can I possibly cover before the test?
• How much of this are they really going to remember?
• How can I get everything graded before vacation?
• What the heck am I going to do for the rest of next week with the classes who have already tested?
• Can I get midterm grades done early so I don’t have to work on that Trade Day?
• Who the heck scheduled a Winter Concert/ Christmas Dance/PBIS Activity/Field Trip this week?
• Don’t they know how little instructional time I have?

And also

• How am I going to find time to cook that dish for the staff potluck?
• Who IS my secret santa?
• When do I have to turn in those gifts for the underprivileged kids?
• How am I going to get all this laundry done before I leave on vacation?

Questions are important. Survival questions (get-through-the-day questions) are just as important as deep, critical thinking questions.

Actually, I might argue that those are MORE important.  

If you remember back to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, as humans, we need to take care of our physical needs first -- food shelter, etc.

This pyramid reads from the bottom up

The next thing we need are safety needs -- the feeling of safety, usefulness, necessary resources.

After those two things are satisfied, then we can connect to other humans -- friends, family, teachers, peers, community.

Finally, after those three categories -- physical, safety, and love/belonging are satisfied -- ONLY AFTER those are satisfied, then a kid can can work toward esteem (doing things that will make him proud of himself, getting recognition or good grades) and toward self-actualization (the desire to be something greater than he is now, future goals).

Boy, it’s a crazy time of year for us teachers

It’s also a crazy time of year for kids. Especially ...

• kids who get most of their nutrition from school and who might not get that over break.
• Florida kids who don’t have coats (or who outgrew last year’s coats)-- which are actually necessary sometimes during this time of year.  
• kids who live with one parent and are about to spend the holidays with the other.
• kids who aren’t getting along with their siblings or parents and who now have to spend a whole lot of time with them.

Just a reminder -- there is a lot going on in kids’ lives this time of year. I know you-the-teacher are stressed and exhausted and maybe fighting off that cold (again! still!).

But remember that it’s a rough time of year for some kids, too. And you don’t always know which kids are dreading winter break and which are looking forward to it. Kids often cover that stuff up.

Think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs -- in your own life and in the life of your students. Take care of your own physical, safety, and relational needs so you can get to the upper part of the pyramid. And remember that your students may need a little help with those lower levels on the needs too. They might not be trying to rock that midterm grade if they’re super cold or hungry or angry.

How can we remember to take care of our kids -- and be aware of their needs as we get into the most ...craziest time of the year?

As always, email me! newmantr@pcsb.org

-Tracy

Review Dos and Don'ts -- and a game for the Brave

It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year!!

Yes, it’s REVIEW TIME!!!

Yup! It’s the time of year when all your darling little classroom elves swear that they have never before seen that content you are reviewing form October!

I know that most people either love or hate review games. So, in the spirit of holiday lists, let’s look at some Review Dos and Don’ts.

DO: Do make it fun (kids are more likely to participate AND are more likely to remember what they’re reviewing)

DON’T: Don’t make kids do a giant packet. That’s boring and kids are less likely to do it (and less likely to actually learn anything from it).

DO: Use higher order thinking! If the assessment is all over the DOK, then your reviews need to be all over the DOK.

DON’T: Don’t give all recall-level review. Because then kids just memorize stuff short-term and they don’t actually learn it long-term!

DO: Do use the benchmarks to guide your review.   

DON’T: Don’t just give the kids the questions to study.  That’s dumb. They all get good grades and they don’t learn anything real.

DO: Do give them the topics/benchmarks and help them PRACTICE different levels of thinking with the topics/benchmarks.

Ok -- let’s check out a new Review Game. It is NOT for the faint of heart!

You’re going to need to buy a couple of flyswatters....

Prep:

1.      Create/compile a list of vocab terms – and examples or non-examples of each. These examples could be much like the stimuli on their assessment, quotes, excerpts, images, etc. (I wouldn’t use straight definitions because students will memorize them and it won’t be higher order thinking and it won’t help them much on their EOC or final)

2.      Post the words on a wall/bulletin board that kids can access.  (not your SMARTBOARD!). Hall might be a good option if your room is too small

3.      Put a tape line on your floor that The Swatters need to be behind, a foot or two   away from the wall.

4.      Divide class into two equal groups and line them up behind each other and sit or stand in order.

Play:

5.   Explain to the class that each team will have the first student in line “play” at a time. When they have completed their turn, out of the two teams, the first student to “swat” the correct answer gets the point for his or her team. When the student is done with his or her turn, that student goes to the end of the line.  

6.   All students in line need to listen to the example since they might get a different example for the same word. They will listen better if they know they’re hearing “clues” about a word they might get.

7.   Read the example or non-example to the group. (Be clear if it is a NOT example). The two students with the fly swatters listen to the example.

8.   The first student to swat the correct term gets the point for his or her team.

9.   The team with the most points wins.

Benefits of Swatter Game:

·         Students examine multiple facets of a concept or vocab term.

·         Students are listening to usage and application of their vocab terms and practicing using and applying those terms.

·         Active and engaging activity.

Watch Out For:

Ø Kids struggling to remember terms. Maybe let them use their notes?

Ø Kids acting up in line.  Maybe take away points for teams not listening? Or remind students that if the Swatter can’t hear the hint he or she can’t get the point.

Ø Kids swatting each other.  The child who uses a flyswatter on another child is instantly removed from the game, his team loses points, and you use the discipline consequence for that kid that you would normally use. Please don’t punish the entire class for one kid who acts like a fool.

Soooo ... Are YOU brave enough for the flyswatter game? If so, let me know how it goes!! Email me at newmantr@pcsb.org

-Tracy

A Tale of Two News Shows

I know YOU know that people are often judged based on their choice of news outlets. “I don’t believe the liberal media” or “he heard that on Fox News”.

Did you know that this isn't new? Before the US Civil War, there were separate mailed newspapers that went to people with different political views. This whole Fox News vs. MSNBC thing isn’t new. There were entire newspapers devoted to journalistic obliteration of Andrew Jackson and entire newspapers devoted to supporting him. Often the separate newspapers were actually funded entirely and openly by political parties!

There are always multiple views on any issue, particularly on political and social “hot topics”.. There are always different ways to look at an issue or an event.

Just ask four different kids about the most recent campus fight and you will get four different stories. Add in the AP or nearby teacher or hall monitor and you have another set of stories.

Then, wait a week and ask about that fight again. Chances are, with time and perspective, that you will have some slight variations on that fight.

Then, ask someone’s mom. Or a student from another school. And you will get yet another side to the story.

Finding the middle ground between multiple sides of the story is what CORROBORATION is all about.

Corroboration is about establishing what is most probable by comparing the documents together. It recognizes disparities between accounts.

How can I teach my kids to look at corroboration between documents and accounts?

Here are some good prompts/questions to use to help kids dig into the corroboration...

• What do other documents say?
• Do the documents agree? If not, why?
• What are other possible documents?
• What documents are most reliable?
• The author agrees/disagrees with . . .
• These documents all agree/ disagree about . . .  
• Another document to consider might be . . .

This is, again, a Civic Literacy skill. It’s a reading skill. It’s what Common Core asks for. It’s what the LAFS ask for. It’s what the FSA asks kids to demonstrate. It’s what we want our voters to do. IT’s what we want ALL citizens to do -- not just the “advanced” kids or the “magnet kids” or the college-bound.

We want ALL kids to understand and master the skill of corroboration!

How can we continue to give kids intentional practice corroborating? As always, I love to hear from you! Email me at newmantr@pcsb.org

-Tracy