Term 2 Week 11 - blogging, web tools and "Teach Like a Champion"

Professional Readings

• What students want - information gleaned from student focus groups about what they want from school and their teachers and what they need to do themselves in order to succeed.

e-Learning Readings and Strategies

• Fostering Student Creativity and Responsibility With Blogging - When sixth graders enter middle school, they are masters of some aspects of digital technology and lost when it comes to others. Despite their familiarity with some digital technology, they often lack specific skills needed for interacting with particular digital tools and interfaces. Many of them also lack the perseverance necessary for troubleshooting tech issues. This blog post also has links to other readings and resources about using blogs in education.
• Summer PD: Web Tools Collectives Part 3 -- Collecting, Organizing and Making Sense of Information - Access to the Internet brings an almost unlimited amount of content to our fingertips. Effectively collecting, organizing, and making sense of this information is critical to learning. Ubiquitous access to information provides many opportunities and challenges for "formal" education systems. After all, what good is memorizing the atomic number for Iridium when you can just text Cha Cha? This blog post has lots of great ideas about how to teach and support students as they conduct research online.
• Edutecher newsletter for July 2011 - This "Mega-Newsletter" shares some great new tools and resources, but you can also learn more about all of the new apps they have just released and see some of what went on at the ISTE conference last week.

General Strategies

Teach Like a Champion — Technique Number Two: Right is right. This technique accepts no half answers, but asks for complete and correct answers to questions.

Term 2 Week 10 - how can I meet different learning needs in my classroom?

This Week and Upcoming Events
4 - 10 July - Maori Language Week - “Manaakitanga” as the theme for Māori Language Week 2011. According to the Chief Execuative of The Maori Language Commission, Glenis Philip-Barbara, "Manaakitanga is a very important tenet of Māori custom and identity - how we make people feel welcome when they are in our company, and how we give regard to and care for others when hosting visitors."

8 July - Red Socks Day - Red Socks Day will be held during Leadership Week on Friday 8th July – to encourage schools, organisations and individuals throughout New Zealand to celebrate leadership in action and to remember a great New Zealand leader, Sir Peter Blake.
11 July - World Population Day

Professional Readings

• Dealing with low level disruption in your classroom

Differentiation Readings and Strategies

• Still a long way to go on inclusion of pupils with autism, says report (UK)
• A short article - How can I meet differing learning needs in the classroom?
• Autism NZ website - The estimated population of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders in New Zealand is approxiamately 40 000. This website has information about Autism Spectrum Disorder including videos.
• Tools for Teachers of children with autism - According to recent studies the current prevalence for children on the autism spectrum stands at about 1 in 100 which equates to just under 134,000 children in the UK. This means that if you are not already teaching a child on the autism spectrum you are very likely to do so at some point in your career. As such it is important to have an awareness of autism spectrum disorders and how to implement strategies to enable children on the spectrum to access all aspects of school life and to reach their full potential. This toolkit is also saved on the T Drive (T:\Reflective Practice Group\2011)

General Strategies

Paula (PC) sent me the link to this blog by Jerry Webster, which summarises 49 Techniques from the book Teach Like a Champion: Instructional and Classroom Management Strategies for Academic Success. The strategies are divided into sections:

• Setting High Academic Expectations
• Planning that ensures academic achievement
• Structuring and delivering your lessons
• Engaging students in your lessons
• Creating a strong classroom culture
• Building and maintaining high behavioral expectations
• Building character and trust

Each week I will include a link on this blog to one of the strategies. Teach Like a Champion — Technique Number One: No opting out. Teachers with high expectations don't accept "I don't know," but expect students to be engaged and "give it a shot."