Seven Surefire Ways to Relate Classroom Material to the Student’s World — Learning Disabitlities Association of Wash… http://shar.es/aIrcR
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sfitzell
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sfitzell
Offers Teaching Aids for Your ClassroomsTeachnology is an information packed site for those in search of technology tools and teaching aids for the classroom! Whether you are looking for lesson plan ideas, pre-made activities for your classes, or ready-to-use rubrics, this site offers a host of information designed to help make you more productive in your classrooms. -
sfitzell
Moving beyond the success of his own life, Josh Waitzkin, eight-time national chess champion, world champion martial artist, and subject of the film Searching for Bobby Fischer, has written a book detailing his experiences on the road to mastery.Part autobiography, part self-help guide, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance explains Waitzkin’s principles for improving performance in any field. In talking about the book, Waitzkin’s says, “If I have learned anything in a lifetime of world-class competition, it is that learners and (More …)
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sfitzell
Wordle.net
I’m always looking for ways to make learning motivating and fun. Vocabulary development and even spelling are a passion of mine that has been building for the past year. I constantly hear teachers lament that students don’t remember vocabulary. Reading deficiencies, many times exacerbated by poor vocabulary development are impacting test scores – both state and SAT and ACT. In addition to that, students are developing their own vocabulary and (More …)
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sfitzell
At the beginning of each class I use a warm up or “Quickstart”, that includes questions that refer to the lesson material from the day before. This method of review shows me if students understood what was taught the day before. If student’s don’t perform well on these Quickstart reviews, I know that I have to go back and make clarifications before moving on. (More …) -
sfitzell
From Susan’s booklet, “Martial Arts and the Awakening of a Public School Teacher
Copyright 1995 by Susan Fitzell
Last Wednesday I was hurt during my self-defense class. The instructor was having us practice throws. I don’t like being thrown. I don’t trust the inexperience of the “throwers,” nor do I trust my ability to consistently fall correctly. It’s part of the class, however, so I do it. I don’t know how it happened, but when the young person “threw me” (with a shoulder throw), my head whipped around and hit the floor, hard. (More …)
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sfitzell
Individual White Board Erasers
Free Alternatives
Do you use individual white boards with your students as a participation activity? Each student has a personal sized white board to use to answer questions. Buying white boards and erasers for an entire class would be awfully expensive. There are inexpensive ways to get white boards. (More …) -
sfitzell
The Body of An Essay
Visual Demonstration
The Body of an essay…I use the human body as an analogy to explain the parts of an essay.1. The Brain – the intro: like the brain, the intro “controls” the body of the essay (especially point out ‘thesis’)
2. The Heart – body paragraph: at the “heart” of the essay are the body paragraphs.
3. The Feet – conclusion: like your feet, (More …)
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sfitzell
Visual
Quack! SAT Vocab Success!
This educational video set has earned high praise for it’s ability to blend an irreverent sense of humor with an “educational assisting program designed to beef up students’ language skills before taking the SAT test.” ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie GuideThis set includes two DVDs with five episodes which include interactive quizzes and pre/post tests designed to maximize retention. All in all, an excellent way to grab the attention of visual students.Auditory
Who hasn’t had a song stuck in their head, at one time or another? Using the naturally catchy nature of tunes to have your students leaving your classes humming the answers to next weeks test seems to sell itself. The following are a couple of links that offer educational songs for download. There are songs for all grade levels as well as subjects.
SongsForTeaching.comKinesthetic
The following was an idea suggested to me by Megan Taylor of Ozark, MO, as a method for getting physical learners to take hold of abstract ideas. kinesthetic spelling: Use your body as the letters on the line. For example: “Political” – P-stand, o-sit, l-stand, i-sit, t-stand, i-sit, c-sit, a-sit, l-stand. When an entire class spells out a word and performs this, it also adds a visual and auditory dimension to the idea.
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sfitzell
Apologies for my absence, I like to update weekly but I’ve been so busy. The fortunate side of this is I now have loads to share! Specifically, I have this book that was recommended to me by a teacher at a recent seminar.
“THE BIG FOUR”
Jane E. Pollock’s “Improving Student Learning: One Teacher at a Time” builds off of the old saying, “When reading, think like a writer. And when writing, think like a reader.” by applying it to the Teacher/Student relationship.Pollock offers a structure she calls “The Big Four” to build a learning program that is centered around student achievements.
1. Clearly articulated curriculum, benchmarks, and learning targets
2. Purposeful instructional planning and delivery
3. Purposeful and varied assessment, tied to learning targets
4. Record-keeping and reporting that allow for timely and meaningful feedback that is based on specific criteria
This user friendly book has lots to offer teachers working to differentiate curriculum based on research based best practice. I hope you enjoy the book and feel free to let me know what you think!
