Teachers and Technology

   

 those of us who know technology in the classroom is the way to go -- but have much to learn ourselves -- here's an excellent article on just that topic. Perhaps the next generation of teachers will simply enter the classroom and do it all. For the rest of us, these articles help guide us.

Reading Nonfiction Gives Major Boost In Reading Development

     I cheered when I saw this New York Times article, a study that seemed to show -- at least, for a first examination -- that helping children read nonfiction has a far lasting impact on their reading achievement. I've suspected this for some time. Quality literature is a must for a literate society, and it opens the reader to other lifestyles, other personalities, other human desires and thoughts. But too much of the reading textbooks are filled today with mediocre fiction. Why waste the children's time, this study suggests, when instead they could be adding to their prior knowledge through nonfiction?
    It will be interesting to find out if this is some statistical error or, in fact, nonfiction reading has much more to offer our students than once thought.

Story Pirates and Writing

     In New Jersey a group of very talented improvisation actors inspire school children to write their own plays, encourage students to submit their own plays to their troupe, and they return later in the year to put on some of those very plays. Definitely, most definitely, this will inspire students to see a purpose for their writing, a direction for themselves. Surely many towns have such actors who can do the same. Though I love when various groups visit our school -- or our students visit the children's theater here -- how valuable would such an activity be in our own schools. The actors get a paycheck, the teachers get direction and inspiration for their writing, and the children -- the children write and write and write.
     What a delightful idea all around.

Charting Who Will Fail, Who Will Not - And Acting On It

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in North Carolina is tracking how their students are doing, looking for early signs that may lead to school failure. They have a "risk-factor scorecard,"and as they see signs that hint at later failure, the school moves in. Monitoring begins in elementary school. Very proactive, a wonderful idea. Most schools I've worked in have child study teams of some sort, but if I read this correctly, this district doesn't wait until the child is heading toward special education but rather just a child who needs monitoring, extra observing, a cautious eye. Great idea.

For Teachers: Project-Based Link

It seems as if we are all huge fans of project-based learning, and when given the chance, we find our students blossom. Here's a link to masses of project-based ideas.

Okay, right after testing...

Great Source for Quick Photo Searches

I just ran across this great photo searcher, Photo Pin. The best part about it is it searches the Creative Commons section of Flickr, so the photos it finds for you are fine for use (just as long as you aren't using them for profit). I won't be using it right now, but the photos I pulled up (at least the ones I found) look quite professional.

Websites for Children

Many teachers and parents already use Starfall.com for reading activities for beginning readers. I just  ran across pbskids.org and kbears.com (knowledge bears) that seem to engage children, as well.

I must say I am still disappointed I can't find anything that I feel would justify using it in the classroom -- I'm all about making the most out of whatever time we have, and the internet programs I find seem to spend too much time getting to the purpose of their activities. But the best way to tell, of course, is to use these sites with children, and that I haven't done, yet. More later...